Wok In The Park

Linda’s Take

Sometimes we don’t have time to do a full date night so if the schedule allows it a yummy lunch is a good idea.

My husband loves Wok In The Park! They have really good Chinese food and the service is always friendly.

I really like there lunch menu. It’s a 1-2-3 step and you can’t go wrong with anything you choose. Also there pho soup is amazing!

Only thing is, you gotta get there right away at 11am, or after 1pm. They get busy fast!

Or, you can place in an order for carry-out!

I give this place 4 out of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

I’ve said it before: Chinese restaurants usually have a predictable cycle. They open, they’re awesome, they start to suck, they close.

When my last favorite Chinese place did that, I was sad. Somehow, they haven’t hit the close-the-doors step, yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Since I was sad, I went hunting for a replacement.

And I found it.

Wok In The Park was born out of a feud with Than Do across the street. Or something. I don’t know all of the details.

What I do know is that WITP freaking rocks. The egg rolls are awesome and the cream cheese wontons are the best I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot of cream cheese wontons.

The lunch special is sweet. Pick a soup, an appetizer, and a main course(a bit smaller than the regular menu) for $10. Good food cheap.

Beats the heck out of anything else in the area, hands down, but try not to show up between 11:30 and 12:30 or you may not get seated. It’s not a huge place and they are popular.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 4.5 out of 5 pants off

Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill

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Jason’s Take

Linda and I are taking dancing lessons, which means we are also always interested in finding places to dance.

Enter’s Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill. They’ve got live music at least 4 nights a week, and the biggest dance floor I’ve seen in the western suburbs.

It’s gimmicky, it’s country, and the giant guitar-shaped bar can be irritating to walk around, but it’s fun.

The food…sucks. I’ve never been happy eating there. I’ll occasionally get an appetizer, but I try to avoid it. It’s all greasy and not worth getting.

The music, however is good. It’s almost all some blend of country and rock, which makes for fun music to dance to.

If you’re going to dance, I recommend getting there about 9. That’s when the music usually starts, and by 10:30, there are so many obnoxious drunks standing around the dance floor that dancing is almost impossible.

I know some people are offended by waitresses dressed slutty, but it’s not that bad. It’s a bunch of attractive women in shorts and tank tops that don’t leave a lot to the imagination, but they fade in to the scenery pretty fast. By your third visit, you hardly notice. I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

So I’m a country girl at heart, even though I grew up in a city suburb; put me on a horse and I’m in heaven.

So naturally, I like country music…really anything with a good beat is alright with me, but I mostly listen to country. So ever since Jason and I started taking our dance lessons, it only made sense to use what we are learning on a regular basis, right? Toby Keith’s Bar and Grill is really close to us, so, duh, it makes sense to shake our groove thing there!

We had been there a couple of times before to eat, but I don’t think I’ll ever order food there again. It seems to be just one step up from fast food for twice the price, however it’s an awesome place to go to and listen to live country music and, with a bigger dance floor than most places, this works for us really well!

But only if people that just stand on the dance floor and hold drinks and don’t dance taking up space on the dance floor get OFF the dance floor! (editor’s note: Or just die!) Oh gosh, that’s so annoying!

We found out that you don’t need to know how to line dance to be able to dance there, however, I wouldn’t mind learning some of that, just not the Achey Breaky that I was thought back in Jr. High School. Swing dancing works well with just about any up-beat song! Get a bunch of turns going and you look like a pro! And don’t worry if you fall on your ass, we have seen that a few times out there!

There is almost a live band every night, and most are really good. Also it’s only a $5.00 cover on Friday and Saturday nights, and there is no cover for Sunday – Thursday. Great way to practice dancing and have a few drinks, or just to have some country fun.

3 out of 5 pants off

Total Score: 3.5 out of 5 Pants Off

Forever Yogurt

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Jason’s Take

A few nights ago, Linda had to work, and I had to come up with something to entertain the kids.

My solution: frozen yogurt from Forever Yogurt in the West End development. They’ve got 16 flavors of frozen yogurt, 50 different toppings to put on them to make the frozen yogurt as far from a healthy alternative to ice cream as possible, and they are immediately next to the most deserted part of the parking ramp complex over there.

They charge about 60 cents an ounce, so it stays affordable. It cost $23 to take three kids out, and they all love being able to get exactly what they want.

I strongly recommend limiting them to 3 or four toppings, or young brats will turn it into a horribly, sugary abomination that even they won’t eat.

Been there, done that.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

The Yardhouse

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Jason’s Take

The Yardhouse came to St. Louis Park a few months back, and we wanted to try it. The last time we went there, they had a 60-90 minute wait, so we went elsewhere. This time, we took advantage of their call-ahead seating option and called as soon as we left our dancing lesson. When we got there, we only had a 10 minute wait to get seated. Yay, us!

The Yardhouse has an impressive beer selection; over 150 beers on tap. Our waitress had a pretty good handle on the beers, so we told what kind of beer we like and she came back with good choices. The pear cider and apricot ale are good if you like things sweet. The double chocolote thing tastes like a milkshake, but without a hint of sweetness. The Delirium Tremens clocks in at 10% alcohol and tastes good. It’s a great way to catch a quick buzz without having to buy a bunch of beer.

I’ve read reviews that say the place is too noisy, but I disagree. They keep the music loud enough to drown out surrounding conversations, but not so loud you can’t easily hear the people at your table. The music provides privacy, which is great in a joint with an open floor plan.

Now, the food:

When we first looked into the place, I saw a giant menu that didn’t hit any particular niche. You can get tacos, sushi, steak, or pizza. How can a restaurant make good food when there’s a thousand* items on the menu and no theme?

I don’t know the answer to that, but they managed.

We started with the spicy deviled eggs and mu shu egg rolls. Both were great. I can eat a pile of deviled eggs, so I’m happy there were only 3 on the plate. Appetizers were excellent.

For the second course, we got the chicken tortilla soup, which comes with an avocado slice on top. I could have gotten a bowl of that and gone home happy. Holy crap, that was good.

My entree was the taco plate with garlic fries. The fries were phenomenal. Easily ranking in the top 5 french fries I’ve had in my life. The tacos were okay, but not mind-blowing. I had a baja taco and a carnitas taco. Good, not great.

For dessert, I really wanted to get the salted caramel butterscotch pudding, but did you read the list of food we did get? There was no room for more.

Totally worth going. We got some great beer and food, and spent $93 including the tip. I will be going back.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

We finally got a chance to go to this place over at the West End Shops. If you even want to get in, you can call ahead and have your name added to the wait list, they will tell you how long the wait it is for a table and you can head there closer to the wait time.

They don’t take reservations.

OMG, the list of beers on tap, if you want it, they will have it! And the neat thing you can do is sample up to 2 different beers at a time to find out what you like.

I think one thing I didn’t like about this place is that there is so much on the menu that it takes a while for you to figure out what you want to eat. I do like that for everything on the menu, they have at the end of description they will indicate if it’s a vegetarian and/or under 600 calorie dish. That way I don’t have to pick the waitress’s brain.

They have an awesome list of appetizers to choose from, not your regular listing of appetizers. I liked what Jason chose, both were yummy. I ordered a chipotle lime grilled shrimp; the shrimp tasted awesome, however I didn’t like the sides that came with it. We both tried the chicken tortilla soup and that was awesome!

I would just go back for beer and soup!
Overall, 4 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

4.5 Pants Off!

*Slight exaggeration

Ichiban Asian Buffet

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Jason’s Take

The normal cycle for a Chinese restaurant runs something like this:

Restaurant opens.
The owners want to build a clientele, so they rock the food. Everything is awesome and the service is great.
The owners realize how slim the margins are when you run a restaurant, so they cut back on the food quality. Egg rolls are bought frozen, and taste suffers.
People quit coming.
Store closes, unless they are primarily a money-laundering operation.

Grand City Buffet in St. Louis Park ran through this cycle in about 6 years. Their replacement, Ichiban Asian Buffet, has skipped step two completely. They did a great remodel and the place looks wonderful. I walked in and saw the giant sushi bar with dedicated sushi chefs and was ready to be wowwed.

Unfortunately, the food doesn’t live up to the classy decor.

The Thai Chicken was good…until I found a feather.

The egg rolls were really good, which is pretty rare at a buffet, and one of my benchmark tests for new Chinese restaurants in general.

The sushi spread was impressive, but it all tasted the same.

I did find out today that cold squid rings are not worth eating, at least not when they are meant to be served warm. Really, the first thing a buffet restaurant needs to do is make sure the steam tables keep the food at a safe temperature.

All in all, I can’t give it a zero, because the atmosphere is nice and classy. The food was mostly bland or cold, though a few pieces were good.

Jason’s Rating: 1 out of 5, just for the quality remodel. I hope the next owners do something about the food.

Linda’s Take

Today we decided to go on a lunch date and bring our girls with us. I suggested we try a new Chinese buffet that opened about a month ago, thinking that there should be great new food there.

Boy was I wrong!

The place looks wonderful–great atmosphere–but 95% of the food was cold and not very flavorful. Everything looked pleasing to the eye, but not to the taste buds.

However, if you are looking for place to get a cheap lunch for the kids, it will do the trick. They do have a few good looking deserts and all of the fruit looked really fresh.

But I will not be going back to this place, even to take the kids if they are hungry. I would rather wait to get home.

Linda’s Rating: I give this place a 1 out of 5 pants off.
Total Rating

Applebee’s St. Louis Park

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Linda’s Take

After the Big Thrill Factory, we went to Applebee’s in St. Louis Park at the Knollwood location. The restaurant was just redone and is very clean and pleasing to the eye.

I love that drinks are cheap AND good and our friends like to get together there on a regular basis. Service from the waitresses doesn’t always seem to be the most speedy, but it could have been the late hour we were there.

However, we love Dan the bartender man! He always makes sure our drinks were full.

Once our food was ordered it didn’t take long for us to wait for it. We only got some appetizers, everything tasted yummy! However everything didn’t agree with my tummy so well the next day. So, to sum it up, if you eat a lot of quick food, everything is yummy in the tummy; if you don’t, I recommend ordering off the Weight Watchers listed on the menu.

Linda’s Rating: 1 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

We were hungry, it was late, and we had friends at Applebee’s already, so there we went. The booze isn’t watered and Dan makes a great bartender. Our friends were there celebrating a birthday and they offered up plates for the cake.

We got no service from the waitress, but we walked in and were hanging out by the bar with our friends, so it wasn’t a surprise. Dan took care of us all night.

I dig the food. After 9, a good selection of appetizers is half-priced. The wonton tacos are freaking awesome.

Jason’s Rating: 2 out of 5 pants off

Total Rating: 1.5 pants off

Yoga With Cher

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Linda’s Take

Jason had a new idea to have us try a yoga class. I thought this was kinda odd coming from my man. But even know I was shocked at his suggestion, I told him that I know of someone who teaches yoga classes and I would contact her to get more information.

Turns out she is someone who graduated from my school, same class year. And her daughter and our youngest girl were in the same class last school year.

So she offers a beginner yoga class on Sundays starting at 12:30pm for only $12.00 dollars, and also she offers a kids yoga class starting at noon for only $8.00 dollars per child.

I thought wow, something new for the whole family to try. However our teenage son didn’t want to go. No matter how much we tried, yoga isn’t as cool as computer games. She teaches her classes at The Iron Gym in St Louis Park. They have pretty much a full working gym, but none of the high power technology machines. However it’s quiet and that makes it perfect for yoga, because as I found out it’s about a lot of breathing.

I never thought that holding positions and stretches while breathing would make you so sweaty. It’s a workout!

I think we are going to go again, also our girls liked it as well and want to come again too. And we found out that our neighbor would like to check it out!

This is an idea for the whole family to do.
I give it 4 out of 5 pants off!

Jason’s Take

I recently read The First 20 Hours. It’s a book about learning the basics of any skill in…wait for it…20 hours. One of the skills the author documented was yoga. Before reading the book, I’d never given yoga any thought. I’d always mentally dropped into the “chick stuff” category and forgotten about it.

I read the book, and decided to give yoga a shot. I mentioned it to Linda and she said she had a friend who taught. A dozen Facebook messages later, we were signed up and ready to go.

The class is at a gym in a warehouse space on the border of St. Louis Park and Hopkins. It was hot yoga that day, but only because it was almost 100 degrees outside and we were in a warehouse space.

We brought the girls for the kids yoga class immediately before the adult class. They liked in, but our youngest thought it was too hot and the wait for the adult class was too long. I told her to bring a book next time.

Thing I didn’t realize about yoga: It’s a workout. I always pictured it as the thing soccer mommies did instead of something. I was wrong. It’s a solid workout that includes strength and flexibility training. Who doesn’t want to be more flexible? Sex swings are always more fun with high-end acrobatics, right?

Totally worth doing. I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

4 out of 5 Pants Off

Best of India

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Linda’s Take

Well both thought it would be a good idea to expose our kids to different types of ethic foods. The first place that came to my mind was a little hole-in-the-wall place in a strip mall near by called Best of India. I like the idea of the buffet for the kids. That way they can look at the food to see what they want to try, then go back and try something else.

The lunch buffet wasn’t very expensive.

This is a small place. The staff was really nice and asked us a few times if the kids were having fun and liked items they were serving.

Just about everything that I tried was really good. I can’t complain about any of the food to much. Some of it was a little dry, but for the most part the manager made sure everything was fresh on the buffet.

However, the only thing that kinda turned me off to this place is that the buffer was located in the far back kinda in the kitchen/cleaning area,but understand that this is a small place. Also the buffet is very small; not a lot of items to choose from. However, the manager noticed that Jason got a couple of helpings of mango pudding and he said that he made it himself. I have to admit, the mango pudding was very tasty.

Overall I give this place only 2 out of 5 pants off.

I just wasn’t really impressed.

Jason’s Take

I dig Indian food. That probably comes from spending six years working for an Indian immigrant who liked to throw parties at his house and serve Indian food.

I also like forcing my kids to try new food.

That combination led us to Best of India in the TexaTonka neighborhood of St. Louis Park.

The place is small; it probably seats 25 people. With so little room, they set up the buffet in the kitchen, which is weird. And the buffet is small, though the food was good. The naan was great. The mango pudding was wonderful.

Side note: I love mango pudding, and the formerly-best-place-to-get-it started making it out of a box or something nasty, so I hadn’t had any in a while.

The food was good, and cheap. I like that combination. One of my kids was a brat and only ate naan, which was irritating.

No dancing girls, which was expected.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

2.5 out of 5 Pants Off

The Loop, St. Louis Park

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Linda’s Take

One of the new restaurants at the West End Shops in St. Louis Park is The Loop. I’ve driven past it a few time; the outside of the place didn’t look too appealing to me, but Jason really wanted to try the place so we had lunch there.

When I walked in, the staff was really inviting and kind. The place looks really different on the inside. Warm wood tones and big booths along the wall. Kinda country and kinda new age. Different, but nice.

They have a separate & smaller lunch menu from the dinner menu, I like that. Less time searching for what you want.

We ordered a meat platter with toasted flat bread and sauces. High quality meats, pretty tasty. I also ordered a hummus platter, which I’ve never seen on a menu before. This I really liked! It was served with cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, and artichokes all mixed with a Mediterranean style sauce and warm pita bread. Only bummer about this dish was wanting more bread.

I had an apple and cherry salad for the main course. This was really fresh and crisp. I loved all of the different greens in the salad. You can add meat for an additional cost, but I loved it just the way it was.

Jason had a Juicy Loopy, their version of the Juicy Lucy. He said it was good but he liked the Juicy Lucy better.

Oh, my hummus platter came out a little late so the manager came over and gave it to us for free. I thought that was really nice. We never even complained about it at all.
I did like this place, a little pricey, but not by much.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

There’s one restaurant slot at the West End that just doesn’t have any luck. Every year or two, there’s a new restaurant in there. The current restaurant is The Loop.

We’re on a quest to review all of the restaurants at the West End, so this one had to go on the list, though honestly, judging a book by its cover and being absolutely non-politically correct, I thought it was a gay bar at first glance. If you can ignorantly stereotype what the outside of a gay bar in a nice neighborhood looks like.

Inside, it’s a nice place. The woods are nice, and the bar has phone charging stations every 6 feet, which is pretty sweet.

The staff was nice, but I’m pretty sure our waiter was either new, or will be a former waiter soon. He wasn’t great and the manager knew he wasn’t. She came over to check and make sure that he’d been over to help us.

So, food:

No booze. This was lunch on a work day, so we didn’t drink.

For appetizers, we got the charcuterie board and the hummus plate. The pile of olives and marinated vegetables made the hummus plate totally worth the $11. Good olives. Good hummus. The charcuterie board had some sweet choices, like liver, some fancy bologna-like stuff, and bacon jam. It works well.

Linda has rabbit-food for the main course. I was going to get the Pork Banh Mi sandwich, but they were out of both the chicken liver and the pork pate, so I got the Juicy Loopy instead. That’s a juicy lucy stuffed with bacon, onions, and cheddar. It was good, but the 5-8 Club does juicy lucy’s better. The fries were awesome. More accurately, the garlic and parsley aioli that is served with the fries was phenomenal.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

3.5 out of 5 Pants Off

Granite City

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Linda’s Take

So one night I wanted to go someplace local but with a menu that we haven’t eaten for awhile.

Don’t get me wrong, you’re going to see more sushi restaurant reviews posted later on, but it’s nice to switch it up once in a while.

So we picked Granite City; they are a chain restaurant, but there are not so many around. That’s because they also brew their own beer right at the restaurant! I thought that was inspiring because they also cook with the beer they brew.

The drinks we had were good, I really liked the one I ordered, I don’t remember the name of it other than it had the word “Monkey” in the name, but it was sweet and fruity, and it gave me a good buzz! That works for me!

I also tried French Onion Soup for the first time, I really liked how they made it, flavorful but not to rich. The appetizer we had really filled me up and it was full of flavor!

For my main dish I ordered the London Broiled steak, it was really tender and good, but not much seasoning with it. However I was so full already I wasn’t sure how many bites I could even take.

All and all this was a place that fit the budget to go out to eat, with better quality food an other chain restaurants.
I would go here again.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Granite City is a restaurant and micro-brewery. It is a chain, but not a large chain, and it’s a
local chain.

Given the fact that it’s a microbrewery, they have a biased sense of how great their beer is, and
charge accordingly. It’s not outragious, but the beer isn’t cheap.

We started with the shrimp appetizer, which came with a slaw and was really good.

Next, we had the French Onion soup, because linda had never tried it before and onions are a sharedexperience on a date. You should never let just one person on a date have onions. It was good,but not good enough to knock my pants off.

I had burger X for my main course, which was also good-but-not-great.

For dessert, we had the apple tort-thing. It was an insanely dry puff pastry filled with applefilling that just wasn’t great. Pass on this.

I give it 3 pants off.

Total Score

3 out of 5 Pants Off