Tag Archive | American Food

Yard House – Honolulu, HI

Yard House is a good ole American restaurant to me. A great selection of food and drinks, I don’t come here for stellar service or atmosphere but do enjoy the food! This post includes dishes from two visits, the second visit…to my dismay was the Saturday of Saint Patrick’s Day weekend. Yeah, I didn’t realize that until after I put in my wait-list request on their website. Also due to this fact, I think my wait time was still 2 hours. The initial wait time was 1.5 hours so I arrived then and was still given a buzzer to wait for about 20-30 mins more. I think this was due to Saint Patty’s day so I won’t poo poo their system just yet. Let’s get to the food!!

Sunset Sangria | $11.50
*new amsterdam vodka, aperol, la perlina moscato, citrus agave, passion fruit, seven falls rapids red blend, strawberries, black cherry, pineapple, mint*

Okay, there was some confusion when I first put this drink order in. They have this Sunset Sangria and a Sunkissed Sangria. Well I order Sunset and our waiter decided not to write orders down (why do waiters do this) and kept repeating back Sunkissed to me…and it was just confusing. I got the right drink in the end so cheers to his memory. It was delicious. Sangria is always delicious.

Fried Calamari | $13.25
*spicy tomato sauce, roasted jalapeño tartar*

One of my favorite appetizers here, great dish. Perfectly cooked and love the spin on their dipping sauces.

Poke Nachos | $14.75
*marinated raw ahi, avocado, cilantro, serranos, green onions, nori, sesame seeds, sweet soy, sriracha aïoli, white truffle sauce, crispy wontons*

A little pricey yes, but delicious. We practically licked the plate clean. I think it’s a pretty good serving size for the price, would recommend!

Rib Eye | $30.95
*(12 oz) spinach mashed potatoes, broccolini, house made steak sauce*

Turkey Burger | 13.75
*roma tomatoes, arugula, mozzarella, garlic aïoli, fries*

Out of all the dishes on the menu, this is one of my go-to’s. If not, the dish I always order. I know what you’re thinking, a turkey burger? Really, Jenny? Yes, really. They really nailed down a great recipe for their turkey burger, I prefer it over any burger any day. Everything just works in this burger, it’s delicious. I even let my kid brother try this burger and he then loved it too. A kid liked it, just try it.

Clam Chowder | $3.75 (add-on for Turkey Burger)

Eh, it was okay. A bit salty but I felt like something soupy that night. I usually actually get their Tomato Bisque which I enjoy a lot but felt like the chowder that night. I can’t say $3.75 is a good price, especially if you get the tomato bisque.

Mini Trio Sampler | $11.25
*cheesecake brûlée, peach apple cobbler, chocolate soufflé cake*

This was a nice selection to share! I gotta say we were pretty stuffed so we didn’t enjoy the dessert as much as we should have. Biggest surprise, my favorite dessert was the peach apple cobbler. It was delicious!! I think if I were to order dessert again, I would just get the full serving of a peach apple cobbler. Hmm, I’ve been into cobbler lately…may have a recipe to share soon-ish.

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Mike’s American Grill – Springfield, VA

Apr30

I had a work trip to Virginia and was flown in literally for the one day meeting. Don’t get me wrong, I was incredibly grateful for the travel. We were flown in late Saturday night, got in late Sunday afternoon…a meeting all day on Monday and then flown out early Tuesday morning. I honestly, never adjusted to East Coast time. In fact, I didn’t sleep at all on Monday night after the meeting. It was insane…I don’t think I’ve ever done that before (yes, I am that cool). Anyway, Monday night was the only night I had to try a restaurant so here it is! I did my research beforehand and really wanted to check Mike’s American Grill out. This restaurant was super close to the hotel so that was great and the food pics looked great…with so many high reviews! How did it go?

Complimentary Bread Basket

The two donut hole looking pastries were actually probably that? There was a thin coating of sugar on them. Okay, I looked them up, they are called Aussie Rolls! I didn’t get to the raisin (?) bread? And a nice cheese bread, we didn’t partake in this too much because we had an appetizer and entree coming!

Special Appetizer of the Day: Crab Dip with Lavash • $14.00

We were really excited to try this dip but it was pretty mediocre. The dip was a bit salty and not very “crabby,” and I don’t think the lavosh is a good accompaniment. I would have preferred a flat bread, but they seemed so open that maybe you could have requested that? I wouldn’t get this dish again.

Drunken Rib Eye • $31.00

Certified Angus Beef® marinated in our Great American Pale Ale…with mashed potatoes & roasted cremini mushrooms

Well…here is the dish we waiting for. Sounds great, looks great…nothing but high marks on their yelp page. And how was it? Oh…I had such high hopes. But guess what? It was FULL OF SALT. This restaurant was located on Backlick road, and I cracked that it was more like saltlick road, get it? I’m just full of fun to be around, trust me. The potatoes were good, the three mushrooms (lol) were good but it was really had to eat through this steak because of how salty it was. Someone had a prime rib and that looked super good…should have gotten that instead. 🙁

Field Greens Salad (comes with the Drunken Rib Eye)

with tomato, sun dried cranberries, dates, pine nuts, croutons & champagne vinaigrette…with blue cheese or Laura Chenel goat cheese, add $1

THIS WAS THE STAR OF THE NIGHT. Yes, a side salad. It was DELICIOUS. I don’t usually rave about a salad, but the level of detail in each topping was impressive. I loved that the salad came with dates and cranberries. Sorry, but where have dates been all my life? It was delicious. And the slices fresh tomatoes, they had some kind of Italian herb oil on them too. Full of flavor. So I will digress, I didn’t feel like a champagne vinaigrette and asked for ranch dressing. Their ranch dressing is like homemade, chock full of fresh herbs. Oh man, I am just salivating at this picture…over a salad. If all salads tasted like this, I’d be a vegetarian, no problem.

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Liliha Bakery – Liliha, HI

Oct11

I still haven’t checked out the Nimitz location and I’m not sure if I plan to anytime soon. I guess I’m gonna try to stay loyal to the original. I hardly get to eat at their diner but when I do, it’s always so nice. They just serve very simple comfort food. Nothing fancy but something about it is just so nice. One night, after running a ton of errands, I had very little options of what I could eat for dinner. I stumbled upon Liliha Bakery and they had just enough seats for us! It was fate. I didn’t get too many pictures but I will share my meal here!

Famous Butter Rolls with their own jelly. This is the famous neon jelly I see in all the pictures. I don’t know if I was starving or what…but this tasted SO GOOD. I don’t even usually like jelly/jam but this was so ono. The freshly toasted buttery roll with the sweet (but not crazy sweet) jelly, I am salivating as we speak. I want to return back just to order a bunch of these to gobble down at home.

Here is what I got for dinner. Meat loaf with gravy, rice and tomato salad. Um, for those who go to Liliha Bakery – do they just throw a glob of mayonnaise onto the salad? Hahaha I know it wasn’t ranch but I’m a bit afraid to think it really was just a glob of mayonnaise (it was huh?).

How was the meat loaf? I thought it was all right. Tasted very home cooked – nothing spectacular but edible. Do you know what I mean? I would definitely come back again! Wish I knew when their slow times for the diner was…

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The Cheesecake Factory – Waikiki, HI

Aug25

I haven’t been to The Cheesecake Factory in forever. First, I don’t enjoy waiting nearly 1.5 hours to get a table. Second, the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center parking lot feels SO far from the restaurant. I mean the restaurant is literally at the other end and I for the life of me can’t stop getting lost within the shopping center getting back to the car. The parking validation doesn’t do much anymore – you still have to pay money. Still, it’s not a bad rate for parking as long as you don’t have to wait 2 hours to get a table. We did a take-out order and boy…it isn’t much better. You can only put in the order right when they open, no faxing and no online system. No curbside pick-up so I had to circle Waikiki until my co-worker ran back out with the food. Then, I still had to block up traffic to get her in the car! Oh and did I mention Cheesecake Factory is pricey? Yeah, it’s pricey. But you can’t beat the selection – there’s something for everyone! The cheesecake is expensive but tasty. Well, let’s take a look at the dishes we ordered!

Incredible Eggplant Sandwich with fries (not pictured) – $12.95

Lunch Portion Shepherd’s Pie – $12.95

Lunch Portion BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad – $11.95

Bistro Shrimp Pasta – $18.95
Ho the pricey! But delicious and huge portion!

Cuban Sandwich with Salad (not pictured) – $13.50

Chicken Bellagio – $15.95
I can’t comment too much on the other dishes because this is the one I got! Doesn’t it look so good? This is the first time I tried it and I am so glad I did! It includes crispy chicken breast over basil pasta and parmesan cream sauce topped with proscuitto and arugula salad. It all works very well together!

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Ryan’s Grill Happy Hour – Ward Center

Jul9

The last time I went to Ryan’s Grill – it was such a forgettable experience. The service was severely lacking and the food was nothing that I needed to return quickly for. We decided to give Ryan’s Grill a try the other week and it was such a great experience! I am so glad we gave them another chance. Our server was awesome, the food came up in a timely manner and tasted great! Oops, I’ll be honest. I came here twice in 2 weeks because I had to try their happy hour too! This post is for the happy hour. The service for the happy hour was not as good as my dine in experience but I usually expect that…sadly.

Lilikoi Mojito – not part of Happy Hour…and not great. I actually enjoy the liliko mojito at Kincaid’s more (which you would think is the same since they are sister restaurants)

Jamaican Jerk Fries – $5.95
Delicious! Much better than I expected. I’m not sure what qualifies as Jamaican – I felt like the spices were reminiscent of Thanksgiving.

Kobe Sliders – $7.95
Not bad – not great. Not something I would order again.

Kalua Pig Quesadillas – $6.95
Pretty good! The mango salsa is good too…would have been good if we had something to spoon it onto the quesadillas (yes, we did ask…haha)

Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip – $8.95
Delicious!! My favorite appetizer from Ryan’s. The dip is on point and the focaccia bread is nicely seasoned and super soft. Great dish!

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!