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.

Stephenie Meyer’s new book is tagged as an Eclipse Novella to partner and extend upon the brief character introduced (and destroyed) in her Eclipse novel. Bree Tanner is a newborn vampire created for one purpose, to join the ranks of a newborn vampire army being created to kill. Bree descends on Bella Swan and the Cullen family with orders to destroy but somehow manages to get lost in the fighting and survives on confusion alone. We see a glimpse of her fear and agony as Carlisle Cullen attempts to help her.  Her character interacts with the entire Cullen family who offer her a chance at redemption and the option to learn how to live by their “vegetarian” lifestyle of abstaining from feeding on humans if she can show signs of being able to control herself. Unfortunately, having a human, Bella Swan in such close proximity makes her vampire tendencies surface. We know who created her and her fate but nothing else. Bree Tanner is portrayed as a frightened teenage newborn vampire who is confused yet lethal. She is a brief but unforgettable and haunting character. This new short book promises to show us a glimpse into the darker side of the vampire world through her eyes.

Twilight readers have been led to understand the vampire world as passionate, magical and dangerous. However, we have always seen the good intentions of the Cullens and human elements such as love, friendship and family. Seeing their world from the darker side from within the vampire newborn army sounds like a creative way to put a fresh spin on the magic of Meyer’s story telling. To say that I am excited would be a vast understatement. I’m not entirely sure where I fit into the Twilight fan world, avid reader, obsessed Twilight mom, movie lover but one thing is for sure, I am a fan and I’m ready to be dazzled again by the world created by Stephenie Meyer. Just two more days. I am sure in three more days I will wish for even more Twilight books.

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.

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?

First of all Hollywood Bar and Grill food was fantastic, my burger was cooked to order and fries were seasoned perfectly.  Also, my wife’s ham and pineapple pizza was great and portions for both were adequate for the price.  That being said, don’t head off to this grill looking for a lot of choices.  They have plenty of apetizers, but lack in the main course arena of variety.  Lastly, we showed up about 6:00 and were 1 of about 6 people, not couples, but individuals.

The bar tender and waitress were both very friendly and these were the only ones we ran into.  I’m assuming there was a cook in the back, but never did he poke his head out to see if anyone was still there.  And unlike another Evansville Hollywood Bar and Grill restaurant review, I did not see any signs for employee eyes only.

Had our Harry Potter movie not been starting at 7:00 my wife and I would have chilled out with some more beers and listened to the live band.  Every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Eastside Hollywood Bar and Grill they have live music and last nights was Common Ground.

For more information on Hollywood Bar and Grill visit their website, which is part of Showplace Cinemas.

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.

It’s obvious that great articles about Evansville will be published here, mainly due to the sites impressive list of contributors.  Looks like experts on night life, legal studies, and even an MD contributing to the Health of Evansville.

Admittedly I don’t get out as much as I would like, mainly because I’m a new father.  But thanks to the Intelligencer’s articles I can pick and choose, spending my free time wisely.  However, as for the politics side of things, we may be on opposite sides of the fence.  So I’ll tread lightly on upcoming comments and reviews.

Good luck on the site Joshua, Jessica, Anne, and Kelley!