Deep Sushi - Deep Ellum, Dallas

Party of 4 . . .

Deep Sushi is located in a small eclectic area of Deep Ellum.  There are parking lots on both sides of it, across the street are abandoned buildings.  In fact there are several abandoned building down there, but you wouldn't know it from the crowd tonight. 

As was typical for a Thursday night, Deep Sushi was almost to capacity.  They had a large party of 16 on the patio.  We entered and are greeted with a warm hello from no less than 3 employees.  We are seated but not in our usual spot, more mid restaurant.  We can see everything from here.  The fun party on the patio, the sushi chef making rolls, the bar scene and both indoor parts of the restaurant.  We are the only people with children, and that is pretty typical.

Once seated we order our drinks, the bartender makes 2 special drinks for our boys and dolls them up.  The boys love the special treatment.  My husband had a soda and I had water.  We also ordered edamame and a shrimp and veggie tempura.  Deep is consistently good and timely with the appetizers.  First the edamame arrived and just as that was being finished the shrimp tempura arrived.

We placed our order which is filled with "special request."  Our 4 year old wants a California with only crab and cream cheese.  Our older son only wants a shrimp tempura meal with some rice.  The waiter is good to remember my son doesn't like the black sesame seeds on the rice.  Our order is a bit more complicated: one order of a California, a New York, Cherry Blossom, Volcano, and a Longhorn.

The California roll is HANDS DOWN the best roll in town.  I have not had a more fresh tasting roll anywhere in Dallas.  Deep will modify the rolls to make you happy.  I am happiest when my California has a bit of cream cheese in it!

The New York roll is shrimp tempura and avocado on the inside, wrapped in rice.  Where is gets awesome is the crab placed across each roll in strips.  Deep uses a special sauce that blends the sweet and savory for this roll.

My husband's favorite is the Longhorn Roll.  The basics of the roll are similar to that of a New York.  The topping will set you on fire.  Deep uses one drop of Srirache sauce on top of a thinly sliced jalapeno on top of some eel sauce.  It is spicy, warm and all sort of wonderful.

The Longhorn and Cheery Blossom rolls were rolls featured one night on Deep Sushi's features board.  We tried them both and now they are staples when we dine.  The Cherry Blossom roll is one of the pretties rolls I have seen.  Again, it has the basics of a New York but then they add some fresh salmon and cucumber wrapped in soy paper and then rice.  It is topped with a beautiful piece of tuna and spiced up with some spicy mayo, eel sauce and Sriracha. LOVE THIS!!!

The last dish to arrive at our table is the Volcano.  It has a base of California rolls, and is then topped with a special sauce.  We requested for them to burn the topping just a little more than normal since we like it crispy.  As usual Deep accommodates us.  You can have one of two seafood topping on your Volcano.  We get the small baby scallops others prefer the crawfish.

From time to time the Deep's Sushi Chef are creating new rolls and will test them on diners.  That was not the case when we dined last Thursday, but I have been fortunate to have had strawberry rolls, dark chocolate rolls and rolls that had no name at the time! All delish!

We continue to experience good service and great food here. A true bonus is our boys like it so we get to enjoy our meal!

Kid Friendly:  Depends on the children.  The menu can support children eating there, the environment can handle children - they have 2 high-chairs.  My hesitation here is the other diners who want a nice evening out.  I would say no crying is allowed!

Cleanliness:  Pretty clean, I have seen finger prints on the front windows, but other than that never anything dirty or out of place.

Service: Very attentive and they anticipate when you need refills or soy.  Long before you have a bite in your hand and can't request their help.

Cost:  $$
How likely to go back:  I hope to go back before the end of the month.  Truly the best tasting sushi & rolls in the city!

 So, when you drop by for some great sushi be sure to say hi.  I am usually at the small window table when you come in, unless they are full again and I get to sit mid-restaurant!

Snuffers - Addison

Party of 4

We recently took our oldest, his buddy Michael to dinner at Snuffer's when Michael was sleeping over.  Let me cut to the chase - it was great!  It is one of the best burgers in the city and thankfully they have many locations!  We have dines at Greenville Ave, Preston Center, Midway and in Plano.  If we have missed one, let me know.

We arrived a little later than we normally like to eat.  The place was packed, so I offered to do 2 2 tops, as long as they were near each other.  There was just that in our normal area of the restaurant.

We got right on the drink orders, the standard, water, unsweet tea, Sprite and Diet Pepsi.  All come is a nice size glass.  Then we ordered what I believe to be their most famous item.  Cheese Fries!  Hands down the best cheese fries ever.  You can get them with all the toppings or on the side.  We opts for the side, it comes with Ranch dressing, bacon bits, jalapenos, chili, chives - but after Ranch , who needs any of the others!  We ordered one small for our table and one for the boys.  Once the cheese fries arrive there is no talking, just eating!

All the boys ordered a 1/2# cheese burger.  Just meat and cheese.  Two ordered Amercian cheese and one ordered cheddar.  I ordered the Hamburger Salad, basically a hamburger with melted cheese on top of a bed of lettuce.  SO GOOD! 

Snuffer's cooks their burgers normally medium rare.  The boys ordered medium, my husband and I got them normal.  They are so juicy. Great flavor and a good size.

If I had an out of town guest who wanted a good burger Snuffer's is the place I would take them.  All others the rest of their life will pale in comparison!

Kid Friendly:  Without a doubt!  They have kids menus with games, thing to draw on it and room for some tic tac toe.  Colors included.

Cleanliness:  Have yet to see it dirty!

Service: Very attentive - refill the drinks without even knowing they are gone.

Cost:  $
How likely to go back:  Looking to go back next week!  Already thinking about those cheese fries!

Il Palazzo Buffet & Grill - Richardson

Party of . . . 4

Recently we were on our way home from Dim Sum when we spotted a new restaurant.  We were actually excited, since we had experienced really bad service from what I was hoping would be our new pizza joint.

Il Palazzo is in an odd part of town, Beltline & Greenville.  It is where the west meets the east!  Unbeknowst to me, it is called Little India.

We pull up about 11:45am on a Saturday.  We are the ONLY car in the small lot.  Not good but we are committed to try it for 3 reasons: 1 - We were hunting a good pizza spot  2 - I had just bought a Living Social coupon for Il Palazzo and 3 - this is where the husband wanted to do lunch!

OTHER than there being no cars in the parking lot and OTHER than it being in Little India - I thought we were fine.  Until I saw the front door read "Halal Meats."  Now I will tell you now I have no clue what that means, I am guessing it is similar to the Rabbi making certain food Kosher - who knows!  Seriously . . . WHO KNOWS?

We enter - the place is dead.  No pizzas on the buffet, I do spot some hot entrees and salad bar.  A nice lady explains the pizzas for the buffet are made to order.  We place a pizza buffet order.  We then head off to the salad bar.

Our boys are picky eater and yes I know it is because I allow it!  We typically order them a pizza crust with just cheese.  Yup - crust and cheese!  I am telling you more families are doing this since we have offered it on swim days, sleep overs and birthday parties.

My says says he likes pizza with pepperoni, hamburger, and onions.  I say I like Canadian bacon and hamburger on pizzas. 

The salad bar should not conjure up images of a Jason's Deli Salad bar.  It was two pre-made salads one was a Greek feta and one was a springtime crasin, pineapple, nut salad.  I had the latter and it was good with some Balsamic vinaigrette.

The boys pizza is up first - she bring the pizza to the table and serves the boys.  After putting three pieces on their plates she put the rest on the buffet.  Another pizza is placed on the buffet - guess what it had - pepperoni, hamburger, onion - all perfect for my husband, oh and my Canadian bacon.  All on one freaking pizza!  Not really what I was going for but it is fine.

The crust was really good.  Nice crunch to it.  The waitress later tells me it is actually pita dough and not pizza dough.  It is lighter and crispy like a cracker.  We are loving it.  The sauce has a little kick to it and I don't know if those meats were Halal or not but the meats were good.  The boys cheesy pizza was perfect, same good crust and lots of cheese.

Our youngest and my husband also had the entree specials.  They offered a halibut with eggplant, lasagna, cheese ravioli and a thin noodle spaghetti with little chunks of tomatoes and hamburger in it.  Both cleaned their plate.

Kid Friendly:  Absolutely - she brought the boys their drinks in styro cups with lids - love a place that knows kids should have brandy sifters full of soda

Cleanliness:  Yes
Service: Really good - hand delivering a pizza, and on top of the refills

Cost:  $
How likely to go back:  Will try it again, after all have anothr Living Social, but not sure how long they will make it!  So unfortunate, that crust was great!