Julian and I went to Athena to enjoy some great Greek food and to celebrate my birthday. For my moms birthday in April, we went to another nearby Greek restaurant called Parthenon which was an absolutely horrible experience so I wanted to give Greektown a second chance to impress me. When we walked into the restaurant I was very impressed with the decor and the dining room was beautiful. Take a look for yourself! Since we had just gone rock climbing our hands were dirty and we decided to wash up before we ate. I'm not sure about the men's bathroom but the women's bathroom was a little run down. The sinks were dated and you couldn't turn the faucet all the way off. When we got back to our table they gave us bread along with some butter and olive oil. The bread tasted like it was a few days old and felt like it was taken out of the fridge. Not a great start but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. The menu was pricey and I decided to order the Loin of Lamb while Julian ordered the Shrimp Skordati. While Julian and I were patiently waiting for our food (I ordered lamb so I knew it would take a long time) we were surprised that our server was coming with our food already. To be honest it couldn't have been more than 10 mins. First impression were not so great because just look at the presentation. Why is my rice and potato on a different plate? It's so awkward to eat like that. When I tried a piece of my lamb all I could taste was disappointment. It had no flavor and worse yet, it was cold. I felt the bottom of the plate and it was hotter than the lamb itself, which leads me to suspect they either microwaved it or put it in a broiler for a few minutes. I was searching for my waiter to have my food warmed up and he was behind us taking an order. I tried to get his attention but he just walked away. I snagged a guy walking towards us to deliver a glass of wine and told him I wanted my food warmed up. He apologized and took it back. I waited another 10 minutes and it came back hotter but Julian was already basically done with his food. When I finally got my food I started eating and realized that there was 40% meat and 60% bone. Very disappointing. That dish cost $20. When we finished our food we were waiting quite a while before they picked up our dirty plates. After they finally picked up the plates we asked for our check and waited about 10 minutes until we asked again for it. After another 5 mins they finally brought it and I was tired of waiting so we just got up and walked to the host desk to pay for our bill. The host went to get our server to process our payment which took forever but we finally got out of there. Based on the poor quality of food, the clumsy service and over priced menu, Athena receives 1 star. I would not recommend this place at all. Don't waste your time or money. It's such a shame that they have such a beautiful dining room.
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Yesterday was my 20th birthday and I was able to spend my birthday weekend and day having some fun with friends. Over the weekend I had an awesome party which unexpectedly turned into Naruto the Gathering because 85% of the conversations were about Naruto thanks to Josh. Despite the fact that I ended up being the only girl at my party or the majority of the time (shout out to Ji for being amazing and coming by before work!) and the only one that didn't like Naruto, I still had a lot of fun! I will always remember the moment when I knocked down the birthday piñata and Eli just picked it up and ran away! Yesterday, Julian and I went rock climbing for a bit, ate at Athena, a Greek Restaurant (read my review!) and then painted a sculpture at a ceramics store. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday awesome! I could not wish for better friends! Ah Tedinos. This place is my go to pizza place and undeniably the best pizza there is out there! I've been going to Tedinos for at least 10 years with my family. It all started when my mom went out to lunch with some of her co-workers at her old job. They order a basket of fries, a Cesar salad and a pizza. Weirdo combo right? That's what everyone says until they try it. You definitely should. Ever since the first time we've come to Tedinos we order basically the same thing. Our waitress, Anka, waits on us about 90% of the time we go there. She is simply amazing and from 10 years of ordering basically the same thing she has it memorized. I've even coined our famous order the Soto Family Special, which consists of Buffalo Wings, a basket of fries, a Cesar salad, and a thin crust pizza with jalapeños and green peppers (sometimes pepperoni or deep dish). The food and service is absolutely fantastic. And the prices are very reasonable. Our bill is usually around $50-60 to feed about 5-6 people.
Tedinos without a doubt receives 5 stars because of its awesome pizza, attentive service and great price. Julian and I went on an adventure this past Thursday for some trampoline fun at Rockin' Jump in Deerfield because we had a free hour of jump time. After what was surprisingly an intense work out of trampolining for an hour we were starving. Julian searched for a few minutes on his phone for some places we could sit down and enjoy a great meal and found Biaggi's. We drove for a few miles (because in Deerfield, IL there's just road and woodsy houses) and arrived in a shopping center plaza thingy. The restaurant on the outside is really cool, they have a fountain and nice landscaping. We were seated right away in a comfy booth and realized we were sitting down for linner because it was 3 pm. Our server came by and gave us the menu, took our drink order and served us some fresh bread with olive oil. I ordered the unsweetened iced tea which was great! We also ordered the Sherry Tomato Soup as an appetizer just because it sounded delicious. And it was! Especially with the Parmesan croutons. Yum! Although, iced tea and soup is a little weird it was still great! While looking at the menu we saw an option to get half a portion of the entree and have a salad along with it. I thought that was a wonderful idea because usually when you go out to restaurants they will give you 2-3 portions. Seriously, every restaurant should have an option like this I love it! Anyway, I decided to get the Ravoli Quattro Formaggi while Julian ordered the Shrimp & Crab Canneloni. The Ravoli was just okay, being the main dish I thought it would be flavorful and it just wasn't there so it was pretty disappointing. Also the dish that they served it in was a little bit weird too, I kind of just wish they would have given me 2 separate plates. Julian agreed. The prices were fine, usual fair for Italian food; our bill came out to about $30 or so. I would give it about 3 and 1/2 stars just because the main dish was really lacking. The main dish is supposed to be the star of the show and if you mess that up then well... Not surprisingly Biaggi's is a chain restaurant with locations in the north Chicago suburbs and Naperville. To be honest I don't know if I would go back again, which leaves me to say that I wouldn't especially since I have to think about it. The restaurant was decent don't get me wrong but it's just nothing special. If you're ever by a Biaggi's I think it's worth a try but definitely not a go to place.
The Cheesecake Factory was a second try for me. Before I started this blog I actually had gone to the Cheesecake Factory in downtown with my friends one night and didn't find it all that special. Julian ended up having a gift card so we decided to give the one in Old Orchard a shot. When we first got in the door there was a sign that said to go upstairs for the dining room. Instead of taking the stairs which were toward the back of the building, we took the elevator which was to our immediate right. When the doors opened we were staring at a family having dinner! Awkward! Lol but that's okay because I pretended to know where I was going and made my way to the front of house. We went at about 6pm on a Friday and it was BUSY! They had a lot of space to work with so we only had to wait 10 mins for our table. We used that time to use the bathroom and check out the cheesecake case! We were seated at a wonderfully spacious booth and were given water and the menus. WARNING: This place has a HUGE menu! When I say huge, I mean HUGE! I would say they have at least 200 items. It's kind of ridiculous. If you've ever watched the TV show Kitchen Nightmares, having a HUGE menu is a major pitfall. Since the menu was so huge I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to order. Though I should note, I usually take a long time to order. I ended up ordering the Chicken Bellagio. Basically it's pasta with a basil pesto and Parmesan cream sauce, Parmesan crusted chicken and an arugula and prosciutto salad. As you can see it's a huge plate which can be shared between 2 people easily. I really liked my dish! The basil pesto and Parmesan cream sauce were balanced very well and the acidity from the arugula and prusciutto salad added a nice contrast. The only thing I didn't really like was that the salad is piled on top of your chicken and pasta which I would have preferred to have in a separate bowl. Also the prosciutto was super salty so I could have gone without that as well. Julian ordered the Four Cheese Pasta which was okay, to be honest the one from Olive Garden is better. After we had stuffed ourselves with dinner we decided to order cheesecake because you don't go to the Cheesecake Factory and not have cheesecake. Seriously. You just don't. While we were waiting for our table Julian heard the Red Velvet cheesecake call his name so we ordered that. It was delicious! I would call it more of a cake than a cheesecake though because it tasted like it was cheesecake frosting rather than actual cheesecake. Either way it was good.
The service was great they filled up our waters regularly and were there when we needed them. Just be prepared to pay a decent amount when you done here because it is not cheap. For our 2 dishes and a piece of cheesecake we paid about $45. Kinda crazy. That being said I would give it 3 1/2 stars because everything else was pretty nice. I wouldn't make going here a regular thing though but definitely something to try if you aren't sure what kind of food to eat! I have been coming to Asadero for many years now and thought that I should share this gem with the rest of the world. Not many people know about it because if you blink you'll miss it. This place is definitely worth every penny and should be one of the only places you get Mexican food. (FYI, Chipotle is not Mexican food.) Now, I must add that this place does not do so well in the aesthetic category because the furniture doesn't match and it almost looks like you're walking into someone's kitchen. There is a counter where they keep the menus by the register and you order and right behind it is the kitchen where they make your order. So you can literally watch your food being made. The added benefit is that despite it not being aesthetically pleasing, the food and service makes up for it. If you choose to dine in you order at the counter and you can take a seat anywhere. They'll bring you a fresh basket of homemade tortilla chips and salsa verde (green salsa). This stuff is the best and always fresh even when I go at 11:30 for midnight snacks! ;) The orders usually come within a few minutes depending on what you order. When they're really busy the longest you probably have to wait is 10 minutes. Julian and I decided to stop in to satisfy our midnight cravings and orders 2 tortas. He ordered a torta de pastor and I got my classic carne asada. Both came within 5 mins because (even to my surprise) they were packed at 11:30pm! As you can see from the photos we wasted no time enjoying our delicious food. Tortas come with sour cream, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, onion and cheese. I also snuck some salsa verde in mine to give it a nice kick! Along with our food we both ordered horchatas which were delicious. (For those of you that don't know, an horchata is a traditional Mexican drink that is basically rice water with cinnamon and sugar.) Our total came out to be $19.25 for the 2 tortas and 2 horchatas and free basket of chips with salsa. Which is a pretty awesome price for all that yumminess! The only downfall of Asadero is that they only take cash. But don't worry there's an ATM close! And I know you're gonna feel super full after you eat but there's a park right across the street you can walk around in! Asadero is without a doubt a 4 star place. This is definitely the spot for quick and delicious Mexican food! Know any other awesome Mexican places? Let me know in the comments! In about 2 weeks I will have just turned 20 and will be stepping on to a plane for 12 hours to begin my study abroad journey to Spain. Just saying that feels so surreal, I can't believe it's happening. Every day I walk around my house I randomly think, "Wow I'm not going to be back for 3 and a half months." Some people might think it's not really as bad as it seems but I was quite a sheltered child (who had a 9pm curfew until about a few months ago) and used to get really home sick. But I'm sure I'll be fine!
So here are some pre-pre departure thoughts. A few days ago I packed everything I thought I wanted to take into my suitcase to see how close I would come to the weight limit. Seeing as I was about 2-3 lbs. over, I think I did a pretty good job but I still need to leave some clothes behind. Plus I want to make sure I have extra space for souvenirs! The only problem with pre-packing is that now that it's packed I'm too lazy to take everything out again and re-pack. Procrastination is the devil. I'm assuming it's going to sit in the corner of my room for a few more days until I can muster enough strength to plow through it all. I also am trying to get a bunch of last minute things out of the way like changing the oil in my car, doctor appointments, and shopping. (Also praying that Amazon is going to deliver my packages on time.) PLUS, like I previously mentioned my birthday is right around the corner and I have to plan for all that jazz. Because you know I've just got to make my birthday cake and it has to be spectacular! <3 But I'm actually pretty excited! I found out the family I'm staying with includes my host mom, 3 host brothers (1 doesn't live at home) and their cocker spaniel. I also live about 20 mins away from my university which definitely beats the hour commute to UIC. I sent an email to my host mom a few days ago but have yet to have heard back; maybe my rusty Spanish isn't so charming. Hopefully, I'll hear back soon, until that time I guess I can work on not procrastinating and start repacking my bags! |
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