Showing posts with label GATR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GATR. Show all posts

5/21/2010

Blaines Restaurant - Chicken Parmesan Penne

Blaine's Grill And Bar - Gatlinburg
Blaine's Grill And Bar - Gatlinburg
Blaine's Grill And Bar located in the heart of Gatlinburg has a unique restaurant atmosphere. When entering, you quickly notice it's a multi-level restaurant with distinct sections for dining. The wood decor is very "Country Western" type. Very nice.

The hostess at the entrance radioed ahead to have us seated. after walking up two flights of stairs our table server greeted us and led us to our table.
Blaine's Loaded Potato Skins
Blaine's Loaded Potato Skins
In a minute, our waitress returned and asked for our drink and appetizer order. I ordered the loaded potato skins for an appetizer. in less than 10 minutes, our appetizers were delivered. As you can see, there were plenty of them and they were loaded with bacon and cheese. The potato skins were well done, not burnt, and very good tasting. The cheese was plenty as well as the well-cooked bacon. So far, so good.
Blaine's Chicken Pasta
For my dinner, I ordered the Chicken Parmesan Penne. I was expecting penne pasta in tomato sauce and a slab of breaded fried chicken covered with cheese and tomato sauce. I received this. I was pleasantly surprised. Instead of a slab of chicken, it was cut up into small strips and chunks and mixed with the penne and sauce. It was surprising good.

The chicken was juicy, hot, and plentiful, and smothered in a cheese and tomato sauce that was very good. The penne was well-cooked, and the aforementioned sauce was just zesty enough to bring the taste home.

The cost was very reasonable. The loaded potato skins were $5.95 and the main course was $9.95 plus diet drink. Total cost without tip was $18.00 dollars. For Gatlinburg, and for the portions served, it was a great bargain. The excellent service of the hostess and waitress only added to the good experience.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 4.25 out of 5 shots and recommends Blaine's Grill And Bar of Gatlinburg for dinner.


LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL
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5/02/2010

Texas Roadhouse Restaurant - Filet Mignon

Texas Roadhouse Of Gatlinburg
The Texas Roashouse Restaurant, located on the Parkway in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is famous for its steaks and BBQ ribs. It was packed with about 75 people waiting outside for a table. It took about an hour before our beeper activated signaling our table was ready. The waitress took us to our table, took our drink orders and returned quickly and promptly took our dinner orders.
Texas Roadhouse Dinner Rolls
I have been to the Texas Roadhouse before and I remembered the rolls. Our waitress brought them to our table as we were being seated. They were hot, fresh, very good tasting especially with the cinnamon butter that came with the rolls. Clearly, Texas roadhouse knows how to do rolls.
Texas Roadhouse Filet
I went with the advice of our waitress and went with the Filet Mignon with a loaded baked potato and steak fries. (You get two sides) After eating about 25-30 shelled peanuts supplied to our table, (There are two tin buckets on every table, one empty, one full of shelled peanuts) our dinners arrived.

As you can see, the steak looked delicious and the loaded potato and steak fries were generous. The waitress asked me to check my steak to see if it was cooked to order. I ordered it well done, and informed her that they could butterfly the filet if necessary. (Butterfly steak, cutting the filet in half making it easier to cook thoroughly through without burning the outer steak) It was not to my order. It was almost bloody red and I asked her to please return it and butterfly the steak and cook it to well done.

About ten minutes later our waitress returned with the filet looking exactly the same. It was not butterflied. I could see that the steak was not cooked more as the red blood was now oozing out onto the plate all over the steak fries. I sent it back once again asking that it be cooked to well done. Once again, it was returned and I could tell that the chef did not cook my filet further. In fact, it was now cold. So was the potato and fries.

At that point, I refused the steak and asked to speak to the chef. I was denied. The waitress said they were to busy and the chef was very busy and behind in his cooking. That explained everything right there. The chef never attempted to recook my steak and figured that I would accept what was served to me. I did not!

Since everyone was already finished with their dinners, I completely rejected my steak and stated I would not be paying for it. The manager agreed after coming over to my table and inspecting the steak. He apologized several times and offered any other entree for free. I declined and we left.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 0 out of 5 shots and DOES NOT recommend Texas Roadhouse restaurant Filet Mignon  for dinner.



LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

Responses to “Texas Roadhouse Restaurant Filet Mignon- Gatlinburg”


  1. Gumby said

    May 2, 2010 at 7:44 pm e
    I thought this was going to work out well. The steak did look damn good. Will you ever go back and chance it again?
    Reply

    • LOTGK said

      May 2, 2010 at 10:56 pm e
      I will return, and in fact have already done so. However, I did not order the Filet again. You will in my later updates my experience at the Texas Roadhouse.
      Reply

  2. FreakSmack said

    May 2, 2010 at 10:56 pm e
    The least they could have done was send you on your way with a couple pails of peanuts and rolls. I’m not going to lie I go to a place with good rolls for the rolls, I only order a meal because they frown upon you sitting there and only eating the rolls.
    I like the choice of the double potatoes, I like to rock the double mashed at Chili’s.
    Reply

    • LOTGK said

      May 2, 2010 at 11:25 pm e
      Double potato, I’m Irish, I had no choice. :D
      And yea, they did attempt to satisfy me with a free any thing dinner, but everyone was already finished, and with it being busy, it would have been another half hour, and nobody wanted that.
      Reply

  3. Elecpencil said

    May 2, 2010 at 11:31 pm e
    Good for you for refusing the steak. I also hate bloody steak and want it well done. I never order prime rib as it is always bloody. I once saw a woman send the bloodiest steak I have ever seen back at Brown Derby. She told the waiter,”I said, rare not well done.” I think it was Mrs. Dracula.
    Reply

  4. Ska2682 said

    May 2, 2010 at 11:42 pm e
    The only way to eat a steak is Medium-Rare. I little blood is good for the soul. “Meat tastes like murder, and murder is delicious!”-Denis Leary
    Reply

    • LOTGK said

      May 2, 2010 at 11:55 pm e
      I would have accepted medium rare. However, this steak was very rare, blood was oozing out after I cut into it. It was not how I ordered it.
      Reply

  5. Delong said

    May 3, 2010 at 8:17 am e
    Your crazy. I’ve been eating at Gia’s pizza for years and its always been good service and good food.
    Reply

    • LOTGK said

      May 3, 2010 at 10:12 am e
      Methinks you posted in the wrong Blue Plate Special category.
      But, Gia’s in Boardman, Ohio has not been open for years, I believe it has been open just under one year, so if there are more of these restaurants, God help us all.
      Reply

  6. Max Jackl said

    May 3, 2010 at 1:29 pm e
    I’ve been to the Roadhouse. They do have great rolls. My dinner was good, I got the ribs, they were fantastic. I’d rate them a good.
    Reply

    • LOTGK said

      May 4, 2010 at 11:57 pm e
      The ribs are coming up max. I returned to the Roadhouse for other times I had good results. The filet was the only unworthy dinner I had there.
      Reply

  7. Ahrcanum said

    May 3, 2010 at 6:26 pm e
    Hope u r lurking way far from the Tennessee floods! Have a good show, and a better meal and the next stop. Damn- it looked so good too. How was the salad?
    Reply

  8. The River Yeti said

    May 5, 2010 at 7:14 pm e
    At our Texas Roadhouse (in FL) you throw the peanut shells on the floor….Booya.
    Reply

  9. Moominboy said

    May 13, 2010 at 2:22 pm e
    Oh I would have grabbed it. I love my steaks rare, in fact I wouldn’t mind if it was still moving ;P The whole plate looks mouth-watering. But it’s bad style to insult the customers intelligence (or at least their perception).
    Reply

    • LOTGK said

      May 16, 2010 at 1:32 am e
      Yes, you would have loved this steak then.
      The sad part is, its a great restaurant, I have eaten there plenty. I just won’t recommend the steak.
      Reply

  10. Tushar Bhatti said

    August 31, 2012 at 7:56 am e
    Hello would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m having a tough time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique.
    P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I had
    to ask!
    Reply
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12/21/2009

Fannie Farkle’s Corn Dogs – (Ogle Dogs)

Famous Ogle Dogs
I was in Gatlinburg back in November when the weather was very pleasant, temperatures in the low 70's. As I was strolling the parkway enjoying the sunshine, I stopped in Fannie Farkle's to have myself a giant foot long corn dog.

Cooking The Ogles
The corn dogs were on display in the front window of the store. Even after seeing them, I still ventured inside to buy one. You could smell the grease outside, a large tub of cooking corn dogs. I then noticed they didn't sell corn dogs, but Ogle Dogs. Apparently Ogle Dogs are the house favorite of Fannie farkle's.
Ogle In A Bag
With it being not busy, I thought I would get waited on right away. After all, there were only four people in the building. Three were already eating on the side counter and one was ordering a sausage sandwich. It took five minutes for one of the three cashiers to ask if I wanted something. (No, no, I'm just inside your corn dog building admiring the impressive art decco) A few minutes later, he wraps my corn dog up in this fancy Fannie Farke take out bag.
Yeah - I Know
The cashier rang up my corn dog, the cost, $5 dollars plus tax. Yes, $5 dollars, and that was only for the corn dog, no fries, no chips, no beverage. Unwrapping the bag, I was met with this log. It smelled of old grease, and in a moment, I found that it tasted like old grease as well.

Continuing with the taste, it was well cooked, not burned, and the hot dog inside the dough was hot completely through. As corn dogs go, it was of regular tasting, but the old grease taste had a strong presence. After a few bites, the rest of the corn dog was laid to rest in the trash container outside of Fannie Farkle's.

PS: Technically, it was a a foot long corn dog, but upon inspection, it was two regular hot dogs on the same stick. Not splitting hairs here, just reporting the findings.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 2 out of 5 shots and DOES NOT recommend Fannie Farkle's Corn Dogs for dinner.



LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

Responses to “Fannie Farkle’s Corn Dogs – (Ogle Dogs)”


  1. Max Jackl said

    December 21, 2009 at 10:10 pm e
    WTF! That looks like it came straight out of a porno movie.
    Reply

  2. Moominboy said

    December 26, 2009 at 10:24 am e
    Ok, so if I understand this correctly, a corn dog is a hot dog covered in… cooked corn? Fried corn? Or what is it? And why would anybody want to buy it? o.O
    Reply
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11/11/2009

Smoky Mountain Brewery Chicken Tenders

Fresh Warm Rolls
If you read my Diner critiques, (And shame on you if you do not) then The Smoky Mountain Brewery restaurant on the Parkway in Gatlinburg, Tennessee is no stranger. Tonight's offering was a simple choice, and with the restaurant crowded but not over flowing, we were seated quickly and positioned our table to the TV with the football game of our choice.

Our waitress was bubbly and took our drink and dinner order and in a short time, rolls and drinks were at our table. The rolls were hot, fresh, and tasted very good. Of course they tasted home made, not known if they actually were, but tasted so.
Brewery Chicken Tenders
My order was a chage up from the standard menu. I ordered the chicken planks and a baked potato with butter. I saw an order of chicken go to a table next to us and they looked delicious. A few minutes later, my eyes were correct.

The chicken was hot, fresh, juicy, the batter spicy enough and cooked golden brown to almost perfection. The taste, delicious.

The baked potato was hot, well cooked, and completed the meal. A cold diet Coke was a refreshing addition to the meal.

The portion was adequate, not to much, not to little. the meal was filling and I left felling full but not bloated.

The cost was reasonable, $13 dollars before tip. Yes, only $13 dollars.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 4 out of 5 shots and recommends Smoky Mountain Brewery in Gatlinburg for dinner.




LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

Responses to “Smoky Mountain Brewery Chicken Tenders”


  1. Enis74 said

    November 11, 2009 at 3:27 pm e
    Now thats a whole lot of fried food. Fried chicken in the south, thats not surprising, the baked potato is whats surprising. They should be fries or biscuits and gravy.
    Reply

  2. Gumby said

    November 12, 2009 at 10:19 am e
    When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
    Reply

  3. Moominboy said

    November 14, 2009 at 5:44 pm e
    Looks very nice. I actually prefer cooked, baked or mashed potatoes to fries but I didn’t see many places in U.S. offering them. Good to know they are still around.
    Reply
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