And More We Got

There are quite a few differences between men and women.  Every joke has already been made.  But I'm not here to tell gender jokes.  I'm here to explain why I was at the Electric Cheetah two weeks in a row.  The explanation happens to hinge on a gender discrepancy.  The difference is that women buy stuff for each other and men don't.  I've never seen it happen, except with my brothers at Christmas.  I've never witnessed a man giving a gift to another man.  Maybe a round of golf or a beer for a birthday, but that's hardly tangible.  And I'm only assuming this is what they do.  Women do it all of the time.  Women make special parties to buy stuff for each other.  There's the wedding shower, the baby shower, and the at-home infomercial.    Tupperware started this trend years ago.  I remember accompanying my mom to one at the little ranch house about a half mile north of our house on Highway 83.  I loved that tiny little Tupperware bowl key chain.  We've come a long way from Tupperware.  There was the Longaberger basket.  Then it was Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, and At Home America.  Now it's Thirty-One.  We banded together to support Tina who was supporting her sister.  There was also baked brie. 

It didn't take long for us to realize that it had been a while since we were all in the same room together, at the same time, sans spouses and offspring.  We spontaneously decided to lunch at the Electric Cheetah.  Half of us had been.  The other half were eager to try it out.  It didn't take too long of a wait to secure a table for six.  Our server was a gentleman who was seemingly new to the job and quite possibly new to the industry as a whole.  He was confident that the newcomers would enjoy their experience.  He was confident that the Electric Cheetah offered the most superior menu in Grand Rapids.  Yet when pressed on specific menu items he wavered.  It seemed that everything had some room for improvement.  But we were already there and the wheel of brie couldn't hold us over any longer. 

Atmosphere: 4/5: The decor is still chaotic.  It's still loud.  But this time I used the restroom.  In a restaurant restrooms can make or break the atmosphere.  This is a big make.  The walls are covered ceiling to floor or floor to ceiling (I'm not sure where they started) in completed puzzles.  Don't know who did the puzzles.  It wasn't me.  I'm a little envious about that.  There was one puzzle that stood out among the rest.  It was a picture of Elizabeth and Jessica.    

Presentation:4/5: Everything looked good.  Everything was nicely spaced.  The Health Hutt was slightly overwhelming.

Technique: 4/5:  Kelly, sadly, was served a BLT with strong garlic aioli after specifically requesting the garlic aioli be left in the kitchen far from her taste buds and olfactory system.

Taste: 5/5: Everything was tasty.  The tomato saffron soup.  The grilled cheese. The charred chili portobello. Kely asked for an extra side of the Dijon vinaigrette for the sauteed quinoa.  We passed around the sweet potato fries long after we were full.   

Value: 4/5: This experience was much better than the last.  It looked better.  It tasted better.  It's still not cheap.  As far as sandwiches go in Grand Rapids, there's enough competition to keep the Cheetah humble.

Service: 3/5:  The service continues to be slow.  The server's wavering on whether the menu was excellent or sub-par was far more entertaining than it was disconcerting.
 

Overall Experience: 5/5: Our spontaneous group lunch was so much fun that we decided to make lunch a monthly tradition.  Unfortunately we learned that planning ahead is complicated and schedules refuse to coincide. I'm looking forward to the next at-home infomercial.  The next wheel of brie.  And the spontaneous lunch.