Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen

I'll admit it, I love Popeye's!  I'm originally from Louisiana, so I've been eating Popeye's for a long time, and they are my favorite fast food fried chicken spot.  I always get the spicy chicken white meat and it's delicious!  The chicken is well cooked, the skin is crispy, and it's a little spicy.  The biscuits are also my favorite!  They're incredibly buttery and rich, so don't eat too many.  My favorite side dish is the Mashed Potatoes with Cajun Gravy.  The gravy is fabulous!  The Dirty Rice is also good (dirty rice is just rice with a little meat in it).

A word about spice.  I don't think Popeye's is that hot, but if you're from the Mid-West, there's a good chance you will find it hot.  Be careful.  Every time I've gone to Popeye's the people have been friendly and the service has been fast, so 4 stars.

Bariola's Pizzeria

First, a little background:

What exactly is Guido's and Bariola's?
Guido's Pizza is a pizzeria that started in Tontitown and spread to Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers (not sure of the exact order there). The ones in Fayetteville and Rogers were owned by the same person, and last year he split off from the Guido's brand and became Bariola's. Guido's is still in Tontitown and Springdale.

My reviews
Last year, in early December, I did a comparison of the two pizzas called:  Grudge Match: Guido's vs. Bariola's.  I used the Guido's in Tontitown and the Bariola's in Fayetteville.  I did this because my previous experience at Bariola's was not good.  Shortly afterward I received an e-mail purporting to be from the owner of Bariola's saying that my concerns were correct and he was in the process of fixing them.

Our most recent order
Frank placed the order a little before 5 pm.  He said the order process was okay, but he had to repeat that it was for pick-up a few times.  The girl on the phone said she was new, and sounded like it, but she was friendly, although she tried to sell him some extras too.  He was told 30 minutes for the pizza, which is fairly typical.  They usually say 20 to 25 minutes, unless they're really busy.

When he went to pick it up, he went to the drive-thru and he was home by 5:30 pm.  He said it was pretty dead there.  When we opened the pizza, it was luke-warm.  Usually it's still hot, so I'm assuming they made the pizza immediately and then it sat around until we arrived.  In the past, we've generally had to wait because we showed up when it was supposed to be done, and it wasn't.

Conclusions
The one or two people Frank dealt with were friendly, so that's good.  But there is still no bell at the drive-thru window; the owner said he would change that.  The pizza was good, but not great.  The pepperoni was okay, the crust was okay, but overall, it was nothing special.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad or anything.  But it was a little generic.  So I'll have to say 3-1/2 stars. 

Zaxby's

I'd never heard of Zaxby's until they showed up on 6th Street (MLK) a few years ago. Their commercials looked interesting, and since I try not to eat regular fast food, I thought I'd give them a shot.

I went by after the lunch rush, so there was no one in the drive-thru. The person on the intercom was friendly, as was the person at the window. And they were fast. I guess fresh chicken tenders is their thing, so I got a House Salad with Fried Tenders.

The salad was really good. It was real lettuce, not iceberg. There were tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, and what I'd swear was cornflakes, on it. The tomatoes were a bit hit or miss. Some of them were a bit tasteless, while some were flavorful. Considering how hard it is to find good tomatoes, especially at a fast food place, I thought the tomatoes were good. As for the cucumbers, when was the last time you saw tasty cucumbers on a fast food salad? The cheese was cheese, and if I remember correctly, there were 2 types (orange and white). And yes, every now and then I ate something like a corn flake. It's never occurred to me to put cornflakes on a salad, but now I may do that at home sometimes.

Overall, the salad was really good. The tenders were hot and fresh - trust me, you can't reheat a tender and get it to taste like fresh. The only negative was the salad dressing. It tasted fine, and there were 2 packs of it, which I really liked. But one of the main ingredients was High Fructose Corn Syrup. Since everyone else uses it, I guess I can't really complain too much. I'll save that rant for a different posting ;) The fast food salads I've eaten over the last few years have gotten pretty bad, so I'll have to give Zaxby's 4 stars for theirs.

Grudge Match: Guido's vs. Bariola's

As you may recall, the Guido's Pizza in Fayetteville and Rogers are now Bariola's Pizzeria.  Well, Frank had an idea:  buy a medium pepperoni from each and give them a head-to-head taste test.  So we did.  We used the Guido's in Tontitown and the Bariola's in Fayetteville.

The Findings
Overall:  Guido's was well cooked; Bariola's was overcooked.

Crust:  Guido's was thin and even, with a nice edge; Bariola's was thicker, with very little edge.

Cheese:  Tasted the same, but as it cooled off, there were texture differences.

Pepperoni: Bariola's was a tiny bit spicy, but Guido's had FLAVOR.

Commentary
This was our first time at the Guido's in Tontitown and we both loved it!  As soon as you walk in you get that pizza parlor smell.  There are tables and red booths, with wood accents.  The servers were polite and on-the-ball and everyone was friendly.  Their pizza is what Bariola's used to taste like, circa 2005-2007 when it was still Guido's.

Since they've changed ownership, Bariola's is slipping.  For months now, we've had trouble at the drive-thru window, so Frank just goes in to get the pizza.  Several times Frank would arrive 15-20 minutes after ordering, and they hadn't even started the pizza yet.  The wait staff seems to be a bit surly too.  Our last pizza was undercooked, this one was overcooked.

Conclusions
After this many incidents at Bariola's and what Frank refers to as "incompetent kitchen staff" I feel fairly confident in downgrading them to 3-1/2 stars.  The pizza is not bad, but it's also not Guido's anymore.  They seem to have switched to cheaper ingredients and let's call it a "looser" management style.  As for the real Guido's in Tontitown, 4-1/2 stars.

Bariola's Pizzeria

Well, Guido's in Fayetteville has been Bariola's for a month now.  And I'm not sure I like what I see.  As I mentioned before, we always get our pizza to go - but they seem to be having issues with the drive-thru.  As in, no one can hear you honk, so Frank usually goes inside now to pick up our order.  And it's not like they were busy when we ordered.

We got a pepperoni pizza again, because it's usually pretty tasty.  This time the pizza was off.  The crust didn't crisp up properly.  Frank says it looked more like they spread the crust in a pan instead of throwing it.  Also, it was greasy.  The Guido's pizzas usually aren't very greasy, but this one was.  It tasted okay, but not as tasty as normal.

One thing they do properly, though, is that they don't skimp on cheese or crushed peppers.  I asked for both and got 4 containers of cheese and 2 of crushed red peppers.  That was about the only thing they got right this time.  I'm lowering them to 3-1/2 stars.  Let's hope this was a fluke, and not the new management style.

Hunan Manor

I've been eating here ever since they moved to Wedington Drive.  I'll admit to not having eaten at a lot of Chinese restaurants in Fayetteville, but that's because for the past decade, in 4 different cities, pretty much every Chinese restaurant I've eaten at has been bad.  I mean bland, and Americanized to death.  The Super Buffet has killed Chinese food.  The first restaurant I tried in Fayetteville was typical (and went out of business right after that).  Luckily, Hunan Manor is the exception!

Their food tastes different from other Chinese restaurants, in general, because their sauce is black bean based (according to Frank).  This gives a darker color and taste to their food.  I rarely eat in, but the drive-thru is usually fast, even when the line is long.  The inside has a small buffet, with tables and a high ceiling.  The ambiance isn't too bad.  I would stay away from the buffet and order off the menu.

My favorite dish is the Hot Crispy Beef.  It's a little spicy, and very crispy and totally yummy!  It takes a little while to cook, so order it ahead of time if you use the drive-thru.  The General Tso's Chicken is also good, but it tastes a bit strong to me.  Other semi-spicy dishes that are good are the Double Cooked Pork and the Hunan Pork.  If you want something milder, try the Pork with Spring Onions.  No spice (except the onion) but lots of flavor.  (Can you tell I love pork?)

For appetizers, I'm partial to the Beef Teriyaki.  You get 4 skewers, and it's pretty good.  The egg rolls are a bit generic though.  Frank says the Steamed Dumplings are good, especially the ginger-soy sauce they come with.  I only had the Fried Jumbo Shrimp once, and it seemed somewhat generic too.

Hunan Manor also has Vegetarian dishes and Fried Rice, Low Mein, and Chow Mein.  The Low Mein is just spaghetti noodles, like most Chinese restaurants nowadays.  I'm not too fond of their Fried Rice.  Frank likes the Pork Fried Rice, but not the Chicken - too generic.  I tried the Shrimp Fried Rice, but I couldn't eat it.  It had an odd taste to it, the shrimp and the rice.  I guess I just don't like whatever spice they put in there.

This is a hard restaurant for me to review, star-wise.  I mean, it's one of my favorite restaurants and I use the drive-thru all the time.  But there are some items that are kind of generic.  In the interests of fairness, I guess I'll have to say 3-1/2 to 4 stars.

Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse

This is another restaurant in West Monroe, Louisiana.  I've eaten here off and on for years, and I especially love their Shrimp Tempura Roll.  I was looking at the reviews on Urban Spoon, and over the summer the reviews were pretty bad.  I did eat here over the summer, and I will say my California Roll smelled off, and I couldn't eat it, so apparently it wasn't just me.  But I've eaten here so much that I had to give them another chance.  And I'm glad I did!

I had the squid salad, and we ordered a mix of various sushi:  California Roll, Shrimp Tempura Roll, Eel Roll, Soft-Shell Crab Roll, and my aunt had gyoza.  The squid salad was great.  Big hunks of squid with cucumbers and stuff (seaweed, I think), in some kind of dressing.  I really can't get more specific, because I'm not entirely sure what's in there.  (HINT:  For an extra tasty treat, get squid salad and seaweed salad, and mix them together.  Very filling too!)   The California Roll was good, although, like most sushi places nowadays, they do use shredded Krab, not the whole pieces.  The Shrimp Tempura Roll is excellent!  It's my favorite.  Fried shrimp and avocado with a hint of wasabi, and some kind of soy sauce (I think).  The other rolls were good too.  And the service was quick.  I mean, there must have been a lull when we ordered, because our sushi came out fast.

We did get a young server, and I have to wonder if he was new.  Usually the server brings you plates for your sushi order, but we had to ask for them.  He seemed surprised that we wanted plates, and asked if everyone wanted one.  Other than that, it was really good.  So hopefully things are back to normal now, and this wasn't just a fluke.  Four stars.