Is there ANY good food in Anchorage??? (Palmer, Valdez: hotel, prices)

[akquestions]

THANK YOU for all the suggestions! It's great to have some new ideas to try. We're from the Seattle area and I think they have pretty good food down there, at least compared to here.

We just tried Cafe Amsterdam. My hubby liked the apple pancake thing but I was not at all impressed with the eggs benedict. Service was very good and friendly though.

Today we tried the Greatland Grill. Oh my goodness, it was one of the worst experiences I have EVER had. Absolutely horrible on so many levels. And it has awesome reviews! I have to wonder sometimes if the people giving rave reviews to some of these places have ever been outside of Alaska. It may be good for Alaska, but it still sucks. Scratch that, our experience today couldn't possibly be considered "good" by anyone, I don't care how low their standards are.

I look forward to trying some of the suggestions in this thread. We've tried some of them and found them gross, but there are a lot of new places too. We don't like anything too "ethnic" like thai or indian or sushi. We like good American, Italian, Mexican, etc...

[gobrien]

Originally Posted by akquestions

THANK YOU for all the suggestions! It's great to have some new ideas to try. We're from the Seattle area and I think they have pretty good food down there, at least compared to here.

We just tried Cafe Amsterdam. My hubby liked the apple pancake thing but I was not at all impressed with the eggs benedict. Service was very good and friendly though.

Today we tried the Greatland Grill. Oh my goodness, it was one of the worst experiences I have EVER had. Absolutely horrible on so many levels. And it has awesome reviews! I have to wonder sometimes if the people giving rave reviews to some of these places have ever been outside of Alaska. It may be good for Alaska, but it still sucks. Scratch that, our experience today couldn't possibly be considered "good" by anyone, I don't care how low their standards are.

I look forward to trying some of the suggestions in this thread. We've tried some of them and found them gross, but there are a lot of new places too. We don't like anything too "ethnic" like thai or indian or sushi. We like good American, Italian, Mexican, etc...

Where did you read reviews for the Great Land Grill? I saw some on Urban Spoon. Why do you assume Alaskans standards are lower? Most of us travel.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by akquestions

THANK YOU for all the suggestions! It's great to have some new ideas to try. We're from the Seattle area and I think they have pretty good food down there, at least compared to here.

We just tried Cafe Amsterdam. My hubby liked the apple pancake thing but I was not at all impressed with the eggs benedict. Service was very good and friendly though.

Today we tried the Greatland Grill. Oh my goodness, it was one of the worst experiences I have EVER had. Absolutely horrible on so many levels. And it has awesome reviews! I have to wonder sometimes if the people giving rave reviews to some of these places have ever been outside of Alaska. It may be good for Alaska, but it still sucks. Scratch that, our experience today couldn't possibly be considered "good" by anyone, I don't care how low their standards are.

I look forward to trying some of the suggestions in this thread. We've tried some of them and found them gross, but there are a lot of new places too. We don't like anything too "ethnic" like thai or indian or sushi. We like good American, Italian, Mexican, etc...

The Glacier Brewhouse just started their brunch beginning at 10:00 AM, which includes a very nice Eggs Benedict, with a real Hollandaise sauce and prosciutto, served with an excellent Potatoes O'Brien.

The Great Land Grill got great revenues for buying exclusively Alaskan. All of their ingredients on their menu comes from within Alaska. It is not the ingredients that are the problem, but how they use them. They mix Fairbanks pork in with their Delta Junction beef to make their burgers. This has two negative results:

1. They must cook their burgers very well done; and
2. It gives the burger a "sausage" flavor, which is not desired.

It does have one positive result for the owner's; pork costs a lot less than beef so it increases their profit margin. I also had a problem with their soggy french fries. The oil temperature was not hot enough to make them crispy. It is also more expensive than other downtown locations. Overall, it is not someplace I would recommend either.

McGinley's Irish Pub has some good burgers, as does the White Spot. The White Spot is a tiny little dinner on 4th, with a very good Halibut burger. The White Spot opens at 7:00 AM, but I do not recommend their breakfasts. They use left-over french fries, chopping them up on the grill, to make their breakfast potatoes.

As far as good Mexican cuisine, I have not found any in Alaska. La Mex, La Cabana, Burrito King, Oscars, all sell Gringo Mexican food not real Mexican food. Outside of the southwestern States real Mexican cuisine is hard to come by, unless you make it yourself.

[gobrien]

That doesn't sound very tasty-pork mixed in with burger. But glad our hardworking farmers/ranchers in Delta are getting more of a market.

[Glitch]

The downtown restaurants I would recommend for American and Italian cuisine are:

• Sullivan's Steakhouse - American-style dishes using French cooking techniques. Instead of grilling their steaks under or over direct flame, as is customary in America, they sear the steaks in a very hot frying pan with clarified butter. I have eaten lunch and dinner at Sullivan's on several occasions and never had a bad meal.
• Simon & Seafort's - Specializes in seafood, but has the typical American cuisine as well. Simon & Seafort's employs a mix of American and French cooking styles, and they are very good.
• Club Paris - You will need a reservation for dinner. It is not as big as Sullivan's or Simon & Seafort's, and they use American cooking techniques exclusively. The use Fillet Mignon for their hamburgers, so you can have them cooked to order. Their beer-battered french fries are also very good, and cooked at the proper temperature.
• Glacier Brewhouse - If you are into good beers and decent American food, this micro-brewery/restaurant is an excellent choice. It can get a bit noisy, but it is a very popular place.
• Orso's - The only decent Italian restaurant in downtown Anchorage. They are owned by the same people who own the Glacier Brewhouse next door, but with a completely different menu and ambiance. I have only eaten at Orso's a few times, and I enjoyed the experience.

[Glitch]

Kriner's Dinner near Fireweed on A Street is also a nice, Alaskan family-owned restaurant that serves American food. Good food, and lots of it, for a reasonable price.

[warptman]

Hawaiian BBQ

[akquestions]

Originally Posted by Glitch

1. They must cook their burgers very well done; and
2. It gives the burger a "sausage" flavor, which is not desired.

Yeah, the sausage gave it a gross flavor, it was really well-done and dry, and the fries were really, really soggy, but that wasn't even the worst of it.

We got there, were told to seat ourselves, and then proceeded to sit for a full 10 minutes without any service. And we were the only ones in the restaurant!! There were three or four people at the register just chatting away, completely ignoring us.

A waitress finally came over and gave us some menus and took a drink order. My husband's coke was very watery and gross, but he was super thirsty so he finished it right away. Then we ordered the burgers, but when we got them, the order was all messed up. They forgot to put the cheese on, and also failed to put in the tomato and onion. We had to get up and ask them for the extra ingredients. Then we found a hair in the food, and it was most definitely not one of ours.

My husband's coke was never refilled, even though the waitress had been back to take and then deliver our order (she never even noticed our drinks needed to be refilled) and finally, after we were almost done, my husband got up to ask them to refill it., Remember, we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant, so all the people that worked there were just standing around the back chatting, and we had to get out of our seats to get them to correct the order and refill the drinks. When we were done eating, they continued to ignore us and we had to get up AGAIN to ask for the check. We put the check and credit card at the edge of the table but they never came to pick it up. So we had to get up once again, to give them the check and credit card.

I felt really nauseous after eating. The food was just gross and the service was unbelievably bad. And it was expensive too. The reviews we read were on urbanspoon and maybe yelp too. I have no idea where all the raving reviews are coming from.

[akquestions]

Originally Posted by gobrien

Why do you assume Alaskans standards are lower? Most of us travel.

I guess I assume that because I've gotten lots of recommendations from lifelong Alaskans for delicious, wonderful places to eat, but when we try them, we found them to be gross. There are also a lot of restaurants here that somehow manage to stay open even though they're mediocre at best. These kinds of restaurants wouldn't stand a chance of staying open down in Seattle. Yet people here seem to like them okay and go regularly.

My husband really liked the Brewhouse but I had a very dry, bland burger there and it always seems to be very, very noisy in there. I think we'll try it a few more times on off hours though.

We haven't tried Sullivan's, Orso, or Club Paris. Are those places kid-friendly? We've got two little ones.

[gobrien]

Originally Posted by akquestions

Yeah, the sausage gave it a gross flavor, it was really well-done and dry, and the fries were really, really soggy, but that wasn't even the worst of it.

We got there, were told to seat ourselves, and then proceeded to sit for a full 10 minutes without any service. And we were the only ones in the restaurant!! There were three or four people at the register just chatting away, completely ignoring us.

A waitress finally came over and gave us some menus and took a drink order. My husband's coke was very watery and gross, but he was super thirsty so he finished it right away. Then we ordered the burgers, but when we got them, the order was all messed up. They forgot to put the cheese on, and also failed to put in the tomato and onion. We had to get up and ask them for the extra ingredients. Then we found a hair in the food, and it was most definitely not one of ours.

My husband's coke was never refilled, even though the waitress had been back to take and then deliver our order (she never even noticed our drinks needed to be refilled) and finally, after we were almost done, my husband got up to ask them to refill it., Remember, we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant, so all the people that worked there were just standing around the back chatting, and we had to get out of our seats to get them to correct the order and refill the drinks. When we were done eating, they continued to ignore us and we had to get up AGAIN to ask for the check. We put the check and credit card at the edge of the table but they never came to pick it up. So we had to get up once again, to give them the check and credit card.

I felt really nauseous after eating. The food was just gross and the service was unbelievably bad. And it was expensive too. The reviews we read were on urbanspoon and maybe yelp too. I have no idea where all the raving reviews are coming from.

You really ought to review them yourselves, or even call the management. From what I gather, this is a new restaurant and there is no excuse for them to be this sloppy, especially since you were the only customers. I went to the Peanut Farm in a work group and we were pretty much ignored, except for one of our coworkers who was a regular there. Out of the entire table of like 20 only he got refills. It was stupid behavior on their part because the tab was picked up by our employer. This was not the first time we got shoddy service there. I did sent a complaint email but doubt any changes were made.