Garfield's - Mondays Suck. Except it wasn't a Monday.

Turkey Avocado Club

This took an extra long time to get out. Sorry about that. But personal life intruded. This month we decidedon the pub restaurant Garfield's in the Birchwood Mall. We've each been there once before, but never together. And we had a weird feeling there was a reason we hadn't been back. We weren't mistaken.

I'm gonna say right off the bat. The food saved the experience. This was an AMAZING lunch, food-wise. If we could've we would've complimented the chef and fired everyone else. Including the bartender. But we'll get to that.

Restaurant: Garfield's
Location: Birchwood Mall, Pine Grove Ave, Fort Gratiot, MI

We had no Susie this time around . She spent Spring Break in Ohio with her sons. The slacker. So it was just Mom, Jeri, Marti, and me. Or is that "I"? Whatever. Everyone, except for Susie. This is the month I forget what things are called , "I need a...what's it called? Oh yeah! A box." and Dora the Explorer is revisited. Even reading Midori on a menu cause's us to go into this bit. It's becoming a thing. Mom asked, "What's Midori?" and we said, "Remember? Dora the Explorer?" And she got it right away.

Garfield's was chosen because, Hey!, shopping when we're done! And I needed to get my nails did. And there's always a nail salon or two in the mall. And we were pretty sure they had the prerequisite alcoholic drinks.

Highlights

Drawing on the Table!

Chicken Quesadilla Heaven - They had chicken quesadilla everything. "Aw Hell!!" - Marti. Even a salad. Which one of us ordered. Chicken quesadilla's are never a bad thing. We could all use more in our lives.

Cranberry Walnut Salad

Crayons! - Garfield's is one of those places that has crayons at the table and you can draw on the tablecloth. We love that. I helps with SUPER long wait. Just sayin'.


Candied Walnuts - The candied walnuts on the Cranberry Walnut Salad are amazing. "I could eat just a giant plate of this!" - Mom. Jeri agreed. I guess the salad was pretty amazing. Marti and I didn't partake. I'm not a fan of feta cheese, which was on the salad. Marti and I like basic house salads. Jeri and Mom like those weird salads.

The Ratings: On a Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff
We all gave our waitress, Mel, a 1. Don't worry. We still tipped. We understand that maybe some days are

French Onion Soup

off days. But an effort should still be made to make the customers experience a good one.

We remembered why we hadn't been back. The service had been awful. And it hadn't changed. She didn't listen to us at all. I ordered a baked potato and the others had a salad or soup. I asked for it to be brought out with the starters. She brought out Loaded Baked Potato Soup instead. When I said that's not what I ordered, she said she take it back and fix the order. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more. When we finally got a chance to ask where my potato was she said that it was gonna come out with our lunches. Which is not what we asked or expected.

When our food did finally arrive, Marti and I had to ask for the fries that came with our lunch. She thought we didn't want them.

We rarely saw her. And it's not like it was busy. There were maybe five other tables in the whole restaurant. When we asked for the check and paid, she never brought the change or receipt back. After we finally tracked her down, again, she said she had assumed that the change was her tip. Which just seemed rude. Don't you usually give the customer a chance to decided their own tip on small parties? Who just assumes the change is your tip?

Food Quality

Chicken Quesadilla Salad

Mom - Half Turkey Cheddar Melt w/fries and Cranberry Walnut Salad; 5; Best. Salad. Ever. The candied walnuts were to die for. The sandwich was delicious and they had amazing fries.
Jeri - Chicken Quesadilla Salad and French Onion Soup; 5; Fresh homemade guacamole and tortilla strips on the salad. I stepped out the box by ordering a salad this month and I wasn't disappointed. I actually took a salad home. It was delicious.
Terra - BLT Sandwich w/fries and Baked Potato; 5; Amazing everything. The bacon was crispy and perfect. The toast was just right and the fries were awesome. I've never had a BLT that was so wonderful in my life. The potato was loaded with sour cream, bacon, cheese, and green onions and it was fantastic.
Marti - Turkey Avocado Club Sandwich w/fries and French Onion Soup; 5; Freaking delicious soup. Perfect bacon and bread. The avocado was a good addition. And it was all nice and melt-y.

BLT with Baked Potato

Food Value
Mom - $6.99; Way worth it. Perfect lunch price.
Jeri - $11.68; Worth it.
Terra - $7.49; Totally worth it.
Marti - $11.48; Worth it. Plus there were leftovers.

Drinks (Out of 10)
Mom - Chocolate Martini; $6.00; 5; It was kinda tiny. It looked nothing like the picture.
Jeri - Jamaican Me Crazy; $6.50; 5; There was no fancy glass or garnish like on the menu. It was plain
Terra - Pineapple Spritzer; $6.50; 2; I sent it back cause it was so nasty. My second drink was a Jamaican Me Crazy; $6.50; 9; There was no garnish. So it lost a point
Marti - Jamaican Me Crazy; $6.50; 9; There was no garnish. Presentation is important too.

We were not impressed with the bar overall. The drinks were plain and they took FOREVVVERRRR to arrive.We didn't even take pictures of our drinks our ourselves with our drinks. We were too disappointed in their appearances.

Turkey Cheddar Melt

Overall
Mom - 3
Jeri - 4; The waitress didn't take all the fun out of it.
Terra - 3
Marti - 3

We might go back. If we forget again that the service is horrible. If you only have an hour for lunch, avoid Garfield's. Between the wait time for the drinks and the food, it took longer than expected. The food truly did save the entire experience. It's the saving grace. If you have more than an hour and can brave through bad table service, go for it. You'll enjoy the food.

Terra

Chili's - Make Me Happy!

It's my birthday!!

Last month, after we had drinks at Chili's, we decided to come back this month for our lunch. And it also happened to be my birthday! We had a great time until the end, but that's not Chili's fault. Other people can sometimes just be so rude. But more on that later.

Restaurant: Chili's

Location: 26 Mile Rd, Shelby Twp, MI

It is my 31st birthday! I was very excited to go out with the girls. Not only because I would get to spend time with family, but because I knew there would probably be cake. CAKE! We had been seeing the recent television commercials advertising Chili's a lot. We were all anticipating lunch because of the commercials. And we were not disappointed at all in the food.

Mom, Jeri, and I arrived first. We ordered our appetizers and drinks while we waited for Susie and Martha. I wish for once we could be on time! It's NOT ME! It's HER!" - Marti. "I gotta do my hair and make-up." - Susie. This is actually a quite common conversation. And it's so funny. Heehee!

Highlights

Our Empty Cake Plate

Free Tasty Cake! - Since it was my birthday we of course had to get some cake. We chose the Chocolate Molten Cake and it was delicious! They brought it out with all the servers and sang to me. "I would lick this plate if there weren't spoons." - Jeri. That's how good the cake was. Also, Bonus, it was FREE!

Appetizers - The appetizers were the best we've ever had. We chose Bottomless

Onion & Jalapeno Stack

Chips & Salsa and the Onion & Jalapeno Stack. Do you see that to the right? Doesn't that look fabulous. We were practically fighting over it. I would go back JUST for that appetizer. It's deep fried onion strings and jalapenos with ranch dipping sauce. So good. And the chips for the chips and salsa were amazing. They were warm and crisp and fresh and just a little bit salty. And they were bottomless. You know how much we love bottomless! And they were only $3.29 for the chips and salsa and $3.79 for the Onion & Jalapeno Stack. So affordable.

My Balloons!

Rude Other Customers - No this isn't a highlight. It's a warning. Susie and Martha brought me fabulous balloons. Aren't they pretty? So we're sitting there eating our delicious free cake and this lady brings a screaming toddler near our table and he quiets when he see's my balloons. So she comes over and has him TOUCH my balloons. And she's going on about the balloons and I say that I'd give him one, but there all tied together, and she says, "Oh sorry Timmy (not his real name) you can't have one." So my Mom hands me a knife and says here. So I cut him off one of my balloons and they leave fast. Now at the time, I was okay with it. I didn't mind giving one of my balloons to a little kid. But as they are leaving we look over there and they have not only my balloon, but a Chili's balloon. They already HAD a balloon and they came over to me and conned me out of one. How rude. Who does that? Who takes a toddler over to strangers to guilt them out of a balloon? I would NEVER in a million years do that. My kid would've been taken out of the restaurant and gotten NO balloons. So beware rude people and don't give up your birthday balloons!

The Ratings : On a Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 4; I think she could've checked on us more. There was almost no one in for lunch and she didn't come around very often.

Jeri - 4; We sat for awhile before we were served and there was almost no one else in there.

Terra - 5; She offered to take our picture, she was friendly and smiling. When there was an issue with Marti's drink, she offered to fix it with a smile on her face. Our orders were all correct.

Susie - 5; She was outgoing and friendly.

Marti - 4 1/2; She called Mom "Grandma", but she was still very friendly.

Food Quality

Mom - Sante Fe Chicken Salad; 5. It was very good and so big that I had some left over for dinner later that night.

Jeri - Chicken & Bacon Quesadilla; 5. The best quesadilla I've ever had.

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

Terra - Chicken & Guacamole Sandwich; 5 You could chose half a sandwich or a whole and I chose half because it came with fries. We all agreed that they were the best fries ever.

Susie - Beef Fajitas; 4. There could've been more cheese for the fajitas, but the components were brought out at the same time and the meat was sizzling. The taste was pretty amazing.

Marti - Chicken & Guacamole Sandwich; 5. I love guacamole and the fries were pretty spectacular.

Food Value

Beef Fajitas

Mom - $9.39; Definitely worth it. There was so much that I had plenty for leftovers.

Jeri - $7.00; Worth it. That's a great price for lunch.

Terra - $8.00; So worth it. I was full and had some french fries left over. It was a perfect lunch price.

Susie - $14.00; Not really worth it. We figured the high price was because of the beef, but there wasn't
enough to really warrant that price.

Marti -$8.00; Worth it.

Drinks

Mom - Presidente Margarita; $7.49; 8; Hand-shaken Sauza® Conmemorativo® Tequila, Patrón Citrónge orange

liqueur and Presidente® Brandy.; I expected more drink and less ice. But it was tasty.

Jeri -Strawberry Daiquiri; $5.99; 2; It was way to thick and I couldn't even taste any alcohol.

Terra - Long Island Iced Tea; $7.20; 6; BACARDI® Superior Rum, Tanqueray® Gin, Smirnoff® Vodka and Patrón Citrónge Premium Orange Liqueur.; I've had way better.

Yummy!

Susie - Presidente Margarita; $7.49; 7; Hand-shaken Sauza® Conmemorativo® Tequila, Patrón Citrónge orange

liqueur and Presidente® Brandy.; There was a hair on the shaker, but other than that it was tasty.

Marti - Sex on the Beach; $7.20; 6; I had to have juice added cause the liquor was so strong. After they added the juice it went from a 4 to a 6. It was also way smaller than the one we had last time.

Overall the drinks were disappointing when compared from last month.

Chicken & Guacamole Sandwich

Bathroom

Out of the four of us that used the bathroom the ratings were between 4 and 5. "It was clean" was all I got out of them. And one complaint of a bad smell, but it's a bathroom. We may cut this and only let you know if the bathroom was really atrocious.

Overall

Mom - 5

Jeri - 5

Terra - 5

Susie - 4

Marti - 4 1/2

Bacon Chicken Quesadilla

We had fun. They sang happy birthday to me, gave me free cake, and fed us great food. The drinks could've been better, but that could've just been a different bartender than last time. If you'd like a nice quick lunch that won't break the bank, Chili's is a great choice. I think they're actually underrated as a lunch choice.

Terra