I’ve been to Trolley’s exactly once before many years ago (2003 I think) at a time when one of the owners was staring on ABC’s “The Bachelor”. At the time I ordered a Buffalo Chicken Wrap and apparently didn’t think it was special enough to ever go back. So anyway, last week David was raving about some Queso Cheese Steak sandwich he had at Trolley’s and how he wanted me to try it – so the story begins…
We arrived around noon and had a rather chilly seat next to the window – the whole place was cold and everyone had jackets on or were rubbing their hands to stay warm. Anyway, there were lots of empty tables when we arrived, but it got to almost ½ full by the time we left.
Walking in I saw a big sign advertising a “new” menu. Well guess what – David’s Queso Cheese Steak Sandwich is no longer available. We asked about whether they could make it for us, but no – they didn’t have all of the ingredients. David ended up getting the Buffalo Chicken Wrap ($8) and I ordered the Bourbon Chicken Sandwich ($8) – mine with sweet potato fries. The Bourbon Chicken Sandwich is one of the house specialties and is a favorite according to our server.
David ordered a side of the Buffalo sauce saying that he wanted to try it to see if it was any different than what he has been getting lately. He was complaining about how it seems that everyone in town is using the same Buffalo sauce. I opined that probably every place in town was purchasing 5 gallon jugs of Sysco brand Buffalo sauce. Well, as it turns out the sauce was indeed different but not in a good way. I had a taste and all I got in my mouth was a very strong buttery flavor – it wasn’t at all spicy and wasn’t good. Someone didn’t get the butter to hot sauce proportion right when they were mixing up this batch.
Fortunately for David the wrap didn’t have much of the sauce on it. Even so, David didn’t appear to enjoy his meal. When we were done, he said he didn’t need to come back again.
My bourbon chicken sandwich looked pretty good on the plate. It was a grilled chicken breast brushed with bourbon sauce with bacon, lettuce and tomato on a large bun. The chicken was very dry. I got some sweet taste from the sauce, but really won’t have been able to tell you it was bourbon sauce. It wasn’t grilled with the chicken, but seemed to have been brushed with the sauce before plating. The sandwich was also very sticky as the bottom of the bun got some sauce on it – I had to go wash my hands when I was done eating to get the stickiness off.
From a bourbon chicken perspective, I’d rather have the stuff at the mall food court. This sandwich would have been better if the sauce was grilled onto the chicken instead of brushed on afterward – but there wasn’t much one could do to save the dried out chicken breast. The sweet potato fries were very good. They were nice and crisply and had a just-right light sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar.
Service was very good on this visit and my diet coke never went empty.
The décor inside Trolley’s is very nice with the walls having a street façade look to them (pictures on the web site). The restroom was clean.
I guess there was a reason I never made it back after my first visit so long ago. I’m voting with David that I really don’t need to go back either.
I agree, I think Trolley’s is really going down hill. I have eaten there recently, since they have launched their “new” menu. I also had the Bourbon Chicken Sandwich and sweet potato fries. The menu says the sandwich comes with bacon…however, they left that off of mine for some reason?! This item has been on the menu and available for years, but it appears to be shrinking in size. I didn’t care for the “basket” type serving dishes they are using now…it has the appeal of a cheap cafe?! I think they were very skimpy on their sweet potato fries. I was not impressed and I was sad to see that they no longer have the six for six, french onion soup, or the lettuce wraps on their menu. And it was FREEZING when I was in there too!!
I don’t know where to start.
David and I visited Trolley’s a few weeks ago. It was so uneventful of a meal that I don’t remember. What I do remember is not good news:
The waiter brought out a tray of food for a nearby table…and I saw a cockroach….not waterbug…crawling on the top of the tray. If not for David, I would have been solid GONE. So the food came out and my first thought was: WOW! There are only 8 fries on my plate. I guess the cockroaches at the rest. The food was less than memorable…but the cockroach and getting short changed on fries were the things that stuck with me.
I am quite weird when it comes to food…and David is shocked that I eat in restaurants at all. If I don’t see it…it doesn’t bother me. However, I have a vivid memory of that roach…and I will never go back to see him again.