One of
my birthday presents from David II, Amy and our grandsons, David III and Emmett
Lee was definitely right in my ‘sweet spot’, perfect for a guy who blogs a lot about
food and restaurants!
They
got me a gift card to a local restaurant that both Laurie and I like to visit
for their Italian pasta offerings. As
per David II, there was quite a bit of confusion and uncertainty when he called
from Omaha Nebraska to buy a gift card for David from David. Perhaps they thought that it was some kind of
scam. After all, local casual restaurants
in Seymour Tennessee don’t have too many gift cards purchased from out of
state, much less from Nebraska.
A few
weeks ago, (my birthday was this past summer), we finally got around to driving
over an hour to reach our destination…Willie’s Restaurant. We don’t make it over to Seymour too often as
it is quite a drive just for dinner and our route along US 411 from Maryville
to Seymour is only a winding and fairly busy 2-lane road. It’s a heightened adventure to drive it after
dark when daylight is at a minimum.
Dinners
at Willie’s are very reasonable, especially considering the fact that the meal
starts with an all you can eat salad bar and some garlic bread knots with spaghetti
sauce for dipping. This is Laurie’s
salad plate…complete with 2 of her favorites…beets and sliced olives!
I
ordered Penne Pasta with Willie’s homemade meat sauce and 2 meatballs. ($7.99
with the salad bar and garlic knots!)
This is my second favorite entrée from the list of pasta offerings at
Willie’s and it is a very satisfying and filling meal. (There is enough pasta
for two!)
FYI…My
favorite pasta dish at Willie’s is Shrimp Fra Diavolo. I was concerned that I didn’t see it on the
new menu but the waitress assured me that they would still serve it if that’s
what I wanted. But this time I was in
the mood for meat!
My
better half almost had a stroke when she looked at the menu and our waitress
confirmed that Laurie’s favorite item, Lobster Ravioli, was no longer available. It just wasn’t being ordered enough to keep it on the menu…
She
decided to order the Penne Pasta with Shrimp, Bacon and Crab Meat. There was plenty of shrimp and crab meat in
this entrée but Laurie thought that the crab meat made the vodka sauce too sweet
for her taste. It was OK but she wouldn’t
order it again.
In the
past, desserts at Willie’s were focused just on cheesecake…and while it was
good cheesecake, it wasn’t great. Plus I
don’t care for cheesecake, (unless it’s fresh made from ricotta cheese), so I’ve
never been interested in dessert at Willie’s.
The other factor working against dessert at Willie’s is that the
portions are so big that we’re always stuffed when were done with our meals…
However,
our waitress told us that we should try either the cheesecake or one of the
pies that she and another waitress bake and have added to the dessert selection. I do love pie and Laurie loves cheesecake, so….
We were
far too full from dinner but we did purchase desserts to take home with
us. We’d eaten at about 4:30 PM so we
figured that by 7:30 or 8:00 we’d be ready for some sweets.
Laurie
had this hunk of Key Lime Cheesecake.
She loved it and when I tried it I agreed that it was pretty good. (That’s
high praise from someone who doesn’t care about cheesecake!)
I’d
decided on a slice of Coconut Cream Pie.
All I can say is that it was excellent all the way from its homemade
crust to the coconut on top! In the
future we will plan on bringing dessert home with us whenever we dine at Willie’s.
FYI…The
total cost for our meal including the salad bar, ice tea, pasta entrees and
desserts…with tax included…came to only $31.78!
The new
menu at Willie’s is a little confusing only because some of the items that were
featured before don’t show up now…but they’re still available. We’d prefer being able to see all of our
choices right up front. The quality,
quantity and price for meals at Willie’s are still pluses and, with or without
my birthday gift card, we will return!
Willie’s
Restaurant is located at 10321 Chapman Highway (US Hwy. 441) in Seymour
Tennessee. Phone: 865-773-0170. Website: http://willies-restaurant.com/.
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by for a visit!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
Sounds like the perfect gift for you guys, but I can imagine Laurie's disappointment. Both meals look good but the pie looks outstanding.
ReplyDeletebummer on the lobster ravioli, that's what I had there and loved it!
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness those penne all'arrabbiata! My favorite pasta dish. And Sayaka's favorite dessert is Key Lime cheesecake, she ate in Florida for the first time. Happy Belated Birthday David! Mine is also in the summer, July 24th. When is yours?
ReplyDeleteal look amazing!! Lucky you guys!!
ReplyDeleteTell Laurie I love the key lime pie!!!
Dear Dave, Those portions certainly are hearty. I like that. You can always take some home and have it later or the next day.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you and Laurie enjoyed the meals and the price certainly was right.
The desserts look real good. Key lime and coconut cream are two that I really enjoy.
Blessings, Catherine
You just can't beat that price. The portions are insane! That one meal would probably feed me for two days. Lobster ravioli sound really good, I'm surprised more people never ordered it, but that medley looks like a pretty good replacement to me.
ReplyDeleteI love a good cheesecake myself. As you have probably read my family and I are the biggest cheesecake fans on the planet haha. That coconut cream though looks too good to pass up!
What a fun night out, Dave. Too bad it isn't closer, but I guess that makes it even more special for when you guys finally get around to getting out there.
Take care you two!
Tammy<3