I'm not sure if I PSA'ed about a BS IRS phone scam right after tax day last year, but, it appears we have another round. Read what I cut from David J. a Lead Investigator for a web site called scamcallfighters.com. I'm not endorsing them. They just came up when I searched the number. You should make a habit of that before you return a call. The gist is that the call (like the one in April saying the IRS is suing you) is BS. I hope this alleviates anxiety.
The web page where I found the info below is http://www.scamcallfighters.com/scam-call-6465696913-IRS-SCAM--FOREIGNERS-STATING-IRS-IS-SUING-US--To-Call-646-569-6913-Tax-Scam-37250.html. The message I received didn't adhere to this script (probably adjusting it). The beginning was garbled, but, they said "someone filed a lawsuit (sounded like IRS) in my name and I must respond before it went before the local county court". If it was the IRS they used as the imaginary litigant then it would be a tip off that they think they use county courts to conduct their business. Plus it would be weird to say a lawsuit was filed in my name. That makes it sound like a proxy/agent filed a suit for me. A person with legal expertise would say a lawsuit was filed against you. Although you can't always count on proper grammar and vocabulary from legal professionals or bloggers.
Explaining the scam:
The pre-recorded message is a scam. The message is left by automated dialers set up by scammers in India & other foreign locations. The computers are programmed to call thousands of numbers everyday, to leave these threatening messages.
When you call back, you will encounter one of those Indian or other foreign scumbags who speak poor English! Recent immigrants and seniors are their primary target.
(On 15th Sept 2015, an Indian woman and her boy friend were arrested by Leonia PD for making scam phone calls posing as IRS agents and stealing ~$150,000 from innocent tax payers. More Details: www.scamcallfighters.com/Transcript-of-Ten--IRS-scam--voicemails-submitted-by-users--Did-you-get-one-too--blog-74.html )
The IRS will never call anyone “out of the blue” and ask to pay. IRS will send notices through regular mail.
The IRS will always send written notice through the U.S. postal system of any taxes due, and will never ask for credit, debit or prepaid card details by any form of communication
For more info on this scam and links to file complaints with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, please go through the Article at:
www.scamcallfighters.com/Dont-fall-for-voicemails-purportedly-from-the-IRS-about-to-sue-or-arrest-you--blog-75.html
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Friday, January 29, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Chutneys, Sand Lake Rd - Closed
I grabbed dinner to go at this Indian restaurant on Saturday. It replaced Lolailo (thanks for saying you weren't caput all summer when you were) four months ago. That's the strip mall on Turkey Lake Rd that has the new PGA Superstore and I think Gold's Gym. It seems to be a chain in India. The owner says he owns a couple of them there. It doesn't feel like a chain at all. They have a $10 buffet. It looked acceptable. 5 meat dishes. I had the Chicken Chettinad because I had never knowingly had it before. It was basically chicken cubes in a masala that showcased black pepper. It was good. I had it medium and that was pretty hot. It came with basmati rice. Good, It seats about eighty. It looks acceptable. They have a large mural of an elephant caravan on the wall. It still was serving a third full restaurant at three pm. The menu was solid. Most meat/vegetable/seafood groups. Even goat and lamb. Some Asian style dishes. Dosas. Prices were in line. I can't find much fault with my visit. I didn't forget to punctuate. They spell it that way.
Grub Crawl - Sand Lake Rd: Le Coq Au Vin Bistro and Urbain 40.
I had lunch at these two restaurants on Saturday. This was after my first, second and third choices were still not open or closed for lunch. I decided to review them together because they have similar menus and price points. One was disappointing and one was a surprise. The first is in the strip mall on Dr Phillips. The other is in the old Cantina Laredo spot in the Via Dellagio complex.
Le Coq Au Vin Bistro - This place replaced Bistro Clo Clo and you wouldn't know there was a change. And that is a bad thing. You can still expect a small, dull menu of "greatest hits". The one accomodation/deviation was a schnitzel. The worst thing they did was make me question whether the "real" Coq Au Vin was as good as I remembered or if I had subconscioully graded it on an "Orlando" curve all along. It has been at least ten years since I have last gone to it. Maybe it's not so great either? Maybe it was just "recommended" when the Orlando food scene was primordial? They say that this place has their old chef and is run by the family. Hopefully, he was sleeping off a hang over and his retarded cousin cooked for me. I had their fish special for $14. As I said, the rest of the menu is about as creative as any music made by Millenials (when they aren't straight up ripping off copyrighted material). And it's expensive for what they offer. The fish was grouper and on the plus side it was grouper. I think they "borrowed" a recipe for deep water flat fish like tile fish or monk fish and used grouper. It must be plentiful this year because I have seen it on way too many menus lately. The sauce was a tomato, beurre blanc. It was congealed on the fish. How one manages to congeal a sauce on a warm fish still dumbfounds me. The fish was sauteed properly, but, it was leaking water/fish juice. I can only surmise that it was frozen and it hadn't defrosted completely before they cooked it. The "juice" did not help the tomato "paste" on top. And that paste tasted of white wine that hadn't had the alcohol burned off. Fail. In concept and execution. It came with great french fries. Maybe the fish guy beat the fry guy to the pass and that is why the sauce congealed. I should have anticipated a poor entree after I tasted their bread. It did not seem home made or fresh or good. The butter was a complete insult. It was frozen solid and tasted rancid and/or of the other things it spent the night in the freezer with. And that's if it wasn't melted down from previous meals and reused. They also did not refill a $3 soda. They didn't do anything to the interior. They have been open for four months. There were four other tables eating while I was there. I heard grumblings. They said the manager just left. I wonder if that is a sign. Maybe the rats are already leaving the ship. Maybe he/she was responsible for this mess. This sentiment was made all the worse thanks to an article in the Orlando Weekly that I was reading at the time. It directed me to the next place I'll write about
Urbain 40 - They have been open for half the time and already have their shit together. Even for a meal requested after the expected time window. The place is the domain of a Moroccan family that has some bigger "concerns" in CF. I forget what they are. They say the place is an American bistro (or something like that), but, it's really more of a Parisian bistro you would have found in Morocco or a Moroccan/North African influenced bistro in Paris. You could throw in LA, Palm Beach, Miami or NYC too. The decor reminds me of Trader Vic's (less Tiki) or The Palm ( the originals). Someplace that my grand parents would take us to because it was "in" when they were young and had managed to survive. It's probably the palm tree patterns above the booths. I think they just say "American" because it's not totally French and they think anything Arab sounding would die on the vine. The article said the place looks posh and it does. I would recommend that they separate the two rooms (lounge and dining room) because you get the ass view of the bar (the staging area) if you're on the kitchen side of the dining area. Plus the decors of the two rooms are different enough as to clash. The dining area seats about 50. They have sooo much space free space that you could probably bring your wife and mistress to dinner at the same time. Half "booths" dominate the walls. They even have little corner booths in the middle of the room. I love the chandeliers. That's all I'll say. See them yourselves. The walls are a medium toned stained wood. The vibe is supposed to be the 40's. I think that makes it Art Deco even though this looked more Art Nouveau. I may have that confused. The kitchen is all white tile. It is open. They have a chef's table. The lounge is all wood and has a piano and tributes to Sinatra. It seats about fifty. They are going for a vintage "men's club" vibe. They sell a lot of brown liquor (as Steve Harvey would say). They have two private room done up as libraries. The menu was mostly French at lunch. They add more Italian and seafood/raw bar items at dinner. Prices were reasonable. I had a "lunch box" of three items (can do four) for $14. I chose French Onion Soup, Half a Croque Monsieur and Peanut Butter Chocolate Petit Fours/Squares. The soup was tasty. A cup that was more than enough. It came with everything it was supposed to come with. The ingredients weren't cheap. The presentation/cup was elegant. The Croque was beautiful. Dali couldn't have melted the cheese over the sandwich with more elan. The flavors were impressive as well. A regal ham and cheese. The dessert was also delicious. Two squares of delectable chocolate. ET's finger would have squirted green spuge over these "Pieces". The bread was excellent and home made. It was still warm. The butter was soft and didn't taste like stale fish. Service was great. Knowledgeable. Helpful. Dressed professionally. I saw a "fajita" style Mussels plate come out twice. That looked like a winner. They played Forties era music/covers by new artist's like Michael Buble. I had the "rape song" (Baby It's Cold Outside) in my head the rest of the afternoon. I thoroughly recommend this place. It's everything that Le Coq Au Vin could be and everything it could never be. It's not even a question of where you should spend your money. They don't even break the $3 mark on soda.
Le Coq Au Vin Bistro - This place replaced Bistro Clo Clo and you wouldn't know there was a change. And that is a bad thing. You can still expect a small, dull menu of "greatest hits". The one accomodation/deviation was a schnitzel. The worst thing they did was make me question whether the "real" Coq Au Vin was as good as I remembered or if I had subconscioully graded it on an "Orlando" curve all along. It has been at least ten years since I have last gone to it. Maybe it's not so great either? Maybe it was just "recommended" when the Orlando food scene was primordial? They say that this place has their old chef and is run by the family. Hopefully, he was sleeping off a hang over and his retarded cousin cooked for me. I had their fish special for $14. As I said, the rest of the menu is about as creative as any music made by Millenials (when they aren't straight up ripping off copyrighted material). And it's expensive for what they offer. The fish was grouper and on the plus side it was grouper. I think they "borrowed" a recipe for deep water flat fish like tile fish or monk fish and used grouper. It must be plentiful this year because I have seen it on way too many menus lately. The sauce was a tomato, beurre blanc. It was congealed on the fish. How one manages to congeal a sauce on a warm fish still dumbfounds me. The fish was sauteed properly, but, it was leaking water/fish juice. I can only surmise that it was frozen and it hadn't defrosted completely before they cooked it. The "juice" did not help the tomato "paste" on top. And that paste tasted of white wine that hadn't had the alcohol burned off. Fail. In concept and execution. It came with great french fries. Maybe the fish guy beat the fry guy to the pass and that is why the sauce congealed. I should have anticipated a poor entree after I tasted their bread. It did not seem home made or fresh or good. The butter was a complete insult. It was frozen solid and tasted rancid and/or of the other things it spent the night in the freezer with. And that's if it wasn't melted down from previous meals and reused. They also did not refill a $3 soda. They didn't do anything to the interior. They have been open for four months. There were four other tables eating while I was there. I heard grumblings. They said the manager just left. I wonder if that is a sign. Maybe the rats are already leaving the ship. Maybe he/she was responsible for this mess. This sentiment was made all the worse thanks to an article in the Orlando Weekly that I was reading at the time. It directed me to the next place I'll write about
Urbain 40 - They have been open for half the time and already have their shit together. Even for a meal requested after the expected time window. The place is the domain of a Moroccan family that has some bigger "concerns" in CF. I forget what they are. They say the place is an American bistro (or something like that), but, it's really more of a Parisian bistro you would have found in Morocco or a Moroccan/North African influenced bistro in Paris. You could throw in LA, Palm Beach, Miami or NYC too. The decor reminds me of Trader Vic's (less Tiki) or The Palm ( the originals). Someplace that my grand parents would take us to because it was "in" when they were young and had managed to survive. It's probably the palm tree patterns above the booths. I think they just say "American" because it's not totally French and they think anything Arab sounding would die on the vine. The article said the place looks posh and it does. I would recommend that they separate the two rooms (lounge and dining room) because you get the ass view of the bar (the staging area) if you're on the kitchen side of the dining area. Plus the decors of the two rooms are different enough as to clash. The dining area seats about 50. They have sooo much space free space that you could probably bring your wife and mistress to dinner at the same time. Half "booths" dominate the walls. They even have little corner booths in the middle of the room. I love the chandeliers. That's all I'll say. See them yourselves. The walls are a medium toned stained wood. The vibe is supposed to be the 40's. I think that makes it Art Deco even though this looked more Art Nouveau. I may have that confused. The kitchen is all white tile. It is open. They have a chef's table. The lounge is all wood and has a piano and tributes to Sinatra. It seats about fifty. They are going for a vintage "men's club" vibe. They sell a lot of brown liquor (as Steve Harvey would say). They have two private room done up as libraries. The menu was mostly French at lunch. They add more Italian and seafood/raw bar items at dinner. Prices were reasonable. I had a "lunch box" of three items (can do four) for $14. I chose French Onion Soup, Half a Croque Monsieur and Peanut Butter Chocolate Petit Fours/Squares. The soup was tasty. A cup that was more than enough. It came with everything it was supposed to come with. The ingredients weren't cheap. The presentation/cup was elegant. The Croque was beautiful. Dali couldn't have melted the cheese over the sandwich with more elan. The flavors were impressive as well. A regal ham and cheese. The dessert was also delicious. Two squares of delectable chocolate. ET's finger would have squirted green spuge over these "Pieces". The bread was excellent and home made. It was still warm. The butter was soft and didn't taste like stale fish. Service was great. Knowledgeable. Helpful. Dressed professionally. I saw a "fajita" style Mussels plate come out twice. That looked like a winner. They played Forties era music/covers by new artist's like Michael Buble. I had the "rape song" (Baby It's Cold Outside) in my head the rest of the afternoon. I thoroughly recommend this place. It's everything that Le Coq Au Vin could be and everything it could never be. It's not even a question of where you should spend your money. They don't even break the $3 mark on soda.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Sazoncito, OIA
I stopped at this Dominican spot in the mall with a Walmart and across from Joe's Crab Shack on 436 last Wednesday night. And let me tell you, it isn't a great idea to eat a softball of shredded beef after a Roast Beef sandwich at Jersey Mike's and then take three, over night flights to the Galapagos Islands. It was like having a Rube Goldberg Machine (think of the beginning of Elementary) in my intestines that ended with something similar to when you squeeze a tennis ball can hard so that it launches a tennis ball into the air (or in this case a bowl). As you can guess, I had some shredded beef. It was a toss in to the roast chicken platter I ordered. The place was closing and I offered to take the remaining scraps of beef in place of my two sides and at the platter price. He didn't hear me correctly and gave me two sides in addition. The platter cost $6. I think the regular price of the chicken platter was like $3. Something ridiculously low. The sides were a mountain of white rice (the portion I ate really helped the digestive dilemma I created) and beans. I didn't dare add beans to the mixture because I knew I had created a problem for myself and didn't want to add potential energy that would become kinetic in mid-flight . The beef and chicken was good. The beef was stewed with peppers, etc. The chicken was probably better earlier on. The meat was a little dry and the skin was getting soggy. The piece was big. The rice was moist with a buttery flavor. They serve "platos" with thirty three listed items. I don't think they are all available all the time. They range from lasagna to chuletas. They also have salads and desserts and apps (ie empanadas). The place is small. It isn't going to be featured in Architectural Digest, but, it is clean. They closed at 8pm. The owner says he is going to start opening earlier in the morning. They list it as open at 9am now. They have been open for ten months.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Grub/Pub Crawl - I Drive: Ramos Trattoria, Naru Sushi (Closed) and Ice Bar Orlando (Closed)
I went to these spots on I Drive on Saturday night. The first is off Kirkman in that strip mall that houses Boi. The next is at the edge of the development around the Ferris wheel. The last is a little farther down the street.
Ramos Trattoria - I've rued the day I had to revisit this spot. It was most recently Big Italy. It was bought by the Boi people and they opened your basic Italian restaurant there. They did next to nothing to the place. And it's disordered/messy. After viewing the banal menu and seeing the dearth of customers (zero tables when I entered and two when I left), I decided to just get a pizza to go. Believe me, if I didn't have a stick up my ass about giving everyone a fair chance to impress me, I would have just walked out and told you not tto bother. The cheapest pizzas started at $12. And this gets you a Frisbee sized pie. I'm so glad I cut my losses. The pizza was ok. I'll stipulate to that. Thick though. It came with sausage that I was burping up the next morning. There is little Brazilian influence on the menu. Maybe that's a plus from what I've seen them do to Italian recipes. I think the one thing was the pot luck pizza they call a Portuguese. It has crap like corn on it. Totally gross. It was almost $20 for the small. The pastas and few meat items are "greatest hits". They all were near $20. This place is overpriced, underwhelming and probably not long for this world. It (like alot of places down here now) exists to pray on Brazilian families. Who have to be the most frivolous spenders on the planet. You are not that stupid or irresponsible, so, avoid this place. What is worst is that they are only open for dinner. There is no way to challenge my sentiments without costing you your date night. I think they have been there for a year.
Naru Sushi - This place just opened up around a month ago. It was my plan b going in. Another one to just get off my list. It turned out be other other side of the karmic coin. I had some really good salmon sashimi and good tuna sashimi for $7 a pop. 5 huge slices carved correctly. I also had some salmon, octopus and tuna sushi (two pieces for $3.95 and $3.50 respectively). They were equally good. The first round's rice was worse than the second so, I'm not sure which you will get. Service was good. The place looks new. The liquor selection was good. The menu is a little limited in the fish department and it is peculiar. I say peculiar in that (for example) they have some selections that are named by state (ie Oregon) that have zero correlation to the name. It's not like the fish come from there or anything. They also have alot of hot Japanese items. The place is divided into three rooms. There is a sushi bar room, a main room and a bar. I sat at the bar. The main room was full of Brazilian families. Man they drag those urchins out at all hours. The other room is oddly/sparsely tabled, so, it seemed emptier. No one at the sushi bar. This place is also run by Brazilians. The menu evinces almost no reflection of that. As long as they will keep buying quality fish and serving in these quantities, then I can give it the thumbs up. They also have outdoor seating.
Ice Bar - I finally checked out this bar with an ice bar within. It costs $16 to get into the inner sanctum. It's fine. I've been in others in Sweden and Finland. They bring in blocks of ice and make a fort. You know the drill. Drinks were not included. They ran around $6. They are served in an ice glass that you can smash. They provide a parka or a fur coat (extra $). The main club is your usual lounge type club. It's modern. There was some crowd there. Maxim density was not reached. It's a goof. A cheap thrill. Young crowd.
Ramos Trattoria - I've rued the day I had to revisit this spot. It was most recently Big Italy. It was bought by the Boi people and they opened your basic Italian restaurant there. They did next to nothing to the place. And it's disordered/messy. After viewing the banal menu and seeing the dearth of customers (zero tables when I entered and two when I left), I decided to just get a pizza to go. Believe me, if I didn't have a stick up my ass about giving everyone a fair chance to impress me, I would have just walked out and told you not tto bother. The cheapest pizzas started at $12. And this gets you a Frisbee sized pie. I'm so glad I cut my losses. The pizza was ok. I'll stipulate to that. Thick though. It came with sausage that I was burping up the next morning. There is little Brazilian influence on the menu. Maybe that's a plus from what I've seen them do to Italian recipes. I think the one thing was the pot luck pizza they call a Portuguese. It has crap like corn on it. Totally gross. It was almost $20 for the small. The pastas and few meat items are "greatest hits". They all were near $20. This place is overpriced, underwhelming and probably not long for this world. It (like alot of places down here now) exists to pray on Brazilian families. Who have to be the most frivolous spenders on the planet. You are not that stupid or irresponsible, so, avoid this place. What is worst is that they are only open for dinner. There is no way to challenge my sentiments without costing you your date night. I think they have been there for a year.
Naru Sushi - This place just opened up around a month ago. It was my plan b going in. Another one to just get off my list. It turned out be other other side of the karmic coin. I had some really good salmon sashimi and good tuna sashimi for $7 a pop. 5 huge slices carved correctly. I also had some salmon, octopus and tuna sushi (two pieces for $3.95 and $3.50 respectively). They were equally good. The first round's rice was worse than the second so, I'm not sure which you will get. Service was good. The place looks new. The liquor selection was good. The menu is a little limited in the fish department and it is peculiar. I say peculiar in that (for example) they have some selections that are named by state (ie Oregon) that have zero correlation to the name. It's not like the fish come from there or anything. They also have alot of hot Japanese items. The place is divided into three rooms. There is a sushi bar room, a main room and a bar. I sat at the bar. The main room was full of Brazilian families. Man they drag those urchins out at all hours. The other room is oddly/sparsely tabled, so, it seemed emptier. No one at the sushi bar. This place is also run by Brazilians. The menu evinces almost no reflection of that. As long as they will keep buying quality fish and serving in these quantities, then I can give it the thumbs up. They also have outdoor seating.
Ice Bar - I finally checked out this bar with an ice bar within. It costs $16 to get into the inner sanctum. It's fine. I've been in others in Sweden and Finland. They bring in blocks of ice and make a fort. You know the drill. Drinks were not included. They ran around $6. They are served in an ice glass that you can smash. They provide a parka or a fur coat (extra $). The main club is your usual lounge type club. It's modern. There was some crowd there. Maxim density was not reached. It's a goof. A cheap thrill. Young crowd.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Grub Crawl - Altamonte Springs: Venus Pizzeria (Closed) and Metro Diner
I stopped by these two places on 434 near Lake Brantley HS during the day on Monday. They say this is Altamonte. I say Longwood.
Venus Pizzeria - They have eluded my gaze for what seems to be two years. They are behind a 7-11 on the road to the high school. Another pizzeria used to be across the street. Now that building is under construction. Nor sure if there is a correlation. This place serves pizza, wings, heros, salads, calzones, stromboli, and eight pasta dishes. It is decorated in Lake Brantley HS sports gear. They have lots of specials (ie $1 slices on Wed). I had their $5 pizza special (2 and a soda and 2 knots) because this was just a service call. As such, I didn't really investigate how they do pizza. The crust was weird. I'm not sure if this is an Easy Bake Oven (conveyor belts) kind of place or they don't produce/proof the dough correctly, but, it didn't taste as good as it looked. And they speed in which it (a new pie) was delivered made my wonder in retrospect. Nothing terrible. It was very thin and the cheese/sauce was good. Just nothing compelling. So - good value and acceptable pizza. They have seating. Parking is very limited. They seemed nice.
Metro Diner - I came down here for this new tenant in the old Friendly's/Carmel's spot. I saw a big line here last week. The staff was commenting on the lunch rush when I pulled in. It seems I just escaped it. The place was still quite full. It's a branch of a mini dynasty that started in Jacksonville. It's a soul food type southern diner. I tried to be as experimental and extensive as possible with my order. If it wasn't for you people then I probably would have just had a burger. I tried the eggs benedict Surf and Turf and grabbed a fried chicken biscuit to go. The eggs cost $14 and came with a huge pile (half a long plate) of slightly undercooked hash browns. The eggs were also slightly underdone. I figure that because of these lunch rushes that the staff is either exhausted by the time they can concentrate on the dishes or too out of practice by then. The hollandaise wasn't bad. I can't really say what it was because it was overwhelmed by the crab/steak. The crab cake was ok. I've never really had a good one and I wasn't expecting that drought to end here. It was better than I expected and not a bad combo with the eggs. The steak was the same deal. I wasn't really expecting a quality cut. As it was, it had the ring of fat you see in a rib eye. I would be surprised if it was though. The biscuit ( I tried it because they crow about their chicken) cost $3.59. That is a really good price. The chicken was way more than the finger they describe it as. It was a nice piece of shoulder or thigh (probably shoulder since it was all white meat and no bone). It was fried right. They don't adulterate the taste with any spices. The biscuit was also good (and big). The rest of the menu is familiar. Waffles, pancakes, omelets, meatloaf, etc. If I hadn't had a Stouffer's Chicken Pot Pie the night before, I would have ordered that. It was a steal at around $8 and the one I saw coming out of the kitchen looked good. Most things are under $10. I think they top out at $15. A soda was just over $2. The pricing is all over the place though. Some things are cheaper than you'd expect and vica-verca (ie breakfast sandwich was also only $3.59). The place looks ok. I would hide the soda/coffee/prep area that is visible from almost every seat in the house and an eyesore. They have a quasi-separate room. It seats around sixty. They have a counter. They have alot of staff. Mine was conscientious if a little obsequious. I guess it's a good sign when they appear desperate to have your approval/business. They have been open for a month. I suspect they will be clogging arteries around here for a while. Just what the public wants but doesn't need.
Venus Pizzeria - They have eluded my gaze for what seems to be two years. They are behind a 7-11 on the road to the high school. Another pizzeria used to be across the street. Now that building is under construction. Nor sure if there is a correlation. This place serves pizza, wings, heros, salads, calzones, stromboli, and eight pasta dishes. It is decorated in Lake Brantley HS sports gear. They have lots of specials (ie $1 slices on Wed). I had their $5 pizza special (2 and a soda and 2 knots) because this was just a service call. As such, I didn't really investigate how they do pizza. The crust was weird. I'm not sure if this is an Easy Bake Oven (conveyor belts) kind of place or they don't produce/proof the dough correctly, but, it didn't taste as good as it looked. And they speed in which it (a new pie) was delivered made my wonder in retrospect. Nothing terrible. It was very thin and the cheese/sauce was good. Just nothing compelling. So - good value and acceptable pizza. They have seating. Parking is very limited. They seemed nice.
Metro Diner - I came down here for this new tenant in the old Friendly's/Carmel's spot. I saw a big line here last week. The staff was commenting on the lunch rush when I pulled in. It seems I just escaped it. The place was still quite full. It's a branch of a mini dynasty that started in Jacksonville. It's a soul food type southern diner. I tried to be as experimental and extensive as possible with my order. If it wasn't for you people then I probably would have just had a burger. I tried the eggs benedict Surf and Turf and grabbed a fried chicken biscuit to go. The eggs cost $14 and came with a huge pile (half a long plate) of slightly undercooked hash browns. The eggs were also slightly underdone. I figure that because of these lunch rushes that the staff is either exhausted by the time they can concentrate on the dishes or too out of practice by then. The hollandaise wasn't bad. I can't really say what it was because it was overwhelmed by the crab/steak. The crab cake was ok. I've never really had a good one and I wasn't expecting that drought to end here. It was better than I expected and not a bad combo with the eggs. The steak was the same deal. I wasn't really expecting a quality cut. As it was, it had the ring of fat you see in a rib eye. I would be surprised if it was though. The biscuit ( I tried it because they crow about their chicken) cost $3.59. That is a really good price. The chicken was way more than the finger they describe it as. It was a nice piece of shoulder or thigh (probably shoulder since it was all white meat and no bone). It was fried right. They don't adulterate the taste with any spices. The biscuit was also good (and big). The rest of the menu is familiar. Waffles, pancakes, omelets, meatloaf, etc. If I hadn't had a Stouffer's Chicken Pot Pie the night before, I would have ordered that. It was a steal at around $8 and the one I saw coming out of the kitchen looked good. Most things are under $10. I think they top out at $15. A soda was just over $2. The pricing is all over the place though. Some things are cheaper than you'd expect and vica-verca (ie breakfast sandwich was also only $3.59). The place looks ok. I would hide the soda/coffee/prep area that is visible from almost every seat in the house and an eyesore. They have a quasi-separate room. It seats around sixty. They have a counter. They have alot of staff. Mine was conscientious if a little obsequious. I guess it's a good sign when they appear desperate to have your approval/business. They have been open for a month. I suspect they will be clogging arteries around here for a while. Just what the public wants but doesn't need.
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