Ciao Bella

Jason’s Take

This week, it was my turn to pick a restaurant for date night. Don’t tell Linda, but I only made our reservations to Ciao Bella about 20 minutes before we left for our dance lesson. Love Yelp and OpenTable for finding a restaurant and making reservations.

Love. It.

So Ciao Bella is a nice Italian restaurant that happens to have some sushi options, which is weird. But, being an Italian joint, you’ll find lots of the expected pizza, pasta, and seafood.

As you walk in, you definitely notice the smell of fish, but that fades as soon as you get past the bar area. Once into the restaurant proper, it starts smelling good. They’ve got an open–and sprawling–floor plan, so the place is noisy. It’s not great for quiet, intimate conversations.

The drinks were reasonably priced, but not cheap. My cocktails ran $7.75 each, while Linda’s wine cost $10 per glass.

The food was good. The unlimited stream of bread that’s the staple of Italian restaurants everywhere in the Midwest was excellent.

We followed that up with seared wasabi scallops. Totally reccomend. I could have left happy after filling up on scallops and bread.

For our main course, I had the seafood linguini, which was done very well. Good food. Linda had the halibut special. Her fish was kind of dry, but was an otherwise excellent dish.

Dessert was the budino, which is a molten chocolate cake with vanilla gelato. It’s good, but very rich. We didn’t finish it.

All in all, a good place to get a bite, especially if you want to impress a date without worrying about making up deep conversation.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

I had no idea where we were going to go to dinner this evening. I asked Jason to surprise me and pick a place, while I tried to look very nice for him. We walked into Ciao Bella, it looked really fancy. I was pleased with Jason’s choice.

I tried a wine that I liked (Moscato). I’m not a wine drinker at all, but thought what the hell. Not bad but a little pricey at $10.00 a glass. But then again, I don’t know what a good price is for wine.

We ordered some wasabi scallops, they were oh-so-good.

Jason ordered a sea food pasta, and I tried halibut for the first time. Kind of a dry dish, but I guess it’s supposed to be. Still tasted great.

This was a really nice place, the staff is really kind, and they always fill your water glass prompt and give you really good fresh bread.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off

Total Score: 4 out of 5 pants off!

Bubba Gump Shrimp – Mall of America

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Linda’s Take

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was nice at the Mall of America. I love the theme of the whole restaurant, but being a seafood restaurant I thought that there would be more variety of seafood entrees to choose from. Just about everything was deep fried.

However, I have to admit that everything tasted really well and was light and tasteful. I thought the prices for everything was a little bit on the pricey side, but you are paying for the theme I guess. I did order two of the special drinks and got take-home glasses which was why the drinks were expensive. I would go back to eat there sometime, overall I had a good time there and the staff was super friendly.

I give it 4 of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp,shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. – Bubba, Forrest Gump

That’s the quote from the movie that started the restaurant. The restaurant doesn’t live up to the name. In reality, there’s deep-fried shrimp…and a couple of other things.

Well, when in Rome, right? I didn’t get this slim & sleek physique by avoiding fried food.

We started out with the fried calamari, which was good. It’s easy to make calamari rubbery, and that didn’t happen, though it was a bit under-seasoned. Linda had the chipotle-crusted mahi mahi, which was good.

I had the seafood feast for my main course, and that totally didn’t suck. The seafood feast is fried fish, fried shrimp, fried hushpuppies, and french fries. The fish was super flaky and really good. The hushpuppies won’t make it back to my plate. They were boring to eat. I prefer my food to have its own flavor. If you’ve got to depend on a dipping sauce to make something taste good, you need to revisit your menu.

All in all, it was good, but not out-of-this-world good.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Total Rating: 3.5 Pants Off

The CSI Experience – Mall of America

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Linda’s Take

So this time I thought that we would try something that was only going to be around for a short time and noticed at MOA they had a CSI hands-on experience going on.

So Jason and I tried it.

I thought the price was ok for doing some science crime stuff, we went in and the tutorial at the beginning said to note everything from the crime seen down, so we both took a lot of notes. Then you go to process the evidence, you don’t process anything. Basically you read through everything and choose the best answer. Anyone with common sense can get the right answers.

In all it was fun, but I feel that the whole thing is geared around someone for the ages of 10 to 15. I wouldn’t spend the money to do it again, however if my 14 year old would like to go, I would bring him.

I give it a 3 out of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

Linda’s too generous. It doesn’t require common sense to get the right answers. If you can read the plaques on the wall in the “lab”, you can get it right.

I was hopeful. It was such a fun concept, but it was geared to 8 year olds who want to pretend they are in Mommy’s favorite show, not adults. There’s no puzzle to solve. One of the “labs” involved pushing eight different buttons until you found the one that didn’t turn on a white light. Ooh, orange! I win!

Sad, but I’d take our kids to it and they’d have fun.

2 pants off

Total Rating

2.5 Pants Off

Masu Sushi – Mall of America

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Linda’s Take

The service at this sushi place in the Mall of America is really nice. The atmosphere of the restaurant is pleasing to the eye. I ordered a soup that I have never tried before and I loved it! The sushi we order took a little long to get, but it was soooo worth it. So pleasing to the eye and artful. Also it tasted wonderful and I would love to go back and try something else from their menu. Prices are very fair and I highly recommend go here!

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off! (Jason’s note: It really did knock her pants off!)

Jason’s Take

Ever since I convinced Linda that sushi wasn’t just misplaced bait, we’ve been trying a bunch of different places. Yum.

On this particular date night, our dancing lesson was cancelled, but we were already by the Monster Mall, so into the lion’s den we went. A quick spin through the girly-cowboy-jeans store and then we got dinner.

Masu Sushi is literally a hole-in-the-wall in the third floor food court, but they make some good sushi. I can honestly say it was the first time I’d had raw quail eggs, but I’d eat them again. The rolls were good, and reasonably priced. The saki wasn’t for me. If–like us–you’d never had saki, here’s what you need to know: if you don’t like wine, you won’t like saki.

4 out of 5 pants off

Total Review

4.5 Pants Off

Chevy’s Fresh Mex

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Linda’s Take

Coming back from our dance lesson I had asked Jason if there was a place near us that serves sushi, he said 2 places in the Mall of America do. My feet were aching so I didn’t really want to walk around the mall. But Jason was strongly hinting we should go so I made my way to the off ramp to go to the Monster Mall.

As I made my way to the East parking ramp, we noticed that there was a little Mexican restaurant off to the right hand side. We had seen Chevy’s Fresh Mex before and I had remembered that we had wanted to try it sometime.

Jason said, how does Mexican sound instead? Sounded great to me. It looked as if it was a good time to go as well. Busy but not solid packed.

We got to sit outside, the waitress we had was really nice. I wanted to try a signature drink and I told her what I kinda liked. She suggested prickly pear kinda pink drink. I loved it! I feel stupid that I can’t remember the name of the dam thing. Maybe I good idea, they cost $14.00 a piece.

I had a question about a menu item, there was a habanero sauce on a enchilada dish that looked appetizing. I’m really liking more and more spicy things to eat lately but I don’t want to burn my tongue off. Jason says it’s my best asset. So our waitress brought out some for me to taste, flavorful and not hot at all, just a little kick.

You get chips and salsa to nibble on but our waitress kept forgetting to bring ours out. She also forgot our water that we asked for during our meals. Pretty girl, but a little forgetful.

When we ordered our meals, they came out with in 8 minutes or so. It seemed really fast, which was nice, and everything on my plate tasted pretty good. I really liked this little yellow corn/rice ball that was on our plates. I have no idea what it was.

For the most part I liked the place, however one of the downsides is that it’s near the airport on the South side of the Moster Mall. So if you sit outside it’s kinda hard to hear people with the planes taking off. But they do karaoke on some nights, however we didn’t stay for that. I’m sure I would have just been hurting everyone’s ears if I were singing. I’m pretty sure Jason was happy that I didn’t want to do karaoke.

This place gets a 3 out of 5 pants off from me.

Jason’s Take

We were on our way home from dance lessons. Date night was canceled because the boy was sick, but we were hungry, dammit. Five minutes north of the dance studio is the Monster Mall, so we thought we’d go there for sushi. Mall sushi is known around the world as the best sushi, after all. Ancient samurai warriors used to head down to the local strip mall after beheading upstart peasants to get the best California rolls known to man.

It’s true, look it up.

As we pulled down the south side of the mall, I saw Chevy’s and immediately decided that tacos sounded better than eel. Ever since the 6th century BC when the Japanese allied with the Visigoths and sailed birch-bark canoes across the Baltic Sea to introduce the tortilla to Mexico, Mexico has made better tacos.

Seriously, when’s the last time you had a good taco at a Japanese restaurant?

Linda didn’t argue, because I only allow her to have opinions that she’s decided I’m allowed to provide for her. She gives me a list of pre-approved opinions every morning. It’s easier that way.

It was about 7:30 on a Friday and they weren’t packed. That’s never a good sign, but they are across the street from a giant freaking mutation of a mall and it meant we got seated right away, so what the heck, right?

Like every Americanized Mexican restaurant since the Aztecs conquered Russia and simultaneously invented almost-ethnic food, they served chips for everyone. The chips clearly didn’t come out of a bag. They came out warm with a glisten of oil clinging to them like butter on a biker magazine cover model. None of the appetizers sounded as good as the picture in my head of a butter-covered model, so we stuck to the chips, which were good.

We ordered drinks. I got a beer, and Linda ordered a prickly pear margarita. I got my beer, but she was delivered an ice cream pail of pink, prickly-pear-and-tequila-flavored deliciousness. If it would have been just a little bit warmer, I think I would have climbed in and had a little swim. It was worth the $14 price tag. 43 shots of tequila, three gallons of pink, and enough pear-flavored something to make it nummy. I’d recommend it.

The food was good too. I got the Mesquite Grilled tacos, one chicken and one steak. They were good, but I’d bet the chicken was cooked by a prep cook at 10AM instead of fresh to order. Still, it was a good mix of ingredients, not a chunk of chicken hiding in three pounds of lettuce. The beans were boring. The little ball of yellow corn thing-that-I-don’t-know-the-name of was incredible. Almost corn bread pudding, almost corn-flavored candy. I probably should have saved it for dessert.

We were too full to actually have dessert, and none of the options were screaming “take me, take me, oh god, take me” so I left them.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

3.5 out of 5 Pants Off

Cowboy Jack’s, Bloomington

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Linda’s Take

Jason had idea to try this place, he had been to one before out in Woodbury, MN and thought I would like it. We invited 2 friends and got there about 8pm.

If you go during dinner time you’re going to be waiting for a while.

I really liked the place, they have free popcorn to snack on while you’re waiting for your table. I thought that was kinda nice. I love the country atmosphere and decor, I’m just a country girl that grew up in the city. The tables are nice and roomie too. That’s always a good thing since Jason is a tall guy. (ed. Big and tall!)

The food is good, it’s wholesome and very tasty. I also like that they have a light area on the menu as well. I like good American food, but I don’t want everything to be a grease bomb.
You have to get the corn bread here! It is the best I have ever had! I ordered a salad and sirloin tips and they were cooked perfect!

Only thing is that I wish is that it would be awesome if they had a dance floor and live music in the late evening! I almost wish I could combine Toby Keith’s and Cowboy Jacks together and this would rock!

I would definitely come back!

4 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Cowboy Jack’s is a country bar, but the waitresses are less scantily-clad than some other country bars, relatively speaking. Since I don’t go to restaurants look to ogle T&A, that’s not really a disappointment for me.

The biggest disappointment for me is that they have live music almost every night, but no dance floor. That makes me sad, since Toby Keith’s fills up quickly after 10pm.

For an appetizer, we got the jalepeno cheese curds. You can taste the pepper, but there’s really no burn. Cheese curds are good, though. We also got the corn bread skillet, which was yummy, but I went home and figured out how to make it better. I’m not entirely sure why Linda is so in love with their’s.

I got the mushroom and swiss burger, which is kind of my default burger when I go out. It was good, and reasonably priced. The tater tots that came with it were also worth the price of admission.

Good food, good prices. I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

4 out of 5 Pants Off

Surabhi

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

Surabhi

Jason and I also wanted to start going to restaurants with different ethnic foods to add some variety to what we eat.

Jason had been to Surabhi before and I was willing to give it a shot.

We ordered a few things off the menu. One of the things I noticed right away, at an Indian restaurant, they have a huge menu, practically everything of every dish you can order. If you have never ordered before from a place like this, I really recommending going with a few people and getting a few things to try.

The food is not ready right away; it takes time, which means they put heart into what they make. However it is really good and tasty.

This is a nice place to go, great for catching up with friends and having pleasant conversation while having good Indian food.

Another thing you can always do is go for their lunch buffet. Sample a bit of everything!

I give this place 3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

I used to work just down the road from Surabhi…with some Indians. We had lunch at a bunch of different Indian restaurants.

Surabhi is one of the better ones. They’ve got a massive menu, but everything I’ve had is really good.

Don’t go if you’re in a hurry. The food is made to order, which means it’s coming out slow and delicious.

If you’re not familiar with Indian food, go at lunch and enjoy the buffet. I totally recommend the goat curry. And the garlic naan. The naan is worth going all by itself.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 3.5 out of 5 pants off.

98 Pounds Buffet

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Linda’s Take

Jason has been to 98 Pounds Buffet many times for lunch meetings, and he said that they have a pretty good sushi bar. I wasn’t very hopeful, thinking that it was going to be like most Chinese buffet places, but I was really pleased.

The Chinese food choices are not huge, but they make up for that in quality of the food. Everything tasted really good for a buffet, and I did notice that they changed out the food on a regular basis so that it was fresh.

My favorite was the sushi buffet! Yummy, and delish! I would go back over and over again, a fair price for good quality buffet food.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

First off, sushi has to be judged by category:

Sushi restaurants
Buffet sushi
Vending machine sushi
Old bait

98 Pounds Buffet has the best buffet sushi in the state, hands down. While it may not be in competition with Ichiban, it is good and fresh. It’s worth the $11 lunch price just to fill up on sushi.

The rest of the food is good too. The serving tables are kept at a good temperature, and the food is rotated regularly. Quite honestly, I’ve never eaten anything here that sucks.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off. Best Chinese buffet around.

Total Score: 4.5 out of 5 Pants Off

Streetz American Grill

By Jason 1 Comment

Jason’s Take

Streetz American Grill is on the way to our dancing lessons, so we saw the place being built and drove past for a few months after they opened. From the outside, it looked slightly upscale, so we decided to try it without doing any research. Walking up the sidewalk, we looked in through the window, and thought it was Burger King. We almost turned around and left. Date night dinners aren’t about fast food. Just as we were turning around, a couple who had overheard our conversation told us it was good food and that they came once a week. Apparently, for some, date night dinners are about fast food.

We went in. After all, what kind of fast food place serves beer?

There’s a counter to place your order, then you get a number to put on your table. I wanted to try a variety of stuff, so we ordered more food that we were planning to eat. Between the two of us, we got a cheeseburger, a gyro, poutine, chipotle & salsa fries, and the Philly cheesesteak salad with chicken.

The burger could have been served in any school cafeteria in the country. It wasn’t bad, exactly, but it clearly came frozen after being pressed from the least favorable parts of a very bland cow. The pita for the gyro had more in common with cardboard than flatbread. It was actually stiff and crumbly. The gyro meat was pretty good, though. The poutine–never get poutine at a fast food joint–tasted like nothing but salt. Seriously, it’s fries smothered in gravy, bacon, and cheese curds. How can you get that wrong? Answer: make a dish full of awesome taste like salt. The salsa for the chipotle & salsa fries was sour cream floating in salsa water and the the chipotle seasoning on the fries was red salt, which was ok, because the industrial yellow goo they called cheese sauce was really just a clever way to liquify more salt.

The salad was good, though. If you go there, totally get the salad.

I give it 1 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

On our way out to our dance lesson I noticed a new place in Bloomington called Streetz and it looked like a place to get a good burger.

We decided to try it.

From the outside it looks like a sit down restaurant, but when you go in, it’s kinda like a 50’s dinner / street vendor place. They have a interesting variety of street vendor food as well. It reminded me of Fuddruckers but with a different menu items.

We got a few things to try. I loved salad that I got and the gyro was okay, however all of the fries were just too greasy. I think that this place is a great to take the family out for a better than fast food dinner, but it’s not too far off of fast food. I would not go again for a date night.

I give it 2 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

1.5 Pants Off