Wednesday, August 24, 2016

fri poutine - a dinner review

we tried out FRI Poutinerie the other night before a movie.  shoot, we even chose to go the theater in clovis just to try this place out.  a couple of friends joined us, so we had several opinions of the place.

overall, everyone liked the food.  the fries were good, the gravy good, the curds good.  i had the smoked meat, and enjoyed it.  the service was decent, and the prices were fine.  i would go back and eat there again if i was in the area, but so far i'm not inspired to go out of my way for it.

things that could be a little better: 
- the amount of curds in an order compared to fries & gravy.  we had 2 of the regular size, 1 of the big size and the amount of curds varied among the 3 orders, and seemed lacking.
- drinks.  get some fountains.  bottled sodas and waters don't really cut it.
- food to table service - maybe it was just our guy working that night, but we were a party of 4, and they didn't remember who ordered what, and had one order wrong completely.  the place had a few other customers, but that shouldn't have overwhelmed anyone.

Friday, August 05, 2016

Grizzly City Pizza and Pub - dinner review

After seeing a few friends post photos from here, and the article in the paper, we finally made some time to check out Grizzly City Pizza.  We went after 6 to avoid paying for parking, but I wouldn't let that stop me from going any other time.  It was a Friday night, and they had a pretty decent crowd, with most tables full.

For dinner, we chose to order the Spinach & Artichoke mozzarella sticks and did the build your own pizza option - although we were super basic and just had pepperoni.  I'll check out one of the specialty options on another trip.  Both items were pretty good tasting.  Honestly, the pizza looked better than anything you'll get at most Me & Ed's in town.  We were pretty happy with the taste as well.  The crust was sort of bread-y, but in a good way.  It was in between a thin crust and the average crust pizza.  Good taste, not too chewy.  The cheese was a good blend, pepperoni normal, but yes, like most pepperoni pizzas it was a bit greasy.  Whatever.  The mozzarella sticks were pretty nice.  I liked the variation of them being spinach & artichoke. That really balanced out the flavor, and kept it from getting all solid and gross like mozzarella sticks can get when they cool off a bit.

The place has a few drawbacks, and I would guess some of it has to do with them being fairly new.  It took a half hour for the pizza to come out, which seems a bit long.  Also, the mozzarella sticks came out at the same time and I would have loved to have them before, as an appetizer.  Last thing, it was quiet in there - no music or anything.  There was a tv on, and it wasn't super loud, which was nice, but it could have used a little atmosphere noise.  None of these complaints were that major to us, but I could see how some people could really get bent out of shape, especially the wait.

Overall, I look forward to going back and think it's a nice addition to downtown.