Tonight we decided to visit Maverick BBQ, a local restaurant that’s gotten rave reviews from my boss and a couple of other acquaintances around town. We don’t have a rating system on this site, but if we did I would’ve given about two out of five stars. The experience wasn’t all bad, but we certainly won’t be going back.
I ordered the BBQ Chicken with potato salad and beans on the side and Kristen ordered the Ranch Burger and Fries. My boss had praised Maverick’s for having the best burgers in Hollister, but Kristen wasn’t impressed. She said that it didn’t compare to the Colossal Burgers at Jerry’s Restaurant. For one thing they used shredded lettuce on the burger which fell everywhere, and the bun fell apart just as she started biting into it. She also realized that the fries had seasoning salt on them. She asked the waiter for a replacement order after having only eaten two. He said to her “as a side?” and she said “yes” assuming he meant that she didn’t want to send the cheeseburger back. Instead, they actually charged us for the extra fries as a side dish!
The chicken I had was excellent. The meat was tender and the skin was crispy and tasty. The potato salad was delicious, except for the portion size. Both sides came in little 3oz cups that were gone in about four forkfuls. Considering this was a 15.00 meal I was more than a little put off by the tiny portions.
The restaurant itself was smaller than we expected, with perhaps one too many tables packed in. Even though it was half full, we felt crowded, and the servers frequently bumped against the back of my chair as they passed. The chairs themselves were also not very comfortable, and the waiter was so efficient in clearing the plates that we felt like were being rushed to get out of there. The noise level was also louder than it should have been for such a small place. Since we weren’t comfortable, we paid the bill as soon as it came and left to get dessert in the local Foster’s Freeze.
We didn’t realize that they had charged us for the fries until after we had left, otherwise we would have spoken to the manager and challenged it. But in all the places we’ve ever been to over the years, whenever something was sent back without being eaten it was always replaced for free. The fact that they charged an extra 2.95 seemed really tacky.
[Tags: BBQ, restaurant, cheeseburger, chicken, food]
Apparently, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (members include Hershey’s and Nestle, etc.) are lobbying the FDA to 
Very small, great size to slip in my purse, goof off with, take people photos with, etc. To test out the macro function, I created Papaya Henge from a bag of mixed dried fruit that John donated to the cause.