Palomina's Texas Buffet

When Palomina's first opened up, it was the talk of the town. Weekend buffet lines stretched out of the restaurant and people gladly waited their turn. It was well worth the wait. This place was like a supermall of buffet food with a wall's worth of salads alone.

Yet it seems that in today's economic slump (not a recession- according to the government, of course), Palomina's has had to cut back on the variety and the quality of the food served.

Gone are the delicious goodies of yesteryear. Even the aguas naturales and iced tea are now missing from the drink serving stations. This time the only clear winner that I tried from the buffet line was the chile relleno, filled with a smooshy meatlike substance. So yummy, so yummy!!

Besides that, the macaroni was lacking cheesiness. The turkey ham was processed and tasted like a cheap version of Spam. Even the flour tortillas weren't as tasty as I recalled. Or maybe that's just wishful reminiscing. However, the place still serves ribs, steak, and the fixings. There are still salads, and plenty of desserts.

Too bad the cleanliness of the buffet line wasn't as good as a girl would wish. While serving myself it was easy to spot several used dessert dishes lining the counter. What?! Does nobody see these dishes? It only takes a second for an employee to spot one and whisk it away to be washed. The little dishes could have been the work of the children who ran amuk unaccompanied by responsible adults. Yet that's only an explanation, not a valid excuse. Picky, am I? Well, yeah! Come on, now... Who wants to eat at a dirty restaurant, right? Yeah, thought so. ;-)

Anyhow, the place wasn't as amazing as I remembered it. It's still a nice enough place to go, but I could have saved some money and avoided the disillusionment by eating at Pancho's or Cici's instead. If I recall correctly, the Arlington Pancho's sells booze, too. Next time, next time!

Place? Palomina's Texas Buffet

Location? 701 North Watson Road, Arlington, TX 76011 (on the west side of 360)

Number to call when you get lost? (817) 652-1313

Cost? Not too bad. $10.49 for the Saturday evening buffet, $1.99 for the soft drink

Kid-friendly? Yes. There were children galore when we went.

Date-friendly? Yeah, why not?

Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Nope. This is more a family restaurant.

Place to go with friends? Yes.

Bathroom cleanliness? Not too bad. I especially like the automatic paper towel dispensers and the trashcan in close proximity to the door. That way there's no need to touch dirty door handles upon exiting. :)

Good service? Pretty good.

Would I do it again? Probably not. At least not until the economy is better and the place can afford to return to its previous glory. As R.T. (my fellow Palomina-er) said, Palomina's deserves only 3 out of 5 stars. R.T. also says the place is better after a quick smoke out in the parking lot. Not that I would ever advocate smoking, of course!

Trader's Village

As my lovely friend T.W. calls it, the place of my people. Lol. Seriously. You'd understand if you've ever been there. My friend, R.T., and I went on Sunday afternoon. Usually when I go to the Traders Village flea market I'll spend less than $5.00. Seriously. This time, maybe I knew the damage I'd do to my pockets because I took my little red wagon. Oops. Next time I'll take the big one!

The primary reason we took the wagon was a way to carry our twelve-pack. Note to readers: A twelve-pack isn't quite enough for five hours of flea marketing. Next time we're taking at least an 18. Especially since even the flea market vendors were asking if they could buy beer off us! lol.

R.T. and I got there about noon and immediately headed for the garagesale-esque area, all the way to the back left corner. This is where the normal people like you and me sell things. It's more of a hunt here, and more of a win when you find something amazing. Like the $60 brand new with tags Express sweater that I got for $2.50. Or the brand new $40 Gap blouse with tags for only $2.50. Or the gorgeous brand new Liz Claiborne blouse for $2.50. Yes, lots of stuff was 2 for $5. Can you tell? :)

I also scored and got something really cute for a girlfriend for only 50 cents. I had to text and let her know she's getting something really nice for Christmas. lol. Of course, the gift will mean so much more if I leave the 50 cent tag on. So I will.

Also, be sure to think out of the box. The flea market is the perfect place to stock up on household goods such as toilet paper and cleaner, as well as personal products like shampoo and feminine products. You can even buy grocery products like dry cereal and cans of chili... or fresh fruit by the bag or crate! Or smaller quantities if you insist.

Right now since we're heading into tamale and posole season, there were many vendors selling aromatic bags of dried chilies. Yum! Some cute little rascal even suckered me into buying 1/2 a kilo of peanuts. He tried reverse sales therapy on me by offering me a peanut and walking away. He didn't even tell me where the peanuts were sold. Wily little 9-year-old! Yes. He got me. Now what on earth am I going to do with so many peanuts?! Hmm. Maybe they can be uniquely wrapped and gifted to unsuspecting friends and family?

Place? Traders Village

Location? 2602 Mayfield Road, Grand Prairie, TX 75052

Number to call when you get lost? (972) 647-2331

Cost? $3.00 for parking, no entry fee. Take as much (or as little) as you want to spend. There are also terrific fair-type foods for sale, including corny dogs, ice cream, pizza, sausage on a stick, elotes, etc. You are forewarned!

Kid-friendly? Yes!

Date-friendly? Yes! We saw so many cute (and not-so-cute) young (and not-so-young) couples. Take your sweetie!

Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Yes. Although I've never met anyone at a flea market, it's totally possible.

Place to go with friends? Oh, yeah!

Bathroom cleanliness? Um, no. Remember to take hand sanitizer and try not to touch anything!

Good service? The food stands usually have nice folk. The vendors are usually pretty nice as well. Beware the talkative vendors!!

Would I do it again? Of course. :)

The Wild Turkey

This weekend some friends and I went to The Wild Turkey for a few drinks. Although I've been here to eat before, until Saturday I'd never been there just to hang out. It was a pretty jumping place. The tables were pretty full, as was the bar where we sat.

Funny thing, the waitresses all wore very tight jeans and red shirts. While the waiters... well, luckily they didn't. But it's funny because the waitresses were all young, cute things. While the waiters were neither young nor cute. Can we say double standard?! Regardless, our waiters still treated us pretty well. Although they never did bring us our change. Yes, we know how to tip and we do it pretty darn well. However, when you take the whole issue out of our hands... lol.

Anyhow, after a $3 longneck, I wanted something to munch on. I got these ginormous nachos with beef and chicken fajitas for about $11. Although they're not on the online menu, they absolutely rocked. Instead of being made out of corn tortilla chips, they appeared to be made out of a humongous flour tortilla that had been toasted (not fried) and cut into pieces. Absolutely delish, though for that price they could have served a bit more. Even the small tablespoon-sized dollops of sour cream and guacamole were stingily-proportioned.

Overall, this is the perfect place to hang out with friends after a hard(ish) day at work or a night at the club.

Place? The Wild Turkey

Location? 2470 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas, TX 75229-5627

Number to call when you get lost? (214) 351-5383

Cost? Not the cheapest, but still pretty reasonable.

Kid-friendly? Absolutely, as long as you go when it's still early. Late on the weekend is not the time to take the kids out to eat here!

Date-friendly? Yes. It's actually just across the street from a pretty big club for the young, urban crowd called Beamers. Although that makes it convenient to grab some post-club grub at the Wild Turkey, it also makes it difficult to find a parking in front of the restaurant. You might have to resort to parking in the big lot out back.

Place to meet those of the opposite sex? You can do it. While I was waiting on R.T. to return to the bar, a group of guys passed by and one made a guy-type noise of approval at me. lol.

Place to go with friends? Absolutely.

Bathroom cleanliness? Can't really answer on this one. Sorry!

Good service? Yes. It took a while in between server visits because it was so busy, but the service was attentive when it was there.

Would I do it again? Probably.

Date from Hell

As a public service to the single guys and gals out there, from time to time I will feature special guest posts on dating. Today I'm happy to showcase our first "Date from Hell" segment from a blogger who wishes to remain anonymous. Enjoy her hell. Be glad it wasn't your own.

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She met him at the club. She was supposed to be meeting a girlfriend that night. Right before meeting him she'd run into a Potential who asked her out to dance. She said, "In a minute, let me finish my beer. I'll be over there," while she pointed to a nice spot. Seconds after seating herself, he came over and asked her to dance. She told him no. He asked if he could have a seat. She said, "Suit yourself." Then she continued texting friends while waiting on her girlfriend to arrive or the Potential to swing by and take her out on the dancefloor. Instead, he spilled his beer, forcing her to put away her cell phone before it went to its beery grave. While they both attempted to clean up his mess, the Potential walked by. Noticing her with him, he kept walking. Darn.

Trying to be nice, she conversed with him. She then met his friends. Nice friends. Hm. Maybe she should hang out with them for a while. At the end of the night he asked for her number and a dinner/movie date on Friday. SHE SAID YES.

Night of the date:

He asked her where she wanted to go. She said he was inviting, he should pick. Her only request: that they meet each other halfway so neither would have a long drive. He called back and said they should meet in a certain location. 30 minutes away from her. 10 minutes away from him. That's not what she meant, but she politely agreed. He suggested she call when she left her place so they could decide exactly where they'd meet. When she called he told her to meet him at the movies. 3 minutes away from his apartment. 35 minutes away from hers. Sigh.

When she got there he was not in sight. She called him. He was still home and said she was early and he would be there soon. While she waited she checked on the movie time. The next movie would not start for two more hours. When he arrived she told him. (She had passed five other movie theaters on her long trek to this one. This was not the only movie in town.) She had previously told him that she wanted to have an early night and inwardly wasn't pleased that the movie wouldn't start until 10:30 PM.

He asked her if she'd eaten. She said no, they were supposed to be going out to dinner. He'd already eaten. Pizza. He took her to a taco place 15 minutes away. She tried the chips and salsa and almost died. He said that she must not eat spicy food. He was wrong. She was insulted.

He then asked if she walked in the park. She said no. He wanted to know why and said that she should start. This despite the fact that she was in much better physical shape than he and she works out almost every day (except for the past few weeks, thank you very much).

He asked her why her Spanish was so bad. Then he became insulted when she asked him why his (almost nonexistent and impossible to understand) English was so bad.

While eating, he told her she was very pretty. She told him thank you. He told her she must have had a lot of boyfriends before. Puzzled, she told him she had had a few. Then he said she must have been prettier when she was young. Of course he must have said this because she was obviously an old hag now. Long scraggly gray hairs, sagging body parts, flesh hanging off her face, wrinkles galore. Was he trying to be insulting or was he just clueless?

After eating, she drove them back to the theater. He then proceed to tell her that she parked incorrectly. Too far out, judging by the vehicle to their right. Um, actually she parked perfectly. He then continued to compare her parking to that of the vehicle to the right. She insisted that he get out to check her parking, not the other vehicle's. Yes, she was parked fine. Sigh.

Inside, they proceed directly to the movie. She had been sick and would have appreciated something to drink during the 2 1/2 hour-long movie. Only after being seated for five minutes did he ask if she needed anything from the concession stand. No, thank you. She would rather hack out her throat and die.

After midnight, someone started blowing up his iPhone. The picture on the screen was his mother's face. Either it was his mother or it was someone else who he had put his mother's face on. Either way, it was bad news. She made no comment.

The movie finally finished. After one o'clock in the morning. So much for an early night. She still had to drive half an hour to get home. He moved in for the good night kiss. He got a firm handshake instead. (Atta girl!)

On the way home she got a text from him. The tow truck had picked up someone's vehicle at his apartment complex and he asked her to call for him. Unsure why she should call if he'd been taking English classes and was apparently proficient in English, she agreed. After arriving home at almost two in the morning she then proceeded to make several calls to the tow company. What a night.

Restaurant & Taqueria Lupita's

Oh, honey. Have you ever gone out on the town and then gotten the munchies after? Not the "let's go to IHOP and freeze our rears off waiting on the food" munchies. No. More like "let's take advantage of this heavenly buzz and go eat tacos and enchiladas" munchies.

Ah... have I got the place for you. There's a nice little taqueria located on Henderson right outside East Dallas. This is a terrific place. The food is good and the chips and salsa rock. For you clubhoppers, the place closes at 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday and at 5 a.m. on Fridays and Saturday. If you want to go Sunday night, though, you're out of luck. Sundays they close at 3 in the afternoon. :)

Not only have I tried this place out late, late at night (or is that early in the morning?), a friend and I also tried the place for pre-club tacos. Either way, the place rocks.

When you go, may I suggest the tacos al pastor? They're served with the traditional cilantro, onion, and lime, with salsa on the side. Yummy!

Just the other night I tried the El Paso plate. It comes with a cheese enchilada, a bean chalupa, a fajita taco, beans, and rice. All for only $7.00. Yes, Lupita's has terrificly reasonable prices. Especially considering that no other place in the area keeps the same hours. Lupita's blows IHOP and the Waffle House out of the water.

We've never tried this place for happy hour, but it looks like a nice place to go. Happy hour is from 8-10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Margaritas are $2.00 and domestic beers are $1.50. Not bad, huh?

What? You say you can't drink without being entertained at the same time? Tuesday nights you can see Oscar Palacios and his female impersonator show. Thursday night is for comedian Julio Cesar Cabellero and Freddy Lopez on the keyboards. Friday nights are for mariachis Estampas de Mexico. Sunday nights are for live music by Furia Calentana. Lol. What more can you want?

Place? Restaurant & Taqueria Lupita's
Location? 2107 North Henderson, Dallas, Texas 75206
Number to call when you get lost? (214) 827-1850
Cost? Very inexpensive.
Kid-friendly? Yes.
Date-friendly? Yes! It's the perfect place for after-hours tacos.
Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Um, I've never tried this and wouldn't suggest it.
Place to go with friends? Yes!!
Bathroom cleanliness? Try to drink enough so that you don't notice. Either that or think happy thoughts when you have to pee.
Good service? Absolutely. Unless the waitress is jealous of you for some reason. I have no idea what that was about!
Would I do it again? Absolutely!

Los Lupes

Some friends and I got together to go to one of our old (lunchtime) stomping grounds in Irving. Back in the day we'd normally head to Los Lupes for good fast Mexican food and a few beers. Boy, how times (and restaurants) change!

Shortly after getting there, we asked about the happy hour specials. The waitress informed us that due to the recent time change the computer didn't know what time it was. Since the computer didn't know we were there during happy hour, we'd have to pay full price on drinks. Yes. Really. So I bit the bullet and ordered smallish $2.25 drafts.

When my first beer arrived, I was dismayed to find out it was in a dirty glass. No, not one of those glasses with lipstick prints on it. It can be hard to remove lipstick from a glass, so that would be nasty but understandable. No, my glass was dirty because it tasted like the drink it contained previously. Seriously. My mug rim was sweet. Ewww!! The waitress brought me a replacement beer. No apology, just the beer.

Picture of the not-very-fresh chips we were served.

Luckily the food was pretty good. Sour cream enchiladas, an old standby. (Hopefully just not standing by in the kitchen...) I just tried to concentrate on the tastiness and not on how nasty the kitchen must be if even the beer mugs aren't clean. Yes, I'm a little ray of sunshine and optimism.

All in all, we won't be back. It wasn't the nasty mug, the fact that there were humongous stretches of time when we didn't see a waitperson in sight & we were dying of thirst. It wasn't the non-happy hour prices. Nor was it the glaring overhead lights that we had to fix by taking out lightbulbs and softening the glare of the last remaining bulb with a paper napkin. No, it was not any one of these things. It was all of it put together. lol!

Place? Los Lupes Mexican Restaurant
Location? For the moment it's 2849 West Airport Freeway, Irving, 75062. However, 183 (West Airport Freeway) is going to be widened so Loops will soon be relocating to Irving Mall where Fuddrucker's used to be.
Number to call when you get lost? (972) 870-1500
Cost? Very reasonable
Kid-friendly? Yes.
Date-friendly? Yes.
Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Perhaps in the bar during karaoke.
Place to go with friends? Yes.
Bathroom cleanliness? Clean enough.
Good service? Um, sort of. Just not very attentive, knowledgeable or helpful. Hmm... Maybe that constitutes bad service?
Would I do it again? Absolutely... not!

Quesa-D-Ya's

The other day I found this terrific place that serves amazing quesadillas. Not a Mexican place, Quesa-D-Ya's is a concept brought to life by Paul, the owner with the most beautiful sparkling eyes ever. When I walked in, he immediately introduced himself and explained how his place works.

Quesa-D-Ya's is like a combination pizza place/sandwich shop... except they make quesadillas. The most rocking quesadillas ever. You can choose from several different sizes. There are several set recipes from which to choose. Or you can build-your-own. Unlike pizza places, there's no charge per topping. Only a $2 charge per meat. Everything else can get piled on a tu gusto. Not only that, you get amazingly delish chips and salsa free with every order!

Since I was having friends over, I ordered a large size 'dilla. This size is so big that it's given to you in a nice-sized pizza box and should serve 3-5. It actually served three of us. There was enough for us to keep going back for more and even a few pieces for me the next day. (Score!)

When choosing ingredients, Paul suggested that I try half and half. So I got the Traditional with beef steak and the Seafood. Ah... it was sooo good. The seafood half tasted like a cross between the Great Balls of Fire from Joe's Crabshack (just without the fire) and the filling that comes in the Rat Toes at Razoo's. Yummy!

I also got some of the white cheese queso (good) and guacamole (just eh). 'Dilla-eater Rocio absolutely LOVED the jalapeno ranch dip. So much in fact that she took it home with her and plans on getting a bunch of it next month for Christmastime tamales.

Not only is the food and service terrific, Quesa-D-Ya's is a community-minded organization and a "green" place to boot! So, if you're ever on lower Greenville and get the munchies, hop on over to Quesa-D-Ya's. Tell Paul I sent you. He surely won't remember me, but I've always wanted to say that. :)

Place? Quesa-D-Ya's
Location? 2820 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX
Number to call to place an order? (214) 823-3927
Cost? Not cheap, but pretty reasonable
Kid-friendly? Yes
Date-friendly? It would have to be a very casual date!
Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Not at all.
Place to go with friends? Yes!
Bathroom cleanliness? I'm not sure they even have a public bathroom.
Good service? Yes!
Would I do it again? Yes!

Rio Bravo

Most surely a bar in a previous life, Rio Bravo is a fantastic place to hang out with buds after work or on the weekends. When you walk in, the tightly packed tables and the mirrored walls might throw you off. As well as the singing keyboard player stationed next to the miniscule stage. Don't worry, his singing isn't bad. In fact, he's pretty good at getting his covers down. The multicolored lights are a nice touch as well.

They serve fresh, hot tortilla chips with some pretty good salsa. If you're there during happy hour, be sure to get the $5 beef fajitas. They come with the traditional fixings- delicious refried beans, rice, sour cream, pico de gallo, and your choice of corn or flour tortillas. Just remember that the special is for the beef ones. Chicken fajitas are twice the price. Although they're quite good, do you really want to pay $10 for chicken when the beef is only $5? Yeah, I thought so.

Save your money for a pina colada instead. These run about $5 each for the small ones (still a pretty respectable size). They are frosty and strong with some kind of red swirl going on. Guys, don't be embarrassed. Apparently, at Rio Bravo pina coladas are a manly drink. There were some pretty tough-looking guys drinking some when we were there. Do your thing. We won't judge.

If you go to Rio Bravo on Fridays, there is a terrific female impersonator show. When were there, they had Shakira, someone else, and Vicente Fernandez (a hit with the ladies). These are good guys (or girls?!) and they put on a good show, working the crowd. It's not unusual for one of the female impersonators to come and ruffle a male patron's hair a la Jessica Rabbit.

Note: Jessica pic borrowed from here

Risque-ish behavior and jokes notwithstanding, this is a place where people can bring their children for a good meal and a few drinks. While we were there a somewhat inebriated gentleman started dancing on the postage-stamp-sized stage with his somewhat embarrassed children. Later on these same kids lost their inhibitions and were up on stage dancing to Shak-he-ra's music and taking pictures with Vicente of their own free will. Yeah, it's a fun place. :)

All in all, this is a good, clean place for good, clean fun. When you're in this part of Grand Prairie, maybe you should stop in for some fajitas and a cold one (or two or...).

Place? Rio Bravo
Location? 317 E Pioneer Parkway, Grand Prairie, TX
Number to call when you get lost? (972) 642-8007‎
Cost? Pretty reasonable during happy hour**. After that the prices jump to $4/bottle of beer! Yeah, be careful on that...
Kid-friendly? Yes.
Date-friendly? Yes. If it's a very casual date. Not for a first date.
Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Not really, unless you get lucky and are seated close to a hottie. The tables are set so close together that it's easy to start up a conversation with someone seated near you.
Place to go with friends? Yes!!!
Bathroom cleanliness? Um... not filthy disgusting, but definitely not the cleanest. Especially as the night goes on. The soap dispenser was running low when were there, too. Not a good thing.
Good service? Absolutely. Try getting seated in Claudia's station. She's a sweetheart of a server with these killer dimples.
Would we do it again? Oh, yeah!!

** Happy hour runs from 3-8 pm 7 days a week and all day Tuesday and Wednesday.

Happy hour prices:

Draft beers $1.25

Margaritas $1.49

Domestic bottles $1.99

Chicken nachos $2.99

Beef nachos $3.49

Daily specials:

Monday and Wednesday- Enchiladas for $2.99

Tuesday and Thursday- Chicken fajitas $3.99

Wednesday and Friday- Beef fajitas $4.99

Marina's

No, this isn’t a dating blog. It’s a blog where I, Michelle (with occasional guest appearances by dear friends), go out and then tell you about some of the fun and exciting (and even the not-so-fun and terribly boring) places I’ve been. Let me be the friend you can come to when you need an honest and pretty reliable (as long as I haven’t drinken too much) opinion of a club, restaurant, or other place where you can go out with friends, family, or maybe even by yourself. Cool, huh?

My first review? Marina's in Euless! My dear friend and her dear friend Matt (he's single, ladies!!) met me for a night out at Marina's. Although it's out in the boondocks of Euless, it was worth the trip. That says alot, folks.

Marina's is a bar with a full-service kitchen. Although I didn't get to try the philly cheese steak, I hear it's good, humongous, and has delicious bread. The cheese fries are pretty basic. They're hot, crispy fries covered with melted cheddar cheese and bacon bits. Mine even came with a sprinkle of green onion. Okay, I don't like green onion, but the effort was appreciated.

What do you do after eating? Well, there is always karaoke and the pool table area. Marina's has beer specials during happy hour. What more do you need? What, guys? You need an attractive waitress? Check. She's absolutely gorgeous and quite nice. What, ladies? You need a place to hang your purse? Check. Just look under the counter for handy purse-hanging hooks. At least we think that's why they're there.

And... perhaps most importantly... if you overimbibe and shouldn't drive home, Marina's is conveniently located next to a nice motel with reasonable prices. Not that I know from personal experience, of course. :)

Place? Marina's Restaurant & Club
Location? In the boondocks... 1509 W Euless Blvd Euless, TX 76040
Number to call when you get lost? (817) 571-5910
Cost? Pretty inexpensive. Non-happy hour drafts were $2.50 Mixed drinks were about $4-5.00 The large cheese fries were only $6.00
Kid-friendly? Not really. Maybe if you go in the daytime. Maybe.
Date-friendly? It’s a little bar. Um, yeah! Just as long as it's not your first date...
Place to meet those of the opposite sex? Not really. Pickings looked pretty sparse. You'd probably be better off bringing your own.
Place to go with friends? Absolutely.
Bathroom cleanliness? Pretty clean in the lady's room. There were actually two little lady's rooms in there. Each with their own door and sink. Cool for privacy and you can still talk through the doors. It's nice that they had a whole display of toilet paper on the counter. You can never have too much tp! However, I heard the men's room left a bit to be desired.
Good service? Yes.
Would we do it again? Oh, yes!