State and Main: Disappointing

Recently a restaurant/bar style establishment opened up in southgate. WHICH i personally thing is GENIUS!

The only bad thing is that they haven't gotten their act together.

We went around 6pm and there was no line but lots of their tables were filled. They had section there restaurant into three parts.

I got a water and Dustin got a pop and they arrived in mason jars. So far ok nothing too special. The decor was good since it was brand new.

 We went straight for the entrees since we were starving. At this point a group of girls came and sat at the table next to us. I am assuming one of them is a server because throughout the night lots of the staff came and talked to them and I heard YOU ARE NOT WORKING.....

This brings me to one point why I am pissed off. They had arrived after us and we had ordered before they came YET they got their food and drinks FAST. (their appi came before us and their food came right after ours)

Ok second point of DISGUST is the actual food:
I ordered a bison burger and I was super excited by being able to choose 2 SIDES. I went for the jalepeno corn bread and the qinnuoa salad.

 The salad was good the corn bread was almost doughy and too dense. To top it off there was no flavor of jalepeno. DISSAPOINTED to the MAX. This was only the start. I don't really like buns and most breads so I opted out of eating the bum. THANK GOD I did because it showed me how nasty their burger really was. I know bison is lean but there is LEAN and there is ROCK HARD.

 Dustin ordered a Ruben which I actually enjoyed. IT was doused with tons of butter which I guess makes most things delicious. His fries were nasty. They were soft and did not have much flavor. I would have rather gotten my from MICDICKS and I hate medicks, His other side was the jalepeno mash potatoes. I liked it to a certain degree. You could taste the jalepeno in the mash HOWEVER the mash was extremely salt, even Dustin who loves salty food thought so.

 I took a pic of my corn bread. THIS IS PRIOR TO ME EATING IT. it already had a junk missing. I may be paranoid but it does look like someone took a bite off with their mouth or their hands. I WAS ALREADY TURNED OFF.

 This here is a super blurry stealth photo of the group of girls (3) sitting next to us. The white thing you see in the pitch darkness is her sandal in which she put up on the seat as she ate. She also picked at her feet while she ate. THIS IS THE GIRL that is supposedly an off duty staff member. I WAS GROSSED OUT. The proximity of her feet and table to me was about the size of a normal BMI person.

 HEre is some photo evidence of how nasty my burger was after I dissected it. There were fork marks to scrape off the burnt and the onions on it were so RAW and powerful I teared up.

SO I would not go back for the bison....

The manager found out about my disgust with the meal and he comped the price of my burger... I just hope they don't do it again. What kind of establishment is ok with burning a burger or over cooking it and using a fork or some sort of scrapper to scratch off the burnt parts.

Here is a sample of the menu which actually really reminds me of Joeys and Earls.


Would I come back again?

Not for a while. Maybe they will shape up in a bit.

I really cannot go for another rock hard flavourless burger. HOWEVER, I do give a place usually 3 strikes so I will visit again to see if they got better.

PS unlike Joeys and Earls the waitresses were not really attractive at all.

Heading to Lux Steakhouse and Bar: a sassy lunch experience

When you are on Jasper be it working, shopping or going to school at Grant Mac and you have a LONG moment to spare fore lunch, I would recommend going to Luxe.

My dad and I met for lunch to discuss my post secondary potions and he told me that he has eaten here many times and the food is awesome.

Here are sample pictures of the menu:

I went for a beef and dip with fries on the side loaded with carbs and all bad things that DIETS recommend you never to go near.

I must say I really enjoyed the dip. The pretzel bread was delicious ( I have a fascination with pretzels) and soft. The fries were not too bad though not comparable to my fav fry places: COSTCO and THE PINT. Overall, my meal was pretty good though I do tend to find most restaurant food a tad bit salty.

My dad went for the BLT and a side salad. I had a few bites of his burger and they were pretty good. Nothing to really complain about.

The only horrible thing was the service. I don't know if it was an off day but it took forever for us to be even helped and  then we thought it would speed things up if we didn't do an appi. ALAS it did not, we waited a whiles for our entree to come. The waiter didn't fill our waters often and I really hate it when the SERVICE of a restaurant ends up effecting how you view their food.

Would I come back?

I would, I did enjoy my dip a lot. I just hope next time the service is better.

Who doesn't want a good BJ : The Burger Joint

Everyone wants a good BJ at least once in their life...

I mean a decent burger joint is what gets you going on those long hauls and crappy days.

Location : 9132 23 Ave NW 

This place is right by COSTCO right by Millwoods and near South Edmonton Common. It is in a little complex with stores like nail salons, lash extensions, some HORRIBLE facial place and a massage place. 

The place is legitly called THE BURGER JOINT. A co-worker of mine (A.M.) read my blog and suggested I go there for his favorite burger : Donair burger and curly fries. I finally took his suggestion despite being literally on my death bed. (nausea, stuffed nose, watery eyes and pounding headache) 

Here is their facebook page: CLICK HERE

I asked the owner how long they have been open since the place LOOKS BRAND NEW as in super super super clean. He said 2 years. 

Here is where you place your order, either you make your own burger or choose off of their menu on the wall. There is also a space you can look into the kitchen. 

this is the decor and dining scheme of the place. IT IS ACTUALLY pretty awesome. 

who doesn't love a good old gum ball machine that happens to be standing at the ENTRANCE.

This is their signature burgers that is posted on the wall. 

Cute little mini fridge built right into the cash counter

A little pig for tips (this is so adorable) 

and whole lot of seasonings for your fries!!!! 

while I ordered my food to go I went to go to the washroom. I was surprised I had to take two turns to get there and the decor once again was lovely.

cute little sign on the door showing it is women's

inside the washroom is an awesome mirror and an even cooler faucet.!

their washroom is very clean and has modern decorations. This washroom is thus far the cleanest and most favorite washroom of all the restaurants I have visited thus far. 

I finally got my food and we went home. They gave us a card that gives us free medium fries next time we come and also here is the list of how to make your own burger. 

we got home some 20 min later and I immediately began to chow down. The curly fries were pretty good much better then the food court variety. The little garnish was a cute after thought but didn't really do anything for the fries. it came it taziki dip which was actually super yummy. The curly fires is a 8/10 for me. They were $3.25

Here are two shots of my donair burger one from the top and one upclose. The taziki sauce is just over flowing. The bun is grilled too which was nice. The lettuce was fresh and so was the other vegetables in it. The only thing I think they can do better on is THAT HUGE SLAB OF ONION. When I ate it, it became too overwhelming. Perhaps next time less onion or they should make it less SHARP?

here is dustin's 100% lamb burger with feta cheese. I took a bite of his and I would say the meat itself is better than the one from SUGARBOWL but the cheese and rest of it (sauce) is not as good. Overall, it was still an awesome burger.

The total of two burgers and the curly fries came to $ 22.50 I think Dustin's lamb burger was a dollar more than mine. 

I definitely would come back here again. The decor is nice, the washroom is nice and the food is pretty good! The staff and cook were helpful and attentive (though in retrospect we were the only ones there). 

Delightful Burger Joint: Delux Burger

If you remember from a few posts ago, I was craving deluxe burger and was in dire need to get my burger cravings satisfied. Liana and I had gone to WEM to go get us a slice of heaven at Burbon Street only to find that the Delux Burger at WEM was CLOSED indefinitely. NOOOooooooo (ended up going to Old Spaghetti Factory) 

Ever since then I was craving and craving a guilt free burger or some sort of burger from delux burger. To try and satisfy my burger cravings I have visited Five Guys in South Edmonton Common and even went to McDicks for a mcdouble. Nothing did the trick.

So today after feeling defeated, losing an hour to DAY LIGHT SAVINGS, I laid in bed thinking and pondering if I should go and get me a burger. Finally it was decided! we were going to the one in Magrawth.

Click here for their online menu including prices! 

Location: Market at Magrath

14111 - 23 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T6R 0G4
780.989.2747

Here are some old pictures of  deluxe burger from when I went to the WEM location and the location by Lyndale Accent. 

My bison burger with bri cheese. I love bison meat, I sometimes even prefer it to beef. Free range always tastes better.

Chicken wing lollipop which I think they don't carry anymore

Shrimp in a box yum minus the stringy stuff it came with is equivalent to those chinese crab tasting chips.

Going into the establishment:

 Outside they have a sign telling you their special of the day today it was a BBQ Mushroom melt. Tempting but I was going for the guilt free burger.

 People wearing all green that confused me and made me think it was St. Patties day and got pinched. (they were going to the price is right....)

Here is a make your own burger sheet but after I added up all the stuff I wanted on my MAKE YOUR OWN burger it was more expensive then just getting the guilt free burger. STRUGGLING student and all I went for the guilt free burger instead.

 The mens and women's washroom. When I went into the women's washroom there was pictures of cows on the wall. I don't really get why it would be there... is it making me feel guilty that I am eating cows? Or make me feel self conscious as I am trying to piddle.

 The washroom was single person use and its as kinda dirty there was more  bits of toilet paper on the ground. EW.

 we got the window booth seat originally sitting 5. There wasn't a line and many other tables were open so we got the choice to choose where we wanted to sit.

 Here is a snapshot of their bar.

Finally our food came. (10 min give or take a min)My guilt free burger with yam/ sweet potato fries.

 This is dustin's DELUX burger

 I love the pickle it's so JUICY!

I really love eating at Delux burger and would definitely come back again. The only time I had a bad experience was trying one of their chef specials at the Lyndale accent location and I got  food poisoning ( it was fish based).

This time I was disappointed because I didn't get COTTON CANDY! we always get it and I saw kids at another table get it but apparently ADULTS don't get it at this location. =/

WE DIDNT GET IT THIS TIME =/