A Study in Contrasts: Art & Jakes vs. bd's Mongolian Grill

First the BAD (and frankly, the UGLY):

The first time all of us had lunch together was at Art & Jakes in Washington, Michigan. And we had a horrible time.

The waitress was awful. Not even one smile. She made us feel like we were imposing on her time and life. Susie and I ordered Cherry Coke and Martha ordered a regular Coke. When the Awful Waitress refilled our drinks, she had a pitcher of regular Coke and poured it in all of our cups. Including the ones that were supposed to be Cherry Coke. It tasted icky.

Our table was sticky and still had the previous patrons credit card receipt still on it when we were sat and when our drinks were finally brought. Which took a super long annoying time.

Jeri had the Nachos and Meatballs. You know how when you microwave taco meat and it kinda balls together unless you mix it fully? That's what her Nachos were like. Nachos and Meatballs.

Susie and Mom ordered Chicken Fajitas. And it came piecemeal. First came the sizzling hot chicken which smelled amazing. Unfortunately, it had cooled completely by the time the toppings came out. The tortillas came out very last. The Fajitas were ruined by the timing of delivery of the food.

Martha and I ordered the Big Benny. It's two grilled cheese sandwiches, one Swiss and one American, with a 1/2 pound Angus burger sandwiched between them. It was $9.65. It was very tasty. It was the only tasty item.

I also ordered fried pickles. I've had them before at Buffalo Wild Wings and they were delicious. Not so much at Art and Jakes. Marti had one and told Mom, "They're good. You should try one." But she was making this face when she said it:

As you can see, it wasn't a very trustworthy face.

I think our total was over $70 with food and drink for all 5 of us. And it wasn't worth it at all. We will never go back to Art & Jakes again. Not even to give them a second chance. Our experience was that bad.

We went to Art & Jakes before we decided to rate things, or take photos, or notes or anything. But when I asked the girls what they thought, we all agreed that Art & Jakes gets a -4. On a scale of 1 to 5. That's bad.

Now for the GOOD:

Our second lunch was at bd's Mongolian Grill on Hall Rd in Sterling Heights. And it rocked. To date (I know, I know. We're only three lunches in, but still.) it is our favorite place. And it has nothing to do with the Top Shelf Long Island Iced Tea, Hawaiian Volcano, or Margaritas we had. Mostly.

If you've never been to bd's before, let me explain briefly. There are Three stations. Meat/Chicken/Seafood/Noodles, Veggies, and Spices. You can pick any combination of ingredients and put them in your bowl. You pick your spices and put them in a little cup and then line up at the grill.

The chef puts them on the grill and you watch your food cook. When it's done he slides it (very neatly and with much skill) onto a plate and you eat it.

Not only is it fun, but it's mighty tasty.

We decided on the unlimited bowl which is around $12. You can choose just a single bowl which is $8.99. If you want to take your leftovers, it's an extra $2.99. Unless you buy the unlimited bowl. Trust me, buy the unlimited bowl. You can go back as many times as you want and make as many different combinations as you can think of.

They have recipe cards near the first station, in case you are unsure about what to choose. Our first time through we each chose a card and followed the instructions.

You'll have to forgive me this time through. There still aren't many details. I can only remember the exact ingredients of my own dish and some variable of the others.

My first time through I chose "The Original Mongolian BBQ".  Instead of pork (which, except in bacon or sausage form, I'm not really a fan of) I picked NY Strip Steak. I also added rice noodles. At the veggie station I chose pea pods, baby corn, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, mushrooms (Yummy! I love me some 'shrooms!) For the sauce, I followed the recipe pretty closely; 1 scoop Shanghai BBQ sauce, 1 scoop Teriyaki sauce, half a scoop ginger, and half a scoop, less some, chili powder.

I then got in line for the grill. You hand the bowl to the griller. Ours was named Will. He has these big spatulas that kinda remind me of machetes. But they weren't. No worries, there isn't someone wielding large dangerous weapons while handling your food. Well, at least not sharp ones.

He cooked our food on the grill and added our sauce at the very end. When the food was done, he scraped it onto a plate and handed it back.

At the table you have a choice of chopsticks or forks. I tried to use both and mostly failed with the chopsticks. (It was a really strong Long Island Iced Tea.)

We also had white rice and tortillas on the table. I tried my dish without first and it was heavenly. I also tried it wrapped in the tortilla with rice and it was okay, but I preferred my dish by itself.

Susie had chicken with hers and so did mom. They enjoyed it very much. I think Marti and Jeri both had beef. Marti really enjoyed making hers into the wraps with tortillas and rice.

My second time through I choose beef again. At the veggies I had mostly mushrooms and water chestnuts. I mixed up my own sauce. It had chili powder, ginger, Shitake mushroom sauce, and schezwan sauce. I have to say it was good, but not as good as the sauce recipe that bd's offered. 

The drinks were amazingly good. And strong. I was drunk for quite a bit after. My mom had to drive me home. Not only did they taste good, the were pretty too. 

We don't have an official rating for bd's either. But we all agreed the get an overall 5. 

Our waitress was pretty nice. Friendly and asking if we needed refills or anything else like that. Our griller was very friendly and kinda cute. The food was definitely worth what we paid.

The bathrooms were nice and very clean. We would all recommend bd's to anyone who asked for a good place to eat.

At the end of our lunch, we decided to start the blog. And the rest is history. 

Terra

Red Robin, Yuuummmm!..Or Not.

It is the 2nd year anniversary of our Grandfathers death. And what would've been his 90th birthday. This post, our first official one, is special. It wasn't just "Us Girls" at lunch. This time we also had our brother Philip, Jeri's husband Mike, Aunt Kathy (Mom's youngest sister) Aunt Wilma (one of Mom's younger sisters) and her husband Larry.

Restaurant: Red Robin

Location: Clinton Township, Michigan. Hall Rd.

Red Robin's main dish is burgers. All kinds of burgers. They also have never ending fries, which is a plus. Especially if your starving because you've been waiting to eat in anticipation of lunch with the girls. Just saying'.

Our waitress was Dawn and she was nice. We love it when the waiter or waitress is friendly, smiles and doesn't make you feel like you're imposing on their day. She took our orders and then asked if we wanted our fries brought out while we wait for our burgers. That elevated her to Waitress Goddess in our eyes.

Our food came out in a timely matter. It wasn't a very long wait at all. When we needed to re-fill our drinks or ask for mustard (Jeri. What's with you and mustard? Susie too. Remember the waffles in Daytona? OMG), it was easy to get her attention to ask for what we needed.

Highlights

Sand In My Shorts - Sound like something awful, doesn't it? It's actually a drink. It has Chambord, vodka, peach schnapps, Midori (or if you're Mom, Dora the Explorer. "Why is Dora in your drink? What about Sid the Science Guy?" -Mom "No Mom, not Dora, MIDORI. And it's Sid the Science Kid." - Terra and Susie "Then who was the guy?" - Mom "It was Bill Nye the Science Guy" - Terra [That was our actual conversation and I blame it on the Screaming Red Zombie. But more on that later]), triple sec, orange juice, cranberry juice, and sweet & sour. It was $7.49 and totally worth it. It tasted fabulous. Mom was surprised it didn't taste like sand. 

Sweet Jim Bean Bacon Swiss Burger - This was the favorite dish of the day. Marti ordered it and she let us each take a bite and we were jealous of her lunch. This burger is what would bring me back again and again. It's a Jim Bean bourbon-glazed burger with melted Swiss cheese, hardwood smoked bacon, caramelized onions and a garlic-buttered toasted brioche bun. Your mouth is watering now, isn't it? I know mine is. I can't remember how much it cost. But I don't care. It was worth whatever we paid.

Screaming Red Zombie - This isn't so much a highlight as a warning. Have a DD if you plan on partaking of this drink. It's strong and makes you ask odd questions.

The Ratings: On a Scale of 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 4; She had to order her drink twice but Dawn was very friendly. She joked with us and smiled a lot.

Jeri -  5; "She's practically our sister!"

Terra- 4; She was really friendly and easy to grab her attention. But if I wanted a re-fill I had to ask, she didn't ask me if I wanted one.

Susie - 4; She smiled and was friendly. That's important. She had a good technique for taking orders.

Marti- 3 1/2; I have no idea why a 3 1/2, but that's what she rated. 

Food Quality 
Mom - Tropical Sunburn Tavern Double; 3. I wasn't too impressed with the burger or the toppings.

Jeri - Tropical Sunburn Tavern Single; 2. I thought it was awful. The mango slaw wasn't very impressive.
Terra - Sauteed 'Shroom Burger; 2. It was bland. I had to add salt and even that didn't help much. I think if it had more of the garlic Parmesan spread (or any at all, since mine seemed to be missing) it would've been much better. 
Susie - Clucks and Fries; 5. It was really good chicken. The tenders were nice size and the ranch dressing for dipping was tasty.
Marti - Jim Bean Burger; 10. It was so good it far surpasses the rating scale. All of us except for mom had a bite and we loved it. This burger would be the sole reason to come back.

All of our burgers came with Bottomless Steak Fries. The fries were tasty. The seasoning salt that they had on the table was a good addition over regular table salt.

Value
Mom - $7.99 for her burger and her drink was $6.99. The cost of the food was not worth it.  
Jeri - $7.99 for the burger. It wasn't worth what we paid.
Terra- $9.99 for the burger and $7.49 for the drink. Definitely not worth what we paid.
Susie - $9.49 for the entree and $7.49 for the drink. The chicken was tasty but not worth almost 10 bucks.
Marti - We don't remember how much the burger cost. The drink was $7.49. We really don't care how much the burger cost. It was worth whatever we paid. Marti's lunch was the only one worth what we paid.

Bathroom
They fail at women's bathrooms. There was toilet paper shredded and all over the floor. The trash was overflowing with used paper towel and other things. And the floor was sticky. Do you know what has to be on the floor to be that sticky? It's nasty. Everyone rated the bathroom at 1.

Overall
Mom - 4
Jeri - 1; "I'd rather go to Steak N Shake"
Terra - 3; "The waitress made it tolerable and the Sand In My Shorts was really good."
Susie - 3
Marti - 3 1/2; (Again, with the half a point. I'm not sure what's up with that.)


We enjoyed our time mostly because of the company of our party and the waitress. We probably won't visit Red Robin again. Unless we are craving the Sweet Jim Bean burger.


Terra

The Why, Who, and How of It

It started with Jeri's ?? birthday. No that's not a typo. I'm not stating her age. Mostly 'cause she'd smack me or try to make me smell her armpits. Older sisters do things like that when you do or say stuff they don't like.

Anyway, it started with Jeri's birthday. Our mom, Sharon, and I wanted to take her to lunch. We ate lunch at Olive Garden, and we had a great time. Mom said she wanted to do it with all her girls once a month. So we set out to make it happen.

During our third lunch (which was at Mongolian BBQ, and rocked!), I got tanked on Top Shelf Long Island Iced Tea. And a brilliant idea struck me! We should totally start a blog about our lunches and rate each place we eat.  That's the "Why".

Now for the "Who".

My name is Terra King (LaFrance). I'm a 30 year old mother of 4. I've been married for over 11 years. I am the second oldest daughter of Sharon and Terry LaFrance. I'll be doing most of the writing.

Our mother is Sharon LaFrance (Vought). She's a real estate agent/broker in Almont, Michigan. She's a wonderful mother, grandmother, wife, sister, aunt, daughter, AND agent. She has 5 children: Jeri, Terra (me), Philip, Susan, and Martha. There are currently 9 grandchildren: Heather, Ryan, Cassidy, Matthew, Samantha, William, Angela, Lucas, and Logan. 3 great-grandchildren: Colin, Ellie, and DJ.

Jeri Friedsberg (LaFrance) is the oldest. She has 3 kids and 3 grandkids. She lives near Richmond, Michigan and is very crafty. She works at State Wide Real Estate as the Supreme Office Dictator. She is married to Mike.

Susie LaFrance is the third oldest daughter. She has two sons, lives in Romeo, Michigan and works in Imlay City. She recently graduated at the top of her class from the Lapeer County I.S.D. Tech Center and received her High School Diploma.

Martha LaFrance is the baby of the family. She lives and works in Romeo, Michigan. She's the favorite aunt of all the our kids. She's also the one we blame everything on.

That's who we are.

And finally, the "How".

How this works. Once a month we decide on a restaurant. We'll visit every thing from fast food, sub shops, chain restaurants, mom and pops, and specialty restaurants. Mom has the final "vote" on where. Occasionally we'll visit the same place. We eat and drink (and sometimes drink some more). We don't talk about our rating while we eat. Instead we do what most women do when they eat lunch. Gossip. About our lives and people we know and things that have happened.

When lunch is over, we take stock. We rate 5 categories. Waitstaff, Quality of Food, Value of Food, Bathrooms and Overall.

We will be brutally honest. Okay, maybe not brutal. But definitely honest.

This project isn't to only rate places we eat, but to also chronicle some of our time together. Because, as cliche as it sounds, time is fleeting. We have a limited amount to spend together and we want to remember as much of it as possible.


Terra