Pickles

Tonight we got the rare chance to go and eat at a new restaurant that opened up by our house, Pickles. Most new places have been chains so we knew what to expect. However, the place we ate at this evening was a restaurant that I consider a local restaurant. I can not find any information on-line and I do not see another restaurant with the same name, therefore I came to the conclusion it is local. As most of you who know me know that I have strong opinions. I love to review places and I often get on-line and tell places when I have a good or not so good experience at their establishment.

So for all my Evans and Augusta neighbors, this review is for you.

For those of you who do not live here, the location of the restaurant was previously Raising Cane's, a chicken fast food restaurant similar to Zaxby's.

When you first walk into the building you can see very few similarities to the old restaurant. Besides the floor, brick walls, and layout, everything else has changed. They took out the fast food style tables and put in tables you would pull a chair up to. They do still have booths but they have been given a face-lift. The restaurant's aim is to be up-scale. They have soft lighting, black linen table cloths with white paper overlays (real up-scale, I know!), and fancy square plates (cause all the restaurants in New York are doing it). They put in a very nice bar by the kitchen. Half the bar faced the kitchen and the other half faced a large built in glass holder. I never saw any alcohol displayed at the BAR, just glasses you would put drinks containing alcohol in. Odd...

We did not have to wait long for our booth in the oddest place. It was a corner booth but it was more in a nook than a corner. I do not recommend this booth. The table is small and it is stuffy. The waiter came directly over to take our drink orders, he came back to give us our drinks, and he stayed to take our order. We were there maybe 10 minutes. So good service but not enough time for my indecisive butt to decide what I wanted.

Now to the food...

Yes. This is where the experience turns south I am afraid. We ordered two appetizers, fried pickles and teriyaki chicken-kabobs. Now I LOVE fried pickles. It all started when Mom first ordered them at Barns (in my hometown). I had high expectations for the ones at a restaurant called Pickles and of course I was hugely disappointed. They were the long, down the pickle, thick slices not the small, across the pickle, thin slices. The pickle and the breading tasted ok but it was not fully cooked. The batter on the inside was still uncooked. The other appetizer had an ok taste but the chicken was fatty. I expected nice cuts of chicken but it was like they took the scraps from the fried chicken, stuck it on a stick, and grilled it. And you only got 4 small kabobs.

Of course they are a "fancy" restaurant with square plates so they had small portions and fancy arrangements on the plates. However, the pickles came out in plastic basket with a piece of wax paper. Think of what you would get a kids chicken finger basket in.

For my main entree I got beef kabobs with a loaded baked potato and broccoli. The server did not ask how I liked my meat cooked so I got pink beef which I do not like. It was good but a little fatty. I got two kabobs with 4 small pieces on each. There was nothing else on the kabobs so they should call it "meat on a stick". My bake potato was the size of a new potato. The loaded part was a teaspoon of butter, a teaspoon of sour cream, and 3 crumbles of bacon. Whoop Whoop! And the broccoli, you guessed it, was undercooked. It tasted more like they put butter on it and put it in the microwave for a minute to warm it to room temperature. There was no way that broccoli was steamed.

Doug got the fried chicken with gravy and his was actually good. Unfortunately, he got the broccoli too. Doug's mom never got her loaded baked potato soup and Doug's dad's sandwich was nothing special. He didn't even get a fancy square plate. He got a basket. And fair warning, the ketchup is not ketchup. We got refills after we got the check. Yeah. Cause that is when we need a full cup of water. Halfway through our meal, to make the restaurant more upscale, they dimmed the lights completely off. I guess because the food was too depressing to look at.

The menu is small but it is affordable. I think the steaks were expensive compared to the rest of the menu. There is nothing new or interesting on it. Just the same ole same ole.

I wore jeans and a t'shirt and I felt under dressed. This is a place you can dress up to go out to but do not go overboard. There was no candlelight or anything. However, you may want to bring some candles for when they set the "mood lighting".

Would I go back... NO. The food was ok but not good. The menu was nothing special and the service was not the best. Please tell me if you went and had a better experience or if you recommend something on the menu. If you are convincing enough I may go again... some day.

Lady A!

Last night Doug and I took his parents to see Lady Antebellum. We got the tickets for Mrs. Nancy's Christmas present. We had a great time. The concert was amazing and well worth the staying up past bed time. Ha! Our seats were in the corner in the very last section from the stage. The arena is small so they were still good seats; however,we were at the bottom of the upper section, right next to the exit to the section. Our view was blocked half the time from people coming and going to their seats. It was really nice when they stopped to take pictures on the little landing. I know it may be hard to believe but I did not say anything... to anyone. I didn't have to. The ladies in front of us kept people moving. Ha! They were quick to tell people to move if they could not see their beloved Lady A. I will post some pictures on Facebook but my camera did not like the lighting in the arena. However, the video camera on my camera loved the light. So here are a few videos from the concert. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Trenton!

This blog is about a week late but it has been a long week! Sara's son, Trenton, had his 1st birthday party last Saturday. Sara did a great job of scheduling the party before the AL vs LSU game. Thank you, Sara! As you may know from reading my other blogs, Trenton has had a rough first year. From surgery immediately after he was born to surgery about a month before his birthday, this boy has been through it. If anyone deserved a huge celebration it was Trenton and his Mom and Dad. They have made it through this year with just as much hope, faith, and positivity as when they first started. No matter what, they never gave up and they are one of the strongest families I know.

Even though Mommy did not want a big party, she had to concede. This little boy had too many people who wanted to him celebrate his first year of life. Sara scheduled the party outside thinking it would be a nice fall day and all the kids could run around and play. Well, it ended up being a cold fall day but the kids still got to play. Trenton had a great time seeing all his family and friends, destroying his first birthday cake, and opening his mound of presents. Sara put me on camera duty since I love taking pictures. She knew I would not miss any detail from that day.

I should have taken a picture of the card I gave to Trenton so I could share it with you all. Sara said she had not planned on keeping his birthday cards. She is not very sentimental so I fought for Trenton's memories. I kept telling her that she did not know what kind of person Trenton was going to become and she may regret not keeping them. So I made sure my card was kept. I wrote "You will never read this card because your Mommy plans on throwing it away, but..." Ha! Needless to say it got a huge laugh from Sara and Wes and the card made the keep pile! Yay!

Happy 1st Birthday Trenton!





Singing Happy Birthday!


Destroying the cake!


Trenton was very interested in every card and gift. Daddy read each card to him and Trenton watched intently has he opened each present.

SC vs TN

A couple of weekends ago Doug and I went with Sara and Wes to the South Carolina versus Tennessee game in Columbia, SC. I am a fan of "The ole' ball coach" and I have wanted to see him coach for awhile now. Sara and Wes are Tennessee fans so I asked them if they wanted to go. I even bought tickets in the TN section. I am such a great friend. It ended up that our seats were right next to the TN band. I mean, reach out and touch a tuba close. The 1st quarter had not started yet and we had heard Rocky Top 5 times. I almost cried.

It was a great game. Both TN and SC played well and they kept us there watching until the 4th quarter. I told Wes either Garcia will suck it up and TN would win or SC and TN would both play well and it would come down to the fourth quarter. Well we got our money worth. Doug and Sara got hot dogs and pretzels, Wes and I got a great game.

I did feel like a fish out of water at the SC stadium. There was no "All I do is Win" or "Welcome to the Jungle", no "Boda Getta" or "War Eagle". I missed my home. I enjoyed the game and the SC fans are very nice. The stadium was nice and the energy was amazing (would have been cooler if we sat near the student section and the band) but it was not Jordan-Hare. I guess I really do bleed orange and blue. War Eagle!