Balz

 Balz Sports Bar and Grill

Santiago, Kalynn, and myself went to Balz Sports Bar and Grill for lunch on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. This is the perfect place to go for those who live for sports. The walls are covered with autographed pictures of athletes and other sports memorabilia. There are flat screen televisions almost anywhere you look, so you can watch several of your favorite sporting events at once. The atmosphere is great for a group of friends or family to enjoy a meal and have drinks.

Our group found several things to be important when it comes to a good restaurant. The cleanliness is on the top of the list. When you walk into a restaurant to eat, you are not going to feel comfortable eating if they have trash laying all over the floor and the place is falling apart.Service is also important. Good service will keep people coming back for more. The quality of the food also determines if the restaurant is a good one. Nobody likes to eat food that taste bad, let alone pay for it. The amount of options on the menu to choose from and the prices also can have an effect on how people rate a restaurant. The last thing we found to be important was the restrooms.

(Not what you want to see in a restaurant)

The service at Balz Sports Bar and Grill was decent. It was not over the top by any means, but our waitress did bring us our drinks in a reasonable amount of time, as well as took our order as soon as everyone was ready. We were short a set of silverware but when we let the waitress know, she brought us another set right away. There was only one time when we felt the service was questionable, when our waitress asked how the food was we said excellent and she said, "great" and walked away, but the tone she used to say great made us feel as if she didn't actually care and was just doing her job.

Kalynn was brave enough to step foot into the bathroom to observe the cleanliness and condition. The bathroom at Balz was average. I really liked the fact that it was one big stall so there was plenty of room to move around, you didn't feel like you were in a closet. Also, there was a changing table in the bathroom which you don't find very often these days. If you do happen to find one it is usually in an odd place that makes it hard to maneuver  I found this important because I myself am a mom and often have to use them. One thing I did not like about the bathroom was a spot in the corner that was missing paint and had chunks of concrete missing, it just wasn't appealing to the eye.

After some consideration, Zach ordered the fried green beans at $5.95 along with the daily special, chicken fried steak at $6.49. Santiago decided to get the jalapeno burger at $6.95. Kaylnn went with the Swiss and mushroom burger at $6.95. When we got the food it was extremely hot. The fried green beans were not as good as places Zach had tried before. The top bun of Kalynn's burger was rock hard and she had to take it off and eat the burger with a knife and fork, but the burger still tasted really good. My jalapeno burger was delicious! If you love spicy food then you have to try this. Overall the food was really good, the drinks were huge and ice cold just like they should be.

(Fried green beans and chicken fried steak)

(Swiss and Mushroom Burger)

(Jalapeno Burger)

Our lunch at Balz was overall a good experience. It did not meet our standards completely, but the food was good and the service was great. The sports memorabilia on the walls really gives it a nice look and makes it feel like a sports bar. If you love sports and want a place to go out with family or friends for a meal or just to have a few drinks then this is the place to go! You can even catch your favorite sports games while your there!

El Tapatio

El Tapatio                 For any restaurant to be successful it takes excellent customer service. Excellent customer service consist of friendly, patient staff, good food quality, and an inviting atmosphere to make you feel welcomed. These are all qualities that we (Kelsey, Danielle, and Shelby,) were looking for Thursday when we went to El Tapatio for lunch.



The atmosphere of El Tapatio was great. When you first walk in there was tile, the tile was clean and swept. When we walked in there was a lady upfront who greeted us and took us to our table, but she didn't smile. The floor in the dining area was also tile and very clean. We sat down and had complementary chips and salsa. As we sat waiting to get our order taken you could smell them cooking it, it wasn't overpowering but it was enough to make you hungry. The decor made you feel comfortable and at home. The tables and chairs seemed to look like what it would be in an actual Mexican Restaurant in Mexico. While eating our food they had Hispanic music playing which made our visit even better.



The Dining Area



Sample Menu

The food at El Tapatio is very authentic Mexican cuisine. Our group ordered different items on the menu, being that there was a lot to choose from the choice was very hard.  Aside from just the entrees, their menu also had appetizers and many things ranging from alcoholic beverages to (if you have someone that doesn’t like Mexican) hamburgers.  Right when we were sat at our table our waitress took our drink orders and gave us the main menu. The time limit on the food was about ten to fifteen minutes, which I think for a “sit-down” restaurant, is very fair. The quality of the food was great! Everything was fresh and made to order. When the food was brought to our table it was at the right temperature and the order accuracy was correct, there were no mess ups or trade-ins.  When you come into El Tapatio be ready to be hungry and eat, because you get a lot of food. But I think for the quality and how much food you get, the price set was very fair. For three meals and one drink it was $29.00.

When we first arrived at El Tapatio, we didn't feel very welcomed. The waitress didn't greet us with a smile and didn't seem like she wanted to be there. She took us to our table, took our drink order, and then came back and took our food order. Our waitress checked on us every now and then to see if we were okay or if we needed a refill on our drink. When we finished and were ready to pay, she didn't tell us that we had to pay upfront so we waited at our table for awhile. Overall, the staff was just okay, but it could have been better.
 
 
 

Our overall experience was pleasant. The atmosphere was overall satisfying, the service was descent, and the food quality was accurate and fresh. The time to get our food wasn't a long wait. Even though the service wasn't the best we've had, we would recommend El Tapatio to anyone because the quality of their authentic Mexican cuisine.  
 
http://eltapatiograndisland.com/

Balz sports bar and grill review

  http://www.balzsportsbar.com/ordereze/Content/1/Summary.aspx

When we went to the local restaurant, Balz Sports Bar & Grill, having expectations of fair prices for meals, friendly service, and the quality of the food preparation. Johnny was to judge the food quality, Michaela was to examine the friendly customer service, and Margaret was to look over the price.
Balz Sports Bar & Grill can be deceiving from the looks of the environment, a boxing bag at the door, a bar near the entrance, televisions on the walls, a couple pool tables in the back, it mainly looks like a bar, a place where to you go and chill with your friends or coworkers after work and get a drink. But when you go through the menu and see the variety of meals, from burgers, salads, chicken baskets and entrees. I ordered the special of the day which was a chicken fried chicken which includes two sides, sweet corn and mashed potatoes with country gravy. It’s a good size meal I was full when I was done.

Balz Sports Bar and Grill had okay service, but it wasn’t anything special. When we arrived the waitress got our drink orders very quickly. It took us a while to decide what we wanted to order, but when we were ready she was there. When we asked for something she would bring it to us, but it always seemed like she was in a hurry. Even though she did her job correctly it didn’t seem like she cared about anything else.
On Thursday, the second of April I went out to lunch with Michaela and Johnny to the Balz sports bar and grill on 3421 State Street at eleven o’clock. For our blog we judged the quality of food, service, cleanliness, friendliness, and price. For my part in the blog project was to take photographs and to judge the price of the food at the restaurant. To tell the truth, I have never been there and was worried about high prices for the dishes. In the end, I was quite pleased with the prices, but it depends on what some one  buys.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                      
For our group we had bought separate dishes:  Johnny had the special of the day: chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and corn on the side at 6.49. Michaela had chicken strips for a price of 6.95 and I had the chef salad at a total price of 10.83. In my opinion the restaurant served good food at a good price so you don’t have to worry about putting too much damage on your wallet.  

Johnny had the special of the day: chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and corn on the side at 6.49.

I had the chef salad at a total price of 10.83

 

So the Balz sports bar and grill is given a 4 0ut of 5 stars from the adequate service, clean surroundings, good price, and a relaxing place to hang out with friends.