Maybe it’s summer, or just my appetite for nice spicy wings.  I tried yet another Buffalo wing place this past week.  Buffalo Wings & Rings (I’ll call them BWR).  This one was found in Round Rock between Beltway 45 and Gattis School Rd off Andy Grimes Avenue.  I have to give them a general thumbs up– I went in looking for Buffalo wings, but got a gyro instead, with some boneless wings on the side since I was hunting some heat too.  I just couldn’t pass up a chance on getting a decent gyro.  I’m going to have to go back to try the actual wings!  Here’s what I ordered:

• Lunch special ($6.99)
  • Gyro (Lamb & Beef) – Excellent!
  • Sarasota Chips – Good
  • Iced Tea (unsweet)
• .99 boneless wings (3 minimum)
  • Needed some heat, but wanted the Gyro

THE CHICKEN AND THE SAUCE:  UNIQUE METHOD OF CHOOSING!
I did get my boneless buffalo wings (.99/each, 3 minimum).  The wings were good quality white meat– very juicy.  5 stars.  Lightly breaded, and then dipped into the hot sauce– I chose Cajun flavor, Extra Hot.

Regarding BWR‘s  method of choosing the flavor of sauce; their method is a bit different, and appears to me to be a winner (though I’ve yet to try more than one sauce– yet).  This method appeals to me on first glance, and the taste wasn’t bad.  Unlike all the others I have tried so far (Wing Stop, Plucker’s, or Buffalo Wild Wing), instead of simply choosing a flavor description, theirs is a two step process.  Step 1– choose the sauce (e.g., Original, Lemmon Pepper, Cajun, Crazy, etc).  Step 2– choose your heat (mild, medium, hot, extra hot, atomic).  I chose the Cajun.ExtraHot.  I would place this about on par with Plucker’s Buffalo Hot, Wing Stop’s Cajun, and Buffalow Wild Wing’s Wild.  Plenty of heat but not overpowering (at least for me– I’m fairly acclimated to a somewhat higher-than-typical scoville content and can enjoy the flavors beyond the heat).

THE GYRO:
Very tasty.  Now I don’t have to drive out to Tino’s Greek Cafe to get a good gyro.  Excellent quality with all the trimmings you’d expect.  Not much more to say.  :)

THE CHIPS:
The Sarasota Chips were made on the premises and were okay.  If you like homemade crispy chips, then these are the ones for you.  I actually like a mix (crispy & soft) when it comes to homemade potato chips.  Suggestion for Buffalo Wings & Rings?  Provide some quality blue cheese dressing as a dipping sauce– After eating homemade chips just once with real blue cheese dressing (not the retail salad dressing version that is as runny as Ranch), you will never go back (if you like blue cheese that is).

Sorry folks!  It’s been quite a while, but I’ve been quite busy on my day job as a program manager (and glad I’m employed)!

Two things–

1. I’ve tried Buffalo Wild Wings at Parmer and I-35– my opine?
   • Descent wings.  I tried Hot and Wild.  Wild is about the same as Plucker’s Buffalo Hot.  Hot was okay– can’t compare to anything else.
   • Potato chips.  They’re thick and home-made– no crispy about them.  I still prefer pluckers
   • Garlic Mushrooms– avoid them, in my opinion.  If you do order them, you may want to make sure that if they are not to your palate, that you can get them replaced with something else.  Personally, after about two, I had to stop.  A lot of breading and the garlic was a bit overpowering for my tastes.  But, hey, if you like garlic, this might be for you, since they’ve made it to the menu.  If, like me, you like Plucker’s Magic Mushrooms, you’ll more than likely not like these.
   • Wait staff was great.  The gal that waited on my was attentive, polite and responsive.
   • Atmosphere is not as wild as pluckers– I’d feel comfortable taking my 4.5yr old there.
2. I plan on revamping the site a bit.  We’ll keep the same articles, but I’m going to update the theme if I can.

Rock on!  Keep Austin Weird and the food great tasting! 

I just received an email from Roy’s Hawaiin Cuisine Restaurant’s that contained sad new… their Austin location has closed!

Roy’s food and service has always been among the best of the high-end chain restaurants, and the atmosphere very friendly and inviting.  I’ll miss taking my mom to Roy’s on Mother’s Day… perhaps.  The note did say that they may open in another location, but no time frame was given.

If they do open a new location in Austin, I know that my family and I will certainly be there occasionally.

Thanks for the great food, and good luck in Austin Roy’s Hawaiian Cuisine Restaurant!

Hey AustinFoodReview patrons!  I’ll have a new review out soon covering Brunch at Hyde Park Bar & Grill, just south of the Duval and 45th St. intersection on Duval.

Teaser– Hyde Park Fries, Fried Egg Sandwich, Pastrami Sandwich, and the kid’s menu.

Stay tuned!

Plucker's Wing Bar

WingStop

I know I’ve twittered on the topic in the past, while I was pretty firmly in the Wing Stop camp, yet the Plucker’s upstart had some great wings and great flavors.  I went from there to undeciced, but I have to say I’ve finally made my decision.  Against every ounce of decency in me, I have to say that my new wing stop isn’t Wing Stop… it’s that dastardly, in-your-face, not afraid to create near-vulgar puns– Austin-based corporate franchise, Plucker’s!  Or more properly “Plucker’s Wing Bar”.  I actually preferred the old name, Plucker’s Wing Bar & Grill (or something to that effect).

I admit it!  I am not a fan of the stupid and near vulgar signs on the walls, or the menus, and I’m forbidden from taking my son to the place (nor would I want to, except on “Kid’s Eat Free” day at the Round Rock location– however, I adhere to the wifely edict).  The place is laced with signs & phrases that are nearly vulgar (at least to me), and the tea is waaay overpriced ($2.15!!); however, the wings are the best quality (in terms of size and structure) and the available flavors are superb.  An exampled of the near-vulgarity?  Check out their blog, titled “Mother Plucking Blog”.  Peruse if you will, but the restaurant menus (at least the ones in Round Rock) and the Plucker’s restaurant culture convey the same feeling.  Now do I want my son reading, much less saying this type stuff?  Of course not– hence, we don’t visit as a family.

As I mentioned, this probably isn’t the best place to go for a family outing.  It’s pretty much a sports bar, but it does have booths and tables too.  They have a television on every wall (and I mean every wall), play music fairly loud, and of course they have a bar that’s at least seperated from the main inside eating area (at least in Round Rock).  It’s saving grace for me is that at lunch, the atmosphere doesn’t feel like a bar / pick-up joint, nor is it too sportsy.  There’s no better wing, unless you just can’t get enough of Wing Stop’s Cajun (Plucker’s cajun doesn’t hold a candle to Wing Stop’s cajun flavor).  But Plucker’s Buffalo Hot and Spicy Ranch are good runners up– the fact they have a ‘all you can eat’ special on Monday’s, and if you sign up for the “Plucker’s Card Lite” or “Plucker’s Card” you get either 5% or 10% off (in Round Rock on Monday’s the discount is doubled).

So what made me decide to choose this place over the much family-friendlier Wing Stop?  The wings!!  THE WINGS!  Not just the quality of Plucker’s wings, but also the experience that I’ve had with Wing Stop’s wings.  I don’t want this to come across negatively– my experience with the local Wing Stop is that they chicken wings seem quite a bit smaller, and the bones are too often broken (for me)– this is something that irritates me, as it makes for an unpleasant wing-eating experience.  The other thing I like?  Being waited on. Plucker’s has a waitstaff, and wingstop doesn’t.  Yes, this means adding 15-20% to the ticket, but Plucker’s has a ‘club card’ where you can get points for every dollar you spend, effectively creating a 10% or 20% off– or I hear more  if you’re in military uniform– which effectively offsets the waitstaff price.   Wing Stop does not have a waitstaff (and no required tipping, although they do have a tipping jar).  The chicken is plump, meaty, flavorful, and you can get stuff besides wings.  One of my non-wing favorites is the Buffulo Chicken Salad (with Buffulo Hot chicken tenders and Ranch).  They also have wonderful appetizers, and some say deserts.  Let’s put it this way– if you can fry it, chances are Plucker’s probably has tried it and serves it.  Fried Twinkies?  Yep (ugh!).  Fried pickles?  Yummy!  Fried mushrooms?  They’re grand!  Homemade potato chips?  Wonderful with the toppings and blue cheese dressing (real chunks of blue chees)!  Waffle fries, if you like ‘em (I don’t care for waffle fries myself).  Did I mention their fried pickle?  As an aside, this is one of the few places that I’ve found that serve them well in Austin– Plucker’s, Chez Zee, and Texas Land and Cattle–Chez Zee for pickle medallions, and Plucker’s (and TxL&C) for the spears– in my opinion, the spears cut is the best, and Plucker’s breading sticks to the pickles fairly well and tastes very good.

So here I am, blathering on.  I just have to say that Plucker’s has become my standard lunch fare when I walk out of the office in Round Rock.  They haven’t paid me for this review (and they haven’t a clue that I have this website).  I really like Wing Stop– they’re cheaper when getting just the wings and they have wonderful flavors.  Plus, I feel a connnection withthem, as they were a part of my Atkin’s diet when I lost 90# before I got married.  However, I like a sit down serving atmosphere, and the quality of Plucker’s wings, in my opinion, exceeds those of the competition.  Wing Stop however, is the place to go if you’re looking for wings on the go (i.e., To Go)– they know how to pack wings so that they don’t mix sauces (if you get more than one flavor), and you don’t have to wait in a bar to pick them up.  And it’s always fourteen minutes from the time you hang up the phone to the time they’re ready (unless you ask them to have them ready at another time).

Don’t cry Wing Stop.  Your fries are two hundred times better than Plucker’s… who likes potato waffles?? And you can order online (something that Plucker’s doesn’t offer at this time).

Why am I putting this out there?  Since I got married in 2005, I’ve put too much weight back on and am now going back to a modified Atkins diet.  Plucker’s (and Wing Stop) will likely be a part of that when I consume chicken.

Updated 31 Dec 2009

Springhill Catfish Restaurant – First & Second Pass Review

Restaurant name: Springhill Restaurant (or “Springhill Catfish” as I’ve always known it)
Phone: (512) 391-1500
Location: East Pecan (FM 1825), Pflugerville, Texas

Cost: Cheap to Average – (no website to reference menu!)
Service date: Monday, 1 June 2009 at about 12:00 PM.

Service: Good
Comments (PRO):
(Full disclosure– I used to live in Pflugerville and visited this place often– but I don’t know anyone associated with the restaurant personally).
Very friendly and accommodating. Springhill has a waitstaff that is relatively permanent. If you visited Springhill just once a year, more than likely you’ll see the same or nearly the same folks waiting tables as on your previous visit (in my opinion/observation). All of my encounters at Springhill in Pflugerville have never met with any serious issues.
Comments (CON): My only issue is that when it’s very busy, you may have to wait for your tea to be refilled. However, if you flag any one of the waitstaff, they’ll take care of you.

Food Quality: Good
Appetizer: I like the green fried tomatoes. Nothing super special about them other than you can’t really find ‘em anywhere else.

Meal: All-You-Can-Eat Buffet (includes anything on the buffet table, salad and buffet desert plus a drink). The buffet, which is available daily from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., always has Catfish, plus a second main course, which they change around every day.

- Sunday, steak fingers & King Ranch Chicken
- Monday, steak fingers
- Tuesday, chicken strips
- Wednesday, (I’ll have to update later)
- Thursday, (I’ll have to update later)
- Friday, (I’ll have to update later)
- Saturday, (I’ll have to update later)

The tea is descent (thought the cups are small– 20 ounces). The Catfish is very good. I don’t think I’ve ever had it taste fishy. The direct competition for Springhill, in my opinion, is Catfish Parlor, for the catfish, but that’s another review

Cost for the buffet? $10.99 + tip (and remember, it includes a drink!).

Besides the catfish, I think Springhill has one of the best chicken fried steak meals around, for the cost. It looks like it’s double-washed and then fried, and tastes great! Huge is another word. It comes with a salad and two sides, but alas the drink is separate. I don’t recall the price, but I believe it is $8.99 for the meal, then add drink and tip.

Atmosphere: Very laid back, typical country style restaurant. Oddities and local Texas artifacts hang on the walls, and most of the folks there speak with an nice Southern accent.

Family friendliness:
Lunch: Yes.
Dinner: Ditto. Not a pick-up joint.

Austin Weird (scale 0 to 10): 4 This restaurant is an Austin-area staple, but not in the Austin Weird sense. This restaurant started when Pflugerville was still considered somewhat rural, and still displays that atmosphere.

Summary: Upscale, it’s not. Tasty it is. Not quite the ‘hole-in-the-wall’, but home-spun enough to know that it’s definitely local– there’s no taste of franchise here. Tea is good stuff, I just wish their cups came in a 32 ounce variety. Expect about $10/head if you go here. You can go cheaper with the small catfish plate and a drink (or cheaper if you go for water)– I’m guessing at about $7 or so.

The AFR Score: I like Springhill Restaurant. It’s a local joint, no smell of franchise here. Good down-home cooking, with a focus on fried catfish and the foods the complement it (and the Texas staple of chicken fried steak). For a purely subjective Austin Food Review Score on a scale of one to ten, I would rate Springhill food at about a six to six and a half.

Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine Restaurant – First Pass Review

Restaurant name: Roy’s Restaurant
Phone: (512) 391-1500
Location: 340 E 2nd St, Austin

Cost: Expensive! See their menu here: http://www.roysrestaurant.com/. Menu found at http://hosted.where2getit.com/roys/
Service date: Sunday, 10 May 2009 at about 12:45 PM.

Service: Excellent! with one side note. It almost turned into a disaster, as we had requested a booster for our 3 year old son. We asked the host for one, and the drink server, and they apparently forgot with all the business going on for Mother’s day. However, the waiter made up for it all. When we advised him that he was the third person we asked about a booster, it was immediately resolved– the rest of the dining experience was excellent. The wait staff was truly professional. I’m chalking up the delay to the Mother’s Day rush.
Comments (PRO):
- Very service oriented. This is the high-end chain restaurant, and the service is commensurate with the price.
- The food is excellent and unique, although you can get the tried and true here as well, with a European-Hawaiian Fusion taste.
- Online reservations available (I made my the day before Mother’s day for my mother, and I got in just after the prime lunch slot at 1:00 P.M.).
- Fixed price menu if you desire
- For Mother’s Day, the restaurant actually gave all the mothers at our table a gift card of $20 each.
Comments (CON):
- The high price (this is a high-end chain restaurant, so this was expected).
- If you want Austin, or Austin Weird, this is not the place for you. However, you can arrive in jeans and button down or polo shirt, so it’s not too bad.

Food Quality: High
Appetizer: Since it was Mother’s Day, we splurged (quite a bit), and all four of us (myself, my wife, and my parents) got the Mother’s Day Brunch Fixed Price Menu which came with an appetizer, main course, and dessert. My wife got the Yamaguchi Suchi “Sunrise at Haleakala” Roll, and she loved it (I’m not a big sushi guy). I chose the Crunchy Golden Lobster Pot Stickers, and they were excellent– nice and succulent, not overdone, and not underdone.

Entrée: For the meal, I chose the Yama Mama’s Meatloaf with Two Eggs over Easy. This is the first time I had eggs on top of my meatloaf, but it won’t be my last. The eggs were done perfectly, and the meatloaf was prepared perfectly as well. However, the taste wasn’t anything spectacular– my mom does just as good a job if not better at times.

Dessert: For desert, I chose the Kona Coffee Chocolate Bavarian Mousse. Very good. Again, many other venues have comparable food, but everything at Roy’s was very good.

Family friendliness:
Lunch: Yes. Kid’s meal available (though a bit expensive), and the waitstaff attempts to please by accommodating guest requests (in meal preparation, and child requests).
Dinner: Yes (qualified). I haven’t eaten at Roy’s for dinner with a child– I believe they would be fine, as the wait staff seems very professional, even if busy.

Expecting/New Mother Friendliness: The restaurant was very accommodating with our requests concerning our three year old son, if a bit slow. They did not seem to mind the requests at all– they were just absent minded I assume, based on the quick reaction by our waiter when brought to his attention. If you have special food requests (soy milk, etc.), I would suggest you call before you make your plans.

Austin Weird: No. I’m sure you’d get the same experience in Plano or other Roy’s locale.

Summary: Roy’s Restaurant (European-Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine) is a fine place to dine out in Austin. If you’re upscale, this is probably not a new place to you– it is corporate in feel, so it’s not Austin Weird. However, the service and food are excellent– but they should be for the price of the meals. I would recommend Roy’s to go to for someone that wants reliably good service and reliably excellent meals if price is not a major concern. The cost for a full meal (appetizer, course, dessert) will range from $30 to $45 without drinks.

The AFR Score: I like Roy’s Restaurant. It started off with a small hitch with our need for a child booster being ignored by the hostess and drink server, but was immediately addressed by our waiter who displayed the appropriate sense of urgency. The food was excellent– all of it. The price however, is a bit more than this reviewer would like to pay– I might even say that the food is overpriced, but you’re paying for the food and service. I’d give Roy’s an eight and a half on a scale of ten with ten being perfect for experience. I’d give them a 5 on price alone, unless you know that you’ll be paying for the service (and that doesn’t mean it’s a built in tip). For a party of two, expect $40 per head, plus 20% tip.

Here’s my “First Pass” review of Opal Divine’s at Parmer Lane and MoPac.

Restaurant name: Opal Divine’s Marina
Phone: (512) 733-5353
Location: 12709 N MO Pac Expy, Austin, TX 78727

Cost: Medium. See their menu here: http://opaldivines.com/food.html
Service date: Sunday, 22 March 2009 at about 1:00 PM.

Service: Good to Average
Comments (PRO): Very nice waiter; great demeanor. I didn’t have to ask to have my tea refilled (big pet-peeve).
Comments (CON): Relatively unresponsive to complaints about the quality of food. Very laid back (not conducive when a customer needs something), to the point the impression was that it was an ‘what will be will be’ attitude.

Food Quality: Average (mixed bag– we had poor and good)
Appetizer: We splurged and got the Salmon Plate Appetizer– at $12, it was the flag ship appetizer, and I expected it to reflect this. However, when it came out, the Salmon looked old (the edges were discolored, and it had a definite taste that wasn’t desirable). I couldn’t recommend it ever again. Only way I’d try this one again is if I saw someone else ordered it and thought it looked better, or if it were free.

Meal: The son (3 year old) got a kiddie plate (ham sandwich); the quality of the sandwich was very good. Nice bread and meat. But the vegetables… ever seen vegetables that have sat in your fridge for a week– still good, not limp, but looking dried out and crusty? those were these. The wife was obviously displeased, and asked if they could be replaced with fresh vegetables– the waiter didn’t seem concerned, and didn’t really address the complaint, other than to say ‘sorry, I know, that’s all we have’ or something to that effect. [Update] My son reminded me that we asked for something else, after the initial ‘that’s the only veggies we have’, we asked for oranges and the waiter did kindly bring out some oranges.

The wife got a very nice looking turkey sandwich, the Tuscan Turkey & Havarti Panini, which she was happy with. I had the Fish and Chips. The fish was acceptable, but not the nice crisp white that I am used to, but it was fine, and nicely cooked. No real ‘chips’ in the British sense though, just the Opal Divine fries (seasoned with cracked pepper). Not displeased, but not the ‘wow’ I was half-way expecting since the were advertised in the menu as a specialty.

Family friendliness:
Lunch: Yes.
Dinner: I would have to say No for evening hours, as I have my doubts based on the decor. The place looks more like a bar than a restaurant. Every wall is decorated with some form of advertisement of an inebriating beverage of some sort, and it seems that one of Opal Divine’s claims to fame is its ‘Happy Hour’.

Austin Weird: Yes. If you’re a visitor, this would be a nice place to go. I think there are alternatives that you may like better, such as Hyde Park Bar and Grill on Duval (you even get to see the cool Giant Fork and have great food and the famous Hyde Park Fries with the Hyde Park Fry sauce).

Summary: In summary, my opinion is that Opal Divine’s deserves another shot (although my wife has told me that she’ll refuse to go). The sandwiches looked very appealing, and although the cracked pepper fries are nothing like the Hyde Park Fries of Hyde Park Bar and Grill (nor is there any special dipping sauce like the Hyde Park Fries have), they are a fine signature item and taste fine. I’m interested in this place as a lunch time venue with decent food, as access to the restaurant is superb (just in front of Fry’s). I’m sure I could drive from work in Round Rock to Opal Divine’s in less than 10 to 12 minutes, and get back in the same amount of time.

The AFR Score: The venue may have been simply having a bad day; at least the attitude of the waiter was pleasant. I’d give Opal Divine’s a middle of the road score (let’s say a wavering five out of ten). I do have some negative thoughts, but not strong enough to prevent me from visiting again. If I didn’t get the appetizer, or see the son’s vegies looking so terrible, I’m sure this would have made a much higher impression on our family when we visited. My thoughts? Great place to try for lunch. At the very least you can say “I’ve been there.”