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
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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
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