DevinandBrittany.com

When my family gathers, generally eating out at a buffet is on the top of the list. Sizzler, located in Orem, prides itself as being the grand daddy of salad buffets in Utah county. For this reason, we find ourselves visiting this buffet a few times a year when family requests it.

Service

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We arrived on a friday night, packed full of people. The line moved somewhat slowly, but there was a lot of people to get seated. Our waitress was nice and friendly and did the best she could to keep up with a group of about 20 people. Drinks did get mixed up a bit, but it was fine for those people in our party that ordered water. I didn’t notice anything that was outstanding with the service, so this category receives an average score.

The Food

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We both ordered the salad buffet. I ordered a sirloin steak with a buffet cooked medium well. When my steak arrived, it was so underdone I had to ask for it to be re-cooked. My aunts steak was ordered as rare, but hers was cooked well done so we traded. I was enjoying the steak until I got to the rare part which I didn’t think possible, but the waitress was kind enough to bring it back to the cook. She later informed me that they overcooked the steak and I would be getting a new one. By the time the new steak was served, it was time to go.

Moving onto the salad buffet. No complaints here. They did a good job keeping the food stocked and pretty. The salad looked great and there were plenty of toppings to add that could fill nearly anyone’s desire.

After a “good” steak, who wouldn’t want to dive into a bowl of ice cream? Well I guess we visited Sizzler on the wrong night because the ice cream machine was more like a milk dispenser. It was hilarious watching people’s faces as they realized that their brownie sundae turned into a pool of milk. I was very disappointed that their entire dessert section rested on the fact that the ice cream machine needed to be 100% operational. Couldn’t they have put out some pudding or something?

Atmosphere

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It was a busy night, but I didn’t notice any unclean sections or dirty bathrooms. The restaurant is right next to University Mall so parking was fun on a friday night. If you go there on the weekend, be patient.

Me and my wife enjoy eating at places where we both agree that the food is good, the service is friendly, and restaurant is clean. Smokehouse BBQ is a great place to hang out with friends and has an inviting atmosphere in an rustic style restaurant.

Service

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When entering Smokehouse restaurant, you simply pick your seat and an employee comes and asks what you want. We’re seasoned Smokehouse fans and have a seat we regularly sit at near the window. The food generally arrives quickly and looks great.

Atmosphere

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Since this restaurant is a mix of fast food and a typical sit down restaurant, it’s a little noisier then you would think when a few people are there eating and having a good time. I believe it could look a little cleaner, but Smokehouse’s location puts it in a somewhat older neighborhood that you would expect to look older inside.

The Food

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Let’s put it this way. My wife is an “exception vegetarian” who orders a beef brisket sandwich. Smokehouse is one of the only exceptions she has in terms of breaking the vegetarian diet and downing some good meat.

As a meat-eater myself, I really enjoy the beef brisket sandwich over chicken and pulled pork. The only reason why I didn’t give the food category a 5 was because of the amount of grease/moisture from the meat that makes the bread soggy. We generally get the meat in a side dish and put it on ourselves.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a great fast food sit down restaurant, give Smokehouse BBQ a try. Most basic meals are around the five dollar mark and fill even the hungriest of appetites. If you’re not a fan of soggy bread, ask for the meat on the side and make a BBQ sandwich to your liking.

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Me and my wife just recently were passing by Sandy and decided to venture a bit from the freeway to a newer pizzeria located near the Draper neighborhood Wal-Mart. It had been a while since we stopped by this place, and it was “two for Tuesday” meaning that we could get any pizza and a second would be free (of equal or lesser value).

Appearance

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The restaurant seemed a little busy for a Tuesday night, but I would attribute that to the special going on. I overheard that orders were taking at least 30-40 minutes which didn’t seem too surprising seeing how many people were working. We had the time to spend so it didn’t matter to us, but I saw a few customers that were a little surprised about the wait and left.

The bathroom was clean and new looking; something I always forget to comment on, but important nonetheless. They had a few large plasma TV’s making it enjoyable for sports fans. The outside and inside were kept clean and tidy with no real distractions.

The Food

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We ordered their stuffed crust pizza which is basically another layer of dough and cheese on the top. This is unlike the Pizza Hut pizza which has cheese in the middle. It took about 35 minutes for them to cook the first pizza and an additional 5 minutes for the second pizza to arrive at our table. I’m not sure why the big difference in time, but it was a little annoying having to wait for the second pizza before we could eat.

The pizza I ordered came out great. My only complaint is that their pineapple really didn’t soften too much in the pizza which made me want to pick it out since it really didn’t mesh well with the other toppings inside.

My wife ordered a similar pizza and found as she was taking her first bite that it wasn’t quite done and rather doughy. We asked to see if it could be cooked longer, and the person at the counter didn’t make us feel like it was a annoying request. We got the pizza back about 10 minutes later to find that it wasn’t much better and we ended up just throwing it away after we got home. We found out later at home that it’s near impossible to re-cook a pizza like there’s if the dough isn’t done cooking. You end up with black crust and soggy insides. Even though it was half price, we really thought that our money would have been better spent elsewhere.

Service

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As mentioned earlier, the person taking our order was friendly and helpful in recommending a pizza for us. Once they give you the pizza, you’re pretty much on your own which I generally prefer since I drink a lot of water and need refills often. The pizza did take a while, but it was a busy night.

Bottom Line

The restaurant was clean and looked great. I don’t recommend their stuffed pizzas since it was hard for them to fully cook ours. The one that was cooked almost all the way was ok, but I think I would have tried the regular pizza if there is a next time.

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Sweet Home Chicago Pizzeria
http://www.sweethomechicagopizzeria.com
1442 E Draper Parkway
Draper, UT 84020
801-545-0455

Being a vegetarian (mostly) it is sometime difficult to find good food, for a good price that isn’t weird. We heard about Sweet Tomatoes from a good friend of ours who is also a vegetarian. Devin was a little skeptical because he LOVES meat. After our first visit, we were pleased and have been back several times since.

The restaurant is buffet style, offering mostly salads and soups. They also offer some great breads and home style classics like good old mac and cheese.

Food

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Generally, we have been pleased with the food. They have a theme to their food which changes about every month. During our most recent visit, the theme was “Back yard BBQ.” We weren’t really thrilled about BBQ flavored everything but it was a nice attempt. The food we definitely gave 5 gold stars were: the chocolate lava cake (delicious!), fresh from the oven sour dough bread, broccoli cheese soup, and chocolate moose.

Service

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Some buffet restaurants have servers who bring you your drinks and other condiments. Sweet Tomatoes you get everything yourself. This way you don’t have to wait for the server to refill your drink. The server was discrete and never did anything to interrupt our conversation and yet was friendly and approachable. In addition, the food was always kept full and fresh.
Unlike other buffet style restaurants, this one remained quiet even though it was busy. It felt like a restaurant instead of a cafeteria like some buffets. It was clean and family friendly. A few months ago we had a small birthday celebration for a family member. Though it wasn’t the ideal restaurant for a party of 15+ people, they did their best and were happy to accommodate as best they could.

Atmosphere

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Unlike other buffet style restaurants, this one remained quiet even though it was busy. It felt like a restaurant instead of a cafeteria like some buffets. It was clean and family friendly. A few months ago we had a small birthday celebration for a family member. Though it wasn’t the ideal restaurant for a party of 15+ people, they did their best and were happy to accommodate as best they could.

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Sweet Tomatoes Inc.
SweetTomatoes.com

10060 S. State St.
Sandy, Utah
801-352-9001

I waltzed into Costco today only to be asked before entering the heavenly store to show my Costco card. Is this some trandition I’m not aware of? I usually smile at the “greeter” when I walk in, but when they demand to see my card, I always question why. What’s the point of showing my card? If I don’t have a card, can I not look around to see if I want a membership? Are the products that Costco offers so exclusive that only people bearing the precious Costco membership card can see them? The checkers pretty much do a background check on you to verify your identity before letting you buy anything. So why do I have to show the front of a plastic card to shop at Costco? Sometimes there’s a wait to get in the store due to employee insistant to see as many Costco logos as his or her eyes would allow in one shift.

I love nearly everything else about Costco. So save me the five seconds and let me spend money.

After trying nearly every meal the Olive Garden, we decieded to venture out and taste the Italian flavor of Ottavios located in Provo, Utah. They also have a close-by location in American Fork Utah. When we arrived, the wait was about 5-10 minutes even though there didn’t seem to be a line or waiting list. We figured they were preparing our table or assigning a waiter to us.

Service

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The waitor was prompt and kept our waters full and bread loaded. That’s pretty much all I want out of a waitor. When we were finished with the meal, he didn’t come around with the famous circular dessert tray and “sell us” on some dessert. The last thing that I want to do when eating at a restaurant is be in a position of being pressured to buy something I don’t want. We asked for take-home containers which the waiter quickly put the remainder of our meals in. I would have given him a full 5 - stars, but he really didn’t stand out as the best waiter I’ve had, but he wasn’t the worst either.

The Meal

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We really enjoyed eating the “free” filler bread before our meal came out. They provide you with oil, vinegar, and parmesan cheese. I’m not a fan of the vinegar, but my wife is.

The starter bread

The starter salad

When you find the meal you want, you get to choose either a soup or salad. I got the ceasar salad, while my wife got the minestrone soup. The salad was fresh and crisp while the soup was also hot and tasty-however my wife did mention that it was a bit too hot.

The main meal was delicious and portioned for more than two people. I got lasagna, and my wife got a 4-cheese penne pasta. By the time it came out, I had my fill of bread and salad so I couldn’t eat much. This was the same as my wife. The plate was very hot, and the food itself was a great temperature. I really liked that the lasagna did not have mushrooms in it as I am not a fungus fan.

Four-Cheese Penne

Lasagna

Atmosphere

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I really enjoyed the quiet and dimly lit surroundings. There was an employee fully dressed as an authentic Italian playing the accordian (and singing Italian). He was a little loud when roaming near your table, but was nice when heard in the background.

Final Thought

Overall, we enjoyed our visit and found it to be worth our money. I believe with two meals, the tip, and tax was about 25 dollars. We generally get water as well to save on costs when eating out.

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Contact Information

Ottavio’s Ristorante Italiano
ottavios.com
77 East Center Street
Provo, Utah 84606
801.377.9555

To start off our blog, we decided to review a common favorite restaurant in Utah County. They have a location in Pleasant Grove and one in download Provo. We attended a wedding reception there a few days ago and enjoyed our meal. Since it was a reception, the menu was limited which is a common practice among restaurants that host receptions or bigger parties.

Service Rating:

Since it was a reception, the service was a bit slow. Drinks came nearly the same time as a the main meal, and the meals were being delivered in stages to various guests. We were in the middle portion of people being served with about a 25 minute wait time from ordering. Our server was very nice. They had about 5-6 servers for our party which seemed somewhat adequate for the size of our party.

The Meal Rating:

For starters, we were served some chips and salsa-typical of most Mexican restaurants. It was good and quickly devoured by the guest at the wedding reception. I wished we received more than one bowl per four people, but it was nice to start out with something light.

The actual meal was looked great and tasted better than it looked. It was warm, but not too hot and I found it very enjoyable. Typically I don’t get the greens, onions, or other sides, but since it was a large group, I figured it wasn’t an option to get it without those things. I did, however, ask for rice only, which wasn’t a problem at all.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal, the service, and the company. They did a pretty good job allowing the true guests of honor to shine. I don’t know how much the meal cost, but I would guess that it would be in the 8-11 dollar range.

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