Who was that masked meat?
June 9th, 2008 4:26:27 pm pst by 
Sterling Camden
“Well, at least I got full,” I said, as we left the restaurant. “That’s not much of a review, is it?”
“I just hope you don’t get sick,” replied my wife.
My Mongolian Beef was very fatty. Come to think of it, I don’t have any real proof that it was beef. Beef isn’t supposed to be quite so… springy. It was covered in a sweet and spicy ginger-pepper sauce that wasn’t half bad, but the strips of meat could have been flayed from the backs of unproductive employees, for all I could tell.
My wife was equally impressed with her Sizzling Rice Soup. At one point she said, “I’m not sure what I just ate. It was small and slippery and suddenly slid down my throat.”
“Maybe a mushroom, or some sort of seafood?” I offered. She didn’t think so, nor did she want to continue to think about it.
We had sworn off the Island Grill after our previous visit there, when my wife’s “Prime Rib” had obviously been a mislabeled chunk of Prime Fat instead. But today our first choice for lunch, the Blue Moon Café, didn’t have any available parking. We drove to our second choice, C’est la Vie, which had plenty of parking because it was closed. We then wandered into a nearby Mexican express, took a look at the menu, and wandered back out.
Just a few doors down, the sounds of laughter beckoned to us from the bar of the Island Grill. “Come inside, it’s fun in here!” they seemed to say. My wife recalled her prime rib with disgust, but I pointed out that we hadn’t tried their Asian menu yet. “How bad could it be?” I asked.
Perhaps one day I’ll learn not to ask a question for which I don’t want the answer. It appears that our experience is not unique.
Pardon me, there goes my stomach again.
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I haven’t eaten at an Island Grill. There’s one in this area, though, and the SigO and I have been talking about trying out all the restaurants in town where we haven’t yet eaten, eventually, if we live here long enough. Maybe that one will get a pass, after this review.
I was reminded, as I read your mouth-watering (okay, so that’s bile, not saliva) description of the “beef”, of my experience at a Golden Corral a few months ago. Maybe a year ago. The horror is still as fresh as yesterday, though.
Let’s just say that “rare” is not normally a cooking option for pork chops.
I believe that this Island Grill is not part of a chain, so yours may be OK.
Undercooked pork — would you like a little trichinosis with that?
If it wasn’t a buffet, I would just ask them to hold the trichinosis. Instead, I’ll avoid the place from now on.
well supposedly it’s safe to eat pork cooked as low as medium, medium-rare. Not sure if rare would be an option I’d go with, though (I’ll take my pork chops well done, thank you)
My Dad was so paranoid about trichinosis that he would only eat pork chops if they were cooked until black. Very crispy.
At one point I can see that as being a valid fear. I like to think we’ve progressed far past that.
To be fair, depending on how fatty the chop is, getting it close to that point is ideal for me too, it makes the fat very delicious (as in, melts in your mouth mmmmm-mmmm good).
According to the wikipedia article, trichinosis isn’t much of a threat in the US any more, except for “home reared pigs”. Of course, we raised our own hogs when I was a kid, so maybe my Dad’s fears were founded at that time. We used to feed our hogs just about anything.
The porkchop I got at Golden Corral was so undercooked it just tasted awful — cold and raw in the middle, basically.
I don’t care to go back there.
Yeah, I don’t eat buffet anymore. Especially after working at one. The food, at best, is mediocre and even given the all-you-can eat style, it’s not worth the money to me.
[...] 11:13am PST: Looks like Sterling wrote about an interesting restaurant experience too. Saw his post after writing mine. It had to be something in the weather yesterday that threw [...]
Yikes! I hate it when you have to wonder what you are really eating.
Yeah, when they say it’s beef, you sort of take it for granted — until you begin to wonder…
“Cat’s in the kettle at the Peking Moon”
sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Two years ago, I stayed at the lovely Island Country Inn , and the Island Grill across the street seemed like the place to go. We ordered beers. They refused my 26 year old wife’s ID. We asked for the manager. She brought my beer, though I’d said we weren’t staying if they didn’t accept my wife’s ID. She said that my wife’s driver’s license was obviously fake because it had a peeling protective layer.
My questions: does this (very mature) woman look under 21 to you? Yes. Are you accusing me of forging government documents, but still agreeing to serve me? Yes. If she had just peeled the plastic off, illegally defacing the license, would you have accepted it? Yes.
Until I read your review, I was actually a little disappointed. What a restaurant we missed out on!
I love the Pub, but it would be nice to go somewhere different once in awhile. I guess that’s why this nightmare joint is still around.
Thanks for your story, Jork.
One place on the island that I can recommend is Doc’s Marina Grill. It’s a little pricey, but nice atmosphere and great food. It’s right on the marina at the end of Madison Ave where it turns into Parfitt Way.