Tossing the Rules Away at Logan’s

Tired of your same old boring restaurants where proper etiquette ruins your night? Why not venture off to a place where you can chuck your peanut shells right on the floor? If you travel to Roanoke and eat at Logan’s Roadhouse, a restaurant located on the outskirts of Roanoke’s Valley View Mall, you can ‘toss’ all the rules away while eating.

A roadhouse is an inn or restaurant on a city’s limits serving food or liquor, and dancing. While dancing is acceptable, because of limited space, the neon jukebox of red, orange and yellow will only provide adequate beats for dinner.

Two foot steps into this place and you will recognizes why Logan’s Roadhouse is a must stop. Logan’s is a place providing big wooden barrels filled to the rim with peanuts, no limit on peanut consumption, and shells all over the floor. This almost makes you feel young again, just tossing the shells on the floor for someone else to clean up. Everyone remembers throwing crumbs on the ground in the toddler years; why not relive the glory days?

After getting passed the landmines of peanut shells, you are seated and you can’t help but smell the warm buttered rolls passing you by. Filling yourself up on peanuts while waiting in line only leads to an endless supply of rolls, dripping with butter, baked fresh every fifteen minutes. Unfortunately after you are already full, you’re compelled to make a decision about your meal .

At this typical roadhouse, ribs, hamburgers, and steaks are merely the tip of the iceberg. The meats are moist and flavorful, the vegetables are crisp and full of seasoning, and the sides do not fail to please the mouth. Whether you’re a salad eater to a carnivore, Logan’s has it all.

Service is an ‘A+,’ unless it’s a typical weekend. The two busiest days of the restaurant week, Friday and Saturday, wreak havoc on this popular place. Unless you like waiting in a line for over an hour, calling ahead for a reservation is essential on a weekend.

However, the servers don’t let a busy night slow them down. Refills on bread and drinks come just as quickly as you finish them. The amount of bread and peanuts unfortunately is a cover-up for the service of the food. No matter how many cooks they have preparing food, a delay is almost certain.
Slow food service is the price that is paid for high quality food. “Grilling to perfection” is a motto Logan’s takes seriously. The wait for food is long but your taste buds won’t regret a minute of it after you bite into your meal. If you don’t mind waiting an extra fifteen minutes to twenty minutes to get your scrumptious food, Logan’s is the place for you.

A quick trip down interstate 81 to Roanoke and you can be living like a kid again. Throwing the rules on the floor along with your peanut shells, takes you back to the glory days of being young. If you are planning this trip on a Friday or Saturday be sure to call (540)-265-7055 to request a reservation just to be safe. Logan’s Roadhouse is the perfect place to relax, listen to country music, and stuff your stomach until you explode.

Gillies Provides A New Flavor Of Blacksburg

Having slept through breakfast for years I finally gave the meal a chance. A few friends joined me to eat at Gillies, a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Blacksburg rumored to have delicious breakfasts. We thankfully walked to Gillies because parking along College Avenue is definitely anything but favorable or easy. Luckily, it's within walking distance of campus.
Once we entered the restaurant, we realized our meals would be anything but ordinary. Gillies is decorated in a hippie-Bohemian mixed style. The ambiance was calming and relaxed with similar music that blended into the background so it wasn't too intruding. The atmosphere remained laid back, and apparently the cleaning service did too. Gillies, at a glance, seems fairly well kept, but crumbs on the table and floor did not go unnoticed by me or my friends.
We were seated quickly due to everyone tailgating for the game that day; the place was somewhat deserted. Our waitress accommodated us happily, but it seemed no one gave her a dress code. The servers dressed in slightly grungy, very dirty clothing. There were stains all over the waitress's and cashier's aprons which made the workers appear very unclean. Our server was very helpful and pleasant, but she took her time when delivering our drinks and food. Also, she placed our bill on the table soon after we began eating which made us feel rushed to finish.
Luckily, the food made up for the mediocre service and ambiance. I ordered French toast, a simple, common meal. I figured you can't go wrong with French toast, and I'm happy to say Gillies did provide me with fluffy, moist French toast. The toast came with whipped cream and strawberries on top, but the customer has other options in that area. However, the waitress didn't bring out any syrup for the toast, and she didn't check on us so I ate the dish slightly unsatisfied. The French toast did come out very warm and fresh. I definitely enjoyed the meal; it was full of flavor and the strawberries were some of the best I've ever tasted.
I queried my company asking what they thought of their meals. They all had ordered a plethora of dishes all with unusual names. Only one friend seemed to have a problem with his meal, but this was only for the fact that he didn't realize the restaurant was vegetarian, and he had wanted meat. Everyone else seemed to thoroughly enjoy their meals commenting on the unique flavors and combinations of the various dishes.
Overall, I would recommend Gillies to someone who wants some hearty, vegetarian meals and doesn't mind mediocre service. The restaurant is definitely in a great location for walkers and is very intriguing to customers walking by on the street. With reasonable prices, Gillies has definitely become a well-rounded, pleasing restaurant.

Applebee's Review

I would give the Applebee’s in Christiansburg a 7.5 out of 10 for an overall good experience. It was about a 10 minute drive from campus, making it easily accessible to students here at Virginia Tech. I went to Applebee’s with my roommate Keith and his girlfriend Laurie. We arrived before the dinner rush and were seated immediately at a table in the bar area rather than a booth because the size of our party.

Applebee’s was very clean, but I think that was due to the fact we arrived there before the dinner rush. The dining area is decorated with pictures and items from all eras and locations across the nation. Some items include sports pictures, old sports equipment, and pictures of famous people. I don’t think there was any open wall space. All of the decorations made great conversation pieces and definitely made the restaurant more appealing. The menu is very easy to read and it includes concise descriptions of the food with many mouthwatering pictures, and neatly organized text. I ordered the Southwest Chicken Fajita Wrap, but was disappointed because by the time my dish was put on the table it had already cooled off. All of the food my party ordered must have taken longer to prepare, which probably left my food sitting under one of those warming lights or on a kitchen counter somewhere. In my opinion, the cook should have accounted for the time differences in his preparations and made my dish after everyone else’s was in the oven.

I was a little disappointed by that, but our waitress was extremely nice and attentive. She got us several refills and brought Keith and Laurie’s appetizers out very quickly. Then, the main dishes came. My Southwest Chicken Fajita Wrap tasted fine, but it would have been much better warm. The flavor was great because the chicken was grilled so tenderly and the chipotle dressing mixed in the wrap compliment the chicken perfectly. I also wished the wrap had been a bit bigger because it did not leave me full when I was done eating. The rest of my party ordered deserts, but since I was not in the mood for dessert I just sat and waited for them to finish. It took almost 10 minutes for the waitress to bring out their brownie sundaes. The reason she gave us was that they had to bake the brownies fresh because they had no more ready to go in the back.

It’s a great family restaurant and is perfect for parties because they have a few large booths in the corners of the restaurant. My dinner was a decent value for the price I paid, but I would have been willing to pay a little more if the wrap was larger and had more filling inside. I have been to several other Applebee’s and they are all decorated with the same memorabilia and use the same menus. I have ordered different dishes each time and they have all been good. I would recommend he Applebee’s restaurant chain to anyone here on campus and when I get some extra money I would go back and try another one of their “All American” dishes.

By: Jonathan Follmer

Restaurant Review: Backstreet’s Pizza and Restaurant

When you leave Backstreet’s Pizza and Restaurant do not forget to ask your waiter for a “to go” box. This is because at Backstreet’s Pizza they are not only concerned with quality, but also quantity. It all started when my friends and I came for our first visit to Virginia Tech. We were starving after a four hour drive from home to visit the campus, and my friends and I decided to try the first restaurant that caught our eyes; Backstreet’s Pizza. The restaurant is located at the corner of Washington Street and Main Street, making it very accessible to Virginia Tech students, only about five minutes walk from campus. As you walk in the door, the first thing you notice is Backstreet’s authentic Italian atmosphere, even down to the classical Italian music playing in the background. You also notice, and immediately appreciate, the cleanliness of the restaurant, as the hostess sits you in your booth. The service is friendly and knowledgeable. Even though we did only order a pizza, the waitress knew what went into all of the dishes, and how they were served. The pizzas arrived in no time at all and we immediately knew that we had made a wise decision. The pizzas were obviously freshly made, as it was difficult to even cut a slice off and not surrender your cheese to the next piece. The waitress frequently checked back refilling our drinks and making sure everything was alright. After we had finished all that we could of the pizza, she brought us our bill, and put the pizza in a “to go” box for us, yet another thing that sets Backstreet’s apart from the other local Italian restaurants. I have been back to visit Backstreet’s many times and have never had to wait for a table. For this reason, there is no need to make reservations if you plan on dining in. Backstreet’s would also be a perfect place to bring a large group because they have multiple rooms for hosting large parties. If you are ever in the mood for great Italian dishes I recommend you try Backstreet’s Pizza and Restaurant.