Showing posts with label fast casual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fast casual. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Biscuit Bar--Go for breakfast or brunch when the biscuits are fresh

The Biscuit Bar is a theme restaurant  that opened in Abilene last fall. The food is served on a biscuit. Not just breakfast items but all sorts of sandwiches. It is located in the new entertainment area on N. Judge Ely Blvd. close to Abilene Christian University. The other restaurants that are already there are Fuzzy's Tacos (Abilene's second location) and a Vietnamese place. 

The area has lots of outdoor seating, a playground and is situated around a pond with a walking track around it. In this pandemic world, the outdoor seating has lots of appeal. Even more so than it normally would with the generally agreeable weather in this area. There is room for more establishments to come in to the space. 

For a girls night in mid-December, myself and three friends went to have dinner at The Biscuit Bar as none of us had been there yet. Yes, they do have an actual bar and serve alcoholic beverages in addition to their menu of biscuit sandwiches and tater tots with a variety of topping options. It is a small chain with a few other locations around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

We arrived on a Friday evening around 6:30pm, early yes but with most new places in Abilene we anticipated that there would be a line even though they had been open for about 3 months. Lo and behold, no line and only about three diners inside. This set off a bit of warning bell in my mind that it was so sparse but I put it down to the end of the semester and the mass exodus of college students for Christmas break. There was a large party seated outside along with a couple or two. 

The service set up is to go through the line and place your order and it will be brought out to you. We all placed our orders and went to find a seat inside which as I stated wasn't a problem, except that we had to clean it off ourselves. I ordered the Fancy Chicken ($6.60) with a side order of plain tater tots with ranch ($3.80) and a drink. The sandwich was a fried chicken breast, dill pickles and house-made "fancy" sauce, which tasted like ranch to me. I found the biscuit to be tough and not warm enough, very disappointing since the entire restaurant concept was based on their biscuits. The breading on the chicken was tasty but the entire sandwich was quite small for the price. I do realize that prices have gone up everywhere but almost $4 for an order of plain tater tots no bigger than a large order of tots from Sonic was to be blunt, dissatisfying. To get toppings on them would have added another $2.50 to the cost. I think the toppings are meant to make them an entrée so the price follows. They are just not good enough or plentiful enough to cost that much, sorry.

My friends ordered the grilled chicken biscuit ($6.90), the grilled chicken biscuit with no biscuit--as there were no gluten free options in regard to the bread and salad would have cost $2 more--and the biscuit French toast ($5.80). Out of all of us the French toast biscuit was the best option. Perhaps going there and sticking to breakfast style features is a safer bet. Safer still would be to go early in the day when the biscuits are fresh. All day you have the option to get a sausage biscuit or a biscuit with sausage gravy for less than $5 or a bacon, egg and cheese for less than $6. Kid's meals are about $5 and there are salads but they start at $8.50. There are sweet potato tots for those that like them.

All in all, I may go back for brunch sometime and enjoy sitting outside if the weather is nice but it is not going to make my regular rotation. 

https://thebiscuit.bar/

2447 N. Judge Ely Blvd
Abilene, TX 79601

Sun – Thurs: 8am – 9pm

Fri & Sat: 8am – 10pm

abilene@thebiscuit.bar

325-267-6538

Monday, February 1, 2021

Torchy's Tacos comes to Abilene--Updated

Update: This past Sunday at about 11:15am, I went by Torchy's to get lunch for myself and my mom. I ordered two different types of tacos, some chips and green chili queso, and some guacamole. It took about  20 minutes to get the food to me even though they were not particularly busy. When I got to the house 5 minutes later, the order was correct but my taco wasn't very hot but my primary issue was the hair clinging to some cilantro in the queso. Not cool, along with the general overuse of cilantro in everything but that is a personal preference. All in all, Torchy's is just too expensive for what you get. The bill for all this was $23.00. I fail to see what all the fuss was about regarding this chain.

 

Torch's Tacos has finally made it to Abilene. I went with a small group of friends on a Wednesday evening. For those of you who have never been to one, it is a go through the line and order your food type of place. Then they will bring it out to you. Fast casual it the term I believe nowadays. The difference with Torchy's is they also have a full bar as well with a variety of specialty drinks.

Trailer Park (trashy) and Chicken Fajita tacos
The restaurant was quite popular (and probably a bit too crowded by pandemic standards though there were tables blocked off) and there was a large contingent of college students and under 30 folks there that evening. It is a noisy space so if you prefer a quieter dining experience, go at an off time or get take out instead of dining inside.

Now to the tacos. There is quite a variety. Many with creative names. There is also a salad option and a burrito too. The ingredients were fresh. The tacos are in the usual soft taco-sized tortillas.

I ordered a Trailer Park and made it "trashy". Trashy means instead of lettuce it had queso on it. The meat inside was fried chicken with green chili, pico, cheddar jack cheese, poblano sauce (on the side) served in a flour tortilla, though corn is an option as well. The chicken was tasty and I'm always a fan of green chilies. One taco is not likely to fill a person up if you are hungry so the second taco I ordered was a chicken fajita taco--went more traditional. It has grilled onions and bell pepper, pico, cheddar jack cheese and tomatillo sauce on the side. You can have either a flour or a corn tortilla. The chicken was juicy and I did not think it was greasy as though it had been sitting in oil. I was pleased with both tacos.

The vegetarian choice on the menu is a taco with fried avocado. There is not tradition ground beef taco on the menu. Carnitas, shrimp, salmon, barbacoa, brisket, sausage, beef fajita, and Jamaican jerk chicken are all options.

One of my friends ordered the green chili queso. It come with a small dollop of guacamole, a bit of cotija cheese, cilantro and a drizzle of diablo sauce on to top and a basket of thin tortilla chips. It was probably my favorite thing. Very flavorful but not a large serving. I believe it was about $5 for the bowl. The sauces provided with my tacos were quite good.

Probably my biggest issue was the price point. The tacos are quite good but at $4-$5 a piece they are expensive. There are no sides that come with them so if you want beans or rice that is an extra charge. Two tacos will cost about $10.

I am sure I will return but not if I want a big meal.

  

Located on the south end of the Shops of Abilene--

3765 Catclaw Dr. Abilene, TX 79606 

325-480-3380

Hours--

Monday - Thursday 11AM - 8PM

Friday 11AM - 9PM

Saturday 9AM - 10PM

Sunday 9AM - 8PM

https://torchystacos.com/location/abilene/