Disappointing Rampart

Sigh. I like Rampart, I really do. It's beautiful, the waterfalls are lovely. I even took photos of the waterfalls for my Photography course my first semester at CSN. But the restaurants today were a terribly disappointing experience.

We like Promenade cafe. When they had the $1.99 breakfast specials we went often. Then they doubled the price and we went elsewhere. So when I noticed that Restaurant.com has gift certificates for Promenade and the Buffet, as well as the Carmel room, I was interested. I had $20 credit at Restaurant.com so I decided to take one for Promenade, since we'd been there several times.

Today was a crazy day, so we decided to swing into Rampart and use the Promenade certificate. We were seated immediately, but I was very disappointed with the seating. We were seated at a table that was squeezed tightly between two other tables. Bench on one side, chairs on the other. Mom sat on the bench, but had to squeeze in because both parties on each side had large bags sitting beside them, well into the space of our table. I was a bit annoyed that only one person moved her bag at all, and it was just a little bit, but that wasn't the restaurants fault. I am a little disappointed that the server didn't politely ask them to move their bags to their own space or at least seat us elsewhere though.

So we scanned the menus, and found a few promising dishes. The $9.99 special with 3 courses looked interesting, and the BBQ combo looked very good. We waited... and waited... and waited. Eventually, after having enough time to read the entire menu and narrow down to a few choices, a blur that I assume was our server went flying by saying she'd be right with us... at least that's what it sounded like. She served the party beside us, and says something to them about getting a salad... I assume she's now going to take our drink order but she hurries away. So we read the menu.... again. Finally, someone else takes our drink order. He returns with my Pepsi and Mom's iced tea... with very little ice, and no extra glass of ice like she asked for. We wait. And wait. And wait. After reading the entire menu AGAIN, we close the menu's and sit there with our chins on our hands, extremely bored and annoyed.

Several servers zip around in a frenzy, and 2 stand directly beside us discussing whether a party had split a check or not. Finally, I decide to flag down a server and ask for the check for our drinks. Only I can't catch one. Not ours, nor any other. One walked right by me as I looked right at him and said "Excuse me". Angry, we get up and go to the register. I tell the cashier to just charge us for the 2 drinks because we've yet to be even GREETED by our server. She apologized and told us the drinks were on the house. The gesture was appreciated, but I'd have preferred they offer to call the manager and seat us with a better server.

So, we left - extremely disappointed. We decide to try the buffet. We've had it before, but it was quite a while ago. After paying, we stand at the register for several minutes waiting to be seated... though there were several empty tables.

We were finally seated and went to the salad area. The salad was quite sparse. We opted for some of the fresh fruit, which was very good. Then we went to the main buffet. Again, a disappointment.

We did get drinks, though I only managed to get one refill, and i had to ask for it as she was walking away. Mom didn't get a refill at all. The waitress was behind us gossiping about Casey Anthony with another customer. While that's fine, I found some of the comments inappropriate from an employee at a workplace.

Fair is fair... the fruit, breads, deli meats, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, and pecan sandies were good.

But, the rest was beyond bad. The pizza tasted like low quality cheese sprinkled on cardboard. The crust really - literally - tasted like cardboard. I'm not kidding. The "pot roast" was mislabeled (I guess it was actually a stew?) was so tough I couldn't cut it to even try a bite. The fried shrimp was rock hard and dried out. It was overcooked and tough. The tortellini was soggy and stuffed with some kind of dry unidentifiable meat. It appeared to be hamburger or ground sausage. No cheese, no butter... just wet, soggy pastas filled with a dry gray meat. I decided not to try it. Mom tried the fish and chips. She reports that both were overcooked and rubbery. She had 2 bites of fish, 1 fry, and moved on to a sandwich. We both tried the Sweet & Sour chicken, and both agreed it was very dry and bland. The macaroni and cheese was outright scary. I love mac & cheese. But after lifting the spoon, I changed my mind. It seemed to be a few sorry little overcooked macaronis floating in a big bowl of neon orange coloured water. Unfortunately, even after being refreshed, it was still a big bowl of soggy macaronis literally floating in a "cheese" that looked like orange water.

As I mentioned, the mashed potatoes were good, but the gravy had some UFOs in it... that would be Unidentified Floating Objects. I'm assuming (and hoping) it was dried onions. The gravy was tasty, but thin and a bit strange with the little random bits in it. There were lots of empty trays that weren't refreshed (and it wasn't changeover time either).

Mom says the pecan sandies were very good, but the bread pudding was burnt. The chocolate fudge cake was good. But the vanilla iced creme had absolutely no flavor at all. It tasted like I was eating a spoon of ice. It reminded me of the Simpsons were Maude asked for Unflavoured... she'd have loved this.

Well, needless to say we won't be going to Rampart for a meal for a while. We'll be sending complaints to management to see what the response is.

UPDATE: Several days later, and no response at all from management.

TGI Fridays

So earlier this week we went to TGI Fridays in Gold Coast. We had a $5 credit from the Gold Coast mailer, plus a free app from our survey off the receipt. We ordered Sesame chicken, a Jack Daniels Burger with Combo fries and the Soup, Salad, Breadsticks endless lunch (which includes a drink). We set it out Smorgasbord style.

It worked out like this:

• Two drinks (one free with endless lunch)
• Sesame chicken with Asian slaw (free with survey receipt)
• Jack Daniels burger (cut in half) with Combo fries (1/2 regular, 1/2 sweet potato)
• Soup (we ordered broccoli cheese and clam chowder)
• Salad (we had 2)
• Breadsticks

Total: $16

It was very good. We were seated immediately, in a very ample booth. Our drinks were refilled promptly, and the server was very nice. He was fast, and checked on us often.

The sesame chicken is AMAZINGLY good. It has a mild spicy tang to it. If you've never had it, it's chicken breasts tossed in an Asian sauce and sesame seeds, served with Asian slaw and extra dipping sauce. The sauce is wonderful You can control the heat by how much extra sauce you dip into. The Asian slaw has a nice hot kick to it.We order this often and it's always lovely.

The JD burgers were - as always - excellent. Nice soft bun, good burger, fresh cheese. The lettuce and tomato are your typical mid-grade, probably hydrophonic. But in their defense, it's hard to get good produce. Mom says the onion is good. It comes with extra sauce. This is one of the rare burgers I don't need ketchup or mayo on. I'd love a nice big slice of pineapple on it though.

The fries are great, and the ranch is fabulous. nice and thick, creamy, and chilled just right. Outback has the BEST ranch evahhhh.... but TGI gives them a good run for the money. We get combo fries because Mom is addicted to sweet potato fries. She sprinkles them with sugar, and reports that TGIs are very good. The regular fries are straight, homestyle cut, nicely browned.

The broccoli cheese soup was very good. Cheesy, creamy, nice small bits of broccoli. It's not a strong cheese. My favourite is from Quiznos, but I love cheese. TGI has a milder version, so if you don't like overpowering cheese, TGI is the place to be. I had a big bowl of it, and would have another. The clam chowder was good, but Outback has spoiled me. I love Outbacks clam chowder... it's outrageously good. TGI's is good, but nothing spectacular. A little thin, lots of potatoes, some celery and onion, good bits of clams. The clams are good, not too chewy.

The salad was nice. Again Outback upstages them with their salads, but it was a very good salad. Mom chose the Ceasar, which was romaine, cheese, croutons (fabulous croutons), dressing. The breadsticks were soft, warm and good. Dipped in the broccoli cheese soup or ranch dressing they were fab.

At that price, with the excellent service and good food, we'll definitely be back soon! We've also recommended them to friends and family, and if you're looking for a good inexpensive lunch, they have excellent options!