Thursday 24 November 2011

Streetside Eatery 317-8 Street S.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we missed our nomad lunch last week.  So I have been preparing for this week's adventure for 14 days now.  So today we drew Streetside.  I was happy and excited.  My wife and I have eaten here a few times for lunch and dinner and have really enjoyed it.  So,  I can't believe it.  I have been completely humbled!  I have to admit that today "BA" was unable to finish his lunch.  I know, I know, pick yourself up off the floor, it's true.  I didn't even snack this morning!  I ordered the pasta salad with chicken, and was blown away buy the serving size.  Holy mountain of pasta Batman! I mean seriously, I ate for 20 minutes and it was like I hadn't even touched it.  I had mine with the creamy dill dressing and it was amazing.  I have never not finished my nomad lunch before.  I have so much pride that I ate myself into a stupor.  My ears were ringing and my body could barely move.  Two people could share this and still have left-overs.  I did have to have the rest of mine packed up for a snack later.  Get this!  I wasn't hungry all afternoon.  I did indulge in some chips and salsa at about 3:30 though.  But as the Grinch (Jim Carrey) said, "Am I just eating cause I'm bored".  Tomorrow I will have a nice pasta salad snack.  So for those of you thinking that StreetSide Eatery is not somewhere you'd want to have lunch.......WAKE UP!  The service was good, it was fast, and we still were back to work in plenty of time. To top it all off, when I got up to pay the bill; our server said...."that was just the small serving".  Say what!  The small serving! Now I'm not only humbled but completely embarrassed.  I'm gonna have to do some training or something.  Well folks,  Go there, and do that!  You won't be disappointed.  "BA"

Streetside has been a Lethbridge institution for many years and today we experienced why. Good food, good value and good service.  What more can I say. I can't believe it took almost a year to draw Streetside out of our jar of restaurants, but I'm glad we went today. I had the chicken enchilada and as the old Alka Seltzer commercial used to say "I can't believe I ate the whole thing". When my meal was placed down in front of me I was amazed at the size of the enchilada so I had to get right to work on it. It was pretty darn good. Most enchiladas have the sauce on top but this one was covered in about 3 pounds of cheese. I love cheese but I almost died laughing when "M" was about half way thru his enchilada and said "I don't have enough laxative to eat the rest of this cheese". The flavor was good, not authentic mexican good, but north american mexican good. Unlike "C" aka "BA", I would like to still fit into my pants in a month and that being said I found todays lunch a little heavy. Yes I ate it all but I didn't need to eat for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I guess I could save money that way??? Next time I will look for something more lunch appropriate. My only complaint today had to do with the service. Everything was good, the server was friendly, the food came out quick but after the food was served no one ever checked to see if everything was OK. Right after getting our food we were asked if it looked OK, but that was the end of it. We ate, paid our bill and went back to work. Fortunately everything was good today as always. Thanks Streetside. I'll be back.     "J"

I thought todays lunch was good. I ordered the chicken enchilada also, it was defintely a huge portion.  I was blown away by the size of it. It was a very "Canadian style" enchilada, by that I mean it was tons and tons of cheese and an enchilada sauce kinda mixed in to everything. To me, an enchilada has lots more sauce on top of it and less cheese. (if any cheese at all) It had a good flavour and I ended up really full. I thought the salad was good too, except I think it needed a bit more salad dressing. I guess I could have always asked for more. I was more concerned about how I was going finish the enchilada. Overall it was a good lunch. I wish it was a little more "lunch size" and "lunch price" I didn't need even half of it to be totally happy with the choice today. The place was nice, service good. I'm sure I'll be back again.
"M"

Thursday 10 November 2011

Imperial China 1903 3 Ave south


Today we decided to go to Imperial China. We were all hungry by noon and it sounded like a good idea. There is a better selection here than at some other Chinese restaurants in town. I thought the food today was ok. It wasn't my absolute favorite place to eat, but it wasn't bad. Is there some amazing Chinese food out there? Ive found that most of the Chinese in Lethbridge is some-what similar. Imperial China has some fruit and things for dessert which is nice. The food was just so-so for me today but I didn't leave hungry.
"M"

Imperial China is one of the many chinese restaurants in town that I don't go to very often. I guess I'm going to sound like a real snob because it's not because of the food, it's just the condition of the restaurant in general. Now I must admit today everything seemed a little better. I don't know if they have done some renos or put down new carpet, but it appeared a little nicer than the last time I ate here. This obviously isn't as much of a concern to other people because by the time we got here the place was very busy. As far as the food goes, I thought it was pretty good. The buffet line has quite a few items on it, including fresh fruit and salad. I had no problem filling my plate even tho'  some of the items were empty and needed refilling. So for my 10 bucks I thought it was a good pick today.    "J"

So much food......so little time!
Well I have to say that today's visit to Imperial China was probably the best its ever been.  I agree that as lunch nomads we are still looking for that mind blowing experience with Chinese cuisine.    I know we will find it somewhere.  At least they had Chili paste!  As far as today goes, it was really quite good.  Better selection than most others, and everything was really fresh and hot.  It was like it wasn't even a buffet.  My appetite was very satisfied today.  Or as my Mom used to say.  My sufficiency was suffonsified.  I have no clue how to spell that.  I don't even really know what it means other than 'it was good'.  I still feel that most places are the same.  I think that we have really Westernized Chinese food.  Perhaps a trip to China is in my future.  The staff were very friendly and the service was above par.  I would have to say that it left me in a 'GFM'.  (See previous posts for meaning).  Be well and eat tons.  "BA" aka "C" (again - see past posts)

Thursday 3 November 2011

Chelsea Cafe 511-4th Avenue S.

Well will miracles never cease? 'BA' aka 'C' is the first to post this week.  Yahoo!  So we decided today to check out Chelsea Cafe in the downtown area.  The special was meatloaf and red skin potatoes in a gravy sauce.  It looked so good, I could hardly wait to sink my teeth into it.  However, we didn't get that.  They were sold out by 12:05.  What up Lethbridge?  You can't jake the nomads out of the lunch special.  I guess it was good though cause every single patron in there was having it.  The gentleman just ahead of me got the last piece. So then my stomach and brain had to make a hard right turn and decide on something else to try.  They had a really awesome menu, so I power perused it and ordered the Butter Chicken.  I was feeling rather peckish so I kindly told my server how hungry I was and she literally piled the food on.  I'm sure that it was the regular amount, but it made me feel like they cared. LOL.  The Butter Chicken was really good.  It wasn't too powerful, kinda mild actually but it was very tasty.  It made me the happiest person sitting in my chair.  It was a lot of food and of course I finished it, but I was definitely full.  Then low and behold 'J' asked if I wanted to finish his.  Being pretty much a human garburator I agreed.  We can't have any good food going to waste can we?  Well I guess it went to my waist.  I hope that all yous peoples out there in nomad land keep places like this around.  So go there!  Now! Drop what you're doing and go! I mean it! 'BA' aka 'C'


Today was an interesting experience. I'm not quite sure why I feel that way. The food was good and we got served relatively quickly and everyone there was very friendly, but for some reason I went away today feeling unsatisfied. Not hungry, because I was full on the rotisserie chicken and potatoes I ate for lunch. In fact it was probably the best chicken I have had in a long time, very moist and tender. The potatoes were a little on the cool side and I didn't love the herb seasoning on them, but they were fine. Maybe it was the lack of seating (they did explain why so few seats) maybe it was the cafeteria style service, maybe it was a lunch special that was gone by 12:05, I'm not sure what it was. It was clean, friendly and the food was good, and it was busy which is always a good sign. So why I felt unsatisfied is an unknown. Maybe it was just me today. I'll just have to come back and give it a second try.  "J"

Ya I thought today's choice was good. It was nice to try something different. We've really set out to find these little places that you might not think to go to. The food was good, I have no complaints. I ordered fried chicken which came with the potato wedges. To this day I'm still talking about how awesome "Los Del Cid" and "Taj" were. Chelsea Cafe was a nice little place, we got a good lunch for a good price. In three weeks from now I doubt I'll be saying " Hey "C", remember the food at Chelsea cafe?" However,  I hope this place does well and sticks around because I liked it. "M"