New Restaurant Start in 2018
Another new year and another chance to successfully perform a bucket list item. Of all my bucket items, the new restaurant is my favorite. I get to eat at new places, at least every other week. Trying to find new places is not a big problem as new restaurants are opening and old ones are closing. I have been working on the plan for 2018 when I realized I needed to go to a place for the first two weeks. My choice was Red Ginger, located in the Melbourne Square Mall. There is a sister restaurant in Suntree, but I had been there before. Here is the sign inside the mall...
Of course, when I walked in, I was reminded that I use to go to Morrison's Cafeteria, located here when the mall was first built. I enjoyed many meals there, and as I sat looking at the menu for Red Ginger, I felt ghosts of diner's past. There is a big bar at Red Ginger and a large piano in the waiting area. A hostess sat me in the larger dining room which has a sushi bar at one end. The photo is from my booth looking at the sushi bar...
The dining area is decorated very nice and they do have tables for groups of 2, 4, 6 and looks like 8. I am sure they could accommodate a bigger group. I was alone and had the booth to myself. A photo from my booth seat looking at some of the dining room....
The hostess had handed me a lunch menu. It was taking a while for me to see a server (oh-oh), and since no one was around, I was not sure what the delay was. I took this photo of the wall above my booth...
Finally, my server arrived. I asked for her name and she said she was Emily. I think Red Ginger is typically a Chinese restaurant so she had brought me some won tons with the typical dipping sauces, spicy mustard and sweet and sour (aka duck).
I ordered water and a lunch special, sushi & roll combo. It came with both soup and salad...
The salad was very simple but they had ample dressing on it. It almost tasted like a creamy Italian, but it did have some other flavors that I did not figure out. It was very good. The soup was miso with lots of greens and soy chunks. Fresh green onion was sprinkled on top. Usually, this kind of soup is so hot that I have the habit of adding an ice cube from my water. I should have checked; the soup was at a perfect hot temp and I cooled it down more unnecessarily. Live and learn.
My entree was suppose to be a California roll with five pieces of nigiri. It arrived with six pieces, two of the salmon. I was not going to complain. The sushi rice was very tasty and all the fish appeared and tasted fresh.
I did like the presentation too. It looked delicious! Again, when they brought me my check, they delivered it with a fortune cookie. Typically Chinese. Here is my fortune and I live by it...
Overall, my experience was excellent so I give the place a 4.0. I know they started off slow to get to me, but Emily sincerely apologized and all my service after that was wonderful.
This is a great start to the new year and I look forward to 25 more great (or excellent) restaurants. I plan to share my list of potential eating establishments in a future blog. I am still typing it in. Happy New Year again!
Of course, when I walked in, I was reminded that I use to go to Morrison's Cafeteria, located here when the mall was first built. I enjoyed many meals there, and as I sat looking at the menu for Red Ginger, I felt ghosts of diner's past. There is a big bar at Red Ginger and a large piano in the waiting area. A hostess sat me in the larger dining room which has a sushi bar at one end. The photo is from my booth looking at the sushi bar...
The dining area is decorated very nice and they do have tables for groups of 2, 4, 6 and looks like 8. I am sure they could accommodate a bigger group. I was alone and had the booth to myself. A photo from my booth seat looking at some of the dining room....
The hostess had handed me a lunch menu. It was taking a while for me to see a server (oh-oh), and since no one was around, I was not sure what the delay was. I took this photo of the wall above my booth...
Finally, my server arrived. I asked for her name and she said she was Emily. I think Red Ginger is typically a Chinese restaurant so she had brought me some won tons with the typical dipping sauces, spicy mustard and sweet and sour (aka duck).
I ordered water and a lunch special, sushi & roll combo. It came with both soup and salad...
The salad was very simple but they had ample dressing on it. It almost tasted like a creamy Italian, but it did have some other flavors that I did not figure out. It was very good. The soup was miso with lots of greens and soy chunks. Fresh green onion was sprinkled on top. Usually, this kind of soup is so hot that I have the habit of adding an ice cube from my water. I should have checked; the soup was at a perfect hot temp and I cooled it down more unnecessarily. Live and learn.
My entree was suppose to be a California roll with five pieces of nigiri. It arrived with six pieces, two of the salmon. I was not going to complain. The sushi rice was very tasty and all the fish appeared and tasted fresh.
I did like the presentation too. It looked delicious! Again, when they brought me my check, they delivered it with a fortune cookie. Typically Chinese. Here is my fortune and I live by it...
Overall, my experience was excellent so I give the place a 4.0. I know they started off slow to get to me, but Emily sincerely apologized and all my service after that was wonderful.
This is a great start to the new year and I look forward to 25 more great (or excellent) restaurants. I plan to share my list of potential eating establishments in a future blog. I am still typing it in. Happy New Year again!
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