Restaurants

This fast food restaraunt, founded by the Raffel brothers (RBs, get it?) in Ohio back in 1964 has taken a lot of flak over the years. A lot of jokes have been made at their expense, trying to claim that the food at Arby’s is of a lower quality than other places. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Any place can have an off day where you’ll get some old fries or a burger that looks like it’s been stepped on, but Arby’s consistently delivers more than most other fast food spots in my opinion. They have a MASSIVE menu, consisting of sandwiches, wraps, gyros, subs, 2 different kinds of fries and now their burgers have been made a permanent addition to the menu. They are more reasonably priced than a lot of other places, and it always seems as though there’s some kind of 2 for $5 deal going on. If you’ve never been to Arby’s or it’s been a while since you’ve gone, you need to go back. If you’re already a regular customer, then you already know what I’m saying here. Arby’s is good.

B Dubs has been around for a while and for a while I was hesitant to visit. The last few times I’d gone there it seemed like they just didn’t want my business. The feed was cold, the beer was warm and the vibe inside wasn’t very sporty. We recently had a power outage and decided to take a ride up the road to our local Buffalo Wild Wings and give them another try. We were pleasantly surprised. The menu (as is the case with most places) has evolved over time and it’s current offering is good, providing a lot of choices. I went with a burger and fries. The beer was cold and inexpensive, and there were a lot of options available. I could also get a $4 shot of Jameson, which was nice. The burger was very good (this being their hatch cili burger) but the fries were undercooked and soggy. Other members of my party had wings which were no surprise, good. The vibe inside had also gotten better. TVs were larger, brighter, and everything had some kind of game showing. Not that I don’t dislike Sponge Bob, but I want to see sports in a sports bar. Our server was nice and attentive. All in all, it was a good experience and I think we’ll go back again soon.

I haven’t been to Red Lobster in quite a while, so I was almost looking forward to going for a family get together recently. Having gone through some recent financial struggles, I was curious how the restaurant had changed and maybe updated its menu. To say that I was unimpressed would be an understatement. To start, their drink menu is sorely lacking. I tried their margarita flight which was a sample of three very different and interesting sounding drinks. Every one of them was unpleasant. I drank them (duh) but then settled on beer for the rest of the evening. Other people at the table also were not pleased with their drinks. The service also took a long time, for a place that was mostly empty. Everyone at the table tried something different so there were a mix of tastes. The fish and shrimp was just okay, anyone that got chicken said it was bad and someone got a burger and they enjoyed it. The best thing that I ate there was the side salad, which isn’t good when reviewing a seafood restaurant. Yes, the cheddar bay biscuits are still good, but they’re now about half the size they were about 10 years ago. You can also buy them in stores and make them at home. That’s all Red Lobster does well at this point and I think in another few years that’s all that will be left of them.