Corner Bakery

What a let down this place was. I am all for trying new places that are given bad reviews because there are some people who are just too picky over things. My group tried Corner Bakery tonight, despite the bad reviews and for the most part, the reviews are correct. The interior is tastefully decorated as a nice cafe and the seating was plentiful and comfortable, but that's the best that can be said for our evening. Every one of us tried something different and we were all disappointed. One of our friends even had to send his sandwich back twice because they kept putting mayo on it! The sandwiches are pretty bland tasting and all of these could be made at home and the same can be said about the soups, salads, pastas and the desserts. There was nothing spectacular here and nothing worth returning for. The breads are not even made fresh on site and come to think of it, I wonder if anything is made fresh on site or is it just a giant assembly line in the kitchen? This place is ok for a quick bite to eat at lunch, but the prices will keep you from coming here for just the speedy service. The service isn't even all that great. The only redeeming quality was when my friend asked for ranch and the guy brought her a small cup and when I asked for ranch (because i said i wanted an assload of it) he brought me 4 cups haha! All in all, I dont recommend Corner Bakery. Its just another run of the mill fancy pants sandwich shop. Tyler has enough of those. Want a good sandwich? Go get one from FRESH!

China Cafe

I love China Cafe, well the food that is. I have never had a bad plate of food there. My favorite is the Honey Chicken and the Sesame Chicken! I posted a review on UrbanSpoon awhile back and my opinion has not changed. Generally everything is clean, the buffet stays stocked and hot, and the service is on par with a buffet place. My only complaint, and honestly this is a HUGE MAJOR GIGANTIC ENORMOUS WHOPPING complaint and that is about the management and its regards to children. First of all, what kind of parent lets their children run amok all over the damn place, making noise, making messes and not bothering in the slightest to reign them in, make them sit down and shut the hell up!? As a patron, I want to sit in peace and enjoy my meal, not be pestered by a bunch of crying snot nosed little thugs or thugettes in the making. If this isn't bad enough, nobody that works at China Cafe will ever say anything! We had to leave once because this one little girl was running back and forth around her table wearing those annoying shoes that make a squeaky sound. Literally, like a dog toy in the shoe..squeak squeak squeak SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!!! Needless to say, if you can manage to go in to eat and there are no kids...you have been blessed, cherish it and leave a tip!

Coyote Sam's Bar and Grill

If you read the reviews on UrbanSpoon, you pretty much have a good idea of what to expect. Bad service and bad food. Just like Lago del Pino, every nickel and dime was sunk into the building and nothing was leftover for server training or decent chefs. I believe this is a trend going through Tyler right now, million dollar restaurants with crappy food. The only thing I enjoyed here was the Smith County Nachos, which weren't even real nachos but in fact, 3 tostadas. They were really good but it was just queso with sausage and dice fajita chicken on a tostada. I also did not like the feeling of being pushed aside into a back corner of the restaurant to make room for all of the poker players coming in and out. In fact, I think they may be going overboard with the ridiculous amount of poker they are playing here. It's a restaurant, please focus on the food and not getting people drunk to play poker. I don't recommend this place at all, not even for the views. It's a pretty building but I just did not care for anything else once I sat down. Even the seating was uncomfortable. Go here at your own risk, or at least have a few drinks at home before you get here so you won't notice the bad servers and the bad food!

Cheng's China Bistro

I have been to this place twice now and both times have been really great. The restaurant is in the old Oxford Street location and it owned by the people who also own China Cafe on the loop. China Cafe is already my most favorite chinese buffet in Tyler so it stands to reason that Cheng's would be just as good. It is! The decor is beautiful and you would not expect the service to be so fast during lunch but it is. The servers have been impeccable for both visits. My only complaint is the price tier between lunch and dinner. I have only ordered off the lunch menu since the dinner options are generally $5+ higher. I recommend for lunch, mainly for prices, but also with lunch you get soup, fried rice, egg or spring and your entree. Also at the beginning you get these crispy little fried chips and duck sauce for free. So far I have ordered the Beef and Broccoli and the Sesame Chicken. I was not disappointed with either. Perfect portion size for lunch and everything was hot and fresh. I love this place and I look forward to going back!

Lago del Pino

The last place I reviewed was Lago del Pino, just this past Sunday when my friends threw me an early birthday party/get together. The ONLY positive thing I can really say is that the views are breathtaking and you should stop ordering after the appetizers. This is more of a drink/snack/hangout restaurant since that is where the taste stops. Instead of going into more details, I feel as though my comments left on UrbanSpoon cover it all.

One more thing, I do recommend this place to hang out with your friends, have a few drinks and enjoy the views and good appetizers. However, I do not recommend going for dinner. They don't even have A-1!

Hidey Ho Everyone!

Hi there yall! My name is Becca and I love food! I especially love food here in East Texas cuz that's where I'm from. Born and raised just a hop, skip, and a jump from Tyler Texas in Whitehouse. Not too long ago, my family settled here in Lindale, but I still travel all over this great State of ours looking for the best food I kin find!

I just started getting into blogging so I decided I would have my own blog site dedicated to restaurant reviews. I already leave my reviews to places on UrbanSpoon, but honestly I would like feedback on my posts from people and even the restaurants themselves and I figured that a blog site would allow this option to happen more easily.

So, here I am ready to git started. I cannot promise that all of my reviews will be happy ones because I am brutally honest to a fault and my southern temper doesn't allow me much room for modesty these days. What you can be sure of, even if my review is negative, it's not meant to be mean spirited. Criticism should be taken with a grain of salt and please understand, my comments are meant to be helpful to restaurateurs as well as the patrons.

Bon Apetit yall :)