Perry’s Steakhouse & Grill @ Downtown

ALR went upscale this time visiting Perry’s Steakhouse for a special occasion on the group. We took advantage of the Friday lunch pork chop special. This was a great opportunity to measure up a fine restaurant with the day to day places that ALR normally visits.

It is needless to say that we were impressed and happily satisfied. We ordered a salad to go with the pork chop special. The iceberg wedge salad with applewood-smoked bacon was the perfect way to start the lunch. The salad offered a fresh introduction with delicious flavors of smoked bacon. Then, the pork chop arrived and we were all impressed. After a quick review of the three cuts being offered we got our plates served. The pork chop comes with whipped potatoes and homemade applesauce. Each of the pork chop flavors offers a unique experience that provides unique and wonderful flavors. This granted a super taste rating.

The place is nicely decorated creating a great atmosphere to have a relaxed, unique and elegant lunch. Regarding the service it was definitively above average always attentive to our needs and making sure nothing was missing. The overall value of the food, cost, and experience made it Right On. This is definitively a deviation from ALR’s normal range were we look for low cost options since we paid $20 per person. A real bargain if you consider the amount and quality of the food.

Link to Perry's Steakhouse and Grill website

Stiles Switch @ Lamar

This was not the first time that ALR visited Stiles. Unfortunately for them, this is the day we decided to go and review it. I had a previous bad experience when they ran out of brisket while we were on the line. Could you imagine a BBQ place without brisket before noon? Well, this time they had brisket but it was very dry.

We arrived around 11:30am to find a small line building up and we were glad to see that we really beat the crowd. 15 minutes later, the line had expanded as long as it can go inside the place and some people were leaving. We also noticed that they have a new menu structure which included plates of meat with sides. The cost is still quite high for any of the plates since a one meat plate with two sides is $9.99 and a two meat plate is $12.99.

Two of the ALR friends went for the two meat plate of brisket and pork ribs. They choose potato salad and corn casserole. Once they added at drink the cost of the lunch was more than $15. I decided to go with a half-pound of brisket and a serving of potato salad. I choose to have water since the soda selection was very limited. My lunch was $9.02 with tax.

By far the high of the lunch were the pork ribs, they were described as one of the best ribs ever from both expert ALR friends. For me unfortunately, I had 0.472 pounds of horrible dry brisket that was hard to swallow. The potato salad was Ok since didn’t had a definitively flavor. I guess the water was good.

Overall, the taste from a plain brisket to a great pork rib gives an overall score of good. The value seems quite expensive considering the quality of the food. I’m giving it an Oh, Well score. The place has some Groovy decoration and has worked to bring a definitive Austinite air. Finally, the service is just Fair since you order from the cashier and get your food there.

Link to Stiles Switch web site