Papa Joe's

Papa Joe's 
27 East Main Street Rear 1
Westminster, MD 21157-5039
(410) 871-2505

Papa Joe's Authentic Mexican Restaurant is located on the backside of one of main blocks in downtown Westminster near the intersection of Main Street and Railroad Avenue, Route 27.  The first time I went there we walked around the block aimlessly trying to find it when I finally asked someone in the Chamber of Commerce building where it was.  The nice lady walked us through the building to the back alley right to the restaurant.  However, you can access it from the rear in in the parking lot.

There are about 6 tables outside and maybe 15 tables (maybe) inside, so the place is small.

Tonight was the third time we ate at Papa Joe's.  This was, unfortunately, one of the more memorable dining experiences there.  When we arrived the hostess informed us that there was a 25 minute wait.  Since it was the day before the 4th of July, American Independence Day, it felt like a Friday and I was sure that no matter where we went there would be a long wait.

We were seated right around 25 minutes and seated outside on the patio.  After scanning the menu and deciding what we wanted, we small-talked and waited for our server to come take our drinks.  Then we waited some more.  Then I watched one table clear and another couple get seated.  Then another.  Then another.  Then the first table got their drinks.  Then their order was taken.  Then the next table,  And then the next table.  I was really starting to get irritated.  I unsuccessfully kept trying to make eye contact with the various servers outside.  After nearly 15 minutes, my wife got up from the table and went to a server and demanded that we be served.

A few minutes later a server finally came to our table and apologized for the delay, but said she just got assigned to our table and was not aware that we had been waiting so long.  Whatever.  She asked to take our drink order and we demandingly told her that we were ready to give her our order.  She apologized vociferously.

A short time later another server came out with chips and a variety of salsas.  Then the manager came to our table and apologized to us and said that there was a miscommunication on their part and our server honestly did not know she was assigned to our table.  As a sign of their goodwill, they offered us a complimentary plate of chicken & cheese nachos.  They were really good!

Our order finally came, again with some more apologies, but honestly at this point we've cooled off.  I ordered the Chilaquiles Verdes Con Pollo.  My wife ordered the taco salad in a tortilla bowl.  My oldest ordered the grilled chicken quesadilla, my son begrudgingly ordered the chicken tenders and fries as he says that place makes him want to puke (he's a bit of a dramatist), and my youngest ordered the children's cheese quesadilla.

Everyone in my family enjoyed their meals.  They were piping hot and a bit spicy, which is the way I like it.  This photo is of the Chilaquiles Verdes Con Pollo, which looked a lot like the chicken and cheese nachos with the verdes salsa that we got with our nachos.  Oh, well.  It was awesome.  I can't believe I ate half of it!

Though the experience started off on a bad note, our server did a great job of tending to us and being very friendly.  We gave her the benefit of the doubt and were nice in return once we had placed our order.  The food there is really good.  I've also had the seafood burrito, which was amazing, and the enchilada platter, which is usually my go-to meal.

The meals range in prices from around $10 to less than $20.  Our family of five with drinks paid $50..

If you're in Westminster, or if not and you're looking for some place different to try, go to Papa Joe's.

Jin's Asian Bistro

Jin's Asian Bistro

1720 Liberty Road
Eldersburg, MD 21784
(410) 552-5535

Jin's Asian Bistro opened in the Oklahoma Shopping Center in Eldersburg in February of 2012.  I never made it a point to go there until my birthday.  I decided to try some place new this year.

We arrived about 6:30pm on a Friday and there were only a few people there.  The decor is nice, very aesthetically pleasing, and definitely a nicer Asian restaurant than some of the others in town.  We sat at a table up against the wall.  There was a sign that said to 'Bring Your Own Alcohol'.  That's disappointing.  I thought for sure some of my friends that went there bought drinks there.  Perhaps they lost their liquor license?

The menu is overwhelming.  It's as long as the M's in the Britannica Encyclopedia.  My intent was to get sushi, but obviously I don't want my children to have that.  They weren't sure what to get.  Lo Mein.  Mei Fun.  Chow Mein.  Moo Goo Gui Pan.  They don't know what all these things are.  Heck. I'm not even that sure.  We ordered our food and the sushi came back fairly quick, but it took FOREVER for my kids food to be served.  The waitress apologized for the delay and she was very accommodating, so I cannot complain about her at all.  She did a great job trying to satisfy us.

My son decided he wanted seafood, so he got the Seafood Mei Fun, which says it has shrimp, crab, and scallops.  The shrimp was definitely real, but the crab was the fake crab that's actually fish.  The scallops - those weren't scallops.  It was either squid or sting ray.  This meal was a total lie.

My daughter ordered Triple Delight, which includes jumbo shrimp, chicken, and beef, with mixed vegetables.      There was definitely vegetables in it.  The jumbo shrimp looked like shrimp at first glance, but they oddly looked all the same.  When you bit into it, it did not have the consistency of shrimp.  It was more like that fake crab meat.  Or tofu.  Face it, it was imitation shrimp.  The beef?  Yeah, not beef either.  Reconstituted something.  The chicken?  0 for 3.  It was a wide thinly sliced sliver of ......meat product?  It did not taste like chicken at all.  All of the meats in this dish were terrible.

I got a salmon roll and a tuna roll, which were both very good.  I also had a bowl of Hot-n-Sour soup, which was okay.  The consistency was a bit too think.  And my water in a glass was very good.

My wife got a Shrimp Tempura roll and she said it was pretty good.

My youngest daughter got what they called chicken tenders.  It was long chicken strips coated in shrimp tempura flakes and fried.  She thought it was okay, but mostly scraped the tempura flakes off of the chicken.

As I said, this . was my first visit to Jin's Asian Bistro and honestly, I'm probably never going to go back unless they offer me a free meal and a back rub.  I might get carry-out sushi, but I will never let my family eat Asian food that is not what is advertised.  Nor would I want to wait 20 minutes for food that is fake and tastes like crap.  I think they owe me $29 for the two meals my older kids ordered.  

Plazuelas

1834 Liberty Rd

Eldersburg, MD 21784

(410) 552-5502

Plazuelas in Eldersburg does not have a website, but they do serve some great authentic Mexican food. And I mean Mexican, not Texican like you get at Don Pablos, Qdoba, Chipoltle, or Chi-Chi's.

My wife and daughter were heading to the Mall in Columbia to look at dresses (boring!), so I took my youngest daughter and son to Plazuelas in Eldersburg. We went there when they first opened years ago, but I wasn't overly impressed then. I decided to give it a second try. I had plenty of company on Friday night. The place was packed.

The building is the former Pizza Hut on Liberty Road (Pizza Hut moved to its current location on Route 32 in the late 1990's. The interior looks new and different than what I remember the first time. We grabbed a booth and were quickly served a basket of hot tortilla chips and salsa in a mini-decanter (or whatever it's called). I thought that was a nice quirky touch. The chips were okay, maybe a little bland. They definitely needed some salt.

It took a while for the waiter to come take our order. I'd say about 15 minutes. Once we placed our order it wasn't too long before we were served. I ordered 2 beef enchiladas with a taco and rice. My son ordered a cheese burrito. My 4 year old daughter ordered the most authentic Mexican dish you can imagine - chicken tenders and French fries.

My meal was very good. Not cheesy like you think of Texican dishes. Just very flavorful. I chose not to eat it all because I am trying to lose weight, so it made an excellent lunch the next day. My son loved his cheese burrito, but was not able to finish it, so he ate the remainder the next day. I tried the chicken tenders and French fries and they were pretty good, too!

There are many choices on the menu and I think they had 9 different vegetarian options. The prices are excellent. My meal was only $7.95 and my son's was $5.95. I didn't have any drinks as I was the only adult there, but they do offer several domestic and imported beers in addition to the quintessential Margarita.

If you're looking for a decent well-priced authentic meal where you can have a drink served by a friendly staff, Plazuelas is definitely one of those places you should try.

The Blue Ox Bar and Grill

127th Street
Ocean City, MD
(410) 250-6440

Where do people from Charm City eat when they go to Ocean City, Maryland? One option is the Blue Ox Bar and Grill on 127th Street. This was an unintended option for us because it was my daughter's birthday and unfortunately Tequila Mockingbird is closed on Wednesdays during the off-season.

The Blue Ox is an Americana restaurant with a fare of steaks, burgers, and seafood - just like 80% of all restaurants in Ocean City. We had a party of 9, so I initially asked the hostess if they would be able to accommodate us as it seemed there were few people working there. She was confident they could help us.

We were seated in the bar area as the dining room was closed, possibly for the season. As we were seated we were given a list of items that are on the menu but not available this evening. And it seemed like quite a list. She followed up her list with the statement that the bar is open. Translate that to mean "please buy over-priced alcohol so that you can give me a big tip."

My wife's cousin ordered nachos for everyone and we got our drinks. The nachos arrived after a while and there is no way they were made on the same day that we ordered them. Teh cheese was already congealed and at room temperature. Additionally, they were topped with diced bell peppers and oregano. Who puts oregano on nachos???

Our meal finally arrived. I ordered blackened tuna cooked medium rare. It arrived whitened fully cooked. No blacken. No pink. It tasted fine, but wasn't prepared how I requested it. My daughter ordered the crab bisque. She said it tasted fine, but it was cold when she got it. My nephew ordered chicken wings. They smelled funky and tasted funkier.

We may have said something to the waitress, but she seemed to be single-handidly waitressing the entire restaurant and we rarely saw her. I'm not blaming her as they were entirely too busy for the staff at-hand. Sort of like them not being able to accommodate a family of 9. Some of our guests got a refill on our drinks. Others never did.

The bill for 9 people came to about $110. We promptly paid and skedaddled.

I was thoroughly unimpressed. I understand that it is difficult to serve a large family at a restaurant. But despite this condition, I can confidently say that I will not go to this restaurant again in the future. I think we would have been better off going to the Dough Roller or Dumser's.

So the next time you visit Ocean City from Charm City, be forewarned about The Blue Ox, because you'll be leaving feeling blue.

Baldwin's Station

Baldwin's Station
7618 Main Street
Sykesville, MD 21784
(410) 795-1041

My sister-in-law called and said that she wanted to come to our house and watch our kids so that we could go out for dinner. More specifically so that I could take my wife out to dinner for her birthday.

Just outside of Charm City is the small town of Sykesville in Carroll County. If you've ever been to downtown Sykesville, you'll know that there are two restaurants - E.W. Beck's and Baldwin's Station. Situated on the railroad tracks just feet north of the Howard County line, Baldwin's Station is in a renovated train station, one that in a simpler time would take people eastward to Baltimore City or Frederick and other points west.

The restaurant is decorated with scenic railroad memorabilia. It's not particularly fancy inside the restaurant, but once you look a the menu you'll know that it's fancy. I've been there a couple of times and it seems like the menu changes often. There are daily (or weekly?) specials. Staples on the menu are Sweet Espresso Rubbed Pork Tenderloin, the Lamb T-Bone, the Jumbo Crab Cake, and the Stuffed Filet Mignon.


For the vegetarians there is the Ravioli, whose contents have changed from pumpkin, squash, to mushroom. The current Porcini Mushroom Ravioli is served with Sun Dried Tomatoes, asparagus tips, and a creamy truffle Marsala Sauce. Another non-meat dish is the Tuscan Pasta served with sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers, Asiago, and light olive oil. I suspect these dishes are not vegan though (not that it matters to me!).

When my wife and I went, she ordered the Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes and I ordered a special, which was a Creole pasta dish. I also ordered a 3 Philosophers beer. It is SO good. I actually drank two of them, which pretty much prevents you from being able to legally drive a vehicle for like a day and a half.

We were served dinner rolls, which unfortunately were hard and burnt-tasting. We complained to the waitress, who apologized, removed them, but did not offer to bring more. That was a bit disappointing.

We next got side salads, which tasted like salads. Nothing special. I was hoping to get a cup of soup, but my wife wouldn't let me. I supposed she was allowing me to save room for dessert.

Dinner was finally served and it was good! My pasta Creole dish was full of large lumps of seafood. It was slightly spicy, just as I like it. My wife's crab cakes were not spectacularly large, but the lumps of crab meat within them were jumbo, as advertised. She really enjoyed them.

To top it off we got the standard volcano chocolate sundae whatchamacallit. It was basically a single-serving formed chocolate cake heated and covered with chocolate drizzle topped with vanilla ice cream. It was okay. Don't get me wrong - we ate it all! But I certainly wouldn't classify it as dessert heaven.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was quaint and quiet. The sun had not set and light filled the room with the many windows. We really enjoy going there, but on our budget, that is not too often. Meals range in price from about $20 to $35. They have a fine selection of wines that range in price from around $18 if my recollection is correct, up to nearly $100 for a bottle.

For a somewhat fancy dining experience, Baldwin's Station is definitely a nice place to go. You won't see flat screen televisions in the corner with the latest game on, so you'll be forced to talk to your spouse. They have outdoor seating for when the weather is nice. You can also rent the restaurant for special events and on some nights they have a singers. There is also a small bar. And as you can tell by some of the pictures on their website, if you're lucky you may even get to experience a train going by.

E.W. Beck's

E.W. Beck's
7565 Main Street
Sykesville, MD 21784
(410) 795-1001

A staple for anyone who lives in Southern Carroll County, Beck's is the ultimate family pub. Located right in the heart of downtown Sykesville on Main Street, Beck's offers a variety of family fair, seafood, sandwiches, burgers, and entrées. And beer!

My family has dined there many times and we are friends with the owners. They were actually our neighbors for a while. We had the pleasure of dining there last Sunday with my wife's cousin who wanted to treat us to a late lunch (brunch?). Thanks, Kizzy!

Beck's wasn't too crowded on this particular Sunday, which is quite contrary to any other night. Try getting a table there on a Friday at 6pm or on a Saturday night. You may be waiting a little while - a testament of its popularity. It's always good to get there early or go on a non-weekend night.


Beck's has a bar in the center of the restaurant surrounded by tables, then another room which they annexed with more tables. The other room can be rented for special occasions, like Ravens' Nest meetings.

We were quickly seated and we ordered our drinks. Though Beck's has a nice selection of draft beers, I only got iced tea. I ordered the Filet Mignon sandwich. It's a filet topped with Brie on a bun and served with fries for $12.59. My wife's cousin got the fajitas, my wife got Shrimp Quesadillas, and my oldest daughter got Chicken Quesadillas. My two younger children both ordered the standard chicken strips with fries.

I've also had numerous sub sandwiches and the Prime Buffalo Burger - all very good. If you go there on a Friday, they have seafood chowder that it one of the best soups I've ever had in my life. It's so good that I suspect it's not good for you, but who cares? It's full of chunks of shrimp, lobster, crab, scallops, and clams.

Our service on Sunday was a little slow. Fortunately I was there with my family to make conversation and the NCAA tournament was on, as well, so my son and I were catching glimpses of that.

If you are in the area, I highly recommend trying E.W. Beck's. I always prefer to support a family-owned restaurant rather than the chain-restaurant. Spend local!!!

Beck's - Good food. Good times!

Cobblestone Tavern & Grille

Cobblestone Tavern & Grille
1438 Liberty Road
Eldersburg, Maryland 21784
410-795-7001
info@cobblestonetavernandgrille.com


Having been locked up in quarantine for the last couple of months because my daughter has leukemia, we finally got out of the house this weekend. Thanks to a gift card from some very dear friends we have from Church, my wife and I were able to enjoy some much needed time alone and have a wonderful meal together.

Step 1 - babysitting. Our friend, the most selfless person you'll ever meet, came and stayed with my kids for a few hours so we could get out. Fortunately, her son and my son are best friends.

Step 2 - get to Cobblestone. Cobblestone is located smack in the middle of Eldersburg off of Liberty Road behind the nearly vacant Arby's.

Step 3 - seating. There wasn't a huge crowd at Cobblestone, but it was 1:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday. Football season is over, so the beer-drinking crowd is home working on the honey-do list. There were probably 5 other tables with diners and we were told there was a party of 25 in the back room. The decor is classy - dark hardwood, stone, and fake exposed brick. I liked it!

Step 5 - the menu. The menu is fairly reasonable. Steaks, seafood, sandwiches. I was torn between the 10 oz Mignon and the Grilled Mahi Mahi. Mahi Mahi is my favorite fish. Then I realized that my wife's menu had the Valentine's weekend insert that my menu was lacking. It showed Surf and Turf for $25. A fresh lobster tail and a 6 oz. Mignon steak, with 2 sides. My wife and I both chose the Sweet Potato Soufflé and a side salad. I added a bowl of Cream of Crab soup and a pint of Cobblestone Ale.

Step 6 - eating! The ale quickly arrived and it was light. It was okay in taste, but not super special, but not bad either. A good average ale it was. The soup and salads soon followed. The crab soup was magnificent. Creamy. Not very spicy (though I like it a little bit spicier), but it was chocked full of crab meat. Most crab soups these days show a crab to the soup and call it crab soup. Some soups are lucky enough to have the crab take a 5 second dip in the pot.

We finished our appetizers and seemed to wait a fair amount of time for our entree'. However, when it arrived it was fantastic. I ordered my steak medium rare and it was medium rare. Usually the steak is pulled off of the grill when it's medium rare and by the time it gets to you the internal heat cooks it to a medium well. The lobster was buttery and perfectly tender. The Sweet Potato Soufflé was like a dessert - creamy and sweet.

Step 7 - dessert. My wife insisted that she was stuffed, so I ordered the Brownie Sundae. It came with 2 spoons (of course!) a nice sized chunk of hot brownie, a big heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream, and 3 big dollops of homemade whipped cream, topped with Maraschino cherries.

My wife helped me eat it, despite insisting she wasn't hungry as she spooned scoop after scoop of the homemade whipped cream into her mouth.

The total bill came to $73. That's about what we end up paying for our family of 5 on the rare occasion we go out to dinner.

The service was friendly, the atmosphere was relaxing and enjoyable, and the food was really good. I would be more than happy to go there again.

Chilis

Chilis
1312 Londontown Boulevard
Eldersburg, MD 21784
(410) 552-9970


I wouldn't normally write about Chili's. It's not fancy. It's not unique. It's just different meats covered in melted cheeses and bacon. Nothing more. But this is a my forum to write about eating at restaurants. And when you have an absolutely crappy experience, it deserves to be written about.

Some background to add emotion to the whole situation - in October my 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. My wife had to quit working, so we had a sizable loss of income. We have wonderful friends and family and many gave us gift cards to restaurants that we could use when we didn't have time to cook a meal or just needed to get out.

I hadn't gotten anything out of the freezer for dinner tonight, so I convinced my wife that this was a good opportunity to use our Chili's cards. My wife placed an order online. Chili's has a 2 for $20 special - an appetizer and 2 entres for $20. We got the Texas Cheese Fries, she got the Southwestern Quesadillas with Bacon and Ranch and I got the Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas (all 3 covered in cheese and bacon). We also ordered the Cheese Quesadillas for my son. She submitted the order. It came to $26.07. It said it would be ready at 6:44pm, which was 15 minutes from when we placed it.


Living 15 minutes away, I left immediately. When I got there the place was packed. There were several people ahead of me in the carry-out line. Once I got up to the counter she gave me my total and I paid - $25 on the gift card and I gave her a buck seven.

We waited for a while, but that was expected given how many people were there to eat. We finally got our food at 7:04pm. I'm not going to complain about that. It was busy. I get it.

When I got home 15 minutes later, I realized that the Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas were not in the bag. Shame on me for not checking before I left. I called the restaurant, she seemed confused, but said to return and I could get the missing part of me meal.

When I got there she said that I never ordered the Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas. She then showed me an itemized receipt that just showed "2 for $20 on one line and the Kids Cheese Quesadillas" on the other. "See?", she said. "You didn't order the Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This doesn't even freakin' make sense. First of all - she was blaming me for not ordering the quesadillas, but then she was inaccurately telling me that the itemized receipt showed I didn't order it. It didn't show anything except that we ordered the 2 for $20 deal! Okay, whatever. She reordered the quesadillas and I waited another 10 minutes or so for them.

I finally got home (it was now 7:48 - more than an hour and 15 minutes after I had originally placed my order). After I ate my meal, I went back to their website and tried to reorder the 2 for $20 deal without including the 2nd meal. It's impossible. You MUST select 2 items. Therefore, there is a flaw somewhere. Either Chili's got it wrong or the error was between the seat and the keyboard.

So in summary, I am less inclined to revisit Chili's in the future. Unfortunately, we still have $30 in gift cards to there. Perhaps I could give them as presents and let someone else deal with the grief that they deliver. By the way, the food was decent. No complaints on the taste.

The Schmitter Sandwich: Philly Goodness on a Roll

I admit it openly, I am not a native Baltimorian. I am instead a Philly Boy. I have been raised on cheesesteaks with sliced steak and processed liquid cheese and pretzels that you buy on the side of the road. Nothing warms my heart more than the site of a Wawa and the blissful thoughts of Rita's Water Ice. There is just something about Philly food. It is food for the people. One of the best examples of this is the Schmitter Sandwich.

The Schmitter, originally created at McNally's Tavern, is one of the specialty concessions served at Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The sandwich is considered by some to be one of the best cheesesteaks in the city. While I am a traditionalist who likes my "Cheesesteak, Wiz, Wit" the Schmitter holds a special place in my heart (mostly the clogged Artery part). The sandwich is comprised of some fantastic guilty pleasures, all Philly favorites. Yum. Just take a look at this artists representation of all of the goodness that goes into each one of these handfuls of deliciousness.

As you can see the Schmitter is no kids sandwich. Three slices of cheese, sliced steak, fried onions, grilled salami, and special sauce with stars in it (okay, so the stars are only in this representation, but boy are they delicious). There are tomatoes, clearly there to ensure the nutritional value of this monster. Overall it is one of the best sandwiches I have ever had.

The Schmitter is one of those food items that people travel to get. Either at McNally's or the stadiums, people come for the sandwich (the also potentially come for Beer and Baseball/Football). One of the nice things is that the Schmitter has taken a little bit of a tour in recent memory. The Florida debut happened at Superbowl XXXIX and took a trip up I-95 to be enjoyed by those crazy and annoying Mets fans at Shea Stadium (sorry, I couldn't help myself).

If you get the opportunity I highly suggest getting your hands on one of these delectable sandwiches. They are a real unique Philly treat.

Solerno's

Salerno's Restaurant & Catering
1043 Liberty Road
Eldersburg, MD 21784
(410) 795-8400

Solerno's is a restaurant located on Route 26, otherwise known as Liberty Road, in Eldersburg, Maryland in Carroll County. It is one of the original restaurants in the area. It's been serving diners before the big-name chain restaurants like Chili's moved into town.

Solerno's, though an Italian name, is mostly a seafood restaurant. However, every St. Patrick's Day they have a, get this, St. Patrick's Day Special. Since cabbage and corned beef stink, my wife bans me from eating it, let alone cooking it, in the house. So I make my annual trip to Solerno's on St. Patrick's Day.

Since my wife was with my other two kids at the dentist, I took my 8 year-old daughter with me. We started off with a cup of Cream of Crab soup. Topped with Old Bay, it was nice and hot and spicy. A little lacking in crab meat, it still had a nice taste. I think they stress the cream in the Cream of Crab.


The main meal was the corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, and 2 slices of rye bread. The sliced corned beef was very sumptuous. Soft and salty and with an oh-so-good taste. My daughter despises the sight of fat, but this corned beef didn't bother her.

The cabbage was a little bland. It tasted as if it was blanched in hot water (what other kind of blanching is there?). It had no seasoning or added taste to it, which was fine. I was combining the tastes with the corned beef and potatoes. The potatoes were quartered and steamed. The overall meal was good.

As a drink, Solerno's offered Killian's draught for $1. The glass was 20 ounces, more than enough for me to have with a meal. Magically, the glass and the beer seemed to stay cold for the entire meal.

My daughter can be highly influential, especially when we are having a daddy-daughter dinner. So she decided that we were having dessert. The waitress persuaded us to have the Irish Brownie. It consisted of a home-made brownie with mint ice cream covered in a Bailey's Irish Cream whipped cream. Let me tell you, this was awesome! The brownie was hot, chocolaty, and gooey. The ice cream was great and the whipped cream was phenomenal. My daughter even said, "That waitress wasn't kidding when she said this would be good!"

The ambiance of the restaurant is fair. There's nothing fancy. There are televisions with ESPN in one corner and Keno in the other. Most of the patrons were retirees and they didn't get too wild. Solerno's is not a restaurant you go to for ambiance. You go there for food. And the food is good.

Other foods on the menu are seafoods, sandwiches, steaks, burgers, and salads. Prices range from $8 to about $25 for surf and turf. The wait staff is mostly young and friendly. Service was quick. The meal was served before I was done my soup and we did seem to wait for the soup a bit longer than I had anticipated.

Overall, I like Solerno's as a good family restaurant that caters to a lot of tastes. There's nothing fancy, but you can expect to get plenty of tasty food. This isn't where you take your wife for an anniversary, but it's great for a sit-down meal. Try it sometime!