Lunch at Karla's Restaurant, New Hope, Pennsylvania

Karla's Restaurant
5W. Mechanic Street
New Hope, PA 18938
(215)862.2612
karlasnewhope.com

Overall Rating: 8.5

Well, since we live by the beach and it was Memorial Day, we decided to go in the opposite direction of the tourists, and headed out west to New Hope, Pa, one of our most favourite spots.
There are a large array of eateries to suit ones fancy, whether a yuppie, biker, old peep, or someone in between. The majority of places to eat are quite expensive ($19 for a regular ol' burger) but there are a smattering of reasonable pizza joints and El Taco Loco, which we almost tried, but were not feeling "Mexican" that day. So as we were trekking around, reading the menus posted out front, and when Dennis almost passed out due to intense hunger and the heat, we decided on Karla's.

Karla's menu was not huge, but appealed to both of us.....one a vegetarian, one a meatatarian.
(We noticed it said canines could not chill outside in the eating area.)

So we ventured in through one of the various openings, and true to our fashion, went in the wrong way. Oh well! The host was very pleasant, and laughed as we apologized for our confusion. We were able to sit wherever we chose. I wanted to sit in the openaire area so we would have a view of the main street, where we were watching some really wasted guy fall over drunk in the street. It was awesome. There was an air conditioning vent blowing on Dennis, so he was happy. Immediately a young girl came over, introduced herself, handed us menus, and served us ice water with lemon wedges. We knew what we wanted so we placed out order.

2 unsweetened iced teas.
Appetizer:  "Junkyard Fries"......a FABULOUS hill of fresh cut fries with cheeze wiz, hunks of bacon, jalapeno peppers, scallions and fried onions. Needless to say, we were in Heaven....(and yes- of course- I picked off the bacon!)

Crab cake sandwich with dijon horseradish spread $14.
 Home made with HUGE chunks of lump crabmeat, lettuce, tomato, onion.  Fresh, huge, fantastic. The bun was marvelous. Came with a side of home made pasta salad that was the BOMB, and of course- a pickle spear! Super tasty and refreshing. This meal is a straight up 10!
It was a little messy, so be sure to ask for extra napkins!

Applewood Bacon & Cheddar Burger $11- Home made patty, cooked to perfection, again- marvelous bun! Very big and filling! Came with a side of pasta salad and a pickle spear. Dennis was REALLY full after this meal!

Dessert- Slice of cheesecake. The presentation was great, and the taste? Even better! It was garnished with fresh bluberries and some sort of vanilla pudding tasting sauce. (I'm sure it has a fancy technical name, I just don't know what that may be!) We loved it.

The bathrooms are very small, but modern and most importantly CLEAN! We were happy!

Kid friendly? I'd say no. And I would also hope not. It's a pretty intimate space.
Dog friendly? Unfortunately the sign says NO :(
Would we go back? Absolutely YES, and everyone should go!

Points of interest:
European Cuisine
Cocktail lounge
Monday is "Locals Night" 5-10 P.m.
3 course meal, $12-$19
and live music.

Try it out- you'll like it!

Dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise Iselin, NJ

Location:
625 South US Highway One
Iselin, NJ 08830
Get Directions »
Phone: 732-636-3767
Fax: 732-636-3769

6.12.11
My Rating: 3.
Dennis' Rating: 5
Our blog guests rating:
Mom: 7 
Alex: 6
 After a full day at the Bronx Zoo with my Mom and Sister Alex, we were starving. Dennis suggested Champps, but went to the Woodbridge mall, forgetting it was in the Menlo Park Mall. So we drove around a bit, then decided on Cheeseburger in Paradise, for our Dad was a huge Jimmy Buffett fan. The exterior is super cute, and very colourful with outdoor seating and adirondak chairs for waiting customers. There must have been a dance recital in the area, due to the fact that there were many 4 year olds in ballet costumes, and hoards of babies screaming at the top of their lungs. We all had hunger headaches, so I asked the hostess (politely of course) if we could be seated away from the children. She gave me a NASTY look and said "yeah" with an attitude. If it were just Dennis & I- we would have walked out immediately. We do not tolerate attitide. So we sat down and took a look around. It was very cute, very beachy, and of course there was nothing but Jimmy Buffett music playing. The menu is more like bar food, appetizers, snacks. Not really the place for a "dinner" perse'.
Our waitress "Meredith" came over and introduced herself. She was soooo cute and friendly, like a cute little hamster you want to put in your pocket and take home. She is a great server, and was singing along with the music as she served us. She was just a ray of sunshine!

We ordered our drinks, and Dennis & I ordered salads as appetizers.

The salads were obviously from a bag, and most of the lettuce was brown, and turning.
There were shredded nacho type chips sprinkled on top, which only tasted of grease. They were awful.
I'd give the salads a zero if I could.

Entrees:
One thing I LOVE about this place, is that you can substitute a veggie or turkey burger at no extra charge!
I ordered the burger with guacamole and pepper jack cheese with a veggie patty of course. I didn't get fries for some reason, but she was happy to bring some out for me. Let's just say the only way I would eat this meal again if I were in a bomb shelter because the zombie apocolypse is upon us, and I may die if I don't eat. GET IT??? It was not a good meal. The guacamole had zero taste. Fries were extremely bland and all I could taste was the oil they were cooked in. YUCK! I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Dennis ordered the cajun burger which was on special. He hated it, but ate it. Then again, he'll eat just about anything! :)

Mom ordered the cheesesteak (well done) with onion straws.  It came out perfectly cooked, She LOVED it!(And she's hard to please!) She said next time she would get it without the cheese, for it was a bit too overwhelming. But she was very much in love with the onion straws.

Alex got the "Beach Burger" just a regular cheeseburger. And thought it was okay. She ordered a side of coleslaw which Meredith warned us contained almonds and pineapple, and Alex LOVED it!

Dessert: Dennis had the chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream,which was absolutely delicious.
Alex & I had the key lime pie. We found it to be extremely metallic in taste, but the crust and whipped creme on top were great. We were quite disappointed :(

So overall- we didn't like it. but the atmosphere was great.
Kid friendly- Yeah I guess...there were tons of kids there.
Dog friendly- No. Scrapper doesn't like kids, so he won't go there.
Would we go back? N O!!!!
Bathroom rating: 2
As dirty as your run of the mill nightclub. Dennis reported urine all over the floor. Eww

Directional

Located in the Plaza at Woodbridge
on the corner of US Hwy 1 and Gill Lane

Managing Partner

Michael J. Murphy Jr.

Hours of Operation

Monday: 11:30am - 12:00am
Tuesday: 11:30am - 12:00am
Wednesday: 11:30am - 12:00am
Thursday: 11:30am - 12:00am
Friday: 11:30am - 1:00am
Saturday: 12:00pm - 1:00am
Sunday: 12:00pm - 10:00pm

What's new in paradise

Happy Hour

Monday-Friday 4:00-7:00pm
$2.50 14oz. Domestic Drafts
$4.00 All other 14oz. Drafts
$3.50 Mojitos
$3.50 Classic Margaritas
$4.00 Well Drinks
$3.00 Sangrias

Late Night Happy Hour

                                                                                                         

Monday-Friday 9:00pm-Close
Saturday & Sunday 10:00pm-Close

Welcome to our blog- enjoy!

Hi Friends! Welcome to our first post! Just so you know, our rating system is 1-10 . With (of course) 1 being the lowest score, and 10 being the highest. If one of us scores a "5", and the other scores a "7", we shall meet in the middle at a "6". We will rate everything from location,  men's & women's rest rooms, their amenities and cleanliness, decor, vibe, menu selection, quality and portion size of the entree, appetizer and dessert, knowledge, professionalism and quality of service from the server,drinks, pricing, if they have a banquet facility AND if the featured restaurant is dog friendly.......and maybe kid friendly too!


Pietro's                 
South Street
Philadelphia, PA

OVERALL  RATING:  5

A cute exterior, outdoor dining available, although quite small, and loud if there are peeps chillin' on the sidewalk. The peeps were loud- so we asked for an interior table after all.
The interior is large, open and airy with huge ceilings, skylights, trees and a welcoming bar which is adjacent to the dining room, but has a separate feel. The restrooms are down a flight of stairs. Both the women's & men's restrooms were large and very clean and plain. Clean being the key word. We liked that!
 We were given menus and told that the server would be over shortly. While waiting, we decided what we were going to have. It was quite simple. We love pizza, they're famous for theirs, so that was what we needed to try. Our server was a tall young man who was very nice, but seemed absolutely terrified of us, although we're both  super friendly and smiling. We ordered mozzarella sticks with marinara, a large cheese pizza, which the server kept calling margherita pizza, but we told him we just wanted  a plain ol' large cheese pizza. We also ordered two unsweetened iced teas.
  The drinks came over- we took the initial sip, and gave each other odd looks. Dennis described the taste as "rotten pumpkin". I have to say, I agreed, but kept trying to ignore it, for I was thirsty. He poured about 8 sugars in his glass, and I drank mine til I just couldn't take it anymore...............and we ordered two Sprites. When the "Sprites" arrived, we were so excited- until the first sip. It was cheap lemon lime soda. Super sugary and quite offensive, like the cheap ass sodas from A&P my Mom used to buy when we had parties. G R O S S.   The appetizer arrives- 6 sticks. NICE- we're even, and don't have to split the last one. They were good, he LOVED the marinara, I thought it was mediocre at best. The pizza comes out- It's a straight up Margherita pizza, which I like, but Dennis has never had. I thought it was on the small side. It was tasty, and fresh, also coal fired, but that didn't make it exceptional. We had one slice left which we wrapped. Our server although still terrified, did come over multiple times to check on us which we really liked. He was quite attentive, but had a zombie like aura.
 On to dessert....... Cannolis! Our fave! They came out with fantastic presentation. A flower outline in chocolate sauce around the cannoli, fresh whipped creme and strawberry slices placed stylishly in front of the shell, mini chocolate chips sprinkled on the filling spilling  out of the shell. We were impressed with the presentation, and were excited to try them!  The taste was not like a regular cannoli. The filling was smooth, but had a hint of cocoa flavour. Good, but kind of bland, and only filled at the ends, no filling in the middle. That made us sad. We paid the bill, left an awesome tip, then bought some drinks at the nearest CVS!

Location: 9
Restrooms: 10
Decor: 9
Vibe: 4
Menu Selection: 8
Food quality: 10
Portion size: 5
Drinks: 1
Service: 9
Pricing: 5
Dog Friendly: No
Child Friendly: Yes
Banquets: Yes
Would we go again or reccomend: No