Restaurant Review: Cafe Allegro

There’s nothing better than Friday night date night.  Brad and I were starving after a long week and decided to go out to dinner. 

We had tried Cafe Allegro about a year ago after we first moved to the South Side.  The food was amazing but our server was terrible.  We sat there without wine from before our entrees were brought out until we finally flagged him down for the check.  Our appitizer and salad came out at the same time…very annoying especially at a nice restuarant.  But, the food was so delicious, we were willing to give it another try.

I started with their homemade white sangria.  It was fruity and refreshing…I just don’t think there was any alcohol it it.  After three glasses, I didn’t even feel a faint buzz.  Brad had the house cabernet and thought it was decent.

He tried the Allegro Salad and really liked it.  For dinner, he had the seafood stew dish and ate every bite of that.  Even the oysters, his least favorite type of seafood, were good…and gone.

I’m the type of person who finds a dish I like and then sticks with it.  The pasta I had previously was one of the best pasta dishes I’d ever had.  I immediately found it on the menu and couldn’t wait.  The second time around, the Pasta Del Sol didn’t dissappoint.  The sundried tomatoes had a really rich taste.  The cream sauce covered the penne noodles pefectly – I’m not a fan of tons of sauce.  It was a filling but very good meal.  Brad tried some and defintely agreed!

Our service this time was much better…exactly what you’d expect from a more upscale restaurant.  Our wine and water glasses were never empty, plates were promptly removed from the table and our server was friendly and helpful.

I’d give this experience four stars out of five.  We’ll definitely be back!

Restaurant Review: Cheesecake Factory

We found a way to get seated at the South Side Cheesecake Factory without waiting for two or three hours – show up right when they open.

After Friday night’s South Side bar tour, we were in the mood for lots of good food. So, Brad and I arrived to a mostly empty restaurant Saturday morning at around 11:15 am. I immediately ordered the factory nachos with spicy chicken when our waitress stopped by to get our drink orders. The diet cokes she brought had a strange taste to them, but I was on the dehydrated side, so I gulped mine down anyway.

The nachos came out rather quickly, which was nice, but I was very disappointed with them. There were tons of chips, but not nearly enough toppings for them. They need to double the amount of guacamole, sour cream and salsa that they give you…there were just too many plain chips left over at the end. The “spicy chicken” was a good addition, but its name is misleading – there was no spice to it whatsoever.

Brad went with the luau salad for his entree – mainly because it sounded somewhat healthy. He was not impressed with the salad though – it was drenched in way too much dressing , therefore defeating his healthy intentions.

I tried the new turkey pastrami reuben, and it was amazing! There was a ton of meat and the coleslaw was excellent. Brad tasted it and loved it, too. And, it came with french fries that were perfect – the were golden, cruncy on the outside, and soft on the inside and slightly salted.

The best part about our meal though was our server…I didn’t get her name, but she was nice, friendly and competent. My diet coke was refilled often, and she was really attentive. I tipped her 25% because that’s what you do when you have good service.

Overall, I’d give them 3.5 stars out of 5 – had we waited two hours for a table, I would have been really upset at the quality of the appetizer and Brad’s salad.

Restaurant Review – Folino’s Ristorante

Once I started to feel better after Saturday night’s girls night out fun, I started to crave food…and lots of it. The boyfriend, who is always hungry, suggested we have food delivered, but I needed a big, ice cold diet pepsi with my food. And since I haven’t grocery shopped in approximately one month, the only way I way I was going to get it was by venturing out.

I made myself somewhat presentable, and we walked up to Carson Street. We stopped at Fat Heads – mainly because they have awesome nachos – but the wait was 45 minutes, and that was just unnacceptable for my hunger and thirst state. So, we decided to try a new restaurant – Folino’s Ristorante.

We sat down, and it’s really cute inside with brightly painted walls, big paintings of Italian scenes and jazz music playing in the background. I ordered a diet pepsi (they were already doing well in my book as I prefer pepsi to coke!), and the boyfriend got a miller lite. The diet pepsi was amazingly good. There’s good diet pepsi, and there’s bad diet pepsi – and this was great.

For an appetizer, we had 10 buffalo hot wings – and the boyfriend and I both agreed that we hadn’t had such great wings in a long time. They were the perfect level of spice – hot but not so hot that you could only take one bite before tears started streaming down your face. The homemade ranch dressing was also really good.

I ordered the grilled chicken salad with ranch dressing, and when our waiter brought it out, I couldn’t believe how enormous it was. But, the salad didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The iceberg lettuce reminded me of the bagged lettuce we get from the grocery store – complete with the little carrots included in it. There were only about five french fries on the whole salad, and they weren’t great fries…they kind of tasted like the frozen kind that you make in the oven. The chicken was really good though – soft and very tasty. I ate as much as I could, and there was still a meal’s worth left to bring home.

The boyfriend decided to try the chicken marsala- one of his most favorite dishes. He loved the chicken and mushrooms – I tasted it, and their sauce was rich and delicious. It came with a side of mixed vegetables and pasta. The pasta was not so good. The penne noodles were soft and mushy, and I didn’t care for the bland marinara sauce…and neither did the boyfriend.

My biggest complaint was our waiter…he wasn’t totally terrible, but he wasn’t great either. He didn’t refill my diet pepsi until it had been empty for about five minutes and I asked him for more. He never asked if my boyfriend wanted another beer. That kind of stuff really irritates me…especially when I could see that he was only waiting on one other table.

All in all, it was a good dining out experience…I’d say three stars out of five, mainly because the food was good and the prices weren’t outrageous. Our entire dinner cost about $40.

Wine, Fridays…and more Wine

I love wine. Give me a glass (or three) of Riesling, and I’m usually a very happy girl. Or bubbly. Or strawberry flavored bubbly.

It’s been a hectic week. Non-stop meetings at work – so I really haven’t had time to get much work done – and unwinding from Gabby’s wedding weekend. Last night, I got home around 5pm, poured a glass of wine and just vegged with Bruin and my TV.

By the time the boyfriend got home from golf at 9pm, I was feeling great and ready for bed. And when I woke up this morning, I realized it’s Friday…what could be better?!

PRSA had an event today – Laura Ries spoke on the Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR. It was a really great event, and Laura was excellent. (She had amazing heels on that I want – she’s also totally polished, professional, smart and successful…I aspire to be that!)

This afternoon, I have a meeting with my boss (those are usually pretty fun), and I’m going to try and get a few things accomplished. And, then it’s the weekend. For the first time in awhile, I don’t have a jam-packed schedule to follow, and I’m loving it. I plan on just hanging out and doing whatever I feel like doing at the moment. Perhaps some shopping (I do need to buy Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea? for my book club). Definitely some quality time with Bruin and the boyfriend. Maybe I’ll get to see my sister.

And, there will definitely be wine!