Lunch #6 - Laredo's Tex-West Grill & Cantina

November 7, 2008

Cuisine: Tex-Mex

Restaurant:
Laredo's Tex-West Grill & Cantina
4656 Excelsior Blvd
St Louis Park, MN 55416

Attendance: Eric, Rosa, Ben, Tiff

Went to lunch here because we like the free chips and salsa that come in a Corona bucket.

Eric's Rating: 6 - I would have given a 7 or 8 if the service was better.
Tiff's Rating: 4 - I ordered a chicken wrap that came with spicy ranch dressing, so I asked for regular ranch and got charged for it! I mean come on people! I like the chips and salsa, though. Had really bad service.
Rosa's Rating: 6 - The food was decent but not incredibly unique. The menu options were pretty standard. Jimmy Neutron wasn't overly prompt or helpful.

Lunch #5 - Sushi Tango (Japanese)

October 17, 2008

Cuisine: Japanese

Restaurant:

Sushi Tango

3001 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Attendance: Eric, Tiff, Zach, Nate, Ben, Teresa, Jessi

We went to the happy hour that starts at noon on Fridays (no alcohol of course). Great cheap apps. This is one hip sushi bar and for the most part, we were all happy with our experience. We ordered lots and lots of food and had good service.

Teresa's Rating: 8.5 - I thought the atsmosphere was nice, the service was great, the food presentation was great, the prices were fair and the food was excellent. The atmosphere/ambiance could have been a little nicer and the food portions larger for the price to bring it to a 10.
Ben's Rating: 7 - Fairly decent sushi prices for lunch. The variety was great and the service was good. Yum the potstickers were great, and then wasabi, Love it!!!
Tiffany's Rating: 7 - Loved the happy hour apps, good and cheap. The sushi chefs kindly made me a roll with just cream cheese and scallions, it was perfect for my non-fish-eating-especially-raw-fish taste. The miso soup and the salad were pretty good too. I tried some noodles which were okay, nothing special. I wouldn't recommend pouring tea on your rice thinking it is soy sauce. My favorite part was watching Zach get extremely excited about sushi and watching him eat lots (LOTS!) of wasabi...he is one brave soul. No wasabi for me!

Jessi's Rating: 7 - I had the Sashimi Lunch Special. The portions were deceptively large, came with soup, salad and lunch meal. The red snapper pieces were relatively tasteless though. The salmon and the tuna were very fresh and yummy. The added Rainbow Roll was enough on it's own, and very tasty - minus the red snapper which I gave to Eric (he needed soy sauce on it as it was bland even in roll form). The green tea smelled like what I imagine Nate's socks smell like after a jog around Lake Calhoun, though I'm sure it could have been tasty (I didn't go there).
Other: Parking stinks, remember to bring quarters. Opening time is late but there was still seating available - even so you have to travel in prime lunch rush b/c of the late opening. Overall the food was good for a lunch outing but the experience (parking, walking a block, waiting for it to open) was ok.
Zach's Rating: -

Lunch #4 - Rainbow Chinese Restaurant (Chinese)

October 17, 2008

Cuisine: Chinese

Restaurant:

Rainbow Chinese Restaurant

2739 Nicollet Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Attendance: Eric, Tiff, Zach, Jarah

Located in the heart of Eat Street on South Nicollet Avenue, Rainbow Chinese Restaurant has been dishing up authentic Chinese food since 1987. The large menu offers all the old standbys, but also showcases enough unusual dishes to keep epicures interested. Favorites include pan-fried noodle dishes in a choice of three types of noodle, Singapore chow mai fun, and the generous noodle soups, including roasted duck and fish-cake.

Eric's Rating: 7.5 - For today's lunch I chose the Chicken Mai Fun which is basically pan-fried noodles, chicken and bean sprouts and scallions. It was listed as spicy, I didn't find it was all that spicy so I added the chili sauce to my taste. The dish had lots of chicken in it and the serving portion was generous. Overall I've always had good experiences at Rainbow with the exception of getting an off-color fortune in my cookie once.
Tiffany's Rating: 6.5 - I got the Assorted Meat and Gai-Lan which was a mild stir fry with thin noodles. Gai-Lan is chinese broccoli which I found that I do not like very much. The sauce was alright, mild the way I like it but not a ton of flavor. Big portion so I have leftovers. All in all, there are other restaurants I'd rather go if in the mood for chinese food. Good cream cheese puffs and fortune cookies. Cool decor.
Jarah's Rating: 8 - I had the Curry Chicken. It was just spicy enough, and had a lot of flavor. The veggies were cooked just right, still crunchy. It was a nice environment, not too loud. The service was friendly and the prices were fair. I would go again.
Zach's Rating: 8 -

Lunch #3 - Kip's Irish Pub (Irish)

October 10, 2008

Cuisine: Irish

Restaurant:

Kip's Irish Pub

9970 Wayzata Blvd
St. Louis Park, MN 55426

Attendance: Eric, Tiff, Zach, Teresa, Ben, Jessi

Authentic Irish pub designed in Ireland, created in Ireland, and assembled her by Irish pubfitters. An Irish artist created original paintings and decorated the ceiling. Pretty big menu with all the Irish constants. Nice side rooms with fireplaces for private events. Good atmosphere and good for lunch and dinner.

Eric's Rating: 8.5 - I’ve been somewhat of a regular at Kip’s since it first opened several years ago. I’m a fan of the warm inviting atmosphere, the good food and on occasion a properly poured Guinness. For today’s lunch I picked the Bangers and Mash from their “10 for $10 menu” (which is a lunch sized entree, a non alcoholic beverage and tip for $10). I’ve had it as a dinner entree before so I knew it was a safe bet and once again it was good. They have a different sausage there, it has a bit of a kick to it, so it’s no Johnsville brat or anything like that. I’ve actually gone to Kip’s with a friend that grew up in BelfastIreland and he says their bangers are pretty authentic. The only downside is not being able to have a pint to wash it down with.
Tiffany's Rating: 8 - Their chicken pot pie is awesome, I get it just about every time I go here. I didn't eat a lot of it though because it was so hot that it hadn't barely cooled down by the time everyone else was done eating. The leftovers were even better!!! But, the last time I went for happy hour they were all out of Smirnoff Ice which made me sad.
Jessi's Rating: 2 for Food, 9 for Service - I had the fish and chips.

The fish was so greasy that I had a feeling of nausea for the rest of the day. There was too much breading - so much so that I cut through and found there was more breading then actual fish. The fries were good. I can say I'll never order this again (or I'll wait a year to forget about the experience and then maybe try again).

The service gets a higher rating because the server was fun, personable, friendly, relatively fast, and very accomodating. He allowed me to order from the kids menu for a more appropriate lunch portion size (and at a better cost) even though that menu has an age limit.

Zach's Rating: 8 -
Teresa's Rating: 5 - I rated the fish and chips platter I ordered at about a 5 - they were really greasy and hugely over-breaded. The atmosphere was nice though and the waiter was a nice, hospitable guy. I'm sure other stuff on the menu was probably more appetizing.

Lunch #2 - Gardens of Salonica (Greek)

September 25, 2008

Cuisine: Greek

Restaurant:

Gardens of Salonica

19 Fifth St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Attendance: Eric, Tiff, Jarah, Zach, Nate, Ben, Kara, Andrea

Located in a turn-of-the-century storefront, this is a small, family-owned restaurant and deli with authentic food. Service was very, very slow but the food was pretty good and the menu has a lot of options. Excellent pita bread. Pretty reasonable. They rely on word-of-mouth and don't advertise.

Eric's Rating: 6.5 - Other than a few visits to "It's Greek to me" and "Christo's" my exposure to Greek dining is limited. With that I opted to stick with my "usual" and I tried their Gyro, mainly because I'm unable to pronounce anything else on the menu. Then again, I'm not really sure I know the correct pronunciation of "Gyro". I mean is it "Gee-row" or is ti more like "Gie-row"? I'm not sure either but I ordered it anyway and however I pronounced it the woman taking our order understood me. Once my order arrived (the service was a little slow) it was good, it had a good amount of schawarma and an adequate amount of tzatziki sauce. Overall I would say it was a better Gyro than Christos, but not as good as ones I've had at Greek to me.
Tiffany's Rating: 3 - I had authentic greek food in Greece and was hoping for something that was close to as good as what I had there. I got the pastitsio which I wasn't very impressed with. Barely any sauce and too sweet for me. It came with bean soup which wasn't very good. But the pita bread saved the whole meal, it was awesome.
Kara's Rating: 6 - Pastitsio was great, but the fish soup was rather revolting. Service was very slow - it was hard to get anyone to remember we were in the next room!
Zach's Rating: 8 - Jarah and I ordered an appetizer with spreads and pita bread, one was so garlicy that we proceeded to insist, and then demand, everyone else to eat it so we were not the only ones going back to the office with death breath!!!
Nate's Rating: 8 - As Eric says, the true measure of a Greek restaurant is its Gyro. Thus, the litmus test for Gardens of Salonica was passed with no problems. They Gyro was a good size and was tasty. The appetizers were good as well. The other dishes were well presented and looked like they would be great, except for Zach's, but that is because I hate grape leaves ;-)

Lunch #1 - Amazing Thailand (Thai)

September 19, 2008

Cuisine: Thai

Restaurant:

Amazing Thailand

3024 Hennepin Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Attendance: Tiffany, Kara, Teresa, Eric, Bill, Nate, Jarah, and Zach

Authentic Thai food and a dark, intriguing decor. I chose Amazing Thailand because I had never been there and we had to go somewhere sort of close to the office because we had to be back for meetings! Service was a bit slow but they redeemed themselves by separating all of our checks at the end. I think we were overall pretty happy with the food!

Tiffany's Rating: 8 - I ordered noodles with chicken and vegetables in a garlic/ginger sauce. On a scale from 1 to 5 for spice I ordered a -5. Therefore it came with no spice whatsoever and I thought it was really good! I also had a side of sticky rice which is always great. Took the leftovers home and got two meals out of them!
Eric's Rating: 7 - I got the "amazin' basil".
Kara's Rating: 8.5 - Food was great and plentiful; service was a little slow but not too bad. Splitting up the check was very nice at the end. ;-)
Teresa's Rating: 8.5 - Soft noodles with tofu and spring rolls, really fresh and price was right for the lunch special...only $8.95 including the spring rolls!