Sweet and Sour in Boston

I'm totally losing all hip foodie points with some of our latest reviews. Applebee's and Texas Roadhouse? Not the latest inspirational spots of cuisines, but hey, sometimes you gotta go chain even if you don't wanna.

So it's a Sunday after mass and we have to go to Everett to go to Target and Michaels...I never said our lives were interesting. Our eating options are TGI Fridays, Panera Bread, Chuck E Cheese, or Texas Roadhouse. I think as nearly as badly of TGI Fridays as I do as Applebee's so that's out. We don't want to look like pedophiles, so Chuck E Cheese is out. I actually do like Panera Bread, but soup and sandwich wasn't going to cut it. Texas Roadhouse...a chain that we've had just as many decent meals as bad ones. Time to roll the dice once more.

We enter and are seated in the bar area immedietly. So that's nice, no wait. Peanut shells everywhere. Hey, that's ok, this is the type of place we are in. I'm ok with that. While the peanut shells are a well known advertised gimmick here, the automatic feeling that you are the thinnest, most in shape person in the whole restaurant isn't as well known. Things are larger in Texas, and at Texas Roadhouse so is the clientele. Kids who have to be 10 years or younger must have weighed more than Abby and myself combined. At least all the young waitstaff were thin, leading one to believe that they don't dine at the establishment that they work at. (The kicker to all this was the large group of high school cheerleaders that were having lunch at the same time as us. Now when you think high school cheerleaders, you think hot thin girls right? Ali Larter putting whip cream all over her body type of girls. I don't know what high school these girls were from, but their entire cheerleading squad comprised of the bottom of the pyramid type of girls. Things have changed since I've been in high school, and equal opportunity is really at work here.) Oh wait, I'm suppose to be talking about the food...sorry...I get distracted when things like cheerleaders are involved.



I have to admit it: the rolls here are consistently good. Very buttery and very moist. They are on the sweet side and are served with a cinnamon butter spread that some people love. I think they are good without the spread though.

The portions at Texas Roadhouse are incredible. Every meal gets 2 full sides. The prices are equally as incredible, with some steaks under $9.99. I get the country fried sirloin (chicken fried steak is what I call it) and Abby goes for something called the Roadkill.



We both start with a salad and I probably could have just had this for lunch. This is no small side salad. As far as salads go, it's a decent salad. If you went to any cafeteria and got a salad with egg and cheese and tomatoes, it'll probably come up basically the same. It's not great, but it's definitely not bad.




My chicken fried steak came with a cream gravy (though you could have gotten a brown gravy instead) and with a baked potato. Again, nothing great, but it wasn't bad at all. I mean, look at the size of the freaking thing! If this doesn't fill you up, then nothing will. I remember last time getting the same order and it being salty beyond belief, but this time it had all the right flavors and wasn't bad at all.



Abby's Roadkill came out to be basically a bun-less burger. She said it tasted good and her veggies weren't bad mainly because they were made with a lot of butter.



To add to the point that the portions at Texas Roadhouse are big, check out the size of that broccoli!

Texas Roadhouse isn't bad at all, as far as chains go. You definitely get your money's worth and during a time like now with our economy in the crapper, that's a big plus. I give Texas Roadhouse a 3 out of 5.