This is the newest westernmost location of Fred’s Downtown Philly in the Dallas area. I was excited to learn they opened shop in Carrollton, despite the flagging economy. That says something about the food here.
The proof is in the Philly. I partook of the #4, Extra Meat Cheesesteak in the 10″ form and discovered heaven. I also realized my eyes were too big for my stomach, after managing to down only 6″ of it. But, it was oh-SOOO-good. Now that Fred’s is closer to home, I’ll be visiting more often frequently to try out every cheesesteak variety on his menu, including some of his specials, like the Teriyaki and the Chipotle Cheesesteaks.
The short steaks start at $4.25, while the 10 inchers start at about $6. You have the option to modify any order with a choice of 16 extras, which includes 5 different peppers and 5 kinds of cheese. Fred’s also offers hoagies, wings, salads and burgers along with typical side items like fries and onion straws. The Hockey Pucks (jalapeno cheese rounds) are bite-sized discs of heat, which complemented my cheesesteak order. Everything is cooked to order, so you’re guaranteed a fresh-off-the-grill experience when you visit.
Fred’s newest store is sparsely decorated, with a TV decorating a non-descript corner of a very barebones back room. I expect to see more Philly memorabilia covering the walls soon, but as with all of Fred’s other locations, don’t expect white tablecloth and champagne glasses: it’s a hole-in-the-wall that serves up some great Philly cheesesteaks.
120 S Denton Tap Rd Ste 170
Coppell, TX 75019
(972) 393-2424
For $4.99 (drinks extra) all-you-can-eat pizza/pasta/salads, Cici’s has been the destination for budget-minded families dining on the super-cheap. This Cici’s location is roomy and staffed with polite, courteous folks, who keep the buffet lines constantly refreshed and tables cleared. On a weekday night, the line stretched out the door, though curiously the dining room was only half full. It seems that my party had arrived just as the dinner rush was ramping up, and the cheery cashier was doing her best to keep the line moving. I also saw the manager roaming around the dining room, serving full-sized pizzas and checking on customer satisfaction. Cici’s pizza isn’t Chicago- or New York-grade, but it’s value-priced filler. My disbelieving dining partner would not have believed “mac and cheese” pizza until he saw it with his own eyes…other notables include barbecue pizza, mushroom and chicken, spinach alfredo and the super-sweet apple pie pizza–all served fresh and hot. Their pasta for the night was a bland rigatoni drowned in pizza sauce; the salad bar was stocked with typical American iceberg lettuce and standard dressings. There are–without a doubt–plenty of places to enjoy a better pizza, salad or pasta, but very few cost this little and can satisfy the entire family.
8350 N Macarthur Blvd
Irving, TX 75063
(972) 402-9799
Not a place for fat people.
My man is portly, and I’m a little wide on the hips…but my goodness, it’s something of a production to squeeze into those narrow eating spaces with hardly any breathing room to spare. It’s even more annoying when your neighbors’ kids are bumping their chairs up against yours when you’re trying to eat dinner.
But the menu is what we came here for, and despite the slightly cramped dining space, we dove into dinner with great anticipation. An opener of their eggrolls were merely passable. Though my partner enjoyed the meatiness–I felt it wasn’t meaty or tasty enough.
As much as I was leaning toward pho, I decided to try their Hanoi special vermicelli while the man ordered the combination stir-fried noodle with chicken. What we didn’t comprehend from the “combination” in the name, was that the chicken was accompanied by beef, shrimp and squid. So when his dish came out, it was more than what he had asked for. Still he had to give it a liberal dousing of hoisin sauce and sriracha to make it more palable.
In the end, as I downed my Hanoi special (tasty but lacking), I still felt a little hungry and disappointed that the food didn’t knock my socks off. I was ready to proclaim this my new haunt for Vietnamese, but I left the place only mildly satiated.
136 E Belt Line Rd
Coppell, TX 75019
(972) 304-1122
This is your typical Chicken Express outlet dressed up in nicer digs…at this location you have a drive-in along with drive-thru service. The restaurant dining room is also a notch above other Chicken Express locations I’ve visited.
But the menu here is representative of the chain. They offer up catfish, livers and gizzards along with the normal fried chicken, wings and tenders. (Why don’t they offer combo packs of fish and chicken?) The requisite sides of mashed potatoes/gravy, corn, cole slaw and fries are joined by the CE signature sides such as fried okra, mini-poppers and fried pickles. Since my last visit to CE, they’ve expanded their drink menu to offer smoothies and frozen treats. They still sell iced tea, in both sweetened and unsweetened forms, by the gallon.
I wasn’t too impressed with their fried catfish, finding the portions small and overly bland–remedied by liberal dipping into the provided tartare sauce. The chicken also didn’t sit well to me, either coming off as too dry and the batter tasteless to merit seconds.
I will still prefer CE to KFC, but in the future, I’ll remember to go for the atypical selections rather than the standards.
Hard Eight wins the trophy when it comes to presentation. How else to woo the undecided patron but with a smoker full of barbecued meats right next to the checkout stand? On several visits, the whole chicken dipped in a lemon-herb butter sauce garnered my undying affection. Hard Eight cooks a good brisket, when one remembers to ask for a nice moist, off-the-point cut, but it doesn’t compare to Rudy’s. As with most BBQ establishments, side dishes–though plentiful–are an afterthought at Hard Eight. Their cornbread salad, while interesting, evoked the dryness of some of their meats. Their jalapeno corn lacked flavor and punch. I am definitely not a fan of their bland barbecue sauce, which tasted more like a brown gravy than anything resembling barbecue sauce. Now…if you like beans, you can stock up all you like at Hard Eight, since it comes free with every meal. Just fill up at the serving station at the other end of the dining room. Speaking of which, Hard Eight’s dining area looks comfortable and clean–with redneck appeal–more than I can say than a lot of hole-in-the-wall joints…but perhaps that’s the chain atmosphere of Hard Eight, since they have 3 locations in North Texas.
Is it the best BBQ in Texas? Not by a long shot. But it’s good enough ‘que in a suburban setting…should the need arise for you to fill your belly with smoked meats. It’s also a great venue to bring your out-of-town guests for an introductory taste of Texas BBQ.
My rating: 3.5 stars
VIP Buffet
1927 E Belt Line Rd
Carrollton, TX 75006
(972) 416-0810
Located in a strip mall competing with Chinese, Vietnamese, and Mexican eateries, VIP Buffet tries to lure the ethnic crowd into its establishment with the promise of diversity and budget dining prices. This however is no guarantee of quality…but buffets usually fall short in this category. So it is with VIP buffet, large variety of dishes: some passable, others poorly executed. Just like Best Buffet, it’s best you steer clear of the chafing dishes sitting around for awhile, untouched–an obvious flag. The sushi cabinet looked unappetizing while the bizarre assortment of fried foods boggled the mind: where else would you find fried mini corn-dogs sitting next to chicken teriyaki and enchiladas? (Did I mention they have jars of salsa on the tables, next to the hot sauce and soy sauce?) On a couple of visits, the garlic crab tended to be consistently good, while the korean short ribs ended up being flavorless and disappointing. VIP Buffet also serves up dim sum on the line, typically pork buns, chicken feet, steamed spare ribs, and assorted dumplings. Again, some were good; others, not so much. But gauging a buffet’s success is the ratio between tummy satisfaction and the hit on wallet. In this case VIP Buffet is cheap and affordable, worth the trip if all you need is filler–it’s not the place for celebrations or a date.
My rating: 2.5 stars
BBQ Tonite
2540 Old Denton Rd
Carrollton, TX 75011
(972) 466-0786
If the cuisine at BBQ Tonite is considered Pakistani, then it differs from Indian food mainly due to the lack of veggies and sharp spicing. The fiance and I went on a dining adventure at BBQ Tonite, attempting to discern the difference between Indian and Pakistani cuisine, and determined that the differences were minimal. Our Indopak experience had no curries, tended toward the mild and buttery–no sharp tantalizing flavors or odors–though represented by many familiar names: such as korma, tandoori, biryani. I personally enjoyed the goat dishes and found the beef stew extremely tender and flavorful. The tandoori chicken surprised me with its juiciness. Instead of a spicy pickle medley, they offered sliced chiles and a bizarre looking spicy condiment, which was later identified as picked mangoes. Some amazing standouts at the buffet were a mashed sweet potato (we assumed it was yams and not pumpkin) dish and their dense creamy custard flan (one of the best flans I’ve ever had).
If the flavor profiles at BBQ Tonite were a bit more daring (i.e. less home-cooking) and spicier, I think I could be persuaded to visit again…however, I’d like to try it during the week, when buffet prices should be more attractive.
18010 N Dallas Parkway
Dallas, TX 75334
(972) 733-1110
This review is long overdue. I’ve been a long-time fan of Rafain, and next to Fogo de Chao, it is the next best source of Brazilian BBQ in Dallas. The changes in their pricing and menu (mostly in the salad bar) makes it more competitive with other churrascaria in the DFW and improved the overall dining experience of thisone-price-smorgasbord. No longer do you have to pay separately for their dessert bar, it comes packaged with your meat-and-salad-bar price. I’m happy to see plentiful selections on their hot-and-cold bar, and their desserts never cease to lure me in. However, the meat extravaganza is the show-stopper at Rafain…from their Picanha and Lamb Chops to their Garlic Beef and Beef Ribs, every cut was a delight and served to our specifications. No overcooked, dried or reheated meats here–when we found a specific meat conspicuously absent from the rotation, we needed only to ask and were visited by a gaucho with a fresh skewer of medium-rare meat or grilled pineapple. I remember visiting when the Dallas outpost of Rafain was barely a few weeks old, and the service has since gotten much better. Our hosts were always observant–quickly refilling our glasses and clearing out empty plates–and always considerate about our requests. For nearly $40 a person, my fiance and I had a most pleasurable dining experience. While the economy might be prohibitive of such luxury, I think it’s for this very reason that we sometimes need to throw caution to the wind and go out to enjoy a meat coma. For me, I’ll have a Garlic Beef coma with my triple-bypass please.
An all-you-can-eat Texas BBQ buffet? Say it isn’t so! When I heard of the buffet at North Main BBQ, I hurriedly packed the fiance into the truck and drove 40 minutes to Euless to see it for myself. And I was not disappointed! For a mere $12, North Main BBQ serves up a good selection of meats, 3 types of sides (on our visit, cole slaw, potato salad and beans), along with the requisite onions, pickles, peppers and sauce. Oh, and for that price your buffet comes with ice/sweetened tea as well…which came as a huge disappointment for us soda drinkers, because the soda machine took only $1 dollar bills (why no soda fountain) and the water came out tasting like unfiltered water (blech). But who cares what you wash down your meats with? North Main serves up fabulous pulled pork (surprisingly smoky) and moist, tasty brisket (not as crusty as it is fatty). Many folks in line also vouched for the shredded beef sandwiches, though I stuck with the standards. North Main boasts it has the best pork ribs in the world; I disagreed, finding them tough, dried and flavorless on at least two separate visits to the buffet line. Their chicken also suffered the same fate, while their sausage tasted grocery-store quality. I did find their peppery coleslaw a little bizarre, and just as cough-inducing as their peppery tabasco sauce (cowboy sauce, they called it). However, one thing that North Main got right: they never overfilled their chafing dishes with food, ensuring that fresh cuts of meats were constantly refilling the empty trays. And the food just kept coming as more and more patrons filled up the restaurant on a busy Saturday lunch. Oh, perhaps that’s another reason for North Main’s success: they’re only open Friday through Sunday, which no doubt generates an appetite for their food. There is no denying that North Main’s buffet is a fantastic deal for good barbecue–but remember to exercise some restraint. I’ve learned that there is a limit to gorging on Texas bbq–and North Main is one place where I learned that there is such thing as too much meat!
There are many reasons for eating at Snuffer’s and very few reasons not to. What recommends this place is their menu of reliable bar food: their burgers are meaty and juicy, and prepped the way you order them. Their loaded cheddar fries are gut-bustingly delicious…the best I’ve had in town. The downside of Snuffer’s is that it IS a bar, so if you dislike that atmosphere, best to steer clear. However, Snuffer’s knows that their food is well-received, and at this Addison location, they can seat you as far away from the alcohol as possible, patio seating is possible. This particular location is frequented by bar hoppers, sports watchers, and families alike, so it tends to be crowded and noisy especially on weekends. What not to order here: onion fries. We sent our plate of cakey, flavorless onion straws back to the kitchen with our apologies. Of all our burger adventures, Snuffer’s has proven to be the best.
Mooyah really doesn’t have much going for it, except the cute name and the family-friendly setup. Burgers here were just average fare…overpriced for unimpressive thin patties. Shakes were barely memorable. The only standout was their in-house cut fries…and I admit those were tasty. If you’re looking for a “kid-safe” environment, Mooyah would suffice…but those quarter-pound burgers are probably too much for the little ones. Good thing they have grilled cheese and hot dogs on the menu. Gourmet burgers Mooyah serves not…mooove on!
Every dining adventure involves the risk of failure, turning hungry appetites into disappointing encounters. Such was my visit to Dimassi’s, a newly opened Mediterranean buffet in Far North Dallas. The buffet line was piled high with food for a 5pm dinner, and the dining room was conspicuously vacant, save for a couple of patrons…a bad sign for a weekend evening. An axiom about buffets: the more food left sitting out, the worse the food tastes. And so it was with Dimassi’s: rock-hard cold pita bread, overly dried chicken kabobs, soggy fried cauliflower and countless of other tasteless offerings (their rice pudding was so heavy with rosewater that it was nigh inedible). There was no turnover on the buffet line the entire time I was there…and why would there be, when the food was so horribly neglected in their chafing trays? I wondered if the evening crowd would be treated to the same repast as my dining companion and me. The only bright notes on their buffet were their garlic sauce and baba ghanoosh, an unidentifiable rice dish with boned chicken and pine nuts, and their passable baklava. Thankfully the price of the buffet was under $12 a person…we made sure that we left no tip for the non-existent customer service. An okay place for filler, bad place for authentic Mediterranean food.
