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The
Real Chow BabyAll Gimmick, No Substance
4/28/05 |
I
hate it when a restaurant puts all of its stock into
being gimmicky. Why? Because they usually put little effort
into the details that are most important to me – for
instance – the food.
Also, I really hate standing in long dreadful lines. And, doing
so while watching the mass population try and find their way
around a buffet style set-up filled with Asian ingredients to
be mixed by them, can be a pain-stricken experience. Kinda’ like
witnessing a vasectomy, close up.
During all four visits, I found myself on edge about what
others were tossing into their bowls. “NO, not the hot
mustard sauce you moron!” I yelled to myself as a young,
hip twenty-something ladled what must have become a hideous
conconction into her bowl.
Then I blurted, “What the….?” , as an obviously
stoned guy covered his noodle and vegetable bowl with Soy sauce,
Thai BBQ sauce, Hoisin Lime sauce and Red Curry sauce before
dousing it to death with Sweet & Sour sauce. But to his credit,
he was the only one smiling, “Dude, the higher I get, the
better this stuff tastes.” He laughingly said to his friend,
who, by the looks of his eyes had been toking from the same peace
pipe.
Back to reality, the process at The Real Chow Baby is, well,
too process-y and much more work than my lazy ass would
like to pay to do, especially for mediocre at best food. I don't
care how good you think you are at tossing a plate together;
the quality tastes comparable to that of Kroger’s frozen
section. Pork is tough and flavorless, tuna squares feature a
strong, foul taste (consider yourself warned) and calamari chews
like circular strands of bubble gum.
To add insult to injury, the whole explanation of this miserable
process takes up every single moment of your server’s time
and every ounce of his or her energy. As a result, drinks are
never refilled and when I wanted soup and they mistakenly brought
me stir-fry, my server was too busy breathlessly explaining the
incredibly long-winded process to a different table and had two
more anxiously awaiting. |
Price Range: Apps
and Desserts: $6 Lunch: $7.99 (All you can eat)
Dinner: $11.99 (all you can eat)
Hours:
Mon - Fri (lunch):
11:30 - 2:30pm
Mon - Thur: (dinner): 5 - 10:30pm
Fri & Sat: 5 - 11:30pm
Sunday: 5 - 10pm
Address and Telephone: 1016 Howell Mill Rd Suite
A, Atlanta Tel: 404-815-4900
Notes:
*Too much of a process for mediocrity
*Be patient, service can't keep up
*If you think the food you threw together was
less than impressive, then don't bother with the apps
that come from the kitchen.
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For god sakes, could somebody please print the damn instructions
and place them at every table, or just drop them with the
menu. This isn't rocket science, folks. It's simple food
cooked over an intimidating high temp flattop, which by the
way, caused my meat to shrivel just from the sight of it.
But hats off to the cooks for not incinerating my food and
for cooking my noodles separate from my proteins, saving
them from becoming a soggy mass as I admittedly imagined
would happen.
From The Kitchen
Dishes prepared by the kitchen aren't the way to go at The Real
Chow Baby – thick pillow-y dumplings filled with
a bland mixture of ground pork then topped with overly sweet
apple chutney is probably the best of the bunch. Fried Calamari
was too chewy and arrived more than judiciously battered.
I'll just leave all of you create-your-own stir-fry fans with
this: Why?
email: tom@atlantacuisine.com |
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