First Impressions

Burrito Express has recently installed itself near the soon-to-close Superstition Mall Costco, in a strip-mall most known for a Baskin-Robbins and a mattress shop.

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Saturday night I was with my girlfriend looking for a place to eat within walking distance from the Hilton on Drinkwater.  We walked down to Stingray on Scottsdale Rd and the wait looked ridiculous.  I remembered seeing a new Sushi place right across the street from the Hilton so we walked back and checked it out.  “Pearl” is fairly small but comfortable.  The weather outside was beautiful, one of the last days here in Arizona when you can actually stand to be outside so we opted to be seated on the patio.  The hostess was friendly and seated us right away.  Instantly you could tell the place was new.  Our server came to the table and asked us whether we’d been there before.   We replied no and were given the 30 second sales pitch.  We ordered drinks and browsed the menu which has a few interesting items.  Instead of opting for the normal boring sushi we routinely order we tried the “Captain Crunch” which is basically a sweet potato version of california roll (but much better) and the “Tiki Torch” which frankly I wouldn’t recommend.   We didn’t sample all that much food at the restaurant but my girlfriend loved her strawberry-kiwi martini and my impression of the place was very positive and we left thinking we would definitely go back.

P.S. I can’t help but mention that their website is AWFUL. (Pearl if you’re reading this get help!)

I have been out to Papaya Thai once before and was relatively pleased, so last week when I heard that we were going there for lunch I was alright with that. I wasn’t particularly excited as I wasn’t completely in the mood for Thai food however I can never turn down a free meal. (more…)

I’ll admit, I was a little nervous to eat at another independent Asian food restaurant after the experience we had at the Oasian Noodle bar, but I surprisingly enjoyed it. (more…)

First Impressions

Papaya Thai recently opened in a corner of the Safeway centre at Lindsay and University, occupying a space that formerly held an unsuccessful diner, and before that, a fish restaurant primarily noteworthy for sometimes having a huge brass lobster in front.

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Alright, to be fair…I’ll start by saying this is a new restaurant. Every business goes through some hard times getting all the kinks worked out. Let’s just say, when we went to EJ’s…we experienced ALL the kinks. Let me start from the beginning…

First off, we walked into the restaurant and our eyes had to adjust slightly to the dimly lit ambiance. Ordinarily, I am quite a fan of romantically lit, quaint little places, but oddly, this place missed the mark. It seemed to just be depressing. That was probably glorified by the fact that it was silent. I think rule #1 of restaurant-ing, is to put some appropriate music on. When all you hear is the swinging of the kitchen door and the clanking of silverware on plates, your experience tends to suffer.

Next, we were greeted and the waitress rattled off the specials while we waited for our table to get ready. Seems standard. When we were seated however, we were jammed into 2 booths that were connected and it took us only a short time to split up into a third table that was way too far from the original group.

The menu, was standard for a steakhouse lunch place. Hot meat sandwiches, salads, and simple steak and chicken entrees. I was amazed to see a veggie wrap on the menu, so I made up my mind quickly.

This is where the fun began. I have to preface this with a little background. I used to be a waitress. I know the drill. I give servers a lot of room for error because I know how stressful the job can be. But one thing I never tolerate is rudeness. Our service can be summed up in one example: when we were asked for our order, the waiter asked someone to start that wasn’t ready yet. He said “oh, I need a minute, I’ll go last.” In most cases, the server would then proceed to take the remaining orders and return to the customer that needed the extra time to decide. That, however, was not the case at EJ’s. The waiter replied with “No. We go in an order, and you’re first.” I had to laugh a little from the ridiculousness of the statement. No? Isn’t this the service industry, sir?

Anyway, we made it eventually through the order and got our food, which came out in twos… and the orderer had to be reestablished…even though our waiter was very thorough to take the order in a certain way so as to avoid this problem. Maybe we threw a wrench in his system when we made him skip a line on his tablet and then go back to fill it in later.

The food was fine, average I guess. I rarely get excited about wraps, but that was all there was other than a salad for a veggo like me. The fries were pretty good actually, it’s been a while since I’ve received hot, fresh fries. I’m usually the lucky one that gets the bottom of the bin, where the fries are somehow colder on the inside then on the chewy outside. So that was a plus.

Other than that, I really have nothing to say. The place was…a little off. I wouldn’t go back, but there seemed to be a lot of regulars there, so maybe our service was sub-par because we were a group of 13, most of which were “Damned Youngins.” They probably expected us to stiff them…but I’m sure they never expected us to write terrible online reviews.

If your thinking about going to E.J.’s Steakhouse in Mesa, AZ stop! You will have better luck going across the street from E.J.’s to the Iowa Cafe where the food is, well, less than satisfactory however half the price of E.J’s. From the moment I walked in the door I knew this was going to get ugly. The restaurant looks like a funeral home to begin with. Now I know I said before that the Landmark restaurant (see earlier post) in Mesa, AZ looked like a funeral home as well but E.J.’s took it a step further. The entire restaurant was filled with awkward decor and the lighting was very low. (See photo below.) I was almost expecting Dracula do come out and serve us and the truth be told our waiter was too far off from Dracula. I’ll get to that in a minute.. (more…)

First Impressions

EJ’s restaurant recently opened in a new strip mall along McKellips drive, opposite the famous Iowa Cafe and a dismal-looking Chase branch. Inside is a surprisingly extensive decor effort– they’ve done the entire place with dark woods, dim magenta paint, and leather and velvet touches designed to make it look like an up-market steakhouse. The effect is dampened both by the neighbourhood and the fact it’s right next to their butcher-store department.

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As we head into the dimly lit crypt that they call EJ’s steakhouse the nervous waitress chatters on about the soup of the day and then panics when she hears the words: “party of 13″. (more…)

An outfit that is content with mediocrity. Not saying that I didn’t enjoy the rueben sandwich(pssstttt…….not that good anyway, I’m just a ravenous animal), but I wanted the damn thing with dark rye, that, ohhhhhhh byyyyyy theee wwwwaaaaayyyyy (always a chuckle when Thom Brennaman says that….when he “peter gammons” statistical anomalies….)was plainly written on the menu…that, “ohh yeah…we don’t serve rye, or sourdough anymore” …well then, take them off of the menu.

Our waiter quite frankly, was being a dick. Like ,(in an early american/stillhaven’tlostmyaccentBrit accent to go along with our attempt at a NeoClassic Roaring 20’s villa ambience) ” The patron to my right..MUST order first…I would rather have pack rats knaw at my gipper, while a half legged sailor ridden with scurvy, mistakes me for an hungarian whore, than to let the second patron to my right order beforrrrreeeeeeee…….

WWWWWWWW…….EEEEEEEEEEE……..AAAAAAAAAA…………..KKKKKKKKKKKKK….!!!!!!!!!….EJ, try again……….

also, they force you to sit in booths, which were undoubtedly designed to torture heretics back in the day…

C-