Pics at Papa Grands and fun spot

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Andy Williams..A goodbye to an incredible person

 Branson lost one of it's most iconic performers this week. He was 84 years old and lost his battle to cancer. He was well known in Branson as a singer, but also built one of Bransons best eateries in 2007 called the Moon River Grill. I haven't had a chance to dine there yet myself, and I don't what the future of it may be now, but I wanted to put it on here. From what I have read and seen, it looks amazing! I plan on making a trip there as soon as possible, but if you get a chance, please stop by and show your respects to an amazing man and please leave your comments here so his legacy can carry on.
                                  Rest In Peace Andy Williams

Tequila's Mexican Restaurant

Hola fellow food enthusiasts! Tonight we decided on Mexican. Taco bell is great when you want cheap food fast, but face it, it just doesn't do it when your wanting the real thing! We had been told about one little place in a strip mall that was cheap and you got a lot for your money, so we headed there. It was one of those little walk in, order at the counter and set at one of the few tiny tables or take it to go...not what we were looking for tonight, so we filed it away for a quick lunch one of these days. On we went down a not so beaten path and found a Mexican place tucked away in a larger, but somewhat deserted strip mall. 3300 Gretna Road to be exact. A place called Tequila's Mexican Restaurant. Hey, when it's named after such a great spirit it's got to be good right?
 It was about 7pm. so it wasn't busy at all. Maybe another three couples and that was it. We were greeted with a friendly girl at the front who seated us. I am a large woman so I usually can't set at booths. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were nice and roomy so we chose a booth. There was a LOT to look at. Tons of Mexican inspired decorations, really neat artwork and a huge vaulted ceiling. We were seated near the bar area so there were plenty of beer signs and such as well. As much as I wanted to try a margarita they were a little pricey for tonight's budget so I ordered a coke instead. While most soda's in Branson's restaurants were around 2-3, I was pleased with these only being 1.75. We had chips and salsa right away and our drinks in a few moments. Then we got to the hard part...the menu! I mean this thing was like a book! No lack of choices here. Beef, Pork, Chorizo, Chicken, Shrimp, Tilapia and a few others. There was even a very nice vegetarian menu. Not something I have seen a lot of down here. (The vegetarian fajitas sounded REALLY good and I wish I would have tried them.) After about ten min. of pondering I ordered a shrimp Chimichanga as that is what I always ordered at the Mexican place in my hometown. Jerry ordered the Burrito Tequila. Both came with rice, beans. Mine had sour cream, pico de gallo, and guacamole.
 While we waited on our food we tried the salsa. I can't handle too much spice, but this was just right. A bit heavy on the cilantro for my taste, but still very tasty. Just enough heat to tingle, but not so much I needed to mix it with sour cream!
 Our food arrived a few moments later from our very friendly server. The plates were certainly large! Huge helping of rice and beans on one side, our main part in the middle and the extras on the other side. My first bite was crispy and nice, but then I noticed that was filled with onions, peppers, and tomatoes along with the shrimp. I was used to my shrimp chimichangas only having the shrimp and cheese inside. Having the tomato's and extras inside quickly made the chimichanga soggy. The flavor was OK, but very little seasoning. It was just kinda bland for being Mexican food. They came the shrimp. I was expecting that delicious "pop" that a perfectly cooked shrimp has when you bite into it. This was more like chewing a piece of steak. It was overcooked. Not so bad that it was inedible, but kinda like the kind you get in stir fried dishes on buffets. Overall, my entree wasn't very good. The beans were out of a can, but tasted fine. The rice however was really tasty. The guacamole was fresh and looked to be handmade. Again though, not a lot of flavor. As for Jerry's experience he said his was really bland too. It also had an odd texture to the beef. It was like if you boiled the hamburger and then put it through a really find blender to make it extremely coarse ground. He ordered some extra tortillas and ate his rice and beans in the traditional Mexican style and also loved the rice.
 Our overall bill came 25.05 with tax. Not bad for a night out. I just wished the food had been a little better. Perhaps we just hit them on an off night, or perhaps they cater to people who don't like much spice, but I am not sure we will be going back. Keep in mind though, that every ones taste is different and while we didn't care for most of the food, you may love it! I really did love the place itself, that saved the night when it came down to it. If you have your own trip to this restaurant and would like to tell about it, please feel free to comment! I would love to hear what others have to say and get some good ones in the mix too!
(On a scale from 1 being horrible to 10 being the best)
Cleanliness   9
Friendliness  9
speed          10
decor          10
food            5
Price           8

Papa Grands Pizza and the Fun Spot

 What a neat place this is!! I am used to boring old pizza places or just ordering delivery. The kids wanted to go out and have some fun, but after the move, my budget was limited! I remembered a pizza place we used to go to on vacation and that there was a large mall like store attached to it. Well, the store part is no longer there, but they put in an arcade instead!
 It is right in the middle of 76 strip attached to the end of the Grand Country complex. The building itself is painted in bright inviting colors and has the handle of a giant guitar sticking out of the front! We headed and in and wow did it smell good. The price was 7.99 for adults, 4.99 for children 4-10 and under 4 was free. It was all you can eat pizza and a soup/salad bar. We all headed for the pizza! Now I have eaten a lot of pizza in my life, but this stuff was amazing. There was a spinach pizza that people were going crazy over. As soon as they put one up, it was gone. I got ahold of a slice and understood why! Spinach pizza is usually bland and had little flavor but this was buttery with a creamy sauce and a nice hint of the spinach flavor. The sausage was also very good. They had cheese covered bread sticks that were perfect and when you got your fill of pizza, soup and salad, they even had desert pizza! One was like a chocolate chip cookie and the other was cherries covered with a crumb toppingI don't really want to think about how much pizza I actually ate. Then the kids wanted salad so we tried it out. It was very fresh and full even though it was a busy time of day. They had the usual salad bar items so it was well rounded and good. Then I checked out the soups. I just about did a little dance because they had a cheesy ham soup that I hadn't had since one of my first restaurant jobs. It was so good I had two bowls. We all ate ourselves silly!
 Attached to the pizza place was an arcade. We had promised the kids we would take them there after we ate, though in our stuffed state, we were regretting that promise...lol. You load how much money you want each kid (or adult) to have on a plastic "credit card". They can then use that to place the games and try to rack up tickets. They can trade the tickets in for prizes afterward. As I had four kids, I only gave them 5.00 apiece. I really figured we would only be there a few min. and they would walk away with a tootsie roll or two. We wound up spending an hour and to my amazement they actually got some pretty neat prizes! One got a velvet art posters w/ markers, a glass mouse clip, a pig bank and some rattle snake egg magnets. Another got a glass paperweight with laser etched mermaids inside. The little ones chose a cowboy hat, whoopee cushion, Chinese finger trap, a ceramic tea set and several other little items. There are also other things that cost extra if you want to do them such as bumper cars, a climbing ball shooting thing, photo booth, and laser tag.
 The main thing they had was FUN! Even us adults had a great time helping them and watching (I am pretty sure we might have played a game or two ourselves...hehe) I highly recommend this place to families for a great dinner and an evening out!

Just an FYI

 Just thought I would add that I am in no way working for or paid by any of the places mentioned on here. I hope to be able to add photos, menu's and such to my future posts. If there is something you would like to see here, please let me know! I am very new to this, so I could sure use the help!

Peach Tree Self Serve frozen yogurt

There is nothing worse than a sweet craving on a hot day! Lucky for me Branson is chalk full of places to sate my sweet tooth! My mom and Jerry were with me that day and while Jerry didn't want any, (He wanted to go play at the game store next door) Mom was more than happy to join me! We walked inside and just stopped for a moment. Talk about neat decor! The chairs were more like geometric balls! The colors were incredible! Reds, whites, orange and blue....and many others. It looked like something I had only seen on television. There was even a comfy looking white couch that you could set in if you didn't want to set on one of the smaller ball chairs. We were greeted by a very nice lady who asked if we would like to try some bubble soda. There were two flavors, mango and strawberry. What made them neat were these little balls that floated in the drink! I tried the strawberry and boy was it good, but when the little balls went into your mouth they sort of  "popped" and spilled a sweet strawberry syrup onto your tongue! It was so good! Then we decided to try the yogurt. You choose your flavor (or you could mix them all together). I tried several. Then you got to choose your toppings! There was all kinds of candy, fruits, syrups. It was really easy to forget that you were paying by the ounce! Mine cost over 5.00..lol. Mom did a little better than me. Jerry got done shopping and decided to get himself one, but he got a little carried away. He wound up with an 8.00 frozen yogurt!! The toppings were great, but some of the flavors of yogurt were a bit weird.(NOT in a bad way though!)  I highly suggest you try the flavors before buying a large amount of one! (They have sample cups for that reason)
 All in all it was a really fun experience, but a costly one. Use caution or you can really run up a bill! But there is no funner way to spend money than this one!

With the gracious permission from the manager I was allowed to use a photo from their facebook page and was also allowed to give the link. I would highly suggest you visit their facebook page for tons of fun photos, and promotions. They are doing some fantastic work here in Branson!  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peach-Tree-Frozen-Yogurt/380350188659496

McDonalds

 Well, what town is  complete without the old standbys? We are a normal working family and don't always have a fortune to spend on eating out. Plus with four children we are always looking for eateries where kids can eat free or cheap! We have tried out the McDonald's on 76 strip near the Wal-Mart as well as the one in Branson Hills. The menu's were pretty much consistent with any other store I have been too (in Kansas and Missouri). They had their famous extra value menu where many items are just a dollar. You can sure feed a whole family on those prices!! At any rate, coming from a town where the McDonald's was really terrible, there were things we were watching for. First off, did they really listen to what you want and repeat it back? Did they miss items when punching in your order? Were they friendly and knowledgeable? Was the food wrapped good and packed properly? Was everything there? How quickly did they get the orders out? Did they give the correct change? And of course most of all, what was the quality of the food?
 There was a really long line so we figured there would be a long wait. Surprisingly the line moved fast and within less than a min. we were at the speaker. Since we had been to McDonald's tons of times, we already know what we wanted and ordered. The speaker attendant was very nice and waited until we were finished to ask if we wanted anything else. The order came up on a screen and was all correct including a few changes such as No Tomato or Ketchup Only. We moved up to the window and the lady took our money. She was quick and accurate and we were on our way to the pickup window. Our order was right there waiting for us and we were given our sack, drinks and a friendly smile. We asked for some hot mustard and she was very quick to get it for us. We pulled into a parking spot to check our order. Everything was there and everything was correct! The fries were fresh, hot and salted just right. The burgers were also fresh and very tasty. We were all pleasantly surprised. We assumed it must be since it was during a busy time so the next time we went was late at night, close to closing time. We expected to get "leftover" burgers and cold fries. (This was the norm where we used to live). We were greeted with a friendly voice and a matching experience from the other store. The food was fresh and good and the staff was great!
 Overall, we were very pleasantly surprised and fast food at a cheap price will certainly stay on our list of dining choices!

Red Lobster

Wanting a nice sit down dinner we took my mother out to dinner at Red Lobster. We had some bad experiences in the past with the Red Lobster we had in our old home town, so we were a bit sceptical.
 Upon opening the door, we were greeted by a friendly girl who told us there was a short wait. There was ample seating in the waiting area, so we took the time to view the live lobster tank and take in all the decor. It was very nice and clean despite the antique fishing items. The place had tons of seating, both tables and booths. There was also outside seating, but it was raining so out of the question! We asked for a table near a window as some of the areas were fairly dark, lit only with hanging lantern type lights. Some people may like that, but I want to see what I am putting in my mouth! They didn't have anything right by a window, but gave us a table a few seats over, so the lighting was OK. They were all apologies for not being able to cater to our request exactly so I was pleased with the service to that point. One waitress came for our drink order and gave us menus. She said there would be a second waitress to take the order. It took a few min. to get our drinks, but then we had a long (about 15 min.) wait before the waitress came to take our order. In their defense though, they were completely packed with more lining up at the door. Our wait for salads and their
signature biscuits was short and of high quality. My mother and I had the Cesar salad and Jerry had a normal side salad. He had to order extra dressing as it had very little and he likes a lot. They were quick to bring it out and did not charge extra. The biscuits were cheese and garlic infused and were to die for! Hot and fresh from the oven...we ordered seconds...and thirds....
 We all decided on the all you can eat shrimp as it sounded like heaven. We were a bit worried that the wait time in between ordering seconds and actually getting it would take a long time. Our initial order arrived within ten min. and everything was perfect. The shrimp was done to perfection, the rice was seasoned well and the servings were very generous. As soon as we got our order the waitress asked which kind we would like to try next so she could go ahead and get our order in for us. We chose and it was there in about ten min. Each subsequent batch took 6-10 min. to come out, which was not bad at all considering how many people they had. Each item was fresh and delicious. We ate until we thought we might turn into a shrimp. Our waitress was pretty good at keeping things filled and was friendly but not overly so. We did not have room for desserts, so that will have to be another time!
  My fiance and I returned a few days later at a later time of day. There were fewer people and the servers were more relaxed and friendlier. The food was every bit as good as the first time. Serving times were about the same. One thing did stand out to me on this trip though and want to include it here. There was a new server who was in the training phase. She had been doing things on her own for a few hours under the watchful eye of the supervisor ( I gathered this info from listening to their conversation). At one point she was rushing around trying to wait on a table and clean another. The supervisor came up to her and asked if she needed some help. She gave him a defeated look and I thought she might start crying. He smiled at her and told her not to worry, that she was doing a great job. He told her to ask any time she needed help and not to feel that she was in it alone. He told her that the most important thing about working there was to enjoy her job and to love what she was doing. I was so shocked. I don't think I have ever heard a supervisor tell a worker that their enjoyment in their job was important! She perked up and he helped her clear off the table so she could focus on her customers. I realized that Branson is truly a unique and different place to live. A place where employees are actually valued and taken care of.
 If you are looking for the Red Lobster in Branson, it is right across from the huge IMAX theater on the red route. There may be a different special going on when you visit, but I have no doubt that you will enjoy your dining experience! (Prices vary but the average is 12-15 dollars per person. You can eat cheaper, though as they have nice salads and smaller cheaper dishes as well.)
( Can't make it out to eat? Check out some of the fantastic deals advertised on here. Put on your own fantastic seafood dinner at home!)Lobster Gram M10T6 SIX 10-12 OZ MAINE LOBSTER TAILS (Google Affiliate Ad)

Vasken's Deli

This wasn't the first stop but I am starting with this one as it was the most outstanding! We (We being my fiance Jerry and our little girl Anya and myself) were in a hurry for lunch as we had a lot of things to do, but didn't want to spend a fortune. We decided that something like a deli sandwich sure sounded good. We passed a little strip mall that looked like it had come from a castle somewhere, and noticed a sign that read Vasken's Deli. We decided that we would give it a shot. From the outside it looked like a small "hole in the wall" sort of place. We opened the door and the first thing we noticed was the smell. It reminded me of an old cartoon where they smell something so good they just close their eyes and sort of float to where the scent is coming from! It smelled of smoked meats and spices I couldn't even begin to place. We turned a corner and were shocked at the size. It was huge inside! The decor was done to look like something far from our continent. I felt as if I had gone on a trip to England, or maybe even Transylvania. The seats were comfortable and the people behind the counter were very friendly. We soon realized that this was no normal deli, but an international one. The food they served was mostly Mediterranean. I had never tried anything like that before, so I was very excited. Jerry got a gyro. He said it was by far the best he had ever had! I had a Mediterranean sandwich with several meats and a homemade olive spread. It was outstanding! The olives did not overpower the sandwich but gave it a flavor I am craving even now! My little girl got a kid's meal which consisted of a cheese pizza, a bag of chips and a drink for only 3.99! Their prices were as outstanding as their food. They don't stop there though. They also are a little store! Shelves of all kinds of imported foods lines their shelves and coolers. They also sell their meats and cheeses by the pound! I left with a big bag of cookies from Bosnia Herzegovina!
 It is an amazing place, with outstanding food and low price. What more could you ask for? This is a must stop place on your trip through Branson! I found a link online to their web page and will include it here so you can sign up on their facebook page and read what others are saying about this little gem! Vaskensdeli.com.
 Enjoy!

Eating Up Branson!

 Well, here I am! I have finally reached my dream of living in Branson Missouri! It is known world wide for it's entertainment and museums, but I am all about the food! At last count (and it is always changing) there were over 348 restaurants in and around Branson. Some of them were old favorites, but there were so many I had never heard of! I knew right away that my palate was in for some seasoning! I had grown up with the same basic foods and rarely ventured far outside that familiar comfort zone of burgers and fries, fried chicken and potato's and the occasional steak. I watch the food channels on television and wondered what it would be like to taste some of the cuisine I saw there. Thai food? Chinese? Mexican? Cuban? Greek? They all looked wonderful yet I have no idea what most of the items are, let alone what they taste like. After checking out maps, websites, magazines and even coupons, I realized that Branson offers a wealth of around the world cuisine just waiting there for me to try! A few days in and I realized that while I am enjoying the tastes that Branson has to offer, why not share my experiences with others? This blog will be showcasing my trips to sample the local fare. 
 Come travel along with me and my family as we share our dining outings with you. Whether you live here yourself and wondered what a place might be like, or even if your just vacationing or passing through, I hope this helps you decide where to spend your dollars and get the best food! I will do my best to describe things like location, atmosphere, cost, friendliness, cleanliness, and above all...taste! Keep in mind though that these are my opinions and that of my family. Your taste may be different and of course any place could have an off day. Before I leave a totally negative impression of a place I will take into consideration the time of day, season, etc. and may even visit a couple of times before giving up on it! I am new to blogging, so bare with me please as I learn the ropes!