McGivney’s

On Monday, I had lunch with a friend. She was running a little behind, so I had a chance to sit and wait. Overall it was quiet due to the fact that it was slow (State holiday, I think, so the volume of diners was lower than normal).

Some tables have a 20″ flat screen TV mounted at the table. My personal preference is that this barrage of electronics should never happen. In this case, if we could have found the power button, we would have turned it off. There are plenty of screens throughout the restaurant to keep our collective ADD well fed.

Menus

A folded menu, perhaps 8.5×10″. Not unwieldy in the book-style. Nice texture of paper. Clean presentation. A smaller-sized drink menu was delivered too, but I didn’t give it much time.

Items were generally $10-17. Many items were $11-13, but then had add-ons like burger toppings for $1-2 more.

Ordering

Me –

Arnold Palmer. Lately my go-to drink. I think I prefer the 60/40 mix of lemonade/iced tea, but I’m pretty easy to please here. They served it with a giant lemon wedge.

Fried Green Beans for app. These are a personal fav. You feel like you’re being healthy (eating green beans), but you get the joy of the crunch and ease of finger food. It comes with a spicy sriracha for dipping sauce.

Soup (bisque)/Salad (blue cheese dressing). Bisque is an award winner. Salad was impressive with more than just lettuce (bell peppers, onion). The lettuce reminded me of small brush. I would have preferred another type of lettuce or perhaps a cut lettuce that produced smaller bites. No crouton. The dressing was in a plastic cup (not classy – why not use the same metal cups as the dipping sauce from the apps?), and it might be misleading to call the blue cheese “chunky style” – it was more “brick style”. There was at least one chunk of solid blue that was 3/4″ cubed. Just a little odd.

Friend –

Arnold Palmer. Her first.

Bowl of Soup. Giant bowl, maybe 1/3-1/2 full. There was no panache or garnish to this delivery. You got a giant bowl, and a side plate with two tame buns. Expect a bland appearance. From my perspective, I wouldn’t order the bowl because I would imagine that the richness would wear the eater out. The rolls that came with the soup could have been served warm, and could be a touch sweeter. Visually they were a light tan, so there was no real difference from the blanched color palette of the soup and dishes.

Staff

Lunch manager was welcoming.

Hostess and waitress both seemed a little shy.

Cost

Total ticket with tip: $42.