I was in Hampden getting my kids silhouettes cut by Erik Johnson at Soft and Cozy Baby. Since the appointment was for 11:45 after L’s school, I decided that I would take the kids out to lunch afterwards. My plan was to go to Golden West because I seem to think I’m a hipster or something. We parked across the street from Café Hon, where I had already very loudly and vehemently (in my head) declared I would never go out of principal because of the scandal and, frankly, after seeing the owner on Kitchen Nightmares, I wasn’t too fond of her. As we are walking over to Golden West, I see a little boy walking down the street with a Café Hon balloon. Now, I know that almost all kids love a balloon. L loves a balloon. But B LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES a balloon. I have never seen that kind of laser focused obsession as when B has a balloon or sees a balloon or thinks about a balloon or senses a balloon in the vicinity so I decided to throw my principals to the wind and step foot inside the infamous restaurant for the first time since the scandal broke.
The new Gordon Ramsey décor is very cool and actually served as a diversion for L for awhile, which was nice. We were greeted promptly at the door (which had never happened any other time I visited or tried to visit) and they set up a table with two high chairs. As soon as I put B down he started crying. Foolishly I assumed he was hungry, but it was really because we walked by the balloons and he did not currently possess one. The manager (?) came over and asked if I minded if she gave them a balloon now. Minded?? Hell, it was like she was an angel who descended from the heavens to make my dining experience more pleasurable. After securing the balloons to the high chairs and having two very happy children, I finally got a chance to peruse the menu.
Like most restaurants you get a paper kids’ menu with some coloring activities and a box of crayons. L very much enjoyed the tracing and maze activities. B enjoyed his balloon and the occasional crayon grab and scribble. The kids’ menu is standard fare and reasonably priced. No surprise that L opted for the Grilled cheese, which came with either fruit or fries for $3.99. I went with the fruit. Drinks were another 99 cents. The thing that I thought was really awesome was their offering of a toddler plate – slices of cheese, slices of bread, a pickle, french fries (the one downside), and cucumber slices for $1.99. I thought this was a really refreshing change since I hate ordering a 14 month old a meal and sometimes I’d like to order something that is just for me and not have to worry about whether or not a baby would eat it.
The one big negative was the amount of time between ordering and actually getting the food. The restaurant was pretty crowded, but you know how hard it is to sit and wait with a hungry kid who keeps asking about their grilled cheese, making 20+ minutes seem like 40+.
The food finally arrived and it was good. My Hampden Burger was perfectly cooked, though lukewarm. The caramelized onions and ‘special’ sauce really did make it quite tasty. And where the burger was very large, the bun was Too large. On the plus side, the fries were not too soggy and not too crispy and were the perfect quantity. Since I have trouble with not eating all my fries, I was happy that there weren’t 250 of them on the plate. The accompanying pickle was my favorite kind – not too sour and not too crunchy, kind of like a Claussen spear. For the record, since I wanted to try the dessert, I didn’t finish my burger or my fries! Overall, I’d say it was good but too pricey at $12. L’s grilled cheese looked good but the fruit cup that accompanied it was very nice. Strawberries, pineapple, bananas and blueberries.
B’s toddler meal was ok. I probably should have requested wheat instead of white bread if I was thinking about it, but he was happy with the offering and for $1.99 I can't complain. Apart from the cucumbers, which he refused. It’s amazing how different two kids in the same family can be!
Because the cakes looked so good when I walked in, I ordered a piece of yellow cake with fudge frosting to split with B and ordered vanilla ice cream for L because she would eat that every day if she could. I assume the ice cream was fine, but the cake was a little dry or possibly stale. B enjoyed the non frosted pieces that I gave him and I enjoyed the icing pieces that I saved for me. To keep him from the chocolate, of course. However, it was definitely not worth $5.99.
Despite the wait, the scandal, and the prices, I would take my kids here again. The manager paid extra attention to my kids and the décor was charming. It was also loud enough that I didn’t feel that embarrassed while the kids were squealing with delight over the balloons or just being kids.
Kid Friendliness : 4/5
Service : 3/5
Prices: 3/5
Taste: 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment