Phipps Feeding Fiasco

The experience

We asked the kids what kind of food they’d like to eat tonight and, of course, it was pizza.  Ogre lamented how childsplate made it so that we could not eat a “good” pizza place because we’d eaten at all the good ones.  I countered that wasn’t it the point to try other pizza places??  True dat.  We decided to try the Chicago’s Gourmet Pizza place we’d passed several times on our way to West Plano.  I always confuse it with the place that is delivery/pick up only, but, again, Ogre assured me that it wasn’t and we headed on.

We walked in and were told to sit wherever we’d like, so Mina picked a table and we settled in.  Immediately, the kids were drawn to the lazy susan and I’d say for the next 15 minutes, Benji played with this thing.

We ordered drinks and an order of cheese bread.  Meanwhile, the waitress handed Mina and Benji some little pizzas with stickers on the back so they could “make” their own pizza.  Ogre was super impressed and it was definitely a cute activity.

Mina was very serious about making her pizza, while Benji lost interest almost immediately and went back to the lazy susan.

The cheese bread arrived and we sat Benji in his chair as he was having difficulty with his big boy GLASS.  I was very nervous about him having a glass to drink out of, but he did pretty well with it, he even made a “pi-sah cup” that he was very proud of.

Mina would not eat any of the cheese bread until she finished her pizza because she wanted me to take a picture of it before she “messed up” her plate with the cheese bread.

Later on, she’d make me take a picture of her pretending to be a waitress.  Silly kids.

Our entrees came out and we started to eat and it was about then that I started to feel not quite right, nauseated I’d say.  My appetite came to a crawl and I just waited for everyone else to finish their dinner.  I had to admonish Benji a few time for blowing bubbles in to his drink, but I’ll just tell you that it fell on deaf ears as he did it all through dinner and I did not have the energy to be more strict about it.  He just kept saying “Funny Benji” and when he’d stop he’d say, “Tan to, Benji” (because earlier I’d say thank you when he’d stop and drink like a normal person).

Mina asked us when she would get her pizza on the wall and I told her she’d have to ask our waitress if they would do that.  She asked the waitress and they had no problems with that.  Mina was super excited to be able to see her pizza the “next time” we came in.

I had a good time looking at all the Chicago memorabilia on the walls, particularly because I was huge Bulls fans back in the 90s (when Jordan, Pippen, Grant, Paxon, Armstrong and the likes played).  Ogre enjoyed looking at all the movie posters.  It’s all definitely a good conversation starter!

When Mina finished up her half of the pizza we headed home.  I was still nauseated and little did I know what the rest of the night would bring!

The food

Well, it’s pretty self explanatory.  They also have Chicago Dogs and a few pastas.

We ordered the Garlic Cheese Bread to start and it was above average, not as good as Picasso’s but definitely tasty.  They also have a very good marinara sauce.  Nice and chunky.  Not that you need the advice if you ordered this, but if you are dieting this thing is loaded up with butter.  Mmmmm…butter.

I ordered the Spaghetti and Meatballs.  It was okay.  The spaghetti noodles were definitely over cooked, but edible.  The marinara sauce saved the whole bit since it was so tasty.  I also thought the meatballs were pretty good.

Ogre ordered the John Belushi and thought it was excellent.  It had huge cloves of garlic though, so watch out!  There were also sun dried tomatoes, chicken, pesto, and mozzarella.  He ordered a side of marinara as this pizza did not come with pizza sauce (just pesto).

The kids ordered  a kids pizza with pineapple and meatballs.  Mina seemed to enjoy it. Ogre tried a sample of it and thought the meatballs were very tasty.  He is always impressed with the strange combos Mina comes up with and the fact that it actually tastes good.

The service

Overall, I thought the service was very good.  It was our waitress’s first day and we were her second table.  She was very honest about not having tried any of the pizza but still tried making suggestions based on what she’d heard.  She was very attentive and the waitress that was working with her made it a point to stop by and make sure everything was going okay.  Food comes out a good tempo also.

The kids

I thought it was definitely kid friendly.  They have a small kids menu and a cute little pizza activity where you can put stickers on a cheese pizza.  It’s laid back and the waitstaff were all very nice.  The only thing that they didn’t have that could be a problems is no kids cups, so bring your own!

I would recommend this place for Chicago style pizza, I would probably skip on the pasta dishes though!

The total: $30 something

Rants, Raves and Ramblings

Okay, as you’ve read, our family has been battling this stomach virus (presumably Rotavirus) for over a week now -first Mina, then Benji, and to some degree, me.  Well, it went from bad to worse pretty quickly.  I felt nauseated when I went to bed and even joked with Ogre that I hoped I wasn’t pregnant.  No, definitely not pregnant.  I puked from 3am til 11am this am and was nauseated until, well, I’m still nauseated!  I didn’t even go to dinner with Ogre and Mina tonight.   It has been MISERABLE!!!  Argh, I hope Ogre isn’t next, he already won’t let me forget this.

Side note:  Ogre is making a command decision to up this to 4 stars.  If you want some good Chicago pizza in Dallas, your choices are highly limited since the Uno’s left Addison year ago.  So either drive to Fort Worth for Uno’s or get by on BJ’s.  This one is better than BJ’s and I’d have to say I thought the pasta tasted fine.  True, not al dente, but I think Grace was being harsh due to illness.  She only ate like 10% of it due to nausea from her illness.  Besides, I wasn’t allowed to lower Peggy Sue’s ratings back when they food poisoned me so this is only fair.  When I go back and try the Chicago dog and find it not to be as tasty as the pizza I may reconsider.

Related Fiascos

• Dinner at Sal’s
• Mina and Benji at Angelo’s and Vito’s Pizzeria
• Good Pizza, Bad Service at Joe’s Pasta and Pizza
• Pizza at Ferrari’s Pizzeria
• When in Cafe Roma…