The typical fast food restaurant experience is my going through a drive through, trying to talk into a bad microphone and hear through a static filled speaker and to communicate with an employee on the other end who portrays the fact the he/she really does not care one way or the other if you get your food or not.

Ever since the Bojangles opened in Lake Wylie, I have had a much different experience.  The service has always been extremely fast and accurate and the employees overly friendly.  They actually act as if they care.  I remember one morning, i timed them at the drive through.  I pulled in with 2 cars in front of me and was back on the road with my pork chop biscuit in a mere 39 seconds.  It was a fast, well-oiled machine.  I am not sure what has happened in the last two months, but they are not quite as fast or as well-oiled as they were at that time; however, they are still way above any other fast-food joint around.   Oh yeah, I forgot….the food is outstanding.

When I visited Bojangles a couple of nights ago for dinner, I did the unroutine task of dining in instead of the drive through.  The Lake Wylie Bojangles was clean and the staff very friendly; although, not as friendly as in the past.  I ordered a special deal (not on the menu) where you get four chicken legs and a biscuit - I think it was $3.79.  As usual, the legs came out hot and crispy - and absolutely delicious.

The biggest complaint I hear about Bojangles chicken is that is it too spicy. Well, I like spice, so it doesn’t bother me.  If you do not like Cajun food or spicy food in general,  you may not like it.  I know my wife does not care for it because of the spices.  She goes love the biscuits and Botato Rounds though.   The unique Cajun spices in the chicken, are definately much spicier than KFC.    I do find that I prefer the crispness of the Bojangles chicken over KFC.  To me, the KFC chicken usually seems a bit “soggy” compared to Bojangles.

Also, need to mention that the Pork Chop biscuit mentioned above was only available for a limited time. They bring it back periodically, so look for it.  It is [usually] absolutely amazing.  I have had it at other locations of Bojangles and have occassionally been disappointed.  It is also usually better hot.  Don’t let it sit around for 30 minutes while you drive to work - eat it immediately.  If they prepare it properly, you will be amazed too.

Anyway, I want to give Kudos again to the staff at the Lake Wylie Bojangles location - they are going a great job.   Unfortunately, as is the case with all fast food chains, they are not all the same just because the name on the building is. 

I am not sure  how many of you have had the chance to try the new Town House Flip Sides crackers, but if you haven’t - you need to.  These things are great.  They are one of the tastiest crackers I have ever had.   The best way I can desribe them is that they are half Ritz and half pretzel.  [Yes, I know Town House crackers and Ritz crackers are different Companies, but I am referring to that type of cracker]  They come in two flavors, Original and Cheddar, although since they are both newly on the market, aren’t they both Original flavors?  I had the Cheddar, so my comments are not yet ready to extend to the Original flavor.  I can not wait to try those too.

The price was about $3.50 for a 16 oz box, but I think we got them on sale at Harris Teeter - perhaps Buy 1 Get 1 Free because we ended up with a box of regular Town House crackers on the same trip.  For nutritional information, visit:   Original or Cheddar.

I found a number of other reviews out there.  The overwhelming majority of people seemed to like them - a lot, but there were a few people who were not huge fans. 

Amanda Compton, from AMomsReview.com did not care for the combined taste of the cheddar flavor with the pretzels.  See her complete review here.    She did acknowledge that she felt she was alone as they looked like they were becoming a big hit. 

I suggest you try some for yourself, but I think they are fantastic!

I am sure that by now most of you have heard that Subways is running a promotion where you can get any footlong sub on the menu for $5. I am not sure when the promotion ends. I looked on their website, but I could not find an ending date. I saw another blog that stated it was through May. Of course, it also stated that the $5 price included tax, but it does not.

I am going to use this as an excellent opportunity to “sample” all of the higher dollar subs on the menu that I could not convince myself to spring for before. I just did not see the reasoning in paying $7 or $8 for one of the premium items on the menu when I could get a perfectly delicious cold cut combo for a little over $5.

Anyways, I am sure most of you knew this news already, but enjoy your subs nonetheless.

I was in the Pineville area on Sunday and we decided to go to the Olive Garden - one of my mother-in-laws favorite restaurants. I assume most of you are familiar with Olive Garden - a large chain of 611 restaurants throughout the United States and Canada. I rarely think to go eat at an Olive Garden as my first choice, but I am unsure why. The service is usually above grade - especially for a restaurant in its price range. The food has always been very good when I have been as well. And the decor and atmosphere are always pleasing.

This Sunday offered very little out of the ordinary for an Olive Garden experience - very good service, great food at a reasonable price, in a great atmosphere. I always have a hard time ordering at many Italian restaurants because the menu is usually so large and there are so many items that seem similar to me. This time, I ordered the Five Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni with Sausage which is a limited time item. It was outstanding. Each bite of the Rigatoni bursted with the flavor of the cheeses inside. It was covered in tomato alfredo sauce and topped with grilled Italian sausage. The Italian sausage was extremely tender and rich in Italian spices. I am a big fan of this dish and am a bit dissappointed that it is only available for a limited time - especially with a price of only $9.95 including salad.

As always, the salad was packed full of fresh veggies and covered in Italian dressing. I am usually a Ranch Dressing type person, but the Italian dressing seems to go with the salad there for some reason. Anyway, it was a great salad. Another nice touch that Olive Garden adds that most restaurants do not is that they serve the salad on a chilled plate. I am not sure why, but this seems to make the salad better?

My wife ordered the Five Cheese Ziti al Forno. This is ziti pasta in a five cheese marinara sauce and covered in Italian cheeses - and then baked. This dish was also excellent. At $12.75, it was pricier in comparison to my dish and I am not sure it was worth that much more than mine.

My mother-in-law had the Chicken Parmigiana. The dish consisted of a parmesan breaded chicken breast, fried and topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. The overall taste of this dish was satisfying. The chicken was very moist and tender. They could have provided a little more spaghetti as it seems that there was not a lot there. They should up the portion considerably. Spaghetti is cheap. I suggest to double or possibly triple the portion of spaghetti for a $10.75 dish.

Other items of note on this visit:

- Sweet tea needs vast improvement. It was almost unsweet. Add more sugar.
- The breadsticks were great.
- The service was very good. I would even classify it as a tad short of exceptional considering the price range of the restaurant.
- I am always pleasantly surprised by the wonder Andes Chocolate mint provided at the end. (I always remember Christmas time at my grandmothers. I would get a box of these and would secretly eat almost the whole thing that day.)

All in all, Olive Garden was an excellent value for the money. I guess that is why they always seem so busy whenever we go there.

After a long week of “roughing it” on my fishing trip to the Outer Banks, I was looking for a great meal. Unfortunately, I was still tired from driving back the night before and did not feel like waiting for a table at a busy restaurant or driving more than about 10-15 minutes. After heading out we finally decided to go to the Six Pence Pub in Baxter. I had eaten here three times before and all of the meals resulted in good service with a smile and an excellent meal.

When I went in, I was surprised that they were not busier than they were as it was around 6:30pm on a Saturday night. We were able to be seated immediately. I later learned that the roof terrace was open and apparantly most people were opting to sit up there due to the beautiful weather.

The Six Pence is a beautiful restaurant on the inside and has an air of an upscale atmosphere to it. The good news is that while it looks extremely nice and upscale, the prices are far from what you would pay at an upscale restaurant. There were numerous sandwiches on the menu for around $8 including side items. Most entrees were typically between $10 and $12 with kids menu items around $5 to $6.

Tonight, I had Beef Guiness. According to their menu, it is “a bread bowl full of tender beef tips marinated in Guiness Stout, simmered in a brown sauce with mushrooms, peas, carrots, and onions and served with a salad of crisp greens, onion, tomato, and cucumbers. The salad was exceptionally fresh with crisp veggies. I was a bit disappointed in the main course though. It was good, but just not what I was expecting. Whenever I see beef tips I think back to the marinated beef tips I used to get at another restaurant long ago that were served over egg noodles and were quite remarkable. The beef tips I got tonight were more of a beef stew. They were also very very heavy on the peas. It was packed tight with peas. I was hoping for it to be packed tight with beef tips with a few peas, carrots, mushrooms and onions mixed around it. Like I said it was good, but knowing some of the other items on the menu, I will not order it again. I suggest the Reuben or the Chicken Salad as I have had them in the past and they are both excellent.

If you are in the area, Six Pence is one of the better places to try. It is clean and the service is great - especially for a restaurant in its price range. It is located at 933 Market St in the Village at Baxter in Fort Mill- just off I-77. There are also locations in Blowing Rock, NC and Savannah, GA, although I have not eaten at either of those in order to compare.

Every time I visit Eastern North Carolina, I search out a Smithfields Chicken & BBQ. Smithfield’s is the largest BBQ chain in the state that is known for the best barbeque anywhere. According to Smithfield’s website, they pride themselves on serving a consistent product in all of their restaurants. You can enjoy fast service through the drive through or experience a full dining experience inside the restuarants. I am always throughly impressed by the friendly staff at any location I have visited and the fact that all locations I have visited have been impeccably clean. The lowest health rating I have ever seen at one was a 95, and I was surprised by it. Most of the time they are proudly displaying a big fat 100.

Smithfields is another one of those restaurants that I always order too much at. I can’t control myself. I only get it once in a blue moon and when I do, I want all of the good stuff I have not been able to get in months. This trip, I reigned myself in quite a bit and ordered a BBQ sandwich and a 1/4 plate of dark chicken. The sandwich was its usual moist and delicous. The slaw on it was perfect. Many places try to serve chopped cabbage with mayonaise and pass it off as slaw, but Smithfields does it right.

As I was driving home from a long week of fishing, I decided to save the chicken for the ride home. A couple of hours later, it hit the spot. Lightly breaded and fried to perfection - much the same way that my mom cooks it.

When you are in Eastern NC, stop at a Smithfields. I just wish they would open one near me. On the other hand, I do not know if my weight could handle it so close. I would easily put on another 25 pounds if it were close.

Today, I was traveling to the coast to go on a fishing trip with friends. Every time I am in the area near Topsail Island, I have to go to the Riverview Cafe. This place has the absolute best fried scallops I have ever eaten. There are many other types of seafood on the menu - the shrimp are great, and I am told that the whole fried flounder is the best around too. I have never tried the flounder because I can not resist the scallops - and for some unknown reason it is impossible to order a combo that contains both the scallops and the flounder. Yes, impossible. They will not sell it to you at any price. The only way to get them both is to order two entrees - which I refuse to do since they should be offering a combo like they do all of the other selections.

On this visit, I ordered a scallop plate. It is not on the lunch menu, but you can still order it at lunch from the dinner menu. As usual, they were amazing. They always seem to come out fried to absolute perfection. I have never seen this much consistency with an entree - anywhere. They are perfect everytime I go. I also got slaw and fries, but my concentration was on the scallops.

If you visit the Topsail Island area - go to the Riverview Cafe. It is also not a long ride from Wilmington, about 30 minutes north. It is hard to find, but worth the journey. It is located waterfront on the New River about 10 minutes (or so) from North Topsail Beach. The address is: 119 Hall Point Rd., Sneads Ferry, NC.

If you go when it is busy, prepare for a wait.

Just a short 10 minute drive past Lake Wylie, in the town of Clover, sits Courtney’s BBQ. When I hear the word “BBQ” around here, I always think of pork barbecue. Courtney’s has great pork BBQ, but it does not stop there. They have a host of other items on the menu as well, including award winning ribs and some of the best barbecue chicken you will find at any restaurant. They even have excellent fried seafood. For a long while, I was in the habit of ordering the all I could eat fried perch which are lightly breaded and fried to perfection. The fried shrimp are also great. Unlike many other restaurants who serve shrimp flavor breading, Courtney’s lightly breads their shrimp and fries them just right providing some of the best fried shrimp in the area.

Back to my review of this visit. As usual, the service was very good- although, I always seem to drink my tea faster than the glass gets full. This isn’t as bad as many restaurants though because all of the staff seem to help out in making sure all of the glasses are full -not just the tables in their section.

This time, I ordered a half-BBQ chicken and pork BBQ combo. As usual, my eyes were bigger than my stomach as I could not finish it. I think my mind was thinking 1/4 BBQ chicken instead of a half. The chicken was amazing. It was tender and juicy throughout and provided a great smoked flavor that could be supplemented with several of Courtney’s signature sauces. The BBQ was some of the best I have had in the area - moist throughout with a perfect blend of spices to flavor the meat.

The only bad part of my visit was that when I was placing my leftover chicken breast and wing in the to go container, I dropped it on the floor. I was so bummed out.

If anyone is in the area or if they are just tired of the same old chain barbeque joints in Charlotte, they should drive out and give Courtney’s a try. Just be sure to check their website for hours. They are only open full days on Thursday through Saturday, and a half day on Sundays (until 2:30).

I just got back from lunch at Damon’s Grill at 13230 Carowinds Blvd (Corner of Carowinds and S. Tryon St.) For those that are not familiar with Damon’s, it is a chain restaurant that is known for its ribs. Most of the restaurants have a sort of sports bar feel to them. The one on Carowinds Blvd. has four monster screen televisions located on the main wall of the dining area which broadcast varying games (or whatever is on at the time).

Overall, my food was good. The waiter talked me into a Marinated Prime Rib Sandwich special that they were having. The sandwich was good, but not spectacular -as the price would suggest at $12.95. The regular Prime Rib Sandwich was only $9.95. I don’t think the difference could have been that much. It was a good sized sandwich and was loaded with red and green peppers as well as onions smothered in cheese.

My wife ordered chicken fingers and for some reason, they had a strong cinnamon taste in them. Not being a fan of cinnamon - especially on chicken fingers - she only at about a half of one. I am not sure the purpose of putting these extra spices in the chicken fingers. My guess is that anyone wanting to eat chicken fingers is looking for something plain to begin with. Why make it something other than plain by adding extra spices?

My mother in law had the new Angus-Kobe Mini Burgers. She got 4 miniature burgers made of seasoned Angus-Kobe beef and toppings. She only finished three of them. The burgers were juicy and had a flame grilled taste. The burgers came with homemade potato chips which were a little dry, but crunchy. She felt that the meal was satisfying and filling and would be a good choice to share as an appetizer, instead of as her meal.

The sweet tea was really good, but it was borderline too sweet - even for me. So, if you don’t like it really sweet, I would choose another option.

All in all, I am sure we will go back there, mainly due to the location. Today’s service was very good for this level of restaurant. The food is above average but I have never been overly impressed enough to become a regular. Most of the sandwich items on the menu seem to be over priced by $1 to $2 compared to similar restaurants. The sandwich I had today was overpriced by about $5. It seems that every time I go, I am looking for something spectacular and I get something ordinary. Perhaps I should just lower my expectations a bit.

Since Cafe 49 opened several months ago just acrossed the street from my office in Lake Wylie, I have become a regular. The food is almost always excellent and today was no exception. If you are looking a family restaurant with a home-cooking type theme - I would highly recommend it.

I ordered a grilled pork chop and had 3 vegetables - okra and tomatoes, green beans, and fried okra with sweet tea. The pork chop was extra tender and juicy and was grilled to perfection. All of the vegetables were great today. The fried okra almost always comes out hot and crispy. The green beans are some of the best I have ever had at a restaurant and the okra and tomatoes were bursting with flavor. The sweet tea is some of the best around as well.

In the short time they have been open, I have probably eaten there 20-25 times. I usually go for lunch as it is so close to the office, but have also been to breakfast and dinner as well.

The wait staff is always friendly and doesn’t seem to have turned over very much since their initial crew which gives is a consistent “hometown” kind of feel. You will most likely be reading many review on Cafe 49, as you can see that I go there a lot.