ROTD: Ho Hum, Another ... YELP REVIEW OF THE DAY (August 3rd, 2017 - Kansas City, MO - Bayleaf Indian Restaurant, Lawrence, Kansas

Chris S. wrote a review for Bayleaf Indian Restaurant & Bar

4/15/2017

• ROTD 8/3/2017

We have been wanting to try Bayleaf since they opened, but had not until tonight. The food was ready as promised, 20 minutes exactly after I ordered on Eat Street. The place was empty at 5:35 on a Saturday, a bit odd, but the friendly server gathered our order post haste, listing the contents by memory exactly as we ordered them ... meat samosas - check, beef vindaloo - check, palak paneer - check, plain and garlic naan - check. She handed me my bag and I left.

With the $7 Eat Street discount, the tab came to just a tad under $32, not bad. But $39 for one appetizer, two entrees and some bread - no soup or salad, no drinks, no dessert - without the coupon it would not be a great value.

The Meat Samosas ($4.95), savory pastries with a chicken and vegetable filling and two dipping sauces (a red sweet and sour and a mild green) were big and good. The Naan (Plain - $2 and Garlic $3) were large and as fresh and good as any I have eaten.

My wife's Palak Paneer ($10.95) with fresh spinach and homemade curd cheese in a mildly spicy sauce was also as good as any we had during my four months in India. The Beef Vindaloo ($14.95) had plenty of beef and a few potatoes in a tomato and onion curry that was delicious. Both the palak paneer and beef vindaloo came with basmati rice, but $14.95 for a medium size curry and rice is a bit on the pricey side. At $8.95 and $11.95, they would have been a much better value, but the Indian restaurants in Lawrence seem to think they can get away with charging $15 for a curry and rice, so they do. That is why we do not eat at the two Indian restaurants (across the street from each other) in town all that often.

OK, maybe I am spoiled, but having eaten similar, but much better, meals for two in India for $10-$12 max, I find it difficult to shell out nearly 4 times as much stateside. If it were not for the $7 Eat Street discount, we probably would not have bothered, but I am glad we did because the food at Bayleaf was very good. Having lived in England for three years and traveled India for four months, I am used to good Indian food at reasonable prices. The Indian restaurants in Lawrence need to drop their dinner prices if they hope to fill their tables, which they are not doing currently.

I am basing my rating on a dinner for two for $31.50 (7 rating  - with coupon), not $38.50 (5 rating  - without coupon) ...

CombatCritic Gives Bayleaf Indian Restaurant 7 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

YELP REVIEW OF THE DAY (August 3rd, 2017 - Kansas City, MO): Bayleaf Indian Restaurant - Lawrence, Kansas

Read Chris S.'s review of Bayleaf Indian Restaurant & Bar on Yelp

Title: Ho Hum, Another ... YELP REVIEW OF THE DAY (August 3rd, 2017 - Kansas City, MO): Bayleaf Indian Restaurant - Lawrence, Kansas

Key Words: Yelp, ROTD, review of the day, of, the, day, Kansas City, Lawrence, Portland, Oregon, Missouri, Kansas, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value

Yelp KC "Review of the Day" #5 - CombatCritic Reviews Formosa Bakery, Lawrence, Kansas

Read Chris S.'s review of Formosa Bakery on Yelp

See All 5 Of My Yelp Reviews of the Day (ROTD)

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Title: Another Yelp KC "Review of the Day" - CombatCritic's Review of Formosa Bakery, Lawrence, Kansas

Key Words: ROTD, Review of the Day, day, KC, Kansas City, Kansas city, Missouri, Lawrence, Formosa Bakery, formosa, bakery, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato

Translation for Civilians: HOOAH! = "Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary

"The Department of Military Science and Leadership, University of Tennessee claim HOOAH 'refers to or means anything except no' ... Regardless of its meaning ... the term is an expression of high morale, confidence, motivation and spirit." - WarChronicle.com

"The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique, we said 'fuck it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH! - CombatCritic

Kansas City, MO: Pretentious, Rushed, Cold, Dark, Cramped, Pricey - Garozzo's Was Mezzo Mezzo (So-S0)

Garozzo’s Ristorante 
(Downtown)

526 Harrison Street
Kansas City, MO 64106
Phone: (816) 221-2455
Website: garozzos.com
Prices: $$$$

First, let me apologize for the quality of the photos in this post. Garozzo's is so dark there was not enough light to take a photo without a flash or the external light source I normally use and I did not want to disturb our fellow diners so that I could take a decent photo ... sorry!

We have been to Garozzo's several times, but this was the first in about four years and since I started this blog. The food was always good, a bit pricey, but solid Italian food in a nice, but too dark and pretentious atmosphere. I say pretentious because the food screams "mom and pop" Italian restaurant, not upscale, fancy shmancy with servers (mostly waiters) dressed to the nines and with attitudes to match. 

This visit was no different. Good food, a room too dark to read the menu, a table too small to hold our food and drinks, and a waiter that was courteous, but all business, and a bit too eager to get rid of us and earn some extra tips. When you drop a C-note for dinner for two, you should not be rushed through your meal. We were.

I will not use the server's name, but we were quickly welcomed, being the first diners at 5:30pm on a Tuesday after attending the closing for the sale of our home and celebrating with a nice dinner out. My wife and I were talking, but the server seemed eager to take our order, interrupting our conversation to ask what we wanted to drink. I asked for water and a bottle of their house cabernet sauvignon ($24).

After bringing our drinks, again interrupting our conversation, I ordered a stuffed artichoke as an appetizer (antipasto) and for entrees my wife requested the Tortelloni Gina and I the Veal Parmigiana. I asked the server if the dinners came with salad and pasta (in my case) as I seemed to remember salad coming with the entrees the last time we were there. I was either wrong or they had changed their policies because the server told me that a salad was "an additional $4". The veal did come with a "small serving of pasta with Maggie's Sugo" I was told.

My wife and I returned to our conversation, but about five minutes later I realized that we had not ordered our salads, my mistake, so I asked my wife to get our server's attention, which she quickly did. I said, "I'm sorry, but we forgot to order salads", to which he replied, "well, I already put you dinner orders in, but I can take care of that with the kitchen". My wife ordered the Insalata Caesar ($4) and I the Insalata Santa Teresa ($4).

The cabernet was actually quite good, from a California winery they prominently feature on their wine list. The artichoke ($10), stuffed with seasoned breadcrumbs, steamed, and topped with garlic butter, quickly arrived and we dug right in. My grandmother used to make similar stuffed artichokes, except she used olive oil instead of butter and added small chunks of salami, but these were very good with tasty stuffing and large tender leaves. We were not even halfway through eating our artichoke when our server arrived with our salads. As a former waiter myself, there is nothing that pisses me off more than a server who brings the next course when we have not even finished the last, but I bit my tongue because it really did not matter that much because the salads were not going to get cold while sitting on the table, which they did for another 10-15 minutes while we finished our antipasto. The table, by the way, was so small (like all of the tables for two) that the server had difficulty finding space for our premature salads.

My wife then started eating her Caesar salad, waiting for her favorite part, the heart, while I polished off the last few leaves of the artichoke. She finished her salad, which she said was "nothing special", in the interim and I, after the server cleared a few plates, then started eating mine. About halfway through my salad, which was good, with Romaine lettuce, red onion, chunks of goat cheese, Dijon vinaigrette, and topped with sliced roasted red peppers, but unremarkable, the server arrived with my wife's Tortelloni Gina. That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, so I asked our server: "Are we in a hurry?", to which he replied, "oh, I'm sorry, let me take that away". I proceeded to finish my salad.

Hovering, waiting for me to finish, when the server saw my salad plate was empty, he quickly swept the plate away and returned a few minutes later with our entrees. My wife's Tortelloni Gina ($19) was filled with chicken and prosciutto, and served in a very traditional creamy Alfredo sauce with mushrooms and peas. It was hot, very large, extremely rich, and my wife, who was born in Italy, enjoyed it very much. Bravo! The server had tried to sway me away from the Veal Parmigiano (veal parmesan to you Olive Garden lovers), recommending the Vitello Spiedini Sophia Marie ($27) instead. Because I have had every other veal dish at Garozzo's, including the veal Sophia Maria and Saltimbocca ($27), which are both excellent by the way, I wanted to try the Vitello Parmigiana ($24), my failsafe in Italian restaurants and a good indicator of the quality of an Italian-American kitchen (you will not find veal parmigiano in Italy unless the restaurant caters to Americans).

The veal was lukewarm at best, with three very small medallions topped with the house red sauce and fontina cheese, a bit odd as "parmigiana" is usually topped with mozzarella, baked or broiled, and sprinkled with parmigiana (parmesan cheese), hence the name. The sauce was very good in comparison to most stateside Italian restaurants, but the dish would have been much better had it been served hot, warm even, and with a bit more veal. The accompanying pasta was negligible and obviously came out of a bag or box. At $24 for just an entree, $30 including salad, it would have been a poor value, even if it had been served at the appropriate temperature.

I understand that it was my mistake, asking for salads five minutes after our order was taken, but our server said he would "take care of it", as he should have. There is no excuse for bringing multiple or mixed courses, particularly in an "upscale" restaurant such as Garozzo's. There is also no excuse for serving a $24 veal dish cold, no matter what the circumstances.

I like the place in general, but Garozzo's would be much better if they dropped the pretenses, brought up the lights, bought some bigger tables, and lowered the prices a tad. I also believe that customers should NEVER be rushed, especially when they are paying $50 a head and up for a meal.

CombatCritic Gives Garozzo's Ristorante 5 Bombs Out Of 10 With Deductions For Unprofessional Service, Cold Food, Darkness, Small Tables, And Questionable Value ... More Bombs Are Better!

Five Bombs Equates To:

Read Chris S.'s review of Garozzo's Ristorante on Yelp

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Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

Tabelog - Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - #1 Ranked Foodie





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Title: Kansas City, MO: Pretentious, Rushed, Cold, Dark, Cramped, Pricey - Garozzo's Was Mezzo Mezzo (So-S0)

Key Words: Garozzo's, Garozzo, Italian, Kansas City, Kansas, city, Missouri, CombatCritic, Italy, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, ristorante, review, Yelp, Zomato, Tabelog

Translation for Civilians: Charlie-Mike = "Continue Mission"

St Joseph, MO: Historic Inn + Dilapidated City = Slightly Overpriced Accommodation

Whiskey Mansion Bed and Breakfast

1723 Francis Street

Saint Joseph, MO 64501

Phone: (816) 676-1529

Website: whiskeymansion1885.com

Prices: $$$$

A beautiful, restored historic mansion in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood in St Joe stand as stark contradictions, but once inside Whiskey Mansion the world outside is much less conspicuous. Having suffered arson and gutting back in the 1990s (from what I understood), this mansion, which was built by a whiskey baron back in 1885, has been meticulously restored to its former glory. Too bad the rest of St Joseph has not been treated quite so well.

Entering through the covered porch into the large sitting room, the formal dining room is straight ahead and the room where breakfast is served is to your left. A large entry hall leads to the ornate staircase that takes you to the guest rooms upstairs. On the second floor are seven bedrooms, five large with en suite baths and two "maids rooms" with a shared bath, one of which was our room ($89+tax, including breakfast). 

The rooms are nicely furnished with antiques or reproductions and have TVs with cable, a small refrigerator, heat/air conditioning (Mitsubishi), and wi-fi. There is even a staircase lift for disabled guests on the back (servants) stairs.

Breakfast is served from 7am to 9:30am downstairs and from what I understand, French toast is the norm. Baked in the oven, two large pieces with maple syrup and globs of butter on top came on the plate along with a small fruit cup with fresh pineapple and honey dew melon cubes. The French toast was good, rich and sweet, but there was a little too much of a good thing and I would hate to know how many calories we consumed. Some eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy would have been nice, but I do not think the kitchen has that capability. If you are paying $100+ per night for a room, you should get more than French toast and some fruit for breakfast. Coffee and tea were self-serve.

A historic and important river city, St Joseph was the hub for westward expansion in the 1800s  with Station #1 of the Pony Express as well as its headquarters and the prime railway embarkation point for Gold Rush travelers headed west. Unfortunately, there is not much happening downtown these days and many of the beautiful old buildings and homes have fallen into disrepair or have been boarded-up. If you are looking for things to do or good restaurants to eat at, you will be challenged in this "once" thriving town, making $100 per night and up for a room a bit of a stretch. I have stayed at nicer B&Bs in much more attractive locales for $75/night, probably a price more appropriate for St Joseph, Missouri.

Downtown St Joe is more like a "ghost town" and good food has also apparently disappeared from the locale. We tried two restaurants while in St Joseph, Il Lazarone, a pizza joint, and the Hi-Ho Bar and Grill, a dive bar with what resembles food. Both were not good, so good luck with meals. I hear McDonald's are plentiful in town ... yuk. So, with deductions for being slightly overpriced, the limited breakfast menu, the lack of decent restaurants in the area, and the dicey neighborhood ...

CombatCritic Gives Whiskey Mansion B&B 7 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Bombs Are Good!

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Yelp - "Elite '14/'15"

TripAdvisor - "Top Contributor" 

Tabelog - "Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - "Super Foodie"

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Title: St Joseph, MO: Historic Inn + Dilapidated City = Slightly Overpriced Accommodation

Key Words: Whiskey Mansion Bed and Breakfast, Whiskey, mansion, bed, breakfast, B&B, hotel, inn, Francis, Street, St Joseph, Saint Joseph, Missouri, TravelValue, travel, value, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor

St Joseph, MO: Give The Hi-Ho The Heave-Ho If Hungry In St Joe

Hi-Ho Bar And Grill
1817 Frederick Avenue
Saint Joseph, MO 64501
Phone: (816) 233-7363
Website: hiho-stjoe.com
Prices: $$$$

Across the street from the equally mediocre Il Lazzarone you will find the Hi-Ho Bar and Grill. Again, Yelp reviewers raved about the food here, so we gave it a try. What a disappointment! It seems as though low expectations have become the norm among many customers in the region because I am continuously shocked by how appalling food and service turn out to be at places with four and five-star ratings (out of five). The highlight here was the nice guy behind the bar. The lowlights were the food, the prices, and his rude, blonde, female companion.

The companion, a young, blonde woman in her twenties, worked behind the bar and as a server. When we first arrived, I had to get out of her way as she forced her way past me to get to a table, no "excuse me", nothing. Then, after I noticed that a couple of drunk guys had turned the TV I was watching the National League Division Series between the Cubs and the Cardinals on away from me (so they could watch it - again, without asking), I asked her if I could please continue watching the game we had taken that table specifically to see. She said: "well, they've been at that table all day", to which I replied "so?". She finally went over and turned the TV back in our direction after rolling her eyes. She then ignored us for 15 minutes until the nice guy behind the bar came over to take our order.

We almost left at that point and probably should have looking back, but decided to stay and ordered a few different things to sample the menu. As appetizers, we had a beef "slider" with cheese ($3.58) and a deep-fried beef taco ($2.79). The slider was a tiny piece of frozen meat with American cheese between two tiny bun halves, that was it. Hardly worth the price. The taco was in a greasy flour tortilla, was otherwise not bad, but overpriced by $.29 to $.79. 

For our mains, we had a patty melt with onion rings ($8.99) and a Cuban sandwich with fries ($9.49). The patty melt's beef patty was small, there was hardly any cheese, the onions were almost raw (not "grilled"), and the onion rings tasted of fish because the frier obviously had not been cleaned in quite a while. The Cuban tasted decent, but there was not nearly enough meat or cheese and the fries were "OK".

Overall, the service was sketchy, the food mediocre at best, the prices too high, and the value just not there. 

CombatCritic Gives Hi-Ho Bar And Grill 3 out of 10 Bombs ... More Bombs Are Better!

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - "Elite '14/'15"

TripAdvisor - "Top Contributor" 

Tabelog - "Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - "Super Foodie"

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Title: Give The Hi-Ho The Heave-Ho If Hungry In St Joe

Key Words: Hi-Ho Bar And Grill, Hi-Ho, bar, grill, St Joseph, MO, Missouri, beer, food, restaurant, dive, rude, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor

St Joseph, MO: Memorable, But Not In A Good Way

Il Lazzarone

1628 Frederick Avenue

Saint Joseph, MO 64501

Phone: (816) 273-0582

Website: illazzarone.org

Prices: $$$$

Across the street from the equally mediocre Hi-Ho Bar and Grill, you will find Il Lazzarone.  Their website claims: “The Association of Vera Pizza Napoletana hereby certifies this establishment to sell true, authentic pizza Napoletana", so we had high hopes that this was going to be a memorable experience. It was memorable all right, but not in a good way.

The place looks more like a burger or barbecue joint than a pizzeria, having brick walls, wood floors, and country music blaring over the speakers. Not much ambience. We arrived at 7pm and you could shoot a cannon through the place without hitting a soul. We were quickly seated.

Glasses of average wine, Sicilian Nero d'Avola for example, started at $8, so I decided to have a "tap" beer. The menu said "ask server for selections" and prices were listed as "MKT", so based on the prices of the wine, I did not think the beer would be reasonably priced. It was not. If you like spending $1 an ounce for beer, this is the place for you! A 6 ounce Boulevard IPA (yes, that is the amount of beer I was served in the photo) was $7 ... $7 ... that is more than $1 per ounce ... MAMMA MIA!

I asked the server if the Caprese salad ($7) came with bread and she told me it did not. Nuff said, not ordering a Caprese, thank you very much.  But then she insisted that the "brushetta" (it is spelled bruschetta and pronounced brew-sket-a) was "the same thing", tomatoes and bread, same thing. I insisted that bruschetta (also $7) is not the same thing as Caprese and bread, having lived in Italy for three-and-a-half years, traveled extensively all over the country and married an Italian, but she would not be swayed. I guess we agreed to disagree because she walked off. I guess the customer is not always right, particularly at Il Lazzarone.

The pizzas come in red (with tomato sauce) and white (without), so my wife ordered the "funghi" (mushroom - which the waitress also mispronounced) and I the "carne" (meat - salame, sausage, and American pepperoni). The guys making the pizza in an authentic Neapolitan wood-fired oven were pleasant and helpful, so I asked who was trained or certified in Naples (a requirement of The True Neapolitan Pizza Association - Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana or AVPN - a designation they claim on their website, menu and walls). He told me that he was trained by his boss who received the certification. OK, close enough I guess.

Anyway, back to the pizza. My wife's pizza ($10) looked decent enough, right size and so on, but just was not pizza napoletana (Neapolitan pizza). The crust was good, but drier and crunchier than any pizza napoletana I have ever had (and I have had many - in Naples) and there was not enough cheese or mushrooms. My wife was generally pleased, but not elated. 

My pizza ($13.50) was smaller than my wife's, closer twelve inches in diameter, also with not enough mozzarella or "meat" and with an odd taste NOT reminiscent of pizza napoletana. Real ("vero" in Italian) pizza napoletana is made with very specific ingredients. Tomatoes from the Naples area with just the right color and acidity, for example, as well as specifically sourced olive oil, mozzarella, and wheat. The odd taste had to come from the tomatoes and I assume that they "seasoned" them, something that would NEVER be done in Naples. Crushed tomatoes and only tomatoes are the first ingredient added to pizza napolitana, no basil, no oregano, no garlic ... nothing ... tomatoes.

For the Midwest, the pizza was fair, but that is not saying much. The prices were twice what you would pay in Italy, even in Florence where everything costs an arm and a leg. A much better meal with two similar pizzas and a beer or half carafe of wine would cost around $16, less than half of the $33 plus tip we paid for this meal. Finally, the server should not have insisted that I was wrong about the Caprese and bruschetta. She could have also benefited from a larger tab (and a larger tip) by letting me have a Caprese salad and bringing me some damn bread. Caprese should not be eaten without a fork in one hand and a decent piece of bread in the other. Get a clue ... give your customers some bread when warranted.

CombatCritic Gives Il Lazzarone 4 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - "Elite '14/'15"

TripAdvisor - "Top Contributor" 

Tabelog - "Official Judge (Bronze)

Zomato - "Super Foodie"

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Title: Memorable, But Not In A Good Way

Key Words: Il Lazzarone, lazzarone, rascal, pizza, St Joseph, Joseph, MO, Missouri, Caprese, beer, wine, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor

Parkville, MO: "Fair" Italian Fare in Historic Parkville

Café Italia

160 English Landing Dr

Parkville, MO 64152

Phone: (816) 584-0607

Web: CafeItalia2.com

Prices: $$$$

With a shortage of non-chain Italian restaurants in the Northland, Cafe Italia in Parkville did not let us down. The atmosphere is sparse, but modern with a touch of elegance as opposed to their old location on North Oak. The menu was missing one of my favorites from the old location, vitello (veal) saltimbocca. We started with wine, Canyon Road Cabernet ($22/bottle) from the limited wine list. Prices by the glass are reasonable, from $6-$7.50/glass.

We ordered a stuffed artichoke, while tasty, and hot, was too "cheesy" and drenched in olive oil. It was a bit disappointing, but my standards are very high because I learned an excellent stuffed artichoke recipe form my grandmother who was born in the Irpino region of Italy. We both had the caesar salad which was excellent, the only problem being the very large (but delicious) croutons that had to be eaten by hand because they were too hard to cut into pieces. My wife, a native Italian, had ravioli con funghi, stuffed with chicken, prosciutto, and capocollo in a mushroom sauce. The taste was excellent, but the pasta was too "al dente" (undercooked). Being Italian, my wife is hard to please when it comes to Italian food, but she enjoyed her meal very much. I had the vitello alla parmigiana which was tasty, but a little tough for "milk-fed veal" which was advertised on the menu. The color and texture seemed more like sliced beef to me, but it was tasty and reasonably priced, veal or beef.

The size of the portions were overly generous, so we had to pass on dessert. The owners stopped by to talk and one had family from the same area of Sicily where my wife was born, so they were able to speak in Italian about their shared heritage. Overall, we had a nice meal, the service was very good, and we will return soon to see if any of the problems noted above have been taken care of.

CombatCritic Gives Cafe Italia 6 out of 10 Bombs ... More Bombs Are Better!

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - "Elite '14/'15"

TripAdvisor - "Top Contributor" 

Tabelog - "Official Judge" (Bronze)

Zomato - "Super Foodie"

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Title: "Fair" Italian Fare in Historic Parkville

Key Words: Cafe Italia, cafe, café, Italia, pasta, wine, Parkville, Missouri, MO, Kansas, City, restaurant, Italian, Italy, menu, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, food, definitive, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor