Shortly after giving birth last September, we discovered that the baby is allergic to dairy. Once we realized why he was crying incessantly, I did what any mom would do and cut everything dairy out of my diet. This also means I cut most restaurants out as well. After a couple regretful attempts at Mexican and American eating establishments, we decided to stick with what we know to be safe-- Asian food! Luckily for me, that's one of my favorites, so I had zero objections to trying out a new place: Teriyaki Grill.
Atmosphere 4/5
There was nothing really overwhelmingly special about how the small strip mall restaurant was decorated. It had a few pictures of Japanese/Chinese (is there even a way to tell between the two?) words on the walls, as well as a giant gong with the name of the restaurant cut out of it. One thing I did love was the tables. They were more modern in style, being a neat translucent green and white. I didn't look at them and think Asian restaurant, I just really liked them. The very best part, however, were three framed pictures of a few of the dishes they offer. If I were to guess, I'd say the manager had gotten a new phone with an 8 megapixel camera and wanted to show off his cool, new toy... *face palm * A "good quality" camera does not a photographer make...
Service 2/5
The kitchen and register were manned by two late teens/early 20's girls who, although nice, didn't seem to really be thrilled about being at work. One was slightly preoccupied by whomever she was texting, and the other looked like she just wanted to make it through the day (even though the restaurant had only been open for the day for literally 5 minutes). My biggest complaint, however, was the large plastic jar with the taped-on, handwritten "tip" sign. Tips are for people who go above and beyond their job description to make the experience pleasurable for their guests. These girls didn't even bring the food out to us. They simply shouted out across the restaurant our order and left it on the counter for me to pick up myself. Sadly, the empty tip jar remained that way.
Food 4/5
Matt ordered his usual: the Teriyaki Bowl with combination beef and chicken, steamed vegetables, and brown rice. I got the Teriyaki pulled pork with noodles and vegetables. We both agreed that the steamed vegetables were cooked perfectly. Even the cabbage was great, having a slight crunch to it! Matt was very satisfied with his meal. I really enjoyed the flavors of mine (though in the future I'll probably stick with my usual order of rice instead of noodles), but I did end up having to grab an extra fork so I could shred my "pulled" pork myself. Don't get me wrong. It looked like they had attempted at pulling it, but with their overwhelming lunch rush of exactly one other person, I can understand they were in too much of a hurry to thoroughly get the job done.
Conclusion
Teriyaki Grill was exactly what I was hoping it would be: a nice lunch spot with a dairy-free menu for a reasonable price. The food was good, there was a lot of stuff to look at, and with my husband and son next to me, the whole experience was very enjoyable.
