Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill

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

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

The Golden Nugget

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Linda’s Take

So we decided to try this little dinner off of Excelsior Blvd called The Golden Nugget after seeing them one weekend on Fox9 news. We brought our girls with us thinking that it would be fun for all. I have to admit that the parking wasn’t the best, but it’s really easy to find this place.

They have an awesome beer selection, and some of the yummiest burgers I have ever see on the menu. However there isn’t much at all on the menu if you are looking to watch your calorie intake.

I had some shrimp tacos and come chicken wild rice soup. The tacos were really yummy, and the soup was made a little different then what I’m used to but really tasty.

Jason had a great looking burger and this thing was huge! Our girls ordered shrimp and a walleye filet and the kids size meals could feed an adult!

Overall the food was great and I saw a flyer that said $5.00 burgers on Sundays! This is a great place to go for a date night for burgers, and I would say an awesome place to go on Sundays with the family!

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off!

Jason’s Take

We saw this place on the news and decided we had to try it. The Chimichurri Burger they made on TV looked fricking awesome. It’s a burger with mortadella ham, chimichurri, Gruyere cheese, arugula, and bone marrow mayo. I love bone marrow mayo.

The burger was ok. It’s supposed to be an award-winning burger–and it was good–but it didn’t knock my pants off.

The kids portions were enormous and cooked really well. I liked the portion sizes for the girls, because that meant I got to try their shrimp and fried walleye too. The walleye was cooked perfectly and the shrimp was great.

I just realized I’m writing this review backwards, but I’m not going to change it up.

For an appetizer, we had cheeseburger wontons, which were phenomenal. If you get it, save the spicy Asian sauce to dip whatever else you get later. Holy Yum, Batman!

Parking sucks. If you’re coming down Excelsior from the west, the only entrance to the lot is well before you can see the restaurant, so you drive past swearing. When you get in, it feels weird. It looks like it should be a dive bar, but it’s way nicer than that, and they have a crap-ton of beer on tap.

Good place, good food, and cheap burgers on Sundays. Totally worth going.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score:

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

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

Wildfire

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

On this date night we decided that we would branch out into Eden Prairie and thought that Wildfire sounded like a good place. It has a great location–being right at Eden Prairie Center Mall–and the reviews said it had a 1940s type atmosphere.

Well, great location, yes…1940s atmosphere, no. Other than pictures on the wall of actors and actresses from the 40s, there is nothing 1940s about it. Looks a lot like Doolittles, however, it’s very warm and inviting.

The food I thought was very good for the price and I like that they serve sides family style, it makes sharing dinner with your love more cuddly. Yes, I’m being mushy.

Specialty drinks are good and about the same price as any restaurant, just remember that they add to your bill in a hurry, but if you’re that gone, who cares!

I would go back to this place again for a dinner for two, you can bring a large family, but I wouldn’t if you are trying to stay on a budget. So in a nutshell, classier atmosphere than Doolittles or a Red Lobster, but about the same price.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

I was looking for a restaurant in Eden Prairie since we were in the area and I found this place. The reviews were good and the description was intriguing, so we gave it a shot.

For the most part, it was good. The crab cakes were great. The only complaint I had was the salmon. That was rubbery. I’d go back, just for the goat cheese and marinara appetizer.

3 pants off

Total Score: 3.5 out of 5 pants off