Tailored Tea

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Tailored Tea is located at 1010 Troy-Schenectady Road. It's a teahouse/cafe with a B&B feel. Very unique for the area, but I think it works for them.

We went for breakfast, and upon entering we were greeted and seated promptly. Our server was friendly and attentive, and walked us through some of their teas.

We ordered two half pots; one of Chai and one of Peach Rooibos. The half pots were more than enough tea for us. It felt like the tea would never end! It was a great value. My one critique would be that when the honey was delivered, it was almost empty. I had to do the "wait and pour" in order to get honey into my tea.

The food was a different story. I ordered the Eggs Benedict on their Savory Scone of the Day. Brian ordered their Pancakes. Brian's pancakes were passable in flavor but had a rubbery texture. My eggs were not only dead overcooked (no poached runny-ness to be seen) but they would have been better served without the scone. The scone was so rock hard, I could've broken a window with it. It was inedible, and it boggled my mind that it left the kitchen in such a fashion in clear view of the chef and the waitress. There was no excuse.

If you're looking for a teahouse (sans food), then Tailored Tea does tea exceptionally well. If you want food, go elsewhere.

Eggs Benedict	Pancakes

Half Pot of Tea

DeFazio's

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Defazio's is located at 266 4th Street in Troy. It can be kind of tricky to get to, given some of Troy's surrounding one-way streets, but well worth the trip.

Brian and I were in the mood for homemade pasta, so I went searching. DaFazio's popped up several times, which made us want to know more. Brian did his research and made resevations for the two of us (highly, highly recommended!). As you walk up, you'll notice there are two sides to DeFazio's; the market, and the pizzeria/restaurant.

When we walked in, we immediately knew why reservations came highly recommended. There were all of 6 tables, with a lot of business coming from delivery and takeout orders.

We were greeted immediately by a very nice gentleman behind the counter. He indicated our table, and came right over to get us situated. He explained the menu options, gave us the specials, and also told us that if there's a combination we wanted that wasn't represented in one specific dish on the menu, to let them know. Since their dishes are made fresh in house, combinations aren't a problem.

Our waitress greeted us a little later. We asked some questions (including what dishes were her favorite). Not only was she conversational, but she was knwledgeable and eager to assist. Brian ordered the Cajun Chicken Alfredo, while I ordered the Fettucine Rosario with a side of Meatballs.

All entrees come with garlic bread, and a piping hot basket of the homemade deliciousness was delivered to our table. I don't know what they do to their garlic bread, but it was buttery, garlicky, seasoned, and amazing.

Our entrees made their debut, piping hot, and we dug in. Brian's Cajun Chicken Alfredo was done very well. The chicken was moist, and the sauce had a really nice kick. A couple of critiques were the roasted red peppers which weren't listed as coming with the dish, and Brian's pasta was a little more al dente than he would have preferred.

I'm a fan of al dente, so I loved the chew on my fettucine. The meatballs were amazingly moist, and the sauce blend of alfredo and marinara was exactly what I was looking for. My one critique is that the dish could've used a touch of salt, and there was none on the table.

Our service was second to none. Even given how busy and jam packed the restaurant was, no less than three employees came over to make sure we were doing okay, asking us how we liked our dishes. One of DeFazio's long time regular customers (25 years) even took time out to chat with us and share his favorite meals.

Everything about this small intimate setting, with tasty scratch made food, makes us anxious to return for their pizzas. All of our research points to their pizzas as being "must haves," not the least of which included seeing the piping hot masterpieces being delivered to nearby tables. Given the same crust, DeFazio's will even do half of one specialty pizza on one side, and half of another specialty pizza on the other. No pizzeria we've encountered has offered to do that.

This place is a gem. We'll be back. The service was stellar, the food was tasty, and the atmosphere was as welcoming as you can get. There are lots of good things coming out of DeFazio's.

PS - 1) They only take cash or checks (no plastic). 2) You can bring your own alcohol. Wine has a small $2 per person corkage fee.

Fettucine Rosario w/Meatballs	Cajun Chicken Alfredo

Morrettes (closed)

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Written by Brian

Category: Restaurant Reviews

Morrettes was featured on the Travel Channel show "Food Paradise", so of course we had to try it out.  The Capital Region has a ton of different places that deserve national recognition for their food.  Morrettes, however, is not one of them.

I ordered a standard cheesesteak because that is what they are known for.  Josie also got a steak sandwich, but hers was smaller and had gravy instead of cheese.  Their menu had fries with cheese and bacon on them, so that was also a must have.

None of the food was all that exciting.  The rolls on the cheesesteak were hard, almost stale.  The steak itself had absolutely no seasoning, which wouldn't have been as much of a problem if either the cheese or the gravy had any real flavor.  Bacon on the fries was overcooked, and they also suffered from the tasteless cheese.

Service was friendly, our waitress offered suggestions, and gave us everything we needed, but we couldn't get past the food that we had such high hopes for.

Cheesesteak	Steak Sandwich

Fries with cheese and bacon

Phoenicians Restaurant

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Written by Brian

Category: Restaurant Reviews

The Phoenicians Restaurant is a family owned restaurant serving Lebanese and Mediterranean Cuisine.  It is located 1686 Central Ave in Colonie.  This little gem is just over a mile from my house, and yet I had never heard of it until a recent recommendation from a friend.  I was missing out.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the waitress and told to sit wherever.  We had looked at the menu online and I was leaning toward trying the beef and lamb kabobs, Josie was leaning towards a shawarma, so when we saw a mixed platter containing all the shawarmas and kabobs, it seemed like the perfect choice.  While we were waiting, the owner (Robert) came over and introduced himself, shaking our hands and thanking us for coming in.  Very nice friendly guy who made sure we got whatever we needed.  Every staff member we dealt with was incredibly friendly and polite.

Now onto the food.  This giant plate of food was placed in front of us.  Our platter came with:  4 skewers - 1 Filet Mignon, 1 Chicken, 1 Lamb, and one kafta (ground beef lamb mix) as well as chicken and beef shawarma, rice, hummus, pickles, garlic sauce, pita bread and house salad.  It was a ton of food, even when we were done we knew we'd be eating leftovers for three days.  This platter cost $46, but could easily serve three or four people.  Everything was absolutely amazing.  All the meats were very well seasoned and tender, but still moist.  Most kabobs I've had in the past have been flavorful, but very dry.  Phoenicians meats were completely different.

Josie's favorite thing in the platter was the lamb kabob, mine was the chicken shawarma, but we both agreed there wasn't anything on the platter that wasn't delicious.  Even the rice was seasoned.  The platter came with endless pita as well as hummus and a garlic sauce.  The hummus was very good, but overshadowed by the absolutely amazing garlic sauce.  It was a strong garlic flavor, but not sweet or bitter like strong garlics can often be.  We are going to try to make our own once we got Robert to give up the secret recipe.

We had a sampling of the baklava (baklawa as listed on the menu)  Very good.  I'm not generally a fan of baklava, but I would order it as a dessert next time I'm there, it has changed my opinion on baklava.

Great service, and amazing food get Phoenicians a well deserved 5 Fork rating.  This is our 88th review so far on CRFoodies, and this will be the 5th perfect rating.  5 Forks is rare, so we strongly recommed Phoenicians.  Give it a try, you will probably see us there.

Phoenicians Mixed Grill (for two)