treats

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 #39

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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!

Tuesday’s Treats #34

/ The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

Cocina Fuentes (Mexican)

Location: Monroe, Ga

 This place is probably the absolute BEST Mexican restaurant we have been to! It’s in the cute little town of Monroe, Georgia, and after you enjoy your meal, you can head downtown and the surrounding areas to find some great antique shops. The atmosphere here is great, and the service is always spot on.

The food is always made perfect to order, and everything tastes fresh and prepared with care. The steak seems to be of higher quality than most Mexican restaurants, and everything else is just perfect. They have quite an extensive menu from which to choose, and I do wish I had more pics to share with you.

My husband usually gets the Taco Quaintes (spelling?), and it is always delicious. I apologize that I don’t have the name of the meal above, but I can say it was also delicious! I have looked online for their website; however, there doesn’t seem to be one listed. However, they do have a facebook page, and here is a copy of their lunch menu.

Oh, and I do hope you don’t think me rude for posting a pic of the bathroom, but I wanted to be able to share the attention they give to details. Most places just stick a sink in there to get the job done, but this is actually stylish and beautiful. Their attention to details shows in everything they do. Drop by, and check them out!

Tuesday’s Treats #32

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Rumor HazIt

Location: Clayton, Ga 

This has been a local favorite of ours for several years now, and I’ll be honest, you can actually catch them on a day when they’re not A+ quality. However, I’ll have to say the majority of the time, you’ll get really good food and pretty good service.

You wouldn’t think you’d find a decent seafood restaurant in the hills of North Georgia, and if I hadn’t eaten here myself, I’d definitely be a doubter. We actually ate here yesterday, and the food was pretty good, about a B grade. We ordered the fried pickles, and they were amazing! We, also, ordered a small tossed salad and the shrimp bisque, both were yummy.

For entrees, we ordered the grilled chicken sandwich, chicken fingers, cheeseburger and the blackened mahi-mahi sandwich, all with fries. Everything tasted great; however, the chicken and mahi sandwiches were just a tad over cooked, leaving them both a little dry, but we’ve had these plenty of times before, and they were delicious. The fries were awesome; they’re like little potato logs. The ranch dressing, tartar sauce and the chipotle ranch sauces all taste homemade.

We’ve had the burgers before (pictured first above), and they’ve always been great. If you like beer battered onion rings, they’ve got some of the best. The fried cod sandwich has always been tasty as well. Oh, if you like dessert, you’ll really like their key lime pie, and there’s another dessert we’ve had there; however, I can’t remember what it was. 😜

The atmosphere is really done right with all nautical themes and a beautiful fish tank in the center of the room. The seating is very comfortable with both inside tables and half booths and outside patio areas.

So, try them out, and remember, if you happen to get bad (slow!) service that day, please, just give them one more try. You’ll enjoy the meals, and you’ll probably catch them on a better day the next time around. 😉

You can check out their website here.