Yia Yia Mary's Greek Kitchen

I had never eaten Greek food before but decided to try it when I realized Yia Yia Mary's is owned by Pappa's. I have been impressed with all of their restaurants except for their barbecue.

We ate here on the Saturday before Christmas.  We were seated promptly.  Our waiter asked if we had eaten there before and we said no.  He said that entitled us to a FREE dessert. We were impressed by that.  We ordered Saganaki Cheese which is fried cheese that is flamed at your table.  I should have had my camera ready, but I didn't.   The person who served our Saganaki Cheese was not our waiter.  He set the cheese on fire and then said "oompah". His oompah was not very heartfelt.  We heard others who really got into it and said "OOMPAH!"  It was very good even without the big OOMPAH.

Saganaki Cheese

 Unfortunately, I took the food pictures with my cell phone and I think the lens was dirty. All of the following pictures are blurry.

Jeff ordered the Spartan Mixed Grill which is lamb chops, choice of beef, chicken or shrimp souvlaki & Loukaniko sausage.  Jeff chose the shrimp.

Spartan Mixed Grill - sorry it is so blurry.

 I tried the lamb chops and they were delicious!

Jeff's side which was green beans with a tomato sauce.

 I ordered Beef Tenderloin Souvlaki.  It was really good.  I wasn't really fond of the rice it was served on, but I liked the meat and sauce.  There were tomatoes, onions and peppers with the meat.

Beef Tenderlion Souvlaki

My side was Horta which is tender greens in olive oil.  I didn't expect it to be cooked.  I didn't care for it.

After we finished eating our meal, we were asked what we wanted for our free dessert.  We chose Baklava.  I thought this was a German dessert, silly me.  It was good, but very sweet.

Baklava - this is two full slices.  It is not showing well in the photo.

Jeff and I both really enjoyed the food.  I highly recommend this place.  It is a fun place to eat.

Maggie Rita's Modern Mexican

We ate here on a Saturday night.  The thing that surprised me was that the place was empty except for another couple.  We were the only diners after they left for a while.  People started coming in after 7 p.m.  I just don't understand why the place was empty.  The place is great!

Two salsas with chips were served.  I think one was an avocado.  It was smooth and had a bit of a spice to it.  The other was a basic red salsa, but it was also very good.

I was delighted to see that they served chimichangas.  I have found that not all restaurants here serve them.  I ordered a chimi chili with grilled beef fajita as the filling.  It was a lightly fried large flour tortilla stuffed with refried beans and shredded cheese topped with chili con carne served with Spanish rice, guacamole and sour cream. 

Chimi-Chili

Jeff ordered Shrimp Diablo- Grilled bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp, Serrano pepper wedge and pepper jack cheese served sizzling on a bed of sautéed vegetables with our spicy mango sauce.

Shrimp Diablo

We enjoyed the food. My serving was so large, that I took some of it home.  It tasted just as good when it was  re-heated.

Inside photo

I would love to eat here again.

Beck's Prime

Our plan was to eat at Pappa Burgers for lunch on Sunday, but there was no seating available.  We could have gotten our food to go, but since it was probably going to cost us about $20 a person, we decided to come back another day when we could eat at a table.

We ended up eating at Beck's Prime.  This is a fast food type of restaurant. You order at the counter and then you pick it up at the counter.  We thought it was odd or maybe sad that you pay $28.95 for a steak and are treated like it is fast food.  Jeff and I chose to order hamburgers.

Inside Beck's Prime

I had the Bubba Burger.  It is a 1/2 lb Certified Angus Chuck, Grated Cheddar Cheese, Prime Sauce, Onions, Tomato.   The burger was $8.25.  I don't consider that a bad price when fries are included.  It does not come with fries here.  The fries are $2.65.  I added a small soda to my order and after tax, my meal was over $14. The burger was good.  The fries were not.  They were greasy and limp. 

Bubba Burger with fries. The fries were no as good as they look here.

While the burger was good, we did not feel it was worth the money.  We will not be eating here again.

Little Pappasito's Cantina

Saturday night, we headed out to a different restaurant, but when we arrived it was closed for a private function.  I was quite disappointed, but we will try it another time.  We drove up and down the street and came across Little Pappasito's Cantina.  We have eaten at Pappasito's Cantina in the past.  We didn't know if the menu would be the same or not, but it was.

We were seated in their screened-in outside area.  Our table was located right under an air conditioning vent and it was frreezing!  The place was packed, so we stayed at our table instead of moving.

I love that three salsas are served with the chips.  The red salsa is served warm and is very good.  The green salsa is an avocado salsa.  I liked it.

Salsa and Chips

 I ordered the Steak Fajita Burrito.  I thought it could only be ordered at lunch because it was on the lunch portion of the menu.  The waiter said it was served all the time.  The steak in it was SO GOOD!  It was perfect.  The burrito contains grilled steak and beans.

Steak Fajita Burrito

 Jeff ordered steak and shrimp fajitas.  His food took up half the table.

Steak and Shrimp Fajitas

We both really liked this restaurant.  The food was delicious and the service was good.  I would love to eat here again.

Luby's Cafeteria

Jeff and I ate here on Sunday night.  We had been wanting to try Luby's since our trip here over the summer.  They are located all over the city.

Inside Luby's Cafeteria.

We were somewhat surprised when we arrived.  I did not know we were going to one of the cafeterias.  I think there are different kinds.  I know there are drive-thrus and cafeterias, but I thought they had regular restaurants.  I may be wrong on that.  Anyway, you should not let the word cafeteria stop you from going.  It is not your typical cafeteria.  This is a nice place.

I wasn't really sure how to order, so I asked the person behind the counter.  She told us that we could order a salad for the substitution of one of our sides for $.69 more. We both decided to do that.  We chose the type of salad we wanted and then the toppings.  They do not skimp on the toppings.  I had cheese, mushrooms, eggs, bacon and croutons.

My side salad.  It was very good.

I then had to decide what I wanted for my main course.  There were several things to choose from.  I decided on Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes as a side.  I messed up by ordering the full portion because it was way too big and when asked if I wanted brown or white gravy, I chose brown thinking it was for my mashed potatoes.  I quickly told her to put white on the mashed potatoes after I saw the brown going on the chicken fried steak.

Chicken Fried Steak and Mashed Potatoes

Jeff chose a pork chop and roasted potatoes for his meal.  Sorry, no photos.

We then had to choose our bread.  I chose a dinner roll and he chose a corn muffin.

The food was very good.  We decided that this was a quick way to get a dinner.  There is no waiting on waitstaff to take your order.  You see the food and just choose it that way.  It really is a nice way to do it. I am glad we were finally able to try one of these restaurants.  I think we may have to try a drive-thru and see what they offer.

China Border

We ate at China Border for lunch on Sunday.  This is a Chinese buffet.  We found the waitstaff to be very attentive and our glasses of tea were refilled several times.  There was a wide range of foods on the buffet including pizza, chicken wings. rice, seafood and several Chinese dishes. Jeff commented that there were not as many Chinese dishes as he expected, but they had many different types of food.

My only complaint is not all the food was labeled.  This is a concern for me when I am eating at a buffet because I am allergic to shellfish and many of the items were seafood.  I am really careful when choosing my food, but I always feel better when things are labeled.

This restaurant allows for customers to get their buffet to go. There were several customers who used this service.

We really enjoyed the food on this buffet and we left feeling very full.  I am not sure we will return only because there are so many other places to try and while it was good, it didn't knock our socks off. 

Escalantes Mexican Grille

Saturday night, Jeff and I were looking for a Mexican restaurant.  Okay, in Houston, that is not hard to do, but our GPS kept telling us "make a legal u-turn when possible".  Texas driving is different for us.  We don't make many u-turns in Missouri, but it is a necessity here.  We finally arrived at Escalantes Mexican Grille in Meyerland.

The restaurant itself looks very festival with it's lights.  We were greeted promptly and taken to our table.  We were served a salsa that was so good!  We tried to figure out what was different about it.  I thought it had garlic in it.  Jeff thought something was roasted in it. It had a smooth taste.  We ended up eating two bowls of it.

I ordered a beef burrito.  The beef was actually steak and not ground beef.  Steak is my favorite.  The burritos here are different than at home.  Our burritos at home come with refried beans and cheese in the burritos.  This burrito had steak and onions and the cheese sauce was on the top.

Beef Burrito

 Jeff ordered shrimp and beef fajitas.  The shrimp was wrapped in bacon.  He said it was good.  Fajitas are different here than at home.  In Missouri, our fajitas are served with onions and green and red peppers.  We have found it is hard to find red and green peppers here.

Steak and Shrimp Burrito

The food was great and as you can see, the portion size is large.  I would love to eat here again.

Annie's Hamburgers

We visited Annie's Hamburgers at 10821 S Post Oak Rd in Houston for lunch on Saturday. This is a restaurant where you order your meal at the counter. There are several different burgers to choose from and a chicken sandwich. They also serve breakfast. My husband and I both ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a side order of onion rings. The kitchen sets right behind the counter, so we could see our food being prepared. The lady fixing the burgers had two huge stacks of fried bacon waiting to be used. I have never seen that before. She fixed the burgers over an open fire.

 The burgers came with several slices of bacon, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo and cheese.  They were simple, but very good.  The bacon was how I like it, which is crisp.  The onion rings came with a dipping sauce that was spicy.  It was excellent and I added some to my burger.

This is a photo of the counter/kitchen.  I tried to get a photo of the stack of bacon, but I was too far away.

 The staff was very friendly.  Our meals were about $9.50 each, so not on the cheap side, but the food was good.  This is definitely a place that I would like to eat at again.