Marie Callender's - Chicken Parmigiana

Real talk -- I bought this because it was on sale and I wasn't allergic to it. So even though it wasn't very good, I can't say I was disappointed. I was really hungry when I ate this and I got basically what I expected. It was fine, but not good. There's a little bit of wet brocco and carrot, which was edible but pretty flavorless. A very little bit of mushy penne with cheese and red sauce, which I enjoyed because c'mon it's pasta. And a decent size breaded chicken patty, which made me only a little soy-protein-itchy (not too bad). If you like frozen chicken patties then you'll be fine with this, it's pretty standard. Probably won't rebuy this unless it's my only option, but it's perfectly serviceable. Way worse than takeout chicken parm though, (obvi).

Overall
Cost: 7/10 (2.50$)
Taste: 5/10

Mama Mary's Original Pizza Crust - Mini

I sure eat a lot of pizza! Anyway, I'm not a big fan of Boboli crust, but these are much closer to my ideal. The taste is floury-er, doughier, and the texture is also drier and less bendy. This is a small pack of 3 crusts, which just barely all fit on to a cookie sheet. They cook in about 9 minutes, and are kind of hard to cut with a knife but are really easy to tear. I've gotten these twice now and they're definitely going to be my go-to pizza crust in the future (unless I make my own).





Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Hershey's Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Eggs

Only a month until Easter! That means it's time to move on from our heart shaped candy into our egg shaped candy. I always used to like these chocolate eggs as a kid, because they're 'extra creamy' so they taste better than the normal nugget/kiss chocolate Hershey uses, and the egg is also what seems to be a larger piece of candy than a kiss. Plus they're cute and of course nut-free. These didn't do that much for me this time around though. They're still good, and I ate them all, don't get me wrong, but I think the creamy Dove chocolate is a little tastier/creamier. These are still a little chalky or bitter in comparison (but still good and better than regular Hersheys). They are also very dense, so a better suck than chew for me. Very cute in a candy dish, also. (My roommates are moving out soon so I can think about such niceties again!)

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Callaloo Trinidadian Kitchen

This newish resto is getting a ton of recent buzz in the central PA media! They're a fusion of some Indian-y and some Island-y flavors, which is apparently what Trinidadian food is (who knew). Sounds tasty, but I was worried it'd be super nut-y, especially since they have a hot drink called 'peanut punch' (D:). But I sent them a message and they actually said that none of their menu at the time had any nuts in it (which looked true). I also asked when I got there and the server checked for me. The place is very small, but we got there right at opening time and were able to take up the bar seats (there are exactly 6)! Everyone was really nice. We got the app of cassava fries, which were OK (good crisp outside, nice and salty) but a little mealy, perhaps the nature of cassava. Came with a fun cilantro sauce (bright green)! For my meal I got the jerk pork ribs, since all the curries had chickpeas. It was a ton of meat, like 9 ribs, very tender and a little spicy, and a 'corn pie', which was like mashed corn with whole corn (awesome) and some pickled veg (fine). Overall it was really tasty and felt like good quality food, but the fact that they had peanut punch did make me a little nervous, to be honest. I would go back but it wouldn't be my first choice just because of anxiety, even though I was totally fine and the food was good!

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Pagoda Pork Potstickers

Whether you call them potstickers or dumplings, I'm generally a fan. However, this frozen meal was not doing it for me (and it's not because it was frozen, I enjoy the Tai Pei frozen potstickers a lot more). Maybe I don't like pork in general, but these made me a little itchy and the taste wasn't great, just like processed lump meat. The sauce is also weird and orange and not soy sauce, which is what I really want. They also hardly give you any of it! 😛 The noodle outside is fine, standard noodle, but the sauce is bad and inside is bad. One perk is that this comes in 2 individual 5 potsticker bags with separate sauce packets, and the cooking is very quick and easy. If only they tasted great it would be perfect!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

Souvlaki Boys

Because I am, in fact, a huge fan of both souvlaki (thanks to the Mediterranean Grille in Newark) and boys, I was eager to try this place. We got some takeout ordered online, but they do also have a parking lot (at the non-food-truck location) so I was happy to see that. I got chicken souvlaki which came with buttery rice and a greek salad, and I enjoyed it. I think next time I might get a gyro or something else, because the kabob was just meat and it was good but not amazing, maybe a little dry/boring (I wish it had veg on there too). Oh and little bits of pita were included, which was tasty. There's also tzatziki but I didn't use too much. Anyway, thinking back, it was a nice platter! The employees are also very friendly and were happy to help with allergy issues (most everything is nut free except the obvious desserts/salads). I would happily return, even though the food didn't wow me. It was solid and I think potentially could be really good!

Pork kabob: I think I like this a little better than the chicken, taste-wise. The chicken is moister but the pork is tastier. Pretty similar though, to be honest. I should try something else, but I do like the salad/rice accompaniments a lot.

Gyro platter: This tasted good for sure, but the meat was fattier than kabob meat and makes me anxious about a stomach ache! It also made me a tiny bit itchy but I'm not sure why. The salad was great as ever, pita was fine, rice is nice and moist. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Fat Pigs BBQ

OK, this place is extremely confusing. It's a BBQ/misc restaurant but it's inside of a bar/venue called The Brickyard which doesn't have any food of its own, so in effect these are the same two places, but with two different names? It's also called Fetty Wootz or something I truly just don't understand. Their specialty seems to be meats and BBQ, but they also have general bar foods, burgers, mac and cheeses, etc. We went here for trivia and it was really empty and the trivia was bad and the waitress seemed like she hated us for existing, so it wasn't a great time. We won a free app of chicken thighs(?) which were fine, fresh, but nothing earth-shattering. I ordered the veggie mac and cheese, which is OK, but nothing better than my homemade cheese noodle with frozen veg. I should have just got a pulled porker or something. Maybe it was just bad timing and bad ordering by me, but I was really unimpressed. That said, they apparently don't have any nuts except for in desserts, so this is pretty good news. I would go back if I could convince someone to go with me (but I'm not sure if I could, because it was not very impressive).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10