2nd- big bowl, edina
8th- culvers, eden prairie
10th- roly poly sandwiches, eden prairie
11th- zuppa cucina, shakopee
16th- perkins, edina
19th- christo's minneapolis
23rd- scoreboard, minnetonka
25th- good earth, roseville
30th- pannekoeken huis, st. louis park
b+, b-, it's all big bowl. above average as a chain. apparently i've not been since 03, which seems odd. (may and august, specifically), though that somehow seems not right. anyway. still tasty. chix mix with stix is my preferred meal, which i got (i alternate now and then with a pad thai of some sort).
the people i was with got the app combo plate, which is a good way to split a meal. it's the chix mix (cold peanut noodles with cuke, chicken satay and chicken potstickers), plus other stuff like veg egg roll, shrimp and lettuce wraps, veg won tons, and probably a few things i can't remember. and festive dipping sauce. service was above average, too.
8th- culvers, eden prairie (b-)
someone got yelled, perhaps. it was past the prime dinner hours at the e.p. ruby tuesday. after waiting for a table for 5 minutes, waiting for a server to stop by for another 5, and waiting 5 more for water (i approximate), we wait for our entrees. 15 minutes into it we start trying to catch the eye of the server to get water refills and find out about how much longer it would be (we had ordered uncomplicated food). people who had come in after us (in another server's section, of course) were already eating.
finally the server deigned to notice us (after passing the table about half a dozen times with us trying to make eye contact) 20 minutes into the wait. we inquired about how much longer it was going to be, about, and we were informed that if they checked on the food, there would be nothing they could do about how long it took. they started walking away (and there was one empty glass and one half-empty on the table). you know, that may be true, but it's not good to share that aloud, is it?
so we left. on the way out, we got the 'hope you enjoyed your food,' from the podium crew, so we explained we didn't get any. the manager did go out of their way to try to appease us, but really, it's not like we wanted to wait longer for anything like a free dessert or something. they said they would talk to the server, etc. does this actually happen? sometimes i wonder about such things.
anyway, we headed across the lot and went to culvers. mr. bad restaurant karma (see above) said the butter burgers were pretty good (which is a rave for him). alas, if you're not into red meat, stick to the custard. the blandish chicken sandwich perked up after applications of mustard, ketsup, pepper, and salt, but the bun overwhelmed it. the fries were ok, in their own crinkle cut way. onion rings, not so much. love the custard though. tasty. and you can get samples.
and the food got to the table in a few scant minutes.
10th- roly poly sandwiches, eden prairie (b)
note of disclosure: i know the people who own the joint, and got free value mealing (chips and pop) when i bought my sandwich.
i like the food. apparently a chain that hasn't made inroads in mn before now. i got a low fat sandwich with turkey, fat free swiss (or low fat, i can't remember, my memory's like... swiss cheese! ha. ha.), spinach, fat free (that i remember) apple ranch dressing. no bacon, which it usually comes with. on a wheat tortilla. nice and warm. they had a few other things on the menu that looked intriguing. the soups, for instance. asiago parmesan (or something along those lines. it was so many hours ago, i can't recall any details, apparently).
the joint's popular among some viking players. insert your own joke here.
you can get half a sandwich (6" size), chips, and a pop for about $5-6, and there's a lot of choices on the menu. a nice change from the other fast food outlets surrounding and in the nearby mall, most of which i am not to fond of. a step down from say, panera, but a step or more up from the usual bk/subway/mc d's/taco bell thing.
11th- zuppa cucina, shakopee (b+)
alas, this place is slightly too far away from the workplace and a not quite face paced enough for me to get to eat here on a regular basis. which is too bad.
you order at the counter, but then it wasn't clear if you waited for your meal standing up near what looked to be a pickup area, or you sat down and they gave it to you, as no one was in line for eat in ahead of me, and there were no signs indicating anything regarding this matter, nor was my name taken at the counter. so i hovered a bit, sat down for a while, then hovered again. then my food was brought to me after a bit. and they held my order (i saw it was done) until other random orders were done, perhaps because they thought i was with that random bunch of people.
but despite that, the lunch was pretty good. the greek chicken (roasted real chicken bits, artichoke hearts (tasted canned but were ok), feta, lettuce, and red onion sandwich on a ciabatta roll was good, but fell apart easily. i hate it when that happens, especially since there were no forks on offer. the tomato basil feta soup with it was wonderful. it had chunks of feta that hadn't been quite melted, which added a lot to the flavor and the texture of the soup. maybe i can get the soup to go and try a less crumbly sandwich. the other ones on the menu looked good, too.
in the "someone ought to pass a law, or at least form a committee..." department, if a place that serves food decides to make up a sauce, they should have to say what that sauce is on the menu.
but first, this is the best meal i've had at perkins in... years? decades? a hell of a long time, anyway. maybe the secret is to go when it's busy, but not too busy. the staff (with, of course, the exception of our server, mr. bad restaurant karma was there in spirit, i suppose) was attentive, even the manager was walking around, talking with people, helping to clear up and stuff. i don't recall that level of staff involvement at perkins in ages.
why was i at perkins in the first place? because i wanted an american-style bigass omelette and hashbrowns with some other random carbohydrate to be named later. (raspberry sour cream muffin, it turned out to be. served... warm. at perkins. who knew?) since there are no good greasy spoons that i could think of in the area that i could think of at the moment that had greasy breakfast for dinner (the grease requirement meant that things like good earth were out)... so perkins it was. speaking of carbohydrates, they have hashbrown casserole now besides hashbrown... hashbrowns. given a taste, i'd have to say i'd avoid it, plague-style.
anyway, i had the santa fe something or other (possibly fajita?) omelette. generally good, except for the random tortilla strips on top. it worked for me, even though that i usually don't think... 'chicken strips, that's what makes an omelette tasty'... and it had ranchero sauce on it.
i think.
since i have no idea what ranchero sauce is and forgot to ask, it could have not had it. perhaps i should have asked for some on the side to make sure it was a real thing and not a fancy name for sour cream. what the hell is ranchero sauce? all i can think of is something dirty and stuff.... but why won't they explain it to me? is it a secret sauce? a matter of national security? did they run out of budget when it came time to be specific on the menu? did people assume everyone knew what it was? why do places do this kind of thing? ack. now i'll be haunted forever by the ghost of ranchero sauce. or more likely... not.
anyway, if you happen to be in a perkins ever, ask for some on the side of whatever you order, see what happens.
late breaking (a few days later, anyway) news: ranchero sauce is apparently like salsa, only different. thicker.
19th- christo's, minneapolis (c-)
one of those times that if i had someone else's dinner, i would have had given it a better grade. i ordered an app with a side for dinner. app was crab stuffed mushrooms. fine, but there were only three smallish ones on the plate. and it was on rice, which i don't recall seeing on the menu as part of the dish (surprise!). the side, roasted potatoes, was misleading, in that it implied more than one potato. i'm a cheapass kind of person when it comes to value, and $1.75 for underseasoned, not quite roasted enough, not even one potato worth of food ain't worth it. the person who ordered one of the specials, phyllo stuffed with cheeses, chicken, leeks, and such, they had the good dinner. except for the pita, which came with the meal. not warm enough, and not a happy thing.
service was good for a trainee, let's just leave it at that. bathrooms, however. weird. they bother to put fresh flowers in them. maybe to distract you from the rest of it.... the stalls... one was, let's say, something you don't want to see while eating (not flushable, apparently). one had a door that didn't work. all of them had seats that were cracked and weird. and the faucets were... missing in places. (no cold water handles, that kind of thing.) so ish. why not redirect flower money into a few cheap repairs?
23rd- scoreboard, minnetonka (c)
last time, a d+. mr. bad restaurant karma said he would never be back. but this was his idea, more or less. they've gotten a new manager and servers (improvements) and done a few things with decor, such as it is, from what i can see and the menu a bit. odd they had a cheeseburger and all sorts of other burgers, but not a hamburger on the menu. mr. brk ordered fries with his hamburger and got onion rings. they did replace it and stuff without fuss and bother (don't you hate fuss and bother?). but maybe we should've stuck with the onion rings, the fries were not at all good, crinkle cut fresh from the freezer unseasoned bastards they were. the hamburger wasn't seasoned either. i had the salad bar. it comes with a hot entree (this time some kind of pasta with bacon, i didn't eat it), two soups, the regular salad stuff, and diy soft serve ice cream with toppings for dessert. for a salad bar, that's pretty good. the bill was still confusing, though.
25th- good earth, roseville (a-)
tasty, warm, squishy huevos. with potatoes. i missed toast, but since you get a bread basket at lunch, apparently for that or other reasons no toast at lunch. mmm, toast. bread basket wasn't bad though. good service, good touches like lemon in the water. and good service. yeah, still coolass.
30th- pannekoeken huis, st. louis park (b-)
strangely good chicken and mushroom sandwich on sourdough. must've been all the nice gooey swiss on it. i'm easily swayed by cheese. fries weren't worth it, not the worst ever though. the other things i tasted (regular salad, fruit cup) weren't that wonderful, just passable. well, slightly less on the fruit cup. warm fruit cocktail with too ripe banana slices. good strawberries on it, though, and it was arranged attractively. according to mr. bad restaurant karma, the meatloaf is too squishy and salty, though mrs. bad restaurant karma enjoyed the tuna melt. both of them held the fries in low esteem.
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