This Italian place has been open for over 90 years and many people in Buffalo still haven’t heard of it. Three of the four of us who went just found out about it last week and went for the first time today for lunch. It originally opened in 1921 and has since stayed with the same family ownership in that spot. The restaurant is very close to downtown with it being no more than 10 minutes outside of central city.
This place has generated a lot of talk at work lately about its old fashioned food and hospitality. Many said they have never had a bad meal there. People at work have been raving about the pasta fasoola. We heard former mayor of Buffalo Anthony Masiello was known to visit there often when he was mayor.
We called ahead today to find out if they could pre-order to eat there and they said they can't do that. They also don't take reservations. We also found out they don’t have coffee and dessert didn’t appear on the menu. No salad came with the dinner meals or a side of pasta with it. The meals only come with bread. On the menu, salad is an extra 5 dollars. To upgrade to garlic bread, it is $3.50. A side of pasta is $3.25. Special sauces such as garlic & oil is expensive at $3.75 extra. Not a pleasant start knowing about it before we got there minus the tremendous word of mouth in the office, but it changed when we arrived.
We sat in the back room with the menu on the wall as there were three small dining rooms in the one restaurant... all not very big. The tables are small and most are crammed next to one another. We can imagine how busy it would be during dinner time, especially with the parking scattered around, because the place during lunch was over half full when we went. We didn't look at a paper menu and knew what we were ordering. We ordered stuffed shells, meatballs, sausage, spaghetti, and pasta fasool. We asked the waitress what chances we would be out of the restaurant in a half hour and she said very good unless you order a parm meal. Two of us were going to order chicken parm so we decided to skip out on that and get a pasta. This turned out to be the right move since the food came out in 5 to 10 minutes.
Before we got our food, several slices of Italian bread came out on a plate with packets of butter... no bread plates so we used our napkins. The pasta fasoola was loaded with beans on top. However, there was no red sauce with it like an Italian family at home would make. It went outside of the traditional red sauce or being like a soup and it was mostly beans, pasta, and broth, but still very nice. There are many variations to this Italian dish. A side of hot banana peppers came out in a cup with it which added a kick to it. With the stuffed shells dish, there were three stuffed shells on the dinner plate with tons of red sauce on top. The food was very warm and the ricotta cheese in the stuffed shells was great. There was a lot of spaghetti in its dish and the meatballs were delicious. The red sauce had a mixed response. One thought it was bland and another thought it wasn't sweet and another thought it had a nice spice to it. However, we agreed it was much better tasting than Chef's.
On top of the food, the service was great. We got out on our timed schedule. We were mostly pleased with our food and service and enjoyed our time there. It isn't at the top of being the best Italian restaurant in Buffalo due to its size and variety, but it is close due to its old style tradition. We would definitely come back for lunch another time though.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Santasiero's Italian Restaurant
www.santasieros.com
1329 Niagara Street
Buffalo, NY 14213
716-886-9197
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Suzy Q's Barbeque Shack
On Friday for lunch, we had BBQ from Fat Bob's Smokehouse. The following day, one of us had Famous Dave's BBQ, which could easily be the best BBQ place in Buffalo. However, there are a few more local BBQ places to cover, even though there aren't many BBQ places in Buffalo to begin with. We would have gone here probably a year ago when we found out about it... they are not too far from downtown, but they do not deliver. We called at 11am when they open to see if they are open for lunch today and we put in a reservation.
Suzy Q's is an independent place near downtown Buffalo not many people from Buffalo are familiar with due to its location along Niagara St. by the 190 that doesn't warrant a lot of traffic. Compared to a chain, their menu is more limited and constricted. There are no nachos and the restaurant aims to be more Southern BBQ. The appetizers and starters are scarce to choose from. However, for only $10.50, you get to order two of their meats and two of their sides. They are not open on Sundays and Mondays and they only accept cash. Since they only take cash, the prices on the menu are reduced and lower by almost half of what Fat Bob's charges on some of their menu items.
When we walked in, we were welcomed and greeted by Suzy herself. There was a piece of paper on our table that said 'save this table' for us. She told us right away when we sat down that a few items were not available, which included the fire and ice pickles and the ball tip beef, which was a disappointment. Seeing that this place has won best of WNY awards for their pulled pork, all three of us ordered the pulled pork and two of us tried out the smoked turkey and the chicken. None of us tried out the sausage which we heard was their best meat. On the front page of the menu, it says how they smoke fresh BBQ every day, but then it says, "Your best bet is to call ahead, 'cause when it's gone, it's gone, and so are we." We also found out that the cornbread was a side that cost extra.
Suzy was the only server and waitresses there. She was very attentive covering all the tables in the entire restaurant. Judging by the people inside who were eating with us, we knew we came to the right place. There were a group of biker guys, a group of five cops, a lady who came back by herself after a great meal over the weekend, and a group of guys in suits and ties... so a very diverse group of individuals.
We were served with plastic forks, cups, and knives. Our drinks were actual cans of pop that only cost a dollar. This place has a lot of methods of keeping their costs down to provide their customers with a cheaper dining experience that still has fine BBQ.
With our meal, they ended up giving us eight big square pieces of their cornbread for the price of two. These were not your typical cornbreads either. One of us who isn’t a fan of cornbread liked it very much. There was actually more cornbread on the table than actual meat. It had some sort of sugar coating on top like it came from a fair and the crust was toasted like it was almost eating a dessert as we joked about eating it as our dessert too.
There were three BBQ bottles out on table. One was called North Carolina which was a vinegar, liquidly sauce. The original everyone enjoyed and their hot BBQ sauce was used often on our food. We learned from Suzy that her husband makes all the sauces from scratch. They also sell t-shirts that say 'nice rack' on them as well as other designs. There's no bar in this place but they do serve alcohol.
When the food came out, they were on styrofoam plates and the sides were in little styrofoam cups. Everyone had fantastic things to say about the sides, which was a highlight of our meal. The baked beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, fried corn, and the macaroni and cheese were all very delicious. The fried corn had a nice hot kick to it as Suzy warned us ahead of time and it may have been the best corn this person ever had. The meats, however, were smoked without the sauce so we had to add the BBQ sauces from the table to put on our food. The turkey was quite normal, but the chicken was very tender.
Overall, the food and experience of having a lunch in this little place were terrific. There's no sense or aspect of this place being a chain at all. Stripped down, this would be considered a small gem of Buffalo that’s still running successfully. The cornbread and sides were outstanding, but the meat and atmosphere were far none better than a place like Famous Dave's if you want to bring family and friends out.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
Suzy Q's Barbeque Shack
www.suzy-que.blogspot.com
2829 Niagara Street
Buffalo, NY 14207
716-873-0757
Suzy Q's is an independent place near downtown Buffalo not many people from Buffalo are familiar with due to its location along Niagara St. by the 190 that doesn't warrant a lot of traffic. Compared to a chain, their menu is more limited and constricted. There are no nachos and the restaurant aims to be more Southern BBQ. The appetizers and starters are scarce to choose from. However, for only $10.50, you get to order two of their meats and two of their sides. They are not open on Sundays and Mondays and they only accept cash. Since they only take cash, the prices on the menu are reduced and lower by almost half of what Fat Bob's charges on some of their menu items.
When we walked in, we were welcomed and greeted by Suzy herself. There was a piece of paper on our table that said 'save this table' for us. She told us right away when we sat down that a few items were not available, which included the fire and ice pickles and the ball tip beef, which was a disappointment. Seeing that this place has won best of WNY awards for their pulled pork, all three of us ordered the pulled pork and two of us tried out the smoked turkey and the chicken. None of us tried out the sausage which we heard was their best meat. On the front page of the menu, it says how they smoke fresh BBQ every day, but then it says, "Your best bet is to call ahead, 'cause when it's gone, it's gone, and so are we." We also found out that the cornbread was a side that cost extra.
Suzy was the only server and waitresses there. She was very attentive covering all the tables in the entire restaurant. Judging by the people inside who were eating with us, we knew we came to the right place. There were a group of biker guys, a group of five cops, a lady who came back by herself after a great meal over the weekend, and a group of guys in suits and ties... so a very diverse group of individuals.
We were served with plastic forks, cups, and knives. Our drinks were actual cans of pop that only cost a dollar. This place has a lot of methods of keeping their costs down to provide their customers with a cheaper dining experience that still has fine BBQ.
With our meal, they ended up giving us eight big square pieces of their cornbread for the price of two. These were not your typical cornbreads either. One of us who isn’t a fan of cornbread liked it very much. There was actually more cornbread on the table than actual meat. It had some sort of sugar coating on top like it came from a fair and the crust was toasted like it was almost eating a dessert as we joked about eating it as our dessert too.
There were three BBQ bottles out on table. One was called North Carolina which was a vinegar, liquidly sauce. The original everyone enjoyed and their hot BBQ sauce was used often on our food. We learned from Suzy that her husband makes all the sauces from scratch. They also sell t-shirts that say 'nice rack' on them as well as other designs. There's no bar in this place but they do serve alcohol.
When the food came out, they were on styrofoam plates and the sides were in little styrofoam cups. Everyone had fantastic things to say about the sides, which was a highlight of our meal. The baked beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, fried corn, and the macaroni and cheese were all very delicious. The fried corn had a nice hot kick to it as Suzy warned us ahead of time and it may have been the best corn this person ever had. The meats, however, were smoked without the sauce so we had to add the BBQ sauces from the table to put on our food. The turkey was quite normal, but the chicken was very tender.
Overall, the food and experience of having a lunch in this little place were terrific. There's no sense or aspect of this place being a chain at all. Stripped down, this would be considered a small gem of Buffalo that’s still running successfully. The cornbread and sides were outstanding, but the meat and atmosphere were far none better than a place like Famous Dave's if you want to bring family and friends out.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
Suzy Q's Barbeque Shack
www.suzy-que.blogspot.com
2829 Niagara Street
Buffalo, NY 14207
716-873-0757
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Imperial Pizza
Most, if not all, of the Southtown pizzerias do not cater to downtown. Some set a minimum delivery order, but most are not willing to drive the extra ten minutes to downtown areas. If you look, we haven't had a pizza from south of downtown ever reviewed on this site.
We were told by a couple people at work how amazing this pizza is compared to any pizza we've had for lunch here. The problem was this pizza, to our knowledge, leftovers or fresh, has never been in the building. We knew this place won't deliver so we were considering taking a longer lunch to drive down there, pick it up, and come back. We've heard they don't have much of an eating area inside either.
Fortunately enough for us, one of our coworkers was off today and was kind enough to pickup the pizza a half hour before our lunchtime and deliver it straight to us. They don't have a website so we were looking at pictures of the menu online. We were surprised at how cheap the prices were. For a sheet pizza and an item, it was about 22 dollars which is a few dollars less than the norm. However, we decided to go with the basics to try out how they are. We ordered a large cheese pizza with pepperoni, as well as quarter size pizza with hot peppers and onion and a mini turkey and cheese sub. We skipped out on the BBQ wings even though we were told they are the best in the city.
Thanks to our coworkers, the delivery was prompt right before our lunchtime. Everything we requested came including plates and napkins. They have their own labeled blue cheeses, pizza boxes, sub wraps, and even napkins. The menu we got stated they do downtown delivery which we found interesting though since we called before and said they don’t.
Incredibly high expectations were set for this pizza. We heard the pizza is similar to Bocce Club pizza. Well, that comparison couldn't be more right. The appearance of the pizza right away from opening the box looked exactly like it. The crust style was extremely similar with that thick, but light and fluffy crust. The pepperonis are the same as well as the sauce they use. This was not a greasy pizza or soggy pizza where one would have to fold it up and eat it like a taco. We are not sure what the whole story was if more of the owners split which is what happened to Bocce Club, but we know that the location on Abbott was a Bocce Club. This pizza fulfilled our expectations.
Considering the Bocce Club pizzerias are among the top favorites in the north suburbs of Buffalo, this place ranks with it in comparison. If the menu is true that they do in fact deliver to downtown Buffalo, then we would absolutely order pizza from here again.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Imperial Pizza
1035 Abbott Road
Buffalo, NY 14220
716-825-3636
We were told by a couple people at work how amazing this pizza is compared to any pizza we've had for lunch here. The problem was this pizza, to our knowledge, leftovers or fresh, has never been in the building. We knew this place won't deliver so we were considering taking a longer lunch to drive down there, pick it up, and come back. We've heard they don't have much of an eating area inside either.
Fortunately enough for us, one of our coworkers was off today and was kind enough to pickup the pizza a half hour before our lunchtime and deliver it straight to us. They don't have a website so we were looking at pictures of the menu online. We were surprised at how cheap the prices were. For a sheet pizza and an item, it was about 22 dollars which is a few dollars less than the norm. However, we decided to go with the basics to try out how they are. We ordered a large cheese pizza with pepperoni, as well as quarter size pizza with hot peppers and onion and a mini turkey and cheese sub. We skipped out on the BBQ wings even though we were told they are the best in the city.
Thanks to our coworkers, the delivery was prompt right before our lunchtime. Everything we requested came including plates and napkins. They have their own labeled blue cheeses, pizza boxes, sub wraps, and even napkins. The menu we got stated they do downtown delivery which we found interesting though since we called before and said they don’t.
Incredibly high expectations were set for this pizza. We heard the pizza is similar to Bocce Club pizza. Well, that comparison couldn't be more right. The appearance of the pizza right away from opening the box looked exactly like it. The crust style was extremely similar with that thick, but light and fluffy crust. The pepperonis are the same as well as the sauce they use. This was not a greasy pizza or soggy pizza where one would have to fold it up and eat it like a taco. We are not sure what the whole story was if more of the owners split which is what happened to Bocce Club, but we know that the location on Abbott was a Bocce Club. This pizza fulfilled our expectations.
Considering the Bocce Club pizzerias are among the top favorites in the north suburbs of Buffalo, this place ranks with it in comparison. If the menu is true that they do in fact deliver to downtown Buffalo, then we would absolutely order pizza from here again.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Imperial Pizza
1035 Abbott Road
Buffalo, NY 14220
716-825-3636
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Laughlin's
This week is local restaurant week. Over a hundred local restaurants are participating in having an exclusive menu for a special price which is represented by the year. It's been going on for a few years now. Some of us at work decided to go out for lunch for it. After looking over the list online to find downtown ones with a lunch menu, we narrowed it to several options. We came to a consensus and ended up with Laughlin's.
This is an untraditional lunch review because we didn't walk there or get it for delivery. We drove there and dined in. We called to make reservations ahead of time and to ask about the parking. A weakness of downtown dining is the parking. Most places downtown don't have parking lots and if they do, there is a charge. Well, this place doesn't have a lot and the surrounding ones are restricted so all that was available was street parking.
For local restaurant week, they offered lunch for 2 between Monday and Friday for an appetizer and two sandwiches. They also have a Grandma's Stuffed Hot Pepper on their regular menu, which was intriguing to order. A lot of places offered drinks and desserts on theirs, but those were not included with this place.
When we arrived, we were welcomed by a friendly staff and an upscale dining area. We walked upstairs to be seated. Our table overlooked the bar below which was a unique view. Not only was the interior nice, but our seating was as well. The chairs for our table were comfortable with cushions on the seat and back. The crowd today comprised of mostly business professionals in suits. We even saw Buffalo's own mayor here too. We strongly suggest making reservations here as they were worth it since the dining space isn’t too large.
We ordered two of the lunch specials and split them. We started with the hot banana peppers and they gave us three of them with fresh homemade bread. This appetizer was extra and it was better than most places that offer hot stuffed banana peppers. We also had a shrimp cocktail and crab cakes to share as part of the local restaurant deal. This food was an excellent beginning to an amazing meal. There were two crab cakes and everyone said nothing but high remarks toward them. The sauces for the crab cakes and shrimp were great. The seasoning on the shrimp blended in well.
Let me tell you something, this food was outstanding... every little piece of it from the salt to the side sauces. We were to the point of almost being overwhelmed. Waiting about 15 minutes before any food came out, the food was worth the time and the money we paid for it. For local restaurant week, they gave us monstrous portions and the sandwiches were huge. For sides, we had an option of picking either fries or a salad for our side. We were very happy that our sandwiches included such sides as they weren't on the local restaurant week menu. The salad had a ton of lettuce in it and these were some of the best fries we ever had a restaurant like this.
This is a place not only we would go back here for lunch, but also for dinner. This was certainly an overall outstanding meal at every aspect of dining.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Laughlin's Hearty Bistro
www.laughlinsrestaurant.com
333 Franklin Street
Buffalo, NY 14202
716-842-6700
This is an untraditional lunch review because we didn't walk there or get it for delivery. We drove there and dined in. We called to make reservations ahead of time and to ask about the parking. A weakness of downtown dining is the parking. Most places downtown don't have parking lots and if they do, there is a charge. Well, this place doesn't have a lot and the surrounding ones are restricted so all that was available was street parking.
For local restaurant week, they offered lunch for 2 between Monday and Friday for an appetizer and two sandwiches. They also have a Grandma's Stuffed Hot Pepper on their regular menu, which was intriguing to order. A lot of places offered drinks and desserts on theirs, but those were not included with this place.
When we arrived, we were welcomed by a friendly staff and an upscale dining area. We walked upstairs to be seated. Our table overlooked the bar below which was a unique view. Not only was the interior nice, but our seating was as well. The chairs for our table were comfortable with cushions on the seat and back. The crowd today comprised of mostly business professionals in suits. We even saw Buffalo's own mayor here too. We strongly suggest making reservations here as they were worth it since the dining space isn’t too large.
We ordered two of the lunch specials and split them. We started with the hot banana peppers and they gave us three of them with fresh homemade bread. This appetizer was extra and it was better than most places that offer hot stuffed banana peppers. We also had a shrimp cocktail and crab cakes to share as part of the local restaurant deal. This food was an excellent beginning to an amazing meal. There were two crab cakes and everyone said nothing but high remarks toward them. The sauces for the crab cakes and shrimp were great. The seasoning on the shrimp blended in well.
Let me tell you something, this food was outstanding... every little piece of it from the salt to the side sauces. We were to the point of almost being overwhelmed. Waiting about 15 minutes before any food came out, the food was worth the time and the money we paid for it. For local restaurant week, they gave us monstrous portions and the sandwiches were huge. For sides, we had an option of picking either fries or a salad for our side. We were very happy that our sandwiches included such sides as they weren't on the local restaurant week menu. The salad had a ton of lettuce in it and these were some of the best fries we ever had a restaurant like this.
This is a place not only we would go back here for lunch, but also for dinner. This was certainly an overall outstanding meal at every aspect of dining.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Laughlin's Hearty Bistro
www.laughlinsrestaurant.com
333 Franklin Street
Buffalo, NY 14202
716-842-6700
Friday, March 25, 2011
Chris' NY Sandwich Co.
We heard about this place last year, but never thought they delivered. With no website and little word of mouth in the office up until this week, we didn't take the five to ten minute walk over the past year either. This week, one of us got a menu from someone in the office. It's their new menu as of January 2011 and on the bottom of the menu it says 'We Deliver' so we decided to give them a shot today.
The menu isn't cheap for lunch. The average price for a sandwich is slightly over nine dollars. There are the typical deli sandwiches, grilled sandwiches, specialty sandwiches, salads, and desserts. None come with any side such as fries. It appears this place doesn't have a deep fryer by the look of the menu. They come with an option of chips instead which seems standard across sandwich delis, but later we found out different. They also cater out lunches with their sandwich platters.
We called the day before to confirm delivery for today and how late we could call in our big order by. The menu stated a delivery charge of 10% for any orders over $50. This was a tedious hassle of thinking about it. Inane delivery charges with percentages like these hold us back from ordering from those places again because of the trivial calculations involved on individual orders. Also, a smaller tip would likely be involved due to the percentage instead of a fixed rate. We had 11 people on the order as the orders today ranged from Tuna to Hawaiian Chicken Salads as they were all sandwiches.
Our sandwiches were wrapped up individually in brown bags with our names written on them. Inside the bag, there were little containers where our sandwiches were compacted to fit in this little box. We thought we would need a second lunch for today. There was one glaring mistake... one of us got the meatloaf sandwich which came plain and we even said over the phone no tomato, lettuce, and cheese. Well, the meatloaf sandwich came with all three of those ingredients.
The menu was quite misleading. Lots of us were expecting and wanted chips with our meals but they didn't come with them... not even a pickle. It also stated 'Fudge Brownies.' However, it was just one brownie, but rich in flavor similar to a Little Debbie brownie almost. The 'Assorted Gourmet Cookies' were actually just one big chocolate chip cookie, which resulted in laughs from us in disbelief. The biggest hit believe it or not was the Tuna Sandwich. It was the biggest one of them all, which it had to be for spending over nine dollars for Tuna. One said it was a little dry without enough mayo though. We felt the type of customer they get is the artsy type who gets full from a tiny meal.
Overall, we thought the food itself was bigger than the norm though and quite delicious, but it left us wanting more of it... it just wasn't enough for us as we needed more items to complement our food like chips, fries, macaroni salads, etc. We were not sure if our food was worth the price, but the price reflects the sole quality of the sandwich alone.
Final Rating: 3 out of 5
Chris' NY Sandwich Co.
395 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14202
716-854-6642
The menu isn't cheap for lunch. The average price for a sandwich is slightly over nine dollars. There are the typical deli sandwiches, grilled sandwiches, specialty sandwiches, salads, and desserts. None come with any side such as fries. It appears this place doesn't have a deep fryer by the look of the menu. They come with an option of chips instead which seems standard across sandwich delis, but later we found out different. They also cater out lunches with their sandwich platters.
We called the day before to confirm delivery for today and how late we could call in our big order by. The menu stated a delivery charge of 10% for any orders over $50. This was a tedious hassle of thinking about it. Inane delivery charges with percentages like these hold us back from ordering from those places again because of the trivial calculations involved on individual orders. Also, a smaller tip would likely be involved due to the percentage instead of a fixed rate. We had 11 people on the order as the orders today ranged from Tuna to Hawaiian Chicken Salads as they were all sandwiches.
Our sandwiches were wrapped up individually in brown bags with our names written on them. Inside the bag, there were little containers where our sandwiches were compacted to fit in this little box. We thought we would need a second lunch for today. There was one glaring mistake... one of us got the meatloaf sandwich which came plain and we even said over the phone no tomato, lettuce, and cheese. Well, the meatloaf sandwich came with all three of those ingredients.
The menu was quite misleading. Lots of us were expecting and wanted chips with our meals but they didn't come with them... not even a pickle. It also stated 'Fudge Brownies.' However, it was just one brownie, but rich in flavor similar to a Little Debbie brownie almost. The 'Assorted Gourmet Cookies' were actually just one big chocolate chip cookie, which resulted in laughs from us in disbelief. The biggest hit believe it or not was the Tuna Sandwich. It was the biggest one of them all, which it had to be for spending over nine dollars for Tuna. One said it was a little dry without enough mayo though. We felt the type of customer they get is the artsy type who gets full from a tiny meal.
Overall, we thought the food itself was bigger than the norm though and quite delicious, but it left us wanting more of it... it just wasn't enough for us as we needed more items to complement our food like chips, fries, macaroni salads, etc. We were not sure if our food was worth the price, but the price reflects the sole quality of the sandwich alone.
Final Rating: 3 out of 5
Chris' NY Sandwich Co.
395 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14202
716-854-6642
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Louie's Hot Dogs
We were surprised to find out Louie's Hot Dogs had a delivery service. They advertise delivery on their website and that they are open in the morning. Considering they are known to be mostly a late night eat, we sought to try out hot dogs for delivery for the first time. They’re also not far away from downtown… one of their locations is on Elmwood which is about five minutes away.
Unsure how finely cooked the hot dogs will be after they've been delivered, we tested them out with only four of us instead of our massive order size. We also wanted to see if they could label and separate out all individual orders since someone's hot dog could be another person's. We were not sure how the toppings would be included if they would already be on the food or if they were on the side and we'd have to put them on.
Their menu has quite the range for a hamburger and hot dog joint. From subs to baked potatoes to milkshakes, the prices are small and range from two to four dollars mostly. The delivery fee was $2.25. We ended up ordering the "Big Buffalo Burger," a couple of footlongs, a couple of French fries with gravy, a quarter pounder, and a couple of bacon cheeseburgers.
The delivery came well over 15 minutes early. All our food was in one medium size Sahlen's box... we couldn't believe everything was in there when we saw the box. We asked the delivery guy if we placed an order for 20 to 30 people, how would we be able to differentiate everything... he said each person's order would be done on an individual receipt and printed out on the individual orders. We found that hard to believe since over the phone they wouldn’t write names on them. He also said they've done a delivery order for over 400 hot dogs before. He practically said whatever we need, such as condiments on the side, they'll do. They also have coupons on their website that don’t expire.
Now, time for the food. In the box, all the food was individually wrapped in wax paper and covered. The ingredients were written on the wax paper to tell which is which and all the ingredients were already placed on the food. They also gave us packets of ketchup, salt, and malt vinegar. Most of the meat felt like street meat though, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It all tasted well, but we could have guessed it came from a hot dog vendor too. Our footlong hot dogs were fine... they loaded the toppings on. The cheese sauce made the hot dog taste even better. The sauce on the Big Buffalo Burger was amazing. It was loaded with hot sauce and the blue cheese was creamy instead of the crumbed dry blue cheese some places use. The only weakness about the food were the shoestring fries, but that's not their problem. They were quite soggy by the time we ate them. However, the side of gravy side we dipped them in certainly made them better.
This would be the place if you want hot dogs delivered. On a rainy summer day if you are craving for them, pick up the phone and call for delivery. They have specials on their website too and there is no minimum charge. We would order from here again for sure.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
Louie's Original Footlong Hot Dogs
www.louieshotdogs.com
470 Elmwood Ave
Buffalo, NY 14222
716-884-0382
Unsure how finely cooked the hot dogs will be after they've been delivered, we tested them out with only four of us instead of our massive order size. We also wanted to see if they could label and separate out all individual orders since someone's hot dog could be another person's. We were not sure how the toppings would be included if they would already be on the food or if they were on the side and we'd have to put them on.
Their menu has quite the range for a hamburger and hot dog joint. From subs to baked potatoes to milkshakes, the prices are small and range from two to four dollars mostly. The delivery fee was $2.25. We ended up ordering the "Big Buffalo Burger," a couple of footlongs, a couple of French fries with gravy, a quarter pounder, and a couple of bacon cheeseburgers.
The delivery came well over 15 minutes early. All our food was in one medium size Sahlen's box... we couldn't believe everything was in there when we saw the box. We asked the delivery guy if we placed an order for 20 to 30 people, how would we be able to differentiate everything... he said each person's order would be done on an individual receipt and printed out on the individual orders. We found that hard to believe since over the phone they wouldn’t write names on them. He also said they've done a delivery order for over 400 hot dogs before. He practically said whatever we need, such as condiments on the side, they'll do. They also have coupons on their website that don’t expire.
Now, time for the food. In the box, all the food was individually wrapped in wax paper and covered. The ingredients were written on the wax paper to tell which is which and all the ingredients were already placed on the food. They also gave us packets of ketchup, salt, and malt vinegar. Most of the meat felt like street meat though, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It all tasted well, but we could have guessed it came from a hot dog vendor too. Our footlong hot dogs were fine... they loaded the toppings on. The cheese sauce made the hot dog taste even better. The sauce on the Big Buffalo Burger was amazing. It was loaded with hot sauce and the blue cheese was creamy instead of the crumbed dry blue cheese some places use. The only weakness about the food were the shoestring fries, but that's not their problem. They were quite soggy by the time we ate them. However, the side of gravy side we dipped them in certainly made them better.
This would be the place if you want hot dogs delivered. On a rainy summer day if you are craving for them, pick up the phone and call for delivery. They have specials on their website too and there is no minimum charge. We would order from here again for sure.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
Louie's Original Footlong Hot Dogs
www.louieshotdogs.com
470 Elmwood Ave
Buffalo, NY 14222
716-884-0382
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Today is Fat Tuesday so we were looking for a place that could deliver southern fried food to us. Unfortunately, we were not successful at finding such a place that could do so which was a shame. Our next best option was KFC because everyone loves fried chicken from there. They don't have a delivery service and there are a couple places around downtown within ten minutes.
The one in South Buffalo on Abbott road by Seneca and Bailey is the one we went to pickup our food. This is the nearest location to central downtown. Afraid the area wouldn't be too safe, we took our chances and drove there.
The handful of us who ordered from there today haven't had KFC in such a long time, so this was a tremendous treat. We ended up getting a 16 piece bucket of chicken (half breast and half drumsticks) along with mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, biscuits, coleslaw, and potato wedges. This KFC also has a Taco Bell inside so we got some hot sauce packets from each one. We didn't call ahead or fax our orders... but it felt like it. As soon as we placed order one of two, we received it bagged up in a matter of seconds... literally. The second order was the largest of the two and took only a couple minutes, as it was fast and everything was in there.
There was more food than we initially thought after we were getting to the end of eating. The food was still relatively warm when we got back to eat it. The large mashed potatoes were plenty for two people even though we each got one. They also gave us a bowl of gravy in the same size of container. The macaroni and cheese is one of the finest you can find at a fast food place. The chicken was great as everyone knows. They haven't lost their touch. All the drumsticks were on the bottom of the bucket so it was difficult to pick and choose, but that was the only complaint. Everything was amazing and it felt like a feast... actually it was. You know the food is great when you want to continue eating but you can't because you're full. We ran into that problem during lunch as we had leftovers.
The food and service were outstanding and made for a wonderful Fat Tuesday lunch. It was pure thinking outside of the box to go all for this place. It was well worth the time and effort to receive a delicious lunch some of us were calling the best they had here at work.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Kentucky Fried Chicken
www.kfc.com
170 Abbott Rd
Buffalo, NY 14220
716-826-9068
The one in South Buffalo on Abbott road by Seneca and Bailey is the one we went to pickup our food. This is the nearest location to central downtown. Afraid the area wouldn't be too safe, we took our chances and drove there.
The handful of us who ordered from there today haven't had KFC in such a long time, so this was a tremendous treat. We ended up getting a 16 piece bucket of chicken (half breast and half drumsticks) along with mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, biscuits, coleslaw, and potato wedges. This KFC also has a Taco Bell inside so we got some hot sauce packets from each one. We didn't call ahead or fax our orders... but it felt like it. As soon as we placed order one of two, we received it bagged up in a matter of seconds... literally. The second order was the largest of the two and took only a couple minutes, as it was fast and everything was in there.
There was more food than we initially thought after we were getting to the end of eating. The food was still relatively warm when we got back to eat it. The large mashed potatoes were plenty for two people even though we each got one. They also gave us a bowl of gravy in the same size of container. The macaroni and cheese is one of the finest you can find at a fast food place. The chicken was great as everyone knows. They haven't lost their touch. All the drumsticks were on the bottom of the bucket so it was difficult to pick and choose, but that was the only complaint. Everything was amazing and it felt like a feast... actually it was. You know the food is great when you want to continue eating but you can't because you're full. We ran into that problem during lunch as we had leftovers.
The food and service were outstanding and made for a wonderful Fat Tuesday lunch. It was pure thinking outside of the box to go all for this place. It was well worth the time and effort to receive a delicious lunch some of us were calling the best they had here at work.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Kentucky Fried Chicken
www.kfc.com
170 Abbott Rd
Buffalo, NY 14220
716-826-9068
Friday, January 21, 2011
The Delaware
No one has heard of this place before we ordered. They have nothing online either. Having a restaurant just named by a street doesn’t tell us anything about the place and it would be harder to find a mention about them anywhere. They were originally going to charge us ten dollars for delivery, but didn't. This was also their first delivery order to anyone. This review is based on the food we got by delivery.
We had about a twenty person order and this would be our first time and most likely last time ordering delivery from this place. We received a menu for this place that wasn't really a menu to begin with. It was an inventory sheet with checkmarks by what they had available at the time. We didn't realize this until we called them back. Most of us wanted the Urnami Brisket Burger which had mushrooms and brie cheese, but for some odd reason, they weren't offering it. More people wanted some other items that weren’t offered as well. This is probably the poorest menu we've seen. A lot of people said the menu had limited items and most of the items were expensive for lunch. We ended up placing the order by phone the day before during the afternoon.
We stood waiting for the delivery driver to get here as they weren’t on time. After receiving a call from the owner about the lateness, a waiter came out of a car and handed us four boxes of food. One of the boxes was a printer box. The driver, who was dressed up as a waiter, was almost ten minutes late. This was unacceptable.
The biggest problem we heard from most people that ordered with us was that the food delivered was fifteen to twenty minutes away and it wasn't warm by the time we were eating it. This was expected, but hurt our experience. They did however write our names on each order which was helpful... but the overall food and extras were mostly negatives from there.
The brisket burger, which was a popular order, was overcooked and dry. The fries were hard and cold The bun itself was pretty plain and standard and had no condiments on it. The lettuce, tomato, and onion were stacked separate from the sandwich. Luckily, they gave us a few plastic cups of mayo and ketchup. Unfortunately, they gave us no utensils at all to spread it on or eat our meals with. There were no napkins either. The stuffed chili pepper was burnt and flavorless. They used American cheese in and on it while no one else does. It was extremely soggy and had no hot taste at all. Other meals ranged from being just okay to some lukewarm responses. The Chicken Paillard had very little taste and left the consumer still looking for something else to eat. There were some bright moments though. The seared salmon burger was to die for. The Pork and Cheddar Tater Tots were tasty, but some of them had no pulled pork in them. The Hot Bag of Doughnuts came with dipping sauces. The chocolate was just like Hershey's chocolate and the doughnuts were high quality like they were fried dough from a fair.
The lesson here is to not order at all for delivery if they don't deliver to begin with, have no catering options, or they are just too far away. Perhaps eating inside their restaurant would give us a different and better experience since this place is not properly suited for the delivery business during lunch.
Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5
The Delaware
3410 Delaware Ave
Tonawanda, NY 14217
716-874-0100
We had about a twenty person order and this would be our first time and most likely last time ordering delivery from this place. We received a menu for this place that wasn't really a menu to begin with. It was an inventory sheet with checkmarks by what they had available at the time. We didn't realize this until we called them back. Most of us wanted the Urnami Brisket Burger which had mushrooms and brie cheese, but for some odd reason, they weren't offering it. More people wanted some other items that weren’t offered as well. This is probably the poorest menu we've seen. A lot of people said the menu had limited items and most of the items were expensive for lunch. We ended up placing the order by phone the day before during the afternoon.
We stood waiting for the delivery driver to get here as they weren’t on time. After receiving a call from the owner about the lateness, a waiter came out of a car and handed us four boxes of food. One of the boxes was a printer box. The driver, who was dressed up as a waiter, was almost ten minutes late. This was unacceptable.
The biggest problem we heard from most people that ordered with us was that the food delivered was fifteen to twenty minutes away and it wasn't warm by the time we were eating it. This was expected, but hurt our experience. They did however write our names on each order which was helpful... but the overall food and extras were mostly negatives from there.
The brisket burger, which was a popular order, was overcooked and dry. The fries were hard and cold The bun itself was pretty plain and standard and had no condiments on it. The lettuce, tomato, and onion were stacked separate from the sandwich. Luckily, they gave us a few plastic cups of mayo and ketchup. Unfortunately, they gave us no utensils at all to spread it on or eat our meals with. There were no napkins either. The stuffed chili pepper was burnt and flavorless. They used American cheese in and on it while no one else does. It was extremely soggy and had no hot taste at all. Other meals ranged from being just okay to some lukewarm responses. The Chicken Paillard had very little taste and left the consumer still looking for something else to eat. There were some bright moments though. The seared salmon burger was to die for. The Pork and Cheddar Tater Tots were tasty, but some of them had no pulled pork in them. The Hot Bag of Doughnuts came with dipping sauces. The chocolate was just like Hershey's chocolate and the doughnuts were high quality like they were fried dough from a fair.
The lesson here is to not order at all for delivery if they don't deliver to begin with, have no catering options, or they are just too far away. Perhaps eating inside their restaurant would give us a different and better experience since this place is not properly suited for the delivery business during lunch.
Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5
The Delaware
3410 Delaware Ave
Tonawanda, NY 14217
716-874-0100
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