2008 Woodie Awards
Fat Man on Food
Can I get some flavor with my food?
Justin Lyman
Issue date: 2/19/04 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 1
This issue's installment of Fat Man on Food took me to the Garden View Restaurant on Kohler Memorial Drive. My first impression was that this was a vegetarian restaurant. With a name like Garden View, when one sees no garden and no view, one wonders why they call it that unless it were a meatless haven; however, this is not true unfortunately for the consuming public.
Well first off, the place seemed a little messy. We were seated, and had our drink order taken three times by the hostess, our waitress, and then our waitress again saying they had run out of an item we requested. Which was alright, but the fact she asked everyone else what they had to drink again made me suspicious.
My dining companion noticed that the saucer her tea came on hadn't been washed and neither had the bowl for the butter. This was very discouraging to me. Next, we waited, and waited, and waited some more, then finally got to place our order after customers who arrived after we did; they had the same waitress that we did. It was a little while longer and we got our soup, or I should say two of the three of us get our soup. She forgot mine.
About seven or eight minutes later I got my soup, Chicken dumpling... only one thing was missing; yes, you guessed it, chicken. Mmmm, last time I had chicken dumpling soup without chicken was...NEVER. It is the essential ingredient. At least it was "chicken" flavored at least.
I consumed the would-be chicken broth and waited yet again while watching the people next to us receive and devour their food.
We finally get our food. Between the three of us, we received two plates of fried chicken and a Greek chicken croissant. One would think that there is no way to screw up fried chicken...wrong, the Gardenview found it. This was the blandest fried chicken I have ever had. The batter tasted as if someone rolled the chicken in flour and tossed it in a bucket of oil and water to save money. There was one good thing about the chicken though, the meat inside was somewhat tender.
Nonetheless, at this point in the experience, I was about to take the advice of a fellow compatriot on the newspaper and flee, but I have some semblance of morals. Here is my suggestion: avoid this place if at all possible
Service 1
Location 4
Prices 3
Food 0
Atmosphere 1
Well first off, the place seemed a little messy. We were seated, and had our drink order taken three times by the hostess, our waitress, and then our waitress again saying they had run out of an item we requested. Which was alright, but the fact she asked everyone else what they had to drink again made me suspicious.
My dining companion noticed that the saucer her tea came on hadn't been washed and neither had the bowl for the butter. This was very discouraging to me. Next, we waited, and waited, and waited some more, then finally got to place our order after customers who arrived after we did; they had the same waitress that we did. It was a little while longer and we got our soup, or I should say two of the three of us get our soup. She forgot mine.
About seven or eight minutes later I got my soup, Chicken dumpling... only one thing was missing; yes, you guessed it, chicken. Mmmm, last time I had chicken dumpling soup without chicken was...NEVER. It is the essential ingredient. At least it was "chicken" flavored at least.
I consumed the would-be chicken broth and waited yet again while watching the people next to us receive and devour their food.
We finally get our food. Between the three of us, we received two plates of fried chicken and a Greek chicken croissant. One would think that there is no way to screw up fried chicken...wrong, the Gardenview found it. This was the blandest fried chicken I have ever had. The batter tasted as if someone rolled the chicken in flour and tossed it in a bucket of oil and water to save money. There was one good thing about the chicken though, the meat inside was somewhat tender.
Nonetheless, at this point in the experience, I was about to take the advice of a fellow compatriot on the newspaper and flee, but I have some semblance of morals. Here is my suggestion: avoid this place if at all possible
Service 1
Location 4
Prices 3
Food 0
Atmosphere 1