Genghis Grill

I was excited a few months ago to see that a Genghis Grill was coming to Albuquerque and near work. The last time I ate at a Genghis Grill was summer of 2003 in Dallas. It recently opened and I have been there a few times since the opening. Since then they have changed the format a little. Instead of walking up to a counter and filling a bowl of various food items immediately; you are seated by a hostess while carrying your raw food bowl, a server takes your drink orders, and then you are sent to the line with instruction if you need it.

Being that it is near offices lunch during the week is pretty tough to get in and out quickly. Genghis Grill opened up shop where the Krispy Kream used to be. The layout of the location that we have here is not conducive for what this restaurant needs, but oh well. What I mean by this is that where lines form, does not allow for easy access or traffic.

The times I have been the service has been great. The servers have been prompt, attentive, and personable. They have been willing to show the process flow, in other words, walk you over the counter and give you the run down of how things work.

You basically walk up with your metal bowl and fill it with various ingredients. If the food is bad, the customer made bad choices. They do have a “paint by numbers” sort of thing that gives you a how to make your food bowl. The most common complaints that I have heard were I did not know what to put in my bowl or I was unsure of what the outcome was going to be. I guess my companions did not want to do the “paint by numbers.”

You go to the counter with your metal bowl and fill it with various things. The first stop is the protein counter, you get the option of a myriad of proteins: scallops, beef of different types, pork, shrimp, and vegetarian options that I did not pay attention to because I love dead animals. The second stop is the spice station. They recommend that you only use one spoon unless that you’re a seasoned veteran, bad pun I know, but the seasoning is pretty potent. Then you move on to a veggie station. The last part where you put something in a bowl is the sauce station. Here you put your sauce choice into a condiment bowl. The G Grill is clever because they have sampling spoon near by so you can sample the sauce before you commit. Your last stop is the starch station; here you can choose white or brown rice, noodles, fried rice and a few other starches that I did not pay attention to. You are then given a number and return to you seat. The food is brought to you in a weird tilted bowl with the stuff you choose.

All in all, Genghis Grill is a great idea and the food you get is the food you chose. The authenticity is horrible. The only Mongolian thing in there is the round grill that they cook on, but I don’t think Mongolian food is really that popular in mainstream America. If I had to classify this restaurant, I would call it Americanized Asian food cooked on a Mongolian invented grill. I would give Genghis Grill three and a half stars out of five.


http://www.genghisgrill.com/

Woody's Sports Cafe

I've heard of sports bars, but what is a sports cafe? This "sports café” called Woody's Sports Cafe recently opened up in my neck of the woods, in a shopping center that has a history of minimal traffic. I was and still am skeptical of how successful a sports café can be. The décor of the restaurant was like an upscale Weck’s with a bunch of TVs. To elaborate on the décor, it’s basically multiple colored tiles that are pretty neutral, bright lighting, and very basic clean walls.

I went in for an early lunch on a Saturday. There were a few patrons in the restaurant about 11 AM. Being what time of year it is and the time of day the “sports” event that kept my attention was poker. I strolled in and was greeted by a young waitress who you could tell that she was an unseasoned server. I bellied up to the counter and the staff at the time was about four from what I could tell: three servers and one cook. Their hours were pretty ambitious, 6 AM to 10 PM, being open for 16 hours a day is pretty crazy, especially for a café like this.

As I looked over the menu, a woman who placed a call in order stood by the front waiting for someone to get her food. She stood there for a few minutes before I turned my head to look or stare at her. I was attempting to subtly tell the staff that she was there. This when on for a few more minutes before the staff even went over to acknowledge her presence in the restaurant. This event occurred despite one of the employees was glued to the TV. My service was OK, but the staff was so used to being unoccupied they basically stood around not being attentive as I would have thought they would have been. There were a few times I ran out of coffee, not that it is a big deal, but being how busy the

I asked my server what was good; she recommended that I get the huevos rancheros or the breakfast burrito. I chose the breakfast burrito. The burrito was a good size, but the taste was nothing to write home about. The tortilla tasted store bought, the cheese was very runny for a burrito, and the amount of meat was very modest. So over all the burrito was OK. I also had a cup of coffee. My total tab was about eight dollars before tip. My brunch was over priced for what I got. Golden Pride would have sold me a much better burrito for a shade under four dollars. This place does not hold a candle to competitors like Weck’s, Frontier, Golden Pride, Albuquerque Tortilla Company, or Sandia Chile Grill.

Not to be a jerk or anything, but this place will be closed in the near future if they do not change their operating hours, prices, menu, or revamp everything. Anyone for an over/under on closing date? The kicker was the "Mission Statement At Woody's Sports Cafe, we create a fun, safe, and moral place for families and our youth to enjoy great food and sports entertainment." I’m all for all this stuff, but it seemed like I was eating a burrito in a prayer group. I would give this place one star out of five.


http://www.woodyssportscafe.com/index.html

Church Street Cafe

Recently a friend of mine came home from grad school and was having a really bad case green chile with drawl. I thought that I would take her to a restaurant that neither of us had been to, so I chose to try the Church Street Cafe. Elaine was a good sport and did not protest this idea. In retrospect, she should have objected or I should have not made the suggestion.

This restaurant is located off of Romero Street in an alley called Church Street, hence Church Street Cafe. It was a little hard to find. The size of the restaurant is much larger than the front appears. It's not a wide restaurant, but is a long house that was converted to an eating establishment. There is a small patio with a few tables in the front. The entrance has a hostess stand and various merchandise, I then got the feeling that I had fallen into a tourist trap. I should have listened to my gut feeling. We then were seated on the lovely patio in the back with a really nice water fall. The downside of the great atmosphere was the horrible fly problem. I would have thought that they would have put up some counter measures, they may have, but they were ineffective.

I originally wanted to sit at a different table due to the location, but the hostess said that the server in that section was overloaded and service would be slow. So we were seated at the table that I would have been my second choice. The service was terrible. The server did not come and acknowledge that we had been seated for quite awhile. She then took our orders for drinks; this establishment does not have a full liquor license.

We ordered guacamole with our chips to start the meal. The guacamole portion was very generous. I am not a guac connoisseur so I am not sure what good guac taste like. I guess it was OK. Elaine said it was OK. She recently came back from Guatemala and she said that she had consumed copious amount of guacamole. I then ordered a cup of menudo with red chile to have before my meal, but was served with my main course. Elaine ordered the tamale plate and I ordered the combo fajitas. I asked to get the menudo with tortillas and got it with sopaipillas. I then asked for tortillas and the server just brought another serving of sopaipillas. The menudo was served with red chile that had the consistency of gravy. The fajitas were OK. The chicken was a little dry and the beef was an unusual cut of beef for fajitas. The unusual cut of beef resulted in a dry, hard chunk of beef. Elaine’s pork tamale was dry and the pork was not very flavorful.

The restaurant has great atmosphere, historical significance, and well decorated, but fell very short of a good restaurant. The service was horrible and the food was marginal at best. This is a tourist trap. I would give the Church Street Café two out of five stars.

http://www.churchstreetcafe.com/