Restaurant Review: Emmet and Ethel's

Emmett's and Ethel's
90 E Main Street, Lehi, UT 84043
801-753-0705
http://emmettsandethels.com/
$
1-Star
Family friendly, VERY casual


For those that aren't sure how this works, look HERE 


This place is a burger and Ice-cream joint. It's about the only mom-and-pop shop around and when we discovered it we were so excited. After trying it twice here is our opinion....
We found Emmett's and Ethel's shortly after moving to Lehi, UT and decided to try it for dinner one night. As we left we looked at each other and decided we were glad we had tried it but we probably didn't need to go back. The food was about the same as you would get at any normal fast-food joint but way more expensive. I will say though, Mr. Chef likes his fries and is quite picky with them. If they aren't great, they aren't worth it. These were NOT worth it. None of us even finished our meals. This first visit, however, we were impressed with the ice cream. They have specialty sundaes, shakes, malts etc. We shared a sundae (a black and tan to be exact) and it was really yummy. So, we decided that if we ever came back we would be back for dessert but that's it.

Fast forward and year or two...My little girl has been earning prizes with some charts she is working on. Well when she earned her first prize she asked if we could go get ice-cream to celebrate her accomplishment. We thought Emmett's and Ethel's could be fun. So, Labor Day afternoon we went to make a big deal of our little 3-year old.

As we walked in we should have taken into account all the red flags and walked right back out but we gave them the benefit of the doubt and went ahead and ordered. All the ice cream bins (?) were either almost gone, had a lid half way on them or were missing. It looked like they were closing or cleaning. I asked if they were doing either and the high-school kid at the counter looked super confused and said, no -- all of our ice cream is available, as he grabbed one of the lids off and threw it onto the counter behind him.
So my 3 yr. old really wanted chocolate ice cream, they were out. What? What ice cream parlor runs out of chocolate by 2:00PM? Well, she ended up choosing M&M and seemed pleased with what was coming so we didn't worry. We all ordered and sat down. As we walked to our table, however, our feet stuck to the floor the whole way there. The table was semi sticky too. GROSS!!!

When our order came the 2 sundaes ordered came several minutes before the kids ice cream cone. Lame. When hers finally came, there was only 1 M&M in the whole thing, it was at the very bottom and she never even saw it -- and it was FREEZER BURNED!!! Like, BADLY FREEZER BURNED. She didn't even come close to finishing it because it was straight vanilla ice cream with ice all over it.

We vowed then and there to NEVER RETURN.

On our way out Mr. Chef took our one year old to wash up in the bathroom and came out completely disgusted. He said he basically had to peel his feet off the floors, there was black stuff smeared all over the walls, it stunk and there were no paper towels. That was the final straw.

So - to sum it up. After spending ***$15**** on ice cream, (ridiculous!!!!!!!!) we had one of the worst experiences we have ever had at any restaurant.

Don't waste your time. It's over priced, gross and dirty. 
 
 

Restaurant Review: Bucket-o-Crawfish

Bucket-o-Crawfish
1980 West 3500 South Suite #104
West Valley City, Utah 84119
(801) 419-0900
http://www.bucketocrawfish.com/
$$
5 star!!!
super casual, great for families, average noise

At first I was super hesitant with this dinner. I would consider myself a pretty adventurous eater and I am usually willing to try most anything but when we arrived I was a little hesitant. Our waiter explained everything to us and brought out a small sample - bonus points in my book, I hate ordering things that i'm not sold on. The crawfish (new to me) still has eyes, legs etc. and comes in a plastic bag, sauce and all, ready for you to dig in. So -- I tried the sample and immediately put my reservations behind me. It was delish! Here is a quick run-down of how it all works.

Step one: order your meat; You can choose from crawfish, shrimp, clam, muscle, snow crab and dungeness crab. Obviously, the fancier you go, the pricier it gets. 
Step two: order your sauce; Cajun, Garlic butter, lemon pepper and crazy mix of all of them (my favorite)
Step three: like it hot? pick your spice!
finally ORDER THE SWEET POTATO FRIES. Just trust me, okay?

and now for the fun part - all the tables are covered in plastic tablecloths. When your order is up they bring you a bib and DUMP YOUR FOOD RIGHT ON THE TABLE! What?! Does that go against everything you have ever learned at a restaurant? Yeah, me too. But, it was so. much. fun! We absolutely loved it! We tried a variety of crawfish and shrimp with several different sauces and we loved all of it. I'm not kidding on this, no plates, no silverware, LOADS of napkins (well, wet wipes) and a ton of fun!

Go try this if you are in the area. It is one we still talk about and want to take several of our friends for a little date night adventure!

Restaurant Review: Milagros

So we all love the tex-mex that is everywhere- Cafe Rio, Barbacoa, Chipotle - but in my opinion, true, legit, TASTY Mexican food is harder to come by.

*Don't worry i'm very aware that I might stand alone on this opinion, and that it probably goes back to my aversion of all things melted cheese...*

Well, Mexican Food taste buds prepare to GET. BLOWN. AWAY!!!!!!!!!!

Milagros in Orem, Utah is by far the BEST legit Mexican place, IN UTAH, ever!!! Although there are several street taco stands that come in as close second. I know I know, GASP! they are good, ok, don't judge :)

Anyway...here's the info:
For those that aren't sure how this works, look HERE

Milagros

970 W 800 N
Orem, UT 84057
801-655-1555

Monday  -  Saturday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

http://milagrosutah.com/
$$

5-Star!

Family Friendly, average noise, casual but not out of place if you are dressed up. 

This restaurant prides themselves in serving LOCALLY FRESH food. That was one of my favorite parts of our experience. If they could get it fresh and local, they did. The food was phenomenal, the service was fast and really friendly, (even when my three year old threw her root beer on the floor) and the atmosphere was comfortable and classy. We were impressed that even though it was full the night we were there, the noise level was very acceptable and the whole ambiance was fun and comfortable.

Both Mr. Chef and I were super impressed and would highly recommend it.

Also, we both loved our food, the kids menu was yummy too and from the looks of other people's tables, can't go wrong on the menu. One recommendation though - when you go, try the grilled honey-injected onion ball. It was so delicious!

Go, try it out and let me know what you think!

Just as a side note, in April 2013, City Weekly voted Milagros as "Best Utah Mexican Food" 

Here is another review to help convince you.

Best Miraculous Mexican Cuisine

“Milagros, meaning “miracles” in Spanish, is a heavenly take on Mexican fare. This Orem restaurant was started by Dave Tuomisto, the restaurateur who also founded the popular Bajio chain. His newest dining destination is a restaurant that offers a sometimes-sweeter take on traditional Mexican cuisine, such as the seafood tacos that come with pineapple salsa and roasted-red-pepper chutney, or the popular grilled onion ball that’s injected with honey and spices while in the oven. You also can’t go wrong with Barry’s Pollo Fundido-a chicken breast wrapped lovingly in a fried tortilla and smothered with sour cream, cream cheese, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses along with a smattering of sumptuous chilies and spices.

Restaurant Reviews: Introduction

OK -- Mr. Chef and I not only love to try new recipes but one of our favorite hobbies is trying new restaurants. We love finding a new gem where we can try new things and have a fun night out. For example -- a few weeks ago we were going to a local tried and true pizza place and as we drove our 3 year old started crying, hard, and screaming, "I don't want pizza! I want sushi!"
uh oh! So -- to her future dates, we are really sorry. She is officially ruined. 

Anyway, new, different, healthy (most of the time) food? Bring it on!

Here is the plan. I try and post a new recipe once a week and now in addition to that I will be reviewing a different restaurant weekly.
I will post all the normal details of the restaurant as well as using a 5-star rating system and a 4 $$ symbol system as follows:

(per person/includes entree, drink, tax and tip)
$ - Cheapo, under $10/person
$$ - Moderate, $11-$30/person
$$$ - Spendy, $31-$60/person
$$$$ - Splurge, $61+/person 

Thoughts? Isn't that exciting?! I hate going to a new restaurant and leaving disappointed. Hopefully this will help a little. There is one catch though. We live in Utah and not all of these places will be chains. So, to our Utah readers - maybe this one is for you. Hopefully there will be something for everyone with these reviews but we'll see.

Review #1 (isn't this so exciting!?)
***update: I've moved the Bucket-o-Crawfish review to it's own post for simplicity of finding it.