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.