Longhorn Steakhouse

We recently had a Longhorn Steakhouse open up on our side of town. Even though it’s a chain restaurant we have never been to one before. Honestly before we got there I was already thinking it would be a “just ok” kind of place like Outback Steakhouse, but I was pleasantly surprised. Once inside the decor is really nicely done in Western style. If no one was there I would have thought it was an upscale place, but they designed it that way on the family friendly casual side.

Of course looking at the menu there is a ton of choices. I wasn’t expecting the best quality or quantity with the prices being lower. While we waited to order the waitress brought over some honey whole wheat bread and butter. I could have used another container of butter, because they didn’t give you much to use, but they never brought me more every time I asked.

I did really like our waitress Jessica V. She was very outgoing and helpful since it was our first time here. One new pet peeve I have is them asking if you want a cocktail or appetizer right when you sit down, even asking if you have ever been here before. I just wanna look at the menu for 1 minute. She talked us into trying the Firecracker Chicken Wraps $8.49 (We call these Firecrackers because they are bursting with flavor! Spicy grilled chicken and cheese wrapped in a crispy flour tortilla, served with a cool Avocado-Lime dipping sauce.) They where good, but there wasn’t much chicken in them. I did like the sauce and ended up dipping my bread in that once we where out of butter.

For the entrée I chose the 8 ounce Rancher's Sirloin $15.49 (A juicy, grilled sirloin topped with applewood smoked bacon, a sunny side up egg & bordelaise sauce.) Each steak is served with choice of side, salad. The Caesar salad was ok, not the best or worse I’ve ever had just not memorable and a little lack of flavor. As the side I upgraded for an extra $1.59 to Steakhouse Mac & Cheese (Corkscrew pasta, four cheeses & bacon.) Normally I ‘m a filet girl, but I thought I would branch out and try something new. Sirloin has a real strong meat taste to it so I see why they had sauce, egg and bacon to it. Overall it was good, but not something I would pick again. The mac and cheese was really good.

D ordered the 12 ounce Ribeye $19.49 (Cut fresh, juicy and flavorful.) and as a side chose the Sweet Potato with Cinnamon & Butter. His steak was really good and better then most restaurants.

Overall for a nice meal on a budget this is a good place to go and you can bring the kids. We’ll be back again to try some of the other things they have to offer. Before you go check out there website and fill in your email to get a free appetizer.

Cravings Grill

This is one of those strange places because they have a lot going on with the menu. They claim to be an Asian Fusion place, but when you look over the menu they have – Sushi, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Sandwiches, Teriyaki, Salads and American. I think because it’s located more in the country they have to keep the regular plain folks that like a good burger or chicken fried steak, but their also trying to grab the more adventures ones that like a good Asian dish.

Overall it was a good place and the prices seemed reasonable with other Asian style places we’ve been.

We had a Groupon that we bought for $10 which allowed us $20 of food, which is worth trying the place.

First we started out with some sushi, Spicy Tuna Roll $6 (red tuna, spicy sauce) and Sunrise Roll $9 (smoked salmon, avocado, mango, cream cheese, crunch topping, eel sauce). We both really liked the sunrise roll, except it’s a little too big for one bite.

D ordered the General Tso’s Chicken $10.95 (Select cuts of premium chicken battered with light and crisp tempura, deep fried until golden, tossed in a red Generals sauce with crushed red pepper, green peppers and onions. Served with your choice of steamed white rice or Chinese fried rice blended with carrots and peas.) The dish was ok, I think we’ve had better General Tso’s at other places. The best part was the fried rice it’s really good.

I ordered the Angry Beef $11.95 (Wok prepared select cuts of beef, Sukiyaki mix of onions, carrots, fresh red and green bell peppers, Sriracha hot chili sauce and crushed red pepper all tossed in a brown sauce served with your choice of steamed white rice or Chinese fried rice blended with carrots and peas.) This dish was really good and packed full of flavor. I would recommend ordering this one for sure. There was enough for me to bring half of it home for lunch the next day.

 

I would come back for sure and try some of their other items.

Dekker’s Mesquite Grill

Dekker’s Mesquite Grill is a little gem in the Flusher area. We’ve been here on several occasions with and without kids. They have a great outside sand play area for the kids. On the weekend they have bands play so when the weather is really nice it’s great to sit outside. They don’t take reservations so be sure you get there before the crowd, because once people show up it’s hard to get them to leave.

This time we started out with Spinach N’ Cheese Dip $9 (Spinach, bacon, and our cheese blend melted to gooey perfection with crispy tortilla chips.) as well as Calamari $12. The spinach dip was really nice and thick and creamy and I would recommend trying it. As for the calamari it fell short. I did appreciate that the serving sizes are larger than most places so they are great for sharing.

D had to try a cup of their Poblano Soup $5 which was on their list of specials. The soup hit the spot and we both agreed it’s worth ordering again.

For the main dish we each ordered something off the specials I had a Red Snapper with Ettoufe topping $35 and D ordered the Redfish $33 also adding on fried asparagus for $4. Both of our dishes where excellent and cooked really well. We where able to take home leftovers with the portions being so large.

This is a great date night, family restaurant, group setting all rolled into one. Can’t wait to head back.

Double Horn Brewing Company

While up at Lake Travis we ventured over to the near by town of Marble Falls, Texas to have lunch at Double Horn Brewing Company.

Everyone started out with a sampler of their beer $6.95. I recommend getting one of these to try out everything they have on tap before ordering a full pint.

As an appetizer we ordered The Southwest Trio $8.99 (Freshly made tortilla chips served with Mom’s secret salsa, spicy queso and made to order guacamole) as well as the Onion Rings $6.99 (Lightly breaded large white onions stacked high and finished with a sweet chili sauce). I enjoyed the fact that they offered a trio instead of all of the items separate. The guacamole was really nice and fresh. My only complaint was I wish the queso was a little thicker. Honestly this had to have been some of the best onion rings we have ever had. The coating was really good and they weren't greasy. I also liked the sweet chili sauce that came with it to make it a little different.

For the main courses I ordered Surf and Earth $8.99 (Romaine lettuce, candied walnuts, seared cabbage, fried shrimp, served with your choice of a sweet chili sauce or a cajun remoulade). I thought this dish was really good, it totally didn’t come out like I thought it would look, but it tasted fantastic. I was also surprised at how fresh the shrimp tasted and how large they where.

D ordered the The Green Chili $9.99 (Hand-formed beef, green chilies, lettuce, tomato and white cheddar, chopped with shoestring onions and a green chili sauce). We didn’t care that they list of an assortment of sides and ask what you would like. D picked the sweet potato fries and they never mentioned it would be an extra 89 cents.

Our friend’s ordered DH Chicken $9.99 (Charbroiled chicken breast, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon and avacado served on a bolio roll) and Bangers and Mash $11.99 (Jalapeno pork sausages served with gorgonzola mashed potatoes and house made porter gravy). Angela said her sandwich was really good and she would order it again. The bangers and mash was a little different. The dish was good except the gravy ruined it a little.

Overall I would go back, the food is a little higher priced, but for a brewery I think it was top notch in quality so you get what you paid for.

Smashburger

We recently had a new Smashburger open up near our house and I’ve always heard good things about this place so I had to give them a try.

Be sure to search online for coupons because I keep seeing ones for buy one get one free or % off. If you sign up for their email list they send you a coupon for a buy one get one free entrée which is a pretty sweet deal.

I had a coupon for a buy on get one free chicken entrée so I ordered the Crispy Buffalo $6.99 (Frank's® RedHot® Buffalo sauce, crumbled blue cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo on an egg bun). I wished they had tossed the chicken in the sauce rather then just pour a little on the sandwich. It was cooked good just nothing special. Since I’m pregnant and can’t have the blue cheese they where kind enough to swap it out for something else so I picked the pepper jack cheese.

D ordered the Spicy Baja $6.99 (Pepper jack cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, spicy chipotle mayo and fresh jalapenos on a spicy chipotle bun). He said it was ok and he’s glad he didn’t get it as a burger because it wouldn’t have been as good. He wasn’t sold on it, but said it was ok. 

The best thing was the fries. They have these Smashfries $1.99 (Tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic) and they where amazing. I really liked that they weren't greasy and had a nice flavor from the rosemary.

I think I will go back for their burgers next time and see if they turn out better then our chicken sandwiches. I think it’s totally worth your time if you have a coupon.

Cheesecake Factory

One of my favorite places is the Cheesecake Factory. I enjoy their large menu of options and for the price you get a good amount of food, and of course there’s the cheesecake!

While we looked over the menu they bring you 2 mini loaves of bread. Of course the pet peeve of mine is cold butter and they give you cold butter. I had having to smash fluffy bread with cold hard butter. Anyway, the bread is yummy, but don’t filly up on that.

D ordered the classic Mojito $9.25. He said it was good, but not worth almost $10.

He also ordered the lunch portion of Miso Salmon $13.95. This was a good dish, we just had to mix the sauce in with the rice, because the rice was a gummy clump, otherwise the fish was cooked perfectly and seasoned well.

I ordered the lunch portion of Lemon Chicken Piccata $11.95. You can’t really mess this dish up. Everything tasted really good. I liked that they buttered the noodles so they wouldn’t clump together. I almost had too many noodles for the amount of chicken, but it was still tasty.

Today it was my choice to pick out a slice of cheesecake and I went with the Coconut Cheesecake Topped with Coconut Cream Custard, all on a Chocolate Macaroon Crust $6.95. OMG this is amazing!! It’s not overly rich like some of their cheesecakes. I would order this again in a heartbeat.

Of course we’ll be back, we’ve never had a bad experience here.

Texican Cafe

We recently bought one of those half priced groupons for Texican Café which is on the way up to our lake house.

D is on the green chili kick since we had our trip to Taos so he was excited to see their menu around green chili month!

We started out with the Hatch Queso Cup $4.99. I would order it again, the green chilies really hit the spot.

D started out with a Large Margarita on the rocks $6. This was a good deal and actually tasted really good like a margarita should, not filled with sweet and sour, you could really taste all of the flavors. I would venture to say this is in our top 5 favorite margaritas.

Of course with the green chili theme D ordered the Green Chili Enchiladas $14.99 $4 was added on because he did one fajita beef and one fajita chicken. The sauce was fantastic and we would recommend this plate to anyone. The extra $4 was a little high, but worth it if you would rather the fajita meat.

I went with the Texican Dinner $10.99 (The Works! One crispy beef taco, one beef “El Paso” enchilada, one pork tamale, Mexican rice, refried beans, guacamole, pico de gallo and chile con queso.) I loved the sauce on the enchilada and the plate is just right if you want to try a little of everything.

Honestly I can’t wait to go back here. The service is fast and the food is fantastic!