The Casual Restaurant Critic The latest victim of the Casual Restaurant Critic is the Kelly's Cajun Grill outlet in the Gran Plaza mall - located in their ever popular and apparently (by the name) beverage-challenged Food and Food Court.
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I do this entirely for my own amusement and your information.
Kelly's Cajun Grill
How do you like your pollo?
It appears that the owners of the once-successful Chicken Express franchise, Merida's first succesful experience in American-style franchising by the way, have taken that cyclical downturn that every business experiences and closed down their once-popular chicken joints, only to replace them with yet another chicken concepto, this one a gringo kinda thing. Apparently they bought the new franchises during the franchisees' happy hour, cuz there are now 2 franchises (one chicken is cajun, the other fried) where there once was only one. The Critics' visit was to the Cajun place, a southern-cooking fast food addition to the Gran Plaza's food court.
And not only is the food actually pretty good, with green beans, corn, spicy fried potatoes, and rice along with either blackened or bourbon chicken or jamabalaya shrimp, but it is actually FAST food! Also, if it's cold outside and you are in the mall on the one day of the year the air conditioning is working (an unlikely combination of factors admittedly, but it could happen) you should order their soup, which is a gumbo, served spicy and contains everything on the menu, from rice, noodles and potatoes to shrimp, chicken and vegetables. And you won't spend more than 4.00 or 5.00 USD on a real-food kinda lunch.
So, as mentioned previously, it's FAST food. You see the food, you order it, you get your plate, pay for it and you're eating! Not like the rest of the ridiculous places where you order your food and then you sit and wait for your number to be called over the Food and Food courts' very own P.A. system. Speaking of which; on slow days during the middle of the week, bored teen-aged kids working in these food places can be found playing with the microphones, tapping little rythyms into them and making clever little noises. On Sundays, when the entire populace of northern Merida invades the Food and Food court, it sounds like a bloody airport, the crowd emitting murmuring crowd noises and each pizzeria/taco/chinese or sushi place calling out it's next gastronomic flight number.
Anyway, if you have the overwhelming urge to visit a mall, try the Gran Plaza, and while there try the Cajun chicken. It's still mall food, but it ain't so bad.
Casual Restaurant Critic Rating: 4
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Beginning 1999, the Critic started rating the places he visited. Here's the scoop:
1
horrendous, don't bother, not worth the price, time and/or calories
2
3
4
5
service and appropriate concept (everything gels, from silverware to furniture to
music to decoration etc.)