GrillFire in Long Beach, New York

It started out as your typical Saturday, working wishing you were sleeping in, and just counting down the minutes until it was time to head home. On this particular day, neither one of us thought that GrillFire in Long Beach would be the first stop on our DnA journey. We arrived at the restaurant and were seated promptly at a table towards the back. Being a professional people watcher, I couldn’t help but notice the couple next to us starring throughout our meal. Who do they think they are? Not to mention they both ordered the exact same food.

DnA tip #1: NEVER ORDER THE SAME FOOD

half the fun is eating off each other’s plates!

While waiting for our waiter/waitress to arrive my favorite(Amanda) part of the meal arrived: the bread basket! I was easily impressed when instead of bread I saw two warm soft pretzels with mustard. The meal had started on a high note for sure. While looking through the American style menu of burgers, sandwiches, and entrees of fish, beef, and chicken we were satisfied with the selection. While both of us were famished, it was clear an appetizer was needed. My brother Andrew insisted that if we went there, we had to try the Japanese peanuts (edamame with chili oil & garlic) However, I saw Ginger-Vegetable Pot Stickers and Dino was like a deer in headlights for the Buttermilk Dipped Onion Rings with a blue cheese fondue a.k.a onion rings. I gave him the final decisions, and shortly after our basket of onion rings arrived. Or did they? At first glance, they looked like doughnuts and upon first bite I was unsure whether to add powdered sugar or salt. This is a typical case of the dish not being able to live up to the name. The onions were quite raw, and 4 large rings were taken away by the waiter instead of being eaten by us.

Next, the entree, meatloaf wellington with cheddar mashed potatoes & mushrooms wrapped in a thin crust for Dino & the veggie burger for me. While Dino’s meatloaf looked like a giant eggroll over a bed of mashed potatoes topped with crispy onion rings, mine was simple a big burger and an adorable basket with fries. Dino thought the meatloaf was savory, and kept warm by the thin crust however the crust was hard, and impractical taking away from the main event: the meatloaf. I saw nor tasted cheddar in these mashed potatoes, but let’s be honest, it’s pretty difficult to mess up that side. The onion rings, unlike the appetizer tasted as they should. My veggie burger satisfying, but the bun was definitely too large. I debunned it, and ate the patty on it’s own. The fries had little seasoning, and great crunch! All worked for me =) The service was confusing to say the least, we were unsure who our waiter was and there was little interaction.

Our meal ended with a complementary serving of pink cotton candy! This did earn some points pink being my favorite color, and both of us having a sweet tooth. We skipped dessert, which was a good idea according to one of our field correspondents Meghan who said she wasn’t impressed by the s’more or the brownie sundae. Overall we’d say Grillfire is a step up from Friday’s, nothing special but a quite reasonably priced bite.

With extra love,

Amanda