As my fellow food critic, Cindy and I approached the newly opened Billy Wayne's restaurant, it was hard to tell if we were even welcome. The sign on the door said, "now open," but there were no hours posted anywhere. We could see a few people inside at the bar, so we opened the door and were greeted by a rushed, nervous, overly friendly hostess. She seated us and handed us menus.
Before we had a chance to paroose the lengthy menu, our waitress came over and asked if we wanted an appetizer and drinks. I scanned our options as she made a collage of random suggestions. We finally decided on lettuce wraps. Being in an adventurous mood, we special-ordered alcohol drinks that taste like orange creamsicles. I LOVE to throw this kind of wrench into the machine just to see how it plays out. Any qualified bartender should be able to make this happen even if its not on the menu.
Our drinks came and we took a sip. Hmmmmm... nothing too special. It almost just tasted like orange flavored milk with a drop of alcohol. It seemed to lack the punch and flare we were looking for. Later, the bartender came out to offer his special "Royal Flush" drink. He said it tasted like a Washington Apple, which got us excited so we tried it and unfortunately, it tasted like cough syrup.
The chicken lettuce wraps arrived and I was thrown off by the large chunks of chicken piled high on a bed of crunchy noodles next to a tiny portion of small flimsy Bib lettuce leaves. My first thought was, "Is that it?" In short, we ran out of lettuce way before the chicken had much of a dent in it. The sauce that came with it was tangy, but lacked depth and texture.
While there are very few places for Iceburg lettuce to appear in a dish, this is one of the few exceptions. Iceburg is the only way to go when doing a lettuce wrap. Its crunchy, juicy and fully substantial in size to support even the huge chicken chunks we were dealing with. This appetizer fell short in many ways, but could have been vastly improved with simply replacing the delicate Bib lettuce with the strong structure of Iceburg.
We each ordered a burger, which seemed simple enough. I asked for a bleu cheese burger - medium and Cindy wanted a cheddar cheese burger - well done. We got them, began to eat and soon realized that her patty was pink and mine was brown. They switched our patties! A huge mistake to make especially when we're the only ones in the whole place ordering food.
As we finished our burgers, we talked about the atmosphere. The art on the walls is quirky and interesting with things like a giant metal spoon and fork hanging on the wall next to prints of pop culture icons like Bob Marley and the Beatles.
Fun stuff, but you can't help but notice that right in the center of everything is a bar decked out with a couple of snazzy t.v.s just out of viewing range for everyone except those people at the bar. There really should be t.v.s all around to create a media experience for everyone, not just the bar patrons. Cindy summed it up when she pointed out that the restaurant lacks a sense of cohesiveness. There is a definite competition of themes between the bar and the restaurant. Is this a sports bar or family restaurant?
The vibe of the place needs to be worked out too. Someone should really tell the waitstaff to chill out a bit. We were checked on just about every five minutes or less. Our waitress kept asking if we wanted more drinks when it was obvious that we had only taken a sip or two since the last time she asked. We felt rushed and asked if they were closing. She responded with, "Well, if we don't have many customers, we close early. We're waiting for you guys to finish, but there's no rush. Take your time."
Yeeeah riiiiight. After hearing it put that way, there was no taking our time at that point. So the waitress took care of our check and brought the slips back to us. She walked away and came back just as I was filling out the amount for the tip.
"Oh, good, I'm just in time," she said. And she stood there watching me fill out the slip.
I said, "Um, I can't really do this with an audience."
She just chuckled and continued to stand there making the awkward meter go off the charts. I finished filling the slip out and gave it to her and off we went.
Our experience left us wanting more, but there's no doubt that Billy Wayne's All American Grille has huge potential. The structure is there to create a really great place. With an overhaul of the waitstaff personality, better/ stronger drinks, a cohesive atmosphere and more attention to detail, this place just might make it. Without some changes, however, it most assuredly will go right down the tubes like every other restaurant that has occupied this space.
Overall grade:
Cindy C
Tami C-
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