Date
6/10/09
Location
In the Preston Square shopping center
917 Preston Avenue
What I ate
Chicken kebob, sesame green beans
Who came
Nora, Andrenne, Matt, Miles
Website
http://www.stickskebobshop.com/
Thoughts
I've been saying I need to eat here for a few years, so it was nice to finally go. That said, it was a little disappointing and it's a good thing I asked around to temper my expectations beforehand. The food was really tasty, especially the green beans, and the sauce the guy gave me instead of the one I asked for probably worked out better, anyway. The food was out within about 2 minutes of us placing the order; it's a lunch counter type of place. That's all good, but we were all hungry enough afterward to head to the Mall to find dumplings and/or crepes.
The portion:price ratio is really the only problem with Sticks. It's enough food for lunch, but you can find a good lunch at many places around town for less than the $9 it'll cost you at Sticks. I guess it's fair to say you shouldn't expect to be completely full for dinner after a $9 meal. Everyone sounded really happy with what they had when we started eating but that was mostly gone by the end of the meal. If I go back, I think it'll be important to plan ahead and structure a meal more; maybe we'll get a big thing of hummus and pita chips to split in addition to our kebob platter. From reading the descriptions, it seemed like the platter (rather than the sandwich or salad) was the way to go, but I guess the salad or sandwich might be sufficient for lunch.
I think I'm liking the place a little more than I did initially, at least as I try to write about it and explain my complaints (Go read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell for an explanation of why this happens). You should go visit Sticks, but just know what to expect. It just doesn't seem like the portions are geared toward completely satisfying diners' hunger.
Recap
Pros - Really tasty food, especially the side dishes, quick service
Cons - Small portions
Overall - Tasty, but not nearly enough food. It's in a tough no-man's land of too expensive for lunch but not enough food for dinner. It's worth a visit, but I don't know if I'll be back.
3 comments:
I mostly enjoyed it.
Yeah the portions weren't large, but they were plenty for me. I did go for a crepe afterward, but I was a little full after that and I certainly didn't have room for dumplings. However, I would have liked more than one kebab, as I've been to other kebab places where their platters are two skewers worth of meat. I just thought it was a lot of rice comparatively, at least for an American counter restaraunt where $8 isn't inexpensive. I liked the sides. I got the cucumber salad (which isn't hard to do well) but I also tried the eggplant and hummus from others' plates. Frankly I think their hummus is overrated. Not that it's bad, it's just hummus. It's not extra smooth or delicious, just regular.
I noticed today that I had a coupon for buy one sandwich get one free. We all got platters, but still that would have been a good deal had I noticed. Maybe we should hit it again?
A whole book is a lot to read for an itty bitty explanation of why you might change your mind from the time that you experience something to the time that you attempt to describe it... That said, Sticks was OK, but I don't think I'll be visiting again. But it was still cool meeting everyone!
OK, fine. You don't need to read all of Blink but it's a really good, interesting book.
I, too, got a coupon, but mine was for a free upgrade (small to large) of hummus. I guess the randomly-generated coupon at the bottom of the receipt good way to keep people coming back. Maybe we'll pool our coupons and plan out a slightly bigger meal...
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