Comment Away!

Many of you have mentioned to me that you were unable to post comments to my blog. Turns out I had the wrong setting on...oops! I removed the setting so now you should be able to comment. Please comment on any of my posts, even if they are from months ago. I love my readers and I love what you have to say. Now comment away!!!

Did Someone Say Wings?

Today I reviewed Wingdome in downtown Kirkland and it was quite an adventure!

On decor of restaurant, I give it a 4. It was very unique with a garage and sports theme. The inside literally looked like a garage. There was an entire wall just dedicated to tire rims. Check it out...

There is a sports bar connected to the restaurant with sports playing on all of the tv's. It looked good, but trust me, no girls were involved with the decorating process. It is always a mistake if you come in on a Saturday night. There are huge football fans who scream when something interesting happens on tv, like a touchdown. Wingdome is sort of a man magnet.

On friendliness of staff towards kids, I give it a 2. The servers brought us coloring sheets and crayons right away. They weren't very generous with the crayons, but only brought us 3 and they were weird triangular shaped crayons. Other than that, the servers made no contact with me whatsoever. Not a word or a look.

On service speed, I give it a 3. It took about 10 minutes to get the appetizers and 10 more to get the wings. They were really good about making sure we always had water and napkins.

On taste of food, I give it a 5! I ordered "fully loaded" potato chips, which are house made chips topped with cheese, sour cream, bacon and chives. Yum...

I also ordered #3 chicken wings that came with ranch, blue cheese and celery. You can order the wings anywherere from 0 (no sauce) to 7 (hottest). Here are the wings...

The chips and the wings were absolute perfection! The chips were made fresh and served warm with cheesy heaven and toppings. The cheese was a little chewy but enjoyable. The sour cream was fluffy and the bacon was crispy. It was texture perfection. There was a little of each topping on each bite and I just wanted to eat more and more. The wings were just as amazing. They were crispy on the outside and juicy and moist on the inside. The sauce was rich and flavorful, all cooled down with a dip in the ranch. I like the wings that look like the little drumsticks the most because they have the most meat. Also, I like llamas better than alpacas in case you were wondering.

On appearance of food, I give it a 3. When the wings were first brought out on a silver tray they looked bland and dull. At first we thought they weren't even the right wings since they looked so banal (thank you dictionary). They aren't special on the outside but your taste buds will worship the inside. The chips also didn't look as special as they tasted.

On price, I give it a 2. It seemed sort of expensive. For 30 wings, it costs $30.99. Pretty much a dollar per wing!

There is something at the Wingdome called the "7 Wing Challenge." This challenge means you have to eat 7 wings, 7 alarms each (the hottest EVER), within 7 minutes. You can't use a napkin or drink anything. If you can do this you get a t-shirt and your picture on the wall. My Dad never backs down from a challenge so he took the plunge. I was so scared that he was going to get hurt that I hid out in the bathroom until it was over. Here are the wings he had to eat, look how much sauce they have! He even had to eat the lettuce and lick his fingers...

By the time he finished he was bright red from the sauce burning his face. His eyes were watering and he was shaking. They brought him a glass of milk and an ice cream sandwich to help calm down the spice. My Dad says it is WAY hotter than you can imagine, so kids DON"T TRY THE CHALLENGE! Isn't my Dad a hero? I am so proud.

The final score for Wingdome is 19/30. It is very kid friendly and kids eat free every Tuesday night. I had quite an experience! My Dad did the challenge and I think you should dare your Dads to do it too. Then you can be as proud as I am:) Oh, and the wings are awesome.

SuperMan!

 Today I reviewed a "super" place for kids called Mandarin Buffet and Grill in Redmond. I like to call it a "super" Mandarin buffet, or SuperMan for short.

On decor of restaurant, I give it a 4. We sat at shiny red tables with wooden chairs with cool designs cut out of them. They also have zodiac signs all over the walls. I didn't know what sign I was until a few years ago when I tried this place. I am a Taurus in case you are wondering. If you know what sign you are, then leave a post on my blog and I would  be soooo happy to read them :-) If you don't know, then go to Mandarin and figure it out. The first thing that you see when you walk in Mandarin are long plastic pearl chains hanging from the ceiling. They look really cool from a distance but they look tacky up close. They have a lot of Asian paintings on the walls of things like waves and other things in nature. 

On friendliness of staff towards kids, I give it a 5! I don't think the servers spoke English so they didn't talk to me. Even so, they were really nice and smiled a lot. They brought our drinks right away and every time I drank any water they filled it up right away. Whenever I was done with a plate, they noticed from across the room and removed it right away. Like magic. Also, the people there are very tolerant of kids. I was chasing my friend's little brother around the restaurant and he was laughing really loud. They didn't even care! This place likes kids. Trust me.

On service speed, I guess I give it a 5? This is hard to say since you serve yourself. You can get your food right away and since everyone always rushes to the buffets, everybody gets a 5!

On taste of food, I give it a 5! This is a hard place to review because there are a lot of choices and I like almost everything. Especially the meat. For those of you who don't know what a super buffet is, it is literally a "super buffet." There are special areas for different types of foods. They have a Mongolian grill, a fried food section, a soup section, a seafood section, a sushi section, a Chinese food section, a salad section, a dessert section...you get the point. They even have pizza, french fries, and self-serve ice cream. Some of the things are just plain disturbing, like fish ball soup and frog legs. Here are some pictures to get the idea...

The fried food...yummmm. My favorite is the fried sweet and sour chicken.

Some Chinese food, some strange food..here is where you want to avoid the crawfish and the frog legs.

Frog legs close up, just so you know what to avoid...

The sushi is very fresh. I like the California rolls.

Don't miss the dessert. They have things like tiramisu, cheesecake, and yummy cakes like cookies and cream cake.

My sister just couldn't decide...

Those pictures should give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The food is always steaming hot and I love hot food. So does my dad. He even puts his salad in the microwave and I am not joking. The food has lots of different rich flavors and there are lots of colorful choices. Nothing at this buffet actually tastes bad. I don't want to admit it, but even the frog legs taste fresh and yummy. I strongly recommend trying the Mongolian grill. There is a buffet to choose what you want (like noodles, meats, veggies...) and a man there who cooks it for you.

On appearance of food, I give it a 4. The food at Mongolian Buffet always looks fresh. If something starts to look somewhat old, the people who work there will replace the entire tray right away. Even though the food looks fresh, they don't go the extra mile to make it look special.

On price, I give it a 4. The prices are all you can eat, and you should see how much some people there can eat! For adults, it is $13.99. For kids 2-11, it is .95 per year. Since I am 10, it is $9.50. Kids under 2 eat for free.

SuperMan earned a "super" score of 28/30! I love this place but I do have a warning for you. You have to stop yourself at some point. When you eat here, you can eat too much and leave with a lot of regret. It is best just to try a little of everything. This is a great place to go with your family and friends and everyone can eat something different and new. Don't forget the fortune cookies! Today mine said "Curiosity is life." Think about it.

Top Pot is Muy Yum

Today after school I went to Top Pot in downtown Bellevue (locations in Seattle) and it was muy yum (get it?)!

On decor of restaurant, I give it a 3. It was very plain and the colors were dark and depressing like red, black, and gray. There were wood tables and an entire wall filled with old books. You can't actually read the books so it is sort of weird. There is an open kitchen but the wall is so high that you can't actually see into the kitchen. They played music that I have never heard before. My mom said that it is called "trans" music. It made me tired. It is a huge space with lots of seating options.

On friendliness of staff towards kids, I give it a 4. All of the staff members smiled and they were all wearing cool hats like fedoras and berets. I don't know if that was a coincidence or part of the uniform. They also used cool modern expressions, like "no prob." They seemed happy to work there, but it is a doughnut shop, so who wouldn't be?

On service speed, I give it a 4. The lady took out the doughnut with tongs and placed it on a plate. She gave it to me right away.

On taste of food, I give it a 5!!!! I ordered a Raspberry Bismark. I don't know why it is called that. Was it invented in North Dakota? It is a powdered doughnut with raspberry filling. The powder was really powdery and got everywhere as I ate the doughnut. By the end, it was on the chair, on the table, on the floor, in my hair, and all over my face. The napkin smeared it and made it worse. The doughnut itself was very fluffy and moist. Inside, there was A LOT of filling that tasted like sweet and thick jelly. When I took a bite, the jelly inside tried to plop on my plate. The texture of the dense jelly and the light doughnut made every bite pure heaven. Check out the inside...

On appearance of food, I give it a 3. It was a pretty average looking doughnut. It looked really white because of the powdered sugar. It looked like it was bleeding because of the jelly coming out of the hole where they squirted it in. The doughnut was served a boring Ikea plate which is weird because they sold adorable Top Pot plates. Why don't they serve the doughnuts on their own plates?

On price, I give it a 2. The prices range from .99 to $2.49. They prices are above average but then again the doughnuts are designer doughnuts. This is not the grocery store!

The final score is 21/30. Top Pot makes great doughuts, but the store has more of an adult vibe. It didn't seem very kiddy. The other people there were all adults and they were all drinking coffee. All of the doughnuts are handmade in small batches, so that makes them special. They had lots of different kinds of doughnuts with cool names like Feather Boa (coconut on top), Valley Girl Lemon, and Chocolate Sand Castle. The doughnut didn't make my tummy hurt like they do sometimes from other places. They did make me feel tired and lazy, or maybe that was the trans music! I consider Top Pot doughnuts to be more of a hangout spot for grown ups. If your parents want to go to a place to hangout, tell them to go here. At least they have doughnuts!

Kids, Pack Your Lunch

Today I reviewed The Bellevue School District school lunch. To all of you kids who buy lunch, you will be way happier if you pack it!

On decor of restaurant/cafeteria, I give it a 1. This is maybe the most boring place I have ever seen. They should get some kind of boring award or something like that. We eat in our what they like to call "multi purpose room" which is technically a lunch room, a gym, and the assembly room. It's kind of weird because you are trying to eat lunch while there are huge basketball hoops over your head. We are sitting on folding, not real wooden benches that are stuffed in our closet after lunch is over. Who knows what could be in that closet? Spiders, dust, and everything that you don't want to be eating on.

On friendliness of staff/lunch room monitors towards kids, I give it a 2. Nobody talks to you except the lady who takes all of your lunch money to put into your account and stands there when you punch in your lunch number. I looked for her lunch lady mole, but sadly, she doesn't have one. No hair net either. The monitors are adult volunteers who think they are so powerful because they can say whether or not we can go to bathroom.

On service speed, I give it a 4. You serve yourself.

On taste of "food", I give it a 1. When you walk into the room it smells like rotten fish and you immediately know that walking in there was a big mistake. It is repulsive. When you walk in the room on fish stick day, puking is actually a possibility. Today the daily special was hot dogs and push pops. If you didn't want that, kids can always choose a chicken burger or a burrito. The burrito is typically the best choice. There is also a salad bar and they make you choose a vegetable. Ketchup doesn't count here! I went for the daily special. The hot dogs were soaked in some kind of liquid and they felt like you were eating rubber. Seriously, if you dropped it on the floor it would literally bounce! Gross! When you eat it you don't exactly know what you are eating. Are they really hot dogs? No one knows what they are, only the cook. She is like 80 years old and probably can't see what she is cooking. The watermelon was somewhat, kind of normal. It was not very cold but it tasted like normal watermelon. The ice cream was normal and actually OK but it was very melty. Overall, it was not a good experience. Only a school cafeteria can make fattening junk food taste bad. It is a gift!

On appearance of food, I give it a 2. Everything is served on a foam tray that has some kind of engraving on the second little space that says "milk." As if I would put my milk in the space just because it says so! The choices for drinks are milk and chocolate milk. The trays are so easily breakable that if you put too much on your tray it will break in half! Trust me, it happens at least once a year. My meal looked a tiny bit normal but the hot dogs looked gross and greasy. The watermelon looked mushy and the push pop looked... normal. Even though it looked normal, it looked miserable at the same time.

On price, I give it an unknown. I don't exactly know how much it costs because they take it off of your account every time you buy lunch. Sorry readers. I do know that if you run out of money in your account they will let you eat anyways.

For a horrible total score of 10/30! We get about 15 minutes to eat small portions. What is this, jail? After we are done eating it is recess. If you buy school lunch, go straight outside and play after you eat so you can get rid of all of the yuck. The district wants to make the school food healthy, but the only thing they succeed at is making it gross. Food in jail has to be better. This is why if you are a kid, and you go to school in the Bellevue school district, do yourself a favor and pack your lunch.

High Five To Five Guys

Today I went to Five Guys burgers in the Overlake Plaza in Redmond and I am so elated that I did!!!

On decor of restaurant, I give it a 3. It looked like a diner with red and white checkered tile and red and white walls. It made me feel like I was in back in the 50's. There was a huge area with no glass where you can watch them make your burgers. It is almost like a huge assembly line, check it out...

There were a lot of peach wood old looking tables and chairs. There were extra chairs everywhere so they will never run out of places to sit. All of the tables rocked and wobbled and it was REALLY stressing me out. I had to move around to three different tables to find one that was not wobbly. They were blasting music and the restaurant was loud so it was also bugging me. Other than that it was pretty cool. They have open bags of free peanuts that you can just take. 

On friendliness of staff towards kids, I give it a 3. The lady didn't really talk to us. She really just minded her own bees wax while I was ordering. She also smiled but it was more like a small smirk or grin so I couldn't even tell if she was happy or not. She should go to a social manners class (if they even have those). 

On service speed, I give it a 4. We waited about 5 minutes or less to get 3 burgers and a large fries.

On taste of food, I give it a 5! It was the best burger that I have ever had in Seattle!!! I got a cheeseburger with grilled onions, ketchup, pickles, tomatoes and lettuce. The patty was juicy and moist. It was the hardest thing ever to take the time to take that picture. The gooey cheese was properly melted on the patty and it all melts in your mouth. The lettuce, tomatoes and pickles were fresh and crisp and the onions were grilled to perfection. All topped off with fresh ketchup and a warm sesame seed bun. It was a piece of heaven! The french fries are fresh cut and made and they don't taste artificial at all. They taste just like a crispy fried potato. They are delicious! The patty is 100% beef and everything is fried in peanut oil. If you are allergic to peanuts than this is not the place for you. Peanut oil, open bags of free peanuts... if you are allergic to peanuts then this place is a death trap.

On appearance of food, I give it a 3. It looked pretty average. The veggies were fresh and bright but I wouldn''t say that the burger was beautifully prepared. It was falling apart everywhere. All of the ingredients were falling out of the bun and it looked sloppy. They don't serve the food on trays but in brown paper bags.

On price, I give it a 4. For three burgers, three waters and a large fries it was $16.06.

For a grand total of 22/30. Even though it was not the best in all categories, it was the best in my burger category. If you ate here every day your heart would stop so it is only for a treat. It is very fattening. Five Guys, if you were here right now I would give you a huge high five.

5 Guys Is Here!

Happy back to school everyone! Among all of the exciting things that happened to me today, one of my friends told me some HUGE NEWS. There is now a 5 Guys Burgers on the eastside in the Overlake Shopping Center in Redmond!!! I love burgers, and I have heard this place is great. If it is anything like my favorite In-N-Out, the eastside is in for a treat. Review to follow...