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Downtown Tyler Square, What Does it Offer?

December 7th, 2010
Downtown Tyler Texas

Tyler Texas Square

The downtown Tyler Texas square used to offer Jack King Jr. screaming “downtown Tyler” but he is no longer there and people would prefer to impersonate him now rather then hear him do that anymore.

But beyond Jack King Jr.’s TV commercial memorable pitch downtown Tyler has quite a bit more to offer. When I go downtown I usually am stopping at Don Juan’s Mexican Restaurant or I am taking my wife on a fancy date to Jake’s.

When going into Jake’s be sure to let the hostess know you want to go sit up on the roof top. If the weather is good the roof top offers the best experience while eating here. The food at Jake’s is very good and they have a finer dinner menu selection to choose from compared to Chili’s or even Outback.

Jake’s offers an experience of local Tyler Texas dining in one of the many old buildings that still have survived the square.

Just about one year ago a few of these old buildings were destroyed in a fire. In fact a remodeled store converted to a coffee shop/ music venue was taken out as well as a law firm and architecture business. This area is now being turned into a park thanks to the generosity of Brookshire’s grocery store company.

When in downtown during Christmas be sure to stretch your legs by walking in the square. The city of Tyler lights up the square with Christmas lights although any sign of a cross, nativity scene and so on is unfortunately missing. Times do change and political correctness is what you will see now during Christmas. The square is still very pretty and enjoyable and worth a stroll around.

The square also offers Tyler Citizens a fun place for kids as the Discovery Science Place is in walking distance. This place provides something along the lines of a interactive science center for kids in the age range of 2 – 9 and will easily take up a good 3 hours if you decide to experience everything there they have to offer.

Christmas Tree in Tyler Texas

Official Tyler Texas Downtown Square Christmas Tree

You can also find the very large First Place building at the Tyler Square. The First Place building houses Regions Bank and offers the best commercial real estate offices in town. Many businesses would not accept anything less than the premier facilities you get in this building.

If you are looking for commercial real estate in Tyler I definitely recommend riding the elevators and checking out the offices in this building first hand. Both the view, looks, and spaciousness in these commercial offices can’t be found anywhere else in Tyler.

Finally consider that the Tyler downtown square has several unique antique shops as well as a few very old traditional churches. You can find Marvin United Methodist Church, First Baptist Church, and Christ Episcopal Church all in downtown Tyler and very close to the square.

BJ’s Restaurant in Tyler Texas

October 27th, 2010

BJ's
Just heard that BJ’s restaurant will be opening a restaurant here in Tyler Texas near the mall.

The mall could use a nice restaurant like this nearby.

BJ’s restaurant is a place I enjoy eating at when in Dallas or Houston.
BJ's Restaurant in Tyler TX
This restaurant offers several different beers, gourmet pizza, burgers, and quite a few different varieties of American food.

I would say BJ’s is about 10 times better than Chili’s, Applebees, and Olive Garden.

The best comparison to BJ’s might be The Cheesecake Factory.

All in all I think Tylerites will like BJ’s Restaurant.

Chilis in Lindale Texas

April 22nd, 2010

Chilis
3210 S Main St
Lindale
Tx 75771
903 882 3227

For those that don’t know – Chilis is an American and once-upon-a-time vaguely Mexican restaurant with a bar. They have burgers, Tex-mex , chicken, ribs, the odd salad (not as healthy an option as you might think) steaks, plus monstrous desserts and margaritas.

I am a fairly easy-to-please foodie but Chilis in Lindale is quite frankly, horrible. I have simply NO idea why American families would subject themselves to this extremely high calorie, often pre-cooked, junk. I can only assume that with so many locations nationwide, that there is some comfort in eating somewhere familiar. Or perhaps the bar makes it popular (not many of those in Lindale). Maybe it is because at Chili’s the prices are reasonable for a family of four or for those sharing a meal. Maybe it’s just because it’s near Walmart and the I20 and the coloring on the menu keeps the children quiet. There must be reasons, because it can’t be the food!

The place itself is dark and smoky. The bar is always busy and loud and the large amount of smokers mean that the smoke penetrates everywhere. Chilis in Lindale is also very busy. Consequently, service is poor, the servers are overworked and if you go there in the evening, expect a poor meal from the overwhelmed kitchen staff too.

We had cheese and brocoli soup to start which was more like a thick cheese sauce than soup, and crispy onions with ranch. These seemed very fatty so I looked up the nutritional information afterwards and found to my horror – that this appetizer contained more calories than a woman my size should have for the whole day!

We also ate chicken crispers (dry and nasty) fajitas (more greasy than you could imagine) and the kids shared grilled cheese and corn dogs. Vegetable options were available but poorly cooked and unappetizing. From my observation of the steaks going to other tables, I would say, don’t waste your money. I did like the idea of the sweet shots – small sized desserts but don’t be tempted by a brownie sundae, they are around 1300 calories too! The choice of Margaritas is pretty large but they are quite expensive. Beer comes in frosted mugs which is good on a hot day.

All in all, Chili’s is a poor choice for a meal out. I would seriously say – for your healths sake and for your mood, don’t do it! Try Posados across the road for TexMex or the Cracker Barrel for country fare.

I’m sure that somewhere in the US the Chili’s Grill must have a good reputation – but not Lindale Chili’s! There is also a Chilis in Tyler on the West SW loop. Perhaps that one is better!

Currents in Tyler TX

March 25th, 2010

Currents is a small restaurant hidden away next to Tyler Junior College. I wanted to throw a small private party, but I wanted it to be elegant and something different. We called the restaurant for information of how they serve their guests and what they do for parties. I was extremely impressed with the options that the owner laid out for me. Although I could not afford some of the options that he gave me he was still extremely generous. He allowed me to meet with him about having a specialty menu that I got to pick out.

I went to the small Tyler restaurant and he showed me around. Up stairs the dinning rooms are very formal with a nice deck and out side seating. Down stairs is another dinning area, which is not as nice and had very dim lighting. I was kind of disappointed in the set up of the place, because it was not very welcoming. The down stairs dinning area was reserved for my party and fit about twenty people in it. The service was extremely personal and private. I ordered the veal to start which was perfectly tender and amazingly tasteful. Although I had to live through the gasps of my young cousins when they heard I was eating a “baby cow”, it was very good.

They were kind enough to serve three dishes that I had asked for as a special menu, and everyone seemed like they enjoyed the food. We were read the amazing different desserts that all sounded great and were dipped in chocolate and drizzled in raspberry sauce. I tried the chocolate moose cake with raspberry sauce. It was a revelation. The rich taste danced in every bite. I am usually not a big fan of dark chocolate but this creamy cake that melted in my mouth was amazing. Everything was perfect but the check was rather large. But that is coming from a person who’s view of eating out is Chili’s or Chick-fil-a. I had an amazing time and both the food and service were definitely excellent. I will keep going to Currents, but I will just have to wait for that pay check to come in.

Oliveto Italian Restaurant Was Really Good!

January 28th, 2010

Oliveto Italian Bistro

Tyler, TX
3709 Troup Highway
Tyler, TX 75703
903.581.2678

Hours:
Sunday-Thursday: 11:00am – 10:00pm
Friday & Saturday: 11:00am – 11:00pm

I decided to give Oliveto Italian Restaurant a try a couple night ago and I was surprised to find that it was really good. The place was so nice inside and out I was actually suspicious that it was one of those fake food franchise chains like TGIF, Applebees, and Chili’s. I came to find none of the above. Oliveto had great appetizers, very good spaghetti sauce and well made pasta recipes. A lot of Italian restaurants have a prized pasta dish that is a cherished family secret only to find out that the dish really tastes disgusting to everyone else but the owners family. Oliveto Italian Bistro Oliveto understands how to make Italian food not just edible but wonderful.

There are a couple more italian restaurants in town that I like and will still go to like Little Italy and Joes Italian Cafe. Although Little Italy will always be a favorite of mine I will be going to Oliveto more often. Like I said, I was assuming it would be a disgusting Italian chain type of place like The Olive Garden only serving good salad and bread sticks but that is not what I found. Oliveto will surprise you with perfectly made pasta recipes and great spaghetti and marinara sauce.

My wife and I even tried one of Oliveto’s desserts and it too was fantastic. Our son got a free kiddie icecream with chocolate syrup which was nice and we left there a little shocked that we had such excellent service and great food. If you have ever eaten at McAllisters Deli you will know about excellent service as your sweet tea drink is refilled 50 times. This refill and constant checking on by the waitresses is what we received at Oliveto as well. They seemed to have designated staff just hired to refill drinks and check on your table. I imagine I will probably want to come here for business meetings and for things I need to zip in and out of quick.

I am a sucker for Italian food and this nice cookie cutter looking restaurant is so much more than The Olive Garden. I will probably never set foot in The Olive Garden again now that I know about this place. I don’t talk bad about restaurants usually but I know my italian food and the fake food chains shouldn’t be listed right along with the quality this restaurant delivers. Tyler TX Italian Restaurant Let’s give a hand for Oliveto for coming to the city of Tyler and showing people what real Italian food is. This is it!