Tony's Grill and Restaurant

PRETEND THERE IS A PICTURE HERE. I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE!

Tony's Grill & Restaurant: 2660 Washtenaw Ave., Ypsilanti

Tony's Grill is located in the building where the Country Squire Restaurant was (remember them?) across from Putt-Putt (or whatever it's called) on Washtenaw Ave (which we did golf at afterwards to burn some calories). It shares a parking lot with a strange little strip mall (then again, aren't all strip malls strange?) with a Thai place I'll end up eating at, a TCBY, a Hungry Howie's, some Hair Salon that looks closed and whatever else is in there. I do have to ask, though. What makes a grill separate from a restaurant. Is it because there is grilled food? Most restaurants have grills. At least American fare restaurants. Why is it called "Tony's Grill and Restaurant?" Do they want to accentuate the grill part? The world may never know. (Not that it matters; since my visit it has changed names again and is under new management. I am going to be a little annoyed if I have to go again because they've changed the menu.)

A cute little joint; I had eaten at the place when it was the Country Squire a few times. In fact, this is the place that I learned about the balancing of an egg on the Equinox. Christy tells me that this is not true, but I saw it and I'd like to believe in the fantasticalness of only being able to balance an egg upright on the first day of Spring. Plus, I'm too lazy right now to look it up. If any of you do, please only tell me the results if it upholds my fantasy idea of the Spring thing.

My Meal: Gyro & Fries. Diet Coke (damn, diet Coke)

My Cost: $9.88

Atmosphere: Okay, so we are the youngest people in this place (Christy and I) besides the 4-year old eating with her guardian (I'd say father but that would be presumptuous). A biker group comes in as we are eating. That pretty much sums up the atmosphere. It is exactly what you'd expect a restaurant like this to be like. Homey, outdated, 70's - 80's pop playing, little counter by the grill; you get the feeling. I do give it props for being really clean. My usual idea of these places are that they are not clean. Also, gotta say that the booths were really comfortable.

Service: Katey threw down, man. In a restaurant with about 20 customers, she was the only waitress working. She was buzzing like a little bee. Very friendly and may I add efficient (I am a fan of efficiency being in the biz myself). She seemed like a very sweet lady and made me smile every time she came to the table. Katey was not at all stressed out and very nice with all the commotion going on around her.

Taste: Best Gyro that I've had yet during this project. Oh wait, its the only Gyro I've had. Well, no mind. It was good. Great Tzatziki. Not a ton of onions and the gyro meat was not as rich as others I've had. All the food came out at the perfect temperature. I know that sounds silly, but think about it: how many times have you gone to a restaurant and had your fries smoking and your burger cold? It happens a lot. It takes talent to platter things to maintain proper temperatures. The fries were a bit disappointing in texture, but they tasted great. The Diet Coke was okay for Diet Coke.

Value: Not a lot to say about it. The food was what I expected and it cost about what I expected to pay in the midst of these soaring food price problems. The service was great and the food was good. Not a lot of coin shelled out. Sounds good.

Breakdown
Atmosphere 1 2 3 4 5
Service 1 2 3 4 5
Taste 1 2 3 4 5
Value 1 2 3 4 5

OVERALL: 3.75

ELEPHANT COUNT

Unfortunately, I cannot give Tony's more than 1 elephant in the fact that it no longer exists. I would have given it 2, but that would seem pointless as I can't ever go back again. It is true what they say, you can never go back.

Cheers................