Top Spots This Travel Season

This year I had the pleasure of traveling all over the world recruiting for Western New England and looking back, there are a few places that stick out that I absolutely loved eating at.  First, let me clarify that "traveling all over the world" actually means "traveling to Long Island and different parts of NY", but it's the same thing.

For this post, I just want to highlight my three favorite places I went to this travel season as well and the three worst.  A lot of them will be mainstream places, but that doesn't mean they're not worthy of visiting.

Where would I be without Miller's Ale House?  Outside of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and Target, I have the most receipts from good old Miller's.  There's really nothing crazy special about this place, but it was where I spent a few Sundays watching football with a lot of good people on the road.  They have good beer, better food (love me some Zingers), and just a great atmosphere which is why I kept going back for me.  Plus, how can you beat a place that has New England clam chowder in a bread bowl?  Always a great warmup before diving into some wings.

Up next would be Dave and Buster's aka an adult playground!  I'm so happy there was more than one location on Long Island because this place is seriously a ton of fun.  The food is nothing special, but everything else is.  So what if I'm banned from Chuckie Cheeses because I'm "too old to be in there".  I have Dave and Buster's which is 10 times more fun!  I'm pretty sure I went here 3 times in 2 days because the chicken strips aren't bad at all and I wanted to run around and win tickets.  I did find out a few things about myself...
1- I am not as good as I thought I was at air hockey (although I'm still the champ)
2- Trivia is not my game (it's ridiculous how many times I finished 3rd or 4th out of 5 people)
3- Bartenders can be the coolest people in the world if you have a good one (Joan aka J-Smooth)
4- Said bartender gets even cooler when she calls you by your college nickname "BiG"
5- Not one of my friends is a decent Connect 4 player

 Last, but certainly not least is a place that I drove by for 3 years and kept passing on stopping at.  The Double O Grill might be my new favorite place to eat in the Fishkill/Poughkipsee area.  Perfect blend of a diner/restaurant/bar/lounge.  Really cool on the inside as evidenced by the picture, and the staff is fantastic.  After I ate there I immediately regretted not stopping there the past 3 years.  A more detailed recap of this place will come in the next week or so...

Those were my favorite 3 places (although there were plenty of other places I could have picked), but I also have to mention the worst.  I blogged about it a few months ago, but the Majestic Diner was a big flop.  The main reason is as follows:

 This is garlic bread with cheese.  This is what I ordered and this is what I wanted.  Instead, I was given the following:

 These are waffle fries with cheese.  Although I absolutely 100% LOVE WAFFLE FRIES, I did not order them.  This picture is also a random one I found online.  I feel the need to say that because the fries I had weren't anywhere near that good looking.  In addition to this debacle, no one I ate with FINISHED THEIR MEAL.  And, to top it off, a few of those meals were SALADS... RYAN.  I guess it "serves" us right for not making a reservation anywhere...