Don't Back Down

Another in the long line of strip-mall restaurants that I seem to have a habit o visiting, this one is brand new, in the Harris Teeter shopping center that is wedged into the corner of Idlewild and Margaret Wallace roads near Matthews. Frankly, I have always thought that those corners are a bad place for a large center such as this one, and after eating here, I feel so even more strongly than before.

Turning into the place isn't bad, whether you are turning right or turning left. But getting out is another matter entirely - especially if you are turning left across traffic. There is simply no way to get across both lanes easily, and it's right there at the intersection so it's unlikely to see any improvement any time soon. When the building of the homes on each side finishes it will probably get worse.

In any case, the place isn't bad. When you go in, it looks really small - just a counter. But to the right, there is a medium-sized dining room that is a bit of a surprise. It's actually quite nice for such a fast-food restaurant. Usually it's lucky if you get a couple of chairs and an old table. This one's nicer.

The food comes out on actual dishes with silverware, too - no throwaway serving utensils and plates. I was impressed. Very rarely will such a place give you the royal treatment like this. The food had to be good. Or they were covering something up. In fact, it was probably a little of both.

It's not that the food was bad. It just wasn't that great. The sauce was a bit on the heavy side. Had it not been, the food may have been quite good, but as it was, the taste was simply lost. The service wasn't bad, but being over on the side of the counter like that, it's like you had been stuck in another world and simply forgotten. Since the food took a while, this was disturbing as well. Not my favorite place.