The my family and I recently attended a block party on my inlaw’s street. A fun time was had by all, there was a fire engine for the kids to play on, games raffles and Elmo. Elmo and Cookie make any event an occasion to remember in our house. It all has to do with a sliding scale of excitement and when the little red / blue furry creatures enter into the picture we go off the chart.

All in all it was a great time. We even won one of the raffles for a gift certificate for Pizzeria Unos. I haven’t been there in over a year so it seemed like a good deal at the time. We decided to go this past weekend, and I’m still regretting the decision today. We went to the Unos in Franklin Mills.

First off when we walk into the restaurant the floor is sticky, threatening to pull my flip flops of my feet, a little disgusting but not a stand out feature at the time, a mild irritation. It is only in hind site that the foreshadowing is apparent. We order an appetizer Chicken Quesadillas, the boy begins to cry, so we ask for an order of bread sticks to try and calm him down. He’s hungry I feel his pain. The waitress order’s the bread sticks but instead of bringing them out when they are done she holds off and brings them with the appetizer we ordered. While we are waiting for the appetizer to come out we order our meal and Paul continues to throw a fit periodically, we try juice, toys, soothing speech, stern looks, telling him to stop. Nothing works. The manager, or a senior server takes pity on us and goes into the back gets a bread stick and a some oyster crackers. Which we are eternally grateful for.

The waitress then brings the appetizer and three more bread sticks 5 minutes later… Chicken Quesadilla is server on a burnt thin pizza crust. Sigh. Chicken Quesadilla also is a buffalo version. spicy, which is alright. but i could have sworn there was a plain version which i ordered so Paul could have some. With the arrival of the food we are also treated to an added bonus of flies and gnats now visiting the table, frequently. Luckily Paul finds them as funny as I found them indicative of the cleanliness of the place.

Our meal comes out, where i ordered a buffalo chicken panini. It looks exactly like the quesadilla. I also got a helping of fries, and i shit you not i squeezed a French fries and oil dripped out… They were crispy, almost translucent and tasted like salt, nothing else. The oil overwhelmed any taste the potatoes might have had.

I questioned the server about the Panini, asking her why the panini was just like the quesedilla. She told me they were very similar. I shit you not this was a burnt pizza crust with buffalo chicken inside of it. not the menu described grilled flatbread sandwich. She then laughed and walked off. I’m seething at this point, but Paul is also starting to cry so if i don’t eat this I’m not going to get to eat. If i’m a server and someone orders something for an appetizer of one name and we server a dinner which is the exact same thing under a different title I would let them know. We we left after a rather tastless, poorly served meal where we were visited more by bugs than the server.

Final total was 50 dollars, tip included. I had the panini, my wife had a grilled chicken sandwich and Paul had penne pasta. I tried all three dishes and they all seemed to be bland., overcooked and over oiled. My wife kicked in a gift card she received for mothers day to even out the balence of the bill. Sad thing is it was a waste. When we were dating we used to go to Unos after the movies to share a good meal and quick service. I don’t think I will be so quick to relive the good old days any time soon, especially not at that franchise.