Restaurant Reviews!

As you can see on my list, I have an entire category devoted to food. I love to eat. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love discovering new restaurants and trying new things. So, I've decided that finding new restaurants (local ones... I'm not a fan of chains) and trying out new food was a no-brainer for this list. So with these things in mind I tried two new restaurants lately and here are my thoughts.

A Taste of Havana

Last year when I visited Tallahassee I had Cuban food for the first time. We went to a place called Gordo's (what a great name for a restaurant) and I had a Cuban sandwich that was phenomenal. I also had some spicy appetizer that was wonderful, and I wish I could remember the name. Anyways I enjoyed Cuban cuisine very much and when I saw that there was a Cuban restaurant in Knoxville I insisted that we check it out.

First the good news. The food was good. The Cuban sandwich I had was not nearly as good as the one in Tallahassee, but it was still tasty. My wife really enjoyed hers and the appetizers (we tried fried yucca and fried plantains) were excellent.

However, the fact that the food was good was almost entirely undone by how horrible the service was. After we seated ourselves it took a long time before anyone came over to our table despite the fact that the restaurant did not appear that busy. When a waitress finally came over, she did a fine job. However, halfway through our meal she left, informing us that she didn't actually work there and was just helping out. After we had finished our meal it took 20-30 minutes for us to get our check.

So though I would like to head back and check out some of the enticing desserts that were in the window (they are also a bakery) or maybe a dinner entree, the bad service really turned me off. The owners do have a second location that recently opened so they might have been struggling to staff both stores the day we visited. The food was good enough to give it a second try.

Kaya Korean Restaurant

Neither my wife nor I had ever had Korean food. I asked some friends for some suggestions and armed with that knowledge my wife and I headed down to Kaya on Saturday because on Saturdays they have a buffet. We thought this would be the best way to go because we could try a wide variety of foods.

When we arrived at the restaurant however, we were quickly overwhelmed. They had quite a selection of food laid out. Unfortunately, nothing was labeled. So though I had the names of some things my friends said I had to try, I was out of luck. There would be no matching the names with the dishes. Even worse, I liked several of the things I had very much but I have no idea what they were so I can't order them next time. I know I could have asked a waiter for some help, but the place was fairly packed (lots of folks were enjoying the buffet) so I would have felt guilty taking up a waiter's time.

My overall impression was good. I really enjoyed a few dishes on the hot bar. However I tried several of the cold dishes and I didn't care for them. I was also quite surprised at the large amounts of cabbage in everything. Next time we go, we'll definitely order from the menu and I think we'll also give the hibachi a shot.