Ferrari's Italian Ristorante

The Cedar Valley is great, with quite a few upscale restaurants. Since we have children, we often don't get a chance to go "uptown," so visiting Ferrari's during their Anniversary week (and $10 off!) was quite an adventure. The atmosphere and fixtures are fabulous. I certainly like that huge fish tank behind the bar. The food was a let down though. Don't get me wrong, I can pay $20-35 for an entree if I know it's going to be good, but it wasn't $20-$35 good. It was chain restaurant good. I had gnocci and fish. I could get better pasta at Biaggi's in Cedar Rapids, and fish about the same as Red Lobster. Both for half of the cost. My Gnocci was cold. Okay...only a few of them were, the rest were just lukewarm. And the fish... I needed a knife to cut it..? Not my idea of good fish. If I can't get through it with a fork, then there's something wrong here! Award winning chef?! From 4-H?? If that's what comes from an award-winning kitchen, I honestly have to question just what award it was. The menu has unlimited potential. If only it tasted as good as it was described on the menu. Maybe some other things on the menu are better, but as they say, first impressions are everything.

Amigos Mexican Restaurant

I was lured into this restaurant by a "buy one entree get one 50% off" coupon. I must say this is the sorriest excuse of a Mexican restaurant I have ever been to. The chips and salsa started things out fine, and the prices on the menu were quite appealing. Alas, it was all downhill from there. I could not tell the difference between my burrito and enchilada. They looked and tasted pretty much the same. What really took the cake though, was the sopapilla. Those of you who frequent Mexican restaurants know what a sopapilla is. I will admit though, that in all my time in central america, I never actually saw a sopapilla. It's probably something like fortune cookies or crab rangoon, which doesn't actually exist in Asia. Still, I am used to my Americanized Mexican food and was expecting a delightful donught-like dessert. Their version of a sopapilla was a fried flour tortilla with whipped cream on it. What the heck...?

La Michoacana Mexican Restaurant

Now, this meets my criterion of hole-in-the-wall, but I've only been through the drive-thru. I ordered a torta (a sandwich) and chile rojo which was basically beef (I think) in a red sauce. Now, I like my spicy, I eat jalapenos, but this was so spicy that when I got it home I actually rinsed it off with water through a strainer. The torta was "authentic," which means I didn't like it. That is one difference between American food and cuisines of the world. We do not like hunks of fat in our meat, we cut the gristle off. In other parts of the world, huge hunks of fat with only a sliver of meat are delicacies. Not my favorite. I haven't tried it, but some friends tell me they have great mole.

La Chiquita Restaurant

This would be one of those family owned hole-in-the-walls of which I speak. I like them. Reminds me of all those months I spent south of the border. (It was completely legal...honest.) The salsas were not out of a bottle and the food was cheap and good. I would go back.

Beck's Sports Brewery

I think if you like beer you will really like this place. I don't drink beer, so I wouldn't know. But it seems like a great sports bar. I just don't like bars...or televised sports for that matter... Food was good, but it didn't stand out as any better than many other restaurants. One annoying addition was when we went for the Friday night All-you-can-eat Fish Fry, my husbands favorite "entree." Every time you get more fish, they bring you more tartar sauce, and they charge 50 cents for every one. Of course, that wasn't mentioned beforehand. Can we say "pah-theh-tic?"

Rudy's Tacos

People who have lived here forever know all about Rudy's. We're transplants so it took us a while to find out about it. It is off of Ansborough. I don't know any Mexicans named Rudy, but it's pretty good food, and they support the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign which is great. If you like Carlos O'Kelley's, you'll live Rudy's a lot more. Portions are muy grande. Call me a bigot though, but I prefer the hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants staffed by people who don't speak English. I will try all of them in town before I go back to Rudy's. And yes, I am aware that I risk numerous incidents of food poisoning by maintaining this stance, but after living in Asia for several years, those things don't phase you as much.

Golden China

Great chinese food. What makes it any different from the other Chinese restaurants, you ask? The secret is to go with someone who can read Chinese and order from the Chinese menu. Not as good as being in Taiwan, but for Waterloo, Iowa, not bad by any means. We go there fairly frequently.