Forever Yogurt

Jason’s Take

A few nights ago, Linda had to work, and I had to come up with something to entertain the kids.

My solution: frozen yogurt from Forever Yogurt in the West End development. They’ve got 16 flavors of frozen yogurt, 50 different toppings to put on them to make the frozen yogurt as far from a healthy alternative to ice cream as possible, and they are immediately next to the most deserted part of the parking ramp complex over there.

They charge about 60 cents an ounce, so it stays affordable. It cost $23 to take three kids out, and they all love being able to get exactly what they want.

I strongly recommend limiting them to 3 or four toppings, or young brats will turn it into a horribly, sugary abomination that even they won’t eat.

Been there, done that.

I give it 4 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

Ninja Japanese Steakhouse

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Jason’s Take

I took the family on a trip out to work’s HQ a couple of weeks ago. One night, we went out to dinner at Ninja Japanese Steakhouse, a sushi and hibachi restaurant in West Bend, Wisconsin.

We got seated quickly, and served well. The kids and I all hit the hibachi, while Linda ordered sushi. The hibachi meals are filling. You get soup, vegetables, rice, and your protein. That was all good. Since my girls can’t seem to finish a meal, I got to try the shrimp and the chicken. Definitely worth eating. I’ve had the sushi here other times and it was great.

And the drinks are reasonably priced, which makes cramming three kids in a hotel room for the evening easier to bear.

I think we got the rookie hibachi chef. The dude dropped a spatula and just wasn’t as impressive as other hibachi chefs we’ve seen. When you go for teppanyaki, you’re going for the show as much as the food. He did cook with lots of fire though, which was fun for the whole family.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

We had the whole family with because we all wanted to see the main office of Daddy’s work and to get a chance to meet friends and coworkers at the office.

Jason thought we should give the kids a show for dinner and I wanted sushi. West Bend, WI is not a super big place so there was only really one place to go. Since Jason had been there before with coworkers, he knew the kids would like it, and he was right; the kids loved seeing the show in front of them of their food getting cooked. Especially seeing fire!

My sushi tasted good too! Not the best that I have had, but really not bad at all. However our waitress was not the brightest bulb in the lighting system, she must have been new, or god for bid I hope she was. If the whole family goes out to West Bend, WI again I’m sure we will go back there!

3 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

3.5 Pants Off!

Sushi X

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Linda’s Take

I asked Jason if we could go out for sushi on our date night, I’m really starting to like sushi! He had mentioned Sushi X had moved in really close to us and we said lets give it a go!

At first when we got seated we were a little confused. We ordered the all-you-can-eat sushi bar and nobody explained to us how the menu worked. But after looking puzzled for a bit and trying to figure it out we checked with someone and we were doing it right.

So you place an order of what you want to try, hand it to a waiter and then they make it for you. You have to wait for a little bit, especially if you put in a big order. But then everything is delivered to you and you dig right in.

Some things are better than others, but overall it wasn’t bad. The waitress is pretty good about always filling up your drinks and if there is something you really like, you can just keep ordering more!

So the sushi isn’t the finest, but not awful by any means. And since it’s close to us, I would go again, but next time I’ll do the sushi bar lunch price instead of the dinner price!

3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Osaka, one of the nearby Teppanyaki restaurants closed, but I didn’t notice right away. One day, I just happened to see a Sushi X sign in it’s place. Same colors, same decor outside. They really didn’t make a splash moving in.

So we decided to try it.

We walked in, asked for the all-you-can-eat sushi and asked to sit at the bar because it’s fun to watch sushi chefs work. The waitress took our drink order and left us a checklist of food without another word.

Turns out, you put little numbers next to all of the things you want and the waitress will eventually come take it from you to hand it to the sushi chef 2 feet away. There’s a pretty good list of appetizers and soups that are included with the sushi.

Service was slow, but the chefs were nice and threw in some extra when they saw we were waiting. The yummy roll is appropriately named. It was good.

I’d prefer going to Ichiban (downtown, not the crap place on the other end of St. Louis Park), but considering Sushi X is 3 minutes from our house, while Ichiban involves a drive downtown, I can’t complain too hard. It was good food. We left full, but not stuffed, then went dancing.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 3 out of 5 pants off

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

Ichiban Asian Buffet

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Jason’s Take

The normal cycle for a Chinese restaurant runs something like this:

Restaurant opens.
The owners want to build a clientele, so they rock the food. Everything is awesome and the service is great.
The owners realize how slim the margins are when you run a restaurant, so they cut back on the food quality. Egg rolls are bought frozen, and taste suffers.
People quit coming.
Store closes, unless they are primarily a money-laundering operation.

Grand City Buffet in St. Louis Park ran through this cycle in about 6 years. Their replacement, Ichiban Asian Buffet, has skipped step two completely. They did a great remodel and the place looks wonderful. I walked in and saw the giant sushi bar with dedicated sushi chefs and was ready to be wowwed.

Unfortunately, the food doesn’t live up to the classy decor.

The Thai Chicken was good…until I found a feather.

The egg rolls were really good, which is pretty rare at a buffet, and one of my benchmark tests for new Chinese restaurants in general.

The sushi spread was impressive, but it all tasted the same.

I did find out today that cold squid rings are not worth eating, at least not when they are meant to be served warm. Really, the first thing a buffet restaurant needs to do is make sure the steam tables keep the food at a safe temperature.

All in all, I can’t give it a zero, because the atmosphere is nice and classy. The food was mostly bland or cold, though a few pieces were good.

Jason’s Rating: 1 out of 5, just for the quality remodel. I hope the next owners do something about the food.

Linda’s Take

Today we decided to go on a lunch date and bring our girls with us. I suggested we try a new Chinese buffet that opened about a month ago, thinking that there should be great new food there.

Boy was I wrong!

The place looks wonderful–great atmosphere–but 95% of the food was cold and not very flavorful. Everything looked pleasing to the eye, but not to the taste buds.

However, if you are looking for place to get a cheap lunch for the kids, it will do the trick. They do have a few good looking deserts and all of the fruit looked really fresh.

But I will not be going back to this place, even to take the kids if they are hungry. I would rather wait to get home.

Linda’s Rating: I give this place a 1 out of 5 pants off.
Total Rating

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

Masu Sushi – Mall of America

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Linda’s Take

The service at this sushi place in the Mall of America is really nice. The atmosphere of the restaurant is pleasing to the eye. I ordered a soup that I have never tried before and I loved it! The sushi we order took a little long to get, but it was soooo worth it. So pleasing to the eye and artful. Also it tasted wonderful and I would love to go back and try something else from their menu. Prices are very fair and I highly recommend go here!

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off! (Jason’s note: It really did knock her pants off!)

Jason’s Take

Ever since I convinced Linda that sushi wasn’t just misplaced bait, we’ve been trying a bunch of different places. Yum.

On this particular date night, our dancing lesson was cancelled, but we were already by the Monster Mall, so into the lion’s den we went. A quick spin through the girly-cowboy-jeans store and then we got dinner.

Masu Sushi is literally a hole-in-the-wall in the third floor food court, but they make some good sushi. I can honestly say it was the first time I’d had raw quail eggs, but I’d eat them again. The rolls were good, and reasonably priced. The saki wasn’t for me. If–like us–you’d never had saki, here’s what you need to know: if you don’t like wine, you won’t like saki.

4 out of 5 pants off

Total Review

4.5 Pants Off

Wildfire

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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