Canon Restuarant Review: Loco's and The Golden Dragon

First of all, Canada sucks. Just kidding, congratulations to Canada for their Gold Medal victory over the United States in hockey earlier today. It was one of the greatest hockey games I've ever seen, easily in the top five. I'm just bummed the U.S. came short, but they had a heck of a tournament, and exceeded expectations by grabbing the silver medal.  But enough about that. Today's review is of two restaurants in Athens, GA, a city where parking is scarce but restaurants are not. Yesterday, I had the privilege of having dinner at Loco's Deli and Pub, and had the additional privilege of having dessert at the Golden Dragon restaurant. Actually, privilege is too strong a word, as basically what happened was that my friends got hungry and so was I, so we went out to eat. Simple as that.

The first place we went to was Loco's Deli and Pub, recommended by my friend Sonny, who had ate there before and had nothing but good things to say about it. It turns out that the location of Loco's has changed, unbeknown to any of us, who very rarely visit Athens these days. Anyway, we went to two shopping centers, hoping that Loco's was there, but it wasn't. I did stop at a Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of Baseball Prospectus 2010. My quick review, it seemed a bit clustered, but they had what I wanted and checkout was quick, so I give it a 7. Anyway, after consulting our friend Dickson, who was working in Athens last night for two whole hours, we found a Loco's. Unfortunately, it was so crowded that it would take 30 minutes to get a table. Undaunted, we found another Loco's, this one on South Harris Street, in case anyone was wondering, and we were able to be seated relatively quickly.

We ordered (and by we I mean my brother Ben, Sonny, and myself), and we waited on our food, and waited, and then we got some potato skins that Sonny ordered as an appetizer. The potato skins were just OK, nothing too special, but I rarely have potato skins so I am not really a worthy judge. So, we ate our potato skins and waited for our orders, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, after what was at least 45 minutes, we got our food. Let me say that I do not blame the wait on our waiter, as he was courteous and apologized for our long wait. I lay the fault on the fact that they had two waiters serving the entire restaurant, on a Saturday Night where all tables were full. I think that's just poor management, they probably could have used at least two more waiters. Plus, if the wait staff is understaffed, I have no doubt in my mind that the kitchen was understaffed as well. Then again, how long does it take to make two sandwiches and a hamburger?

I ordered the mushroom and swiss burger, well done, with no tomato and cheese fries. The good news is I did not get a tomato, however I had a different expectation of cheese fries than what I was presented. See, I was expecting the cheese to be covered in cheese. Instead of the 25 or 30 fries I got, only about six of them had cheese on it. The fries were pretty decent, good but not great, but I did wish for more cheese. I asked for the burger well done, but while the burger was good, it was also still rather pink on the inside. It was more medium well than well done, but at least they put tons of cheese and mushrooms on it. Overall, based on my meal alone, I would give it a 6.2 out of 10, even with the long wait. However, Sonny's Cuban sandwich was, in his opinion, a big pile of suck, and they also messed up his black beans. So, keeping that in mind, I must deduct 1.5 points off my score, giving Loco's a 4.7 out of 10. I'd be willing to try it again, but I have a feeling that that won't happen anytime soon. It's a shame because I had heard about Loco's for so many years, and was really looking forward to it, but it failed to live up to my expectations and the testimonials of others that I had heard.

But WAITAMINUTE! There's more. See Dickson had just gotten off of work, so he was pretty dang hungry. After driving around for a few minutes trying to find parking downtown, Dickson went for a familiar place, and went to the Golden Dragon Restaurant on Alps Road, a Chinese restaurant that he had been to many times. The rest of us weren't too hungry, having just ate minutes before, but I don't like going into restaurants without trying at least something, so I thought I might have a quick desert. What happened next was somewhat perplexing. I had seen that they ice cream tempura on the menu, and had never had that before and have wanted to try it for years. So I asked if I could have the ice cream tempura. The waitress responded with a sharp and curt "no", not explaining why I couldn't have the dish. So I ended up ordering the glazed banana instead, which is basically sugar covered bananas that are baked. About 10 minutes later, I get glazed apples instead. Well then. I didn't say anything because 1) Dickson was already eating, and he was the only one eating, so I didn't want to hold everybody else up, 2) the apples were the same price as the bananas, and 3), I had a feeling that they already didn't like me enough, and if I had sent it back I would get a "bonus" ingredient with my glazed bananas. So I just ate what I got, and what I got was pretty good, although I wouldn't have minded if it was a little sweeter. Overall, I would give the apples a 7, and my experience about a 3, but I don't feel I can make a proper judgment on a restaurant unless I actually eat a course. I'd be willing to try that, but I have a feeling they couldn't care less what my cracker ass thought of their place.

So, there you have it, my first one and a half restaurant reviews here at The Canon Review. Maybe I'll do more, but I don't really eat out too much so I doubt it. Anyway, if you any ideas for future reviews or posts, send them to me at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Feel free to make comments, and if you have any problems with the comment section, let me know and I will try to fix it.