Here is the first full restaurant review from Sweet Paleo! Joe and I visited Eastside Cafe on a Friday night. I had made reservations and we got our table right upon arrival. The restaurant is located inside an old house and is very quaint. They have a garden and also raise their own chickens which I think is awesome! Everything will be rated on a 5 point scale.
We started with an appetizer of chips and salsa. The chips were good, but I don’t think they were cooked in-house. The salsa was delicious! You could tell this was homemade and it had a little kick to it. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. If the chips were fresher, I think it would’ve been higher.
Joe also had an Austin Amber beer. He gave it 3.5 stars on his own personal beer scale (he rates every beer he tries…).
We also had their complementary jalapeno cornbread muffins which are awesome. I would give these a 4.
For the main course, I was dying for a cheeseburger. So I ordered the 7 ounce burger sans bun with American cheese. I also had the acorn squash with a ginger tamari sauce as my side. Both were delicious! The burger was cooked how I asked and so tasty with the fresh tomato and homemade pickles on top. I devoured the whole thing. The acorn squash was also awesome. I had read that it was the side to try and it didn’t dissapoint. The sauce was so yummy and I would definitely order this again. I would rate the whole dish together as 4. The burger probably would’ve been tastier with the bun and the garlic aioli which I also skipped out on. With bacon and avocado on top, I would’ve been in burger heaven!
Joe had the chicken enchiladas with a smokey tomato sauce and the milder verde sauce. Instead of the rice and beans that comes with the meal, he subbed mashed sweet potatoes (which were awesome). Joe said overall that his meal was a 3.5.
We could not skip out on dessert this night. We went for a staple from the past. Whenever we went out when we were first dating we ALWAYS got dessert. And 90% of the time we ordered the brownie with ice cream. It’s one of Joe’s favorite desserts. It was a Ghiradelli brownie topped with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream. It was topped with caramel and chocolate espresso sauces. Words cannot express how awesome this dessert was. Definitely not Paleo but worth the splurge that night. I would give it a 4.5. My only complaint would be that the brownie wasn’t very warm. If it had been a little warmer/gooery, that would’ve put it over the top.
Overall, I would rate our entire experience as a 4. Our waitress was polite and prompt. We were seated in the back room of the house which was fairly private and cozy. The food was delicious and our orders came out as asked. The prices are very resonable and they have a variety of menu items that would please most anyone. They also have rotating specials each night. Brunch is offered on the weekends, so we would need to go back and try it. Fresher chips and a warm gooey brownie may have bumped this up to a 4.5. We definitely would come back.