Mainstreet Bar & Grill

Linda’s Take

So my best friend’s husband was going to celebrate his birthday at Mainstreet’s. I had been to Mainstreet’s many times before but this time, since both Jason and I were going to go, why not write a review!

I like this bar, it is one of the few bars that is great at keeping your drink glass full and just looks like a regular bar, plus they have live music every weekend.

There are some drawbacks to the place.

The food is okay; it’s your typical bar food and nothing I would brag about.
There is a dance floor, however it is on the smaller size so it can fill up quickly. Most of the time the bands are good, they do have some popular regular bands, however the night we both went there the guy sucked!
I guess the biggest drawback is when the band plays you can’t hear anyone that is trying to talk to you. So to wrap it up, great place to go and drink and have fun! Not so good if you want to catch up and talk with friends.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

We went to Mainstreet’s Bar in downtown Hopkins for a friend’s birthday party.

We’ve been there before, but have never taken the time to review it.

The place is a dive bar, pure and simple. The food is totally on par with what you’d expect from a dive bar. It’s greasy and really only good when you’ve been drinking. The drinks are cheap and the staff is friendly.

They’ve got live music nearly every night and a decent-but-not-large dance floor.

It doesn’t feel like a meat market, but judging by the number of people I know who’ve gotten lucky by going to Mainstreet’s, it’s not a bad place to go if you’re feeling lonely.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score:

3 Out of 5 Pants Off

Rodizio

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

For my son’s 15th birthday I suggested to go to Rodizio Grill. My son loves meat and it was a great place for my girls to try some new foods. Jason and I love the meat there as well. We also let my son bring 2 friends, and one of the Dads came and joined us because he is Jason’s best friend, but I think his mouth was watering when we said where we were going.

Originally, Jason and I were going to go here for our wedding anniversary, but one of the girls got really sick and I would have just felt horrible leaving her at home when she wanted mommy to cuddle with her and make her feel better.

I had looked on Groupon and found a deal for Rodizio Grill for dinner for two plus a bottle of wine for $65.00. Not a bad deal since dinner for one is $35.00. I must say that my son was pleased to go there. His favorite type of restaurant is anything that is all you can eat, and he loved the all you can eat meat!

The salad bar there is good, nothing that I think that really screams “OMG, you have to try this!”, but everything is tasty. All of the meat is mouthwatering! I think the biggest hit was the bacon wrapped turkey, and the grilled pineapple. I believe that one of my daughters had 4 helpings of this!

Also it was “Wild Game” month for October. One of the meats to try was going to be rattle snake, however they were out. The manager did come and talk with us and understood that we really wanted to try this, so he was so kind that he gave us a card for a free order of the rattlesnake meat when they get it in, and gave our kids free deserts! Now that is really wanting some happy costumers!

By the way, the deserts were so yummy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my youngest daughter shovel down chocolate cake that fast ever, and I could have eaten what Jason got for a whole month and not get tired of it! Plus for one of their deserts, anyone who orders it, all proceeds go to help for breast cancer research since this month is breast cancer awareness month.

I will be going here again!

5 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

I’ve been to Rodizio a few time. Good meat, in unlimited quantities. Who wouldn’t like it?

Except for vegetarians, of course. They’ll hate this place.

Our default plan for birthday celebrations is to let the kid in question pick a restaurant and invite a friend. It’s generally cheaper than a party, and always cheaper than an event-type party.

This year, we let the boy invite two friends, and one of the friend’s dad is one of my closest friends, so I asked him to join us. That made eight of us.

When you get there, you have two options. You can enjoy the full experience, or just get the salad bar, which is the cheaper option, but who goes to a Brazilian steakhouse for salad? Silly stuff.

They’ll put a little hourglass-looking thing on the table. If the green side is up, guys with meat on skewers come to the table and offer to carve off a piece for you. If the red side is up, they let you take a break. If you knock it over, the waitress will bring over the dessert tray. Simple and elegant.

I strongly recommend you eat the parmesan-encrusted pork and the bacon-wrapped turkey. The red meats are, surprisingly, not my favorites.

Never, ever turn down the grilled pineapple. Holy cow, it’s good! The sugars carmelize on the outside and it tastes like candy.

For dessert, I had the pudim de leite, which is a creamy caramal flan. I have no idea what flan is, but it felt and tasted like a very light cheesecake covered in an orgasmic caramel sauce.

Did I really just use “orgasmic” to describe a sauce? Musta been good.

It’s a great restaurant, but the real question is whether it compares well with Fogo de Ciao.

Rodizio is cheaper and more convenient than going downtown. Fogo crowds in the tables to pack the place, but has a slightly better selection of meat and a much bigger salad bar(yes, I always visit the salad bar, just not heavily).

So yes, it does compare favorably. I’m there more than I’m at Fogo. Fogo has a better meat selection, so I can’t give it 5 pants off.

I give Rodizio 4 pants off out of 5.

Total Score 4.5 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

Hope Rides Harvest Day

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

There is a wonderful non profit organization that a great woman runs. She doesn’t do it alone; she has great friends to help. My cousin introduced me to her. Her name is Vollie and the organization that she runs is called Hope Rides. She runs this place in Mayer, MN. It allows children that have trouble opening up, have been scared and need someone to trust, have had abuse in their lives, or love being around horses and just get the chance to work and be with horses for free.

A few times a year Vollie throws fundraiser events that are completely geared towards kids and family. I asked Jason if he minded having the whole family go out there to get some fresh air and to have some fun. To my delight, he said yes, and everyone did have fun!

Our son got to learn how to juggle; Jason was also working on this. Our two girls loved the amusement park games and they got like a million suckers as prizes. They also had tables where they had face painting, caricatures, henna tattoos, and someone teaching kids how to draw horses. All of the activities were free and super fun for kids and adults!

There was also food, a silent auction, and Hope Rides merchandise to buy, with all proceeds going to Hope Rides.

Nothing is more rewarding then seeing all of the smiles on my kids faces, and to see Jason with a smile on his face when he is with his family. I wish I saw more of it!

I give this event 5 out of 5 pants off!

Jason’s Take

When Linda asked me to go to the Hope Rides Harvest Day fundraiser, I was less than thrilled. As much as I support her ~~obsession~~ interest in horses, I don’t share it. But family time is important, so off we went.

We walked in, and the first thing we saw was the driveway roped off and a juggling team teaching people to juggle. I’ve been trying to learn lately, so I dragged Brat #1 over there and we gave it a shot. I got bored of dropping the balls within about 15 minutes, but he stuck around for over an hour. He’s not great, but he’s actually juggling, now.

They had henna tattoos, face painting, a little carnival, horse rides, and a bunch of other stuff going on. We all had fun and threw some money at the charity. It was a good time for a good cause, and we’ll be back.

The horse racing was the best.

5 out of 5 stars.

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score:

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score 4.5 Pants Off

Jason’s Take

Linda’s Take

Total Score

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score: 5 out or 5 stars.