Old Chicago

Tonight I visited our local Old Chicago restaurant for a dinner date with my husband. He had been wanting to return to the restaurant for quite some time but it's not one of my favorite, stand-out restaurants. Tonight though, I agreed to go there and I am glad that I did.

For starters, right now they are featuring their three-course dinners for $9.99. There are also some $10.99 dinner options as well. You can check out their special menu here to get a full idea of what they have to choose from.

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by two hostesses, who asked us if we would prefer dining room or bar seating. We chose the dining room and one of the hostesses led us to a table near the back, close to the kitchen door.

In some restaurants, being seated close to the kitchen door is not a desirable location, but at our local Old Chicago restaurant, I don't think that there is an undesirable table in the house. The way that the building is designed, you don't hear the typical kitchen clatter during your meal. We have been there when it is busy and noisy (as it was tonight - dinner hour on a Friday night) and when it is not busy at all (middle of the afternoon during the week) and neither time did we hear kitchen clatter.

Our server, Jessica, greeted us within a minute of our being seated and immediately took our drink orders. My husband chose Mountain Dew and I chose Pepsi. We received our drinks promptly and with terrific customer service as well. Jessica was friendly, observant, and able to multi-task, which in my opinion is a vital set of skills for a server. She kept on top of our drinks and we had refills ready and waiting for us whenever our current glass was half full.

Moving on to dinner itself, my husband and I both decided to order items from the current special menu. We love a bargain and these options are most certainly a bargain! For an appetizer, my husband chose an old favorite of his, the Sicilian Pepperoni Rolls, while I chose to try something new, the Cajun Chicken Calzini. Each appetizer dish had three of the item ordered.

I had not had the calzini before as it is a new item to Old Chicago. And it is one that I hope that they will keep. The menu (which you can see in the above link) describes it as: "A zesty filling of blackened chicken breast, Andouille sausage, onions, bell peppers, Mozzarella cheese and Worcestershire sauce baked, then deep-fried crispy inside our made-from-scratch dough. Drizzled with cajun Tabasco® mayo."

I describe it as something like a pizza pocket with a kick. I don't normally enjoy spicy foods, but this had just the right amount of kick to it with the cajun Tabasco® mayo without being too hot to handle. It didn't make my eyes tear up or my mouth burn, but delivered a wonderful bit of flavor and spicy kick to a fabulous appetizer. The chicken and sausage were both well-cooked and tender and juicy. The vegetables were soft and added a nice contrast of texture from the outer shell and the meat. And the cheese was nicely melted inside as well. Overall, it was an appetizer that will definitely be on my list of "must have" items the next time we go there.

My entrée was a new item on the menu as well, the Pepperoni Stuffed Chicken with Pasta. The menu describes it as, "Oven-baked chicken breast stuffed with fresh basil, pepperoni and Mozzarella, Parmesan and Ricotta cheeses. Served with fire-roasted spaghetti marinara and topped with fresh Parmesan. Comes with our toasted garlic bread."



It was delicious. I must admit, though, that I made the mistake of eating the spaghetti marinara before eating the chicken breast so I didn't have much room for the chicken breast. I had to try it out though, for a complete review of the entrée though, so I did. Once again, the chicken was well-done, moist and juicy. The mix of the toppings on both the pasta and the chicken breast were outstanding! The flavors blended together nicely and left me wanting to finish all of it, although I did not have the room for it.

We asked our server, Jessica, for two to-go boxes for the rest of our entrées. She took our plates and brought back the boxes with our food nicely arranged inside of them. The original presentation of the appetizers and entrées were also nicely done. They definitely care about the way the food looks here and it really pays off.

I was too full to try out the dessert so I requested that it be brought out in a to-go container to start, and my request was honored quickly. I'd say that overall, from arrival time to the time we paid our check was somewhere around thirty minutes. Which is pretty impressive for a Friday night dinner hour, next to a theater.

During our meal, the manager, Charles, stopped by our table to check on us and see how things were going. It was actually during this exchange that I decided that I would review my experience there tonight on here. I interviewed him briefly, as I did not know if Old Chicago was a national chain or a local one. As it turns out, it is a national chain, but is widely concentrated in the midwest and plains regions. There are a handful of other franchised locations outside of those two main regions as well. There are 100 locations within 23 states, with the largest concentration being the 27 restaurants within Colorado's state borders.

And finally, for my review, a quick extra thank you to Charles, for going above and beyond for me, in granting what I am sure seemed to be the oddest type of request in the food service industry. Because I had decided to review the food after we had already started eating it, and because the menu does not have a picture of the deliciousness that was my entrée, I asked Charles if it would be possible for me to take a picture of the next Pepperoni Stuffed Chicken with Pasta that came out of the kitchen to use here on the review. He agreed and brought it out himself to allow me the opportunity to be able to provide you all with a photographic review of the entrée as well. That is the photo of my meal that you see above. Or rather, of some other patron's meal, I suppose. Thank you again Charles for your wonderful help tonight, and thanks to Jessica for a fabulous dining experience! We will be sure to come again (and soon!)

My overall review: * * * * *

Red Robin

My husband and I went to Red Robin tonight for Valentine's Day. It was late when we arrived, around 8:30 so there weren't many other customers there and when we left, we were the only customers in the place. We had the delightful opportunity to order two items that weren't even available as a promotional item yet. The promotion begins Tuesday though, so the rest of you will be able to try these out items out then.

But first things first, when we arrived to our local Red Robin restaurant, we were greeted by one of the friendliest hostesses they have. At Red Robin, their hostesses are actually called "hospos", short for hospitality. But we were greeted by her and the bartender, Tyler, and the person who ended up being our server, Lucas.

Lucas actually was the one who led us to our table and got us situated, took our drink order and chatted with us for a bit. The servers and the other staff at the restaurant are friendly and will spend a few minutes chatting with their customers, and will even (when and where appropriate - and at each server's discretion) will pull up a chair or slide onto the edge of the booth seat when taking your order. If that is not appropriate, they will often squat down so that they are on the same eye level with the customer, especially with kids. But that is just knowledge from previous experiences. Lucas, on this occasion did happen to slide into the booth next to me while he was discussing our menu options.

He let us know about four new items that will be available on Tuesday, February 16. Coming up on Tuesday, February 16, 2010, will be a new burger - the Prime Chophouse Burger. There will also be a new milkshake - a Freckled Lemonade Milkshake. Also available will be a new dip - the Chili con Queso dip, and because of Lent starting this week, they have also added a Fish and Chips dish as well.

We both ordered the new Prime Chophouse burger, which there was not a menu description for yet. But it was described to us as "a burger with onion straws, provolone cheese, mushrooms marinated in horseradish, and a country dijon mustard on an onion bun." It didn't sound like the most impressive item, but when we got our burgers a few minutes later and took our first bites of them, it was sensational! The meat was so tender and juicy and the mixture of the flavors and textures was wonderful! This new item is only $5.99 as a meal (drink is extra) complete with bottomless steak fries.

(the picture was added later, taken from the Red Robin website found here.

Usually we do not also order a dessert, but since our meal was so inexpensive, we decided to spring for the dessert as well and we ordered two of the new monster milkshakes, the Freckled Lemonade ones. Now, I can guess that many of you are thinking the same thing that we thought - lemonade and milkshake doesn't go well together. But oh my, does it ever go well together! The mix of flavors between the ice cream, the lemon, the strawberries, the whipped cream and sprinkles is just so unbelievably good. It really is one of those items that you just have to try. Seriously! It's that good! It is also served with a lemon wedge garnish.



(This is Tyler, the bartender, and milkshake maker extraordinaire!)



And our server, Lucas, was so kind as to snap a photo of my husband and I after the meal. After all, it was Valentine's Day and we haven't had a picture with just the two of us in it for so long, that we decided it was definitely time to change that! Thanks Lucas for doing that for us!

Overall, the meal was fabulous, the service was great and we will definitely be returning for both the great deals and the great food!

My review: * * * * *