Memorial Day Weekend 2018 / 'Trying new restaurants'

This year over the Memorial day weekend my wife and I decided to try a few restaurants that we hadn't previously tried. We, of course, visited some favorites. This blog post, however, is about the three 'new to us' places that we went to.

1. J.O.E and POP'S Sub Shoppe:

Having already tried, and liked, Mama's Chicken Kitchen which is in the same building, we decided to give J.O.E. and POP'S a try. We weren't necessarily in the mood for a sub, we basically just wanted to try something new and this was the closest place to us when we made that decision.
We had been wanting to give it a try since it had opened though, so this worked out well.

We ordered a regular size Philly Cheesesteak and a regular size Chicken Cheesesteak. Both had grilled onions and white American cheese. Each sub was cut in half so we both took a half of each. We also spilt an order fries. What I can say is although we weren't really hungry for a sub when we walked in, by the time we were finished we were already looking forward to coming back soon to order the same thing again! We do like to try cheesesteaks when available anywhere we go, and these really held their own to any we've had. If I were forced to pick a favorite between the steak and chicken, I'd probably give the steak the slight advantage, where as my wife would probably give the edge to the chicken. If you can, just try them both that way you can judge which is the better of the two and you can let me know your favorite. The fries were very good as well, so be sure to get an order of those with your sandwich too.

2. NO WAY JOSÉ'S  Cantina:

Unfortunately the food pictures I took while here didn't really turn out so well. I can assure you though that the lack of getting good pictures was the only thing I was disappointed with here.

Although, the salsa that was brought to our table with the chips wasn't my wife's favorite,  I thought it was some of the best I'd ever had. Unlike the salsa at most other Mexican restaurants, this salsa was extremely chunky with lots of onions. Now, this may, or may not, be to your liking. I absolutely loved it! As far as our dinner order, my wife ordered the Baja shrimp burrito which is a flour tortilla filled with marinated Baja style Shrimp. It also comes with Mexican rice, refried black beans, grilled onions and peppers, and topped with grilled pineapple, Pico De Gallo, and sour cream sauce.  I ordered the Jose's Baja Chicken and Shrimp which was a grilled chicken breast topped with Baja-style shrimp, Pico De Gallo,  and Chedder Jack cheese. It was served with grilled vegetables,  Mexican rice, and refried beans. The portions were large and the taste was outstanding!

Our first time here couldn't have been much better. We're going to try some of the other Mexican restaurants in Gatlinburg, but our standards have been set pretty high now! We will be back much sooner than later to try out some other menu items....perhaps saving room for some fried ice cream next time!

3. GOOD EATS:

We decided to eat here based on the fact that they were not busy at all and every one else had 20-30 minute wait times. Also, since we hadn't previously ate here we thought this to be the perfect opportunity.

I ordered the gator bites. The gator bites themselves were ok. I thought it was strange though that they were served with celery,  carrots,  and an orange sauce that is typically served with a Chinese meal.

My wife order the Monte Cristo, which is ham, turkey and Swiss cheese served on French toast that's dipped in a pancake type batter. It's grilled, topped with powdered sugar and served with a raspberry dipping sauce or jelly of some sort. She thought it was.....ok. It sounds better than it actually tastes according to her.

We both felt (meh) about the food and experience there. The place has such a weird vibe and decor. Also, the only other customers they had were a father and his son. Even though they weren't busy it took quite a while to get our food. Honestly the place was just OK. We probably won't go back unless we are extremely hungry and every other place has a long wait time. We had heard good things about GOOD EATS, but the place just wasn't for us. You might try it and absolutely love it. If you do give it a try, or have tried it already,  be sure to let me know what you think of it.

Well there you have it. Three 'new to us' restaurants that we tried out. Two were good and one was kind of a swing and miss. We will continue to go to as many places as possible , whether new or favorites,  and give an honest opinion of them all. Be sure to check back soon and if you have any comments feel free to leave them here or on twitter @GatlinburgLife

Thanks for reading!