Posted by mightyoaks on January 31st, 2006 — Posted in Quick Food
Harrison’s is a quaint little sandwich shop in the old Winn Dixie parking lot down from the TCBY on Church Street, across S Church St from the Burlington Mall. The mood is that of a friendly neighborhood sandwich and coffee shop. It does not have the peppy and often nostalgic feel of the chain style sandwich cafés.
With a wide array of people, from your upscale business man to a stay at home mom, Harrison’s offers sandwiches for anyone. With their large selection of different sandwiches, pitas, and kabobs, Harrison’s will surely satisfy ones cravings. Every sandwich is made to order, and the wait is short. Unlike many sandwich shops, Harrison’s is quiet, allowing for conversations without the distraction of loud music.
Being from the south the only problem with Harrison’s is their inconsistent sweet tea. It’s always a gamble on whether or not their tea is sufficient for a true southerner’s taste, but the fresh sandwiches and chips are good enough alone to account for a mediocre tea day.
As a student at Elon, the one thing that Harrison’s needs to make them complete is they need to accept Phoenix Cash, which could bring a bigger draw for the Elon students.
On a whole Harrison’s is still the best sandwich shop in Burlington. Panera draws the big crowd due to the chain mentality, but if we are to truly judge a restaurant shouldn’t it be judged according the their foods? See for yourself, and make your own judgments, I promise you won’t be unsatisfied.
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Posted by mightyoaks on January 30th, 2006 — Posted in Ethnic, Family
Maria’s Café is quite a delicacy for a town like Burlington. Most people don’t know about Maria’s, since it is located in the tiny shopping center to the right of Lowe’s Home Improvement at 162 Holly Hill Ln in Burlington. The essentials that allow Maria’s to stand out and will make one want to return are the variety, quality, ambiance, and price.
Maria’s has more variety then any other Italian restaurant I have dined at in the Burlington area. Maria’s has nine appetizer choices, such as Fried Cheese Ravioli, and six salad options, such as the Spinach salad, which all come served with Maria’s home made salad dressings. Maria’s has seven baked dishes, such as the Spinach Manicotti, and thirty-three pasta options, such as the Penne Pasta with proscuitto ham and mushrooms in a pink sauce, all served with hot Italian bread. The variety of choices for the type of pasta includes spaghetti, fettuccine, farefalle, linguini, tortellini, penne, and angel hair. There are eleven chicken dishes, such as Chicken Francese which is a boneless chicken breast dipped in egg with sautéed mushrooms and wine. There are seven veal dishes, such as Veal “Al Andrea Style,” which comes with proscuitto ham, eggplant, mozzarella cheese and mushrooms cooked in a marinara sauce. There are twelve seafood dishes, such as the Broiled Seafood Platter, which is flounder, shrimp, and scallops broiled in wine, lemon and butter. All of the chicken, veal and seafood entrees are served with a tossed salad, pasta and hot Italian bread. Maria’s also offers two steak options that are served with a baked potato, tossed salad, and hot Italian bread. Maria’s serves seven sub and sandwich choices and one can make their own pizza from fourteen toppings. Maria’s offers four dessert choices, such as Tiramisu. There are also menu options for senior citizens and children for reduced prices.
My personal favorite from Maria’s is the Spinach Manicotti. Maria’s didn’t over cook the pasta and used the right herbs and spices to bring all of the flavors of the pasta, cheese, spinach and red sauce together. It is the best Spinach Manicotti I have had outside of my Grandmother’s.
Maria’s Café is a small establishment but in all the right ways. There are two dinning rooms which both have dim lighting and Italian instrumentals play very softly in the background. There servers and hosts are all polite and soft spoken, adding to the soft ambiance of the restaurant. The service is surprisingly fast and efficient. One of the dining rooms can be transformed into a banquet/party room. Maria’s is a restaurant that one can dress up or dress down. It can be a special occasion meal or a quick dinner on a Tuesday night. The last factor that allows Maria’s to stand out is its relatively affordable prices. The entrees range from $4.95 to $18.95. I highly recommend Maria’s for any occasion on any wallet. It will be worth your time and money.
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Posted by mightyoaks on January 24th, 2006 — Posted in Ethnic, Family, Quick Food
Located at 220 Huffman Mill Rd, across from Burlington Square Mall, the fairly new restaurant Crazy Fire seems to be strategically located. As I walked in to the spacious restaurant, I noticed all the wait staff sitting to one side waiting for the lunch rush. The pace did not start to pick up until around 12:30.
A waitress quickly came up to us and asked if we preferred a table or booth. There were plenty of both as it was not crowded and the dining area seemed very large. The interior looked very clean and new. A large gong hangs on the wall next to the grill area. Colorful banners hang from the ceiling saying both in English and Chinese things like: ring the gong if it is your birthday or ring the gong if you’re happy.
Our waitress took drink orders and then asked if we would prefer steamed rice or fried. It being my first time at Crazy Fire, I had to ask how the meal works. The waitress was knowledgeable but because of the unique setup of the restaurant, should have offered the information from the beginning. Lunch is served from 11-4 each day. You pick which kind of rice you want, and then head over to the buffet line to select your own food. At lunch, you pay by bowl: $5.95 for 1, $7.95 for 2, and $9.95 for unlimited. The bowls are small, so fill it up to get your money’s worth. If you are hungry, I suggest two bowls. The buffet-type line is organized into Meat and Seafood, Vegetables, and Sauces and Spices. All of it is raw and waiting to be cooked. You take your bowl over to the large circular grill where the cook will grill your food as you watch. In 3-5 minutes your meal is ready for you to pick back up.
I would recommend Crazy Fire if you are looking for a quick, fairly healthy lunch. Dinner is a set price of $9.95 and includes a salad. It seems like a good place for dinner, especially for families, since kids under 10 eat free. Children 11 and 12 are only $4.95. Not only does Crazy Fire cater to families, it also caters to Elon students, accepting Phoenix cash. Overall, the service wasn’t great; it could have been faster and friendlier. The food was delicious though, and the buffet-style allows each person to cater to his or her own tastes. With a fun atmosphere, it is a great place to go for a quick bite to eat.
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Posted by mightyoaks on January 23rd, 2006 — Posted in Family, Upscale
I have wanted to check this place out for a while since some of my friends talk about how much they love it. I went to the Bonefish Grill in Greensboro the other night with a friend of mine. It’s located right next to the Four Seasons Mall at 2100 Koury Blvd. It’s fairly expensive; not somewhere I could go very often. Most of the people wear a dressy casual and the place is pretty nice. When you sit down at your table, immediately a waitress takes your drink orders and comes back with bread. They give you olive oil too with spices cooked into it and it is very good. They also give you the recipe for their spiced oil. Most of the menu consists of fish but there are some steak, chicken, and pasta dishes as well. It is set up so you can choose exactly how you want your fish and what you want on it.
For an appetizer, I got Ahi Tuna Sashimi. It is thinly sliced raw ahi tuna with sesame seasoning and they give you soy sauce on the side for dipping. It was very fresh and had a lot of flavor. Anyone who enjoys sushi would probably love it. My friend wasn’t into it so she ordered shrimp for an appetizer. For my entrée, I ordered the Chilean Sea Bass. When you look down the menu, you are offered a choice of different sauces and toppings for your grilled fish. All of the toppings are unique, not what you would regularly find around here. I decided on a mushroom and sun-dried tomato topping, and I chose a lime, tomato, and garlic sauce. The sea bass was cooked perfectly and had great texture while the sauce and toppings gave it a ton of flavor. It was hard to choose which toppings and sauces to pick because there are so many and they all sound very good. As for sides, they offer rice, veggies, or different styles of potatoes. I ordered rice and the vegetables, both which were very good.
We didn’t end up getting any desert because we were too full. I enjoyed everything about the restaurant. Not only was the food and service great, but the staff were very friendly and seemed to be very knowledgeable on the food. Afterwards, we were both very satisfied. It is pretty expensive though; the fish entrees are within the fifteen to twenty dollar range. Again, it is not a place I can go all of the time, but once in a while I would love to go back.
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Posted by mightyoaks on January 22nd, 2006 — Posted in Quick Food, Sports
One great place to get wings around here is Wings To Go, located at 3421 South Church St in Burlington. This small restaurant is nestled near Sonic and West End Cinemas, and draws crowds in daily. They boast that they are not a fast food restaurant and that their food is cooked to order. It takes 3 minutes to catch the food, 10 minutes to cook it, 1 minute to shake it in the sauce, and another minute to serve it. They offer a wide variety of wings, along with the other typical game-day foods of onion rings, chili cheese fries, and chicken sandwiches. Walking into the small restaurant, you get the sense of walking into a sports bar. Team memorabilia is hung up all over the walls. Large screen TV’s are in every corner of the room to offer great views of the game from every seat in the house. Of course it includes the varieties of beers and soft drinks and offers both smoking and non-smoking sections. Reservations are not accepted, so either come early or expect to wait at busy meal times. The menu prices range from $3.50 – $45.05. They offer party trays of wings, family meals, wraps, sandwiches, and desserts. Cash and all major credit cards are accepted, but no personal checks.
During my recent trip, I sampled the cheese fries appetizer and the WTG Golden Chicken Tender Sandwich with the Suicide hot sauce. Let’s just say that I needed 3 glasses of water that night at dinner. They also offer about 17 other different varieties of hot sauces to smother the wings. The best part of the meal was of course what gives the restaurant its name, the wings! These wings were boneless and certainly made your eyes water. They were cooked fresh, so I knew I wasn’t getting the leftovers from the night before.
There were only two problems with my meal that night. The entrees and sandwiches do not include sides. If you wanted French fires or chips, you had to order them separately. This is a little misleading because it does not say this on the menu. Also, the service that night was not the best. My waitress was also the cashier that night, so it took a while for my food to arrive, and to get refills on drinks. I found out later, though, that you’re encouraged to get your own refills from either the Pepsi or Coke soda fountains. Maybe they were short-handed that night and it doesn’t happen every night.
Overall, I would recommend to everybody that they go by Wings To Go and sample their specialty…the wings! The food was good and the atmosphere of a sports bar made me feel like I was right in the middle of a game. The service could have been faster, but this could have been due to the lack of workers there that night.
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