The Lunch That Almost Never Was...And We Kinda Wish Hadn't Happened

This month was tough. We almost didn't even make it. We had to reschedule three times. When we finally got it right, it ended up being dinner.

It was a bad dinner too. We didn't even take pictures. At all. We chose National Coney Island. A common refrain from the night was, "Not at this location." This was the answer to several questions. Beer? Not at this location. 24 hours? Not at this location. Wine? Not at this location. Good service? Not a this location. Warm food? Not at this location.

We did have one awesome highlight. We got to have dinner with Aunt Wilma! Yay! Aunt Wilma is always fun.

That was really the only highlight. I actually don't have any others. How sad.

Place: National Coney Island

Location: 23 Mile and Schoenherr, Shelby Twp, MI

Because of various scheduling conflicts, we had to wait till the end of the month and make it a dinner. Mom needed to meet up with Aunt Wilma, so we invited her along. 

This month will be different for several reasons. No drinks. No pictures. And no highlights. So let's get to it.

The Ratings: On a Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 2

Jeri - 3

Terra - 2

Susie - 1

Marti - 2

Aunt Wilma - 3

Our waitress was Molly. She said she'd been working there for a year. It seemed like it'd been only a week. We weren't impressed at all. Jeri had to get her own water. When our food was ready, she took some of it out from under the lights, put it on the counter, then got the rest and brought those plates out. She left Jeri's and Mom's food on the counter. Out from under the lights. It was cold when it finally reached them. The cucumber sauce and ranch dressing we had ordered had to be asked for twice. It wasn't busy either. I think we were just forgotten.

Food Quality

Mom - Gyro w/Baby Greek Salad; 4; There were too many onions on the salad. The gyro arrived cold and missing the cucumber sauce. The salad was tasty and even cold, the Gyro was tasty as well. 

Jeri - Gyro w/Chili Cheese Onion Rings; 2; All of my food came cold. There was almost no cheese or chili on top. I prefer it when my food comes warm.

Terra - Hani Special w/Fries; 5; My food came out nice and warm and the fries were tasty. The sandwich was great. I love the pita.

Susie - Patty Melt w/bacon and Fries; 4; The bacon was crispy and my food came out warm

Marti - Chicken Bacon Ranch Hani w/Chili Cheese Fries; 4; It was warm and tasted good.

Aunt Wilma - Mr. Pop's Favorite w/Fries; 5; Burger was excellent and I asked for my fries to be well done and they were. (I did not know you could do this. I love crispier fries!! - Terra)

Food Value

Mom - $9.38; Yes

Jeri - $10.28; No

Terra - $8.49; Yes

Susie - $8.00; Yes

Marti - $10.89; Yes

Aunt Wilma - $10.00; Yes

Drinks

Not at this location!

Overall

Mom - 3; "Oh My Goodness! Mom!!! You've never given a 3 before!" - All of us

Jeri - 3

Terra - 3

Susie - 3

Marti - 3

Aunt Wilma - 4

Overall we weren't impressed with this location.  But we did learn one very important lesson. You can ask for crispier fries!

Cheeseburger in Paradise is not a Lie. It's Truth.

The Birthday Girl!

We waited until the end of the month because it was Marti's birthday on the 20th of May. Happy Birthday Marti! And we wanted to go out on her birthday. We like going out on our birthdays. It makes us feel special. We like special too. This month we also have 2 special guests. Mom's youngest sister, Kathy, and her youngest daughter, Vicky. I'm going to take this moment to thank them for spending the afternoon with us. Thanks Aunt Kathy and Vicky!

I'm also going to take this moment to apologize to my brother-in-law Mike. The first official lunch we had, at Red Robin, I offended him. I spoke without thinking in a sarcastic manner and I hurt his feelings. I cringe when I look back on it. I wish now that I had taken down his thoughts on the lunch because it would've been interesting to have not only a male point of view, but I believe he had a ghost pepper burger and that was something none of us had. I am sorry Mike.

Restaurant: Cheeseburger in Paradise

Location: Hall Road, Sterling Heights, MI

Electric Lizard

Since it was Marti's birthday this month, she got to decide where we went. She had been extolling the wonderment of Cheeseburger In Paradise for awhile and we were quite excited to go.

Walking in gave you a pretty good idea of how great lunch was gonna be. We are big on atmosphere. To us, it's almost as important as the food. Some places are so dark you need a flashlight in the middle of the day to read the menu. And some places are so bright you could wear sunglasses inside. Cheeseburger in Paradise found a happy medium. Though, they could've turned the air on. Just sayin'.

Highlights

Our apps!

The Staff - Yes. The staff are a highlight. From our waitress to ,what we assume, is the manager. Everyone was amazingly helpful, kind, and generally awesome sauce. Our waitress was Jocelyn and she was super nice. Some of our drinks didn't come with sunglasses on the fruit, but she put them on anyway. She listened to what we wanted, didn't ASSUME (I'm looking at you Garfield's waitress) on her tip, and smiled the entire time. Even though I'm sure we were somewhat obnoxious.

Garnish!

Garnishes - We do like our fruity fun drinks with lunch. And this was the best so far. It even beats bd's Mongolian BBQ. Which we didn't think was possible. Not only were their amazing garnishes, WITH SUNGLASSES!("I ate the sunglasses!" - Mom), but the drinks themselves were pretty and tasty. They looked like their pictures in the menu and tasted amazing. We considered coming back once a week till we had tried all the drinks. Who am I kidding. We're still considering it.

Appetizers - We had the Onion Six Strings and Frickles. I've never had fried pickles that were so tasty before. And they both came with this amazing dipping sauce. Between the seven of us, we demolished them pretty fast. They were deep fried, but not greasy. Nice and light. With so much flavor.

The Ratings: On a Scale From 1 to 5

Bacon Cheeseburger

Waitstaff

We all gave Jocelyn a 5. And since it was Marti's birthday, she gets to double her score to a 10. Which she did. We were very impressed with the service. A couple of us have been waitresses or are currently waitresses. We know what it's like to have to smile all day. To act happy when you have angry, rude, obnoxious, and downright mean people to wait on. We know the effort it takes to keep that smile on your face and make each table feel important and well taken care of. Jocelyn excelled at this.

Food Quality

Mango Chicken Wrap

Mom - All American Burger w/Fries; 5; It was really good. I had the leftovers 3 days later, and it was still awesome.

Jeri - Chicken Quesadilla; 5; delicious. No complaints. There was some great black beans and salsa with it.

Terra - Bacon Cheeseburger w/Fries; 5; So good. I have never had a burger from a restaurant that was so good before. The burger was so big that I had at least half left over to take home. And it warmed up real nice the next day for lunch. It's rare for a hamburger to taste good the next day.

Susie - Bacon Cheeseburger w/Fries; 5; Absolutely Delicious. I would definitely come again for MY birthday!

Tex Mex Burger

Marti - Tex Mex Burger w/Fries; 10; Frickin' Fantastic.

Aunt Kathy - Mango Chicken Wrap; 5; I love eating at Cheeseburger in Paradise!

Vicky - Tex Mex Burger w/Fries; 4; Fantistco! I made my own Tamayonnaise. Everyone eats Tamayonnaise! (Tamayonnaise - n.; Ketchup and Mayonnaise combined to make a delicious fry dipping sauce)

Chicken Quesadilla

Food Value

Mom - $8.95; Totally worth it.

Jeri - $9.75; Worth it.

Terra - $9.95; Totally worth it.

Susie - $9.95; Worth it.

Marti - $10.50; Worth it.

Aunt Kathy - $8.95; Worth it

Vicky - $10.50; Worth it.

Drinks (Out of 10)

Our First Round!

All of our drinks got a 10 out of 10. A 20 for Marti. Everything was so tasty. We sampled the Electric Lizard ($6.99), Mai Tai ($6.99), Goombay Smash ($6.99), Classic Margarita ($6.29), Mt. Gay Mango Pina Colada ($7.19), Signature Pina Colada ($7.19), Lady of the Sea ($6.79) and Frozen Sangria ($6.79).

They were the best, most fantastical drinks ever. Ever. The garnish was super awesome, the prices were just right, and! Bonus! Take home prizes! Mini sunglasses!

Overall

The Girls!

Mom - 5; Would visit again. And again. And again.

Jeri - 5; I'm coming tomorrow for a liquid lunch.

Terra - 5; I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The whole experience was pretty damn awesome.

Susie - 5; Awesome staff experience.

Marti - 10; I liked my drinks!

Aunt Kathy - 5

Vicky - 5

We had an amazing time. Everything seemed so easy. Like a lunch should be. Well, except maybe for finding the bathrooms ("That's the kitchen. Not the bathroom." - Jeri). But that was funny, so we'll let it slide.

Everything from the decor to the staff made for an inviting establishment and a great lunch. Cheeseburger in Paradise actually beats bd's Mongolian BBQ. Which we thought was impossible. They've now set the bar super high for any other lunch.

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