Lawrence, KS: You Can Get Anything You Want At "Alces" Restaurant ... "Moooooooose"

Blue Moose Bar And Grill

525 Wakarusa Drive. Suite D

Lawrence, KS 66049

Phone number: (785) 727-4999

Website: thebluemoosebarandgrill.com/lawrence

Prices: $$$$

My friends, yes I actually have friends, had told me wonderful things about Blue Moose, but when I read the reviews on yelp*, I had my doubts. Lawrence is not all that big, but we rarely get over to West Lawrence, so having dropped off a UHaul in the area, we decided to give the Moose a shot (pun intended).

We were told there was a 30-minute wait, but there were a slew of empty tables, at least seven or eight on the side of the restaurant we could see alone. How can there be 25 people waiting in the lobby and a 30-minute wait with so many empty tables?

The menu is eclectic - "American New - in metrosexual speak, with choices from Mexico (empanadas, fish/carne asada tacos, quesadillas), Italy (pasta, flat bread pizza), Asia (wontons, curry, and America (burgers, steaks, chicken). The decor is modern and tasteful, but cold with the stone and wood surfaces that have become so cliché these days.

We decided to sit at the bar to speed things up, but the bartender pretty much ignored us for 15-20 minutes after serving us our drinks and giving us menus. Now I have seen firsthand why they have only garnered 2.5 stars so far. Our order was finally taken by his assistant and our starter, the Beef Empanadas ($7.99), arrived shortly thereafter. They (3) were actually quite good with a deep fried cornmeal exterior and a beef, cheese and poblano pepper interior, accompanied by an avocado salsa and sour cream. They were crispy, not greasy, and the flavors quite pleasing to the pallet ... Olé!

My wife's Build Your Own "Mac N Cheese" ($9.99) with sauteed mushrooms and steamed broccoli (99¢/ea) were topped with garlic butter breadcrumbs and came with a ciabatta in an interesting bowl that presented the dish rather nicely. I thought it was a bit bland, but my pasta loving Italian thought it was quite good ... Mama Mia!

Like most restaurants I visit for the first time, I like to see if they get the basics right, so I ordered their Blue Moose Burger ($10.99), medium-well, with sauteed onions and bacon. You can "add a house salad" to an entree for $1.99, but the sandwich menu states: "Sub a 'small' house salad" for $1.99. I found it hard to believe that you could get a "whole" house salad with an entree for $1.99, but you had to substitute your fries (etc.) for a "small" one for the same price, so I asked the beertender. He confirmed my disbelief, telling me that you in-fct have to give up your side in order to get a salad ... and you have to pay an extra $1.99 ... Good Grief!

The burger arrived with fries, sans small salad, but also missing were the sauteed onions I ordered. I do not like bloody meat and medium is about as raw as I will go, but this burger was well done and dry. The flavor was not bad and the patty big enough, but the sauteed onions would have added some much needed moisture had they been where they were supposed to be. The highlight of my meal were the fries, hot and crunchy, not crispy, with a spicy zing that was a pleasant surprise ... Holy Cow!

I was torn ... bad reviews, only a few weeks in business (bugs to work out), 30-minute wait, empty tables, inattentive bartender, decent service, great empanadas, overcooked meat, incomplete order ... Oh My! 

In the end, feeling overly liberal - with our pending move to the Left Coast - I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt , adding an additional BOMB or two (1-star on a 5-star scale - rounding up). Normally, a somewhat lackluster performance such as this would result in 4-5 Bombs, but I decided to increase their "middle of the road" yelp* average by just a tad because I see some potential ... You're Welcome!

CombatCritic Gives Blue Moose Bar And Grill 6 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Ore Bombs Are Better ... SHAZAAM!

Six Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17 - 650,000+ Views A Year

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie - Over  1,890,733 Review And Photo Views

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Read Chris S.'s review of Blue Moose Bar And Grill on Yelp

Title: Lawrence, KS: You Can Get Anything You Want At "Alces" Restaurant ... "Moooooooose"

Key Words: Blue Moose Bar and Grill, Blue Moose, blue, moose, bar, grill, Lawrence, Kansas, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, American, new, review, Yelp, Zomato, Tabelog

Translation for Civilians: G2G = "Good To Go"

Lawrence, Kansas: HuHot Is HoHum With Nary A "Crab" In Sight

HuHot Mongolian Grill

2525 Iowa Street

Lawrence, KS 66046

Phone number: (785) 551-7100

Website: huhot.com

Prices: $$$$

Just opened next to Planet Fitness on Iowa, Lawrence finally has a Mongolian barbecue ... HOOAH!

About $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner, it's "all you can eat" which should go over well with KU students or anybody else for that matter. The place is big, but the bowls you put your meat, noodles, veggies and sauce in are very small and my main complaint. My recommendation, take two bowls, one for meat and one for noodles and veggies, that way you get a full plate of food rather than a half.

We tried A Taste of the Bounty appetizer ($9.99), with three each crispy egg rolls, Asian potstickers and krab rangoons, whatever the hell they are, accompanied by a rather boring sweet and sour dipping sauce. The egg rolls and potstickers were rather flavorless. The "krab" (note the spelling folks because there ain't a microgram of "crab" in these puppies) rangoons taste only of Philadelphia cream cheese in the center, again boring, bland and blah. Do not waste your money on any of the appetizers. 

They have a nice variety of traditional meats (beef, chicken, pork) for the Mongolian Barbecue, adding some novelty with meatballs and sliced sausage, mild and hot. The veggie selection is somewhat inadequate with the basics that I like (mushrooms, onion, cabbage, and bell peppers), but not much else other than carrots and a few others. You get white rice, soup or salad for the extra $5 at dinner, but do not get your hopes up. Go for lunch and save your $5.

The food is decent, but not anywhere near the best Mongolian barbecue I have had and I have had it many times for less than $15. However, as Bob Barker would say, "The Price is Right", so sachet your little behind over to HuHot and try some of their mediocre Mongolian, then to Planet Fitness to work off some of them Krab Rangoons.

CombatCritic Gives HuHot An Initial 5 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Five Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17 - 650,000+ Views A Year

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie - Over  1,890,733 Review And Photo Views

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Read Chris S.'s review of HuHot Mongolian Grill on Yelp

Title: Lawrence, Kansas: HuHot Is HoHum With Nary A "Crab" In Sight

Key Words: HuHot Mongolian Grill, Chinese, Asian Fusion, Mongolian, HuHot, grill, barbecue, Lawrence, Kansas, Iowa, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, Tabelog

Translation for Civilians: Charlie-Mike = "Continue Mission"

Lawrence, KS: Oh Brother, A Loud, College Bar Downtown With Cheap Drinks And Decent Service

Brothers Bar & Grill

1105 Massachusetts Street
Lawrence, KS 66049
Phone number: (785) 830-9281
Website brothersbar.com
Prices: $$$$

Bare bones college bar chain with cheap drinks and a lot of noise. I went to watch the last few innings of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series after Fuzzy's, just a few doors down, closed at 10pm.

A decent selection of drafts in 12-14 ounce glasses for $4 ain't a bad deal and they had a Captain and Coke special for just $3, so I was quite happy for just $10 plus tip. The service was decent, not overly friendly, but reasonably efficient.

CombatCritic Gives Brothers Bar & Grill 6 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Six Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Read Chris S.'s review of Brothers Bar & Grill on Yelp

Brothers Bar & Grill

Title: Lawrence, KS: Oh Brother, A Loud, College Bar Downtown With Cheap Drinks And Decent Service

Key Words: Brothers Bar & Grill, brothers, bar, grill, KU, university, Kansas, University of Kansas, Lawrence, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, Tabelog

Translation for Civilians: G2G = "Good To Go"

Fairview, OR: Good Food, Small Portions, And Moderate Prices Left Me Fendering For More

Bumpers Grill and Bar

21935 NE Halsey Street, Suite 100

Fairview, OR 97024

Phone: (503) 618-1855

Website: bumpersgrill.com

Prices: $$$$

Stopped for lunch with some friends because they had their cute little doggie with them and Bumpers has a patio where our furry little companion was welcome.

The patio was nice on that sunny Portland day with little wind and our server was friendly and efficient. I had the French Dip ($12.99), my friend had the Baja Tacos ($13.99), and his better half had a Classic Caesar Salad ($10.99) and the Parmesan Encrusted Chicken Medallions ($9.99) appetizer.

The food was good, but I was not overly impressed with the quality to portion to price ratio. The roll my French dip came on was rather small, one of the smallest sandwich rolls I have seen, especially for a $13 French dip, and the crinkle cut fries were sparse and a tad greasy. My friend's Baja tacos looked good, but for $14 all he got were two flour tortillas with some small battered cod pieces, a slew of cole slaw, some pico de gallo, and a couple avocado slices with some tortilla chips and a thimble of salsa. His wife's Caesar salad was not impressive at all for the $11 price and the $10 chicken was tasty, but there were only four small medallions, a few carrot sticks and some ranch dressing.

Don't get me wrong, what food we got was pretty good, but there was not all that much bang for the buck and at $60 for lunch for three with only ice tea and water to drink, it was not an exceedingly great value.

CombatCritic Gives Bumpers Bar And Grill A Very Average 5 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Five Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

Tabelog - Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - #1 Ranked Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

 

Title: Fairview, OR: Good Food, Small Portions, And Moderate Prices Left Me Fendering For More

Key Words: Bumpers Grill and Bar, Bumpers, bar, grill, Fairview, Gresham, OR, Oregon, Halsey, 503-618-1855, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, Tabelog

Brooklyn, NY: It's The Little Things That Leave A Bad Taste In Your Mouth

Hamilton’s

2826 Fort Hamilton Pkwy

Brooklyn, NY 11218

Between 5th Street 4th Street

Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Flatbush

Phone: (718) 438-0488

Website: hamiltonsbrooklyn.com

Prices: $$$$

As Roseanne Roseannadanna always said, "It's always something, if it's not one thing, it's another" ....

It is the little things that stand out in your mind, good or bad, that shade your opinion of a place. In Hamilton's case, it was a mere 50¢. More on that later.

We sat outside after being seated for 10 minutes before a server arrived to greet us, but when she did, I ordered a Bell's Two Hearted IPA , but all the drafts are $6-$7, MUCH LESS than most places in the NYC metro and they have a GREAT SELECTION. I had to hunt down another server because ours was nowhere to be found, ordering a Smuttynose Old Brown Dog (also $6 on the menu), but after another 10 minutes our food had arrived and still no Smuttynose, so I reminded our server. It arrived 5 minutes later while my dinner cooled whether it needed to or not.

My wife ordered the large Salty Pretzel ($4) and a Mac and Cheese appetizer ($8). The Mac and Cheese arrived with my sandwich, but we had to remind the server about her pretzel which took an additional 5 minutes to arrive. The pretzel was good, but it was hot from the oven and too crunchy, not warm, soft, and chewy as a good pretzel should be. The mac and cheese was tasty and a decent size portion for an appetizer.

My Reuben Sandwich ($15) was piled high with "house made corned beef", sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing. It was very good overall, but the house made corned beef had a slightly strange aftertaste which I could not quite put my finger on, or my tongue in this case. The accompanying potato wedges were scarce, but decent, nothing special.

When the check arrived, I have to admit that it was one of the smallest totals we have seen since arriving in NYC, but the Smuttynose was listed at $7 instead of the $6 stated on the menu. I called our server over, showed her the menu and the check, and asked her to make the correction to the $1 error. Those things happen. But when she came back, she had NOT deducted the $1 error, but had discounted the check by a mere 50¢! Rather than argue about the 50¢, I simply deducted it from her 20% tip along with a tad more for her inattention during our meal. After all, it is always the small things folks.

CombatCritic Gives Hamilton's 5 Bombs Out Of 10 After A 2 Bomb Service and Check Error Deduction ... More Bombs Are Better!

Five Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

TripAdvisor - Top Contributor

Tabelog - Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - #1 Ranked Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: Brooklyn, NY: It's The Little Things That Leave A Bad Taste In Your Mouth

Key Words: Hamilton's, Hamilton, bar, grill, pub, beer, Brooklyn, NYC, New York City, New York, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zomato

Translation for Civilians: Charlie-Mike = "Continue Mission"