The Firkin' chain of British Pubs is owned and operated by a British Canadian company. Confusing? YES! Although we usually do not stop in huge corporate chain restaurants we were looking for something we had not had and had burgers and brews.
Bassett Cafe in Bassett, CA on the road between Downeville and Sierraville is a great place to stop in for a great malt or down home burger! They are super friendly and make you fee as if you grew up stopping in every day.
Tha Joint offers not only great sushi but also great service and a fun environment. Most sushi restaurants in Reno have one of two extreme feels to them. You have the cafeteria places and the intimate get together places. Tha Joint has an almost upbeat club feel to it that is still cozy due to all the employees being so friendly.
Why does it cost so much for a burger I have to stand in line and make myself? Are the burgers good? Yes. Are the servers friendly? Yes. Does that make up for having to pay just as much as a normal burger place for the novelty of making the burger my way? Not really. I could make it at home.
I am not saying that Fudruckers is a bad burger place, I just do not get it. You are paying regular restaurant prices to stand in a line waiting to hurriedly throw together your burger with various items, bumping into others also trying to do the same thing. I think that it would work a lot smoother if they would just increase the condiment tables size. Spread it out a little so that you are not bumping into everyone else trying to pick between the hundreds of choices.
The burgers taste pretty much however you want them to because you make them so I will focus on the patties and buns. They are pretty good, not the best not the worst. They remind me of playground grilled burgers at those big family outings.
What Francis says: If you like the novelty of making your own burger, try it out.
What Zo says: Good burgers for a chain, wedge fries are pretty good kind of made her mad they called her ZoHan.
I hate 1000 Island dressing, so you know it is a bad burger when I drown my burger in it. Zo and I have been making fun of how the outside of Cheeseburger Island Style here in Reno looks since it was built. I kept saying it looked like a bad Veags Casino! After months of making fun of it I said, "Hey babe why don't we give it a chance?" So we did.
When you walk in you are greeted by hostesses wearing really bad imitation grass skirts and a friendly "Aloha!" These Alohas get old about the 3rd, 4th one and make you grind your teeth by the 8th or 9th! For being an Island themed burger joint it sure is dark. I do not know about the two girls that opened it after wanting a burger in Hawaii but I've never been to a dark dank beach in bright sunshiny Hawaii. The menus are sticky and grease with way too many items. I shouldn't have to have a waiter tell me to open to page 17 for drinks and page 13 for appetizers... I should be able to easily find them myself.
The menu states all of their burgers come with 1000 island dressing and the onion rings are unforgettable, if my unforgettably plain then they are right about that. The burgers... UGH, the burgers. The first thing Zo noticed when they were brought to us were that they were school cafeteria grey (real bad sign) and the first thing I noticed when biting into them was that they tasted like sausage breakfast patties from a fast food joint. I decided there must be something to the adding 1000 island to the burgers. i had it put on the side because neither of us is a huge fan of it, Zo likes it sometimes. I dipped my burger in... if you dip it in the 1000 island dressing, sprinkle pepper over it, pour ranch on it and pretend you are eating a breakfast sandwich you can kind of enjoy it I suppose.
What was good? The service was pretty darn good (other than they try to up sell you with every sentence when makes Zo and I order less.) The seasoned fries are also pretty good. Nothing to write home about but good enough that you would eat a plate of them!
What Francis says: AVOID!
What Zo says: Avoid!
We do not usually frequent casinos but the Atlantis In Reno has Gelato! They also have brick oven pizzas. Those two things combined plus the fact the Atlantis is one of the casinos you do not walk out of smelling like a total ashtray makes this a fun place to stop by now and then.
If you get a pizza be picky. If it looks like something you can get anywhere it is going to taste like a pizza you can get anywhere. If it has an interesting name like; Island Delight, Fire-Roasted Chipotle Chicken, Chef Bob's Favorite, Spicy Meatball, Sonora, ect. It is going to be interesting and good.
When it comes to Gelato there is only really one flavor to avoid. Banana, it tastes like banana laughy taffy not bananas. Other wise they all taste great, some of our favorites are; Wine custard, Amaretto, Carmel, cookies and cream, truffle and vanilla. Everyday they have different flavors so you may have to drop in a few times in a row to get the flavor you are looking for.
We hope to see you there! http://www.atlantiscasino.com/dining/cafe-alfresco-menu.asp
What Zo says: Love the gelato, great friendly service, Casino pizza that is good? Who knew!
Beef Fajitas, Tacos, Cheese Enchiladas, Salsa, beans, rice, Quesadilla, Carne Asada, Chile Relleno, Margaritas everything I have had here tastes authentic and great!
I have been telling Zo about this place for probably a year and a half and saying we have to go. Then we would end up going somewhere else for one reason or another. We finally popped in Monday night and the food was just as good as I remembered it and I got a, "Everything tastes SO good," from Zo!
We split an order of beef fajitas and a cheese enchilada and it was oh so good.
Being that it has been a while since I have been there, I noticed they have redone the decor and menu's. I remember there being mariachis as well but maybe they are off on Monday nights. Treat yourself to some yummy Mexican at El Sazon II on Oddie Blvd :)
No website so here are some reviews:
http://local.yahoo.com/info-14995488-el-sazon-mexicano-restaurant-alcoa
http://www.menupix.com/reno/restaurants/2800635/El-Sazon-Mexican-Restaurant-Sparks-NV
What Francis says: Love it when the mariachis are there, great place for some authentic Mexican cuisine.
What Zo says: Good place to take your family for Mexican food.
Probably the best sushi Zo or I have ever had together!
Located at 27955 Hwy 98 Suite S-T in Daphne,AL. we found a hard to top sushi bar. The fish is some of the freshest we have ever had, the atmosphere is great for a romantic hideaway and the sushi is inventive, fun and tasty!
Make sure to try some of the crawfish rolls because we have never had sushi that tasted better!
What Francis Says: Some of the most interesting rolls I have ever tried, great service and food!
What Zo says: We have to go there every time we are in town!
At 29145 Us-98 there is a seafood gem. Inside the fish market is a great place to get seafood on the go. There is even a picture of Emeril Lagasse ordering what has to be the best shrimp Po-boy on the planet. Why is it the best? Zo ordered one of these and I got an oyster one. Zo did not think she would like oysters because of a bad childhood experience with them. I told her I would let her try some of mine.
We got them in to-go boxes and headed for my Grandparents house to chow down. When I opened my to-go box the average Po-boy with 8-10 fried oysters was there, it tasted great and the fixes that came with it were tasty. An average meal.
When Zo opened hers?!? There were enough shrimp to feed three people. Shrimp were pouring out of the box! They were fried in a tasty batter warm, soft and juicy! They were for better words perfect.
If you are within 50 miles of this place, stop in and get yourself an amazing Po-boy!
What Francis Says: LOVE IT! Get a shrimp Po-boy!
What Zo says: Great food, love this place.
What a birthday trip last year for Zo! I bought tickets for a Haunted House tour for the wrong weekend we were there. Then we have an exciting trip to the Emergency Room where we found out that stress can cause you to be dizzy and experience nausea (Who knew? other than the docs.)
I did not want Zo's B-day to be a total wash. We needed to relax and have some fun so we found a nice Sushi place in Mountain View to celebrate Zo's birthday. We checked the web reviews and found this place was highly recommend and only a couple of miles away from our hotel.
The fish fresh, the rice sticky and firm, the Nigiri perfect, the Saki tasty, the environment was classy but casual and the service was on the spot fast and friendly!
We tried a more than a few rolls and in our opinion you should make sure to try the, submarine, dragon, crazy, kamikaze, red dragon, soft shell crab and cherry blossom rolls.
Also do your self a favor and get some Karatanba (premium cold sake) it is delicious. Chilled, smooth and warming when it settles. You are going to need a cab because you will want more!
www.tsunamisushi.info/home.html
What Francis says: Fresh and Tasty!
What Zo says: Great rolls and Sake!
What Zo says: Best pizza and sourdough!
What Francis says: Like the environment and the pizza is pretty good too!
Being the pizza lovers we are we scour our local area for good pizzerias. We had seen the sign for Eclipse a few times and decided it was time to try it out.
The menu is full of pizza's with fun names and we settled on the Downieville, an Eclipse House salad and Two Orange blossom beers. You can sit outside on the patio, down stairs or in the loft. We chose the loft as you can look out the windows at the beautiful Reno Valley mountains.
When our order was ready they popped upstairs and dropped us off our food. Pizza is always good but man this pizza is as fun your mouth as they are named. It was flavorful with quality ingredients and best of all the crust was great tasting. Too many places have pizza crust that is as bland as cardboard. The crust could have been eaten on its own it was so good.
We highly recommend this place for its fun food and atmosphere!
http://www.eclipsepizza.net/
What Francis says: Darn good pizza, just eat it there the crust is not as good once it cools.
What Zo says: Tasty pizza and tasty crust, fun environment.
A very pleasant surprise! Zo mentioned seeing the commercial for this Fresh Mex on our way home from my parents. We thought it would be fun to stop in and get some quick food to eat as we lounged around at home.
Check this place out!
http://www.freshmexreno.com/
What Francis says: Great salsa and super friendly environment, never trust a skinny chef.
What Zo says: Amazing salsa, friendly servers and owner, great fish tacos!
