The Cambridge House Brew Pub

CHICKPEAS: 3

We went to the Cambridge House Brew Pub in Granby, CT on a Saturday night with a friend for dinner.  We arrived around 8:00PM and even though the parking lot was filled to capacity, we were seated right away.  We were surrounded by an eclectic mix of couples on dates, families and groups of friends.  Cambridge House had a selection of their own beer on tap, but unfortunately were out of our friend's favorite: dunkel.

Cambridge House beers

I originally tried to order the beer mussels and a side salad.  Side salad came out, beer mussels did not.

Half eaten side salad

After my salad was served, the waitress said they were out of beer mussels.  I wish I had known that before as I might have ordered one of the larger salads with chicken.  As a replacement, I ordered seared ahi tuna over a black bean salad.  The tuna was a bit salty, but other than that it was an okay dish.

Ann's Ahi Tuna

My friends got wings and a pizza, and they enjoyed them both.  Cambridge House has some interesting flavors of wings like lemon pepper.  

Wings

More Wings

Pulled Pork Pizza

At the end of the night, our friend got some growlers to take home.  I forget how much they cost, but I remember being quite surprised at how cheap they were.  

Overall, mediocre service, good beer, okay food.

Southwick Inn

CHICKPEAS: 3

The Southwick Inn is not an inn.  It is really a bar.  We occasionally meet up with friends for drinks at the Inn, but my first time eating dinner there was a few weeks ago.

The Southwick Inn has a large horseshoe shaped bar that seats 25 people.  The rest of the area is carpeted, with the exception of a small dance floor (I have never seen anyone dancing, but I hear it does occur).  There is occasionally live music, and there are always TVs on various games.

The best part by about the Inn, by far, is the people watching.  There is no real stereotype for the patrons.  On any given night there will be men and women who are young and old, dressed for a night on the town or dressed for hunting.  Prime people watching.

The food was pretty typical of a bar.  We ordered nachos, a buffalo chicken salad and a tuna melt.  The nachos were on round tortilla yellow chips, and the toppings were layered (not just on the top of all of the chips).

Half-eaten nachos

The buffalo chicken salad definitely had a kick.  I would order it again, but ask for it on a bigger plate/bowl.  The salad was piled too high on the bowl making it difficult to eat. 

Buffalo Chicken Salad

The tuna melt was pretty standard, although the bread was better quality. 

Tuna Melt

We will definitely go back for drinks, but I will warn you... this isn't everyone's scene.

Falls Pizza

CHICKPEAS: 3

This past week, we got take out from Falls Pizza on Main Street in Chicopee.  We ordered a Greek Pizza, an Italian Sub and a Buffalo Chicken Salad and the total bill came to $27.  The wait time was 20 minutes for pick up, which was very reasonable, but after getting home and eating, I wasn't impressed.

Garlic Bread

The chicken on the salad was chicken cutlet, cut into pieces, and covered in buffalo sauce.  I had recently had a very spicy buffalo chicken salad at the Southwick Inn, so I ordered this salad mild to be safe.  I felt that the mild buffalo had a strange sweet after taste.  Additionally, the salad came with garlic bread that was soggy and chewy.

Italian Sub

I didn't have any of the sub, but my fiance enjoyed it.

Pizza

We shared the pizza, which had feta, tomatoes and gyro on it. Overall the pizza was delicious.  While my salad was a miss, the Pizza made up for it.

I may find myself going back to Falls Pizza for pizza, but I am interested in finding another takeout place in Chicopee for salads.  Suggestions?

Day Trip: OSUSHI, Boston, Massachusetts

CHICKPEAS: 3

We grabbed dinner at OSUSHI on our trip to the see the Boston Pops.  OSUSHI was conveniently located in the shopping area of the Westin Copley.  While the entrance was from the mall, it was easy to feel like you were in a cozy restaurant once seated.  We were seated at a high top table near the windows so we could look out over the street.  We had purchased a gift certificate to OSUSHI from Ruelala (an invite only, flash shopping site).  The deal we purchased was $30 for $50 worth of food at OSUSHI.   The prices were high so it was easy to exceed the $50.

To begin, we ordered edamame and a fresh spring roll.  The spring roll was quite good with shrimp and raw tuna in it.  Unfortunately, our waitress's single blunder was forgetting to bring out the edamame.  Once we reminded her, she brought it out at room temperature instead of steaming.

Fresh Springroll

We ordered 4 rolls to share.  Overall, they were good, but as you can see, two were quite big (in terms of diameter).  Really large sushi is difficult to eat gracefully.  From top to bottom we got the follow rolls:  Dragon, Miso Sexy, Spicy Scallop, and Vegetable Tempura.

Sushi

All of the above and one beer came to around $75.  I would go back if I was staying at the Westin and wanted take out to bring back to my room, or if I found another coupon/deal.  Otherwise, you can find sushi of equal or better quality for less.

Cafe Lebanon

We are premiering a new rating system.  See the tab above for the new explanations.  Be sure to check older posts for updated ratings.


CHICKPEAS: 3


Last week, we met a friend at Cafe Lebanon in downtown Springfield.  It was dead on a Tuesday night during the holiday week.  We were seated in a booth with no one sitting anywhere near us.  I felt the menu was lacking Lebanese authenticity, but I am definitely not an authority on Lebanese food.  Judge for your self...

To start we got hummus and the hummochos.  The hummus was heavy on tahini and light on lemon (I love lemon in hummus).  The guys both loved it.

I got a side of cauliflower as my meal that was quite delicious with a cheesy sauce and artichoke hearts.  

Our friend got chicken and rice.  I was very surprised it didn't come with a vegetable.

My Fiance got spinach pie and some other appetizer that was ground meat in little pockets. 

All of that food, two beers and a soda came to around $60. 

We would go back, but its not at the top of our list.   We found a Restaurant.com gift certificate for the East Longmeadow location and bought it on sale.  That would make another trip more likely.