Posts
Well, I know we just did one of these, but I wanted to go ahead and describe a couple of recent ventures out to new places in the area.
We finally made it out to Tookie's Grill at Seaboard Station. "Meh" doesn't really do it justice. The food was just OK (unimpressive is probably more appropriate). Everything I had heard and read about it being overpriced was true. The wife and I split its world-famous (really?) chicken salad sandwich. We also got an order of fries ($1.50 for about 10 fries) and a water. The finally tally (after tip)? $9!
The other folks dining with us seemed equally unimpressed. One commented that it was perhaps the worst pimento cheese she had ever had, and another's chicken wings (ordered "hot") came out dry with not a speck of sauce on them.
In addition, the service was also bearable. When we were done with our meals, the waitress asked if we wanted desserts. We declined. She said she would bring us our checks, but if we wanted desserts, "that would be really great." (In her defense, she seemed really young.)
The good thing that Tookie's (aka, "Dookie's") has going for it is the space and the noise. There were 8 adults in our party and 3 kids under the age of 2. In fact, one of the parents there had tried every item on the menu, and had yet to find anything tasty or worth the price on it. However, his wife added, the place is convenient to us DTRers and is definitely child-friendly.
It's unfortunate; a grill like Tookie's could do well in the area. It could fill a niche. Unfortunately, that may be it's downfall: it doesn't have a ton of competition, so it doesn't have to give you great food and service at a great price.
At this point, we have no strong desire to go back until something changes.
Marbles opens
We did make it out with our little on to the brand-new, don't-call-us-Exploris children's museum, called Marbles, on Saturday morning for its grand opening. I never made it to the now-defunct Exploris, so I can't really compare the two, but I was quite pleased with Marbles.
The $5 entry fee per person seems reasonable, and $100 for a family for a year's membership isn't too high either. Especially when you consider that there's more than enough to keep kids busy for hours. Plus, they can do all their painting there instead of at your own house!
All in all, Marbles gets applause; Tookie's gets the Heisman (and not in the good way).
(Not to be a whiner, but I did have two complaints about the grand opening of Marbles. First, why announce a grand opening for 10 a.m., only to have people -- the majority of them wee little kids --- waitin outside until about 10:40? Children were getting fussy and restless by that point, and the line to get in stretched for a block or so.
Secondly, who on Earth thought it a good idea to hand our Marbles pennants -- hard plastic pennants on a wooden stick? Bad idea on that one. We ended up folding the sharp point of the pennant in under the stick to keep our daughter from poking her eye out.)
Monday, October 01, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Yep, you're spot-on with the Tookie's comments. I was disappointed, because we do need a good casual family place downtown. But the breakfast egg plate is the same that I can get down at Finch's for (easily) half the price. Oh well. I bet that rent is expensive.
Marbles was very cool and the $100 yearly membership is a great deal. I agree about the late opening being a bad idea, thought, I had to keep my kid from running into the street.
Went to Yancy's last night (for the second time). Other than a fairly lollygagging waitress, it was as wonderful time. It got the brisket sandwich, which was really good; wife got ribs (said there wasn't a ton of meat on them, but liked them nonetheless); dad got a good steak; but my mother got the Kickin' Chicken meal -- and said it was the best chicken she's ever had.
Post a Comment