food

Tuesday’s Treats #45

/ The WheatandTares

Vinny’s New York Pizza and Italian Grill

Location: Buford, Ga

If you’re looking for a great pizza joint, Vinny’s is your spot! It’s locally owned, and the owners care about their customers. The atmosphere is very quaint and comfortable, and it is suitable for a business lunch, a ladies night out, a large family gathering or even that very first date.


The serving portions are larger than usual, and the food is delicious! As you can see by the picture above, when I say the portions are larger than usual, I’m not kidding! This is a calzone, and I could only eat half of it! I wish I had taken a photo of the personal size pizza. It’s as big as a small, and the large pizzas…well, let’s just say they can feed an army!  

They have a pretty diverse menu, too. Calzones, pizza and spaghetti is available,and they also have subs, lasagna, eggplant Parmesan and even hot wings. Often, restaurants who have a wide variety on the menu will do some things great and then other things way below average; however, Vinny’s seems to get it right. I haven’t had anything, yet, that I don’t like, and we’ve know about this place since 2005.

Oh, one menu item that I must mention are the Alfredo garlic rolls. Oh. My. Goodness. These are just pure sin! Their regular garlic rolls are delicious anyway, but these are then smothered in Alfredo sauce and served as an appetizer. I have friends who have had these simply as a meal! Those attempting to be health conscious need not apply! 😂

The desserts are supposed to be scrumptious as well, but I am always so stuffed by the end of our meal that I have yet to order a dessert. They have some yummy looking cheesecakes and chocolate cake slices, and I did sample a friend’s “funnel cake,” which is more like little sugar-covered doughnuts. Those were yummy. So, if you’re ever in the Buford area, you should check them out.

Vinny’s is located at the Friendship Road exit off 985.  I had a little difficulty pulling up their website; however, their Facebook page has the location, phone number and most everything you would need.

Tuesday’s Treats #44

/ The WheatandTares

The Blue Otter Restaurant & Sportsbar  

The view here is spectacular! The restaurant is located right on the side of the highway, facing Lake Chatuge. The food is really good, too. I’d have to say it wasn’t awesome, but the view made up for the lack of luster. We had burgers, wings, pizza and a buffalo chicken wrap, all served with fries, onion rings and Tator tots (you choose one)…true Sportsbar type variety.  The sweet tea was good Southern style sweet tea, and the cherry cokes were true Roy Rogers, grenadine and all. 😉

The Hiawassee burger is good with bacon, pickle slices and BBQ sauce. It comes with ranch dressing, too, but I had it omitted. The wings were yummy, and my son ordered them with hot sauce; so, they were fire producing! Haha. The pizza was more bread than pepperoni and sauce, but the taste was good. The last time we went, our party got the big “Kitchen sink” pizza, with all the toppings, and it was loaded and yummy! The chicken wrap and ranch dressing was average, not really spectacular.

The atmosphere inside is really cool, but because it was such a beautiful day, we sat outside on the deck with a gorgeous view of the lake and mountains. The waitress seemed a little distracted, which made her a little on the slower side, but she was really nice. Everything was really good, and we will be back, I’m sure.

Here is their website for location and more information. 

Tuesday’s Treats #43

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Loretta’s

Location: Oakwood, Ga

If you’re looking for a home cooked meal and can’t find the time to cook it yourself, this is you’re best choice! Loretta’s is the place to go for comfort food.

They have a variety of daily choices; so, if you’re a little more selective like me, you’ll want to check out their daily menus. However, I’ve yet to be disappointed in a meal. They have some of the best pot roast, green beans, creamed potatoes and biscuits around. They have everything from livers and onions to fried shrimp. The fried chicken, chicken and dumplings,  and fried okra is to die for. The sweet tea is purely Southern sweet, and they even give you a choice of biscuits or cornbread with your meal. All the desserts are homemade, and just to make your mouth water, I’ll share a few: banana pudding, chocolate silk pie, and strawberry cobbler.

They also serve breakfast with some of the best chicken biscuits you’ve ever put in your mouth! So, you can get good comfort food for one or three square meals. Your choice.

Now, just like any good Southern Country Cookin’ restaurant, especially those that serve breakfast, you better prepared to smell like it for the rest of the day, or you better bring you an extra set of clothes to change after! 😉 For either breakfast or lunch, if you want to beat the rush, you better get there sooner than later. It fills up pretty fast around there!

Oh, and one more thing, if you’ll stick to the menu “combos” of meat item(s), combined with a few sides and a choice of beverage, your cost will be as stated on the menu board. However, if your family is prone to be more like mine, with growing boys who want more than those “preset” combos, yourvnill mightvrack up fast, as all other items are charged a la cart. 😬 I would have to say it’s worth every penny! It is that good!

If you need catering, they do an excellent job for both b’fast and lunch/dinner items. That’s saying a lot for breakfast items such as eggs and gravy, because those things aren’t real great cold, or even cooled down, and with Loretta’s catering, you don’t have to worry! They take care of it all!

Check out the daily menus and location here.

Tuesday’s Treats #42

/ The WheatandTares

Luciano’s Ristorante Italiano

Location: Lawrenceville, Ga
 This place is a little fancier than you would expect, pulling into the Kroger parking lot to find a spot. The hostess is a little pretentious, and the restaurant seems like it might be with the white tablecloths and decor, but if you can get past that, the food is pretty good. It seems to be a popular lunch spot, as it got pretty crowded today, and it is listed #5 on tripadvisor.com for the city in which it’s located.

The menu is quite limited; so, if you’re looking for an extensive, authentic Italian menu, you might want to go down the road to Carrabba’s. I ordered off of the daily specials menu, because for the price of a simple entree, I could choose the  “3 course entrees.” You get the choice of soup or salad, an entree and a dessert for $12.95.

I had a Caesar salad, pizza mafia (pepperoni, sausage, bacon, black olives) and tiramisu. My husband ordered a Chicken Caesar, and our youngest got the kids pepperoni pizza. Everything was delicious, but the tiramisu was just ok. It seemed more custard/pudding based and was served in this tiny ramekin (like 1-2oz. size!); so, I was a little disappointed at that point.

The bread that is served before the meal is accompanied by this brouchetta-eske sauce with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Yum! …and I’m not even a tomato fan. The sweet tea is really good; however, as the entrees came, our glasses were changed from these really cool, large glasses to these rather small glasses. So, we had to keep asking for refills. I thought that a little odd. Shouldn’t the larger glasses be served with the meal?

Anyway, the food was good, and we might drop back by sometime…if we’re in this parking lot at lunchtime, but I don’t think we will make a special trip. The regular menu prices seemed a little steep for lunch, and they don’t seem to have a wide variety of choices. However, my opinion may be a little skewed by our personal experience, because once our entrees were served, we didn’t see our waitress again for about 20+mins. (Time enough for us to finish, sit waiting, and my husband and son to “give up” and head for the car.) She finally arrived back in the room, put her apron back on behind the bar and came over to the table to ask me if she should box up the leftover pizza.

That’s when my tiny dessert was served by another waiter. She never seemed the slightest concerned about her absence, even when I graciously mentioned we had to hurry now, because we didn’t know it was going to take so long. Yeah, those moments of frustration, and the disappointment in the dessert,  may have slanted my opinion a bit.

Despite this, I chose to blog this “treat,” because of the TA rating, the amount of traffic they received during the lunch hour, and the food was rather tasty. Maybe we just got a bad waitress, and it’s usually better. Maybe we need to try it for a date night, too… maybe…

Check out their website here.

Tuesday’s Treats #41

/ The WheatandTares

La Hacienda

Location: Commerce, Ga


If you’re doing a little shopping in Commerce, you’ll surely want to stop here to eat. The service is great, and the food is even better. The chips and salsa, the rice and beans, and the steak tacos are great, but what I like the best is The Volcan. I don’t even know why it’s called this, but it is delicious! They take a soft flour tortilla, put grilled steak, bell peppers, a little sautéed onion and “wrap it up” like a present, complete with a bell pepper ring to close. It looks really cool, too (See pictures above). They have an extensive menu from which to choose, and the prices are better than many Mexican restaurants, too.

Check them out here.

Tuesday’s Treats #40

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The Peddler

Location: Gatlinburg, Tn If you are vacationing in Gatlinburg, and you’re looking for a great steakhouse, don’t waste your time on those franchises and “hyped-up-advertisement” buffets that claim they have a great steak. Save your money and your appetite, and go to the Peddler. You will not be disappointed!

They have the best steaks around, and you get to choose the cut you want. Yes, that’s right. They have a “peddler” who comes by your table with a cart of covered meat. He/She removes the cloth and asks you which steak and how much you would prefer. Then, it is taken to cook exactly as you requested.
You then go to help yourself at the “all you can eat” salad bar, which is included with your meal. This salad bar is always fresh, and it has almost any topping you could imagine, including artichoke hearts, anchovies and fresh fruit and croutons. The waiter will then bring warm yeast rolls to your table, as you enjoy your salad, awaiting your entree. (*I do apologize for not having a pic of the meal! We were so distracted by the yumminess that I forgot to pull out my phone until it was almost gone!)
Then for dessert, if you happen to have room, there is always a seasonal dessert, like the delicious blackberry cobbler, pictured above, as well as, several other incredible desserts from which to choose. We always leave here so full and satisfied. … Just writing this review makes me want to head north to see the foliage and enjoy a delicious meal!

Oh, please note, they do not open till about 4:30; so, please don’t try to drop by for lunch as we did one time, because you’ll have to leave disappointed, or just want to wait around, starving to await dinnertime! 😉 Also, if you do show up a little later in the evening, and the wait is simply too long, go just up the road to their sister restaurant, The Park Grill, where you can enjoy another incredible meal!

Here is the website to find location, menus, and other needed information.

Tuesday’s Treats #39

/ The WheatandTares

Pollo Loco

Location: Sevierville, Tn

Pollo Loco

This Mexican restaurant is a very simple local place that hits it “out of the park” when it comes to flavor and good food! Oh. My. Goodness!

Steak Soft Tacos



Check them out here.

Tuesday’s Treats #38

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Bullfish Grill

Location: Pigeon Forge, Tn

This restaurant is INCREDIBLE! The spicy barbeque shrimp are so amazing, and the smokey pimento cheese appetizer is just as great. It’s been so hard to choose which one to get!
  The shrimp and grits are off the chain, and the steaks and burgers are just as yummy. They prepare the shrimp a little different than I’m used to for shrimp and grits, because they lightly get them; however, it’s a really delicious dish. If shrimp and grits just aren’t your thing, they have a pretty diverse menu, too; so, it should be fairly easy to find a few items you will enjoy. 😉

We had two desserts here. The keylime cheesecake was pretty good. As I’ve stated before, I’m a little picker than some when it comes to keylime and cheesecake; so, I wouldn’t say this was incredible. However, it was tasty, and the caramel cheesecake was out of this world! Oh my!


This restaurant is located right on the main strip as you come into Pigeon Forge (from Sevierville); so, it’s really easy to find. The location is great, too, because you can walk from here to the Christmas Inn, the Christmas store, which are some of my favorites, and to MagiQuest, which our boys love! If you need a coffee for that trip, Starbucks is close by, too.

You can check out their website here.

*Please note, the last time we went in, which was back in the summer, they were in the process of adjusting some of their menu items; so, I don’t know what their final decisions were. The waiter had said management was talking about replacing both the pimento cheese plate AND the cheesecake!! 😔 So, maybe you can go in and tell the manager you had read this wonderful review on those two items, and you were really looking forward to them…maybe they’ll reconsider! (‘Cuz, when we heard, we “fussed” about it, too! 😉)

Tuesday’s Treats #37

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Osaka Hibachi & Sushi

Location: Cumming, Ga



  

Tuesday’s Treats #36

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Tacos & Tequilas

location: Cumming, Ga
Tacos & Tequilas is a great place to get some good Mexican food. They have an extensive menu, and the service is always great. The food is yummy, and the chips and salsa are served up in plenty! 😉 They sometimes have live music, and with or without the live band, the atmosphere is great. It can get a little loud on a busy night, but it seems to be no different than any other busy restaurant.

They have a good lunch menu with moderate prices. The dinner menu is a little on the higher end for Mexican food, but it’s not too bad. For our family of four, ordering cheese dip, 5 steak tacos, a burrito Mexicana, individual plate of rice and beans, and sweet teas/cokes, it usually comes to about $40 without the tax and tip.img_7699

I noticed a week or so ago that they’ve also opened another one near the Mall of Georgia. OH, and I do realize by the name of this place, it sounds like it might be a pretty crazy drinking atmosphere. I know from the menu lists, you can order drinks, and I’ve seen plenty who do; however, being a family who doesn’t, this place is still comfortable for us to have a nice dinner together. 😉

It looks like they don’t have an actual website, but you can check out the Trip Advisor listing for locations and reviews.

One more thing, from the looks of it, I think they might have several other locations, too! Enjoy!