01 July 2008

George's Bar

I'm in Waco today for work. I always try to check out non-chain restaurants when I travel and the best way to find out what's good is to ask the locals. Immediately upon checking in at my hotel, I asked the friendly desk clerk what's the best place to eat around here and she told me that if I was in Waco I HAD to go to George's. Now, me being the Texas Country Music fan that I am, I know of George's Bar because of Pat Green (who had really good music back in the day). I decided that this trip, I would make it happen. Driving up to George's, if I hadn't have been looking for it, I never would have found. It's just off a road with no other businesses in sight. However, the parking lot was full and the parking lot across the street was starting to get full, so I knew it had to be a good local hang. The building is actually divided into different parts, there's a section just for dinning without smoking, a section to eat in the bar (which allows smoking), and then a patio-esque section which I didn't check out. Needless to say, it can hold a LOT of people. I opted to eat in the diner section since it was getting to be going out time. It had a classic diner in a small town feel.

I had a caesar salad and the chicken jack sandwich with broccoli salad. The caesar salad was more vinegar-y than creamy, which I myself like creamy. But it was still good. The croutons however were fabulous!!! They were buttery and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. I have a feeling they make them out of their leftover homemade rolls, which apparently are AWESOME, but I didn't catch onto that until AFTER I ordered. Most everyone around me had an order of rolls with ranch. Interesting, but probably very good. I went for the blackened chicken option which was good, but not spicy. The chicken was moist and the bread was homemade and awesome. The bread was thick and tender and on the sweet side but had jalepenos in it, so that made for a nice contrast. The broccoli salad was the standard with bacon, onions and cheese and miracle whip-based dressing. No raisins which made me sad, but for some reason the cheese tasted freshly grated, which I doubt, but it was still dang good.

Another interesting thing I saw and wished I had friends with me to spilt an order of was the crazy wings. Somehow it was chicken, cheese and jalepenos wrapped in bacon and deep fried. They looked awesome too. But my two upcoming weddngs are preventing me from consuming fried foods (or at least I'm trying!) Maybe next time...

Overall, it was good food, but on the expensive side. My total was 11.77 for all of that, which to me is a lot for one person. I didn't have "The Big O" because I had beer last night and just wasn't in the mood, but this would definitely be a nice hang for a group of friends to go and have some snacks and then stick around for a few beers. I really want to give this place four stars, but the price was just a little too high for me, so I'm gonna go 3.75/5.