Tia Helita's Mexican Cuisine

Ask anyone who grew up eating Mexican food at home, where to eat, and they usually have one or two places they can name that serve it up just like mom used to. In Burton, Michigan there is one such place, Tia Helita's. I was first brought to this place by my wife (girlfriend at the time), and we come back every so often. Tonight we dined with our youngest son and our friend Chrissy.
The service tonight was ok. Our waiter had a little memory problem trying to remembering which lady had which drink and dish. The servers usually live up to a good reputation here. We were seated at a big round table with plenty of room for the fare we were about to receive. They have a lot of room here and a few different dining rooms to sit you in.
We started off with some "Chips and Guacamole". These chips aren't from a bag. They are fried up in the back just like they should be. The guacamole is also homemade, being of the chunky version with tomatoes. My wife likes the guacamole that is heavy on the cilantro and lime juice. That is not how this was made, so she thought it was kind of bland.
We ordered "Chicken Strips" for our son, who feel asleep shortly after arriving and stayed asleep the whole time. This was the toughest challenge of the night because he would only sleep if my wife or I held him. We end up having to take shifts holding him. I choose the "Dry Burrito Dinner" with chopped steak. Which according to the waiter is "way better than the shredded steak". My wife picked the "Steak Fajita Dinner". Chrissy chose the "Chicken Quesadillas".
Almost everything came when it was supposed to. The only item that needed a second trip was the plate of lettuce, cheese, etc. for the Fajitas. We all enjoyed our meals.
If this place was in Texas, it would fit right in, because the portions are always bigger here. Everyone but me needed a take home box.
If you have someone with you, or maybe the kids, who aren't in the mood for Mexican, they also offer up some American choices as well with burgers, chicken strips, and others.
Weird fact: at least on three other visits to this restaurant I have either saw, or saw commercials for, the Miss Hooters International show. I saw another commercial tonight. Very odd.
Our Tip: Tia Helita's has rarely disappointed us. If you are craving a real Mexican dish, and maybe some leftovers for the next day, you'll be happy when you leave.

Ponderosa Steakhouse

Nothing says steak and all you can eat buffet like Ponderosa. Dinner with the family on the cheap! The glow in the dark surprise of a place like this is that you don't have to get dressed up to go. Jeans and a t-shirt are as much of a dress code as you'll need.

Both the wife and I ordered the sirloin with the buffet. The kids both got the buffet, the youngest being free!

The hostess was nice and talkative. Our waiter was also nice, but I swear he had selective hearing. Ignoring about a third of our questions.

The salad bar was made for the pickiest eaters... you had to pick through the bad lettuce to get to the good lettuce. Not to mention a few other items up there. There was a pasta salad that was good. Our oldest son easily found the smiley face fries, and chicken drummies, and was nice enough to get extra for his little brother.

After the first round, our steaks arrived. If you've never been to Ponderosa, understand you can order your steak to any doneness you wish. Also understand that you will receive it one of two ways: well done or overdone. My wife ordered it at medium doneness, I, at medium/well. What showed up were two steaks, hers was well done, mine was overdone. They came with corn on the cob and baked beans. Neither of us tried the corn, but it looked good. The beans were excellent. Being of perfect tenderness, a good sauce, and little pieces of bacon sprinkled in.
During the next round to the buffet we found pizza, and bread sticks for the kids. Our oldest enjoyed the pizza - one of his all time favorite dishes. The bread sticks got a mixed review. Our youngest had no problem eating his. Our oldest found out that his bread stick could be used to pry open a bank safe.

I decided to sample some of the other dishes: stuffing, mac and cheese, meatballs and gravy, meatloaf. The meatloaf tasted like meatloaf, but had that "I've been sitting under the heat lamp" glaze look to it. The meatballs tasted like a round version of Salisbury steak. The mac and cheese was the standard creamy buffet style dish. The stuffing had that great classic, stuffing taste, but there was a problem. The cooks decided to put big round slices of carrots in it??? I love cooked carrots! Easily one of my favorite cooked veggies. Just not when paired with stuffing. It didn't even look right!

You can't leave this place without a visit to the ice cream bar. We all went up for a cone of soft serve. Good stuff!

Our Tip: This staple of blue collar dining has been around for a long time and probably will be for some time to come. The standard of mediocrity that was set long ago still stands for this establishment. Don't be afraid to visit this guilty pleasure every once in a while.

Blackstone's Pub and Grill

For those of you who haven't been through Flint, Michigan recently, watch out! There are some folks here trying to revive it. The auto industry has left this area for the most part. When they left years ago, a lot of other businesses followed suit. Drive through downtown today and you'll see construction of lofts, old buildings getting a new face, and new restaurants opening their doors. One of those is Blackstone's Pub and Grill. An Irish pub with a loaded menu.
They have an outdoor patio that faces the street, which is where we started our dining on a Saturday afternoon. We were seated right away, and given menu's with waters following shortly after. The menu has lots of options - warning - most items had a name, which meant you had to read the description of each, and that took some time since we were first timers. Checking out the menu on-line before hand might help. Our waiter was quick at first but took some time getting back to us once we put the menus down.
I ordered a turkey vegetable soup for a starter. It was so good our son wanted to have as much of it as he could get.
Both of us ordered sandwiches. I ordered "Ridg's Way" a turkey sandwich, with irish bacon, avocado, swiss. My wife ordered "The Fisher" a beer battered, fish sandwich. Both with fries. Our son (2-years old) picked the mac and cheese.
The fish sandwich was very greasy, and bland. Not too sure about the "beer battered" claim. Even the tarter sauce didn't provide the spark it should have. The turkey sandwich on the other hand was very good! The mac and cheese was creamy and but bland. Bland for a kid's menu isn't always a bad thing. Most kids don't like foods that are heavy on herbs or spices. The main problem on this dish was that the noodles, a bow tie style, were about 2 inches long, by 1 inch wide. This would've been fine for our 10 year old, but for the younger one it means extra cutting and/or cleaning work for us parents. My wife thought the fries were good and perfectly seasoned. I though the fries were ok at best, needing salt and pepper after the first taste.
One of my favorite drinks is a "Poor Man's Black Velvet". It's half Guiness, half hard cider. It's like a Black and Tan, only tastier! As any good Irish pub should have, Guiness was on tap. But I was sad to not see a hard cider on tap also.
Other People's Tips: One friend went there for a midweek lunch. She said she had really bad service, and they were given the wrong plates and had to switch with each other. But still called it nice.
Our Tip: The atmosphere was great, and looks to be an inviting place. Even though some of our meal choices weren't winners, we both agreed that we would be willing to try it again. I'm a sucker for Shepherds Pie. Perhaps a visit for dinner will be our next trip here.