The last thing we expected on entering City Fish in Oldsmar tonight was to be accosted by the stench of cigarette smoke.  At first we thought we had just passed by someone who had been smoking, but sitting at our table the smell continued to permeate the air.  When we asked our waitress about it, she asked it we were smelling the oak wood they grill on.  Umm, no.  Then she turned toward the bar and said the door was open to the smoking area on the patio and she’d see if it could be closed.

Well, no such luck.  She returned and said people were going in and out of the door (which we hadn’t seen anyone go through the door), but would we like to move to another table?  If you’ve been to City Fish, you know it’s one big open room, it’s not like moving a few tables over would have resolved the issue.

We should have left at this point, but the food was good the last time we were here, so we decided to stay.  And aside from my entree, the rest of the food was actually pretty good.

The bread was hot, fresh and tasty.  You know it’s good when Loren digs in.

We ordered a bowl of the New England Crab Chowder and a side salad. 

The chowder was delish!  Creamy and thick with lots of crab in it.  Loren enjoyed the salad as well.  We also ordered a California Roll.

I wasn’t too impressed with it.  The rice wasn’t prepared very well.  It was too gooey.  Then came the entrees.  Loren ordered the swordfish with Thai mango salsa, mashed potatoes and house veggies.

He was a happy guy.  The swordfish was cooked perfectly and he ate every bite. 

The house veggies that came with both meals had squash and mushrooms in a tomato based sauce.  It was tasty.

I ordered the Chicken Portobello with mashed potatoes.

The chicken was topped with portobello mushrooms, spinach and fontina cheese.  Unfortunately, when I tried to cut into the chicken, my knife wasn’t making much of a dent.  The chicken was overcooked and tough.  By this point, I’d been breathing second hand smoke for over an hour and my patience was completely gone. 

At this point, the manager stopped by our table and we had the same conversation with him as we did with the waitress, “oh are you smelling the oak grill?”, “No, it’s the smoke from the patio”, “Would you like to move to another table?”.  He told us the door was broken between the restaurant and the patio so they couldn’t close it.  Then he asked about the food and when I told him about the chicken, he offered to replace it with something else, but I was just ready to get out of there.  He did, however, take the chicken off our bill. 

Though our waitress was good about refilling drinks and checking on us, her attitude about our complaints was a bit offputting.  She’d cock her head to the side and stick out her bottom lip and make a pouty face and spoke to me like I was a child while she was apologizing.  I know she was trying to be sincere, but it just didn’t work.

Our bill ended up at $40 after my entree was removed.  We came home and put our clothes in the laundry and took a shower to get the cigarette smoke smell off of us.  Though most of the food was good, we won’t be back again. 

City Fish Seafood Grill and Chop House
4022 Tampa Rd
813-814-5800

We haven’t been over to Brady’s Backyard BBQ since March, so we were due for some tasty BBQ’d meats.  I think you learn to appreciate a place more after you’ve eaten at a few other places.

We decided to split a pick 3 combo and got brisket, riblets, and pulled pork.  They charge an extra $2.50 to share, but they throw in an additional side, so we got potato salad, cornbread pudding, and a taste of collard greens.

There was so much food on the plate, way more than we could both eat in one sitting.  I’ve turned into a brisket convert.  I used to be all about the pulled pork, but my new found taste for brisket was wonderfully satisfied tonight.  The cornbread pudding is one of my favorite side dishes here. 

Total bill was $26 and there were plenty of riblets and some pulled pork leftover for lunch tomorrow.  The brisket didn’t even have a chance at leftover status.

Brady’s Backyard BBQ
340 Main Street
Safety Harbor, FL
727-712-3727

Since our breakfast outing last weekend didn’t quite satisfy, we headed over to Nicki’s Omelette & Grill on Hillsborough today.  There was quite the crowd in the restaurant, but it didn’t take long for them to clear a table and seat us. 

Loren’s not much of a breakfast person, so he ordered the California burger with fries.

Just take a look at the layers in that burger!  Burger, bacon, guacamole, sour cream, jack cheese, onions, lettuce, and tomato.  It was quite the yummy mouthful.  The fries were nice and crispy too. 

I wanted breakfast, but they didn’t really have a combo that had what I wanted, so I had to order everything separately.

Pancakes, hashbrowns, and scrambled eggs with cheese.  The pancakes were perfectly cooked and the hashbrowns were good.  When I order scrambled eggs with cheese, it’s rare that they come out the way I like.  I expect the cheese to be completely melted and gooey inside the eggs.  These were ok, but the cheese wasn’t cooked in quite enough.

Total meal cost us $17.  It was more than enough food for both of us.  The guy at the table next to us ordered the “Biscuit Debris”.  It looked like a heart attack waiting to happen. 

Nicki’s Omelette & Grill
6805 W Hillsborough Ave
Tampa, FL

Sometimes, we’re just not original in our selection of entrees.  We went back Laziz Indian Cuisine tonight and ended up ordering the exact same entrees we ordered the first time we came here.  It’s funny how you can look at a menu and certain things just grab you. 

We did however order an appetizer this time, the Cheese Pakora.

It was ok, but I wouldn’t order it again.  The chick pea batter doesn’t get crispy and the cheese inside doesn’t melt at all.  It just had an odd overall texture that didn’t do much for me.

So, for our entrees, we ordered the Shrimp Makhani and the Chicken Jalfrezi plus some garlic Naan bread.  Everything was soooo good.  We cleared the plates.  The sauces are thick and rich with just the right amount of spices.  And dipping the Naan bread into the Makhani sauce was divine.

Total dinner ran us $40.  The flavors in Indian food are just so unique compared to other cuisines we’ve tried.  Unfortunately, we never have any leftovers because the food’s too good to leave any on our plates. 

Laziz Indian Cuisine
2475 N McMullen Booth Rd
Clearwater, FL
727-797-7541

We ate lunch at the Farmer Boy Restaurant in Clearwater today.  I’ve bought their dressing at the grocery store before and it’s pretty tasty, so figured we should check out the food as well.

Fresh baked yeast rolls are one of my all time favorite things and these did not disappoint.

I even asked for a second basket of them.  They were sooooo good.  Light, fluffy and delicious.  Loren ordered the mini Greek salad with chicken.

He said it was ok.  There was no feta cheese on the salad which was listed on the menu, but missing from the dish.  Somehow without it, it just seemed like a regular house salad with chicken on top.  He thought the dressing was a little too sweet and that it was just missing that overall Greek flavor.

I ordered the Moussaka, which came with a Greek salad.

Again, without the feta, it just didn’t taste like a Greek salad.

This was definitely not a pretty plate of food.  The moussaka had a genuine Greek flavor to it, but it was pretty mushy.  The meat sauce that came with it was very good.   Total bill was $20.  I do have to mention one item on the menu that made me giggle.  They offer a vegetable lasagne… but it’s served with meat sauce.  Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?? 

Farmer Boy Restaurant
2129 Drew Street
Clearwater, FL

Hanging out at Applebees tonight with some friends for happy hour.  Figured I’d be good and order a salad for dinner.

I ordered the 1/2 order of the California Shrimp Salad.  Spicy shrimp, avacado, boiled egg, lettuce, tomato with a creamy avacado dressing.  I had them hold the bacon and olives.  Trying to be healthy you see.  I did find the shrimp to be a little too spicy for my taste and there wasn’t a lot of dressing on the salad, but otherwise, it was fresh and tasty.

Ok, so maybe I was just pretending to be healthy so no one would notice the dessert I ordered.

The chocolate chip cookie sundae.  Mmmmm…. a warm cookie, topped with ice cream, whipped cream, Oreo crumbles and a bit of hot fudge.  There are three spoons, I did share. 

Generally, I’m not a big fan of chain restaurants like Applebees, Chili’s, and TGI Fridays.  I find most of the food to be very generic.  But for $15, I had a great night out with friends.

Applebees
4016 Tampa Road
Oldsmar, FL