When we arrived there were a few customers enjoying their purchases at the small tables at the store. There were a good variety of options to choose from. To be honest I expected more options and variations but was able to find exactly what I wanted.

When looking for a place to sit we noticed a few of the small tables where others were sitting when we arrived were empty but all the dishes, napkins and cupcak

e crumbs were left behind. The young lady behind the counter saw our confusion and let us know that your suposed to clear your own table but did not come around to clear. We had to clear a table ourselves to sit down at. A little bit later the young lady did come around and take care of the other tables. We made sure to get our own table cleaned up when we left.

The cupcakes hit the spot and were a great treat for my cheat day. I look forward to visiting again but will get them to go for sure!

Anyway, I made my boyfriend take me we finally decided to go the other day. It was hot outside so we weren’t able to sit out on the small patio area available. There were a few umbrellas but they were already in use. I sat down for a few minutes but the glaring sun was too hot so we went inside.

Lilly’s is a funky and retro cafe. I liked that they had posters up for local concerts and seem supportive of local starving artists (musically and otherwise).

Price wise, Lilly’s is up there with most non-chain pizza pie restaurants. A two-topping large (cheese plus your fave) will set you back about $15 while a large specialty pizza will cost a bit more, ranging from $19-23 depending. Lilly’s also offers a gluten-free alternative and several vegetarian options.

We each ordered a medium create-your-own. I was tempted with a variety of toppings (they have a LOT of toppings!) but realized once I created my Pièce de résistance with about 5 unique toppings I would have had to chuck out about $20 for a small pizza. I settled on extra cheese.

It didn’t take too long to make the pizza, but the wait for me was quite painful. The smoky atmosphere from the kitchen burned my eyes and my nose. If I didn’t know the smoke was from the food cooking I may have got on all fours to crawl out. By the time we left the restaurant, my hair and clothes smelled of burnt something.

The pizza was okay: it had a thicker crust than I was expecting. I had spent two years listening to two of my friends rave about how amazing Lilly’s pizza was and I have to tell you: it was a big let-down for me.  The top portion of the dough was pretty doughy tasting and appeared much more undercooked than my boyfriend’s was. The sauce was unremarkable and so was the cheese.

In all, I wouldn’t make the trip here for mediocre pizza. I have to tell you that I would be willing to give Lilly’s another try just in case it was an off day in the kitchen. However, I really didn’t care for the crust style, and I definitely didn’t enjoy the way-too-smoky atmosphere. I may have a more sensitive nose than others but the smoky atmosphere alone keeps me from returning. The restaurant would do well to invest in some sort of ventilation system!

Otherwise, everything here was organic or homemade, a welcome change to the prepackaged, ready-made or frozen ingredients other pizza joints might use. For me, the time and effort and cost wasn’t worth the trip or the food.

Our only other complaint was that there was no soap by the sink. The sink that is located outside the restrooms for everyone to use. That was quite a put-off when you start wondering how staff and other patrons wash their hands… Ew.

Sawmill had a steak special (t-bone) that my boyfriend decided to give a shot. Steak is a tricky dish and our experience has been that the non-steak specialty restaurants usually serve an overcooked steak.  I passed on the steak and ordered the California Burger (subbed bbq sauce for the guacamole) medium-well.

As usual, our server was friendly (not over-the-top I’m your new best friend, not too distant, either) and our food didn’t take too long to prepare. I had special ordered my burger which I usually do when I’m out and I’ve never had a problem with any sort of special order at Sawmill.

The steak was actually pretty good! It came out cooked just right (well-done), not burnt or leathery. It wasn’t the juciest of steaks but for the price and the cut, we got what we paid for. (Well, he did!).

My burger was cooked to perfection. It was a juicy, bbq-cheddar-bacon-burger that hit the spot.

We had a few mixed beverages from the bar and a beer. Our total for dinner and drinks was about $33 plus tip. Not too bad for steak, burgers and beer in a friendly close-to-home restaurant.

If you’re going to eat here on a busy weekend night, be sure to get in a little early as parking can be tricky (though not impossible) on the weekends.

We’d already had dinner earlier in the evening (518 on Glenwood) and then we were off to see Mumford and Sons (my favorite band in the whole world but that’s beside the point). After braving the heat before, during and after the concert, we’d both sweat off the calories from dinner and were in need of some grub.

He suggested Tobacco Road which seemed an odd name for this non-Carolina girl but I was game. We weren’t too far and were able to find a decent parking spot at 222 Glenwood Avenue, in a nice little part of town with a few restaurants and specialty shops.

Tobacco Road is a true sports bar with numerous television sets and a little area that even includes several recliners. I wasn’t here to watch any ESPN, however, so we sat down and browsed through the menu.

It was almost 11 at night so we didn’t want to eat too much food, but we were considerably hungry and an appetizer just wouldn’t do. We settled on the fresh pico de gallo with chips. It was absolutely delicious except we didn’t realize there were decent sized chunks of jalapeno in there (with seeds) so we each got a little more burn than we’re used to. (If you like the burn, you’ll probably love this appetizer).

We each ordered a soda, and then one beer and a mixed beverage (or two).

We also decided we’d share a burger instead of each having a full meal. We ordered the Durham Bull burger (medium well) which has bacon and bbq sauce. We also added cheddar cheese.

The burger was delicious. DELICIOUS.

Tobacco Road had a great atmosphere. There were couples together, a few groups of friends hanging out at the bar or at a table. Some folks watched the TV while others just chatted quietly. There was a family that came in with their kids and they seemed to have fun too. One of the servers put on a children’s channel on the tv closest to their table which I thought was really nice of her to do. (Although why someone had their kids out and about at midnight to eat I’m not sure. Just sayin’…)

Our tab was just under $30 after tip, which wasn’t too bad for the food we got as well as a few bar drinks. We’ve been back several times because we enjoyed the atmosphere and food so much. Definitely a neat date place or if you want to watch the game and chow down on some really good food.

I was in the mood for seafood. Big Time. I had the option of buying some from Fresh Market (also in Sutton Square), or checking out Captain Stanley’s. Since I am a 20 something bachelor I went for having someone else do the cooking today. I checked in for an early dinner right before 5pm on Saturday. It was pretty quiet but I could tell that they were getting ready for Dinner time peak. They had two hostesses and a server at the reception area to greet me. One of the hosts took me right back to my own booth.

My server was prompt in getting to the table and taking my drink order and getting me some really good hush puppies right away. Good thing too, I was starving. Also to note, they serve Pepsi Products. Which I am totally cool with.

Going in, I knew what I was looking for: Tuna Steak & Pop Corn Shrimp. They had both items on the menu however not as a combo, or available for individual order. So when my server Steven got back around I told him what I wanted “Tuna Steak and Large size popcorn shrimp” and to kindly figure out how to put it in the system.

One thing to note – The way their menu is set up they have combos for Fried seafood, and combos for broiled seafood. Apparently you cant substitute. On the broiled side the Tuna Steak with Shrimp was like $12.99.

Steven came back after talking to the manager and said my order would be $16.99. I didn’t argue. I was hungry, its what I wanted and the price was what I was willing to pay in my state of hunger and craving.

The meal then showed up with a very well prepared Tuna Steak (I like mine cooked all the way thru, not raw in the middle like some) and an oval plate of popcorn shrimp one layer thick (meaning there was no shrimp laying on top of the other on the whole plate), the two sides I ordered – Brunswick stew & baked potato. The Brunswick stew was very good, it did however have a Giant piece of tomato in it that I wasn’t interested in eating. The baked potato was not huge but made a great side serving.

I was just very puzzled at the small serving of shrimp considering I ordered a large popcorn shrimp (I’m a bachelor, I like leftovers for later). Now I was having issues that I paid $4.00 more and got such a small serving of popcorn shrimp. So I waited to dig in to those just in case Steven the server didn’t hear me right when I ordered a Large Serving. I waited for a while, Steven did not follow up after delivering my food to see if I needed anything. I dug into the tuna steak and it was great. However, I did want some lemon slices so I even had to wait to continue on the tuna steak. The Brunswick stew and baked potato tided me over till the server came back. I said “is this a large?” while pointing at the oval plate with popcorn shrimp. Steven said “it’s a regular serving that comes with the Rib Eye and popcorn shrimp…that’s how we had to input your order to the system”. “OOOOOoooo” I said, and Left it at that.

Over all the food was great, service was good. I will definitely be back for more seafood at Captain Stanley’s in North Raleigh. Maybe I was just thinking too much about my experience at Mayflower Seafood restaurant and their Heaping regular serving of popcorn shrimp. Or maybe I should have asked to specifically substitute popcorn shrimp for broiled shrimp @ $12.99. I definitely know having the server and manager figure it out will not result in the best Price/Value to the customer.

This location has an outdoor patio that is fairly nice, and the inside of the restaurant is also nice with plenty of seating unless you arrive smack in the middle of lunch! There’s a fairly steady flow of movement in the restaurant, so there is usually a place to sit by the time you get your food, if not then it’s only a short wait on a busy day.

The menu is posted above the registers and it is a little hard to take in since there are so many choices to pick from; grabbing a paper menu near the front door seems to be an easier way to pick what you want while you are waiting in line. Orders are placed fairly quickly so be ready to go to the next available register so they don’t have to wave you over.

We decided to get panini sandwiches (flattened and grilled bread): I got the smokehouse turkey hot panini sandwich, and my friend got the chipotle chicken hot panini sandwich. I ordered chips for my side and he had an apple. We both had fountain drinks.

The sandwiches made it out pretty quickly considering Panera was pretty busy. My smokehouse turkey was nice and hot, but the chipotle chicken was lukewarm and the bread not grilled very much at all. We didn’t feel like taking the sandwich back and so decided to go ahead and eat.

My smokehouse turkey panini was pretty good: apparently it was on three-cheese bread (it tasted like regular to me) with smoked turkey, applewood-smoked bacon, smoked cheddar cheese and “sun-dried tomato ale mustard.”  I love sundried tomatoes so this sandwich sounded perfect for me. Unfortunately, the flavor was nothing to write home about. It tasted like smoked turkey, cheese and mustard on bread. I was hoping the sandwich would have a more unique flavor to it but it really didn’t.

The chipotle chicken was on toasted french bread – although we’d use the term “toasted” lightly here! Literally! The cubed chicken was paired with applewood-smoked bacon, smoked cheddar, tomatoes and ancho chipotle spread. As mentioned, the chicken wasn’t that warm so our cheese wasn’t very melted or gooey, and the tomato slice was a little under-ripe so we took it off the sandwich. The flavor of the ancho chipotle spread was pretty good, however, and gave a nice flavor to the sandwich.

In all, these weren’t sandwiches that earned their $7.19 price tag. Our lunch definitely wasn’t worth the $20 we forked out for mediocre sandwiches. We did, however, add on a $3.00 pastry for .99 because we bought lunch. It was a cheese danish and it was delicious: it reminded me of a cheese danish I used to buy when I lived in Germany a long time ago!

We’ll probably give this Panera another shot, but considering the prices, the potential for a long wait, and the difficulty to get in and out of the parking lot, it won’t be our first choice any time soon.

Speaking of hitting the spot… we’ve been on the hunt for some really good pizza here in Raleigh. We still love Rudino’s for some good pizza, but when it comes to really good New York style pizza, we think we may have found the perfect place for us. It hits the spot every.single.time.

A few weeks ago while shopping at Triangle Town Center, we decided we were too lazy to go home and cook we wanted to eat out for dinner and thought we’d try Dominic’s NY Pizzaria. It smelled good outside and we hoped that was a sign of good things to come!

Like most NY Pizza places, they had some ready-to-heat-up slices in a front display case. I chose the garlic, spinach and cheese while two kids picked up regular cheese slices and my main squeeze ordered a Stromboli. I asked for a  side of marinara for dipping my pizza crust in since the pizza I ordered didn’t have red sauce on it. The guy behind the counter who took our order was super friendly and really nice.

We sat down in the nice eating area complete with NY style decor. We were able to watch one of the pizza makers hand-toss the pizza dough which was fun in and of itself. By the time our order arrived, we were practically drooling from the aromas of pizza dough, tomato sauce and garlic. We dived in to our pizza fest and washed it down with some cold bubbly soda.

Oh my have mercy the pizza was *so good* – really really really good! They have practically perfected the New York Style pizza flavor in their pizza sauce. The marinara sauce was chunky but not thick and was delicious. Everyone raved about their giant pizza slices (one slice was enough to fill up each kid. I ate about a slice and a quarter and was stuffed). My cute boyfriend tried to eat up all of his Stromboli but was also stuffed. We got a few to go boxes so we could have the leftovers for lunch (or breakfast!) the next day.

We’ve had the veggie pizza and cheese pizza twice since and still find ourselves craving Dominic’s pizza. If you want to give them a try, they are located at 5911 Poyner Village Parkway across from Old Navy in the Triangle Town Center Target plaza area. They have a limited delivery area and take online orders as well.

Check out their website here:  Dominic’s Pizza and then go have some yummy lunch or dinner as soon as you can.

Tap City is located in the Falls Village shopping center, just off of Falls of Neuse Road (there’s a Chick-Fil-A there and a Panera Bread). We’ve been excited about this location because it’s nice to have a more local bar and grill that doesn’t require a trip downtown if we don’t want to drive, park and walk.

Tap City is a brand-new addition to the North Raleigh food scene and we have to say we haven’t been disappointed thus far. Aside from boasting more than 30 beers on tap and another more than 30 bottled, you’re sure to find something to drink that you really, really like.  If you don’t care for beer, you can get any other beverage or mixed drink from their full service bar.

Enough about imbibing:  let’s talk food.  Our first experience left us drooling for more. We had their southern wings with their sweet with a bit’o'heat Wango Tango sauce. Just the smell gets your taste buds revved up for the burst of flavor you get from this dipping sauce. I don’t do spicy but with a bit of ranch to cut the heat, I enjoyed these wings!

Our second trip was almost a complete bust until our server saved the day. I wish I remembered her name come to think of it…  Anyway, one of us ordered the roast beef sandwich and the other a fish sandwich. I have to tell you that the roast beef sandwich wasn’t good. At.All. It didn’t taste like a flavor I thought should be associated with roast beef. Whether it was my own flavor and taste preferences getting in the way or if Tap City just happened upon a not-so-good flavor combo I don’t know, but I was disappointed and picked at my french fries. I figured I’d just get the sandwich to go and leave well enough alone.

My server wouldn’t hear of it though. She noticed I hadn’t eaten much of my food and asked me if I didn’t care for it. I told her it wasn’t a flavor I was enjoying very much and she IMMEDIATELY got a menu, removed my current plate and helped me pick out something else to eat. I had the Funky Chicken sandwich which hit the spot!

They removed the meal I didn’t like from our bill and couldn’t have treated us better if we’d eaten one of everything off the menu.

This type of excellent customer service will get me to go back to eat at Tap City again. (Don’t worry, our server got extra in her tip for her fantastic efforts).

I recommend you give Tap City a try. It’s a fun little spot with a unique menu and fun wait-staff. Prices are comparable to other similar spots in the area.

Then we tried out Red Bowl Asian Bistro in the North Raleigh area. It’s located in the shopping center off of Old Wake Forest Road near BJs club, just next door to Mimi’s Cafe. The ambiance and interior design are great – it’s not your typical run in and run out Chinese restaurant (although you can order – online even – and pick up your food for carryout).  Tables can accommodate a couple or a larger group of people eating out together. We’ve never experienced a wait time.

Red Bowl offers all of your typical Chinese restaurant fare including a pretty extensive fresh sushi menu. Prices are fairly comparable to other local Chinese restaurants in Raleigh which is surprising since we thought it might be more expensive because of the nicer indoor atmosphere and the “Bistro” name. Red Bowl currently offers a promotional key tag that allows you a percentage off a carry-out order OR a buy one get one deal for dine-in orders (ask the restaurant for more info).

About the food: we’ve eaten here about 5 or 6 times in the past few months and every time Red Bowl has delivered exactly what we hoped for. I love Sesame Chicken and this is the best I’ve had in my 6 years of living in the Triangle. Other items ordered include their Orange Chicken which is too spicy for me, so if you like a little heat with your chicken this is a perfect dish. They offer delicious and hot soups and other hors devours. My favorite is their Crab Rangoon – you get about 6 of them, perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. In my personal opinion, they are the best in the North Raleigh area period!

Red Bowl includes a kids menu which is good if you have an older kid who needs their own plate and won’t share off of your own monstrous and generous serving portion. Everyone’s meals are served on nifty and trendy plates or bowls and of course chopsticks are available, with a neat little rubber-band twisty available for those of us who haven’t yet (and probably never will) master the art of chopstick eating.

Red Bowl also has a full-service bar for drinks at the table or if you want to watch the television and sit right at the bar with your meal.

If you are looking for some tasty Chinese food, do give Red Bowl a try. For now, it’s my favorite Chinese restaurant of all time.

The atmosphere at Champs is always energetic, and this day was no exception. The FIFA World Cup was playing on several tvs, and the ceiling hosted flags from the nations represented at the games. Our server was fast and friendly but not overbearing. We ordered chips and salsa for our appetizer as seems to be our trend. I tried out their berry-lemonade (pricier than a soda with one free refill) which was very good and not too tart or acidic at all.

My super-cute date ordered a bacon cheeseburger and I settled on the Cuban grill. It wasn’t a traditional Cuban – which I’ve been craving lately – a pressed Cuban bread sandwich with ham and (usually) pork but sometimes turkey. Slap on some mustard, cheese and a sliced pickle and voila. 

Champ’s Cuban grille takes a little different approach – their ham is paired with a sort of pork-bbq with chopped pickles mixed into the sauce. It certainly didn’t sound like what I wanted, but I was so hungry I figured it would do.

The sandwich didn’t just “do” – it was amazing and delicious. The pickle-bbq-whatever-else-is-in-it sauce was the perfect addition to the ham and the bread. It wasn’t your traditional Cuban obviously, but it sated my longing for one and I’ve been craving another ever since. The chips and salsa were equally delicious, and my date’s burger was also tasty.

The biggest complaint about Champs would probably be that it’s a little on the pricey side for lunch. We paid about $35-40 (after tip) for the burger, sandwich, chips and drinks, what I would have expected to pay for dinner of the same value.