A special message for this past Memorial Day weekend ......... Hello everyone, I hope everyone had a safe and fun weekend. Let's keep the brave men and women who fought for our country (alive and departed) in our thoughts for this special weekend. Here are some pics from that relaxing day. Even Ginger "the cat" was chilling. As you can see, we tried to attack the ribs.

This Week's Advice

Hello readers, If you're anything like me as far as getting your eight glasses of water a day, then your doctor suggested drinking more water. I'm not going to lie, I CAN'T DO EIGHT GLASSES A DAY. I can do five. BUT NOT EIGHT. So, I got the idea of how I can drink at least five glasses of water a day. I started buying a 20 ounce bottle of water and when done drinking the first supply of water, I just go to the nearest water fountain and refill the bottle. Drink that supply and I'm good to go. You see, a 20 ounce bottle of water is about 2 1/2 glasses, so two bottles of this is about five glasses. I stay pretty active, so before I know it, I've already had my five glasses of water and I'm done. Hope this helps.

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Family Style Dining

This next review is for the Royal Grill, located on 9 mile & Coolidge in Oak Park, Michigan. I was running errands (I'm forever doing this) in this area and just happened to notice a couple of restaurants near by, so I decided to try this eatery. When I walked in, I was alittle surprised that there weren't more customers inside, but I did

get there just before 1pm on a Sunday. People are usually still in church around this time. One of the waittresses helped me right away, she was very pleasant and easy to talk to as well, which are very important qualities while working in the service industry. I didn't have time to dine in for this visit as well, so I quickly made the choice to order something for carry out. The restaurant is a good size where even if the dining area was full to capacity, you wouldn't fill crowded sitting at your table or walking to the restroom. I wanted to order a burger, but it turned out I didn't have time to wait for it to cook, so I decided to order something quick, which was their chili special with cheese (I love cheese). The chili looked so appetising, that I had to try alittle before I got home. I didn't want to spoil my appetite, because later on, I was preparing a new casserole for my mother and I wanted to have plenty of room for dinner. The chili had flavor. It was not overly seasoned and it had the perfect amount of cheese. It was topped with onions and I loved the slight crunch I got when chewing them. I'm very picky about my chili and I was not disappointed. It didn't have that "WOW" factor that I look for, but I would order this special again, because like I mentioned earlier, it did have flavor. If you go to this restaurant and order this chili special, I would be interested in your thoughts. I found this restaurant to be very cozy and I look forward to trying other items on the menu. Overall, I would give this restaurant a "B" grade because of the friendly staff, tasty chili and home like feeling I got when visiting this establishment.

Chinese Buffet

Saturday May 5th 2012, I was running errands and decided to stop at this Chinese buffet restaurant. I've been meaning to stop by for lunch and since I was in the area, I decided today would be a good day to do so. This review is for Hokkaildo Buffet. The restaurant is located at the Eastgate Center at Gratiot and 10 1/2 mile in Eastpoint. You have the choice of placing an order from their menu or sampling dishes from the buffet. Either way, you can dine in or carry out. I decided to do a carry out from the buffet. The hostess misunderstood me at first, she thought I wanted to dine in from the buffet, because she escorted me to a table, so I had to explain to her, that I wanted to do a carry out, not dine in. Once the confusion was cleared up, the hostess realized that she had to make an adjustment for the amount she charged me, once she understood what I wanted to do. Walking around the restaurant, it had a warm and inviting feel. When I arrived, it was around 11:30am. It turns out this was a good time, because there weren't alot of patrons inside because of the time of day on a Saturday. Personally, I don't like a crowed restaurant, but at the same time, I don't like an empty one either, but I have to take in consideration the time of day I arrived. I continued my tour of the restaurant, before I got my food. All the booths were in good condition and the floor looked well maintained. I made my way to the buffet and circled around all the stations, everything looked very appealing. The restaurant has a seafood, dessert, sushi and two main dish stations. It was hard to decide what I wanted, because there are so many dishes, but I managed to get a small sample of a few items. I decided to get a sample of vegetable fried rice, scallops, cheese crabmeat, teriyaki chicken, pepper steak, bourbon chicken, scallion crab and butter potatoes. I decided to get samples from the main dish stations for this visit, I wasn't in the mood for sweets. The hostess was a lovely young asian woman. She was very nice and easy to talk to. My overall experience was very enjoyable and I can say that the buffet for me did have a "WOW" factor. I would give this visit a B+ grade.

Blimpie

This Blimpie shop, located on Gratiot just slightly north of 15 mile road in Clinton Township, Michigan is small and inviting, the employees are attentive. I visited this shop a couple of times. The first time (virgin lol), I ordered their philly cheese steak sub, it was full of flavor and moist. Based on this sub, I would say Subway has some competition. The second time I visited this Blimpie, I ordered their soup and salad combo, very reasonably priced for $4.29, before tax. I ordered the broccoli cheese soup for my combo. The soup was excellent, but be careful when you remove the lid. Let's just say the soup was definately hot. Some of the soup spilled on my hand and there was a burning sensation for a couple of minutes. I believed that this was just a freak accident, it could have happened at any restaurant. The salad was bland, there was no "WOW" factor. I ate all of the soup and some of the salad at the restaurant and took the rest of the salad home. When I got home, I added a diced egg and bacon bits, I was then quite pleased with the salad afterwards. If you order a regular salad, make sure you have the employee add more than onions, to give it more flavor. In my opinion, you shouldn't have to add your own ingredients from home to make a restaurant salad more appealing to your taste buds. My overall grade for this Blimbie location's visit is a "C" grade.

Papa's Pizza

This pizza shop is located on Gratiot and 15 mile road. I didn't order a pizza, a pizza review will come later, but I did order their tiger tail jumbo shrimp dinner. The dinner came with fries for $8.99 before taxes. I did enjoy the dinner, but unfortunately, it did not have what I like to call that "WOW" factor for me. The shrimp had a slight under seasoned taste. It just didn't have enough flavor for my taste.
I recommend you save your money. For the cost of this shrimp dinner, you can buy some shrimp at your local market and prepare battered fried shrimp yourself (if you're into cooking like I am). The staff was friendly and very professional and the shop was well maintained. I would visit this shop again because I would like to try other menu items listed. Overall, I would give this location a "B" grade for this visit.

Checkers' Burger Review

This review is for Checkers' burger on Gratiot near I-696. I've been to this restaurant a few times as well and there are good menu items listed on the menu board. The restaurant always looks well maintained. Everytime I go by this location, there's usually several drivers in line waiting for there order. I ordered the regular checkers' burger with cheese combo. I was

alittle disappointed with the fries and burger. The fries didn't have enough flavor and were slightly dry. The burger had alittle too much dressing, making it slightly sloppy, (I did not ask for extra dressing)I had to used a couple of napkins. Usually I like an extra moist burger, but it didn't work with this burger, the burger was just simply too sloppy, but it did have flavor. It's disappointing because I've been to this location before and was not disappointed, but I have ordered the deluxe burgers. So my suggestion is to stick with the deluxe burgers and sandwiches, because their prepared better. Based on this visit only, I'll have to give this Checkers' location a "C" grade.

Subway Shop Review

Hello All,
         Today I'm reviewing one of the Subway shops located at 15 mile & Lahser road. I've been to this location several times and I can honestly say the employees are friendly and the subs are fresh and full of flavor. This particular day I ordered a 6" tuna sub and I can say, the sub was not disappointing. The only thing negative that I can comment on is the fact their mats did need alittle attention. Other than that, I can give this Subway shop a B+ grade. Without a doubt, you won't be disappointed with this Subway's menu. I'll be reviewing other subway shops in the near future.

Check back soon for other restaurant reviews