UPDATE: 140128
Iama Critic Rating - Cheddar's Casual Cafe - 3 Stars
1025 Woodruff Road, Greenville, SC
Overall:
Still the best onion rings ever! This trip we tried their more unique items, but sadly Cheddar's wasn't quite up to it's prior 4 star rating!
$3.99 Potato Soup - 3 Stars
This soup comes with cheese and some crackers. It had a nice flavor but needed something. This is when a restaurant really needs to provide a great pepper grinder. Sadly Cheddar's does not provide good chunky pepper. Also the price was too high by a buck for such a small bowl.
$4.99 Spinach Dip & Chips - 4 Stars
The dip itself is supremo great and my guest loved the thin light chips. I myself find thin chips frustrating. However this appetizer is wonderful especially for $5.
$8.99 Cajun Spiced Tilapia - 2 Stars
Sadly the entree looks like its missing something. The smallish 10" plate is 30% empty and the fish, although tasty, is VERY small. Chef Iama Critic calls fish this small "Bait"! I mean seriously the fish was only 5 shrimp long! And the mashed potatoes really could use some course ground pepper, which Cheddar's does not provide. This entree really needed a small portion of veggies and a "real" fillet of Tilapia!
$7.99 BBQ Chicken Salad -3 Stars
One of my frequent guests has been ordering salads recently and this salad looked like it had lots of potential. The dressing was great as well as the greens and bacon. But what the heck is all that stringy fried onion rings stuff. And this salad was supposed to be BBQ chicken. But the chicken was served freezing cold, right out of the fridge and drizzled with sauce.
BBQ sauce on cold chicken does not make BBQ'd chicken my friends! And wow, they sure do value their chicken because Cheddar's must make 6 salads out of two chicken breasts! Too much fried onion rings, too little chicken! And cold chicken means NOT FRESH!
$7.29 Philly Cheese-Steak - 4 Stars
This spartan looking sandwich with more of those mashed potatoes that really need some spices, or cheese, or chives, or something to make them not so boring! And what is with all the open spaces on some or these Cheddar's entrees.
If you have an entree that only fills 75% of the plate then that means you need to put something there, like a little bowl of Au jus or a veggy or two. Don't just serve your entree with big open spaces of white porcelain for us to look at, it makes your entree look meager and cheap. (Chef School 101) However my guest really enjoyed the flavor of the sandwich and raved about the meat. And the price is very reasonable as well.
$9.99 New Orleans Pasta - 4 Stars
This pasta comes with shrimp and sausage. The flavor of this entree alone made the trip to Cheddar's worthwhile. Creamy, spicy, and delicious, all it need to be perfect was, more sasauge and a bigger bowl. One of the cheaper New Orleans pasts we have had, and yet one of the best.
Final Thoughts:
Our second trip to Cheddar's was not quite as impressive as our first 4 star experience. But we specifically ordered their more unique items. However the New Orleans pasta, the Philly Cheese-Steak sandwich and the onion rings were real standouts. And Cheddar's prices were still reasonable.
We have no doubt Cheddar's can provide 4 star food on any given night, and they were close on the night we went.
And don't forget to order those $4.00 5 Star onion rings. read more