Best Of MenuPages Reviews: Notes From Thanksgiving Day

We may not do reviews at MenuPages, but our legions of users are all over that. Here are four of interest.

Who in their right mind would log on to MenuPages and write a restaurant review on Thanksgiving? Four obsessive foodies, that’s who! In honor of their dedication to the spread of restaurant knowledge on an important eating holiday, let us give thanks and run their reviews.

The first ball up is “jackie,” who wrote about Honky Tonk Barbeque at the absurd hour of 6:12am:


off the beaten path, doctored bottled barbecue sauce, strange buns, generic barbecue beans, right out of the can, and to top things off, Jewel potato salad!!!…that aside, the meat was good, but come on, we need a better package. You will have to do more to get me back here….


The Jewel potato salad, if true, is insulting. A barbecue spot will neglect the sides at its extreme peril!

At 8:08am (did these people have to go to work?), “Russ” give us the good, bad and ugly on Thai Bowl, in a review titled “Come for the food…”:


…but not much else. I personally have not had a terribly long wait there, but my average wait time is longer at Thai Bowl than at Bamee (30 minutes vs. 10 minutes). There is no atmosphere to the restaurant; it looks like a Hot Dog/Burger place. But the food is so good that I don’t mind the wait and lack of ambience. If I want atmosphere with my Thai, I go to Dao.
The food really is worth it, hands down. Great big servings of delicious food and on the cheap; perfect for campus living. I highly recommend the Basil Chicken; it is the best I have had in the city.


Things we are thankful for: properly used semicolons. We don’t mind the Bamee and Dao namedrops because they are in the name of fair comparison, as opposed to the more frequently encountered thoughtless denigration.

At 12:53pm, “Z” wrote a review for Maravillas, claiming in the review title that it’s the “Best Mexican in Hyde Park” (the competition being Pepe’s). Z elaborates:


Maravillas has a great selection of semi-traditional Mexican dishes, and a few classic tex-mex favorites. The guacamole is creamy, spicy and top notch, and the chips are clearly hand made, as they often come to the table warm, buttery, and brittle. The only flaw might be the relative lack of vegetarian options, but the avocado burrito and cheese enchiladas always do me right. And best of all, it’s cheap.


Even still, Z only gives the food a 3.5 and the service a 3. By dint of the numbers, this comes across as a balanced review. Also, “warm, buttery, and brittle” sounds dirty.

Finally, at 1:17pm, “Anonymous” pens a paean to Mataam Al-Mataam:


I love the feeling of knowing I don’t have to settle on eat nasty food just because it’s 3 in the morning. I love knowing that Mataam Al Mataam, which translated to English means “Restaurant of Restaurants,” is open and have some of the best middle eastern food you can get 24 hours of the day. Some people might call the place “ghetto,” however, I find it to be very traditional and full of character. I, especially, love when I see all the old school Assyrian guys playing “Kon-Khan” and using the hidden slot machines in the back corner of the room. The shawirma is mouth watering, the kefta is phenomenal, and the chicken is full of flavor. The salad is fresh and awesome at all times of the day. The soups or stews that come with the plate are a meal of their own. I especially love the white bean soup and pour it all over the rice for a true Assyrian touch to the dish. Whenever I see the owner Camil, pronounced like “Camel”, walking around with the brounette version of the Hulk Hogan hair dew, I know I’m at a special place. That’s exactly what Mataam-Al-Mataam is, a very special place! You have got to try it and NOW!!!


Even still, Z only gives the food a 3.5 and the service a 3. By dint of the numbers, this comes across as a balanced review. Also, “warm, buttery, and brittle” sounds dirty.

Finally, at 1:17pm, “Anonymous” pens a paean to Mataam Al-Mataam:

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Best Of MenuPages Reviews: Notes From Thanksgiving Day