The Mystic Dining Room is tucked into a corner of the Sinbad Airport Hotel like a souk in Cairo's…read moreKhan El-Khalili Market. While the Sinbad Hotel could benefit from a magic carpet cleaning, The Mystic, a no frills and no spills spot was clean and neat and so I decided to give it up and eat here because 1. It was either here or the strip mall across the street. 2. It was 3 floors below my room. 3. It was open. 4. I'm lazy on a good day. The Mystic Bar is all wood and I felt like was eating in someone's Dutch Clog, but it was cheerful in a deserted sorta way and the Bar Tender was friendly, maybe because I was the only person in the place and maybe I'd been the only person in there that week. The one splash of decor was two 1980's video games and two poker machines. Not quite Laughlin, Nevada, so let's just say this was a Laugh. I settled in and read through the extensive menu (think of War and Peace deep fried). The Bar Tender recommended a Quidi Vidi Light Beer, which I ordered just because I liked the way it sounded when I said it. It's so Roman, isn't it? As if Julius Caesar stood before the Senate and stated in a stentorian voice, "Quidi Vidi Beer" instead of "Veni, vidi, vici". The World might be better off today if he'd actually said it. Me? I came. I saw the bar. I drank the beer. The Staff: Which way is one? The lone Bar Tender juggled tending bar while tending to the patrons (me) with efficiency. The Vibe: Who goes there? Apparently only one other Yelper who loved the pizza which is no longer offered. And then, of course, there was me. The Bar Program: A full one. Plus, there was beer, although there was nothing on draft. No big deal, I drink draft dodgers and that's why God created bottles anyway. My brew was nice and cold...I'm sold. The Food: Be prepared. The food is fairly pricey for being in the tired Sinbad Airport Hotel, and then Gander, NFLD ain't exactly Paris either. A ranched Elk was $48, the Chorizo Chicken Enchilada was $28. You can go to the hottest Italian spot in LA (Felix Trattoria) and pay $23 for hand made Tonarelli Cacio e Pepe. Okay, Felix requires a couple of long flights from Gander, and attempting a booking exactly 28 days out one second after midnight with the aid of a rapid fire computer like hitting the button on Jeopardy. With The Mystic, just stumble in on a whim and eat. The Chipotle Caesar Salad (I thought this will just be good for the roughage and to file off the rough edge of being hungry). Then, I thought, naw, this is not going to work out and tried the catch the Bar Tender's eye. My Sinbad (on both). Good thing the Bar Tender was too busy to catch my plaintive plea. The Salad was stellar, truly. The creamy dressing had a sharp zip to it and there was an unexpected mound of real bacon buried in the salad big enough to coax the PETA People away from The Flat Earth Convention. Next, the Sinbad Burger was a serviceable diner burger, if a hair on the dry side (which is better than a dry hair on the side). The 6 oz patty was a fatty and tasty treat with all the usual suspects on board to make it a classic burger. Tomato, Onion, Lettuce, Pickle, Mayo, Mustard, etc. It came with a huge hill of Fries. All in all it was definitely a yeoman Burger. The Sinbad Wings were sinfully bad to the bone. A dozen flats and drumettes fried just right, and served too hot to touch right out of the fryer along with a moderately spicy Wing Sauce waiting patiently. Those terrific wings held onto their crunch like Trump and his tax records. Every wing I could reach stayed crispy throughout me gnawing on them like a happy Hyena. The meat was moist, chicken-y, and tender. Somebody at The Mystic knows exactly what they're doing and that makes me think that the pizza probably was really good too. The Wing Sauce was a perfect tangy balance to the crunch quotient. And you also get a Ranch Dipper in case you're spice averse. Use one or the other or double dip (your face will look like the flag of Mexico when you're done.) That's why I'm a wing man, and happily so when they are this good. You don't need a Mystic to tell you this place is worth a go. But let me look into the future and tell you I'd definitely go back here every time I find my self taking a gander around Gander.

We had an evening in Gander, and thought that this restaurant looked interesting. Dinner proved to…read morebe a mixed bag. "Garlic Toast," even though free to start, is probably worth a miss. The Chef's Board of seafood was quite good, though the "roasted vegetable of the day" was barely warm. Partridgeberry chicken was fair, with the same veggie issues as the seafood dish. The restaurant does talk about a wine list. The by-the-glass selections are all traditional offerings, as are the by-the-bottle wines. I believe there were seven reds and six whites on each side of the wine list. Prices top out at 50/bottle so. Service was pretty good, and the restaurant itself is comfortably quirky.