Good fried dumplings (still the best in Austin, I think) and a vast menu: Tien Hong may have the largest selection of dishes in Austin. (It does make you wonder, though: if I actually ordered tripe in black bean sauce, would they bring it to me, or just tell me they're out? I don't know, and I'm afraid to try.)
Tien Hong also appears to have ironed out most (but not all) of their waitstaff problems: the service was a considerable improvement over the last time I was there.
Good food, vastly superior to Chinatown (and cheaper), but still inferior to Pao's on both fronts.
A firm fixture as the second-best Chinese place in Austin (behind Pao's Mandarin House), Tien Hong displays admirable consistency, proving a good choice for the first Saturday Dining Conspiracy of Y2K. (Insert your own lame joke about non-Y2K compliant fortune cookies here.) The pan-fired dumplings remain a favorite, and our large party (Dwight, Mike, Ann Anonymous Diner and Friend, Todd Hartmann and Andrew "Smashing Concrete" Wimsatt) devoured two plates (one pork, one chicken) in record time. The BBQ ribs are good as well as a good value, featuring five to plate rather than the usual four, though perhaps a tad less tasty than Pao's competing offering. And I heard no complaint from fellow diners about their entrees (my spicy lamb was quite satisfactory). Service was attentive and unobtrusive, including multiple timely Dr Pepper refills. My impression is that Tien Hong's dishes are still less inventive than those at Pao's; however, given the large menu, it may just be that I haven't tried the right dishes yet. Still, extremely good Chinese food in a restaurant that has the virtue of being open on major Occidental holidays.
Another one of Austin's great dining bargains survives intact.
It is amazing, though, how many crawfish there are in a pound. It is also amazing how tough the little suckers are to shell, and how little meat there is in them once you do get them shelled. (Well, at least the ones the Boiling Pot gets: this may be yet another supply problem, and perhaps crawfish in season are better. When is the crawfish season, anyway? Is there one anymore, or are commercial crawfish farm-raised year round now?)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That seems to be The Boiling Pot's motto, and they do a good job of sticking to it.
By and large the food is good, plentiful, and cheap for what you get. However, I couldn't help but notice that my King Crab legs were more expensive than those at Red Lobster or Castaways, but seemed to have less generous portions. had I known this in advance, I would have ordered a double order of the regular crab legs and still not have paid as much. Still, for the portions and price, The Boiling Pot is hard to beat.
Lawrence was in Houston for the holidays.
I'm bored with Carrabba's.
As I said last year, they really need more items, and more varied items, on the menu. Further, with the exception of some of the daily specials (i.e. the pork chops), the menu items seem, frankly, overpriced.
My understanding is that Carrabba's started out as a popular Houston restaurant, with one location, and grew into chain status. While they certainly haven't made the same mistakes that other chains (Spaghetti Warehouse) or non-chains (the emphatically not recommended Vinnie's) have, I think Carrabba's is at the "re-invent yourself or die" level on the evolutionary ladder.
As you might expect for a chain, the Carrabba's in Lincoln Village differs little from the one on 183 to which we've made previous excursions. The mussels are tasty and plentiful, the service is very good, and I very much enjoyed my pork chop. Also, the alfredo sauce seems somewhat better (and less cheesy) than that found at the 183 location. I also like the spicy sauce for the calamari, but large slices of peppers are far from ideal for a dipping sauce (though they would be fine pureed or rendered as a salsa).
All in all, I like Carrabba's better than Mama Mia's, but not as much as Reale's. Probably the best Italian place you're going to find in Austin along I-35.
By royal decree of the person who keeps the web pages, this was not a formal conspiracy.
Besides, I've run out of things to say about the Filling Station: if you really want to read a review, you can check out previous comments.
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