Hooters - Polaris

So a few coworkers wanted to go to Hooters a while back. We went the Friday of the "Blizzard of '08". Three girls rode in one car (we got there first), and the straight guy and a girl and guy (who celebrate an alternative lifestyle) were in the other car which arrived second. The three of us girls walked into the restaurant filled with orange shorted girls and every blue-collar male worker in a 15-mile radius. I swear as we were being seated the music screeched to a stop and every eye in the place was on us. I have never been a huge fan of Hooters' food, but can't really pass up a chance to go to someplace know for their cheesiness. The service was excellent and the food was predictably breaded and fried. We all got "lunch punch" cards and figured we could make this a regular thing. Fast forward a few weeks to today. We went today to the same Hooters. It seemed less skeevy than the first time, but unfortunately the menu was the same. I would like a show of hands of who has ordered oysters at a Hooters and lived to tell about it.... anyone?... That is what I thought. Anyway, the girl brought our 5 of 6 of our plates. 15 minutes later, the one plate still wasn't out. Someone ordered dessert. Finally the dessert and the chicken tenders/fries came out. Anyway, two hours later, we were heading back to work. If its up to me...Hooters - Polaris is on "the list" due to service and food.

Gallos Tap Room - Bethel Road

I have been frequenting Gallos Tap Room on Bethel for a few weeks now. They are sponsoring a volleyball team I have been playing with. We go there after the game to celebrate or drown our sorrows. They have alot of televisions, pool tables but the place is pretty small. The beer menu is nicely eclectic as well as the food menu. They may have the best tasting Blue Moon on tap. I had burnt myself out on Blue Moon last summer, but got one at Gallos that was really good. I consider myself a connoisseur of grilled cheese sandwiches. You might as well know that typically I am a purist... cheese and bread. I don't like my grilled cheeses muddled up with tomato or bacon. However I will add a few pieces of ham once in a while. Back to Gallos, they have the BEST grilled cheese sandwich I have ever had at a restaurant. It is crusty bread grilled panini-style with cheddar and provolone. With a side of their granny smith cole slaw, it is even better! I am a fan of Gallo's. I would probably avoid it during any sort of OSU sporting event.. even the semi-final NIT game packed the bar. Definitely a great little hang-out!

Max & Ermas - Polaris

Max & Ermas and I have gone way back. I have had good experiences and bad experiences and we still eat there quite frequently because typically its a predictable experience. Once in a while our service etc is so bad that we put a location on "the list". "The list" is of places we will never go back to. We have at least one location on "the list" right now: Henderson Road. We actually stood at the front desk waiting on someone to seat us or even acknowledge we were there for 5 mins. The Polaris location has always been a predictable experience. Nothing spectacular, but not bad either.

Waffle House - Polaris Parkway

Before I get started on this post, I need you to know that I was at this Waffle House at 3am on Saturday morning and may have been ingesting alcohol-filled drinks earlier in the evening. I had only been to the Waffle House one other time in my life, 22 years ago. After that first trip to the Waffle House, when I was in the 4th grade, I vowed to never go back. I can only blame myself for being weak at 3am and allowing my vodka-impaired brain to let the words, "Okay, I'll go to the Waffle House," fly out of my mouth. Enough history and excuses, on to the review. The House was busy at 3am, but we sat ourselves right away. After perusing the menu for a few minutes, the four of us ordered enough food to feed eight people. I went the safe route and ordered a grilled cheese. How can you screw up a grilled cheese, right? And for $1.90, I was satisfied with my choice. It was nice and buttery/salty/cheesy and really hit the spot. My friends ordered breakfast food: waffles, eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns and grits. The food came out at all different times, which was strange. The grits came out first, more than a few minutes earlier than anything else. The only complaints I heard was that the bacon was extremely salty, and I can attest to this since I tasted it after being asked to about one-hundred times. When it came to paying the bill, I had to pay with a credit card. The phone line and the credit card processor were on the same line. The credit card processing would stop when the phone rang (which oddly happened a lot in the middle of the night), so it took a little longer to pay with a card. All in all, it was decent food for a 3am, alcohol-induced visit. I don't know if I would ever go there during the day.

Clancey's Pub - Delaware

I went to Clancey's Pub in Delaware to take in some live music and have a few drinks with friends on Friday. The band, Three Ton Toad, was set to start at 10pm so we arrived around 9:30. It was all on-street parking, but we found a spot pretty easily. There was not a lot of people in the bar yet, maybe 20 at the most. We headed to the bar to place an order and noticed that there was only one bartender working. I could foresee this being a problem when and if the bar picked up. The bartender was not particularly fast when the bar was mostly empty so she was definitely going to be a problem later. Anyway, the music was good and we didn't have to pay a cover, but I wouldn't stray from a beer or easy-to-mix cocktail because they don't have many liquor options from what I could see. I mistakenly ordered a margarita on the rocks, and they used table salt to salt my glass. I switched over to vodka and 7Up because I figured it was less difficult to screw up. A friend of mine ordered an apple martini that was VERY strong, but another friend's Amaretto Sour was downright awful. I didn't get carded when ordering any of my alcohol-laden drinks, which sadly has been happening a lot in the last few years, but a friend of mine was carded when ordering a Coke. There was a fair amount of advertising around the bar for "the first shot made for two people," the suck and blow shot. We vowed to order one later in the night and promptly forgot to...hmm, maybe next time. The bar is evidently an 18+ bar because a large handful of Ohio Northern students began filtering in at about 11pm, and most of them had large x's on their hands. It was generally a fun bar, but the clientele before 10pm and after 10pm is very different. Outside of the live music, they do have a few pool tables, pinball and arcade games if that interests you. I don't spend a lot of time in Delaware, but I would probably go back to this bar only if I knew that my friends' band was playing there.

Murphy McFlips - Polaris Parkway

So I visited my local Murphy McFlips tavern on Thursday late afternoon. While they don't have any spectacular happy hour specials, they did satisfy the thirsts of my coworkers. They have your "normal" selection of domestics on tap and the bartender on hand Thursday, Monica, makes a strong cocktail. The bar isn't all that large, so they don't really have servers. The bartender did try to attend to our group until the bar got alittle busier and she couldn't get out to take our orders. She was the only one working. McFlips has a Irish theme, but outside of some leftover St. Patrick's Day decorations, you wouldn't know it. If you are into games, they have darts, pool and foosball, and if you are a smoker, they do have a nice patio. I noticed a juke box, but didn't get a chance to see what was on it besides the classic rock that kept playing. They didn't serve food from what we could tell, but there is a pizza joint next door. All in all, I would go back.

Introduction

My name is Carie and I have bad restaurant mojo. The idea for this blog came from a visit to an Applebee's in Cincinnati, Ohio. After a mediocre experience, my husband and I joked about how the server would respond if we told her our experience that night was, "predictable." We didn't know back then that I attract the worst service, seating and sometimes even food when we go out to eat. So I have wanted to do a blog for quite a while where I can write about my experiences at restaurants whether good or bad. I have since moved to Columbus, Ohio. I am married and have a fun group of friends that we go out for dinner with quite often. Whether its just me and my husband, or a group of 6-8 of us, if I am at the table, we have a higher chance of something going horribly wrong at the restaurant. Seriously... its becoming quite a joke among the group. Columbus, Ohio is full of chain restaurants, so we go to mostly mid-priced chain restaurants. I will do my best to be as detailed as possible about my experiences. Thanks for reading and come back soon.