Comment Archives: stories: Chow: Chow Feature: Last 30 Days
Re: “Nearly Excellent Neapolitan”
Does not sound real promising to me.
Re: “Nearly Excellent Neapolitan”
The non-NRP Ari Shapiro. LOL
Re: “Truck Stop Treat”
I eat there every Saturday. The food is excellent, the prices fair, the service...it depends on the wait staff you get on a particular day, but I've never had service that was so bad that I left angry or anything.
This place has an excellent reputation nationwide, and rightfully so.
Re: “Truck Stop Treat”
HAHA but of course not my dear Rita. I am much too refined a gent. I obtain my ladies of the night off of the internet and meth from the street corners like anyone with self respect.
Re: “Truck Stop Treat”
@burnie mak - that isn't from personal experience, I hope.
Re: “Truck Stop Treat”
Never thought of truck stops as food destinations, merely a place for cheap prostitution and meth purchases.
Re: “Truck Stop Treat”
Years ago, I met someone here who I met on the net - we are both chefs and foodies and the site that we frequented led us to becoming best friends. He drove a truck so this was a logical place to meet. We both ordered the triple salad of tuna, egg and chicken salads over ICEBERG! Everything else didn't sound passable. Jesus, this was awful. Kraft Foodservice salad dressing. I can understand that maybe this place has something signature - like pies - but this place SUCKS! I cannot figure out why this place gets all the acclaim that it does. It's not even mediocre.
Re: “Truck Stop Treat”
I don't get the attraction to this place. I decided to try it about a year ago and was disappointed in my breakfast order. The price was no draw to come back either. The restaurant itself is dated and not very clean looking.
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
As business partners of Relish Kitchen & Wine Bar we felt compelled to respond to this critic’s review. We are open to listening to everyone’s opinions but were offended by the slandering of our brand in the title—so unprofessional. Obviously, the Tucson paper is not community oriented-a sad note for our local economy. We relish our visits to this kitchen and find the menu refreshing and healthy. Our executive chef uses fresh ingredients and has a light hand on the salt. The menu offers a variety of interesting dishes and reputable wines, including some that provide familiarity to our customers. As for our plates, they are Corelle (made from glass in the USA) not plastic melamine as stated. We do use a local reputable bakery, Bakehouse Bread Company, used by many premier restaurants in Tucson. BTW, our “ice cream” is a gelato recipe and we will gladly post it. Our mission is to support local businesses and serve our community in many capacities. The restaurant has become a venue for local dance clubs as several of their other destinations were forced to close due to the economy. We invite you to form your own opinion of our menu and atmosphere!
Re: “Predictable Pub Fare”
Justified critiques. You fail to mention their happy hour though, which is one of the best in the city. I think this place blows their most obvious competition, Barrio, out of the water.
Re: “Predictable Pub Fare”
I've been here several times since opening. The first time my burger was huge, delicious, and cooked to order, the second time not so huge and not very good, the third time, okay, but not cooked to order. It seems very inconsistent. The service is always prompt and the food arrives fast.
My real complaint with the place is the beer knowledge of the serving staff. They are serving 40 beers on tap, most of which rotate fairly regularly. This is supposed to be a destination for beer lovers. Unlike other bars that have large tap selections around town, many of the servers don't have basic beer knowledge. Servers are often lost, and unable to give advice on beer selection, often not knowing very basic terms such as hops, malts, dark, light, strong, etc.
As an example, someone at my table (who knows beer very well) ordered a oatmeal stout followed by an IPA. The server was quick to say, "oh yeah, if you liked the stout, the IPA is similar", which doesn't make any sense. She was just obliviously giving the "customer is always right" statement before walking quickly to her next table. Other times I've had friends ask about certain beers and are met with an awkward face, a "uh, yeah" response, and you end up feeling either frustrated or embarrassed for asking in the first place. In my opinion, if beer is the main attraction your servers should be well versed in it!
Re: “Predictable Pub Fare”
I've eaten with friends a couple of times at the downtown Thunder Canyon Brewery since it opened. On both occasions, we had the same wait person, a very friendly young woman. Her service was exemplary on both occasions.
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
You guys are just not going to the right places. Tucson is popping with great new places. And more are coming.
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
I am with jbuchman above. Overall, I have been very disappointed with the restaurants in Tucson. I do work in Socal so get a chance to find good places to eat but Tucson restaurant scene is lacking. I have never lived in any city where I see more restaurants close than here.
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
"No excuse for the lack of service, attention to detais, or making a BAD sandwhich. What the heck are they thinking? Do they every try their own food?"
1) "details"
2) "sandwich"
3) "even"
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
I had the EXACT same experience when the restaurant opened. I have not been back. I wrote the owner a personal letter. I am sad to hear that little improvment has been made. This is a great location, my office is close by. No excuse for the lack of service, attention to detais, or making a BAD sandwhich. What the heck are they thinking? Do they every try their own food?
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
@jbuchman - have you tried Yamato at 1st and Grant for sushi? The sushi chef is from Nagano and he makes everything in-house. I have yet to be disappointed by his sushi.
Also, Com Tam Thuan Kieu adjacent to Lee Lee Oriental Market is great for Vietnamese - IF you stay away from pho (but, then again, they are a com tam place).
Re: “Nothing to Relish”
Sad to say but your overall disappointment with this particular establishment resonates with most of our dining experiences (I would say 8 out of 10) since moving to Tucson over a year ago. When we have pleasant surprises we share via online reviews. Sad for us is what appears as a lack of authentic ethnic cuisine (we have found 2-3) and then such an over abundance of standard or sub standard pub food. Do people really enjoy these china buffet places? And I've given up on authentic sushi? I haven't had any in Tucson yet that doesn't fall apart, crumble. Just very sad.
Re: “Soggy, Sweet and Slow”
@Burnie, with MEAN the operative word :)
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Re: “Nearly Excellent Neapolitan”
We had dinner there last night. We had the Caesar salad with more of a vinaigrette than a traditional caesar dressing. Nice portion for $9. My wife and split the cura, which was very sparsely populated with soppressata and a few calamata olives. The salad took about 20 minutes to come out and then the pizza followed 10 minutes later. Pizza from a wood burning oven should come out bubbling hot and this was not. It was hot but clearly it sat on the counter for a good five minutes before it came out. Wood fired pizza should be crunchy on the bottom, but this was a bit floppy. They mention on the menu "We request no substitutions, but let us know if we can do something for you". Well... it seems to me if they really wanted to do something for me, they would allow substitutions...As mentioned in the review, beer selection was very small. Not a bad meal, just somewhere marginally above average. Service was slow, but pleasant.