Eatin’ Out ‘N’ About at Midtown Grill (formerly Zato’s)

We’ve posted about Zato’s before (once for dessert and another time for a date night) but now it’s allllll new! Well, same chefs but new owner and new menu so of course, we had to go check it out…especially since I had a Groupon and wanted to make sure they honored it (they did).

Located at 20609 SR 410 in Bonney Lake, WA near Tall Firs 10, this Zato’s is now called Midtown Grill (not to be confused with Midtown Station in Sumner), and is owned by the same man who has the BLT in Bonney Lake. For the moment, the only physical change seems to be the name but it’ll be interesting to see what they’ll do since the previous owners just completed a recent make-over (MISS those cool curved chairs at the round table!).

First thing you notice on the menu is what’s missing: No pizza (there’s something flat-bread style I believe) or sushi out of respect for the neighboring restaurants- All Star Pizza  Factory and Sushi Town (see review here). Lots of new things to try but the prices for the entrees are a little on the high side so we ordered something more light (and cheaper). While we wait, they bring us bread & butter to tide us over. Cue angels singing….

Really, I don’t remember the bread so much but the butter….OH, the butter….was SO.GOOD! It was flavored with honey and was so delious that after the bread was gone, we kept it on the table to see what else we could dip in there

Our waitress recommends their “nachos” made from home-style potato chips so we get this for an appetizer for $11.99. This was good….BUT, there was not enough toppings- just mainly cheese on the top layer of chips. There were hot peppers tossed in a couple spot and were a tad hot so perfect for those of you that like heat. It came with a side of sour cream and a salsa but I wish it came with an extra sour cream. Normally there are tomatoes but since Hubby hates them, we asked for them “on the side”.

Once again, the 5yr old refuses to eat (we hit McD on the way home…sigh.) and 13yr old Alex (in typical boy fashion) had eaten before we left so he decides to order something from the 10 and under menu just to have something small. For $6.99 he gets the kid steak with a Shirley Temple and our youngest gets a Sprite. Alex said, “the steak was perfect and the french fries were a little better than the best ones I’ve had” LOLOL.  It’s not until we are leaving and I notice my youngest didn’t touch his soda (the kid-cups are not to go) and I discover it’s just soda water (BLEH). I wait to speak to the waitress but since the kids meal comes with a soda, she said that technically we didn’t “pay for it”and then she walked away (ummmmmm…).

Hubby chose the Cuban Sandwich for $10.99 with an Irish Death beer for $5.00. He said the beer was a little sweet and more malt-y than Fat Tire (which is what he normally drinks), and he liked it. The Sandwich was good but he really didn’t like the sauce (he thinks it was honey-mustard). The pickles made it a little too moist on the inside and the crust was firm on the top so it hurt his mouth when biting into it but he said it was good enough that he’d order it again….minus the sauce. The plating on this wasn’t very pretty though.

For myself, as a starter I order a side $1.99 soup which the special was French Onion served inside a whole onion. I LOVE the LOOK of this (and it did taste good)….BUT, the onion was not hollowed out very much so there was only about a shot glass worth of soup under the cheese/bread topping Also, to balance the onion, they had sea salt under it but since it wobbled anyway, most of my tiny bit of soup soaked up into the salt so I couldn’t eat it. Darn. By the way, didn’t notice until writing this that they charge us for TWO soups instead of just one

I also ordered the Cobb Wrap for $9.99 and an ice water. I’m trying to eat less carbs and I thought this sounded interesting. It was SUPER yummy! This is a recipe that I would like to try at home! It was pretty big- I could see sharing this with a girlfriend along with a side salad.

The desserts all seemed about the same as their old menu. They are good but I don’t think the cheesecake is made in-house and since we are heading to McD anyways, we opt for a McFlurry instead (LOVE the new Rolo flavor!). BUT, if you want to see what their desserts usually looks like, see previous post here.