Let’s head to Eden and check out the Red River Grill, shall we?
Eden is a good 1/2 day trip if you’re looking to get away for a while. You’ll find some unique stores and some good places to eat. Last week, SouthsideCentral made the trip and stopped by the Red River Grill. It’s at 247 West Kings Highway, just past and on the other side of the road of the Kingsway Plaza shopping center. It’s easy to miss as their sign and logo look relatively generic and the building doesn’t scream out “restaurant”, but once you find it, you’ll get a good meal.
My dining partner did her homework at their website and she studied the menu, knowing what she wanted. I decided to do the surprise me strategy and went in blind. You’ll walk into a dark front part of seating with a spacious bar area behind that. It has the look of a sports bar atmosphere and they specialize in wings (55 sauce flavors), but I won’t label it as that because they’ve got a lot more on the menu. We were greeted friendly at the door and got a good booth. Our waitress was right on time and we placed our drink order and started with the nachos as an appetizer (NOTE: Appetizers shouldn’t cost more than the meal). They were good, but not $8.95 worth of good. On to the entrees. My companion was fixated on the Garbage Plate from the moment she first saw the menu. I chose the Cajun Shrimp Quesadilla.
We’ll start with my Cajum Shrimp Quesadilla… YUM! Not too spicy at all, with just the right amount of heat. The shrimp were large and the quesadilla was cooked to a crisp. Perfect and worth the price. Now to my companion’s Garbage Plate… Good Lord! That thing could easily feed four people. It took five minutes picking off and eating cheese-coated fries to find the chicken tenders and when we found them, we found lots of huge chicken tenders. I’d swear that they were entire boneless chicken breasts piled under there. The breading on those chicken so-called-tenders was quite tasty as well. The Garbage Plate is a horribly unhealthy heart attack on a giant plate but that’s why SouthsideCentral loved it and is highly recommending it now. Time for dessert? Not a chance, though the Wine Cake looked interesting. Maybe next time…
Let’s go to the numbers!
Service: Friendly people all around, with only a few minor flubs (somebody else’s salad being delivered to our table, having to ask for forks and knives). Those things happen occasionally and won’t affect the score much at all. The kitchen’s got their act together because the food came out fast and hot. Score: 93 (A)
Food: Even though they feature their wing selections, we went off the board to other choices. We’ll be back to try their wings and will add to this review once we do. What we did get was quite tasty and well prepared. Score: 93 (A)
Atmosphere: The darkness of the front seating section doesn’t mesh well with the open happily-lighted bar area. Weird to say this, but the decor in the bathroom with the tin roofing used as walls would actually work in the restaurant. There’s lots of opportunities to spruce the place up. Score: 85 (B)
Intangibles: It’s a generic storefront with a generic sign and the building is semi-easy to not notice. The pricing (except for appetizers) is right on target for what you get and should expect at this type of restaurant. If we could have seen the dessert showcase as we were talking in, we would have left room for that tempting Wine Cake. We always love a fully-stocked bar and extensive beer list. Score 88 (B)
Overall: We were treated rather well as first time visitors and this seems to the type of place where you could become a “regular” quickly. Locally-owned restaurants can be a pleasant surprise and Eden’s Red River Grill is a good example of that. It’s worth the drive to Eden for a casual-style meal at Red River Grill, and we’ll give the restaurant a good endorsement.
Overall Grade: 90 (A)
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