Grownups seeking to discuss restaurants without bashing

[LovesWegmans]

Just wondered if anyone was interested in another civil forum to discuss restaurants in the area. We all like different things so it would be great if people could voice their opinions and not bash others for theirs.......just a thought.

[GvilleMomma]

Has anyone been to Zed's? I know someone mentioned going in another thread, but I don't recall seeing whether the food was good or not. We got a 20% off coupon in the mail, so we might give it a try.

[Gainesville Guy]

Yes I have been to Zeds. THe food was horrible and the service was just as bad.

[Gville20155]

We ate at Zed's about a month ago. Once we found the restaurant, we were the only customers! I was hesitant to go in because of this. They are in a terrible location. While I was pleased with the service I received, I was beyond annoyed with them trying to force expensive bottled water on us. We knew this going in from other reviews so we specified we want TAP water. Then she brings out the bottles... argh! Ok the food... I wasn't blown away by it. I loved the injera bread that you are suppose to scoop up your food with, but our meat entrees lacked sauce. We got Chicken Doro Watt and Beef Kaey Watt. I liked the flavors though. I don't know if the lack of sauce was just how this restaurant cooks the food or what since this was the first Ethiopian restaurant we have been too.

Side note, we are adopting an Ethiopian child so we were really curious about the food. I later made the same meal at home and my chicken doro watt was out of this world. However, it takes many hours to cook. The injera bread... well if Zed's stays open, I think I'll just buy theirs. I am looking forward to visiting the Dukem Restaurant in DC to see how they prepare the food.

[Gainesville Hokie]

I think someone is trying to post as Gainesville Guy. Looks like the troll is here too.

[Gainesville Guy]

Gainesville Hokie wrote:

I think someone is trying to post as Gainesville Guy. Looks like the troll is here too.

Funny.

[Gainesville Guy]

Congrats "Burke, VA Guy" (and your million other aliases, now even hijacking mine) you are disrupting the forums. That won't bring your house back though loser. A more deserving family lives there now.

Hope you make your rent this month: it's cold out there...

[Gainesville Guy]

Ooooh look at me. Trying to get more attention. I am so cool. Give me attention. Listen to me I know all. Im just the coolest of cools. ALl the women here adore me, love me, listen to me. I can not leave well enought alone. Im just a sad 400 lbs loser that can not step foot out his door because he is too heavy. I am the poster child of an Internet Warrior! RESPECT MY ATHORITAA !!! I am GAINESVILLE GUY !

[Oh for the love of]

Gaineville Guy can you actually not see how much of THE laughing stock you are here? This forum is just too great.:) I come here to get my daily laugh. I do not know if I should thank you or curse at you.

[Christine]

Throwing in my two cents... my husband and I went to Zeds and had a great experience. I've only had Ethiopian once before so I'm no expert - but the food was great and we'd go back. We also just recently tried Anothai. The food was great, but a little pricey. The shrimp appetizer was amazing and we just found out they deliver. I haven't tried any Mexican places around here, any recommendations?

[Vint Hill Guy]

Christine wrote:

Throwing in my two cents... my husband and I went to Zeds and had a great experience. I've only had Ethiopian once before so I'm no expert - but the food was great and we'd go back. We also just recently tried Anothai. The food was great, but a little pricey. The shrimp appetizer was amazing and we just found out they deliver. I haven't tried any Mexican places around here, any recommendations?

Well, there are a couple of decent ones around. The newest being El Vaquero West in Haymarket, I found the food there ok, my wife says the rita's were good though. I find El Tio in Gainesville and El Agave in Warrenton to be better food. My wife says Casa Chimayo in Manassas is very good also. Hope this helps.

[Iain B]

El Vaquero is great. We ate that for a second time this past weekend with my parents and their friends. All our entrees came out except my wife's cheese quesadilla which it looked like they forgot. It was out within minutes of asking and it was piping hot so it hadn't been sitting, they just made it on the spot.

We were surprised that, when we asked to see the menu for dessert the manager (I think he was the manager/owner) brought our table 2 of their fried ice creams on the house. They were fantastic. I ordered the flan and it tasted good, but it may have been a tad overcooked. Not a huge deal since it was still good.

We've eaten there twice and loved it both times.

We haven't tried El Tio yet, but plan to eventually. El Vaquero is just in a much more convenient location for us being in Haymarket.

[Vint Hill Guy]

Went to ATR last night. Hadn't been there in about a year and a half. I had gotten a gift certificate from Restaurant.com ,$25 for $2, so felt what have I got to lose. I have to say it wasn't bad. First off, kids eating free M-Th from 5-9 will definitely bring me in more often which is obviously there goal. The food was very good and the service friendly. It seems like they have made some good changes, hopefully it stays that way. Of course, I would rather have a Sweetwater Tavern or DFH Alehouse there instead, but doesn't seem like that will happen anytime soon.

[VA Oaks Newbie]

Tried El Vaquero - it was affordable and tasty, but the food is a lot more generic Tex-Mex than El Tio. I think I'll go to El Tio more often, but El Vaquero is ok.

Ate at Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday - the place was packed for March Madness - but it was awesome!!

I recently went back to Brooklyn Brothers - hadn't been there since Pizza Margherita opened - it looks like they added a few things to their menu and they were very good and good service

[Iain B]

VA Oaks Newbie wrote:

Tried El Vaquero - it was affordable and tasty, but the food is a lot more generic Tex-Mex than El Tio.

El Vaquero isn't Tex-Max, it's more authentic Mexican.

[Vint Hill Guy]

Chipotle in Gainesville is due to open on April 17th. Just FYI

[Iain B]

Yay!

[GvilleMomma]

That is awesome abouot Chipotle!!=D

We attempted to go to BWW's last Saturday - wayyy too crowded, so we went with Mimis. The wait wasn't too bad around 5pm, we waited about 20 mins. Our server was horrible, but the food was good. We'll go back - I want to try breakfast next.

We tried to go to BWW's again on Tues, although we had our toddler with us who was out of control while we were waiting for our table - so we decided to order from their carry out registers. I love wings, although I am one of the "fake" wing lovers as my Hubby likes to say - as I pick them apart rather than eating them off the bone ;-) I was craving their boneless wings - so I ordered those, and my husband ordered their "traditional wing tuesdays" .45c wings. The food took about 15 mins, and when it came out, the cashier checked the order, and I was standing right there. He said everything was correct, and I trusted it was as I watched him verify the order against the receipt. We got all the way to our house, only for me to be highly disappointed that not only were my wings regular (not boneless), but they werent even hot, but BBQ!! Ugggghhhh!!!

[Christine]

Hello! I tried China Inn based on some of the recommendations on this forum. Stuck to some standards the first time around (moo goo gai pan and beef with broccoli) and tried the egg rolls and crab ragoon.

Everything was good, but we didn't try anything really hard either. We were really happy the the crab ragoon wasn't super sweet like a lot of restaurants make it. Overall a good experience.

[Iain B]

Where is the China Inn? We may have to give it a shot. My wife loves crab rangoon and as much as we like Asian Garden (Haymarket) she fines their rangoon too sweet.

We did get takeout from Asian Garden again last night and the food was, again, very good. We got a mix of chinese and sushi and the sushi is the best we've had in the area so far. The unagi nigiri in particular is fantastic.