Brookside Broiler and Grill

I want to apologize to my few loyal fans for being so slow. I have an excellent excuse. Getting to the library is too much work! See, I told you it was good.

On to the review, Brookside has an excellent patio. This little place sits right on the edge of the Sugar House Commons. Your typical suburban shopping center. The local eatery in the center is its own anomaly. The patio overlooks Hidden Hollow--a beautiful natural forest protected by local environmentalist groups.

Brookside has a really great looking menu. It's actual content is less than informative. We asked our waitress a lot of questions. She seemed less than knowledgeable and was a little shy. We finally ordered kabobs and salad. The portions were HUGE! I ordered the half kabob plate because I wasn't very hungry and it was twice the amount of food I thought it would be.

The beef kabobs were very good. The marinade they use is full of flavor and the mix of peppers and onions is just what I would expect. The meat was cooked perfectly, but was a poor cut so it was tougher than I like.

The vegetables on the side ended up being about a cup of cooked carrots and about a cup of cooked broccoli. I'm pretty sure the broccoli started off in their freezer than moved to the microwave where it was steamed with the baby cut carrots. Although, cooked to an expected state of crisp tender the quality was a little below what I expected after the great patio, the wonderful view and the expensive looking menu.

Brookside makes up for their pretentious appearance with fairly approachable prices. My dinner was $7.50 with a soda for $2. Not bad for a place that looks like it's easily $15 a plate. R's dinner was $9.50 for the extra $2 she ordered another kabob. J ordered the Asian Chicken Salad. It was gigantic and delicious. For $8.95 it fit comfortably with the rest of our ticket.

I probably won't ever be a Brookside regular, but for an elegant feeling dinner without the price tag at the last minute, I would eat there again. Although, I may request a different waitress.