The Annville Grille

I'm liking this ille-ille symmetry! Anyway, I sought this place out because I wanted to play trivia when visiting my parents. It's in downtown Annville, but there was plenty of street parking. The inside is way bigger than the outside looks; there's a big dining room and a decent sized bar room with tables and booths. This is the location of the trivia (which was great fun). They have a decent drink list, and the prices were 2-4$ a pint, which is solid. All I got to eat was the nachos with chicken (no peanut oil there), but it was quite good, with lots of melty american cheese, chicken, lettuce, tomato and jalepenos. Super filling and a great bar snack. Hopefully I'll go back and get an actual food next time, since we won a gift card!!

Chicken Parmesan: This was good! Basically standard, but came with a salad (fine), two chickens and two breads. Super filling, two meals. Good if you're in a mood for pasta time. 7/10

Coffee: It's coffee. Small but also pretty cheap. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (Food was cheap for a bar, around 10 bucks/entree)
Taste: 7/10

McGlynn's Pub

This place is almost identical to Deer Park Tavern in terms of menu and specials, but it's a little quieter and less college-y. It's a small local chain, so I think there are about 5 of these types of restos. I only started coming because our favorite trivia host started doing trivia here, too! Anyway, it's a nice change of pace, because unlike Deer Park, you get really good service during trivia. The booths are also comfier and more private. And some of the food is slightly slightly different (hot dogs and sausages, more fish dishes)!

So far, I've gotten the cobb salad (v. meaty, identical to deer park's). and the london broil steak (comes with cornbread (v. sweet), garlic "smashed" potatoes, and mushroomies). It's satisfying and meaty but always too oily for me to finish the whole thing! Also they didn't include a house veg like the menu said they would >:( Anyways, if we keep winning trivia, I'll be back here a lot!

prime rib: also a fatty cut, but with a baked potato is a pretty good once-a-month treat ;D

fried eggplant sandwich: tastes pretty good I guess, but the frying breadcrumbs make me a little itchy and ultimately I'd rather eat a pizza or something if I'm gonna eat that much cheese!

pub burger: this was decent, although I still think they're quite dry! I get cheese and mushrooms usually, and the mushrooms are often cold (but who cares). They have a beyond burger also, which comes on a different bun, but I still live in fear that they'll mix them up. It's half price on Tuesday (trivia day) though! And for 1.75 Yuenglings and even 4$ captain+cokes you can't beat the price. You can also get broc instead of fries on the side if you're still missing your veg. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10 [realllly depends what you order: e.g. burgers are dry!]

Mad Macs/ Matilda's

This is where I come for Trivia #2 (stay tuned for trivia 3 at Mojos on Wednesday, if I'm lucky!) Anyway, it's usually crowded with, as they say, townies, but it's high-energy and the food is generally very good. The trivia is also good! Anyway, this is kind of a weird tacobell-kfc combo place: Mad Macs is a mac-and-cheese place, Matilda's an Australian-themed burger place -- I guess they merged!! It's confusing and weird. But worth it, as long as you aren't alone (don't come here alone unless you're very brave).



portabello mac: probably my least favorite mac so far, but still cheesy and calorie-satisfying. very mushroomy which i'm discovering i don't necessarily love.
the pizza one, i think, is good, or the spinachy one. burgers are also good, i think. beer sampler always fun.

american mac: has hot dogs and mustard in it. "What??" you say, but it actually isn't bad. In a small dose. (I got the sampler, you see).

buffalo chicken mac: at first, not bad, good chunks of chicken and very buffalo-y. But I can only enjoy a few bites and then it's just too much!

snooki mac: basically just regular mac and cheese with little sausage circles in it. So: good but boring!

popeye mac: 'old faithful', it's white cheese with occasional spinach/red pepper. nothing amazing but still satisfying. I want to try lasagnamac next!

Overall
Taste: 8/10
Cost: 5/10