eat2winraleigh » $$- Bring the family

The Pit Review

eat2winraleigh — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:01:47 +0000

I haven’t posted in awhile, but after eating at this restaurant a couple nights ago with great friends I knew I had to post about The Pit. The Pit is located in downtown Raleigh on East Davie Street in an old looking building. Once you step in side, you are greeted by the distinct, strong aroma of barbecuing meats. The decor is upscale, with white lights decorating the dining room and bar area. The pit master, Ed Mitchell, has been on the Food Network and has many other accolades. The menu is mostly typical bbq fare, with brisket, ribs, pulled pork and chicken. Great drink menu with different Bourbon choices along with a unique beer selection.

The Raleigh-ite – The appetizers we ordered were out of this world and I would definitely recommend them: Mini PBLTs (Pimento cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato biscuits) and Barbecue fries. I ordered the double plate with Carolina Ribs, Eastern Style Pork, creamed corn and broccoli and cauliflower casserole. The Carolina Ribs were delicious (although definitely fattier than typical baby back ribs) and the creamed corn was probably the best I’ve ever had. However, the broccoli and cauliflower casserole lacked flavor, and the Eastern style pork was a little too spicy for me. We ordered the Banana Pudding and Apple Pie for dessert. The Banana Pudding was insane (bananas, pudding and marshmallow) , and while I didn’t try the Apple Pie the rest of the table raved about it.

Barbecue Fries

Mini PBLTs

We ordered: 1 20 oz beer, 1 10 oz beer, 1 Triple Meat plate, 1 Double Meat Plate, 1 Dessert , 1 Appetizer. Total : $76

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Red Room Tapas Lounge Review

eat2winraleigh — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:33:40 +0000

The Red Room Tapas Lounge is located in Raleigh on Glenwood Ave.

The New Yorker- I’m not used to this tapas-style eating, but it’s great to be able to eat a variety for dinner. The charcuterie is excellent, similar to an Italian antipasto appetizer. Great presentation on all the dishes. Especially enjoyed the eggplant roulade.

The Raleigh-ite- We ate at Red Room on Monday when all the small plate tapas are 1/2 price, so this was GREAT risk/reward!! Red Room has a great contemporary atmosphere, with comfortable tables, chairs and a great vibe. I ordered the raspberry green tea sangria and it was excellent; a great, sweet, twist on sangria! The Tuna Tartar has a great mustard-y sauce mixed in with the tuna. The Steak Churrasco is a little chewy but has great flavor. The fried banana dessert is insane, I highly suggest you order it. The fried banana is served with caramel and icecream.

Do over? We will definitely be back to Red Room for tapas, either on a night out drinking or on a Sunday or Monday for the great deal!

9/21/09- We ordered- 2 Raspberry green tea sangrias, 2 mothership wit beers, 1 Spanish charcuterie (1/2 off), 1 Tuna Tartar (1/2 off) , 1 spinach dip (1/2 off), 1 steak churrasco (1/2 off) , 1 fried green beans (1/2 off), 1 eggplant roulade (1/2 off) , 1 fried banana. Total: $64.11

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Ted’s Montana Grill Review

eat2winraleigh — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:50:34 +0000

The New Yorker- Cool sports-bar-like atmosphere. Big stuffed bison head on one wall. The menu at Ted’s Montana Grill has a couple appetizers, a list of burgers that you can have beef or bison, and a couple cuts of steak that you can have beef or bison. The bison is more expensive but worth a try. The steak was good, had a nice intense flavor and was well cooked. Great baby asparagus.

The Raleigh-ite- Nice restaurant atmosphere, big booths. We had the crab cake appetizer, which was excellent. The crab cake has little breading, mostly crab with guacamole and coleslaw on the side. I ordered the blue cheese bison burger; it is huge! It had so much flavor. I’m not much of a burger eater, but this one is excellent. For dessert we had a chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream. The cookie was perfectly cooked–simple but good dessert.

Do over? We will be back to Ted’s Montana Grill when we are near Triangle Town center and want a good burger/steak.

9/3/2009- We ordered: 1 Diet Coke, 1 glass Riesling, 1 St. Phillips crabcake appetizer, 2 wedge salads, 1 Blue Creek bison burger, 1 bison Delmonico ribeye, 1 chocolate chip cookie with icecream dessert. Total : $75.07

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Cameron Bar & Grill

eat2winraleigh — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:32:59 +0000

Cameron Bar & Grill is located in the Cameron Village shopping center in Raleigh.

The New Yorker- We ordered the grilled shrimp cocktail–light coleslaw with 5 grilled shrimp on a skewer. Perfect app, great seasoning on the shrimp. I ordered Chicken Parmesan with linguine and red sauce. The chicken was lightly breaded, not too fried, good flavor. Good portion for lunch–1 breast of chicken, if it was a dinner portion it would have been a little small.

The Raleigh-ite- We ate at Cameron Bar & Grill for lunch today. Great outdoor seating– very comfortable, nice outdoor furniture. Clean, simple but comfortable look to the inside. Upscale-ish menu. I ordered the Caprese salad. It was 3 tomatoes with mozzerella, balsamic vinigrette and a side of greens. It was a perfect, light lunch (if I was more hungry, this would have been too small). The balsamic has some interesting seasoning and was very good on the tomatoes.

Do over ? Definitely be back.

8/19/2009 – We ordered: 1 grilled shrimp cocktail, 1 caprese salad, 1 chicken parmigiana, 1 diet coke. Total : $29.47

9/29/2009- We ordered: 2 glasses of Merlot, 1 hlf lb shrimp appetizer, 1 cup vegetable soup, 1 caprese salad, 1 caesar side salad, 1 80z filet. Total: $62.26 ( We had a restaurant.com $25 off coupon so the total with the coupon was $37.26)

Cameron Bar and Grill 8oz filet

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Waraji Restaurant Review

eat2winraleigh — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:19:40 +0000

Waraji is located off Duraleigh road in Raleigh near the intersection of Duraleigh road and Glenwood avenue.

The New Yorker- Good sushi. Fresh. Like the shrimp tempura roll and beef negimaki. Still prefer Sono/Mura for sushi.

The Raleigh-ite – Good place to go for takeout, or if you don’t feel like getting dressed up but want decent sushi. We ate Waraji last night and sat at the sushi bar. The restaurant is kinda small but does have traditional Japanese seating. The sushi chef was very friendly and attentive along with the waitress. The spider roll was kinda mushy but the shrimp tempura was flavorful with the right texture. I prefer simple rolls here.

Do over? Would eat here again if we are in the area and don’t feel like dressing up or driving far.

8/14/2009- We ordered Kirin light 22 oz, Diet Pepsi, Beef Negimaki, Shrimp Tempura roll, Spider roll, Mary roll, Hurricane roll. Total: $53.30

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Sushi Thai Cary

eat2winraleigh — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:20:27 +0000

Sushi Thai Cary is located in a shopping center near the intersection of Kildaire Farm road and Maynard road in Cary.

The New Yorker – If you like sushi don’t come here. The spicy mayo wasn’t good. Salmon was too slimy. Way over priced. The dragon roll and philly roll were edible, the spider roll and the crunch roll were not. The gyoza was OK. Won’t be here again.

The Raleigh-ite – The spider roll tasted way funny- probably the worst spider roll I’ve ever had. The dragon was ok, but also one of the worst. I would eat the gyoza’s again but thats about it. We ate the food, but looking back–I kinda wish we hadn’t. The philly roll was OK but I took the salmon off the top because it didn’t taste right.

Do over? Would go again to try the Thai, to give them the benefit of the doubt, but won’t be eating the sushi again.

7/26/2009- We ordered: gyoza appetizer, spider roll, dragon roll, crunch roll, philly roll. Total: $46

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Taverna Agora Restaurant Review

eat2winraleigh — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:02:24 +0000

Taverna Agora is located in a free-standing building on Glenwood Avenue in north Raleigh across from the Pleasant Valley shopping center.

The New Yorker – Great Greek meal. Very fresh. Great spinach pie. Salad was excellent. Fresh traditional Greek salad without lettuce. Salad included fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, feta etc. Warm bread with great lemon/olive oil dip. Lamb shank was ridiculous– so tender, fell right off the bone. The restaurant was not as I expected. I thought it was going to be more like what I’m used too. Such as Gyro / Gyro on top of greek salad with yogurt sauce. All in all, I was pleasantly suprised.

The Raleigh-ite – Great atmosphere, especially outside. They have a wonderful porch with white lights, lots of flowers and a fountain (you can kind of see Glenwood Ave from the porch, but I tried to block it out) . The salad and spinach pie appetizer were great, but I didn’t love the chicken with orzo. It had lots of tomatoes, and lots of orzo, a small amount of chicken and it tasted too much like spaghetti for me to enjoy it. The lemon/olive oil bread dip was phenomenal. I will definitely be back though for the lovely porch and terrific salad.

7/25/2009- We ordered: 2 glasses of Riesling, 1 Diet Coke, Spinach Pie Appetizer, Village Salad, Chicken with Orzo, BraisedLamb Shank. Total: $67.18

Do over? We will be back

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Gregory's Restaurant Review

eat2winraleigh — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:00:58 +0000

Gregory’s is located off Kildaire Farm road in Cary.

The New Yorker – Delicious. Excellent thick omelets. Home fries, cinnamon rolls, pancakes–its all good. Nice atmosphere on Sunday mornings with pianist. Great breakfast place. Buffalo chicken wrap is delicious, hard to eat but yummy.

The Raleigh-ite – Gregory’s definitely makes a good omelet, large and very fluffy. I prefer the home fries at Brigs, but the pancakes here are better. Great place to go for brunch on Sunday.

Do over? Will be back to eat at Gregory’s–especially on a Sunday.

7/20/2009- We tried the lunch. We ordered: 2 drinks, 1 Nice & cheesy omelet, 1 Buffalo Chicken Wrap. Total : $21.78.

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Five Star Restaurant Review

Bentley’s Restaurant Review

eat2winraleigh — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:53:52 +0000

Bentley’s is located in the Crossroads shopping center in Cary. Classy, quiet dining area along with a bar area.

The New Yorker – Tasty appetizer–stuffed banana peppers. Basic restaurant. Nothing impressive, but an OK meal.

The Raleigh-ite – I think if Bentley’s was a little less expensive I would want to go there more. Its not a meal that you say “wow” after, but if you are looking to have a decent piece of fish with veggies and maybe a salad it can meet this goal. I had the Lemongrass Ahi Tuna, and the tuna was OK and the risotto was decent. The risotto had little peas and carrots in it which I thought was odd for a nice restaurant. Last time I was there I had the seabass which I wasn’t lovin. The lobster & artichoke dip is delicious.

Do over? Wouldn’t go out of our way to eat at Bentley’s but wouldn’t turn it down either. If Bentley’s was more than a 5 minute drive from us, we probably wouldn’t make the effort.

7/11/09: We ordered 1 glass of Riesling, 1 Diet Coke, 1 Banana Peppers App, 1 Iceberg Wedge, 1 Mahi Mahi Special, 1 Lemongrass Tuna, 1 Coffee. Total: $69.26

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Daniel’s Restaurant Review

eat2winraleigh — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:49:15 +0000

Daniel’s is located in Apex right off Hwy 55. Daniels is a freestanding building with inside and outside dining areas. They have a sister restaurant in Fuquay-Varina.

We ate here for the first time last night. Daniel, the owner, was there and we met him. Dan wanted to talk NY with him, of course, and he told us he moved down here in 1992.

The New Yorker – Chicken Parmesan was very close to what you get in NY. Best salad I have had down here (Greek salad). We will be back. They serve bread at the beginning of the meal with a side of red sauce.

The Raleigh-ite – I didn’t love my entree (penne alla casa), but I did LOVE the salad I ordered (it was on the specials menu, fresh white corn summer salad). The sauce on the entree was very rich, making it hard to eat very much. The salad had such a great flavor, white corn, tomatoes and an awesome dressing.

Antipasti salad not nearly as good as the corn summer salad, but it was still a decent salad. Good sized, fresh greens, nice light dressing. Chicken Piccatta has very light wine sauce–kinda runny but tasty. I like that you can order the dishes with vegetables instead of pasta to cut down on the calories/carbs.

Do over? The New Yorker willing to drive to Apex (15 minutes from us ) for this, not the Raleigh-ite (well, at least not without the summer salad).

7/11/2009- We ordered: 2 glasses of Riesling, 1 glass of Merlot, Greek Salad, Special Salad, Penne alla Casa, Chicken Parmesan, Side Meat Balls, Tiramisu. Total : $73.76

7/15/2009- We ordered (takeout): Greek Salad, Antipasti Salad, Chicken Parmesean with Broccoli (instead of pasta) , Chicken Piccata with Broccoli, 1 side of sausage. Total: $50.59

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