Audrey's Restaurant

I tried this restaurant in the former location of Colonial Cafe in downtown Batavia, just south of Wilson street on Route 25. I guess the Colonial Cafe reference might not help since they said it's been Audrey's for two years (in March). I went here on Monday, February 23rd and arrived at the restaurant at 12:20pm. I mention the time since when I arrived at the restaurant it was deserted - no one but the hostess/waitress and the cook. This is in direct contrast to Daddio's Diner on Wilson Street that I tried right before this, but there was a wait.
On their menu, they listed a "signature soup of cream of chicken with wild rice", but when I tried to get this with a combo of a pulled BBQ pork sandwich, I was told they actually change around their soups and it wasn't available. Very strange since it's permanently printed on the menu.
I decided to go for a breakfast entree and got the Meat Lovers or Farmers Skillet which was sausage, bacon and ham. It was very good and they did not skimp on the cheese which is great since I really like cheese. A really good meal for $8.01 (including tax, but not tip)!
There were lots of other entrees and they even had a section of the menu dedicated to their crepes. I will be going back to this place and hope they get the business to stay around.

Portillo's

My wife and I had a date night to go see a movie and go out to dinner. However, my wife wasn't feeling very hungry after the popcorn and suggested we go here for our dinner. This is a local chain restaurant that serves Chicago style hot dogs and italian beef sandwiches. I really like going here for the chocolate cake milk shake! Yes, they actually blend up some of their chocolate cake into the milk shake. Add to that the delicious beef and cheddar croissant along with some cheese fries and you have one very good meal! Of course this isn't very healthy, but every once in a while it really hits the spot.
We really like the cheese fries since they serve them by just giving you a small plastic cup of hot melted cheese along with the fries served in their regular container. You therefore have the option of eating the fries plain, dipping in ketchup or dunking them in the cheese sauce.

Nikarry's Restuarant

My wife and I stopped here for lunch on Thursday, February 12th after a doctor's appointment she had in Aurora. One of the main reasons we picked this restaurant for lunch was that it is part of the American Airlines Dining Rewards program. This is a family restuarant with all the standard choices. There's even a special section of the menu for healthier choices. My wife got the crab salad stuffed in a tomato with cottage cheese and fresh cubed fruit. It was so good, I wished I had gotten it instead of the beef and cheese croissant I got. The beef was dry and thickly cut making for a tough, chewy sandwich (definitely not a Portillo's Beef & Cheddar)! While I didn't care for my sandwich, there were lots of other dishes that looked good and my wife's entree was outstanding (& huge)! Would go back here in a heartbeat and the fact that it's part of the dining rewards is a big bonus!

Seven Dwarfs Restaurant

My wife and I stopped in here for lunch after attending a funeral for her uncle. This restuarant is located in Wheaton, so it's a little outside the Tri-Cities, but only about a 15 minute ride from the east side of town straight east on Route 38. This is a family restaurant serving a wide variety of food including all the standards of sandwiches, burgers, salads, soups and breakfast items. Everything we tried was good, but the service was off. We ordered an appertizer of potato skins. However, the waitress brought out our soup first saying the potatos took awhile to cook. After about 3 bites/slurps of soup, the appertizer was brought out. After we each had one skin (out of the 3 each) our main meal arrived. Having the food courses arrive too early is a pet peeved of mine, so I was obviously not enjoying the service. Luckily the food tasted good, so we managed to get through the meal. I thought the value was good and would definitely go back to this restuarant if in the area, but won't make a special trip to get there.

Miyaku Japan Sushi Bar & Grill

This restaurant is located in the food court at Charlestown Mall. While the mall and food court is losing tenant after tenant, this place has always intrigued me. Stopped by the food court with Alan on my way to Eagles game night on Thursday, February 12th. I had the noodles along with two types of chicken: cajun & midoko?. I thought the food tasted good overall, but the chicken was a little dry/overcooked. This is probably a problem of the food sitting out too long in the buffet serving line and not being rotated enough. Having said that, it still tasted good and was a good value for the money. I would readily go back to this station in the food court again.

Outback Steakhouse

Another chain restaurant that I had dinner at on Wednesday, February 11th after dropping my oldest son off at his church middle school youth group meeting. I came back to this restaurant mainly for the Seared Ahi Tuna appertizer. This comes with about 8 strips of tuna served on a romaine lettuce leaf with two dipping sauces. If you have read any of my earlier reviews, you will know that I love Seared Ahi Tuna and this is one of the best I have tried at a national chain restaurant. I skipped a main meal and got the dessert sampler to finish off the night. I didn't like the cheesecake sauce, but really enjoyed the brownie and peanut butter pie desserts. I could come here everynight to have the tuna.

Steak 'N Shake

Family dinner here on February, 8th after a night of the boys playing sports. Obviously this is a national chain restaurant, so everyone is probably fairly familar with this spot. The main reason we choose this place was that we had recieved some coupons in our local paper and everyone in the family can agree to go here. We all like to get chocolate shakes and their burgers are plain enough to not turn anyone off. Nothing outstanding, but nothing bad.

Taste of Himalayas

On Saturday, February 7th, I went to this restaurant by myself for lunch. They offer an all-you-can eat lunch buffet for $8.99 per person. The food is Indian, but not very spicy. Even the curry chicken was mild even with the hint of curry flavor. However, the main problem I had with the food was that the chicken and beef cuts had bones in them. It was very hard to get the meat off the bones and have very much food to actually eat with each forkful. The food tasted good, but was fairly mild which I guess was a compromise to American tastes. The dessert of the some dough ball in a sauce was interesting and not to my liking. However, I did see several other diners going back for seconds of this. There was also a salad which I tried with some white dressing. Tasted ok, but nothing of note. They had vegetables and fried rice along with some bean dish. Overall, the buffet was a nice value, but just did not have the food I like enough to go back to it.