Willie's Tacos

Willie's is located on Lewis Street, just east of Oregon Ave. in Pasco. The reason we visited this restaurant is because it is near the schools where we both teach. A coach from my school had them cater a fund-raiser one day and the tacos were great, so I decided to go for a visit

Food

Since this is what hooked me in the first place, I obviously give this five stars. I've only tried the tacos and I don't need to try anything else. Steak or chicken? It doesn't matter. They're both fantastic. Savory skirt steak or moist, seasoned shredded chicken, cilantro, onion, lime, and a little salsa. Don't come here on a first date because you'll reek of cilantro and onions for the rest of the day. A minor draw-back if you ask me. The food is simple, authentic, and muy rico. Me gusta mucho.

Service

This is not a fancy place. The service is fast-food in style in that you go to the register and order. If you order in, there is a place to sit and I believe a very friendly server will come take your order, but don't expect anything fancy. Overall, service is friendly and relatively quick. In my experience all of their servers and cashiers speak English very well and as a non-Spanish speaker myself, I have never had a communication problem.

Cleanliness/Atmosphere

I could see this presenting a problem for some, especially those who have a certain expectation for what a restaurant should look like inside. This is a legitimate, authentic Mexican restaurant. That means bright colors are expected and, as this is not a high-end type joint, you should not go in expecting to feel particularly romantic or special. As far as cleanliness, they're top-notch, but this is not the type of place I would go if I was looking for any particular "ambiance". Basically, it's a great place to get a cheap, tasty lunch when you don't really care where you're sitting or you want to take your food to go.

Price - $5-$10 a plate which is a fantastic value considering the quality of the food.

Popular Donuts

Popular Donuts is located on Union Ave just off Clearwater in Kennewick. We have visited Popular Donuts 4-5 times over the course of the last two years.

Food
The donuts here are, in all honesty, the best we have been able to come by in the Tri-Cities. I know that Spudnuts is the local favorite and everybody goes there for all of their donuts, and yes, we love them too. However, Spudnuts does not sell traditional donuts and we've found that there's really only one type of donut that we love from that store. Popular is a very traditional donut shop carrying plain old wheat-flour donuts. My husband's family owned a donut shop in Iowa for years and he tends to be a connoisseur of donuts. All of the other donuts in the Tri-Cities (with the exception of Spudnuts) are made the evening or afternoon before they are sold, resulting in that greasy film that sticks in your mouth when you eat them. Here at Popular, donuts are obviously made overnight leading up to the morning of sale. They have a light, fluffy texture and the glazes are lightly sweet rather than the heavy, greasy, super-sugary frosting that seems to be the norm around here. I am not typically a donut lover because I can't stand the feeling of having a grease-covered brick in my stomach. These donuts leave me feeling like a human being! They have great taste and texture and they don't give me a massive stomachache

Service
Prompt, friendly, never a problem here.

Cleanliness/Atmosphere
This is a very clean donut shop. I'd actually say it's far cleaner than most of the donut shops I've visited. Atmosphere is where we have a small hang-up and, we're guessing, the reason they don't have as much business as their donuts merit. While the booths are nice and clean and the store looks great, it is run by a family who speaks English as their second language. This, in and of itself is all fine and well, but the family tends to gather in the donut shop and talk the whole time you're there with the TV blaring. While these things aren't a huge deal to us, we're pretty sure it's the reason they don't have more business. If you don't mind having the family chattering in the background and the tv on while you eat your donuts, the atmosphere is fantastic - for a donut shop anyway. If you think those things will bother you, stop by and pick up a dozen to go. I promise, it's well worth your time.

Overall Rating
Since I generally don't go to a donut shop for the wonderful atmosphere, I feel safe giving this place five stars. Prices are a little high ($.89-$.99 a donut) but well worth it, and I believe they'll come down if business improves.

Dream Dinners

Dream Dinners is a franchise where customers come in once a month or so and prepare, but don't cook, all of their dinners for the month in plastic bags. You then take the dinners home and put them in your freezer. Once a week you put some of your frozen dinners in the fridge to defrost and all you have to do is cook the food when dinner-time rolls around. While not a restaurant, we have been using it as an alternative to eating out when life gets busy, so we figured it was close enough. There is one in Kennewick next to Best Buy off Canal, but they have locations in other parts of the country. This is strictly a review of the Kennewick location.

Service (5 stars)
To begin with, ordering through these guys is a piece of cake. All you have to do is log-on to the website (creating an account takes about a minute), choose the meals you'd like to make, select a time to go to a session and then check out. When you go in for your session, the ladies are very helpful and walk you through the procedure for preparing your meals in a sanitary way. All of the ingredients are clearly labeled, and recipes are in plain sight. The only thing that confused me at first was that the recipe cards have the directions for a 3-portion meal on one side and the 6-portion meal on the other. At first I kept forgetting to make sure I had the right portion facing up before I started making the meal. There are a few ladies who follow behind you and wipe up the counters so they're clean for the next person. They also notice if you look lost or unsure and they step right up to help.

Food (4 stars)
The food we've had so far has been really great. There are tons of different things to choose from - marinated meats, casseroles, soups, pastas, you name it. Out of the 5 or 6 different meals we ordered the first month, there was only one that we didn't really care for. The rest were very flavorful and interesting. We saved money as well as calories because we ate out less, and the meals were far better than anything I would have come up with on my own. My biggest complaint is that the meat is slightly lower quality than I would get from the meat I buy at the grocery store. All of the meats are pre-frozen, and I prefer to buy fresh, quality cuts of meat from a mid-range grocery store (like Safeway or Fred Meyer) whenever possible. Although, I can't complain too much because they do a pretty darn good job of making those second-rate meats taste great in the context of the meal. You should be advised that while you can purchase side dishes from Dream Dinners, they do not come with the basic meals. We keep Pillsbury rolls, potatoes and fresh veggies on hand to serve as sides.

Cleanliness/Atmosphere (5 stars)
Alright, so I guess "atmosphere" doesn't apply as much in this case, but if you must know, they have a very pleasant atmosphere that gives you the feeling that your cooking in somebody's kitchen at home. Cleanliness here is fantastic. It's much cleaner and more sanitary than food preparation at most restaurants (as a former fast-food employee I can vouch personally for this). Everybody is required to wash up and wear gloves. You even have to change gloves whenever you switch to a new station. It is also very well supervised, so you don't have people flicking boogers into the garlic, or sneezing their brains out all over the sour cream. Even if that did happen, a nice lady would come behind them to throw out the bad stuff and replace it with something new. I've never used the restroom at Dream Dinners, but the rest of the establishment is probably cleaner and more sanitary than my kitchen at home, so I'm assuming they're top notch. My biggest concern about trying out one of these franchises was sanitation, since you have so many people going through and using the same ingredients and the same utensils, but if you think about it the moms and dads who come through there are much more concerned about sanitation than the doofy 16 year-old that flips your burgers.

Overall Score (4.5 stars)
All in all, if you find yourself eating out a lot, this is a great way to save money and time while eating healthy foods. It's also a great way to mix things up if you find yourself getting bored with the same old recipes.

Price range: $3-$10 a portion
*We try to stick to the cheaper end, so we usually average out to $4 a portion. I think if you ordered mostly from the upper end of the scale it would average $6 or $8 a portion.

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Sterling's

Sterling's has two locations; the original is on George Washington Way in Richland and there's a new second location on Clearwater in Kennewick. We have visited the Kennewick location 3 or 4 times and we have visited the Richland location once.

Food
I had to break from traditional order here and start with the food. In our one and a half years of eating here in the Tri-cities , I have not found a place with a 'dyed in the wool' steakhouse. I should say, I had not found a place, because now I have. Sterling's makes a ribeye that's mouth-watering and grilled to perfection. As far as my well-used taste buds are concerned, it's the best steak in the region; superior to anything I've tried at Cousins', Magills, Tony Roma's, or anywhere else in between. I have tried several of their soups as appetizers and have found them all to be delicious - the vegetable beef, chicken noodle, and gumbo, which was a new, spicy treat. My wife has enjoyed the fetuccini alfredo, one of their famous stuffed potatoes, and the salad bar. While she was happy with the salad bar, she felt that the house salad offered with a dinner was a little too plain. When they have so many options on their salad bar, it only came with lettuce, croutons, and dressing. We stopped in for lunch one day and tried a couple of sandwiches. I had a burger and my wife had a chicken sandwich. Both were topped with fresh vegetables and cooked to perfection. The french fries are amazing - we compare them to salty funnel cakes - they are golden brown, crispy on the outside, and deliciously mushy on the inside. All in all, everything we have tried has been superior and delicious. We look forward to trying their breakfast, and we'll let you know when we do.

Service
This is the only area of concern we have for Sterling's. Our service has been hit and miss. Our first visit the service was terrible. Our waitress seemed to mostly be serving tables in other areas of the restaurant and once she had brought our food out she pretty much ignored us. We even waited five or ten minutes after finishing our meal and the check never showed up. We ended up just going up to the counter and having them go find our check. Since then, the service has always been better than that, but not great. One great thing about our visits is that despite going on weekend evenings during the prime dinner time, we have never had to wait more than a minute to be seated, and there are always friendly, familiar faces there to greet you. All in all, the service is okay, and every now and again it's well worth waiting a few extra minutes for the excellent food.

Cleanliness/Atmosphere
This is a very clean restaurant with a nice atmosphere. Plenty of booths and tables to accommodate every body type. The Kennewick location is new and they went all out. From the lighting to the artwork to the china, everything comes across as being so upscale that their menu and prices almost seem out of place. Soft lighting creates a nice casual dining atmosphere.

Price range is $8-$17 a plate.

Overall Rating

Despite the 3 star rating on the service, I am awarding Sterling's 5 stars overall, because the food is really that good. The low prices and atmosphere will win you over as well.

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Cousins'

Cousins' restaurant is located on Road 68 in Pasco, WA and since it was the first restaurant my husband and I visited in the tri-cities, it is the first one I have chosen to review.This is also a restaurant we go to fairly frequently because it's close to our house.

Service
I give Cousins' service five stars because we are always seated quickly and we've never had to wait long for our food or drink re-fills. Jeremy drinks a lot with meals and we tend to gauge the service by how long he has to wait for a re-fill. At Cousins' the service is always fast and friendly.

Food
Honestly, this would only be 3 stars if it wasn't for their breakfast. Their food was great the first few times we went, but maybe they changed cooks or cut costs? I don't know, but it hasn't been the same as it was the first time for a long time.Their breakfast is still scrumptious though! Their serving sizes are HUGE but they also allow anybody to order senior portions, so everybody is satisfied. Fluffy pancakes, ginormous cinnamon rolls, perfectly cooked eggs, fresh sausage and bacon - they have everything to satisfy whatever breakfast craving you have. As far as lunch and dinner, their chili is really good and inexpensive. Jeremy loves their country fried steak for dinner and their "home-cooked" type items (turkey, pot-roast, meatloaf, etc.) are not bad.

Cleanliness/Atmosphere
This is a very clean restaurant with a nice atmosphere. Oversized booths and warm lighting make it a comfortable and homey place to eat.

Price range is $10-$20 a plate.

Overall Rating


Sidenote: I have met a few people who were less satisfied with Cousins' than we have been. Since we've been there on several occasions I think we have a pretty objective perspective, but peoples' biggest complaint has been the price in comparison to the quality of food. This restaurant is for people who have a hankering for decent home-style food and a comfortable atmosphere and are willing to pay a little more for it.

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A brief explanation

My husband and I live in the Tri-Cities, WA which are located in Southeaster Washington along the Columbia River. We moved here a year ago and it has taken us quite a long time to find our favorite restaurants. There are so many websites where people can get online and write a review of a restaurant that you have to click on ten different search results to learn about the different restaurants in this area. Those websites are also very skewed because most of them only have reviews from one very angry customer. Our plan is to review and rate the local restaurants as we visit them. If you have any suggestions for places we you'd like us to review, let us know and we'll try it out. If you notice a review that you agree or disagree with, post a comment so readers can get more than one point of view. We'll try to rate three main areas of quality: Service, Food and Cleanliness and we will assign up to five stars, along with an explanation, for each of these areas.