Restaurant Review - Hurricane Grill and Wings, 1700 W. Sand Lake Road (near Florida Mall), and 3120 South Kirkman Road (Metrowest), Orlando, FL

Hurricane Grill and Wings, a new wings chain to arrive in Orlando, touts themselves as a "getaway for the whole family." This is a home-grown chain, originating in Ft. Pierce, FL, in 1995. Two locations recently opened in the Orlando area - one in Metrowest and one by the Florida Mall - and I tried them both (separate days of course), with the boys, and Grandma and Grandpa in tow.

The decor is very bright and beach-y inside. You get the feeling that you are on a bamboo-walled dock, on a pier somewhere, by the ocean. And the music adds to the atmosphere with 50's and 60's beach tunes like (natch) the Beach Boys. There are also large flat-screen TVs on every wall, which helps to keep the kids (and the dads) entertained. It's also a full-service restaurant (yay!) which is a welcome change to all the fast casual chains that have been opening up lately.

There is a kids' menu, complete with coloring and puzzles, which the boys were very happy about. The kids' offerings are pretty simple and mostly chicken. For $4.95, kids get a choice of wings, chicken bites, chicken strips, grouper fingers, Mac-n-Cheese, or a grilled cheese sandwich. The chicken and grouper items come with a choice of sauce. All the kids' meals come with two sides: either fries, applesauce, cole slaw, salad, or celery; and a drink: milk, juice, or soda. I like how milk is one of the choices, that's actually pretty rare to see nowadays. The regular menu is a lot more extensive, and frankly, a little overwhelming. There are appetizers, platters, sides, wings (both with and without bones), 33 sauces to choose from (yes, that's right... 33!), sandwiches, Philly sandwiches, entree salads, side salads, desserts, beers, and wine. Whew. We decided to take the easy way out and order wings. With 33 sauces, we figured we would have enough to decide on.

The sauces (FlowingWithFlavor Sauces & Rubs as Hurricane Grill and Wings calls them) are broken out into five categories, with Category 1 the weakest and Category 5 the strongest (get it - just like a hurricane is categorized?) Pretty much anything you can imagine is a sauce on this menu. For Category 1 there is a mild Hurricane sauce (basically a mild buffalo-style sauce), BBQ, teriyaki, Tuscan Herb Toss, etc. In Category 2 there is Mango BBQ, Honey Garlic, Maple Pepper Glaze, and more. Category 3 has Chile & Lime, Cajun, Spicy Pina Colada and others. Category 4 features Jamaican Jerk, a Citrus Chipotle and two others, and Category 5 has two offerings - Ridiculously Hot Hurricane Sauce, and Habanero Lime Toss.

On our first visit to the Florida Mall area location, I ordered the Garlic & Parmesan Fries ($3.75) as an appetizer and the 6-piece Boneless TenderWings with Mild Hurricane Sauce ($4.75). BB ordered the Kids Chicken Bites with Barbecue Sauce and fries and applesauce and LB ordered the Chicken Bites plain with fries and applesauce. Grandma ordered the 6-piece boneless wings with the Raspberry Ice sauce (a Category 2) which combines raspberry and horseradish. Grandpa order the regular wings with Mango Barbecue sauce (also a Cat. 2). We also ordered drinks ($2.25), with the boys getting lemonade (included in their kids' meal price). After the drinks arrived, in very normal looking plastic cups and lids, I read in the menu that Hurricane Grill prides itself on its beverage cups that are made from 100% corn which is 100% compostable. That led to ten minutes of us all marvelling at the cups and trying to figure out how in the world they were made out of corn! Our Garlic & Parm fries arrived and boy, were they good! They were definitely lick-your-fingers good. About 15 minutes later, our food finally arrived (both locations were slow in the service department - don't know if that is because they are new or if that is standard). My Mild boneless wings were fantastic - all buttery and vinegar-y, and actually a touch of hotness - not so completely mild. Grandpa though his Mango BBQ wings were "okay". Grandma thought her Raspberry Ice bites were too mild - just tasted like raspberry jam and were too sweet... until she reached the sauce on the bottom that really had a kick to it. So, make sure to toss your sauce when you get it! LB barely ate because he had loaded up on the garlic fries. BB decided he didn't like the chicken bites already tossed in the BBQ sauce and wished he had ordered the sauce on the side.

For our second attempt at the Metrowest location, we all strived to do better in our ordering. This time, I ordered the Shrimp Tenders as an appetizer ($7.50), again with the Garlic and Parmesan sauce. LB decided to get the Mac-N-Cheese this time and BB went with the Chicken Bites again but with the sauce on the side and with cole slaw and celery this time. Grandma, Grandpa, and I decided to go for the 24-piece Flavor Sampler ($16.95) which comes with chicken tossed in four different sauces. We went with the boneless wings and choose Mild Hurricane Sauce again (really a winner), Chipotle Raspberry (Cat 3), Chile & Lime (Cat 3), and Mojo Glaze (Cat 2). I also ordered a side of celery and bleu cheese dressing for 99 cents because I was worried some of the sauces would be too hot for me. The Shrimp Tenders came out and they were delicious. I pretty much think they could serve napkins drenched in the Garlic & Parm sauce and everybody would eat them. Grandpa thought the shrimp were a bit too pink and mushy for him but I was happy with the little shrimp and so were the boys. Our main courses came out a bit later and we did a lot better in choosing this time. The boys ate their food - BB was happy dipping his chicken in the sauce - LB liked the Mac-n-Cheese. All of our sauce choices were great. We couldn't decide which one was best - the mild was still very good, the Raspberry was sweet and smoky at the same time, Chile & Lime had a strong citrus/orange flavor and then a kick at the end, and the Mojo Glaze was citrus and garlic. Actually, we felt all of them were about the same in heat level - even the Cat. 3 sauces didn't get too hot. We cleaned the plate, with Grandpa swiping fries from LB's plate to sop up the leftover sauce. I'll definitely be back - there are still more sauces to try!

Restaurant Review - HuHot Mongolian Grill, 1187 Florida Mall Ave, Orlando, FL

This past weekend, Grandma, Grandpa, the boys and I tried the new Mongolian grill concept called "HuHot" near the Florida Mall. For those of you who have never heard of Mongolian grill style cooking - it's basically stir-fry, except you gather the raw ingredients and they cook it for you. I've seen this before at a few of those huge Chinese super-buffets but this is the first time I've seen it as a fast-casual restaurant concept.

The interior of HuHot Mongolian Grill looks simliar to a lot of Asian restaurant chains - at the same time BB said "This looks like P.F. Chang's!", Grandpa said, "This looks like Doc Chey's!". You know, lots of red, brown and black in the decor. I wasn't sure if HuHot was going to be a 'go up to the counter and order' type of place or a 'sit-down' type of place - turns out it is sit-down with table service. When we were first seated though, we were placed at a booth for four, which was clearly too small for the five of us. We had to flag down the hostess again and ask for a bigger table - we were then placed in what they called the "VIP area" - which was really just a small open room with a larger table inside. On the table was a small container with "recipes" - little cards saying what kinds of ingredients to gather to make Beef with Broccoli and other Asian dishes. We started to flip through them when our server arrived. She asked if we had been there before and when we replied "No", she gave a huge sigh and said, aloud, "Wow, everyone's new today" and then proceeded to tell us how she's had to explain to all of her tables today about the whole concept and what to do and that it was much easier when she had people who knew what to do. However, she then did go on to tell us what to do - we were to go to the (raw) food bar, grab a bowl, put in our protein (beef, shrimp, pork, chicken, seafood), then put in our choice of noodles (pad thai, chinese, soba), then our veggies (broccoli, cabbage, water chestnuts, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, baby corn, spinach, cilantro, etc.), and then finally add at least 5-7 ladles of sauce or sauce additives. Sauces range from mild - teriyaki, sweet-n-sour, and Khan's Favorite (their signature sauce) - to hot (their Kung Pao - Yow! sauce) - with curry, ginger, thai peanut, and other sauces in the middle. The "sauce additives" as they call it were items such as sherry, sesame oil, garlic broth, and lime juice. Our server emphasized again that it was very important to put enough sauce and she encouraged us to put more than 7 ladles in if we want. Oh, and HuHot is all-you-can-eat so we could go back and try a different "recipe" if we liked. She said she would bring rice and wraps (these ended up being tortillas - I really don't get that - what is that doing at an Asian restaurant?) to the table. She then took our drink orders and asked if we wanted any appetizers - the menu lists several - but we decided to just go ahead and Mongolian grill.

The prices are pretty reasonable for an all-you-can-eat place - our weekend lunch was $9.99 per adult, kids 4-10 are only $3.99 and kids 3 and under are free. Dinner prices for adults are $11.99 and include a soup or salad.

Grandpa helped BB at the raw bar and I helped LB, which worked out pretty good. I was able to choose my options for my dish and put ingredients into LB's bowl as well. I decided to do something like a chicken stir-fry for LB and just put in chicken, chinese noodles, a few green beans (practically the only veggie he will actually eat) and then just started ladling in the mild sauces - a few of the Khan's, a few of the teriyaki, and a sesame oil. There were also suggested sauce recipes on a board above the sauces which was helpful. For me, I decided to attempt a Pad Thai - I chose pork, a few shrimp, pad thai noodles, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, cilantro... and... and... darn it - I should have paid more attention last time I got pad thai so I knew what went into it! I tossed in some bean sprouts, and then ladled in some thai peanut sauce, a Khan's, some lime juice, some garlic oil, some sesame oil, and then figured I was close enough. And then came... the line. I guess it was a busy weekend because we had to wait in line with our bowls to approach the enclosure with the huge circular grill. This was very difficult to do with LB as he was very impatient so I finally handled my bowls to Grandpa and BB and walked LB back to Grandma at the table. He was happy to sit there with her, especially since the rice had already arrived so I went back to wait in line. We were now approaching a tall counter that surrounded the large circular grill. There were only two grillmasters working (I thought there should be more, especially with the long line) and they would circle around the grill and stir fry each group of food in turn, making about 2-3 rounds before they would start plating the food and handing it out to the guests. This took about 5-10 minutes so it is probably better to leave the kids at the table. BB got bored waiting as well and headed back to eat some rice. One important note, if you are holding two bowls and the cook comes to take your bowls to put on the grill, state very clearly if these should be mixed together or if they are separate. The cook grabbed both bowls in Grandpa's hands and mixed them together - a big problem because Grandpa's was spicy and BB's was not! After Grandpa told him, he tried to split them up but I was worried it was now too spicy for my 7-year old. As I watched the cooking process, I realized that you cannot be a germ-a-phobe eating here - and you really shouldn't be allergic to any foods either. Sure, the grill was smoking hot but the grillers were using the same spatulas to cook up everyone's food. And the area around the grill was very dirty with spilled food parts all over the floor. Again, this may be because they did not have enough staff - all of the food was really left on there a long time - long enough to pretty much dry up all of the sauces. We finally received our food - I added some peanuts to the top of mine and we headed back to the table. The food was actually good - a little dry like I expected - but tasty. I wish they would have had additional sauces at the end that you could add back to your meal. Grandpa and I actually went back to try another dish - I tried to make a chicken curry this time which came out okay, but I liked my pad thai better. One thing, on our return trip to the food bar, they had run out of noodles and some other items and they were slow to refill those - again, seems like they need more staff to do cleaning and other maintenance during weekends. I may go back to HuHot and try other recipes another time, but I may have to wait until the kids are a little more patient.

Restaurant Review - Saucy Bella, 1700 West Sand Lake Road, Florida Mall area, Orlando, FL

Update 7/30/07 - Sorry to report that Saucy Bella has been confirmed as closed. Apparently, they were not getting enough traffic to keep going. Very sad - I will miss the tickled pink sauce.

A co-worker suggested I try Saucy Bella in the Cost Plus/World Market shopping center across the street from the Florida Mall. She said the pasta with vodka sauce was incredible and that there were other folks there with kids so it should be a kid-friendly place. So, on a recent Saturday, the boys, Grandma M., and I arrived at Saucy Bella for lunch. Saucy Bella is a fast-casual restaurant which means you go to the counter to order and then sit down and the food is delivered to your table. The decor is very different than I thought it would be with stainless steel tables and kitschy '50's style designs and colors. They have a large menu so we sat down first before ordering so we would have time to look it over. Nothing on the menu was expensive with prices ranging from $6 - $10. The menu was broken out by Saucy Starters (soups and appetizers), Salads (you can order a half salad of each offering, for about half the price - nice!), Saucy Pizza (with interesting sauce choices - not just red sauce), Saucy Sandwiches, and then Pastas. The Pastas are basically "make-your-own". For a $7.95 base price, you first choose a pasta (cavatelli, penne, angel hair, rigatoni, fettuccine or multi-grain penne) and then you choose a sauce. The sauce choices are really outstanding. There are your standard sauces such as Bolognese (meat sauce), Pomodoro (regular red sauce), and Alfredo (white cream sauce), but then they had several more intriguing choices in Vodka sauce (cream sauce with garlic, vodka, and sun-dried tomatoes giving it a characteristic pink color), Basil Cream (wild mushrooms, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and cream), and Checca (chopped tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil). The Vodka sauce appears to be Saucy Bella's signature sauce and it shows up in several "Tickled Pink" menu items including a Tickled Pink Chicken pizza and a Tickled Pink Chicken sandwich. The kid's menu looked pretty standard with choices of macaroni & cheese, chicken strips, pizza, spaghetti & meatballs, and grilled cheese for $3.95, which includes a drink and a cookie.

We finally made our decision so I went up to order. Grandma M. decided to get the "Pick Two" special where you can choose two of the following - cup of soup, 1/2 pasta, 1/2 sandwich, or 1/2 salad - for $6.95. She choose the half chopped salad and the half Italian Job sandwich (your basic Italian cold cuts). BB wanted the pizza and LB wanted the spaghetti & meatballs. I ordered the penne pasta but I was torn between the Vodka sauce and the Basil Cream - both sounded very good. The server said she could get me a plain bowl of the penne and then separate bowls of the two sauces - a very nice idea that I took her up on. I then went back to the table to wait for the food and to ask what everyone wanted to drink before I filled up the cups at the soda dispenser. BB immediately asked if they had crayons and something he could write on. Hmm, I didn't know so I went back to the order counter and saw that they did have coloring sheets and a big bucket of crayons (nice ones, too, Crayola, and some with glitter) so I grabbed a couple of sheets and a handful of crayons and came back to the table. The boys were very happy.

About 10 minutes later the boys' meals arrived... and they was HUGE! I figured BB's pizza could have fed all of us and LB's spaghetti & meatballs was enough for a very hungry adult with two enormous meatballs on top of a big mound of angel hair pasta. I knew right then we'd be taking home leftovers. I couldn't believe that each kid meal plus a drink plus a cookie was only $3.95. A few minutes later, our meals arrived. Grandma M.'s was big as well with a large half sandwich on ciabatta bread and a nice size salad on the side. I received a large bowl of penne, the two bowls of sauce, and then a nice piece of bread on the side to dunk with. The vodka sauce looked as I expected but the basil cream was much more pink - I had expected it to be more green from the basil. I poured some of the basil cream on one part of my pasta and some of the vodka sauce on the other. The basil cream was very nice and had lots of pieces of mushrooms... but it just couldn't compare to the delicious vodka sauce. I ended up pouring the rest of the vodka sauce on my pasta and finished the whole thing. Grandma M. also ate all of hers and declared it delicious as well. LB had given up on the meatballs and was now eating part of BB's pizza. We all ended up having a slice of the pizza and actually finished it between the four of us, so I just brought home the leftover spaghetti & meatballs. Next time, I'll just order the kids' pizza and have the kids split it. On our way out, we stopped by the counter to get the boys' chocolate chip cookies (also large). Saucy Bella is definitely a place you can get a lot of good food for a little money. They also have Kids Nights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after 5 pm where kids eat free with every adult entree purchased.

Restaurant Review - Salsa Taqueria & Tequila Bar, Florida Mall next to Macy's, Orlando, FL

Last Saturday, the boys and I were at the Florida Mall shopping when I decided they needed to let off some energy at the playground. After nearly an hour of chasing each other around, my Big Boy (BB) declared he was hungry for lunch, and my Little Boy (LB) seconded the notion. BB looked over and pointed at Salsa Taqueria and asked if we could eat there since we hadn't been there in a while.

Salsa Taqueria is conveniently located right next to the playground at Florida Mall (and between Macy's and Harry & David's) and is brought to you by e-brands, the same folks who manage Timpano's and the Samba Room on "Restaurant Row" (Sand Lake Road). Salsa presents a somewhat "nouveau" traditional Mexican experience. So, don't expect the crunchy yellow tacos that you get at Tex-Mex restaurants. Here, the tacos are made with white corn and they are soft, thick, and well, small. Think of the size of silver dollar pancakes and that's about the size of them. They are also filled completely with meat, no need for fillers such as lettuce and cheese. Also, you'd better like cilantro. It's the seasoning of choice here and if you are wondering why the rice is green, I'll give you one guess (p.s. it's called cilantro rice on the menu).

Salsa Taqueria does a nice job with the space they have at the Florida Mall. It is designed with big open windows and a patio inside the mall which makes for some nice people-watching. We were seated promptly at a table looking at the Harry & David's next door, with enough room to store our stroller and our packages without being in the way. Kids get their own paper menu with crayons and all kids entrees are $3.95 and include french fries and a soft drink or milk. Warning: I asked for a lemonade for LB and wasn't aware that they charge extra for that since it is a special "homemade" lemonade. It cost the same as my iced tea - $1.99. The server didn't let me know so I'm letting you know - stick to sodas, iced tea (that's included with kids' meals), or milk. Juices would have been extra as well I found out. There are lots of good choices for the kids: chicken tenders, mini dogs, cheese quesadillas, Mexican pizza, and then chicken or beef taco. Both boys picked the Mexican pizza which I was told was more like a open-faced quesadilla. For adults, there are lots of choices from appetizers, salads, sandwiches, enchiladas, tacos, burritos, fajitas, as well as other entrees. If you are going for lunch, though, I've found the best deal to be the Salsa lunch box. There are three to choose from, ranging from $10.99 to $12.99, and include a sampling of entrees, salad, black beans and cilantro rice, and a small tres leches (a cake soaked in three types of milk - yummy!) for dessert. I went for the South of the Border lunch box which came with two chicken tacos (remember, they are small), a chicken flauta and the rice, beans, salad, and tres leches. After taking our order, our server brought over fresh chips and salsa. The boys were happy to munch on that and color until our food arrived.

The boys' pizza was indeed an open-faced quesadilla with no red sauce so don't expect it to be like a pizza. Also, I think the cheese had some cilantro in it - what a surprise! However, both said it was good and BB finished all of his. The french fries are great - really thin and crispy and not too salty. LB apparently was more interested in my black beans than anything else so I scooped up a big portion and put them on his pizza in the hopes that he would eat then. My lunch box looked great! The salad comes as part of the meal so don't look for it in advance. The salad had a nice mild vinaigrette and had mandarin oranges and pumpkin seeds in it - very tasty. The chicken tacos were wonderful as well - very flavorful bite-site pieces of chicken tucked in the soft round tortilla. The only problem is that the juice from the chicken tends to make for a messy taco experience so I opted for the knife and fork. And, I actually like cilantro so the rice was nice with the black beans. As we were finishing up, the server came by with my slice of dessert. It was topped with raspberry and mango sauce and looked great. The boys hovered over it so I had to share. Everyone loved it. It was sweet (one of the milks is sweetened condensed milk) but the fruit sauces helped to even it out. All in all a very nice, relaxing lunch at the mall without having to go near the crowded food court.

Restaurant Review - Buca di Beppo, Florida Mall (near Nordstrom's), Orlando, FL

For lunch today, we travelled to the Florida Mall to eat at Buca di Beppo, an eclectic Italian restaurant chain near the Nordstrom's entrance. We met some friends of ours - Mr. and Mrs. S. and their children Bailey (7) and Jack (3). It really works out great going out with them because my Little Boy (LB) is the same age as Jack and my Big Boy (BB) is the same age as Bailey. For those of you who are curious about restaurant names (I am), "Buca" means hole, like hole in the wall and "Beppo" is a nickname for "Guiseppe" (Joe in English), so the direct translation for "Buca di Beppo" would be "Guiseppe's Hole" or in slang - Joe's Basement. And Joe's Basement is a good description of the, um, interesting decor at Buca di Beppo. There are red and white checkered tablecloths on all the tables and framed photos of famous and not-so-famous Italians filling every inch of wall space. That is, all of the wall space except those taken up by cupids, old-time advertisements, and placards featuring the monthly Miss Buca winners. If you say you have never been to Buca di Beppo before, the host will give you a short tour through the actual kitchen where you pass by the "kitchen table", a table that you can reserve so you can eat in the kitchen and watch the chefs and cooks. You'll also pass by the "Pope's table" that has a bust of the Pope in the middle of a large table that must fit about 12-15 people. Apparently, it's typically booked up for large parties. My friends had never been to Buca di Beppo before so we got the full tour. We were seated at a large, long table with huge paper menu placemats. The placemats have the "family-style" dinner menu on them with pretty much every item available in Buca Small (serves 2-3 people) and Buca Large (serves 4+). Buca di Beppo has also recently created an individual serving menu just for lunch which is handy if each person in your group wants something different. Sandwiches and smaller portion entree dishes are on the lunch menu. Kids get their own paper menu that features puzzles and coloring, and the best part is that each child got a full set of crayons - blue, green, yellow, and red. I can't tell you how many fights have started when one child gets a different color than another, so this was nice.

On the kids menu was Mac-n-Cheese, Spaghetti & Meatball, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza for $3.95 and then Chicken Parmigiana for $4.50 (all including a kids cup drink). LB wanted cheese pizza, BB got pepperoni pizza, Bailey asked for the fettuccine and Jack wanted Mac-n-Cheese. For the adults, we decided to order off of the family-style dinner menu. There is a huge selection of appetizers, salads, pasta, pizza, chicken, veal, side dishes, and desserts. The Small pastas and other entrees run from $8.95 - $16.95 with the seafoods and meats on the higher end. The Large sizes run from $13.95 - $25.95. We decided to get a large Garlic Bread with Mozzarella ($9.95) for the table (the server said the large would feed 8) to start with and then ordered a small Caesar Salad ($9.95) and small Ravioli with Meat Sauce ($14.95). Since there were only 3 adults (yes, I'm a football widow, Hubby stayed home to watch the games) and we were getting the garlic bread, we figured that would be enough food.

The garlic bread arrived a little bit later and we literally all said "Wow!" when the server placed it on the table. It was a huge piece of round foccacia bread, drizzled with olive oil, and then topped with mozzarella cheese and big chunks of garlic, cut into eight slices like a huge Sicilian (yet round) pizza. And it was yummy! Everyone ate it, including all of the kids. We then had to wait about another 40 minutes (at least it seemed like it) before the kids' food finally arrived with our Caesar salad. Luckily, the kids were pretty well entertained with their coloring, branching out to the large paper menus after they finished coloring their kids' menus. The kids' food was huge. The pizzas were not a slice (like I expected) but were a full flatbread topped with sauce and cheese and big pepperonis for BB. Similarly, the mac-n-cheese and Fettuccine Alfredo was a large bowl filled to the top. Quite a value for $3.95 including the drink! The Caesar salad was also large and was enough for the three of us. It had a nice tangy taste to it and again, had a generous helping of garlic. (At this point, I figured people could probably smell my garlic breath from 20 feet away.) Amazingly, all of the kids ate their food. LB preferred to pick off and eat all of the cheese and sauce from his pizza, leaving the bottom bread, but at least he ate. Bailey did really well with her fettuccine but still had a large portion left over when she was done. Mrs. S. commented that the kids' pasta sizes could have fed an adult. Jack liked his mac-n-cheese, even though it was corkscrew pasta and not the traditional elbow macaroni. BB said his pizza was okay but that the pepperoni was a little spicy. About 15 minutes after the kids were pretty much done eating, our Ravioli with Meat Sauce finally arrived. It was really good as well, big fluffy square pillows filled with ricotta cheese and topped with a very meaty sauce. From the taste of the sauce, I would guess that the meat was a mixture of beef and sausage because it was very hearty.

All in all, we had a very pleasant, although very leisurely, lunch that everyone enjoyed and was very filling. So, make sure you are not in a hurry when you eat at Buca di Beppo. And definitely get the garlic bread.

Restaurant Review: Frontera Mexican Cuisine, Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL

For lunch on Sunday, we tried the new location of Frontera Mexican Cuisine, by the Florida Mall (the former Hops Restaurant spot). Frontera also has a location in Kissimmee. Frontera did a nice job decorating with the Hops space, with Spanish-style tiles on the tables and warm colors that give it a friendly and fun atmosphere. Grandma and Grandpa were disappointed that we couldn't order off the lunch menu, which is only for weekdays, but the dinner menu is pretty inexpensive and everyone was able to find something to order. The kids' menu consists of just a few simple puzzles and the menu on a colored piece of paper. BB loves menus like that. Give him a crayon and a piece of paper and he is happy. Kids' offerings are $3-$4 and include Mexican items like quesadillas, tacos, and enchiladas, as well as "gringo" items like chicken fingers and cheeseburgers. Strangely, one item is french fries for $2 - is that considered a complete entree for kids nowadays? LB ordered the cheese quesadilla, which comes with rice, and BB ordered the enchilada, which comes with rice or beans. Grandpa asked the server if it was a cheese enchilada and we got a nod from the server. BB decided on the beans on the side. For the adults, entrees range from $6-$11 for the "Mexican Dinners", which is all the traditional favorites, and $10-$16 for the "Especialidades (Specials)", such as steak and fajita dishes. Grandma and I went for the Flautas Mexicanas - five rolled corn tortillas stuffed with chicken or beef and then fried. I asked for two beef and three chicken and Grandma concurred. Grandpa asked for the Fried Beef Chimichanga. For the most part, the majority of the Mexican Dinners come with sour cream, pico de gallo (the chopped tomatoes, onions, and cilantro), and guacamole, which is great as most restaurants charge extra for those condiments. Hot chips and salsa arrived, as well as our drinks. The chips were crispy and the salsa was slightly spicy. Kids' drinks are served in plastic kids cups although the server brought BB his drink in a regular glass (BB was very pleased that he was considered old enough to get a "real" glass). The food took a while to arrive, probably close to half an hour, and it was hard to keep the kids entertained. However, several servers did keep the drinks and chips coming during this time. When the food did arrive, I was surprised to see that my flautas did not come with rice and beans. I know it didn't indicate that on the menu but I had just assumed it would accompany my flautas. The flautas themselves, however, were delicious. I think I prefer the chicken ones best as they were a bit softer and tastier although Grandma liked both. There was a verde (green) sauce on the side for dipping and the sauce was nicely spicy. Grandpa's chimichanga was HUGE. He almost didn't finish, and he ALWAYS finishes his food. He said it was nicely spicy as well. LB somehow picked all the tortilla off his quesadilla and just ate the cheese, although every bit of the cheese. He ate some of Grandpa's chimichanga as well although he thought it was spicy, too. He would just eat a bit, say "spicy", drink some lemonade and then repeat. For some strange reason, BB was served a bean enchilada with rice on the side. Certainly different than the expected cheese enchilada with beans on the side. Maybe when he said beans the server thought that was the kind of enchilada he wanted? BB is a big refried bean fan though and ate most of his meal, although he left the rice alone. Really, except for the long wait for the food, we had a very nice meal for a weekend lunch.