The Bistro at Market and Grove

422 N Market St
Petersburg, VA 23803

 For the past two years my family has gone to the Bistro in downtown Petersburg for a Christmas dinner. The first year we went with my grandmother, uncle, and aunt. The food was excellent and the restaurant was beautiful but our waitress was extremely rude to my entire family. While a few of them were acting a little crazy the way she behaved was uncalled for. Somehow my father was blissfully unaware of her attitude because he was deeply engulfed by the holiday spirit.  It was so bad that Amanda wrote a letter to manager complaining about not only the bad service but the extreme rudeness of our waitress.  The called and apologized but did not offer any sort of discount or anything.

This year for some reason my dad wanted to go back for Christmas dinner, but this year on a more intimate scale. Alex was at school entertaining some young ladies so it was only my parents, Amanda, and I and don’t you know we had the same waitress. She remembered us but this time she was a lot friendlier and a lot less rude although you could tell that she had it in her. It was strange she remembered small details from I do believe two years before like us getting our picture taken next to the tree and that my dad loved the crab soup.

The restaurant for the most part was well decorated for Christmas except for a few weird pieces of art on the walls that looked like some sort of strange African mask, it may have worked somewhere else but it did not fit the setting of the Bistro. The dinner area is very small and intimate with a quaint and cozy feel to it. My dad ordered a bottle of sweet white wine that was recommended by our waitress. It was pretty good and not too expensive. I started out with the crab soup. It was very good; it had a nice seafood taste and was filled with crab meat. The last time I went to the Bistro I ordered the crab cakes which were very good with a nice and crisp outside with tender and succulent crab meat inside with almost no filler. It came with corn pudding and vegetables. The corn pudding was less sweet that I normally like but it was still quite tasty. I ordered the duck with a honey Dijon glaze and served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The duck was awesome perfectly cooked and the glaze went extremely well with its flavor. It was sweet and savory. The mashed potatoes had bits of the skin mixed in with and were good but I wish I had switched to the corn pudding. The vegetables were cooked well but nothing special.

All in all this time my experience at the Bistro was a lot more enjoyable because our waitress was more friendly and my dad was not quite as consumed with the holiday spirit as two years before. Both the crab cakes I had the first time and the duck I had this time were good but if I went back I would get the crab cakes.  While the food was god and the prices reasonable, between $15 and $20, the Bistro is not my favorite restaurant in the Tri-Cities. Admittedly, I may still be harboring ill feelings from my first experience but I know that there are plenty of places which are just as good if not better and have a nicer staff. Unlike what everyone else says the chef never came to our table either time.  I would not tell you not to go there but I really don’t think I would recommend it unless you need to go somewhere fancier than usual, even then I may point you to a spot of two in Richmond.  

Pino’s Italian Restaurant

3420 Boulevard

Colonial Heights, VA, 23834

804-520-9005

http://www.pinoscolonialheights.com/

 

           

There are probably more family owned Italian Restaurants in the Tri-Cities than any other type of restaurant so finding the one who serves the best food for the best price is quite a challenge. Everyone has their favorite and swears that it is the best around. I also have my favorite but I have tried to stay impartial until now. Before I started this blog, Pino’s was my favorite Italian Restaurant and still is but I promise to be impartial in my review.

            A couple of weeks ago my parents and grandfather came over to look at Amanda and I’s Christmas decorations. Afterwards, we all went out for dinner at Pino’s. Right off of the Boulevard in Colonial Heights Pino’s does not look like anything special, there are at least three other Italian restaurants within half of a mile, but it is the best Italian Restaurant in the Tri-Cities. Notice I said Italian restaurant, Dante’s still have the best pizza but Pino’s has the best pasta, salads and calzones/Stromboli.  While it has the best food, that’s all that really matters, it is quite possibly the worst decorated. The walls have a stucco look and are covered in sparkles. The pictures on the wall are the most cliché things I have ever seen. They are all framed posters of  The Godfather, The Sopranos, Goodfellas and for some odd reason Scarface, Tony Montana was Cuban for crying out loud. There are also pictures of the family who owns the restaurant all over the place. The most annoying thing about the atmosphere though has to be the TVs in the corners blaring 24 hour news coverage of sports. But believe me the food is so good it more than makes up for these distractions.

            Without fail, every time my family goes to Pino’s we split the large chef’s salad and each of us get our own container of dressing. The salad is the perfect size for four people so if we bring Amanda we usually order two.  Along with the usual salad stuff the chef salad comes covered in shredded mozzarella cheese, ham, salami and pepperoni and an order of delicious bread knots, we usually double the order. The bread knots are covered in olive oil garlic and parsley and are to die for although they sometimes come out white a bit after the salad has.

            It is usually a tossup in regards to what we order when we go to Pino’s. Sometimes we will split a pizza, these are always very good. Many times we will split a large calzone and add pepperoni. This is more than enough for four to share and is amazing with the added pepperoni. It comes loaded with mozzarella and ricotta cheese that is warm and gooey on the inside while the outside is nice and crispy. It comes with a whole saucer full of marinara sauce and I mean nice, chunky, marinara sauce not some watery pizza sauce. If we don’t split something I always get either the seafood alfredo or the penne ala gorgonzola. Both plates are huge and I always have enough left over for lunch the next day. The seafood alfredo comes with huge scallops, shrimp and clams in the homemade alfredo sauce over fettuccini and comes with a side of four garlic knots. It is extremely rich and creamy and the seafood is always cooked to perfection. This may be the best pasta I’ve ever eaten. If I’m not in the mood for seafood I order the penne ala Gorgonzola. This comes with chicken and mushrooms in a decadent gorgonzola cream sauce over penne pasta. The chicken is always cooked well and the gorgonzola cream sauce is downright heavenly. I do believe that Pino’s makes their own sauces because they do not taste like they came from a can like many other Italian restaurants.

            This trip to Pino’s was like every other, the food, company and service was excellent. I would recommend Pino’s to anyone that is in the mood for Italian food because like I said before, in the sea of Italian restaurants in the Tri-Cities Pino’s is the best.

           

Hibachi Ichiban

12617 Jefferson Davis Highway  Chester, VA 23831-5307
(804) 717-2238

In a rundown building, in a nondescript strip mall in Chester lays the best restaurant in the Tri-Cities area, Hibachi Ichiban a carry out version of a Japanese steakhouse. At first glance you would never dream about eating at this little restaurant with its dingy red and white sign but as soon as you walk in you realize that you just found the best kept secret around. The interior of Hibachi leaves quite a bit to be desired but the smells coming from the large grill will cause you to float over to the checkout counter like you’re a cartoon character.

The menu for such a small hole in the wall is impressive. They have a few appetizers I recommend the fried goyza for $2.99. They are deep fried dumplings filled with meat and served with a teriyaki dipping sauce. They are known for their hibachi plates that includes a salad with an amazing house dressing, fried rice, yakisoba noodles, zucchini, mushrooms, onions and your choice of meats cooked in their house teriyaki sauce. The serve chicken, steak, shrimp and scallops which you can mix and match to your heart’s desire. They also serve tempura dishes and noodle plates which are the same as the hibachi plates but with no rice just noodles. The entrées range from $5.79 for the chicken hibachi plate to $12.95 for fillet minion and jumbo shrimp. Any way you go it is a great deal. I usually stick with the chicken because it is so cheap and extremely tasty. When I do decide to splurge or someone else is paying I order the shrimp and scallops which are to die for. The shrimp and scallops are huge and always fresh.  The steak is always good quality and expertly cooked like everything else but I just do not think that steak and teriyaki sauce goes well together although I know people who absolutely love the steak. The vegetables are so good, nice and tender with the perfect amount of teriyaki sauce; I would not blame someone for getting just the vegetable entrée except that you can add mouth watering chicken for 40 cents more.  Each dish is served with two extra dipping sauces one is their amazing white yum yum sauce and the other is a thick teriyaki sauce. Trust me on this, ask for one or two extra white sauces because it is out of this world.

I keep Hibachi on speed dial so I called my order in and it was ready by the time I arrived. I really recommend this because it often gets a little crazy around lunch time. I ordered water and the chicken entrée which can with vegetables, fried rice, noodles and salad and it came to just over $6.00. The chicken was juicy and the vegetables were extremely tender and everything was coated in their delicious teriyaki sauce. After I ate the salad I was only able to eat less than half of the meal. So for $6.00 and change I got 2 amazing lunches.

This hidden gem is one of the best if not the best restaurant in the Tri-Cities area. It is most certainly the best Asian restaurant in the area and is the best value for your money. If all you care about is the atmosphere don’t go to hibachi, go and waste your money at Kanpai but if you want superb Japanese for an amazing price do not go anywhere other than Hibachi Ichiban.

A Taste of Philly

40 Halifax Street  

Petersburg, VA 23803
(804) 733-8622

 

            It is seldom that I venture up Sycamore street in Petersburg to Halifax street but after my meal at A Taste of Philly I think that I may begin to venture up there a little more often. From the outside, well from the inside too, A Taste of Philly looks sketchy and when I say sketchy I mean SKETCHY. With bared windows and a hand painted sign, Amanda would not go the first time I tried to eat here. A few months later I talked my little brother into joining me to try out what I heard were the best cheese steaks in the Tri-Cities.

            A Taste of Philly is not really located in the “bad” part of Petersburg but is right in between the nice downtown area and the rundown (the rest) part of Petersburg. The inside of the restaurant matches the outside of the restaurant with a huge hand painted menu and hand painted signs on the walls that assured you that the owners and workers are from Philly and that they did not sell pork. While the signs and menu made the restaurant look dirty it was actually very clean and pretty well kept. Behind the counter there was a young boy manning the grill who looked no older than 15 a young lady at the cash register and about 5 young children running around.

            The menu ranged from chicken wings to fried fish and of course Philly Cheese steaks with both chicken or beef. Because it is called A Taste of Philly Alex and I decided to split a beef cheese steak. There were three sizes, Small, Regular and the Belly Buster. We opted for the belly buster with fried onions and mushrooms, mayo and a side of tater tots. It came out to just under $20.00.  Alex and I both watched in amazement as the young boy on the grill dumped what looked like a mountain of steak on the grill and began chopping it up and adding the onions, mushrooms and cheese like a true cheese steak artist. The grill looked like grill at the state fair.

            It was not too long before we received our 18 inches of deliciousness and our freshly fried tater tots. Not only was the sub 18 inches long  it was also choked full of meat, it seemed like there was three pounds of meats stuffed inside of that monster. A lot of times places make things huge and sacrifice taste and freshness. This was not the case this time.  The bread seemed fresh and the meat and onions and mushrooms were cooked perfectly with just the right amount of cheese. I was a little disappointed that it was not cheese wiz like at Pat’s or Gino’s in Philadelphia.  It came with mayo already on it which made everything very creamy and melded together. I topped mine with ketchup as well. The cheese steak was phenomenal. The tater tots on the other hand while freshly fried and cooked the exact right amount of time tasted faintly of fish.  They really did not taste bad but the fishy flavor did not exactly go with the cheese steak.

            Overall I would recommend checking out A Taste of Philly, just go before it gets dark because the neighborhood is a little seedy. The food is excellent and freshly prepared and it is always good to help out a family run restaurant that is keeping money and business in the community.

Andrade’s International Restaurant

7 Bollingbrook Street

Petersburg, Virginia 23803

http://www.andradesinternational.com

As most of you know Stephen Spielberg was filming in downtown Petersburg for a couple of weeks earlier this month for his upcoming movie about the last days of Abraham Lincoln. One Friday went both my father and I had off and Alex was home from school we decided to go and try to see the film set. Most of the down town area was blocked off and well guarded and we could only get a few quick glimpses. What we did see was pretty cool and street scene with a bunch of actors dressed in period gear and men on horseback. After getting fussed at a couple of times we decided to cut our losses before the actual police started to fuss. Being around lunch time we decided to drop in Andrade’s for a bite.

Andrade’s International restaurant is a little bit of a misnomer. It is a fancy Mexican restaurant, I know that that is almost an oxymoron but it’s definitely more of a Mexican restaurant than an “International” restaurant. The place was a ghost town with us being the only three people in the whole place. As soon as our drinks were ordered our waiter brought us a basket of tortilla chips and salsa. I was a little upset that they did not have white sauce, but their salsa was very good and freshly made but a little bit on the spicy side.

                I ordered the seafood burrito for $10.95 which I thought was a little on the high side. While we waited we looked out the back window which had a perfect view of the set. There were tents, canons and horses. The cobbles stone road was covered in dirt and mulch and many of the buildings had facades made to look like the 1800’s.  It actually took quite a while for our food to come at least for a Mexican restaurant where the food is usually served two minutes after it is ordered. I will almost never complain about food taking a while to be served because it makes me feel that it is being freshly prepared and hasn’t been sitting under a heat light for a long time. 

                This time was no different. Our food was obviously freshly made because everything was hot and crispy. My burrito was deep fried with a crunchy and flakey outside and a warm and moist inside. There were probably about seven or eight shrimp inside the burrito and they were well cooked and not stringy. The best part the sauce that was used inside of the burrito, it had a silky and creamy texture and the most amazing cheesy/seafood flavor.  Any description I could make would not do it justice. It was one of the best burritos that I have ever eaten.  It was served with Mexican rice, frijoles ala charra and pico de gallo. I mixed the extra sauce from inside of the burrito with the rice and it was awesome.

            Overall, Andrade’s may be the best “International”/Mexican restaurant in the Tri-Cities. It was very clean, the service was great, the atmosphere was inviting and the food was excellent. But I have to remind everyone that they do not serve the white sauce which I’m sure will disappoint many. But the food was fresh and was much higher quality than most other Mexican restaurants. Somehow with better ingredients they were still able to keep their prices reasonable in comparison to lesser quality establishments.  I will definitely go back and suggest that the next time you have the taste for Mexican food skip Taco Bell, Don Jose’s and El Nopal and try Andrade’s.

Sub Hub

332 Maryland Ave

Hopewell, VA 23860

(804) 541-0800

                There are not many reasons to go to Hopewell if you do work in town. It is a sad, desolate little town that always seems to get the short end of the stick. But there is at least one beacon of light radiating out of the darkness and that place is Sub Hub. Located off of the traffic circle next to McCay’s Hardware and across from Heretics’ Feed and Seed, it seems like your typically hole in the wall, which it but boy do they have good subs. Not only are the subs delicious and made with actual meat, unlike Subway, they are very inexpensive between six and seven dollars for a foot long.  It is a takeout only establishment and the prices you see on their menu is the price you pay, tax and everything is already added in.

                Last week Harvey (my dog) and I had to run some errands in Hopewell and figured that the only way to make it bearable was to stop by Sub Hub for lunch.  I parked right out front and left Harvey in the car, as soon as I stepped in the door the ladies behind the counter started going on and on but how cute Harvey was. They even gave me a large piece of turkey to give to the spoiled mutt, which he quickly gobbled up. Ordering, I was torn between the Rueben sandwich that my parents rant and rave about and the Italian Stallion. I’ve had both before, numerous times, the Rueben was delicious and I will get that the next time I find myself in Hopewell. But this time I had to get my long time favorite sub in the world, the Italian Stallion. The Italian Stallion is an amazing concoction of thickly diced deli meats with cheese and lettuce covered in their special house sauce, a sort of chunky marinara.

                As always the Italian Stallion was delicious. The meat and sauce was full of flavor and complemented each other very well. I recommend that if you are going to sub hub for the first time or have never tried it , to try the Italian Stallion.  I promise that you will not be disappointed. With that said it is not the only great sub on the menu. As I said earlier the Rueben sandwich is amazing and a lot of people think that their steak and cheese subs are the best anywhere.  If you’re in the mood for a great sub or sandwich go to Sub Hub. No matter what you decide to try you will love it and definitely go back again and again.

Big Mike's Burger Shoppe

2870 County Drive
Petersburg, VA 23803

Off of 460 on the Prince George-Petersburg line lies a dinky, dingy little building with a sign out front that reads “Big Mike’s Burger Shoppe”. I have driven past these little joint numerous times but have never stopped. A few weeks ago my uncle, Corey, came by to grab lunch. After dismissing a dozen restaurants I suggested that we go to Big Mike’s Burger Shoppe. We were out the door and on our way to Big Mike’s.

Big Mike’s is known for their BIG burgers, well actually practically no one knows about it but if they did it would be for their BIG burgers. We fall into the place and it is the most redneck little joint I have ever stepped into; I was immediately in love. There were numerous roughnecks hanging out at the bar drinking beer in their camouflage and overalls getting drunk at noon on a Sunday. Corey and I took a seat in a dark corner next to what appeared to be the first karaoke machine ever made.

After 10 minutes of people just staring at us wondering what we were doing there our waitress  (who was very sweet) came to give us menus. We both got sweet tea which was extremely homemade and an order of loaded bacon cheese potato skins. We received 6 large potato skins with cheese so hot that it was practically molten lava.  Once they cooled off they were quite enjoyable and were served with sides of jalapenos and sour cream. The menu consisted of burgers, a few random sandwiches and wings. You could order just about any size burger you wanted from 1/4lb. all the way to 4lbs. a 4 lb burger with cheese and 18 strips of bacon cost $40.00. While they had HUGE burgers they did not have any specialty burgers or any fun, unusual toppings.  Corey ordered a 1/2lb cheese burger with bacon which cost around six dollars. I ordered a 1/2lb burger with cheese and chili. We split an appetizer sized order of onion rings.

It took a while for our food to come but it was because it was being freshly prepared which I will never complain about. To pass the time we watched Indian Jones which for some reason was being played when there were numerous football games on.  The burgers we received were pretty massive and cooked really well. My burger was loaded with chili which was hidden under a layer of cheese and of course shot out and covered my shirt in meaty goodness. My only complaint about my burger was that it had way too many sliced onions that were hard to bite through. Other than that it was very good but not really out of the ordinary. The onion rings were freshly cut and fried and were very sweet and crispy. For the price we received a lot of them.  Before we left Big Mike, Massive Mike might would be a better name, came out to make sure that everything was good.  It was but even if it wasn’t I would not say it to his face for fear of being made into about 50 4lbs burgers.  

Overall Big Mike’s Burger Shoppe was fun, friendly and very redneck, just my type of place. The food was good and reasonably priced. The burgers were not extremely unique but they were BIG. If you’re looking for a burger adventure this might not be your place but if you want a well cooked traditional burger, Supersized, you will love Big Mike’s Burger Shoppe.  I will defiantly go back for a drink and a burger.