The Apple Core

Again, with the long drives.  Apparently we Fatties are trying to spread our wings and fly….stupid gravity.  Today’s we went to The Apple Core in Urbandale.  Upon entering the restaurant side it was a small quaint looking restaurant.  We seated ourselves, and our waitress promptly took our drink orders.  They had a huge dessert case with several different pies, brownies and cakes inside.  Although I did not try one, I am pretty sure I will come back sometime and try one…ok, two.  The waitress was pretty good.   She was friendly and was prompt with her service.  Appetizers came out quickly, and timing on the food was perfect.  She did a pretty decent job, but should familiarize herself with the menu better.  SERVICE 2.0 stars.

We started our experience as we often do…by asking the waitress several questions about the menu.  She stated that they hand dipped their onion rings, mushrooms and pickles.  There were also several signs out front for their New Mexican food.  I ordered some of the “mucho nachos” for the group to share.  The order was far from “mucho” and I really had more issues with it than you have time to read.  The chips were stale, and not just a little.  They were VERY stale.  I specifically asked the waitress what kind of cheese came on it, and she said shredded, but they could put a sauce on it if desired.  I told her I did not want the processed cheese sauce, and FOT even made a joke of my lack of love for the processed cheese.  The order arrived smothered with processed cheese, with a very small amount of shredded cheese on it.  There was a ton of refried beans and very little meat.  It came with a side of sour cream and salsa.  The salsa was house made, but should not be made in any house.  Of the four of us that dined we all could taste a very distinct beer taste in the salsa, and no you could never slip beer past me without me noticing…just saying.  Anyway, the beer did not work.  It turned into a carbonated salsa, with a bad aftertaste. No, I will not be ordering this again.

For an entrée I tried to play it safe and ordered “The Core club” with fries $7.99.  Even though it was made with basic deli turkey, and a honey ham it was a very good club.  It came on three pieces of Texas toast with good bacon.  I will say that I think the key to a good club is to not over cook the toast.  If is over cooked it makes a good sandwich taste dry.  This particular sandwich was toasted perfectly.  The fries were nothing special.  They were a basic crinkle cut that were average.  FOOD 2.5 stars

Overall, this is another place that had its positives and negatives.  Again, after the first impression of the desserts I was pretty excited about trying the food, and the club was good, but they could remove the Mexican food from the menu and it would not bother me.  Their chips were beyond stale, and that is a big disappointment when it comes to a $8.99 appetizer.  OVERALL 2.25 stars

The Apple Core Café in Level Park (Urbandale) is a business that seems to fly under the radar as it is sort of out of the way, but has been there for years, recently adding an ice cream stand as well.  The menu contained more than I expected.  I ended up ordering the onion ring appetizer and a grilled chicken wrap for my entrée.  The chicken wrap came with homemade potato chips.  The onion rings get good points for being hand cut and dipped. They were over-done, however.  The main meal arrived and the chicken wrap was excellent.  Could have used some more chicken but the flavor was good and the ingredients were fresh.  The homemade chips are a nice twist, but they didn't have much flavor to them.  Food gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Service was good.  While I was a little leery due to there only being 1 waitress for the entire place, she was very competent and did not forget things, was frequent on the refills, etc.  Service gets 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

Overall was a 3.25 star rating.  I would go back again and would definitely like to try some of the desserts which are homemade as well.

TFOT