Q: negative

A: My review is for lunch, not dinner, so I suppose it's unfair to make a sweeping judgment based on one meal, but overall I was not impressed. They did an amazing job marketing this place. Their website is professional - full of beautiful food photography and their Facebook page is active and lively. The restaurant itself is modern, bright and nicely decorated. But all of this did not translate to the plate. Myself and two friends had lunch at Block & Grinder on 4/10/13. We had heard they had been open for a few weeks but we decided to wait to make sure they were in their groove and everything was running smoothly. I had the house cured corned beef sandwich with fries (pommes frites). One friend had Henry's grilled cheese sandwich and the other had the B&G Burger. Theirs came with fries as well. The burger was to be cooked to medium, but came out too rare. It was not very well seasoned and my friend said it was a little bland. Her fries were ice cold. My corned beef tasted very good but it was basically 3 or 4 slices of corned beef (maybe 3 oz.), slapped on a piece of bread with a tiny smear of mustard - that's it. Something this simple and plain should not cost $10. At least put some slaw or a small salad on the side. I also received ice cold fries. The last dish was the grilled cheese. I didn't think pear and cheese would work together, but they did. It was actually the best thing any of us had and saved this review from being one star. Again, more cold fries were served with this final plate. Cold fries are unforgivable from a place trying to pass itself off as "made to order." I'd rather wait another 5 minutes for everything to be cooked fresh and come out hot than have fries sitting around in the A/C while the rest of the food cooks. We assumed they would be swamped so we arrived at 11:40 (they open at 11:30) but there was only one other table that had people - it was a larger group of about 7 but the rest of the place was empty and never really filled up the 45 minutes we were there. I think what is disappointing is the fact that our food got cold despite there not being a rush and there were at least 3 or 4 servers. Also, I get that they want to try to be high-tech, but using an iPad to take our orders and also run our credit cards right at the table is awkward. Instead of saving time it actually took more time because our server had to hunt and peck the order in rather than just writing it down and punching it in at a register the traditional way. Also, his credit card reader didn't work on the iPad so he had to go run our bills the old fashioned way regardless. Cool idea, but poor execution. Finally, if I were to judge B&G solely on taste, I'd give them a 3.5 but there's room for improvement in that department and there's so much more to the overall dinning experience that needs improvement as well. Cold and undercooked food is a huge negative in my book. Not a great first impression but hopefully they will read this and improve. I'll give it another shot in a few weeks.

Q: positive

A: Can you say "yummmm"? Went for a Reuben - the only place in town I will order one. But got distracted by this Chompies French Toast with caramelized banana chunks, whipped cream, OMG! I couldn't even finish it! Had to take half home to share with my son! Now I've done it! We are going there for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Q: negative

A: Unless you plan on buying a $5000.00 bike or need to overpay for a small selection of limited products, don't bother coming here. My first experience with BR was several years ago when I decided to get into the sport of cycling. I went to this local bike shop to get some advice on what kind of bike I should get. As soon as the guy heard me say I had a sub-$1000 budget, I was treated like a 2nd class citizen. I promptly left My second experience came this past fall when I was suckered into buying a groupon for a $25 tune-up special. Within 2 minutes of calling the shop to set up an appointment, I was told I would probably need an upgraded tune-up that would cost extra. Really? You haven't even seen my bike yet and I didn't mention any malfunctioning components. When I drop off my bike, the mechanic spends about 5 minutes looking it over and tells me that I'll need a new chain and a new rear cassette. I tell him to do the tune-up, replace the chain and that's it. No mention of the upgraded tune-up at this point. When I return to pick my bike up, I'm handed a invoice for the new chain and of course $50 more for the upgraded tune-up. After I pointed out that I never agreed to an upgraded tune-up, the mechanic asked his boss how to "correct this guy's mistake". I promptly pointed out that the mistake was his and I refused to pay for anything I didn't authorize. I WILL NEVER SPEND ANOTHER DIME IN THIS PLACE!

Q: positive

A:
Had street tacos.. really good!