Picture from the Aspen Creek Grill Facebook page.
Aspen Creek Grill, a restaurant that claims all of its food is made from scratch, opened its Lubbock location on Feb. 1 and still has a line out the door.
One Sunday after church, my mom and I decided we wanted to try and get lunch at the new restaurant. Bad idea. People were waiting outside, and we couldn’t even find a parking spot. So we went to Rosa’s instead.
Later that day, my boyfriend and I thought we would try it for dinner since it was Valentine’s Day. I didn’t want to wait too long, so I did some research. Aspen Creek advertised a “NoWait App” on its Facebook page, and I downloaded it for free. I entered my name and two people for my party. The app then it gave me a number of how many people were ahead of me in line.
There were about 80 people ahead of us, so I worked on homework for about an hour. Once it got down to 20 people in front of us, we headed that way. Once we arrived, I gave my name to the people at the door, and we only waited for about five minutes before we were seated.
Picture from the Aspen Creek Grill website.
The “NoWait” app is seriously the best thing invented. The only restaurants in town currently using it are Chili’s, Back 40 Grill, On the Border and, of course, Aspen Creek. They also offer call-ahead seating. Genius, right? I tried that before getting the app, but had a hard time getting through. I hope other restaurants hop on this band wagon, because it was great doing some homework while “waiting for a table”.
Located at 3012 West Loop 289, Aspen Creek Grill is a pretty big place with a self-described “mountain-lodge theme” and televisions all around. The atmosphere was very welcoming, with friendly staff members who greeted us at the door and attentive servers.
For an appetizer, I highly suggest the pickle chips. It is one of my favorite appetizers to get pretty much anywhere, so I was glad it was a large portion. I loved how much they gave us because, you know, some restaurants are stingy with their servings.
For the main entree, both my boyfriend and I ordered steaks. We each got side salads, and there wasn’t anything small about them. The appetizer and salad filled me up so much that I hardly touched my steak or baked potato. But the food was just as delicious at home when I heated it up the next day. College students always love leftovers.
The fried cheesecake. Natalie Morales/ The Hub@TTU
I was stuffed, but I still managed to get a bite of my boyfriend’s fried cheesecake, which was served with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious! Fried cheesecake doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it? It’s amazing! It’s probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but everyone deserves a treat every now and then.
I already plan on going back because I want to try something other than a steak. I was eyeing the Hawaiian chicken and garlic-buttered broccoli on the menu for my next visit.
This restaurant, which has a 4.9 out of 5 stars rating on Facebook, is definitely a new favorite of mine.
About Natalie Morales
