R was gracious enough to take T out and show him around our fair city. You’d think his boss would have taken him out, or someone in his department, but no. Somehow, it fell upon R’s shoulders, and being the extremely nice and hospitable person that she is, we all agreed to show this Brit around. R wanted to go to Mantra, so we stopped by fairly late for drinks. We ended up eating a little bit too. I’ve been there a couple of times before and had nice experiences both times. Unfortunately, we didn’t have as much luck this time round.
H/A got the pu-pu platter. Some ribs, chicken wings, calimari, pot stickers, and spring roll. The ribs were really blah. They look like they’d be flavorful but they weren’t. I enjoyed the pot stickers and the calimari. The spring roll had duck in it but ended up getting too soggy and couldn’t be picked up. I didn’t try the chicken wings.
T is a vegetarian and he got the buddha’s feast veggie lo mein. He said it was alright. It looked alright, but not exciting.
R got a full entree of the ribs. As I said, they were blah and didn’t have enough flavor. She enjoyed the sweet potato fries the best. The sweet potato mash was ok too. I will say that the asian red head cocktail still kicks ass, although it was quite sweet that night. The burnt peach was good too, but so strong that it kicked my ass something fierce.

For it being so not crowded, the food came out way too slow. The servers were nice enough, and they were having fun doing shots with H/A, but that really doesn’t excuse how long it took for the food. Seriously, we had no idea why anything would take so long. Unless they were still growing the sweet potatoes. All in all, it was quite a mediocre meal. I think Mantra is much better for happy hours with strong cocktails. As for the food, you can do without.

I live on the pseudo main line. I’m lucky to have a Trader Joe’s very nearby, but aside from that, I can’t stand any of the grocery stores around. I hate Super Fresh, it creeps me out. The Genuardi’s isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t do it for me either. The Acme is too tiny and Whole Foods, you know, I can’t afford to shop there. I love Giant, but there isn’t one close enough to me.

This is why I’m jealous of people who live near Wegmans. Everyone raves about it, but I’d never been. Why? Because they’re so damn far away. I made R go on a roadtrip to Wegmans last Sunday, just for kicks. We went to the Downingtown one, because really, they’re all equally far. What did I think? It was big. Too big. I was overwhelmed. The aisles are nice and wide. And really, certain things really are cheap. I was surprised. The produce and meats and seafoods looked amazingly fresh. It was pretty deserted when we were there, and it’s probably annoying when there’s tons of people around. But if I had a Wegmans more near me, I would certainly shop there. Sigh.

Then we were hungry, so we drove around and around for somewhere to eat. And since we were in Downingtown, it was chain restaurant city. And what’s with the ended up at Bonefish Grill. I’d never heard of it before, so to me, it was new and exciting, even if it was a chain. Scary thing? R had never been to one either, but just by seeing the little fish log, she knew what restaurant it was. Yes ladies and gents, she is the official queen of chain restaurants!
It’s not a casual restaurant, so it’s a bit on the swankier side, but not snooty. While every other restaurant seemed deserted, there was actually lots of people there that night. We were both surprised. The servers all wear chef’s jackets. It was weird. And our server was so stiff and rehearsed. I felt a little bad for him.
They only have one soup – corn chowder with crab. I am a chowder hound, so I had to try it. It was surprisingly good. And it had nice huge hunks of crab in it.
R got the fontina chop. It was a good sized pork chop with mushroom sauce. R doesn’t like mushrooms, but she ate around them, and finished off the chop. She got the garlic mash as a side, and the veggie of the day was a butternut squash.

I got the scallops and shrimp with mango salsa. It was also surprisingly good. I also got the garlic mash, and while good, it wasn’t garlicky at all. The squash was alright, nothing great. All in all, a decent meal. Not too pricey, and the service was good. Will I be back? I guess if I only had chain restaurant to pick from, probably. And for a chain, that’s pretty much a reigning endorsement from me.

I won some flyers tickets a few weeks ago from work. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I thought why the hell not. It would probably be my one chance to go to a professional hockey game (since it’s not like I would ever choose to go) so I thought I would see what the fuss was all about.

The food choices are plenty, but all terrible for you. Not that I mind. We got some chicken fingers and a chicken sandwich, and of course, some crab fries, from chickie’s & pete’s. The quality of the food is tons crappier than at the proper chickie’s & pete’s restaurants. But whatever, you’re watching sports, drinking beer, and eating slop. And don’t even get me started on how much it all cost. This is why I don’t normally do stuff like this. Oh, and the Flyers got their asses whooped.