Restaurant/Meal Review: Bully's Smokehouse
Okay. So, I've decided that I need to vent about this a little. And this seems like a perfect opportunity to debut a new feature of my blog. I'll start off by posting their website.
To get started, this is a restaurant that we go to a lot. It seems like, within the last year or so, things have been changing, and for the worse. It's disappointing, really.
Tonight's meal was the first time in a few weeks we went. They've added new things to their menu (and changed a few prices, actually) since we were there last. There are a lot of food restrictions I still have, but I like to try new things.
One of the new options was Grilled Chicken In White Wine and Mushroom sauce. I like chicken. I like alcohol-based sauces. I like mushrooms. Sounds good. I'm given two sides; I opt for their really good apple sauce (it's chunked, and home-made). They have this...long diagonally cut toasted garlic bread, but since I don't really care for it (pre-op), and I really don't eat bread anymore (post-op), there's no real point in having them bring it with my food.
Tonight, we got there early. Once they get full, the service times get ridiculously slow. When we arrived at around 5:20, there was three other tables of people. The hostess was not at the stand. Always fun. We're seated, and given menus, asked our drink order. One water with lemon, and one without (mine).
A moment later, she returns with our waters. We ask for a moment, to look over the changes. She gives us the time we need. We order, and I ask for the sauce on the side---I'm told that it's like a glaze, but creamy--cheesy. Interesting. I'm glad I had her tell them to put it on the side.
Oh, and in the mean time, I've noticed that my glass is dirty. Thankfully, Brandy (seemingly one of the few people with good customer service/common sense/ability working for this place) took care of it for me.
So, we wait. A decent amount of time for there being no other orders, and the other order was smoked pulled pork and two orders of broccoli. It still wasn't the 45 minutes we've waited before, though, thankfully.
When the food comes out, the first thing I notice is that the sauce (an attempt at a roux, I think...) is runny. Like...pure liquid. I'm glad for my fries that I had it put on the side. The next thing I notice is that my grilled chicken is breaded. My first question for that is...why the hell are you breading grilled chicken? That makes...no sense. The cheese fries (cheese on the side) and apple sauce is delicious. I'll point that out. I liked that they had some seasoned salt on the fries, and they weren't a greasy mess.
So, I start eating my chicken---the breading is sliding off the chicken in some places it's so greasy. :/ I dip it in the white wine/mushroom sauce and discover that none of the white wine has been cooked out, at all. More digging in the sauce shows that there's...clumps of flour at the bottom, but in no way, shape, or form looks like it's even been whisked.
Who wants to serve things that look gross? And look like you haven't bothered to even take an interest on how your food is coming out? We didn't bother complaining. It's not worth it anymore; I've brought it, and the greasy ass chicken home, and am determined to make the sauce actually worthy of the calories I ingest while consuming it.
Why is eating so damned hard? Why is cooking food that's actually good so hard? 2/5
To get started, this is a restaurant that we go to a lot. It seems like, within the last year or so, things have been changing, and for the worse. It's disappointing, really.
Tonight's meal was the first time in a few weeks we went. They've added new things to their menu (and changed a few prices, actually) since we were there last. There are a lot of food restrictions I still have, but I like to try new things.
One of the new options was Grilled Chicken In White Wine and Mushroom sauce. I like chicken. I like alcohol-based sauces. I like mushrooms. Sounds good. I'm given two sides; I opt for their really good apple sauce (it's chunked, and home-made). They have this...long diagonally cut toasted garlic bread, but since I don't really care for it (pre-op), and I really don't eat bread anymore (post-op), there's no real point in having them bring it with my food.
Tonight, we got there early. Once they get full, the service times get ridiculously slow. When we arrived at around 5:20, there was three other tables of people. The hostess was not at the stand. Always fun. We're seated, and given menus, asked our drink order. One water with lemon, and one without (mine).
A moment later, she returns with our waters. We ask for a moment, to look over the changes. She gives us the time we need. We order, and I ask for the sauce on the side---I'm told that it's like a glaze, but creamy--cheesy. Interesting. I'm glad I had her tell them to put it on the side.
Oh, and in the mean time, I've noticed that my glass is dirty. Thankfully, Brandy (seemingly one of the few people with good customer service/common sense/ability working for this place) took care of it for me.
So, we wait. A decent amount of time for there being no other orders, and the other order was smoked pulled pork and two orders of broccoli. It still wasn't the 45 minutes we've waited before, though, thankfully.
When the food comes out, the first thing I notice is that the sauce (an attempt at a roux, I think...) is runny. Like...pure liquid. I'm glad for my fries that I had it put on the side. The next thing I notice is that my grilled chicken is breaded. My first question for that is...why the hell are you breading grilled chicken? That makes...no sense. The cheese fries (cheese on the side) and apple sauce is delicious. I'll point that out. I liked that they had some seasoned salt on the fries, and they weren't a greasy mess.
So, I start eating my chicken---the breading is sliding off the chicken in some places it's so greasy. :/ I dip it in the white wine/mushroom sauce and discover that none of the white wine has been cooked out, at all. More digging in the sauce shows that there's...clumps of flour at the bottom, but in no way, shape, or form looks like it's even been whisked.
Who wants to serve things that look gross? And look like you haven't bothered to even take an interest on how your food is coming out? We didn't bother complaining. It's not worth it anymore; I've brought it, and the greasy ass chicken home, and am determined to make the sauce actually worthy of the calories I ingest while consuming it.
Why is eating so damned hard? Why is cooking food that's actually good so hard? 2/5