Romano's Macaroni Grill, O'Hare Airport

As you read last week, I recently travelled through O'Hare airport.  I visited Tortas Frontera for my savory food, and then eagerly set off to TCBY to get some froyo.  There was a TCBY in my hometown when I was growing up, and I recall going there for a splurge from time to time, getting a "shiver", with my favorite candies mixed in.  Definitely my introduction to froyo, and I hadn't encountered TCBY in years.  I was so excited, particularly since I didn't really love my lunch.

I rounded the corner, determined and excited, only to discover that the froyo machine at TCBY was ... broken.  I still really wanted dessert, and I had very little time left, and few options.  I basically had two choices: Chili's or Romano's Macaroni Grill.

I picked Romano's because I did have fond memories of that place too, although not necessarily for dessert.  And no, these weren't childhood memories.  I only ever visited Romano's in California, when I moved out here.  Let's just say I ate very differently when I first moved to California (I was mostly vegetarian, for one), and I recalled being quite into the eggplant parmesan or the create your own pasta options at Romano's.

So ,Romano's it was.  I was met with a fairly boring dessert menu: tiramisu, cheesecake, chocolate cake, or gelato.  I ruled out the melty item, and the ones with caffeine, and settled on cheesecake.

New York Style Cheesecake / shortbread crust / fresh strawberries.

I laughed when I opened the box.  “Fresh strawberries”, eh?  And what were these giant chunks of … biscotti?

Looks aside, the cheesecake wasn’t very good.

It wasn’t very creamy, it didn’t really have any cream cheese flavor to it.  Or *any* flavor really.  It was just ... there.  On top was what I guess was a little whipped cream?  It was white, but it wasn’t fluffy or creamy, and also didn’t taste like anything.  The white layer was too thin to really tasty anyway, and it only extended part of the way back.  Even canned whipped cream would have been better than this.  Maybe it was sour cream?  But it didn’t taste sour either.  I have no idea.

The crust was probably the best part, a sweet crumbled shortbread crust.  It wasn’t great, don’t get me wrong, but it was better than the cheesecake itself.

As were the large chunks of biscotti.  When I looked at photos online after, I saw that normally these are little pieces, crumbled up on top.  That makes slightly more sense, as the big chunks just seemed strange and out of place.  The biscotti had a nice texture, and actually a bit of flavor.  Nothing special, but not awful.  If I had coffee with me, I would have liked to dunk them.

The fresh strawberries were indeed just mushy berries in a way-too-sweet syrup.  They were certainly not fresh berries.  Fairly awful.

So ... yeah.  Flavorless cheesecake, sweet strawberry goo, and random biscotti.  Not a winner.

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Breakfast Sandwich from Panera

I've reviewed Panera a slew of times before, including the lackluster muffins, the mediocre pastries and cookies, the fairly tasty bagels with awesome cream cheese, the decent beverages, before finally finding a really good scone.

And you've likely been to Panera yourself, so, I have nothing more to say about Panera as a place.  This review will focus on two things: the order in advance Rapid Pickup system, and my first try at one of their breakfast sandwiches.  The online ordering was definitely a success.

Rapid Pickup Custom Order.

For this visit, I opted to try out the rapid pickup option.  You can order online, or through your phone.  You can order far in advance, or for "ASAP".  The web site was really simple to use, and in fact, it allowed me to discover huge sections of the Panera menu that I never new existed from reading only their posted signs in the cafes.  I had NO idea how much I could customize! (more on that soon).  Ordering online was easy peasy.
As was pickup.  They have an entire shelf dedicate to the rapid pickups, and you just walk in, say your name, and grab it.  I ordered a hot item, and I was apprehensive about this setup.  I asked for 8:45am pickup.  Would it be made at 7am and just left sitting?  I wanted it hot and fresh!  I arrived a few minutes early, and my order was indeed sitting there.  My heart sank.  And then I picked it up.  The bag was hot.  I read the tag attached.  8:38:53AM it read.  It really had *just* been made.  Perfect.

So rapid pickup?  Definitely a success.  My order?  Not quite as much, as you'll soon read about.

But first, let's talk about the amazing customizations.  While Panera doesn't have an explicit "build your own" sandwich option, they allow you to change any element of the sandwiches, so, in practice, you can build your own.  Just consider the 10 that they have on the menu as mere "suggestions".

To start, the choice for the bread.  The pre-made breakfast sandwiches use a few different breads, including bagels (everything or asiago cheese), a sprouted grain bagel flat, slices of whole grain bread, and ciabatta.  But if you want to customize it, you have far more options.  You can pick any bagel you'd like as the base.  Want a chocolate chip bagel with your egg sandwich? Go for it, it might be nasty, but no one will stop you.  Prefer a decadent croissant?  Sure.  Want basic sliced bread?  You can pick from any of Panera's loaves.  Want some crunch?  Go for the demi or baguette.  Low carb? Opt for flatbread.  Basically, any bread product that Panera offers, you can pick from.

Next, the choice of eggs.  Whole egg, just egg whites, or a crazy egg white patty-thing with turkey sausage bits inside.

Then, cheese.  For some reason, every one of the menu provided sandwiches uses white cheddar, but every cheese that Panera offers is an option if you want: gruyere, american, asiago parmesan, cheddar (white or smoked), feta, gorgonzola, gouda, swiss, mozzarella (sliced or fresh).  You can sub out any cheese free of charge.  If you want more than one cheese, you can add a second cheese for $0.30.

Next, meat!  The breakfast sandwiches on the menu stick with the standard options of bacon, sausage,  steak, and ham.  But you can pick any of the other meats that Panera has for the regular lunch sandwiches, so you can put chicken, salami, turkey (roasted or sliced smoked), or even tuna or chicken salad, if you really want.  Again, simple swaps are free, additional meats are $1.

Finally, veggies.  Most of the breakfast sandwiches on the menu do not have veggies and stick with the tried and true meat/cheese/egg combo, but there are a few that add in spinach, avocado, tomato (fresh or sofrito), or basil pesto.  But you can probably guess where I'm going here.  If Panera has a veggie for other purposes, you can pick it.  Want some greens?  Add romaine, green leaf lettuce, spinach, basil, or "field greens".  Add on cucumbers, onions (red or caramelized), pappadew peppers, or pepperoncini if you really want.  Spread on pesto (regular or sundried tomato).

So, yes, you *could * create something horrible, like a chocolate chip bagel spread with pesto, filled with a scary egg white sausage crumble patty, topped with tuna salad and gorganzola.  Go for it.  No one is stopping you.  They even have an amazing tool if you order online that builds it visually for you.  You can see how uh, amazing it would look.

I didn't take it that far.  If you read my receipt, you can see that I removed one element of the sandwich, subbed out another, and added 5 extras.  So much fun!

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese on Grilled Ciabatta (with MANY modifications). $ 4.79.

"All-natural egg, freshly cracked every morning, a thick slice of Vermont white cheddar and all-natural sausage all grilled on our freshly baked Ciabatta."

Now, take that description, and then what you see above, with a lot of grains of salt.  I customized this ridiculously.  The only components that I kept were the sausage and cheese.  I really could have started with pretty much any of the sandwiches as a base, I just picked this one sorta randomly (and actually, and in looking at it more, I think I would have wound up with fewer modifications if I picked the "Mediterranean Egg White on Ciabatta").  But anyway.

I was inspired by the sausage and cheddar breakfast sandwich I had at Starbucks a while ago.  It wasn't great, but, flavorful sausage and melty cheese again sounded good.  And, unlike Starbucks, at Panera I could customize it, adding in a few more goodies.  It had potential, right?

The description Panera came up with for my actual creation was "Sausage, Egg & Cheese on Grilled Ciabatta with Sprouted Grain Bagel Flat with Basil with Caramelized Onions with Tomato Sofrito with Spinach with No Whole Egg."

To start, I removed the egg entirely ("with No Whole Egg").  The Starbucks eggs were all awful, reheated patties of strangeness.  I wasn't convinced that these would be fresh cracked eggs (it says they were cracked "every morning", which doesn't inspire me to believe someone was frying up an egg to order here).   I don't even really like eggs to begin with.  So I removed it, which I couldn't do at Starbucks, since they are pre-made there.

Next, I replaced the Ciabatta with a Sprouted Grain Bagel Flat ("with Sprouted Grain Bagel Flat").  The one item I consistently like at Panera is the bagels, so it seemed reasonable to sub in a bagel as my bread choice.  Except I was going to fill my creation with a ton of elements, so I didn't want a big heavy bagel.  The bagel flat seemed like a great option, and, although I had only one choice for bagel flat, it looked a lot like the whole grain bagel that I had really enjoyed before, so, I was happy with this.

So let's talk about the bagel flat: "Freshly baked bagel, pinched and slightly flattened, made with select ingredients, including sprouted wheat, rye, spelt and oats mixed with whole wheat flour and a touch of honey, then topped with oats."

The bagel decision was a good one.  Just like the whole grain bagel, it was nicely hearty, I liked the flavor, and the oats on top.  The flat was a good choice, the bread didn't overwhelm as I think a regular bagel would (for context, the flat is about 100 calories less than the regular one, so definitely a bit thinner).  It had beautiful grill marks on top, since the breakfast sandwiches are grilled (probably to melt the cheese?), rather than toasted in their standard toaster.  The outside was nicely toasted, but the interior was really gummy.  So, although this was freshly made and composed on the spot, rather than just magic-ovening a premade sandwich like Starbucks, Starbucks actually wins a bit here, since somehow the english muffins I had both times there came out really crispy and were never mushy.  But the bagel flat itself was good, and I'd certainly get just that again, not part of a breakfast sandwich.

My Creation: Top Layer.

I added in 4 items: basil, caramelized onions, tomato sofrito, and spinach.  I really couldn't resist jazzing it up once I realized I could.

I opened it up to see how they choose to handle my additions.  I had no idea what order they'd put anything in, as that wasn't something I was able to specify.

Spread on the top side of the bagel was what seemed to be pesto.  I didn't ask for pesto, but I did ask for basil (and yes both are options), and I didn't see any basil on my sandwich.  Some of the other breakfast sandwiches include pesto, so I'm guessing they assumed that is what I wanted?  Either that, or the "basil" they include is always finely chopped and pesto-like?  Anyway, the basil/pesto was actually my favorite part of the entire sandwich, so I'm glad it was there.  It was super flavorful, and the basil flavor went really nicely with the hearty oat-y bagel.

Next came the cheese.  I kept the cheese that all of the breakfast sandwiches use, white cheddar.  Not really my top pick for a cheese, but really I was just overwhelmed by the slew of other choices I had, so I kept it simple and didn't change it.  Plus, if they use it for ALL of the sandwiches, it must be the best, right?  No.  The cheese was really disappointing.  It wasn't really melted, as you can see here.  Just slices of cheese, with only the very edges melted.  Again, comparing to Starbucks, where they just magic-oven a pre-made sandwich and somehow get perfectly melted cheese, this was sad.  The only thing I can imagine is that they somehow normally rely on the egg to melt the cheese?

Next came spinach, another addition of mine.  Not much to say about it, other than that it was fresh, and the quantity provided was good.  Again, it went well with the bagel itself, and it was slightly wilt-y from the heat of the grill, which was nice.

So far, flavorful and good, except for the not melted cheese of course.

But under the spinach came the tomato sofrito.  To be fair, I had no idea what tomato sofrito was.  I just added it because it looked like roasted, seasoned tomatoes, which seemed like they'd be great with cheese and spinach, right?  I hated it.  It was really flavorful, and was sorta like moist sundried tomatoes, which I also never like.  The flavor was strong and intense, and took over the entire creation.

The not melted cheese kinda sucked, but the sofrito ruined it for me.  My own fault though.  I scraped off as much as I could, but I still kept getting a taste of it from time to time.  Such a powerful element.  Proceed with caution.

My Creation: Bottom Layer.

Below the tomato sofrito was the sausage patty.  I sometimes really love sausage, which I realize is completely out of character for me.  My mom laughs whenever I order sausage patties when we go out for breakfast, she still doesn't believe I like it.  What can I say, sometimes, you like what you like, right?  And again, the Starbucks one was well seasoned and really not that bad, so, I had hope.

The Panera sausage patty wasn't good.  It was really thin, super processed, so ... fake.  I realize that is strange to say about something that is always processed, but this was more so than usual.  It was covered in the sofrito, which actually worked out well, as I could just remove the sausage entirely and also get rid of a lot of the sofrito.

The final element was my last addition: caramelized onion.  I love caramelized onions and thought the flavors of caramelized onion, spinach, and cheese would be delicious together.

The onion was somehow worse than the sofrito!  First, it was red onion, which I wasn't quite expecting.  Not a bad thing necessarily, but, just not what I expected.  But the real issue?  It wasn't caramelized.  It was charred.  Burnt.  There were actual bits of black charcoal in there.  Seriously.  See all the little black bits?  It tasted really awful, I don't know how to describe it besides that.

So, overall?  A mixed success.  The bagel flat was a winner.  I liked the spinach and basil.  If the cheese had been melted, I think I would have been pretty happy with those ingredients, and would certainly consider getting another, and leave out the sausage, sofrito, and onions.  But as it was, no, I wouldn't get another of these.

I did really appreciate that I could modify every element of the sandwich, and I think it is strange that Panera doesn't make that more known.  There have to be others who would like customized breakfast sandwiches and don't realize how easily they can do it?  It was also amazing that even though I modified it extensively, the price didn't change.  You can sub out anything free of charge, and add up to 5 extras, without incurring any additional cost.

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Tortas Frontera, Chicago O'Hare Airport

Oh, airport food.  Not something anyone looks forward to.  I'm sure most of you just grin, bear it, and swing through McDonald's to cure that McDonald's itch that I know we all get.  But not me.  I can get McDonald's anytime.  To me, every airport is an adventure.  There might be something ... new!  I had a 2 hour layover in O’Hare, and of course, immediately began researching my options, trying to find the best of the lot.

The answer was pretty clear: Tortas Frontera.  It sounded like people thought it was good, as in, legit good, not just for airport food.  Hundreds of reviews, and 4.5 stars on Yelp?  Even regular restaurants don’t normally get those sort of accolades.

Tortas Frontera is one of Rick Bayless’s places.  I’ve tried a few bites at the Frontera Grill in a food court in San Francisco, and was impressed there by the flavors (sadly, it was shuttered), so, this certainly had potential.

At Tortas Frontera, even in the airport, nearly everything is made fresh to order.  They pride themselves in their ingredient sourcing.  The menu has a large section devoted to where the food comes from, ranging from the Miller antibiotic-free chicken from Orland, IN, to bread from local La Fournette bakery in Chicago, to even a special coffee blend made by Intelligentsia.  Serious quality sourcing.

The Space

Menu Board, Seating.

The establishment is located in a big food court, alongside McDonald’s, generic looking pizza, and all the usual suspects.  The food court shares seating in the middle, but Tortas Frontera has private seating in addition.  Not much, just a long thin counter with a rail separating it from the walkway, but, it is something.

Bar Area.

There is also a bar on the side, which was constantly active, with bartenders whipping up some pretty tasty looking margaritas.  So far so good.

Lots of Agua Fresca!

The menu mostly features tortas, as you might expect given the name.

If you are into sandwiches, they seemed to have something for everyone, meat lovers and vegetarians alike.  For those who want to load up on meat, the cubano is filled with smoked pork loin and bacon, or you can opt for the pepito with braised beef short ribs, the chochinita ibile with braised pork, the choriqueso with chorizo, or albondigas (pork and bacon meatballs).  Prefer poultry or seafood?  Several options exist for you too.  Vegetarian?  No problem, the roasted mushroom version gets rave reviews.  All tortas come with assorted flavorful sauces and other filling components as well.

If you don't want a torta, you can go for a salad, or have any torta made into a salad.  Tortilla soup, corn & poblano chowder, and a host of chips and salads and guac options round out the menu.  The other main choice is molletes, open faced pizza/flatbread sorta things.

Tortas Frontera also offers a breakfast menu with scrambled egg tortas and a greek yogurt bar, but I visited in the evening.

For non-alcoholic drinks, they have a slew of house made aqua frecas, pictured above.

Prep Station.

Everything as made to order, as promised.  Not typical fast food.

Every station was frantic, busy, churning out orders at a rapid pace.  And yes, each and every salad was hand tossed with dressing to order.  No soggy lettuce here.  Each sandwich assembled and grilled to order.  I can't even count how many fresh avocados I saw chopped up during my brief time there.  The only thing not made to order is the molletes (open faced flatbread/pizza like creations), which are also the only items that garner lackluster reviews.

The model is order-at-the-register (except for bar seating), get a buzzer, and wait.  When I ordered, I was warned that it would be 10 minutes, which I already expected.  The wait time estimate was dead on, my buzzer ran in precisely 10 minutes.  All orders are packaged to go.

The Food

Garlic Shrimp Torta. $12..

"Smoky garlic mojo, poblano rajas, goat cheese, black beans, wild arugula, lime."

I wanted something a bit lighter than the heavy meaty options, given that I was mid transit, and didn’t really want to over indulge and feel nasty on my next flight.  Plus, I had my eye on the TCBY nearby for an after-dinner treat.  I oped for the garlic shrimp torta.  Since I don’t like goat cheese, I subbed that out for cojita, which I knew they offered since other tortas used it.  It was no problem to make the switch.

The sandwich was nicely grilled, very crispy on the outside.  Inside was a smear of a black bean spread, and a generous layer of grilled poblanos.  There was plenty of arugula, which made it feel light, exactly what I was going for.  The arugula was really spicy though, in a peppery way, that I didn’t quite care for.  As for the shrimp, again, a generous amount.  They were … decent.  Not too rubbery.   I didn’t taste the garlic though.  I never found any “lime” in it either.  The smokey garlic mojo was provided on the side.  It was nicely spicy, but I actually expected this to be more of a creamy component, which I really wanted.  My sandwich needed some fat!  I wanted aioli!

Overall, it was … fine.  Ojan really enjoyed it.  But I guess I just wasn’t really in the mood for it, and really, my decision to go for something light backfired.  At the end of the day, when am I ever happy without mayo, cheese, or cream, anyway?  And, oh yeah, I don't like sandwiches.

But if you do like sandwiches, then trust Ojan on this one.  He really did enjoy it.

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Kewaza Energy Balls

I know, just what you needed, another review of organic, non-toxic, non-GMO, gluten-free, clean, healthy snacks.

I don't seek these out either, but I was recently visiting another Google office (I think Waterloo?), and wanted to explore the exciting products in their microkitchens.  I found these little "energy balls" in tempting sounding flavors.

I turned over the package, expecting to find the familiar listing of isolates and protein powders, but instead ... I just saw real ingredients.  Well, hmm.  I decided to give them a try.

Kewaza makes only one product, these energy balls, known to them as "little balls of wholesomeness".  They are available in 5 flavors, which I think you'll agree, do sound quite tempting: cookie dough, dark chocolate coconut, peanut butter cookie dough, red banana bread, and dark chocolate peanut butter.  Besides perhaps the red banana bread, these all sounded like winners (although, to be fair, the same can be said for dreadful LÄRABARS ... shutter).

Still, I dug in.

Dark Chocolate Coconut.

I started with the Dark Chocolate Coconut.

I was surprised when I opened the package.  It looked like a chocolate truffle.  I know the packaging said it was an "energy ball", so I expected it to be round, like a ball, but perhaps I just wasn't expecting quite so ... chocolate?  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but something so dessert-like was not it.

I took my first bite, expecting the true nature to reveal itself.  Nope, it tasted like it looked.  Like a chocolate truffle.  There was no strange texture or flavor from spoilers like whey protein isolate.  It was just a dense, almost crumbly, ball of chocolate, coated in shredded coconut.

I tell you, this was a truffle.  It went oh-so nicely alongside my coffee.

That isn't to say that the ball doesn't have other ingredients.  Cocoa powder is mixed with brown rice protein, flax seed, goji berries, and maca powder to form the base (with coconut oil as the binding agent).  I just didn't taste any of that.  They use honey as the sweetener, and, did I mention, there were crunchy little bits of cocoa nibs in there too?  And ... that is it.  So yes, not just chocolate and coconut, but really nothing too strange in there.

A ball has only 90 calories, 6 grams of fat (healthy fats from the coconut products), and 4 grams of protein.  Not intended to be a meal replacement, but a very balanced little snack to have pre or post workout, or mid-afternoon.

I can't wait to try another flavor, and would certainly get another.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough.

After the success of the dark chocolate truffle, you can only imagine how excited I was to try the peanut butter cookie dough.  Chocolate is good, but peanut butter is better!

This one also looked like a lovely little truffle.  I eagerly took a bite.

I didn't taste the peanut butter I was craving.  I tasted ... dates.  Dates are why I dislike so many healthy nutrition bars, as I just don't really like the flavor.  I understand that they add natural sweetness, but, this is not a sweetness I actually like.

I tried a second bite, hoping that the peanut butter would hit, but it never did.  I also think I was expecting chocolate chips, since "cookie dough" in my head just auto-completes to "chocolate chip cookie dough".  And it did have chocolate in the ingredient list, but, alas, I didn't find the crunchy chips I was hoping for.

If you like dates, and weren't looking for something to hit you in the face with peanut butter deliciousness, perhaps this is fine, but for me, it was a fail.  I could have guessed this if I had read the ingredient list in advance, very short and simple: dates, chocolate, peanut butter, emphasis on the dates first.

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Gelateria Naia

Gelataria Naia is a local gelato manufacturer, with two Bay Area shops, one located in North Beach, and one in Walnut Creek.  I visited the North Beach location many years ago, but I recalled not really liking it.  They also make gelato in bar form, like a big popsicle, on a stick, and sell these at Whole Foods under the "Bar Gelato by Naia" brand.

I recently attended an outdoor event with a gelato cart by Gelataria Naia.  It was a beautiful, hot, sunny San Francisco fall day (gotta love October in SF).  Gelato sounded like the perfect treat for such weather.

I wasn't alone in my thinking, as the cart had a constant line.  Even though I remembered not loving their product, I can't resist frozen treats, and eventually gave in and joined the line.  And after I finished my gelato ... I may or may not have gotten right back in line.  It was really good!

I'll have to give the shop another try.  While I wasn't stunned by the flavors in the gelato at the event, the texture was absolutely perfect.

Gelato Cart.

The gelato cart held 6 flavors at a time, which they rotated throughout the event as each ran out.

The selection was generally 2 caffeinated (coffee and chocolate), 2 boozy, and two fruity sorbettos.

I only went for the boozy ones.  They make at least 14 different boozy flavors, all using St George Spirits.  

Root of All Evil.

I started with a flavor dubbed "Root of All Evil".

I forget which spirit was in it, but it was St. George brand.  It also had root beer, hence the name.

I didn't really taste root beer, but it was really awesome gelato.  It melted perfectly, and the consistency was just perfect.  I didn't mind that it didn't have that much flavor, but obviously, more flavor would have been better.

Raspberry Liqueur.

I moved on to a raspberry liqueur flavor.

The raspberry liqueur was similar.  Again, I didn't taste much flavor, but it was just so perfectly creamy, so perfectly melty, that I didn't mind the indistinguishable flavor.  It was a pleasure just to eat such perfect gelato.

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Interestingly, I clearly haven't always liked the gelato from Naia.  I uncovered some tasting notes from long ago, from when I visited the shop in North Beach.  It seems I didn't like any of the gelato, and, even more surprisingly, it was the consistency that I had a problem with.  The consistency was beyond perfect this time around!  Specifically, I thought the Numi Chai flavor was icy.  I thought the gianduja, chocolate malt, peanut butter chip, and mint chocolate chip were all "very hard, like ice cream, not gelato consistency".  I concluded that I'd never go back, and I didn't understand why anyone liked it.  Hmm.  I wonder what changed?

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Freshroll

Update Review, October 2015

You may recall that a while back, I needed takeout for my group at work, and picked up springrolls and taro chips from FreshRoll.

I recently returned again, when I needed a quick takeout option and I was in the area.  Since I've reviewed Freshroll before, I'll skip all the general details this time, and focus just on the cuisine I had on this visit.

I've dubbed Freshroll the Chipotle/Subway of Vietnamese food: fast casual, customizable, made to order.  They should totally market themselves like this, right?

Single Roll, Garlic Shrimp.  $3.95.

Since I don't like pork, chicken, or tofu, I went for the only other option: shrimp.  I also added
lettuce, bean sprouts, pickled vegetables, jalapeño, scallions, and of course, crispy goodness.

My roll this time was even larger than on my previous visit.  Last time, I remarked at how it wasn't overloaded with vermicelli noodles, but this time, it was.  I'd guess that 50% of its girth was the noodles.  They were flavorless, slimy, and I really didn't care for them at all.

The other veggies were all fine, fresh, crisp, but otherwise unremarkable.  I again loved the crunch from the "crispy goodness", but again, it was just a fried thing, indistinguishable as a scallion.

The shrimp were a bit fishy, and again, not garlic as advertised.

I choose my favorite two of the sauces again, Vietnamese vinaigrette and sweet & sour chili.  The vinaigrette was not very good this time, it didn't have any real flavor to it.  The sweet and sour chili sauce was again basically sweet chili sauce with a bit of kick.  I liked it the best.

Overall, the roll was not nearly as good as my first visit, and I wouldn't get another.

I realized once I left that I was charged the standard price for a single roll, $3.95.  Garlic shrimp should have cost $1.25 extra, and the crispy goodness should have been another $0.50, so it should have been $5.70.  $5.70 for a single roll most certainly would not have been worth it, but hey, I got a bargin.

Close up of the roll.

The roll was constructed much better on this visit than the last however.  It didn't fall apart, and had a very large amount of shrimp, far more than on my previous visit.

I think that given the type of establishment that Freshroll is, with a large varied staff, consistency is not their strong point.

Single Roll, Grilled Chicken.  $3.95.

On another visit, for Ojan, I got the chicken.  I didn't try it, but he liked it.

The roll was assembled with much greater care than my previous visits, and was packaged in a more appropriate container, sized for one roll.  Previously, when I've picked up a single roll, they have put it in a container meant for three rolls, and it has gotten a bit discombobulated on the way home as it has rolled all around.  The smaller container fit it much better.  I think this is probably the box for the sandwich, and other staff never thought of using it?

Anyway, well made, same mediocre product. 

Original Review, August 2013

For one week, I was tasked with providing nightly dinner for my co-workers.  Being me, I didn't just order delivery pizza or Thai food.  I like pizza and thai, but, I don't like it soggy and cold.  Delivery was obviously the easiest option, but I didn't want to limit myself to only places that deliver, so I also looked into takeout in the area.  My goal was to find something that was satisfying, but didn't need to be served warm.  I also really didn't just want sandwiches or salads, this was dinner after all.

The week before I was about to embark on this adventure, I walked by the Metreon and saw Freshroll.  I hadn't ever been, but it did sound interesting.  The concept is build your own Vietnamese rolls, sandwiches, and bowls.  Hot rice or noodle bowls wouldn't be appropriate for our dinner, but the rolls sounded like a perfect fit.  Yelpers seemed pretty happy with it.

You can order ahead online, or just walk in. First, you pick you style.  For cold options, there are the rice paper rolls, salad, or bahn mi.  Since I didn't want sandos or salad, I went for the rolls.  If I wanted something hot, I could have also picked a rice bowl, a vermicelli noodle bowl, or pho.

Next, you pick proteins.  Choices aren't plentiful, but there should be something for everyone: lemongrass pork, grilled chicken, garlic shrimp, or crispy tofu.  The only real thing missing was a red meat option.

Then it gets harder, you have to pick your veggies.  There are tons of options: lettuce, bean sprouts, bell pepper, carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapeno, pickled veggies, pineapple, scallions, basil.  Luckily, they offer a combo called "the standard" if you can't decide.  For an additional fee, you can also add avocado or "crispy goodness" ... more on that later.

And then, my favorite part, sauces! Peanut sauce, citrus ginger, sweet and sour chili, or vinaigrette.

A side of taro chips and a few drinks round out the menu.  Sadly, no desserts are available.

Since I was ordering for a big group, I probably should have ordered online in advance.  It was a bit overwhelming trying to keep track of everyone's orders and get them all straight.  The staff were reasonably nice, but did seem slightly annoyed with me.  I did only get 9 rolls, I didn't think that was too many!

Overall, Freshroll was good, but not outstanding.  I love to customize things, so I really appreciated that aspect, but none of the ingredients or flavors were that memorable.

Thai Iced Coffee.  $2.95.

They had Thai Iced Coffee, but strangely, not Thai Iced Tea.  Darn!  I always love the sweet milky goodness.  Other fresh beverages were lychee sweetened black tea and limeade.  They also had bottled beverages, including a slew of different types of coconut water.

I settled for the coffee as a consolation prize.  It was decent, nice coffee flavor, not too sweet.  $2.95 for a drink this size seemed fine.

Housemade Taro Chips. $1.95.

I love taro, and crunchy salty things, so I was excited by the single side on the menu, housemade taro chips.

They were ok, nicely crispy, good sized, not broken up.  But they were a bit too oily for my liking, and under-salted.  I'm not sure how much I would have liked them plain, but I liked dunking them in the assorted sauces I had for my rolls.

The package was perhaps a bit small for $1.95, but you wouldn't really want more.

Assorted dipping sauces.

They have 4 different sauces to choose from for the rolls.  When asked which one I'd like, and I very quickly asked for all 4.  How could you ever pick just one?  Particularly when this was for a big group?

• Grandma's Peanut Sauce: Hmm.  I usually love peanut sauce, but this wasn't good.  It somehow wasn't very ... peanuty?  It was thick, gloopy, and had no real flavor.  My least favorite by far.
• Sweet & Sour Chili: Pretty standard sweet chili sauce, although it had a bit of heat.  Another thing I got hooked on in Sydney, sweet chili sauce!  Not sure why it said "sour" though, as it was sweet and spicy, and not at all sour.  I didn't love it with my roll, but I liked it with the taro chips, and with assorted other things I dunked in the leftovers.
• Tangy Citrus Ginger: Well, it was citrusy, and gingery, but definitely not my thing.  The flavors were strong, and exactly as advertised.  Least favorite.
• Vietnamese Vinaigrette: This was nice, light, with good flavor.  The fish sauce shone through.  Very good for dipping the rolls.  For the rolls, my favorite by far.

Assorted Rolls.  3 for $7.95 or $3.95 each.

Since I was ordering for a group, they nicely labelled the boxes to keep them all straight.

I ordered 4 chicken rolls, 2 pork, and 3 shrimp, mostly with the standard fillings, but slightly customized.

Of course I wanted to try several options, so we cut some of the rolls in half to be able to try more.  Since I don't like chicken or pork, I only tried the shrimp.  I started with the "standard": vermicelli noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, cilantro, cucumber, jalapeño, and pineapple.  At the advice of the Yelpers, I added on some "crispy goodness", aka, a fried scallion, to another, and then I threw some pickled veggies into another.

I was amused by the pricing of 3 for $7.95 or $3.95 each.  I only needed 8 rolls, but I got 9 since it made no sense to get two singles.  Shrimp is $2 extra, and a "crispy goodness" is $0.75 extra.

The price for 3 seemed fine, although the shrimp being a full $2 more was a bit surprising, and $0.75 for a single piece of fried scallion seemed a bit much.  But the regular set of 3 was totally reasonable.

Shrimp falling out.

I was not impressed with the roll job.  They were all different sizes.  Most were falling apart and things were breaking through and sticking out all over the place.  Really sloppy.

But the fillings were fresh and decent quality.  The shrimp was advertised as "garlic shrimp", but I certainly didn't taste the garlic. That said, the shrimp was fine, although they were a smaller size than I was expecting.  The veggies were all crisp and fresh.  The jalapeño certainly added some kick, which was nice.  The pineapple is not something I'd normally put, but it was kinda nice.  I'd probably skip it in the future though.  I was glad there weren't many vermicelli noodles, I always get annoyed when my rolls are loaded up with noodles.

The "crispy goodness" did live up to its name.  Not worth $0.75 perhaps, but it added a totally delightful crunch.  I wouldn't have known it was scallion of course, as it was mostly just fried stuff.  But, recommended.

Overall, these were fine, and I'd eat them again, but I wouldn't go out of my way for them.  Mostly I just wish they had some different proteins, as none were my favorites.

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Aqua Restaurant at Crowne Plaza Kitchener-Waterloo

In late July, I travelled to an unusual destination: Kitchener, ON.  Yes, to a random town in Canada.  Why?  I had a friend getting married in Buffalo, NY (2 hours away), and I figured it was a good excuse to check out our Waterloo office for a few days, rather than just visiting the east coast for a day or two.

I planned to stay at the Sheraton, because I'm a loyal Starwood gal, but a co-worker said I should stay closer to the office.  I obliged, after doing a little bit of due diligence research on my options.  The Crowne Plaza was clearly the top choice.  While there were some noise complaints, it was recently renovated, and, you know me with my one track focus, people actually really raved about the breakfast buffet.  The Sheraton had good reviews for the hotel itself, but, alas, no one had anything positive to say about their mostly-continental breakfast offerings.

Thus, the Crowne Plaza it was, with a rate that included breakfast, of course.  And, failing that, my office was just down the street, and they serve breakfast.  I really enjoyed my breakfast the first day, but subsequent days were lackluster.  I do wish I'd checked out the offerings at our office instead.  Next time?

Bar, Seating.

Like the rest of the hotel, the restaurant recently had a major renovation.  The space was modern, swanky, beautiful.

Breakfast is a buffet, normally $14 for the hot buffet or $9 for just a continental.  There is an a la carte menu as well, but only the buffet was included in my rate.  Drinks are not self-serve, rather, you order from the waitress as you enter.

Service was actually really good ... the first day.  The single server was friendly and, as I watched her work, I was crazy impressed.  Every guest who walked in after me had clearly been there before, and, she knew each drink order by heart as they walked in, no matter how standard ("orange juice and coffee?") or a bit odd ("unsweet iced tea and warmed milk?")

The next morning was a stark contrast.  It was impossible to get any attention.  Myself, and many other guests, resorted to walking up to the front with our empty glasses to get refills of juice/coffee/water/etc.  New patrons entered and just sat, waiting for minutes before someone finally acknowledged them.  Granted, it was busy, and there were only two servers, but when I commented about how busy it was, the server said it was normal.  If this is normal mode of operation, you think they'd be better able to handle it?

The final morning was back to calm.  I walked in, was greeted, and offered coffee.  They came to check on me several times throughout my stay.  What a difference a day makes.

Table Setting, Coffee.

All days I ordered decaf coffee.

The water is tap water, and I can't say I liked the taste of it.  The second morning I knew better, and brought along a bottle of water.  Other included drink options are basic juices.  Ojan opted for the grapefruit juice, but said it wasn't very good.

The coffee was fine, although not great.  The first day, the awesome waitress poured me a cup while I was up getting my food selections, but also left an entire carafe on the table for me.  I loved that I didn't need to ask for refills or go without coffee.  Major bonus points.  She also left a pitcher of creamer.

The next morning however ... total opposite.  I was given just a single cup of coffee.  I could not, no matter what I did, get attention to get more.  I waved, I said, loudly, "excuse me?" as the server passed by.  Nothing.  The only effective route to more coffee was marching up to the front, placing myself in the server's path, and pointing at my empty cup.  Le sigh.  No creamer was provided, but, I didn't actually use it, so I didn't mind.

The final day, I ordered decaf, as usual, and the server even offered to go brew me a fresh pot, warning that it would take 4 minutes.  And then he instructed the other server to just bring me a whole carafe, which I gladly consumed in its entirely.  Such inconsistencies!

Assorted sweeteners, Dickenson's jams (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, orange marmalade), and salt and pepper completed the place setting, along with cloth napkins.  I never care for Dickenson's jams, no matter how fancy they look, and how many times I try them.

Hot Buffet.

I started at the hot buffet.  Only one side of the buffet was filled, I imagine the other side is used only on weekends or when crazy busy?

The hot selection always featured "Roasted Breakfast Sausage" and "Maple Smoked Bacon", 2 daily egg dishes, 1 breakfast carb special, homefries, and grilled vegetables or baked beans.

The sausage and bacon did not look good at all, so I never tried them.  Ojan had bacon one day, and said it was fine.  I never like grilled veggies at breakfast, so I skipped those.  I did try baked beans on the one day they were offered and they were not very good.  Tasted like they came from a can, no real flavor in the sauce.  I mixed in ketchup and syrup to try to make them taste like ... something.

The potatoes weren't bad the first day.  Little cubes, seasoned, some crispy.  Clearly cooked with plenty of oil, but not in a gross way.  I tried them again on the third day, and that time they were soggy, tasted like stale oil, and were just not good at all.

Noticing a theme here?  The service, the product offered, the food quality ... inconsistent!

Scrambled Eggs w/ Tex Mex Cheese & Tomatoes, Cheese Omelet, Pancakes.

The final hot station was the most exciting, as it offered up two different egg dishes and a daily carby breakfast special.

On all days, one egg creation was Scrambled Eggs with Tex-Mex Cheese & Tomatoes.  I never really like eggs, and these didn't look great, so I moved right on.  The first and third days the second egg option was a frittata, which is perhaps one of my least favorite egg preps, so I obviously skipped that.

On the second day, the frittata was replaced with a cheesy omelet.  I decided to make an egg and cheese sando with a croissant, so I grabbed a chunk.  It was better than I expected, lots of nice melty cheese inside, and decently fluffy eggs for something sitting in a buffet.

It was of course the main breakfast carb specials that I really was excited to try.  On the first day, waffles!  On the subsequent days, pancakes!  Of course, these were sitting in a hot tray, on a buffet for who knows how long, so how good would they be?  But I love my breakfast carbs.

The first day, I eagerly dug into a waffle.  It looked crispy, and was covered in powdered sugar, plus there was a big pitcher of maple syrup on the side.  Anything can be made better with maple syrup, right?

Wrong.  The waffles were ... awful.  Rock solid.  Cold.  Really not good.  No amount of syrup, nor powdered sugar, could save these.

The next day, I tried again, with the pancakes.  They were just as bad.  Flimsy, flavorless.  I added more and more syrup, but the syrup itself was also pretty bad.  I was in Canada, and I assure you, this was not real syrup.  On one visit, the guy sitting next to me ordered the pancakes a la carte.  I was interested to see if they were different.  I expected that they'd at least be larger?  Fluffier?  Served with better accompaniments?  Nope.  Just three of the same pancakes, with what I imagine was the same syrup, and some unripe sliced fruit on the side.  Glad I didn't give up on the buffet and splurge for a la carte.

On the first day, I was pretty sad at this point, as the buffet was failing me.  I considered walking right out and rushing to my office, where I knew they were serving french toast and house-made croissants instead.

But this was just the hot buffet.  There were many more sections to explore.

Assorted Cheese / Fresh Fruit / Hardboiled Eggs / Cottage Cheese / Yogurt.

Next comes the cold selections.

The first platter contained an assortment of cheeses, er, a "Local & International Cheese Platter".  I skipped it on the first day, but on the second, I tried the decent enough triple cream, and on the third, some flavorless Swiss.  Ojan tried the others, including something smoked, something cheddary, and a blue cheese, and discarded them all after a single bite.  I snagged a few grapes from this platter, but they were not good, the skins were very bitter.

Next was sliced fruit, including watermelon (and other melons subsequent days), which I'm allergic to, and a platter of assorted other fruit including pineapple, grapes, and strawberries.  I had to skip this entire area due to the melons, but given how unripe and unfresh it looked, I don't think I missed out.  Whole apples and oranges were available on the side.

Next was cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, and uh, lettuce.  Just lettuce, no dressing.  Not really sure what that was for.

Finally, a selection of Dannon yogurts, in assorted flavors.

I moved on.

Cereals.

Next up is the cereal station, all Kellogg's .

On offer were your sugary friends (Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms), classics (Cherrios and Corn Flakes), and two varities that were new to me, at least by name (Vector and Two Scoops).  I'm pretty sure that "Two Scoops" is just raisin bran (there are "two scoops" of raisins in every box ...).  Anyway, cereal is cereal right?  I ignored this area the first few days.

On my final day, I decided to try the cereals.  First, side note: I hate these dispensers.  You can't just get a little cereal.  You twist and turn, it gets jammed, and then all of a sudden tons pours out.  Ugh.  Anyway.

Vector seemed to just be jazzed up corn flakes, that is, corn flakes that were a bit more crispy and coated with bits of something, but also fairly sweet.  Meh, whatever.

I also had some Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms, because, well, when is the last time you had these fun cereals?  If nothing else, I wanted to drink the cereal milk.

All of the cereals were pretty stale.  I guess they must sit there in those twisty things all the time.  And I can't say I saw anyone else try them.  Who knows how long that cereal had been there.

Additional toppings of dried fruit and seeds were on the side, none of which seem to really go with those cereal options, more what I'd expect with oatmeal.

Cereal offerings?  Pass.

Toast / Assorted Breakfast Pastries / Bagels / English Muffins.

Finally, we were getting somewhere.  More carbs.

The boring options are bread to toast (3 varieties), english muffins, and bagels.  I was impressed that they had not only plain cream cheese, but flavored herb cream cheese too (Philadelphia brand, individual pots), and a large assortment of bagel types.  The bagels didn't look particularly good however.

But I had eyes only for the middle section: baked goods.  I love my baked goods.  Sure, I know that hotel breakfast buffets rarely have good baked items.  These didn't look particularly great.  And why would this random hotel in Kitchener have anything good?

All days, one board was croissants, all plain.  I didn't try one the first day, but did the second.  The croissant was ... ok.  Very oily and doughy, not flaky, but I did like the sweetness to the dough.  I sliced it open and stuffed it with cheese omelet, and made a decent enough breakfast sandwich.  But I wouldn't get another.

Muffins and Danishes (day two).

The other board featured muffins both days (corn, blueberry, chocolate), plus a variety of other pastries.  The first day, it had cinnamon swirls and lattice topped apple danishes.  The next, cherry and custard round danishes.  The final, cherry round danishes and lattice apple danishes again.

The muffins looked generic.  The cinnamon swirls ... well, pathetic.  The danishes only looked moderately better.

But I braved onward.

The first day, the toaster had a big sign saying that you could not put croissants or cheese in it.  I understand this sign, as I uh, started a fire doing something like this in Sydney at a hotel.  But I wanted my cinnamon swirl warm!  It just looked so sad otherwise.  And I knew it was thin, so it wouldn't get stuck, which is the reason not to put croissants in, right?

I'm awful at breaking rules when I know they exist, but, I was confident that I wasn't actually violating the sign (it said croissants and cheese, this was not either of those items ...), so I slipped my cinnamon swirl in, cranked the speed up to as fast as it would go, and watched carefully.  No problem.

The cinnamon swirl turned out to be really good.  I took one bite and was beyond shocked.  It was really thin, had no icing, but ... somehow was so tasty.  How looks can be deceiving.  It was doughy and moist, with fantastic cinnamon flavor.  My mood changed immediately.  I almost rushed back to grab another, they were small, right?  Sadly, these never showed up on subsequent days, and were, hands down, the highlight of the buffet.

Next I grabbed a corn muffin.  I really like corn muffins, particularly when slathered with honey butter or strawberry jam.  Eying the jam on the table, I knew this was an option, if the muffin itself needed some help.

Like the cinnamon swirl, it turned out to be really tasty.  It was moist on top, crumbly inside.  I loved the grit and corn flavor.  Really, it was exactly what I like in a corn muffin.  I often only like the tops of muffins, and find the edges or bottom burnt, but this was delicious down to the last crumb.  My second favorite of the breakfast baked goods.

I would have preferred my corn muffin warmed up, but I didn't dare stick that in the toaster.  I'm sure I could have sliced it and done so, but, then I'd be getting into risky territory.  And really, it was fine as it was (although I did slather it with additional whipped butter.  Hey, I was traveling, no rules, right?)

The next day wasn't as satisfying.  No cinnamon swirls, to start.

So I tried a custard danish.  It had a decent enough sweet custard filling and slices of almond on top.  The dough was a bit oily and not particularly flaky, but, the filling was good.  Better than an average generic buffet, but not particularly great.

Then I eagerly dove into a muffin, this time, blueberry.  I loved the corn muffin the day before.  It only had tiny blueberries in it, yet tons of blueberry flavor.  I am guessing they were the little wild Maine (or I guess Canada?) berries rather than big juicy California berries I'm used to.  The blueberry flavor was there, but, the muffin itself just wasn't great.  Rather dense, lackluster, a bit dry.

Unsatisfied, I went for the other muffin selection, chocolate chip.  It had a nice crispy top and was generously filled with mini chips, but it too was really dry and quite oily.  The flavor wasn't there in this one either.

I was pretty sad.  I was considering getting yet another muffin, another corn muffin, when Ojan joined me.  He got the corn muffin.  He commented that he didn't understand why I liked it so much, and discarded it.  I tried a bite.  Yup ... not the same, at all.  Dry.  It didn't have the grittiness or flavor I loved the day before.

So day one: tasty cinnamon roll, awesome corn muffin.  Day two: ok custard danish, bad blueberry, chocolate chip, and corn muffins.  Inconsistent!

And day three?

I went straight for the corn muffin.  I crossed my fingers that it would be like the first day.  It wasn't.  Honestly, I wouldn't even know it was a corn muffin.  It tasted like a plain muffin.  Dry.  Stale.  I'm starting to think they bake these in batches, and ration them out all week.  I have no other explanation for how the muffins on Wednesday were great, Thursday were ok, and Friday were just bad.

So I went for the cherry danish, after the mild success of the custard one.  It wasn't very good.  The dough was incredibly oily.  The filling was just goo.  Meh.

And finally, the apple lattice.  This thing didn't look good, and I don't tend to like apple filling, so I never intended to try it, but I had exhausted my other options.  At this point, I had even tried baked beans and cereal, totally not what I generally go for, but I really wanted something tasty.

The apple lattice was the best of the pastries that day, and my third favorite overall.  The only other one I'd consider getting again.  The lattice top was nicely crispy, and the filling actually pretty flavorful.  Yes, it was apple goo, but it was nicely spiced, and also had bits of nuts on it.  Again, certainly not amazing, but I enjoyed the textures, flavors, and sweetness alongside my coffee.

And just a final note.  There was one thing that was really off putting about the buffet.  Flies.  Every single day, there were flies all around the food.  Every single day there were flies perched on top of the baked goods.  Every single day they buzzed around as you neared the baked goods.  This was ... really quite gross.  Couldn't they try to get rid of these (or, I'm sure they had?) or at least put the pastries into a case?  Or put a mesh shield over them?  It truly was gross.

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