Did you enjoy your various Solstice-holiday meals? Gathering with relatives and friends and neighbors for good cheer and good food. Avoiding too much political discussions, we hope. We’ve compiled on-line reviews of Poppa and Gram’s family Christmas feast. How did your holiday repast compare?
Poppa and Gram’s Christmas Dinner ★★★☆☆ (10 ratings)
★★★★☆
This place is awesome! The green bean & mushroom casserole was the bomb! I asked Gram for the recipe, but she said it’s a family secret passed down through generations! The sweet potatoes with the toasted little marshmallows on top were dope. The only reason I’m not giving this five stars is there was no PBR beer to wash the meal down with.
★☆☆☆☆
The food wasn’t bad. I would’ve given more stars if I’d felt welcomer. I took a picture of my plate and was putting it up on Instagram when Poppa said he’d really appreciate it if people would not use cell phones at the dinner table. It not like I was talking on the phone or anything! If they expect grandkids to come over for dinner, they need to let us text and stuff. It’s like they’re living is another century!
★★★★☆
I have eaten here regularly for many years, breakfast and dinner. Usually it’s been pretty good although the portions were often too small. The food would be brought to the table with the announcement of how many slices of bacon or how many pieces of roast we were each allowed. And then if we didn’t eat it all, no dessert. I’m glad to see that now the servings are of a reasonable size.
★★☆☆☆
My wife told me I would really like this. It was supposed to be a family-style dinner. We drove a long way with our children and then Gram told them they had to sit at a separate “kids” table. Our kids are well behaved. Being kids, of course sometimes they get a little rambunctious. That’s no reason to not let them sit at the same table with the others or to get so upset because one of them threw a couple green beans at another or knocked over a glass of chocolate milk.
★★★★★
The turkey dinner was better than what we had last year at Marie Callender’s. My only criticism is the lumps in the mashed potatoes. And Gram and Poppa were really nice, too. Gram made sure I got all I wanted to eat. And the pecan pie – Wow! With REAL whipped cream in a spray can. And they had my favorite, Bud Light.
★★★☆☆
We had heard a lot of good things about this place and so were really looking forward to this dinner. It’s pretty exclusive – by invitation only. My husband’s sister is married to one of the hosts’ sons, so she was able to finagle our being invited. The place is located on a residential street. It’s narrow and with cars parked on both sides, there’s room for only one car to go at a time. I guess because it was Christmas, a lot of people were visiting relatives and we were forced to park on the next block. We were greeted at the door by Christy, my sister-in-law. She introduced us around. Gram was busy in the kitchen with daughters and daughters-in-law helping. Poppa was carving up the turkey. The guys were in the living room watching football on the TV. When we were finally seated at a long table – the children sat at a couple card tables to the side. Unlike many dining establishments we’ve been to, there was no appetizer or salad course. All the dishes were on the table at the same time. Service was family style – obviously! I’m a white-meat aficionado. The breast meat was OK, a little dry. Gram is supposedly famous for her cranberries. I personally like the canned kind better. The mashed potatoes had enough butter to make them creamy and the gravy was pretty good, too. I guess the lumps in the potatoes and the gravy show it was all made by hand. Seems like a lot of trouble when you can buy perfectly-good turkey gravy at Trader Joe’s. Some people got kind of loud after drinking most of the afternoon. All in all, it was pretty good. I think next year, though, we’ll go to the buffet at the Marriott downtown.
★☆☆☆☆
I went to a lot of trouble to pick up pumpkin pies from Costco for the dinner. I think it was very rude of everyone to eat the pecan pie that Gram made and not mine. They probably just didn’t want to hurt her feelings. At least I got to take the pie home so I can eat some later.
★★★★★
This has to be my favorite pop-up restaurant. You could tell every dish had received the personal attention of the owners. Part of the charm was after the meal we all pitched in with clearing the table and taking care of the dishes. Not sure why none of the guys did, though.
★☆☆☆☆
I really don’t like this place, but my husband makes me go.
★★★☆☆
I thought by now Gram knew that I am a vegetarian. I know turkey with sausage stuffing is the tradition, but does anybody think about the living conditions of the turkeys before they are slaughtered? I didn’t make a fuss but I will definitely have a conversation with Gram before Christmas. I also will tell them I’ll bring the wine next time. Nobody drinks white Zinfandel. I gave three stars because I think they really do try.
