Phoenix, AZ: Case Of The Missing Sandwich Solved, But Where's The Meat?

Barro's Pizza
2750 W Dove Valley Road, Ste 140
Phoenix, AZ 85085
(623) 215-4141
barrospizza.com
Prices: $$$$

I grew up with Barro's in SoCal, so I figured I could have a decent meal there. I ordered a simple sandwich mid-afternoon on a Sunday, so the place was virtually empty, and was told "that will be ready in 15-20 minutes". Wow, 15-20 minutes to make a sandwich? Had I known, I would have gone somewhere else.

EMPTY

Well, 15-20 minutes went by, people came and went with their orders, but still no sandwich, so I asked when it would be ready. "What sandwich?" I was asked as they searched orders on the computer. "The one I paid for 20 minutes ago", I said, "do you want to see my receipt?". Then they lied to me: "oh, it's in the oven and will be out in just a minute". A few minutes later I saw a guy in the back put my sandwich in the oven and another five minutes later, I finally had my mediocre sandwich.

The sandwich was so-so with four slices of processed ham and eight small slices of salami and a little lettuce and tomato on a 12 inch roll, but was relatively cheap (less than $7 for a 12 inch sub and a bag o' chips) and filled the void in my gut or they would have received my lowest score. Forgetting my order was bad enough, but letting me leave without some sort of compensation (free slice, coupon, etc.) and a heartfelt apology was unforgivable.

CombatCritic Gives Barro's Pizza 2 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Two Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Tits Up" 

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• Over 1.4 Million Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Barro's Pizza on Yelp

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Title: Phoenix, AZ: Case Of The Missing Sandwich Solved, But Where's The Meat?

Key Words: Phoenix, AZ, sandwich, Barro's Pizza, Barro's, Barro, pizza, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Copyright 2019/2020 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved

Goodyear (Phoenix), AZ: ¡Ay, Caramba, Not Bad Grub For A Mexican Chain!

Macayo's Mexican Food
1474 N Litchfield Road
Goodyear, AZ 85395
(623) 209-7000
macayo.com/goodyear
Prices: $$$$

Coming from the Pacific Northwest, and our dearth of decent Mexican restaurants, I was slightly impressed with Macayo's food and the service was good, not great. We were greeted warmly by a gaggle of young ladies who asked us if we wanted to take advantage of Happy Hour. 'You bet your bippy' we do, I said ... HOOAH!

Their house margarita was $6 and their guacamole $5, so we ordered both, but I got a Yelp Check-In offer for a free Cheese Crisp ($5 value) and could not turn it down. The chips and salsa were rather late in coming, but the chips seemed to be fresh and the salsa was fairly good. The guacamole had too many tomatoes for my taste, but it was OK, needing a little salt to enhance the flavor. My blended margarita came in a 16 ounce glass and tasted good, but their was not much tequila in it - little tequila taste, little buzz.

If you know me, one of my biggest pet peeves is when a server brings out the next course when you have not yet finished the previous course. The guacamole was not nearly finished when our dinner entrees arrived, something you would never see at even the most basic restaurants in Europe and many other countries. The message: GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN SO WE CAN SEAT ANOTHER PARTY.

My friend's Green Chile Pork Stew ($8.99) consisted of pork sirloin, fire-roasted poblano chile, tomatillo, jalapeno, onion, and cilantro, served with warm flour tortillas. She thought it was great, except for the extra kick from the poblano chile and jalapeño pepper that was just a bit too much for her.

I ordered the Mex-and-Match (no, I am not a racist, it's their name for it, not mine - $13.99) with two items and two sides, specifically a shredded beef taco, cheese and onion enchilada, refried beans, and tortilla soup. I assumed that the tortilla soup would come before my meal, but it arrived along with my entree which became colder and colder while I ate the hot soup, which was very good by the way. The taco was very good, crunchy with the right ratio of shredded beef, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. The enchilada was also good, but I could not locate the onions in my cheese and 'onion' enchilada and my beans were rather unspectacular.

I started writing this review considering a 7 Bomb rating, but as I wrote, recalling the positives and negatives of the experience, that rating seemed a bit too high, particularly in light of my pet peeve outlined above - train your servers to hold off on submitting entree orders to the kitchen so that patrons can finish one course before receiving the next. Overall the food was pretty good, the prices reasonable, especially the happy hour items, the service decent, and the ambiance nice, especially out on their patio where we were seated.

CombatCritic Gives Macayo's Mexican Food 6 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Six Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Good To Go"

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• Over 1.4 Million Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Macayo's Mexican Food on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

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Title: Goodyear (Phoenix), AZ: ¡Ay, Caramba! Not Bad Grub For A Mexican Chain

Key Words: Goodyear, Phoenix, AZ, Mexican, Macayo's, Macayo, food, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Copyright 2019/2020 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved

Phoenix, AZ: Is That A Schnitzel In Your Liederhösen Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

Edelweiss Biergarten
2625 E. Bell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85032
Phone: (602) 404-5919
Website: edelweissphoenix.com
Prices: $$$$

Achtung meine freunde, from the outside, this place looks like a country biker bar more than a German restaurant, but the inside is, relatively, much nicer and the place has pretty damn good chow ... HOOAH!

Having served our great nation for 20+ years, including 6 years in Europe (England and Italy), I spent quite a bit of time in Germany and know what authentic German food tastes like. This place gets it right despite the austere exterior. The inside is HUGE, reminiscent of one of the large hofbräus or gästhaus in Munich and other German cities with flags of the different states hung on the walls and a guy wearing liederhösen playing the accordion on their small stage. They even have a large biergarten, hence the name, in the back where you can enjoy a bier or a meal when the weather permits.

For an appetizer, which I received a 20% discount on for checking-in on Yelp, I got Opa's Favorite ($11.95 before discount), wedges of Gouda cheese breaded and fried, accompanied by their homemade cranberry sauce. The wedges were, as President Donald would say, HUGE and the cranberry sauce very tasty, a nice accompaniment to the Gouda, I polished of 1.5 of the 2 wedges, but had to stop to make room for my main course.

I decided on the Schnitzel Cordon Bleu ($17.95), pork cutlets filled with ham and cheese, then breaded and pan fried to a golden brown. I asked the server if I could get a side of Jaeger sauce for my cordon bleu and he told me, "that will be $1.00 extra, is that OK", to which I replied, it's my birthday, let's splurge!". The cordon bleu was thick and crispy on the outside and hot inside, allowing the gooey cheese to ooze out when I made my first cut ... WUNDERBAR! The jaeger sauce was the topping that iced the cake or, in this case, the schnitzel, a delicious cream sauce with plenty of mushrooms and pieces of bacon to enhance the flavor of the already very good cordon bleu. The spätzle appeared to be made in-house and was also very good and the accompanying cucumber salad decent.

I never did get a "happy birthday" or a gratuitous dessert and that was just fine with me because I do not like being made a fuss over and I was so full that I could not have eaten it anyway. It would have been nice of them to offer though, even if I would have turned it down in any event.

Seedy, dilapidated exterior, a more appropriate interior, decent service, and wonderful, reasonably priced food made this biergarten a hit with me and "I shall return", wait, that was Patton, "I'll be back", no that was Schwarzenegger, oh, never mind.

CombatCritic Gives Edelweiss Biergarten 8 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Eight Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "What-The-Fuck ... Over!"

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• Over 1.4 Million Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Edelweiss Biergarten on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube and our sister channel, CombatCounselor Chronicles, with Over 1,250 Subscribers and 1,000,000 Video Views ... HOOAH!

Title: Phoenix, AZ: Is That A Schnitzel In Your Liederhösen Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

Key Words: Phoenix, AZ, Edelweiss Biergarten, Edelweiss, biergarten, German, schnitzel, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Copyright 2019/2020 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved

Anthem (Phoenix), AZ: WARNING: Eating Uncooked Or Undercooked Beef Can Be Hazardous To Your Health!

Tru Burger
39504 North Daisy Mountain Drive, #110
Anthem, AZ 85086
Phone number: (623) 465-5000
Website: https://geeconcepts.com/
Prices: $$$$

This should not take very long because I waited for a table longer than it took to leave after receiving my meal. If a place with "Burger" in their name cannot properly cook a medium-well hamburger, there is something terribly wrong.

I had high hopes when I found a burger place that serves grass-fed beef and it happened to be just down the street from where I was staying. The place was packed on a Friday night a bit after 6pm, another positive sign. Oh boy, was I in for a treat ... NOT!

When I saw that they had a house margarita for $5, I was even more enthused, but wait, things went downhill quickly after drinking about half of my margarita, which was pretty good by the way. I ordered a 1/2 pound Angus beef burger, medium-well, with sharp cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and herb mayo on a brioche bun ($9.95), adding bacon, sauteed onions, and avocado ($1 each). Fries do not come with their sandwiches or burgers, so I thought I would try a side of their Skinny Fries ($2.99) as well.

When my burger arrived, I was quite impressed, it looked delicious. The brioche bun was perfectly toasted, the burger patty thick, and the contents I ordered piled so high that I was wondering how I would shove it into my piehole. The first bite was pretty good, the burger was a little more pink on the edges than I expected for a medium-well burger, but I thought "what the hell" and took another couple bites. As I got closer to the center it was obvious that this burger was much closer to medium-rare or rare than medium-well, it was nearly raw in the middle. My stomach turned because there is a reason they put warnings on menus: "WARNING: Eating uncooked or undercooked beef can be hazardous to your health!". I do not give a shit what Gordon Ramsey says, I do not eat uncooked or undercooked beef, not until tonight at least.

The poor waitress came back and asked me how my meal was and when I showed her my uncooked/undercooked burger, she apologized profusely. She asked me if she could take it back and cook it longer, meaning "nuke-it", or if I wanted something else, but my this time I had lost my appetite and asked for the bill. The manager also came by to apologize and took the burger and fries ($15.94) off my bill, but they lost a customer by letting me walk out the door without so much as comping my margarita or offering me a free or 50% off meal the next time I came in.

I NEVER tell establishments when I visit that I am a food and travel writer with a popular website (80,000+ visitors a year) in addition to being Yelp GOLD Elite for 6 years running and a Zomato "Verified" Connoisseur. I, obviously, also have never accepted a single gratuity in exchange for a meal, hotel, play, or anything else I write reviews about because they have no idea who I am until I leave my card after paying the bill. If a place offers a free dessert, drink, or anything else because I am dissatisfied with my experience, I am more than happy to accept it because that is what good business owners and managers do, make amends to unhappy customers in hope that they will return again.

OK, this has gotten much longer than expected, so I shall stop here. Although, I also shall not return to Tru Burger and you might consider doing the same.

CombatCritic Gives Tru Burger 2 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Only Because The $5 Margarita Was Pretty Good And The Service Decent ... More Bombs Are Better!

Two Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Tits Up" 

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• Over 1.4 Million Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Tru Burger on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube and our sister channel, CombatCounselor Chronicles, with Over 1,250 Subscribers and 1,000,000 Video Views ... HOOAH!

Title: Anthem (Phoenix), AZ: WARNING: Eating Uncooked Or Undercooked Beef Can Be Hazardous To Your Health!

Key Words: Anthem, Phoenix,

AZ, Tru Burger, tru, burger, TruBurger, hamburger, raw, undercooked, beef, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato

Copyright 2019/2020 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved