RíRá Irish Pub - The Real Flavor of Ireland

Location: 72 Commercial Street
Portland, ME 04101-4749

Price: $$

This was not my first time at RíRá Irish Pub. My boyfriend and I had gone here for drinks before. This time though, I decided I would grab a bite to eat with a friend. We agreed on RíRá Irish Pub in Old Port Maine because, well I have never eaten there, and is also close. We met there around 8 PM on a Sunday night. This was perfect because parking in Old Port is free on Sunday's and nobody really goes out to eat or drink on a Sunday night at eight.

When walked in we were greeted by very friendly staff that informed us that we could eat down stairs or upstairs. We decided to live on the edge and procedded up the stairs. RíRá Irish Pub has two bars. They have the one downstairs:

And they have the one upstairs:

Both Area's are huge and very nice. We ate in the dinning room;

We were able to pick our own table, so naturally we sat next to the window. The view from RíRá Irish Pub is really quite something. We litterally looked down right on the water and into an area where boats are docked.

Alright, thats enough about the venue, now lets about about the absolutely amazing food...and beer. I decided that I would order a Hoegaarden. This is a very light Belgium wheat beer and man it is amazing.

It is unfiltered, so it has a cloudy appearence and it has a hint of orange flavor. It's good. Trust me. Try it.



I then ordered an appitizer for the table. I went with the spinach and artichoke dip. One word. Epic. Unlike your traditional chain restaurants that serve tortilla chips with this dip. RíRá Irish Pub serves it with a small loaf of home made bread... whoa. The dip on top of the bread was an amazing texture and flavor. It was absolutely perfect. What really sold me was that the bread was still warm!! I love warm bread!



For an entree we went with the fish and chips. Holy hugness batman! When I ordered this dish I didn't realize that I would be getting a fish the size of a small orca whale! It was literally HUGE!

Literally! Yea, I ate all of it.

A small disclaimer about fish: I don't like really fishy fish. If it has that really fishy smell than I really have trouble choking it down. This being said, I do like haddock and fish that are not to fishy. This fish was no fishy AT ALL. Now, keep in mind that this is the REGULAR size. They also have a LARGE. Can you imagine how big that would be?!?! where are they getting these fish!??! Anyway, Fish and Chips on the menu is described as the chef’s market choice of fresh Haddock or Cod, hand cut chips, tartar sauce or Irish Remoulade. It was also not chewy, which, onbiosuly, is always a plus. It fell apart at the touch of a fork. The suculent taste was to absolutly die for. The fish and chips most certianly gets an A+ in my book. It is by far the best fish I have had in Portland thus far. The Fries, or the "Chips" as they are called, weren't bad either. However, they were your typical "pub fries."

Now, for a normal person, this would have been plenty of food. For me however, not so much. We decided that we would split a dessert. This was one of the best decisions on the night. We went with the Lava Cake. Oh. My.

I have had dreams about this cake ever since. It was probably one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. My only complaint... it was LITTLE.

They cake was a very very fudgelike cakey substance. The melt in your  mouth cake park wasn't even the best though. The center was filled with gooey, runny chocolate that just covered the entire spoon. It was outstanding.

RíRá Irish Pub is amazing. It is very low key with fantastic service. It is also a very quiet place where you can have nice converstation with the people are with. I am not sure if this is the case every night however. Remember, we did go on a Sunday, when there were not many people out and about. Being right on the water is a wonderful experience as well. I would recommend RíRá Irish Pub,however, I would keep in mind that it is expensive. If you check out the RíRá Irish Pub - The Real Flavor of Ireland Website you can also see what event they have on certian nights!!!

Tin Tin Buffet

Location: 420 Alfred Street, Biddeford, ME 04005


Price: $$

Sunday we decided that we would take a trip to the Chinese buffet down the street. We had been taking a lot of trips into Portland lately and decided that we would hang out in Biddeford for the day instead.

It was a very good choice.

We got there at around 12 pm on a Sunday. This was a great time to go because by the time we left at about 1:15, the place was jam packed.

It was your typical "Chinese" buffet restaurant. We walked in and were sorta greeted by one of the staff. We were then seated in the middle section. It was a relatively large dinning room with plenty of staff. We ordered our drinks; water for him, Pepsi for me, and were on our way to the buffet within two minutes.

It. Was. HUGE.

When you walk up to the front of the buffet the overwhelming scent of "Chinese" food over takes you. I am pretty sure I gained 5 pounds just smelling this fatty deliciousness.

To the left was a larger bar area that just had salad fixings. This is good for "those people" who can't just splurge that one time. My theory is, if I want a salad I will go to Subway. If I am going to a "CHINESE" BUFFET, you better believe that I am going to walk out of there about 10 pounds heavier.

To the right was the typical "Chinese" food that we American's enjoy. Pork Fried Rice, Lo Mien, White Rice, some sort of shrimp dipped in sauce, coconut chicken, Japanese chicken, general tso's chicken, honey chicken, crab ragoons, Egg rolls.... I could go on and on. If it was "Chinese" food than it was on the buffet.

As I preceded to fill my plate up with the fried goodness, I decided, for some reason, to avoid anything green. My plate looked like this:

This was just plate one. I was so ashamed that I didn't even take pictures of plate two. That also did not have anything green on it.

My boyfriend, however, went with some green. His plate looked a lot prettier than mine, but I don't think it tasted any better than my fried yumminess.



The food was pretty much your typical "Chinese" buffet. The general tso's was slightly soggy, but still edible. The green beans that my boyfriend had were not good. They were much to hard for my liking, but I think he ate them all. The chicken fingers were out standing and you could actually bite them without the entire chicken center coming out of the fried part. The crab ragoons were a good texture, but not really tasty. The fried rice was very good along with the low mien. The red ribs were also very good, although some of them were a little harder and chewier than others. My second favorite was the egg roll.  They were just right. Not to chewy, not to hard and not to much filling so that it fell everywhere when you bite into it. Perfect.

In first place, however, was the amazing coconut chicken. This amazing chicken was deep fried, then slathered in a gooey cocnutty mixture. The chicken was cooked to perfection. It wasn't chewy and had just enough goo to make it perfect. The coconut flavoring was to die for.

Another epically amazing, but typical things about Tin Tin Buffet is the actual "American" food that they provide. Things like pizza, salad, mashed potato, and Macaroni and Cheese are offered to those people who... well don't like Chinese...I guess.

I was overly excited about the mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. Ya, delicious. They were very good. Wonderful flavor and I was happy to find out that there weren't any chunks! This is always a good thing when eating potatoes.

So, we both had gone up for seconds... due to this we were full... but I still needed to try the dessert. 

Most of it was okay. The carrot cake was okay. The twisty sorta like sugary concoction to the right was pretty good. The sugary nuts in the back were okay. The cookie in the middle was not good. At all. The Jello was... well... Jello.

The white, chocolaty looking thing... delicious. I mean, Delicious. Like, I almost went up and got another one delicious. But, even though my boyfriend ate "half" of it, I decided that I didn't need it.

After out fattening, delicious array of "Chinese" food we were full. The waiter brought us our fortune cookies, we paid at the front, and were on our way out the door in no time.

Not  before stopping at the "coy pond" aka the gold fish pond because coy are actually illegal in the United States. Well, that's the rumor anyway.

It was nothing special, but there was a turtle. It just added to the whole Chinese Buffet experience.

Over all I would highly recommend this place. Although its a little pricey on weekends ($10.50), I have heard that it is only $6 for lunch on the weekdays.

We plan on going back at some point, but we try not to eat "Chinese" food to much because it is very bad for you. However, if you have a craving, this would be the place to go.

By the way, if you are wondering why I am putting quotation marks around the word Chinese is because we all know that this isn't real "Chinese" food. It's not even close. In fact if, Chinese people ate this food on a day to day basis than I am sure the United States wouldn't be the country with the highest obesity rate.

Famous Dave's

Location: 3 Cabela Blvd
Scarborough, ME 04074-5508
Price: $-$$

Famous Dave's is an interesting place located in Scarborough Maine. It was... okay.


I had heard mixed reviews about Famous Dave's and I figured I would just try it out. Some things about it were very good, some were not.
Let's start with the interior.
The inside of the restaurant is your atypical "busy" place. The walls are lined with many signs and little nic nac's that are related to the "redneck, or BBQ" persona.

(thank you chowtimes.com for the picture)

Our Favorite Sign was one that said "get sauced."

We want this in our apartment.

This was appropriate because Famous Dave's does have a nice selection of sauces. I tried them all.

My favorite was the "Devil's Spit." It was the spiciest of all of the sauces and I put it on my chicken burger. The sweet zesty was also very good.

Alright.... To the food. *deep breath*

Shockingly enough we decided to go with a chicken wing appetizer. They had some interesting flavors. We decided to go with one of the hottest;

 The Pineapple Rage.

I wish this picture was in focus...but you get the idea.

They were so incredibly amazing. You could just tell they were hot by looking at them. As soon as the sauce touched your lips the peppers burned. It was completely worth it. They were outstanding. The chicken was very tender and the wings were actually loaded with sauce.

Then, the meals came... problem.

My boyfriend a lunch special that included sausage, chicken, mac and cheese, corn on the cob and corn bread.

a typical BBQ meal.

The sausage was very very good and have wonderful flavor. The chicken was HUGE, and very tender. The Mac and Cheese had jalapenos and corn mixed into it... yummy. He ate it all, by himself.

I decided that I would go with the BBQ pulled chicken. Mistake. I figured that, since I loved BBQ pulled pork, than chicken would be delicious too. Wrong.

Basically it was chicken slapped with cheese and BBQ sauce, thrown on a plain Jane hamburger bun.

Besides the fact that the bun was bland. The chicken was very low quality. For starters, my first bite had what one may call a "knuckle" in it. One whole side of the sandwich was a fatty mesh of chicken and disgusting. I added the Devil's spit sauce because the sandwich was also very bland.

The pickles were very good. But then again we all know how I feel about pickles.

My favorite part of this dish was the mashed sweet potato with brown sugar on top. It was very sweet and didn't have any lumps. That is always a plus. I do however, wish there had been a little more brown sugar on top of the potato.

I decided that I would go with Water with this meal because I hadn't slept in about 16 hours and I didn't want to be more tired than I already was. So I stayed away from the alcohol. My boyfriend, however, had a tall blue moon with this meal.

Famous Dave's is another one of those "experience" places. It wasn't terrible and I would most definitely go back for beer and wings. I would avoid the BBQ chicken at all costs, but I would go with the mashed sweet potatoes. They are so good. If a friend recommends this place or wants to go here than do it, otherwise, I wouldn't go there. Like I have said before, stick to the local authentic places in Portland.

Sebego Brewing Company; A Revisit with friends

Disclaimer: Alright, I know this is the second revisit I have done. But, It happens.


On our splurge day we decided to meet some friends out for dinner. We decided that we would eat at the infamous Sebago Brewing Company in Portland Maine. This was a little different visit than usual. For one, we were sober, and two we were actually going for dinner.


We got there around 8 PM and were pleasantly surprised that they weren't very busy. We sat at a large corner booth upstairs where we could watch both the Red Sox and Bruin's games.

This would have been great, had the Red Sox not lost, thus dropping them into a pitiful 0-5 season... I don't want to talk about it.

Moving on:

I started right off by ordering my favorite drink: The Starburst.

This is not the actual drink that I drank. I forgot take a picture. You get the idea.

This drink is usually amazing. However, on this particular night it was S.T.R.O.N.G.

Strong enough that I couldn't drink more than one.

I decided that we should expand our horizons a little bit. Instead of ordering the typical wings and sweet potato fries we decided to go with regular potato nachos.

Marvelous.

As you can clearly see, they are shut into waffle like bites of marvelous deliciousness. They are covered with cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, and green onions and come with a side of sour cream and a side of salsa.

Yea, we devoured them.

I then decided to have another drink. This time I went with The tropical skittle. It is very similar to the Starburst except it is frozen and used different mixes. I am unsure what they are, but it literally tastes just like a skittle.

 I could have had another dozen of these. But we left...very sad.

Our meals came right around the same time. While the boyfriend ordered his typical burger and fries, I decided to live on the edge and go with The Chipotle Chicken Wrap... ooooh YUM!

This was SPICY. Oh so Spicy. But it was good. It was packed with jalapenos, chipotle sauce, bacon, chicken, lettuce, and tomato. The wrap was just a regular flour tortilla and it was perfect. On the side I, of course, go the SWEET POTATO FRIES. You really didn't think I would go somewhere without getting sweet potato fries did you? I love there sweet potato fries because they are huge and just right.

For a revisit this was a good one because we were able to try new food. I am, however, anxiously awaiting a chance to try a new place.

A bite at The Old Port Tavern

Location: 11 Moulton St. Portland, ME 04101

Price: $

We just randomly decided that we would check out Old Port Tavern, affectionatly referred to by the locals as OPT, on our date night. We hit it about ten minutes before the kitchen was closing... ya, we were those people. We decided that we would go easy and just order some buffalo wings.

I was impressed. They were food as far as pub food goes. They were actually very hott, but they were breaded, which is okay because they are hott.  We also had an odd amount of wings, which is frustrating because there were two of us. I have noticed though this happens at most places.

I wish there was more that I can tell you about OPT, but we werent ther for very long and all we ordered were wings. If you are hungry, want wings and aren't neat Binga's than check out OPT. But get there before 9:30 on a week night because that is when the kitchen closes.

Binga's Stadium, The Revisit

Every Week my boyfriend and I try to have one day where we kind of splurge and go out and just have a good time. It's nice to get out of the house, especially after the long winter.  It is even nicer now that it's not bitterly cold out and you can actually function outside of a heated room or car. The decision to go to Binga's that morning was more or less based on the fact that I was craving fried pickles. The plan was to just get fried pickles. This did not happen...


We walked into Binga's at about 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. It was pretty much dead, so we were able to just seat ourselves. The waitress came over and we ordered a pitcher of bud light.

It was so good and cold and hit the spot just right. This worked out perfectly because our plan was to just hang out in old port for the rest of the day. Then, since it was my turn to DD, I would drive us home that night. The pitcher was a little steep in price ($11), but it was worth every penny.

We started off by ordering fried pickles.

They were so awesome. I really liked the pickles at Buffalo Wild Wings. But these were better. They are very crisp, and tangy. They came with ranch dressing that was perfect. However, when you get the bottom of the bowl it is GREASY. Which is typical when you fry stuff. We ate them anyway. We just wiped them off with a napkin. They were great.

Now, keep in mind, we are fat kids at heart.

Cute Fat Kids, But Fat Kids

This being the case,

We ordered:

Sweet Potato Fries...

At the moment that we ate these they were my favorite. Now I like Run of The Mill's fries better. However, these are a very close second. One thing about these fries that I enjoy, they are very very light. They aren't as crispy as I normally like, but the incredible flavor makes up for that.

...and

Sweet and Sour Chicken Wings...

Of all the wing flavors at Binga's, these are by far my favorite. They are sweet AND sour, just like the sauce states, and they have the best flavor of any wings I have ever had. They are not hot, but blasted with flavor.

and...

Hot Buffalo Wings...

Those look amazing right?

Unfortunatly, they weren't as hott as they usually are. We have had them another time when we went down and they were HOTT. This time through, because the sauce is made everyday, they weren't that hott. They still had a little kick, but they weren't as hot as we thought.

So, we went in with the intention to order beer and fried pickles. We ended up with Beer (a pitcher), Fried Pickles, Sweet Potato Fries, Sweet and Sour wings, and hot wings....told ya, fat kids.

Needless to say we were't hungy for a while, and although we ended up eating and spending more than we wanted to on this trip to Binga's, it was worth every bite and penny.

The Run Of The Mill Public House and Brewery

Location: 100 Main St. Saco, Maine 04072

Price: $$

This visit to The Run Of the Mill Was not the first for us, we had drinks there before. This lovely brewery is within walking distance of our house. So, we decided to take advantage of the 50 degree weather, and go for a walk to actually eat at The Run of The Mill. This was one of the best things we could have possibly done that day. The food was almost as good as their beer.

I am going to start with the Brewery. The Run of The Mill is one of many microbreweries in the Portland Area. However, I can honestly without a doubt tell you that this brewery is my favorite of all the breweries in the southern Maine area. 

When you walk into the restaurant there is a list of the different beers that are on tap.  They are as Follows:

Bug Lager - Our best selling beer, probably owing to its mildness and light body.  Golden in color, Bug is a refreshing, Bohemian Pilsner.  Our gateway beer to what lies beyond.  5.0%

Impact Pale Ale - We amp up the alcohol and hops in this West Coast version of an IPA.  One of our few brews we only hop with one variety, in this case Cascades.  This Washington state hop imparts wonderful floral aroma made even more pronounced by dry hopping.  5.6%

Alewife Ale - Our flagship ale, a bittersweet balance of malt and hops.  This English-style Pale Ale is a great session beer.  4.4%

Tarbox Cream Stout - As black as the night and as smooth as the Blarney Stone, our version of this classic Irish style is thick and creamy, with a mild aftertaste of burnt and roasted grains.  4.5%

We All (S)Cream Ale - A golden-colored, mildly hopped ale that packs a surprising punch.  Its legendary smoothness comes from its being prepared and served like our stouts (Nitrogenated not Carbonated)  5.7%

Smelt Camp Strong Ale - Always a house favorite in the winter, this ESB maintains the same balance as the Alewife, but with loads more malt and hops.  7.3%

Cassk Kickin’ IPA - We've taken our IPA and amped it to dizzying heights with more malty goodness and Cascade hops.  8.0%

I have tried the Alewife Ale. It was a little to hoppy and bitter for me.

My boyfriend and I have agreed that we are both pretty much in love with BUG LAGER. It is so incredibly good. It is the lightest beer they have and it is very crisp.

It is by far the nicest color beer that I have ever had... It is sooooo good.

We decided to start with the Buffalo Chicken wings. They were good, but most definitely not the best. They were good sized, but very little flavor. They were not hot at all. They were also EXTREMELY greasy.

They look pretty good though!

For lunch my boyfriend ordered brick island burger without the veggies of course. His side was regular french fries. The meal looked very good and was cooked just the way he wanted.

I chose the Indian island chicken sandwich. It was perfect!.

The chicken was cooked just right. It was tender with good flavor. It was topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and bacon. I added mayo and ketchup. It topped the sandwich off just perfectly.

For my side I decided to pay the extra $1.50 for the sweet potato fries. Out of all of the sweet potato fries I have ever had, These were the best. They were cooked perfectly. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I personally enjoy them dipped in mayo.

The one and only complaint I have about The Run of The Mill is the seating. For starters, the tables and chairs and booths are all made out of solid wood. They are actually very very nice, minus the fact that the seats are to high in comparison to the table. OR maybe the table is to low in comparison to the booths, I don't know... either way, it's not the most comfortable place to sit. But it doesn't really matter when the food is SO GOOD.

If you are in the Saco Area and you want to spend a little more than you would at Mulligan's than go to The Run Of The Mill. They have trivia night every Monday night. We have yet to do it, But I think we are going to check it out sometime.

The Run of The Mill Website

Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar



Location: 85 Western Ave. South Portland, Maine 04106



Price: $

We decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings in South Portland with some friends in March. It was nothing short of amazing. The restaurant is brand new. We actually went before it even had its grand opening. This is by far my favorite national chain in Southern Maine.


The inside of the restaurant is HUGE.  You can sit at the bar. You can sit in the seating area in front of you, to the left of you, or to the right of you.

You are also surrounded by flat screen T.V.s.

The food, service, drinks, and prices were outstanding.  We went on a Tuesday night. This worked out perfectly because it was trivia night and it was 50 cent wing night. Making the food even cheaper.

This was fun, until 1. we started losing and 2.our food came.

This trip was especially memorable for me because this was the first time I had ever tried FRIED PICKLES.  It was never that I had ever even thought about trying... this night was different it was time to be daring... This was one of the best decisions I have ever made.



They were so incredibly amazing. The mixture between saltiness, sweetness, and crispiness, mixed with the tangy ranch dressing was like a burst of amazingness in my mouth. In fact, ever since this trip, I have craved this awesome appetizer.

Then, It was time to order the wings. One thing I like about Buffalo Wild Wings, they don't just have the typical hot, mild, regular flavors. In fact, they have 14 different flavors of wings.

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

Sweet BBQ, Teriaki, Mild, Parmesan Garlic, Medium, Honey BBQ, Spicy Garlic, Asian Zing, Caribbean Jerk, Hot BBQ, Hot, Mango Habanero, Wild, and Blazin'.

We decided to get 18 wings. We got 6 of the Asian Zing, 6 of the Sweet BBQ, and 6 of the Hot.

The Asian Zing were my favorite. They were sweet and tangy with just a little bit of spice. They are perfect for the people who like a mixture of hot and sweet.

The Sweet BBQ were also very good. They were not hot at all but they were very sweet. They had an extremely good flavor to them.

The hot were...eh. They really weren't as hot as I had expected. People had also told us all about how hot they were. Thus, when we got them, they were not that hot, so we were a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, they are very good with fantastic flavoring, but they just aren't that hot.

I wish we had gotten another 6 of something else. I wouldn't have minded trying a sauce that was a little hotter. Buffalo Wild Wings also has a wing challenge. If you eat 12 of the wings with the blazin' sauce on them, than you get your name on the wall. It is announced over the loud speaker when you decide to try it so if you fail, the whole place is going to know about it.

Another wonderful thing about this awesome restaurant... their drinks!

This is called a wild berry margarita.

 I had... three of them.

This fruity drink was outstanding. The bartenders know what they are doing and they don't go easy on the alcohol. My boyfriend had a couple of draft beers that he enjoyed very much.

If you have the chance and you like it hott than go to Buffalo Wild Wings. It is located over by the sea dog in South Portland.  However, they don't just have hot wings. In fact they have a full menu that you should go check out.

AND if you don't have a chance to check it out, than you should at least check out the Buffalo Wild Wings Website...it's pretty cool. And if you are looking at it at work and your boss comes along, than just hit the boss tag on the left... you will be fin. wink. wink.