Been there a few times after and pretty much stayed the same.  Always out of SOMETHING, even when they just open for lunch.  And the service was bad.  ‘cept for the time when a very nice elderly woman was working there.  Think this was Grandma.  She was really great!  And the food was awesome AGAIN.  (what we were able to get)

Now just yesterday, went back to Grandpa Freds BBQ AGAIN.  And again, the food was great, but the service was awful!

First of all, it’s one of those places where you order at the counter and they come bring the food to you.  So not really a full service restaurant.  We went up to the counter and a young lady was there looking bored as can be.  After she finished her cell phone call, she finally started to take our order.  And right in the middle of the order, she just steps away without saying a word and went in back to do something.  She came back and just said… “and what else?”  We couldn’t believe it!  It was like she really hated to be there!

So we ordered our food…. we both asked for iced tea and she said they only had green tea, which was fine.  I ordered the sliced brisket and we went to our table.   While waiting, a few other customers came in and received the drinks they ordered and FINALLY, the waitress came up and informed us that they were out of iced tea.  So they are batting 1000 for not having something that I ordered and not finding out until long after we were seated.

Finally the food came out.  And as usual, it was really good!  The brisket didn’t even need a knife to cut.  Tender and really tasty.  The greens and cole slaw were also awesome.  There is a condiment section that has all the signature HOT hot sauces available that adds fire to the meal.

So as with every other visit, the service SUCKS but the food, when it’s available, is great!

http://www.grandpafredsbbq.com

The lunch buffet priced at around $12 has really quality food and includes a massive salad bar.  Each day is a theme from Mexican to Italian and the food is GREAT!  Along with the studding views of the San Fernando Valley, it’s a nice work get-away for an hour or two.

http://www.theodysseyrestaurant.com

uWink Woodland Hills is a regular lunch stop for me. Not so much for the food, but for the technology. Think of this as a Chuck E Cheese for adults. Each table has at least 2 monitors that is the centerplace for uWink. With the monitor, you can order food, drinks, play games solo or with the whole restaurant. You can even pay for your meal right at the table. This isn’t to say that the staff is non-existent. For the most part, this is one of the friendliest staff around. It’s just you can do most anything at your table instead of waiting to speak with a staff member.

Created by Nolan Bushnell, the legendary creator of Pong, Atari, Chuck E Cheese, and more. He and his family is very involved in this project. The locations that we’ve visited are the Woodland Hills and the Hollywood location. With the exception of the tabletop touchscreen computers, they are quit different in atmosphere and sometimes food. My preference is the Woodland Hills shop.

The food really varies and the menu changes a bit too much. They have the usual fare of burgers and salads but there has been some wonderful creations that came and gone like the Monster Burger and the Godfather Pizza. WISH they would come back.

Menu items also change in costs from time to time. Ranging from REALLY expensive to pretty affordable. It’s pretty affordable right now. Hope this stays for awhile.

Favorite sih; Romaine lettuce chicken salad. Be sure to go to options before submitting you choice to add on some more stuff like avocado.

If you do go into the Woodland Hills store, be sure to check out the top scores for most of the games. “WOOF” is yours truly!

http://uWink.com

The owners must have sunk a TON of money into the interior design with really high end plates, linen, tables, chairs, decoration, and even a really cool salt and pepper mill set.  With the way restaurants life span is around here, hope the owners don’t close soon!

For lunch, the crowds aren’t bad at all.  The place doesn’t open until 11:30am and the trick is not to be the first one there because they really don’t start cooking the meat until someone arrives.  One time we went at 11:30 and had to wait for 30 minutes before the meat started to come out.  But while waiting, they have a killer salad bar with shrimp, a really nice Barley soup, all kinds of salads and hot clams in a white wine sauce that’s YUMMY!

The meats range from bacon wrapped fillet Mignon to lamb kababs and they really spice it up for you!  My lunch buddy, Ira, had to turn a few of the meats away because it was a little too spicy for him.

The all you can eat lunch there goes for $17.  The dinners are about twice as much, which I’ve been, and seems to be the exact same thing on the menu.  So pass up dinner and go right for lunch.  They also have a VERY extensive wine list.

Be sure to go to the website and sign up to their email lists.  I’ve gotten a few very nice coupons off of them.

http://www.kravingsfusion.com

You can’t go wrong with the burgers for lunch but the full dinner menu is available too.  Be sure to check out the website for coupons.

http://www.tgifridays.com