Friday, February 25, 2011

Mimi's Cafe - 4151 North IH-35, Round Rock, TX 78664

For those of you who are confused by the Google map, this Mimi's is just north of Ikea and just south of the Round Rock Premium Outlets on University Blvd.

My parents and I went here on Black Friday, 2009, at 2pm.  They had a self-imposed wait.  The host did not communicate the reason for the wait, but we saw empty tables.  As a former Bennigan's hostess, lemme tell you, it's always better to communicate the reason for the wait -- if it is not already obvious -- to the customer because they are then more likely to understand and sympathize.

Fifteen minutes later, we were finally seated.  I can't remember our waiter's name, but that was his first day out of training.  I feared the worst.  Blonde guy, tall, bespeckled.  He turned out to be a pretty good waiter, actually.

My mom got the Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad, which she pretty much liked but couldn't finish.  She got a Carrot Raisin Nut muffin with it, which she didn't particularly like.  She said it tasted like nothing but Allspice.  I've had their Buttermilk Spice muffins before, which are quite good.  I tried a piece of the Carrot Raisin Nut muffin, and it actually tasted very similar to the Buttermilk Spice muffins.  All the muffins are huge, though, which is good.

My dad got the Bistro Lamb Shank, which he said was stringy and fatty, but otherwise good.  I got the Chicken Pot Pie, which I liked.  Two things, though:  Nix the mushrooms and add potatoes to it.

I had printed out a coupon for a free dessert, which we used to get a Petite Chocolate Mousse.  Now, here is one area in which I have to get rough on Mimi's:  TELL PEOPLE THE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE HAS STRAWBERRY SAUCE ALL FREAKING OVER IT AND STRAWBERRY SLICES LINING THE EDGE OF THE BOWL.  I don't remember the menu saying anything like that in the description.  It certainly mentions nothing about strawberries in its description on the online menu.  None of us are allergic to strawberries, but we were just hoping for a strictly chocolate mousse.  Whipped cream or chocolate fudge sauce would have been fine, but strawberry was completely out of nowhere.  And it wasn't very good with the mousse.  Not very good at all.

The only other problem I had was that it took our waiter a good twelve minutes to get our chocolate mousse out to us.  I doubt it takes twelve minutes to prepare, but if it does, it would have been nice to know that ahead of time.  Otherwise, our waiter was just slow, which is inexcusable.

I doubt I'll go back to this one, unless my parents want to go.  I don't really have anything against this location; it's just out of my way.  The one in Arbor Walk is much closer to me.

BONUS:  Before my parents arrived I sat at the bar and drank a Pom Zero (pomegranate juice and Sprite Zero).  I didn't get charged for it because the bartender didn't feel like ringing it up.  Sweeeeet! 

Verdict:  Maybe eat

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