The Pizza Parlor

Today’s adventure takes us to The Pizza Parlor located in Urbandale, MI.  Upon arriving we were greeted after walking through the door.  The greeter pointed to a table for six (as we had an added guest on this occasion).  Shortly after being seated our waitress took out drink orders and asked us if we wanted the buffet or menus.  To her surprise five of us opted for the menus…fat guys not eating at the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet must have been a relief for the cook.  As we looked through the menu I could not help but notice the décor.  It was a bit out dated and slightly confusing.  The place mates had Italy on them and gave the impression of an Italian restaurant, but the walls had old vinyl records and various decorations on them.  The menu however was almost half Mexican food.  Again, another restaurant having an identity crisis!!!  How many must this town have?

I placed my order for their Mexican sampler platter as I was told they had pretty good Mexican food.  As we waited for our food we engaged in conversation and watched the Detroit Tigers game that was being played on the establishments two very small and very old televisions.  The game was just starting and the Tigers were losing.  I reference the game because it was not until the 4^th inning that our food arrived….50 minutes.  Now for someone who has a lunch hour, and drove 10 minutes to get to the establishment I must admit that this did not settle well with me.  The waitress was ok, but spacey and rarely checked for refills.  If we were lucky enough to be graced with her presence she would simply ask one person at the table if they needed a refill as she had some pretty bad tunnel vision.  When she would turn to walk away the rest of us would ask for ours.  No, we were not being rude, just simply allowing her the opportunity to service the rest of the table, but she never did.  SERVICE 1.5 stars.

When the food arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the huge portions.  I opted for chicken, and had two chicken tacos, a mini chicken burrito, and a small order of chicken nachos.  The food was more than filling, and they did give you choices of two different kinds of cheese sauce (processed) or shredded cheese.  Obviously if you follow us much you will know I opted for the shredded cheese.  The food was average, but I must say I was disappointed in the flavor.  The chicken looked like it had been seasoned well, but the flavor told a whole different story.  It was rather bland.  The nachos were also average for me.  They were covered in cheese (probably more than what was needed for a good nacho), but again the main attraction the chicken was bland.  FOOD 2 stars

Overall I would say the Pizza Parlor was “just ok” for me.  We have tried far worse food, and had a few worse servers.  Definitely not somewhere you would want to go on your lunch hour.  The food was ok, but nothing I would write home about.  OVERALL 1.75 stars

~TFM~

Our weekly trip brought us to the Pizza Parlor in Level Park.  The business has been there for many years. It's a fairly simple and plain building, inside and outside.  I've eaten there several times over the years and have never really been impressed, and this trip was no exception.  I ordered the all you can eat salad and pizza bar.  I say all you can eat, but it was all you can eat if the waitress decides to see if you need another plate.  The waitress has to bring you your plate, they don't have a stack of plates at the bar itself.  Our waitress was pretty young and while she was nice enough, she was not suzy-on-the-spot with the refills and was gone for long periods of time.  The food itself was slow to come out, taking almost 45 minutes or so to come out.  It appears they may need some more staff on during lunch rush.  Service receives 1.5 stars out of 5 from me.

The salad bar was very small, having only about a dozen items to choose from, but it was fresh enough.  The pizza bar had about 4 pizzas to choose from.  While I do enjoy thin crust on pizza, the pizza was boring and uninspired consisting of basic toppings that were rather bland and flavorless.  I give my food 1.5 out of 5 stars and I would not eat the salad/pizza bar again. 

Overall, I would be very hesitant to eat there again as I have never left that restaurant telling myself I had a great, fulfilling meal.  Overall, I give it 1.5 stars out of 5.

*TFOT*

To make this short and sweet, I’ll get right to it.  The server was very nice but just as slow.  My glass sat empty for a solid 20 minutes.  I also had the Sampler but with beef and I must say it more than filled me up but the flavor was just average.  The 45 minute wait for our food was not acceptable when you’re on lunch break. Service 1.5 stars Food 2.5 stars.

Biggin

On 05/22/2012 we set our course for the Pizza Parlor in Battle Creek.  This is a place that came recommended by a fat guy supporter.  Let me tell you this I will never take advise from this person again and this is why:  Upon arriving at the Parlor you start to think “Hey, this may not be so bad”, but within minutes I was kicking my self for jumping the gun.  The place was dingy at best as décor goes and would be the last place to go watch a ball game unless you plan on bringing bino’s to see the 19” TV mounted in the corner.

Enough of décor, lets talk about service and food.  The service was done by what appeared to be a sole waitress(whom we saw maybe twice) and the cooking by one middle aged man who in his mid life crises must have decided to give up his job in insurance sales to fulfill his life long dream of running a pizza joint.  I hope he has insurance on this place because the wait for the food to come out of the kitchen is so long that a fat man could die of starvation before the food hits the table(seriously you better plan on at least a hour and a half).  As for the food, well it was served in jumbo portions, which is always good for a fat guy.  However, it would help if the food was even half decent.  Tip:   You can not make up for quality of food by piling more of it on a plate.  Example:  I got the Philly Calzone and it appears to be a large pizza folded in half.  It had sliced beef, cheese, onions, peppers and a philly sauce.  The problem was I found plenty of the cheese, some beef mixed in, with minimal peppers, onions or sauce.  I believe this could have been an alright dish if the cook balanced his ingredients out.  But unfortunately it would appear that would be the smallest of his problems as you can tell from the other fat guys.  That is why I give this place the following:

FOOD: 1.5 stars
SERVICE: 1

FBB