Addington Hills

Oh crap, I knew this would eventually come to pass.  Someone finally got a brilliant idea and has selected a healthier option for our lunch destination.  Who the heck was this genius?  You guessed it, the only semi healthy person in the group.  That little b……!  Just because someone is watching their waste line so they can fit into that skirt they keep hidden in their closet, I have to suffer, what is this world coming to?  Do they not realize that a person’s body can go into shock when you suddenly introduce healthy food into a diet that has consisted of only fried food for so long.  Alright let’s get serious and talk about food.  Well on this excursion we set out to Addington Hills Café at 295 East Emmett.  This café is situated right underneath a flower shop at that location.   I have to say that it was not at all what I was expecting.  The décor within this establishment is what would be expected of tea or coffee house, with bright colors but dim lighting.  It is somewhat small but did not appear to be bustling during the lunch hour.  There menu consisted of salads, sandwiches, soups, wraps and cheesecake or cake for desert.  As for what I ordered, I got a mug of buffalo chicken soup ($2.99) and the baja chicken sandwich which came with a table spoon or so of pasta ($8.29).  The soup ordered was a decent soup but nothing spectacular, I thought that it should have more bite to it for a buffalo soup.  As for the sandwich, I thought it was definitely quality sandwich.  It was actually a Panini with Grilled chicken, crisp bacon, avocado, pepper jack cheese and chipotle mayonnaise on focaccia bread.  The sandwich is larger than those served at Panera Bread and overall may have just been better than my favorite sandwich from there, the frontega chicken sandwich.  As for the pasta salad, I thought that it was the good standard pasta salad, however, I feel as though if you are providing a staple food such as pasta salad you should do something to make that dish your own.

Overall:  Food:  3.75 Stars : Was good and did not disappoint.  I was pleased with the selection.

             Service:  4 Stars:  Service was prompt and above average but that is not hard in that type of establishment.

FBAB

Heading out for our adventure is was hard not to notice that we were a bit under weight. The Fat Redhead could not make the trip this week, and the shocks on my car thank him.  Apparently he was placed on restrictions and told he could only go to and from work, but let’s not open that can of worms.  We allowed the “wee one” to choose this week, as we were tired of hearing “pick me, pick me” over and over again (insert Shrek and Donkey joke here).  In his infinite desire to loose weight he chose Addington Hills on

Emmett St.

in Battle Creek.  I will not lie I was a bit surprised when we entered.  We came in through the Flower shop upstairs.  It was full of flower garden figurines, and other collectibles.  Overall, it had a very elegant atmosphere.  As we went downstairs we were greeted by a hostess who took us to our table.  I could not help but notice we were the only males in the Café and they tended to a much classier clientele than we were used too.  It did cross my mind that I had accidentally joined the Red Hat Society.   It definitely had an upscale coffee house feel to the place.

It did not take long for us to remember our comrade we left behind when we observed that they carried his favorite Coke beverage MelloYello.  The waitress was prompt and informative.  She was timely with refills, and gave the specials and desserts from memory.  SERVICE 3.5 stars.

I started with a Buffalo Chicken soup, as I absolutely love spicy food.  The soup was good, but not what I expected.  It had potatoes, and carrots, and greens in it along with the chicken, but for me it simply missed the mark as it lacked spice and tasted like they tried to force the hot sauce on the soup rather than letting it meld properly.  Great idea, but poor execution…Soup $2.99.  As an entree I had a Buffalo Chicken and Bleu wrap (yeah, I like spicy food) which was $7.59.  I must say, this was the best wrap I have had in a long time.  What an excellent blend of greens, chicken and bleu cheese.  The wrap had a more than generous portion of bleu cheese in it.  The bleu cheese along with the buffalo sauce were the dominate flavors.  It was served with a side of pasta salad, and the only bad thing I can say about the pasta salad it that there wasn’t enough of it.  It had a very distinct parmesan cheese flavor, but was very creamy.  I could have made a meal out of the pasta salad alone.  FOOD 4 stars (brought down by the soup)

After eating my lunch I sat in reflection and realized I had eaten an entire meal without consuming any fried food.  I started to sweat and realized I was going through grease withdrawal.  It has been a long time since I have had one, but that is definitely what I was experiencing.  In a panic I summoned the waitress and had her bring me a dessert, as to calm down my current state of panic.  She brought me a piece of Hazelnut mocha cake.  I was good and did a good job of calming me down.  The cake itself was a three layered cake and was very dense.  It was somewhat of a mix between cake and shortbread, but not overly dry.  Between teach layer of cake was a thick layer of fudge, and had a hazelnut frosting with crushed hazelnuts along the base of the cake. All in all, the cake was good, but not worth the $6.00 price tag, but hey it did the job and very well may have saved my life.

OVERALL 3.75 stars.  Pricing was comparable, but the dessert was over-priced.  The service was good, and overall I would be willing to return (but they need more fried food to prevent future catastrophes).

~TFM~

Well let’s start off by saying the atmosphere was that of a place you would take someone special’ Very nice. That being said, the 4 fatties and a midget minus one fatty, rolled in and was seated immediately by very friendly staff. The mood music was nice and was at the perfect volume.  Our orders were taken promptly and the food was served promptly.  What more could you ask for? I ordered the days special, Philly panini with pasta salad.  The Philly was very good and well seasoned with great flavor.  The pasta salad was very good as well.  It’s hard to say anything negative about Addington Hills Café but if I had to find something, it would be the portion of the pasta salad.  To me, the portion was but a taste to tease you with and should have been doubled if not tripled.  I didn’t leave hungry as the sandwich was satisfying but come on, Don’t Tease with the pasta please.

Service- 5 stars

Food 4.5 stars

Biggin

We went to a fancy sandwich/salad place.  I had a chicken salad which was good, but not what i expected.  I anticipated a grilled piece of chicken on a salad, but got chicken salad on a salad.  guess it would help if i was tall enough to reach the menu instead of having the bald freak read it to me.  I also had a piece of chocolate cheesecake (so much for watching my figure...if i don't be careful i will end up looking like the rest of these fatties)  the salad was good, but the chicken salad was bland.  I did enjoy the dried cherries and walnuts.  The cheesecake was insanely rich.  I was soo hyper the rest of the day that  I hit my head several times on the bottom of my desk trying to jump into my char.  Anyway it was good, and i will go back.

tvc