Michelangelo's

Where: Michelangelo's on Main, 132 S Main Street, Salt Lake City

Who Went: Owen and Chelsey

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Lemon Italian Soda, Melon with Prosciutto, Gnocchi with Bolognese Sauce, and Rigatoni with Side of Asparagus Soup

What It Cost: $45.00 (including tip)

What We Thought: 

Another Italian restaurant, another disappointment. We originally planned on going to Siegfried's Deli one night in Salt Lake, but they were surprisingly closed so we had to walk around and find somewhere new. Michelangelo's was just right around the corner and had only one other table filled, so we decided to go in. 

We started out with some bread, and I was a little disappointed with this teeny bread bowl! I mean, I shouldn't be eating that much bread before my meal anyway, but seven measly little cubes? And the bread was actually really good so we wanted more, and it just looked so silly in the huge black bowl it was served in.

Owen ordered a lemon Italian soda which was not very sweet at all (super tart) and did not have much cream. Plus, no refills. Not impressed. And expensive.

I wanted to substitute my soup or salad side option for one of the appetizers and just pay the difference, which the server said I could do. I chose to get the honeydew and prosciutto, because I love prosciutto and it sounded interesting. The melon was not very ripe, but the prosciutto was thinly sliced and flavorful. I think I enjoyed it more than I would a normal side, and it was a nice refreshing break from my heavy pasta.

Owen chose the asparagus soup for his side, which was also hilariously small, and not all that wonderful. It was good and filling, but the asparagus flavor was a little wimpy and not exceptionally creamy. I probably would want to try another soup if I went there again.

I ordered the gnocchi because I love gnocchi and it is a huge pain to make on your own. The gnocchi here was smaller than I've had before and a little sticky, but it had good flavor. I liked the bolognese sauce, which was meaty and fresh, and there was a good sauce to pasta ratio. I would have preferred more than a little sprinkling of basil (it was kind of just a tease), and since it was a potato-based pasta, it was very filling. Was it a decent meal? Yes. Was it something I couldn't make at home for a quarter of the price? No...

Owen's rigatoni was probably the best dish out of everything we ordered - it was coated in a slightly sweet red sauce with cooked onions and spicy sausage that was all very tasty. It was much less heavy than my dish, and had a nice blend of Italian spices. But once again, pasta is so easy to make! And this wasn't really anything very difficult at all.

What You Should Do: Stay at home and make Italian yourself! Pasta is so cheap and easy to make on your own, so I almost always feel like I'm paying way too much for what I get. My server forgot to substitute in the melon for my side, so not only did I end up paying more, but I didn't get a soup or salad that my meal should have come with! The service was not very attentive, and the food was only alright. If you are really craving Italian food and feel like you have money to spare, then Michelangelo's is usually not very busy and would be an acceptable choice. Otherwise, the quest for reasonable Italian food shall continue...

Read other reviews here:

Chick-fil-A

Where: Chick-fil-A, 28 South State, Salt Lake City (multiple locations, including American Fork) 

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Spicy Chicken Sandwich and Chicken Nuggets

What It Cost: 

What We Thought: $7.38

I've never been to Chick-fil-A, but it seems to be one of those Utah favorites (like Cafe Rio) that everyone seems to love but no one seems to be able to explain. "Their nuggets are just...so good!!!" I've heard tons of people say, so I needed to find out for myself what all this chicken madness was about. 

Owen was in a spicy mood, so he went for the spicy chicken sandwich. We originally tried their food at the food court at City Creek center, so their menu wasn't the most detailed and we didn't have time to ask about all the sandwich specifics. But we definitely weren't expecting to find this inside....

A hunk of fried meat and two sad pickles?? Really? For a sandwich that cost almost $5, I was at least hoping for a little frill of lettuce and tomatoes, maybe some sauce? Nope. This sandwich was as dry as a Utah winter, and was certainly no better (and much less interesting) than a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy's. We could have paid more and upgraded for a more well-rounded sandwich apparently, but I didn't feel like nearly doubling the price of my sandwich for what I already expected to come.

Chick-fil-A is known for their special sauces, so of course we had to try them all. We got the buffalo sauce, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, and house special sauce. The first three were all about what you'd expect, nothing too special. And I'm pretty sure the house sauce is just honey mustard sauce mixed with mayonnaise or something to make it creamier. It was good, but would I ever go there just for the sauce? No.

Behold, the famed and beloved chicken nuggets. There are probably hundreds of copycat recipes on Pinterest for this, with ingredients ranging from pickle juice to paprika, so I figured they were kind of a big deal. And while they were certainly more tender and flavorful than your typical take-out chicken nuggets, they just didn't do it for me!

What You Should Do: Chick-fil-A seems to have a really popular following out there, so I'm probably going to be hated for this, but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for this. To me, their food wasn't much better than any other more-accessible fast food joint, and it was much more overpriced for the sad food we received! Maybe I just need to eat there more often to get the Chick-fil-A craze, but I think I'll save my money and time.

Read other reviews here: 

Carrabba's Italian Grill

Where: Carrabba's Italian Grill, 683 E University Parkway, Orem

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

What We Ordered: Antipasti Plate (containing calamari, mozzarella sticks, and bruschetta), Chicken Marsala with Cavatappi Amatriciana and Lentil Sausage Soup, and Chicken & Spinach Cannelloni with Side Caesar Salad

What It Cost: $53.00 (including tip)

What We Thought:


It never ceases to blow my mind that whenever we drive by Olive Garden on University, there is always a huge line out the door! I understand how people could be sucked in once by the appeal of endless breadsticks and salad (I've been there), but Olive Garden is not a good deal people! And it is not good food! All of the food is overly-processed, straight from a package, and flavored with cheap and heavy ingredients. And yet people still flock there like it's the greatest thing on earth, despite the fact that you usually have to wait 45 minutes because they don't allow you to make reservations.

So my outrage with Olive Garden has encouraged me to find a suitable alternative Italian restaurant to recommend to others, and Carrabba's seemed like a good target. Cute trees on the roof, they let you make reservations, and the menu online seemed promising enough (though mysteriously with no prices).

When I first entered the restaurant, I was immediately turned off. The main dining area was just a big open room with all of the tables crammed in on the same level, so it appeared to be more like a giant mess hall rather than an intimate Italian dining experience. Though we were lucky enough to get a booth since we only had two people, there was absolutely no privacy and we could easily observe basically every other person in the restaurant. Which I guess might be a good thing if your date is really boring, but it was a little unsettling for me.

We started out with the antipasti plate, since I love both calamari and bruschetta, and it was cheaper just to get the fried cheesesticks as well, I mean...hand-breaded mozzarella marinara... The calamari definitely was the highlight of my meal - it was perfectly battered and fried, crispy but not too heavy, and wasn't too fishy. Usually calamari is so excessively breaded that you can't even taste the delicious squid inside, but that was not the case here. If I ever went back to Carrabba's, it would definitely be just for the calamari. The bruschetta was nothing memorable, and the mozzarella sticks were, well, fried cheese, which always tastes good no matter what. I didn't really enjoy the marinara sauce it was served with - it had this weird fishy taste and seemed almost more like a shrimp cocktail sauce than marinara. 

The Caesar salad was what I expected - nothing too exciting, a good dressing, and two kalamata olives tossed on the side to make it seem more interesting. It was basically just a filler until the rest of my food came.

Owen thought that his lentil soup had pretty good flavor - it was a little greasy and very filling, so by the time our food arrived, he was already pretty stuffed. But the lentils were well-prepared, the consistency was nice, and the meat had a rich enough flavor to make the whole thing taste like sausage. And sausage is good. It's not really the prettiest thing, but in the dim lighting of the restaurant, who can tell anyway?

Then our entrées arrived. First up was Owen's Chicken Marsala with Cavatappi Amatriciana - those fancy words basically just meant curly pasta with red sauce (asking for the side of noodles would probably be easier than trying to pronounce those words...!) I had read lots of great things about the chicken marsala, which was why I was so surprised when I tasted it. Sure it is a huge portion and they give you lots of food, but the whole dish was WAY too salty! We could hardly take a couple bites without having to rinse with water. I'm sure the cream sauce and mushrooms were nice, but you couldn't really taste anything beyond the oversalted chicken. We ended up only eating half of it at the restaurant and cutting up the second chicken breast into small pieces for a salad the next day at home, which was the only way we could balance this super saline dish. And unfortunately, too much salt on a dish really sucks out moisture, so the chicken was pretty dry as well. This is partially masked by the sauce, but was really a disappointment for us. 

As if the chicken marsala wasn't disconcerting enough, my stuffed pasta was also sadly too salty and just not that great. The menu described this dish as having fresh herbs, chicken, spinach, with fontina and romano cheese, but all I could taste was too much cream, salt, and butter which completely overpowered any subtle or fresh flavors. The pomodoro sauce tasted identical to that on Owen's side pasta, and I suppose those little green flecks on top of my pasta could potentially qualify as the "fresh herbs" they are talking about, but you couldn't taste them at all.

What You Should Do: Though Carrabba's IS significantly better than the glorified Olive Garden, I still felt like it was overpriced, too heavy, and not very authentic. The layout and seating of the restaurant reminded me of my high school cafeteria, but our server was very nice and helpful, which helped partially make up for the environment. I definitely did enjoy the calamari at the beginning of our meal, but if I'm spending upwards of $50 for two people, I really would expect more out of the main dishes as well. Ostentatious Italian names on the menu won't cut it for me, and my search for Italian food that I actually think is worth the bill shall continue.

Read other reviews here:

Dave & Cranky Chuckie's

Where: Dave & Cranky Chuckie's, 746 E 820 N, Provo

Who Went: Chelsey, Owen, Devynne, Mom & Grandma

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Stuffed Wontons, Strawberry Balsamic Chicken Salad, Ricotta Chicken Salad, New York Strip Steak, Pork Tenderloin, Apple Braised Chicken, Chocolate Lava Cake, & Strawberry Avocado Shortcake


What It Cost: $104.00 (including tip)

What We Thought: 


Like the probably 7,000 other classmates I graduated with a couple weeks ago, I wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner after graduation. I originally wanted to take my family to Communal, but with everything going on during graduation week, I totally forgot to make the reservation ahead of time, and they were all booked when I called two nights before. So I decided to go somewhere kind of new and quirky instead - Dave & Cranky Chuckie's. On their website, they claim to be a "tastefully abrasive American bistro," and if there are any words that describe my mother, it would probably be "tastefully abrasive." It sounded like a perfect match to me, so after our tushes regained consciousness from the lengthy ordeal commonly known as commencement, we headed down there.

We were seated near a window, which was great lighting for my shots but also partially blinded me & Owen during the meal. This was mainly my fault - the staff offered to close the blinds, but I just couldn't say no to all that natural light, so our server offered his sunglasses to me, which was a very kind gesture. Little did he know that wearing any form of glasses (even normal ones) really throws off my depth perception, so I had to take them off after clearly missing my mouth with the abnormally tall glasses of water. We were served some bread to start off the meal - it was very soft and had a delicious hint of rosemary, but was a little awkward because they only gave us four pieces of bread for five people.

We ordered the stuffed wontons as an appetizer, which was probably my favorite dish throughout the whole meal. Though the interior content of the wontons was a little difficult to determine (perhaps some mixture containing fake crab meat, cream cheese and...?), they were perfectly crispy and fried, and the sweet chili sauce it was served with was delectable.

Since I'm a total pain, I forced my mother to get the ricotta chicken salad instead of the strawberry salad so we could have two different pictures and experiences. She's not the biggest ricotta fan (she hates it plain), so I tried to assure her that "ricotta chicken" probably meant that the chicken was cooked with ricotta or maybe it was all mixed together in the salad or something.

Nope. It was just a big old schlop of ricotta plopped right on top of a bland and unoriginal chicken breast. There was a good mix of greens, but for a person who doesn't even like ricotta that much, the whole dish was pretty disappointing. Though sunflower seeds may add another thing to your list of ingredients, they do not contribute much flavor or color, and since my mother discarded most of the plain ricotta on the side, I ended up snagging it to give my own meal a little more textural and flavor variety.

My grandma ordered the strawberry balsamic chicken salad and thought that it was great. It pretty much had the exact same formula as the ricotta salad - same mixture of greens, same humdrum sliced chicken breast on the side, similar type of dressing, but with some strawberries in the mix instead. It was good, but not very imaginative or impressive.

When our server, Paul, brought out Owen's steak, we were all pretty blown away. None of us had ever seen a New York strip steak that was so large before! Though the presentation was fantastic and those little grill marks on the steak looked straight from Gourmet magazine, the steak itself was a bit of a disappointment. It was a little too tough and dry for me, and we realized it wasn't really all that much meat by the time Owen finished because of the huge pile of inedible fat that remained on his plate.

Easily a third of the steak was this unpalatable blubber, which detracted from its original appeal. The mashed potatoes tasted good with some steak juice seeping into them, and the carrots were fine - a little al dente with plenty of pepper to keep Owen happy.

The pork loin was hit and miss for my family - Devynne really enjoyed the applesauce served on top of the grilled pork, even though it was an unappetizing shade of brown mush, but my mother craved for the salty and amazing flavor that can only be brought out of pork through brining. The potatoes were the same as the ones served with the steak, though they seemed less flavorful without the steak juices on top.

Finally - my apple braised chicken. Now, I have to make a confession. Since it was finally the end of my undergraduate career, I was experiencing a bit of PSISF (post-stress immune system failure). Okay, I just made that up, but I had a bit of a cold when we visited this restaurant, which of course meant that my taste buds weren't quite up to their normal function. Luckily for me, I was dining with four other people who I greatly trust as far as taste buds go, so I figured it would still work out fine. When I started eating my chicken however, I was so confused. I thought maybe it was due to my congested nasal passage, but I could not taste one iota of apple on my supposedly "apple-braised" chicken. I asked our server what the deal was after everyone else had tried it and confirmed the absolute lack of apple flavor, and he said that the chicken is cooked with the apples and sometimes the flavor might not be absorbed into the chicken! How misleading! Basically it just tasted like an unseasoned chicken breast, remarkably similar to the chicken found on both salads, just with darker grill marks. The succotash was alright - I liked the canned pineapple that was mixed in for some variety, and the risotto was definitely the best feature of any of our entrées. Though my mom referred to it as "fancy Rice-A-Roni," everyone kept trying to sneak bites off of my plate.

Though we were all generally disappointed with our main courses, a good dessert can make up for the meal - at least in my family. We decided to go with the molten chocolate lava cake and the dessert special, which was a strawberry avocado shortcake. Apparently they bake all of their desserts to order, so we waited around for a good twenty more minutes for our final course to arrive.

The first thing you may notice about this strawberry shortcake is that there are clearly no avocados involved. I asked the girl filling our water cups if the avocado was infused into the cake or something, but she said, "Oh...they must have ran out of avocados..." and then continued to avoid eye contact and our table the rest of the meal.

The second thing you may notice about both desserts is that they look like they came out of an Easy Bake Oven.*

Both desserts were exceptionally dry, surprisingly cold considering the fact that they had just been cooked, and horrifically bland. In my family, we pretty much love sugar so much that we will eat any kind of dessert, no matter how bad it is. These two desserts were the rare exception. The strawberry no-avocado shortcake was desiccant and crumbly, and kind of burnt. The lava cake was...indescribable. I wish I had taken a picture of the "lava" that was inside for you, but we were all dying from laughter by this point in the meal because of how shockingly bad the desserts were. The cake and lava inside were both this weird shade of greyish brown, which made us question its true identity as something that was supposedly made of chocolate. The lava itself was oddly thick and didn't exactly flow out of the cake - it was like your aunt's bad fudge that she brings around at Christmastime and forces you to eat. Except we couldn't eat it.

Paul was really nice throughout the whole meal and must have realized by the end of it that we were not exactly enjoying the food. Now, if there is one thing that this restaurant knows how to do right, it is working the social media. When you get two young students running a restaurant with a bunch of their friends, they are definitely going to use the web to their advantage. They even have their own restaurant blog, Tastefully Abrasive, where they recently have started to scope out the competition in Utah Valley. As I was taking pictures of the food, Paul told us that we should write a review on Urbanspoon and post the pictures. Then my not-so-subtle mother broke my number one rule about reviewing restaurants, and told him that I have a restaurant website. This of course probably affected our service, but unfortunately did not improve the quality of the food. At the end of the meal, Paul came over and said that since I had a cold, I should come by and try them again and slipped me this card, which would give me 15% off the meal.

What You Should Do: At the steep price of around $20 a person, I have to say that I do not recommend Dave & Cranky Chuckie's. Personally, I think I am going to give them a few months to become a more established operation, and maybe I'll try them for lunch or something instead. The whole experience seemed like some amateur friends who wanted to play a game of "let's run a restaurant," and the food was nearly all either unoriginal, under seasoned, or prepared in a strange and insipid manner. And just please do not get the desserts. I know you are probably thinking, "Chelsey! How can you insult a restaurant that apparently 97 other people in Provo like enough to go on Urbanspoon and rate it?" But as I mentioned before, these guys do have the upper hand as far as social media is concerned and I am sure that many of their friends are trying to support their restaurant venture. Your mother always taught you that you can't trust everything you read - unless it's on my website of course. Just kidding. You can either take my word for it and save yourself from an expensive and dissatisfying meal, or you can go there and let me know what you think!

Read other reviews here:



*Note: Easy Bake Oven is a product of Hasbro. Also, not all Easy Bake Oven creations are so bad as these two desserts. For something awesome created by an Easy Bake Oven, you can check out this video from Cake Boss, where he is challenged to create a cake using an Easy Bake Oven, and is wildly successful (skip ahead to 6:47 and then 11:14)

Wing Nutz

I bet that I have lulled you into a false sense of security lately with all these great places to eat...but beware! Not everything in Utah County is fantastic (you already knew that of course), so let me tell you about a place you should certainly skip.

Where: Wing Nutz, 1054 S 750 E, Orem

Who Went: Chelsey & my sister-in-law Abby

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Two small orders of wings - 1 with Jamaican Jerk sauce and 1 with Teriyaki sauce

What It Cost: $12

What We Thought: 


Let me just start off by saying that I made my first mistake when I decided that it would be a good idea to take my 11-year-old sister-in-law here before going to see the movie Monte Carlo (yeah, the one with Selena Gomez and Leighton Meester). The bar-like atmosphere may be fun for people who want to escape the normal Provo atmosphere, but it was no place for two relatively young girls on a Saturday afternoon.

Despite being female and a chick-flick lover, I do love my wings, as you all are very aware (sorry, will cut back on the wings posts...someday...). So I was excited to see their menu with a variety of sauces, and thought that maybe since they were baked instead of fried I could justify them as being more healthy or something. There were only two problems with this.

First off, the sauces were sadly boring. I could hardly distinguish between the two flavors, and it was a very superficial taste since they did not penetrate the actual wing at all. Sure they have lots of sauce options, but what's the point if none of them taste that great? Also, since the wings were baked, they didn't have any of that crunch or fantastic typical texture of wings. Such a disappointment. Not to mention that they felt incredibly overpriced for the small batch that we got (5 wings each at $6/order). Or the 25 minute wait we had to get 10 total wings for a place that pretty much only serves wings and there were only 2 other parties in the restaurant. I almost missed my movie!

What You Should Do: Avoid. There are so many other great wing places in the area, you really shouldn't waste your time or money here. The service is slow and uninviting, the prices are too high, and the wings just aren't that great. And definitely don't bring your 11-year-old sister-in-law here. It's just too weird.

Read other reviews here:

El Chubasco

Where: El Chubasco, 1890 Bonanza Drive, Park City (in a little strip mall, not really close to Main Street)

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Combo Plate: Carnitas Tacos, Chicken Enchilada + Tamale, Big Asada Burrito, Mexican Style, Smothered with Salsa Rojo, Limón Jarritos Soda

What It Cost: $22.50

What We Thought: 

Thanks to presidents, we had a three-day weekend and decided to take a little road trip on our Monday off up to Park City. Of course we wanted to go out to lunch, so I checked out our good friend Urbanspoon.com to get a recommendation, and decided to go to the #1 highest-rated restaurant in Park City. Should be good in a city known for having lots of good restaurants, right?

The salsa bar (shown above) is what many of the reviewers raved about. I admit that it does have a really broad selection - more salsas than you could even try, and hot pepper ratings shown on the signs that help you know the spiciness level. But really, none of them tasted any better or more special than something I could get at the grocery store from Herdez.

But at least it is fun to try lots of flavors while you are waiting for your food...

It arrived quickly, which was good, but if you read carefully above, you would notice that this burrito was indeed not covered in rojo salsa. They must have thought that Owen wanted salsa verde, so we were a little disappointed that they got his order wrong, but we were too hungry to send it back. Halfway through the burrito, Owen wished that he had done differently, but by then, what could we do? Anyway, the burrito indeed was BIG. You certainly get your money's worth with this burrito, and it is filled to the brim with meat. If only the meat had actually been good....the carne asada was sadly really dry and not very flavorful. If you want to eat just to get full, then this may be a good option for you. But we were disappointed that we paid for extra sauce and got the wrong kind, and then the insides of the burrito were so dry and boring.

The combo plate looked promising, with lots of fun colors and good presentation. I started off with the carnitas tacos, and honestly, I was so hungry at this point that I can't really remember what they tasted like. They weren't amazing, but they weren't horrible either. Then I moved on to the tamale - another reviewer said that their tamales aren't that great and that they wouldn't order them again, but it was actually my favorite part of the whole meal! The corn exterior was soft and good consistency, and I enjoyed the overall flavor. The enchilada was the skinniest little enchilada I've ever seen! They hide it under a mountain of cabbage so you can't tell how tiny it is, and it was filled with incredibly overcooked chicken. The beans and rice were an expected complement to the meal, but they weren't the most savory I've ever had.

What You Should Do: Go if you have to. I think that the only reason that this restaurant is rated so highly is because it's in Park City, and it's probably the only place you can go without feeling like you're completely breaking the bank. Plus the salsa bar is kind of fun. The portion sizes are very large, and it is pretty reasonably priced despite its location, which may be what you are looking for when hungry after a day of skiing. But is the food the best Mexican I've ever had? Far from it. We didn't even want to take the rest of Owen's burrito home.

Read other reviews here:

Diego's Taco Shop

I wish I had known that I wanted to be a restaurant critic blogger my whole career here at BYU because then I probably would have had the foresight to take photos at every place I've ever eaten in the past three years. Sadly, I only had this revelation last week, so I do not have photographs of all of the meals we have partaken. Many places we are excited to try again, and this time I'll remember to tote along the camera -- but there are a few places that were either mediocre or horrible, and I don't really want to waste another dime there again. This is the story of one of those places.

Where: Diego's Taco Shop, 45 W 300 N, Provo (kind of near Smith's grocery store, hard to find, not worth it)

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Carne Asada burrito, 2 Al Pastor tacos

What It Cost: $6.93

What We Thought:


When I was in high school in Washington, I used to work at a fireworks stand in the summer. Classy, I know. There were two things that were incredibly awesome about this gig -- getting paid in cash and Super Burrito Express. This place was the ultimate when it comes to down & dirty Mexican food -- we're talking pulling a big slab of pork straight from the back of the scary white van where it probably wasn't even refrigerated. I probably caught at least 50 stomach viruses those summers, but it was so worth it. It was Super Burrito Express where I learned the magic of Jarritos and the wonder of the Al Pastor burrito.

When I heard about Diego's Taco Shop, and their famed hole-in-the-wall Mexican food, I began to dream again about the Al Pastor. I ordered Al Pastor tacos, and Owen went with his favorite, the Carne Asada burrito. We waited in anticipation (and in some dim, fluorescent lighting) and got our salsas - only 2 containers allowed per person! Stingy much?


Grave disappointment is only the tip of the iceberg of my feelings. My tacos were underseasoned, dry, and altogether wimpy. There was hardly any filling, and after inhaling them, I was left with the feeling, "Was that it?"

But at least my meal didn't make me want to retch in a nearby trash receptacle.

Owen's meal on the other hand...wow. We couldn't even finish it. The sauce that smothered the burrito literally tasted like Spagetti-O's sauce. Not a good combination with the leathery, super salty "steak" that filled the burrito. Next time I want to relive my childhood lunches, I'll skip the wait and spend the $1.50 at Smiths in the Chef Boyardee section.

What You Should Do: Avoid at all costs. Do not go here. Even if a really hot date asks you there and you don't want to offend him, just say no. Your stomach will thank you. Dear Provo, these are NOT real tacos. I actually haven't found a decent taco shop yet, but when I do, you will be the first to know!


Some people may say, "Oh you're too harsh! You've only been there once and you really should have ordered _____ instead." No. I don't care. One horrible experience is enough. There should never be any horrible experiences at a good restaurant.  

Sammy's Cafe

One reason I really wanted to start this blog is because I am tired of reviewers always agreeing with what's popular. What kind of food critic just agrees with what everyone's saying on Urbanspoon or something else? Some restaurants are popular because they are actually good. But there are a few restaurants that are popular for no good reason at all -- they are just trendy and receive a lot of hype, but are either overpriced, or have poor service, or just aren't worth it. And I want to warn you about these ones so you don't get your hopes dashed like I did! Here is one of those hope-dashing experiences...

Where: Sammy's Cafe, 27 N 100 W, Provo (just off of Center street, between Univ Ave and Freedom)

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Raspberry Cheesecake Shake, Sweet Potato Fries, The Promo Burger, El Paso "Burger" (WARNING: They sneak chicken burgers in there on the menu and you may not even notice it, just like me, and you will be very sad when what you ordered is not actually a burger, but a sissy sandwich instead)

What It Cost: $19.50

What We Thought: 

Let me just say that I was really excited to try this place. BYU students are crazy about a few restaurants -- J Dawg's, Cafe Rio, The Pie (even though it's in SLC...), and Sammy's is one of those few. We went on a pretty warm day in the summer, which was the first of our mistakes. The tiny place was PACKED -- even the crappy picnic tables they set up outside were full, and it was way hot in there. I'm pretty sure that the place would not pass general health code standards because while we were waiting for our food, we noticed fruit flies cruising lazily from the garbage can (which was open and right next to where we were supposedly going to eat) to the kitchen and to the restaurant guests. Not very appetizing.

We started out with a Raspberry Cheesecake shake, since they are "famous" for their pie shakes. What an underwhelming experience. The only thing different between this shake and something you might pick up from McDonald's is the price. There was no evidence that this beverage once was a pie, and it was super runny and overall disappointing for the $4.29 price tag. We slurped it up in 15 seconds and then proceeded to wait in the fly corner for another 15 minutes until some more food was ready.

Then we got our fries, which I fully blame for Owen's hatred of sweet potato fries (fortunately, this was recently remedied by Guru's...more on that later!). These were too thin, too crunchy, and too flavorless. The fry sauce was okay, nothing special but not gag-inducing, but Owen refused to eat any more of the fries, much to my great sadness. I am a huge sweet potato fry lover, and this was Owen's first time having them. Bummer.

Owen ordered "The Promo" burger, which was pretty much your basic bacon cheeseburger. Meh. Everything tasted fresh at least, but nothing blew my mind. The burger itself was a little overdone and dry, but it was alright. And it was served with sweet pickles -- when will restaurants learn that EVERYONE PREFERS DILL? Sorry, personal vendetta there...

And I got El Paso burger. Like I mentioned previously, I had a blonde moment and didn't realize this was a chicken burger, so I was pretty put out when it arrived. For a chicken burger it was fairly decent I guess -- the avocado mash on it compensated for the lack of flavor in the chicken, and I really wish I could have tasted that pepperjack cheese I paid for. 

What You Should Do: Go if you have to. It's not BAD really, it's just not that great. Just because you throw the word "Famous" in front of your restaurant's advertising campaign doesn't make you have good food, I'm sorry. I think people just go there for the hole-in-the-wall, I-went-there-before-anyone-knew-about-it appeal, and sometimes people just think food tastes better if it's more expensive. If you want a pie shake that actually tastes like it contains pie, drive down the road to The Malt Shoppe instead and order the Jumble Berry Pie shake. Nothing else on their menu is really that spectacular, but the Jumble Berry Pie shake is a diamond in the rough my friends.