The experience

DSC_0247One of my friends from high school contacted me and I was able to get a hold of her after I finished rounding.  Just like that we made lunch plans.  Thank goodness it was cool with Ogre ’cause I’d already made plans with a place and time for lunch in a couple of hours.  Well, at least I knew we were meeting at the Galleria at 1pm.  We got the kids ready and headed to the Galleria to meet my friend and her kids at the food court.  While we were waiting, Ogre suggested that we eat at the Grand Lux Cafe, which when presented to my friend, Christine, she was in total agreement.

We all headed over and had a table in about 5 minutes. 

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 We all piled in to the large booth.  The kids had some kind of Bendaroo knock off (Wiki Stix?) to play with, which Mina promptly wrote her name with and made some other designs.  The menu is massive so it took some time for us to get through it.  We did not see a kids’ menu anywhere, which was worrisome with 4 kids in tow!  Our waitress told us the kids menu was all up here and tapped onto her head.  She then rattled off a bunch of kids menu selections.  Perfect.  Ogre ordered an appetizer.  We still needed more time.

When the waitress returned, we ordered the kids’ meals, but Christine and Ogre still needed more time.  We chatted and Christine’s twin boys gave Benji high fives, which Benji thought was super-cool.

Our appetizer came out and Benji loved it. He didn’t care that it had some spice to it.  Benji kept making a crazy face making his mouth into an oval and saying, “OHHH!” and putting my hair in my face.  Annoying to me, funny to the kids.  Then Jordan started doing that to his mom.  Funny to the kids, not to the moms.

Luckily, the kids food showed up, so they begrudgingly started eating their lunch.  Our lunch soon followed and we were all wondering what the heck we were thinking ordering these crazy large entrees!! 

We worked on eating as much as we could and chatting.  The kids weren’t really eating much of their food and decided to play with their Nintendo DSs and Bendaroo knock offs. We got them to eat a little more with the promise of dessert. 

When dessert arrived, again,we wondered why they make the portions so large!  Benji decided to take his handful of whipped cream and powdered sugar and rub it all over the front of my shirt.  Beautiful.  Thanks, Benj.

Unfortunately, we were way to distracted with conversation to take very many pictures during lunch.  Christine and I hadn’t seen in each other since Mina was a baby 5 years ago!! 

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The food

I don’t know how to classify…maybe American.  Just about anything you could ever want??

DSC_0253As an appetizer, Ogre ordered the Buffalo Chicken Strips, which received all around kudos.  It’s served with a buffalo sauce and a ranch dipping sauce.  It’s breaded and deep fried and it seems that the chicken is already marinated with some buffalo sauce.  It also comes with some celery sticks for nice balance.

DSC_0257I ordered the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad.  Delicious.  One of the best meals I’ve had in awhile.  They wrap the tuna in seaweed.  The vinaigrette is mild and slightly sweet, which is a nice complement to the tuna.  The cucumbers seem to be marinated in rice wine vinegar and sugar and were also very good.  I would definitely recommend and will have this salad again!

DSC_0259Ogre ordered a Barbecue Chicken Pizza and a House Salad.  It was the Lunch Special and he liked the fact that it was actually manageable in size.  The Barbecue Chicken Pizza was also very good according to Ogre.

DSC_0260I didn’t ask my friend Christine how she liked her lunch, she ordered the Spicy Flatbread Chicken Sandwich.  This was like two huge flatbread sandwiches!  She took half of it for her husband who was playing in a basketball tournament. 

DSC_0255  The kids had grilled cheese sandwich, chicken tenders and a burger between them.  Their portions were massive.  DSC_0256Mina thought there was too much cheese on Benji’s grilled cheese sandwich and they use real cheddar it looks like, making it not an awesome sandwich.  DSC_0254Mina liked her chicken tenders pretty well, though.

 

The desserts were EXCELLENT!  Christine ordered the Red Velvet Cake and we ordered the Strawberry Shortcake.  Can’t say anything bad about these desserts!
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The service

Our service was excellent today.  She was very attentive.  Food came out at a good tempo and she brought out the kids’ meals first. 

 

The kids

No kids activities, but they have a good kids menu.  The portions are huge; I think children could share these dishes.

We thought the food was pretty good and it was laid back for the kids.  We’d eat here again if we found ourselves at the Galleria.

The total: 99 bucks (3 adults, 4 kids)

Rants, Raves, and Ramblings

Interestingly, I’ve always the thought the Grand Lux Cafe was the same thing as the Cheesecake Factory.  Turns out it’s not exactly the same.  The first time we ate here was at the original location at the Venetian in Las Vegas.  The concept was created by the same person who founded the Cheesecake Factory, hence, the similarities.  HOWEVER, I think that the Grand Lux Cafe is a step above in the menu and quality of their food.  We ate at the Cheesecake Factory in Allen and were not impressed.  This was much better and more what we remembered from our experience at the Venetian.

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