First Impression

It’s a small restaurant and not very accommodating for groups larger than 4, unless you get lucky and can push some tables together.  When ordering you can see into the kitchen area where the sandwiches are made and it looked very clean.  Like the kitchen, the tables and fountain drink areas were clean as well.  For nicer days there were a couple tables outside on the side walk.

The employee taking our order was knowledgeable when asking about specific sandwiches and welcoming as soon as we walked through the door.  Other employees walking around the restaurant delivering food and picking up empty plates were also friendly and made sure we were happy with our experience.

The Food

The Smiling Moose sandwiches and food offerings are comparable to Panera Bread.  Each sandwich comes with your choice of chips and a pickle on the side.  Servings were adequate, on par with what you would expect from a sub sandwich shop or any other delicatessen.

I ordered The Bambino, which was a concoction of Pastrami, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and spicy mustard.  The sandwich was fantastic, but nothing that would put the Moose ahead of it’s competitors.  Furthermore, the basic offering of pick-your-chips and get a pickle is boring.  I can buy the same bag of chips at the gas station, nothing new to see here.  I’d love to see a restaurant start making their own chips or add some sort of flavor to a side item with a sandwich.

The Smiling Moose also offers a number of menu items that can be prepared gluten free.  The gluten-free diet is the only treatment for people who suffer from celiac disease.  Therefore, if you are not one of the very small percentage of people with this disease, the gluten free offerings may not appeal to you.

Cost

Very reasonably priced menu and when coupled with coupons, I would consider it a deal.  Right now you can head over to the Smiling Moose website and print off a coupon for a free kids meal, with the purchase of a sandwich, chip and drink.  This coupon allowed my family of 3 to eat for $16, which is difficult to do even at McDonalds.

Visit the Smiling Moose Deli on Wednesdays and get a free cookie!  I got a Macadamia Nut Cookie, which was hot and fresh out the kitchen.

Short and Sweet

The Smiling Moose offers good food at a fair price, but not at a level that would keep me from choosing a competitor.  The seating is truly awful and a reason to avoid the restaurant if you are in a group of more than 4, parties need not apply.  I feel to garner more business they will need to come up with a hook, because as it’s offered now, they are not doing anything better than their competitors.

Smiling Moose Facts

• Located at 724 N. Burkhardt
• Get a Free Kids Meal Coupon
• Smiling Moose Deli Official Website
• Free Cookie on Wednesdays
• Yelp Reviews of Smiling Moose

First, I was surprised that their pricing was extremely reasonable.  I swore Five Guys in Indianapolis was more expensive, but pricing was right on spot.  The small burgers were plenty big, more than enough for my 3 year old offspring.  Also, one regular bag of fries allowed us to gorge ourselves and then have enough left over for my wife to gorge on when she got off work.

The location seems a bit off to me, Five Guys is located in the same strip mall as Fox and the Hound and Gander Mountain.  Having a college type atmosphere I assumed it would be better located on the west side of Evansville.  Weird location or not, for a Tuesday night the place was absolutely packed.  All but just a few of the tables were full, no less than 8 people were standing waiting on a to-go order, and the line waiting to order stretched from the registers to the entrance doors.

Five Guys really shined, thanks to professionalism and their employees abilities to absolutely blow through the customers.  At any given time there were 8-10 employees standing behind the counter, flipping burgers, taking orders, calling out orders, or just cleaning up.  The entire time I was there I never saw one employee standing around with nothing to do, everyone hustled.  Because of the hustle I managed to make my way from the front doors, place my order, get my order and walk out with a smile on my face in less than 25 mins.

Once home the burgers and fries tasted just as I had remembered.  Delicious.  I find that Five Guys burgers are the closest thing to my own back yard grilled burgers.  No dried out meat, plenty thick, and they haven’t had the taste smushed out of them.  The toppings go a long way to blowing other burgers out of the joint.  What good is a tasty burger if they have brown lettuce and thin pickles?  Five Guys piles the veggies high and careful of asking to have it ran through the garden, it’s like having a side salad with burger patties in the middle.

There is something to be said about a fast food restaurant that doesn’t even have a freezer on location.  Furthermore, the line to the cash register is lined with bags of potatoes, waiting to be cut up and deep fried into the perfect french fry.  Everything is fresh!  Fresh food, cooked right, and employees that look you in the eye and smile when you approach.  I’m sold and will be returning again, probably more frequently than my waste line would appreciate.

All great restaurants have great food and Panera’s food is unique and delicious. They make all of their breads from scratch and fresh everyday. Almost every ingredient on the menu is organic, including the kids menu. The entrees are healthy yet filling. One of our favorites is the broccoli cheese soup which they serve in a delicious bread bowl. It’s divine. Besides soups and amazing sandwiches, they also offer a huge variety of bakery foods and desserts. No matter what time of day it is there always seems to be someone ordering the bakers dozen box of bagels.

Panera always seems to be busy, any time of day we have visited and yet we’ve never had trouble getting a table. The layout is large enough to accommodate the many loyal Panera food lovers and yet it still seems intimate. Our Panera Bread in Evansville has a small fireplace which you can sit around on three sides. There are also a few bistro table outside but I prefer the atmosphere inside with modern art and cozy table settings.

Panera Bread seems to attract students needing a fun environment to study, business professionals getting a bit of work done on their laptops, friends of every age group and families all wanting to enjoy amazing food thats just unique enough to differ from the abundant fast food chains. Panera Bread has given us a quick service meal experience that feels more like a treat. How can a quick meal cafe hold so much importance in our lives? Simply by creating an atmosphere that we can’t seem to find amongst the many other fast food joints in Evansville.

When you think about it, theme park food is part of the whole experience. We want a day of fun and out of the ordinary experiences which include burgers, ice cream, cotton candy, fudge, french fries and corn dogs.  Stereotypically similar to really bad for you fast food or even closer to carnival food. So when I stumbled upon the new food options on their website I did a double take and smiled with delight at the new additions. Besides the new salad were other options such as black bean chipotle veggie burger, pasta salad, baked pasta, five new soups and a no sugar added butter pecan ice cream. An added benefit is the ability to purchase many of these healthier foods in multiple restaurants within Holiday World and also in Splashin’ Safari.

Oh there are also other new items to the menu for those believing that calories don’t count while on vacation. Funnel cake fries, fried brownie bites, apple stuffed bosco breadsticks and churros have been added to the menu to tempt us all. Don’t get me wrong. I am pumped for more variety and will probably by the end of the summer have tried them all (just typing fried brownie bites makes my mouth water). For me, a frequent (weekly) Holiday World visitor, the addition of healthy food options helps me balance out the fun food intake without wrecking my diet.

Get The Facts

Four Friends Corner Cafe
1400 North Main Street
Evansville, IN 47711

To get there head south on Main street from Garvin Park, it’s 2 blocks down on your right. They have plenty of on street parking and a small lot suitable for 3-4 small cars or 1-2 big trucks. For companies close by it’s an easy walk, especially on warm fall days.

Inside there are about 5-6 tables, where a small group or couples will probably be most comfortable. However, I feel like their meals and layout favor those who like their meals to-go. Also consider eating on their picnic table out front or taking your hot dog to Garvin Park and eat on one of their many picnic tables. I prefer to take mine to go and eat in my truck, parked at Garvin Park, while writing this review.

The decor is as expected from a local restaurant focusing on a hot dog meal niche. An antique toy pinball machine could even be found in the corner of the dining room area. What was unexpected was the number of scriptures written on various boards around the kitchen and in the seating area. It’s obvious that the owners/operators are religious, hopefully this isn’t a turn-off for you, it wasn’t for me.

Food Facts

The staple of Four Friends Corner Cafe are there hot dogs. They use Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs for all their hot dog meals, which include Fries and a drink. Also, there is plenty of variety, including coney style dogs or anything you can dream up, they will build to suit. On this trip I had their Cincinnati Special, which was a loaded coney dog with lots of cheese and onion.

The meal was very good and very filling.

The Bad

I work for a business close to Four Friends Corner Cafe, so about 30 days ago an employee dropped off a menu. This is how I found out about the Evansville restaurant and what peeked my interest in trying out some of their unusual hot dog creations. So, I picked out my would be meal and headed a few blocks over to place my order.

After I placed my order I was informed that my specific meal was no longer available. Nor did the girl behind the counter remember how to make the DC Monumental Special. No biggie, I’ll just take one of their other specials, which would have been fine if their prices had not been so high. In no way do I feel like I got value for my money and even after a full stomach I had buyers remorse.

Indeed, their prices had gone up from around $5 per meal, which included fries and a medium fountain drink, to over $7. Also, to add insult to injury there was no fountain machine, only cans of pop in the fridge. So now I’m full, but thirsty, and feel like a spent a fortune for a hot dog.

Short and Sweet

The food was fantastic, service was good, and there was plenty of places to sit, eat and enjoy my lunch break. I’d recommend anyone to check it out.  However, to get my repeat business prices will need to fall.

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Do you have a suggestion on where I should take my next lunch break?  Or is there another local business that needs reviewed or help with advertising?  Simply leave a comment here or drop me an email to let me know your thoughts.

First of all there is no atmosphere, where other Greeks Pizzeria locations seem to have flavor, a buzz, a reason to want to be there.  Every time I go into the Evansville Greeks I half way expect to see batteries on the wall, thanks to the previous tenant.

Next, it took forever to get our food.  This becomes less of a problem when there is atmosphere to enjoy, but with a lack of entertainment and general frivolity I was left staring at my watch.  It took 1 hour to get our food after ordering.  This is waaaaaaay too long, especially without an explanation.

Once I did receive my food it was hot, tasty, and sat just fine on top of the adult beverages I had consumed while waiting.  In my opinion Greeks is good, not great, so it seems to live in a restaurant-choosing purgatory.  Greeks Pizzeria’s are independently owned, but is there a reason Evansville is still not listed on the official website?

Red Robin of Evansville

My brother and I decided to check out the new Red Robin in Evansville last night.  Overrall it was a good decision, but there are a few things that just didn’t set right with my experience.  Allow me to share with you my experience, so that hopefully yours will be more fulfilling.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere in Red Robin was just great, complete with friendly hostess.  It’s a wide open building with plenty of booths and tables, depending on your preference.  Also, there appeared to be a full service bar, but unfortunately no drink specials.

Looking back I don’t remember any music playing, just the sound of a bustling restaurant.  Plenty of people chatting and generally having a good time.  Not necessarily a place I would recommend going out with a loved one for a quiet intimate dinner.

Service

I think that every restuarant experience comes down to the waitor or waitress you luck out with.  My waitor last night was very friendly, prompt when I needed something, but didn’t come around as often as I would like.  This became an issue with me, considering how Red Robin sells their meals.  More on this under the food section.

It seemed to take a little longer than it should have to receive a simple burger and fry meal.  My brother and I waited probably about 20-25 minutes for our meals to show up.  Considering that it was a Thursday night, early, and really not that busy it seemed unacceptable.  No worries though, we weren’t in a hurry.

Food

I purchased the Red Robin special A1 Peppercorn Burger on an onion bun.  It was perfect and cooked with a little pink, just as I had requested.  When ordering you have two choices for how you want your burger cooked, ‘A Little Pink’ or ‘No Pink’.  I thought it was funny when our waitor insisted on correcting me when I ordered mine Medium.  “You mean a little pink”, he said.  Kind of like a Venti coffee instead of just a large. pfft.

Overall the burger and fries were great and Red Robin has a seductive way of getting you to fall for their $10+ burger meal combos.  Red Robin offers bottomless fries, meaning you can eat as many fries with your meal as you want and they will keep bringing them out.  This sounds great, but when your waitor doesn’t visit the table often enough to replenish your fries, what’s the point?

Total time spent in Red Robin was probably just over an hour before I was finally asked if I wanted extra fries.  Of course I didn’t take any, hell I was tired of just setting in the same place and had plans afterward.  Therefore, in future visits (and I will visit again) I fully intend on asking the server to go ahead and bring out extra fries when he brings the first meal.  That way, when I’m ready for my fries, they’ll be there.

Conclusion

I’ll eat there again.  The food was good, but nothing to get excited about.  The service was good, but nothing to get excited about.  The way in which you are served, by a place that promises bottomless fries, is aggrevating.  Make sure you get your money’s worth and ask for extra fries up front, because the amount brought out with your burger is not enough to justify the cost.