Restaurant Review

Magleby's

I hadn't been to Magleby's since they ended up in their new location in the Riverwoods. We used to go to the old place all the time at work, back in the days when CA had a huge budget for feeding customers. Howard, our account rep, really liked the place, and Karl, one of the guys at work, loved the apple pie there.

Every time I used to go, I would get the blackened chicken pasta. I really liked that dish. The blackened chicken was seasoned a ton, and they would sprinkle chopped cilantro over the top of the thing. That was one good plate.

I got the blackened chicken pasta tonight, remembering how I used to like it. I guess memory is a funny thing. The blackened chicken pasta was not the same as it used to be. The cilantro is gone. The bowl is smaller. There is less blackening of the chicken. There is a lot more alfredo sauce. The gave me a bit of an upset stomach for a little while. It just wasn't the same as it used to be. I'm not ruling out the fact that I think my palate has changed a bit since I did that sugar & yeast free diet... (I've got a very low tolerance for sweets now.)

Tara had the blue plate special. Today's special was chicken enchiladas. They looked really good. Tara tells me they also tasted really good. Her report is that the enchilada wasn't overpowered by sauce, like people sometimes like to do. They included potatoes in the enchilada.

The restaurant has an interesting hardwood floor pattern, if I ever do a hardwood floor in the house, I will definitely get 2 or 3 different types of wood, and do some sort of pattern. When we first walked in, the noise of the open kitchen, the televisions at the bar, and the people around us made the place seem very loud. When we got to our seats, it wasn't loud at all. They have lots of walls and little nooks and crannies with benches, which seems to do a good job of reducing the noise.

The chicken pasta was fine, just not what I was expecting. The deserts sounded good, but Tara was full, and I didn't want to approach the sugar. The chocolate cakes they have are gigantic.