Yesterday we joined two of Samuels' friends and their parents for dinner with the kids at TED's MONTANA GRILL (www.tedsmontanagrill.com) at the Ballston location on Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, although this is a huge national chain started by the ubiquitous Ted Turner.
Zagat gives this "burger" spot decent ratings and even higher ones for families and groups, and in that vein, they did succeed. Upon arrival they boys all got these waxy stringy "stix" that they could mold to the bison sketch included or play with and make things of their own; this was a huge hit. The garlicky pickles which also came right away were superb, and even Samuel discovered a new food (he has been very good at this at home lately too--he now adores mushrooms!).
The kid's menu is not much more varied than usual, our boys chose the MAC N CHEEZ (is spelling so hard these dayz?) with fries or the BAR NONE SLIDERS (3 mini cheeseburgers) with fries which Samuel enjoyed tremendously once he doused them all with ketchup. They were out of our first choice of wine (from a fairly small wine list to begin with) so we settled for a decent HAYMAN & HILL 2005 CABERNET RESERVE from Napa. The ONION RINGS come huge and crispy piled high flavored with salt & pepper and a very mild creamy horseradish dipping sauce that even Will (who must the the only Englishman on earth who does not like horseradish) and Sam both liked. These well priced tasty morsels were a hit around the table!
Our server, Yoni, seemed to try very hard but the place got very crowded fast and things seemed to slide off service wise as the evening progressed. We had to ask about our entrees as we sipped the second bottle of wine, a CLINE ANCIENT VINES 2006 Zinfandel which paired very well with the spicy burgers.
A refill on one beer though took over 20 minutes to arrive at the table (but we were never charged for it!).
The burgers arrived and while the menu has many options, you go here for burgers or the chicken grills. Indeed, the two beef burgers chosen and the chicken grill (S.O.B. with Swiss/Onions/Bacon) all came warm and tasty, but the two BISON burgers (you can choose beef or bison, the latter being priced a bit higher) called CHILI CHEESE KAREN's "Flying D" with Bison Chili, Cheddar Cheese, Jalapenos and Grilled Onions (I switched my onions for guacamole) came lukewarm, but were still very tasty. The fries on the side were not ones I would write home about, although they were not bad. I opted for the Parmesan CREAMED SPINACH, but my burger came with fries by mistake. Yoni brought a bowl of Spinach (only after I reminded him twice) which we all passed around and enjoyed heartily, but after we had finished our burgers.
The kids had a mediocre 3 scoop bowl of chocolate ice cream split 3 ways, which Sam did not care for at all, and we all headed home quite full, only wishing for warmer burgers and a bit more timely service.
