Jacques Review sits down with Guitelle S. for a review of The Shed Restaurant. Guitelle has been posting reviews on Yelp since 2017. She became an elite reviewer in 2021. As of today, she has done 223 reviews and posted 643 pictures. You can find her reviews here.
On Sunday, Sept 4, Guitelle and a few of us met up at The Shed Restaurant in Plainview. It was part one of the get-togethers for my brother’s birthday. There was initial frustration in that it did take some time for us to be seated. I was already there for an hour before we were notified that they were ready to receive us. This was after we saw groups of similar sizes being ushered in while barely waiting. Sure, we noticed that they weren’t as colored as we were. We not-so-jokingly wondered whether that was the reason.
When the notification came we were expecting to be ushered inside. After all, we spent the waiting time standing. While it wasn’t hot outside, it wasn’t cool either. We assumed that we would be brought inside to sit in the AC. We couldn’t fault the establishment since we didn’t ask. But we were disappointed as we were led to the patio area at the side of the restaurant. Generally, I would like to think that most restaurants would have offered options.
I couldn’t help but think about the pizza restaurant across the parking lot that would have seated us inside with no problem.
The patio had large overcasting umbrellas. This didn’t completely block out the sun. We adjusted ourselves to help those of us that the glare was directly on. While that then became somewhat manageable, nothing much could be done with the temperature. I also can’t fail to mention the bees (oh yes, the bees) that we were already introduced to during the wait. They now felt more at ease seeing that the food started to arrive.
The idea of sitting outside near bushes is picturesque but it rarely pans out if bees and humidity have anything to say about it.
Jerry: Guitelle, thank you for joining me on this review. What did you think about our seating arrangements? Were the chairs to your liking?
Guitelle: Hey, thanks for having me! I was ok with the seating. Of course, I wish the tables were together but it worked out fine. The only thing for me that was uncomfortable was that we were seated outside. It was really hot and there was a crazy amount of bees. I have done outdoor dining before and bees, bugs, or insects were never an issue so I’m not sure why there was an influx of bees there.
Jerry: The layout of the table was typical. But one thing I noticed was that it was so congested. The tables that they placed together were small but the food they brought out came on these large plates. I mean more bang for your buck is great, but there was barely any room to put anything. Am I bugging? What was your impression?
Guitelle: Oh yes! I completely forgot about that part. I will say that the tables could have been wider for sure. Our food barely fit on the two tables we were sitting at and it wasn’t a comfortable eating experience.
Jerry: let’s get to the food review. I ordered chicken and waffles. My trip to Chicago got me thinking of focusing on 1 or 2 dishes whenever I go for brunch. Not everywhere has Chicken and Waffles, but The Shed did and I wanted to see if it was a thumbs up or a thumbs down. I’m not a renowned food reviewer like you so I can’t do 5 star reviews.
I gave their chicken and waffles a thumbs up for two reasons. First, it was very crunchy. I expected it to be crunchy but it felt crunchier than most of what I had before. Second, the seasoning wasn’t doing too much or too little. I had the option of adding spicy sauce to it. I like places that allow for more control over condiments. But only in relation to hot sauce.
Guitelle, What did you have? What is your rating?
Guitelle: The chicken and waffles looked delicious.
I ordered the biscuit benedict with turkey bacon and I also ordered a side of the brioche French toast.
The biscuit benedict was so delightful. I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5. The biscuit itself was flaky, soft, and buttery. The poached egg was cooked to perfection-runny and yummy. I know everyone isn’t into runny eggs, but I am! The half point comes off because the homefries lacked flavor. It was on the bland side to me. Now for the brioche French toast, I could have passed on that. I would give this dish a 3.5. It was pretty average for French toast. I will say I enjoyed the banana and brown sugar toppings though.
Jerry: Runny eggs? I’m glad I didn’t take a hard look at your plate. We would have had a serious conversation with the rest of the party as to why you’re having runny eggs. Interesting thing about homefries is that I have been hearing a lot of bad reviews relating to seasoning from various places.
Do you think this is a place that you can find yourself coming to on a regular basis? Would you recommend it?
Guitelle: I don’t know about a regular basis consumer. This place is far from where I live. Now, trust me, I will travel for food. The food here wasn’t travel-worthy for me. What I will say is that I would return maybe one more time and see if they can change my mind. And yes, I would recommend it to friends and family who live in that area. And one more thing…I enjoy a bottomless brunch option when I brunch and sadly they did not have this option.
Jerry: Bottomless brunch? I’ve never been to any place like that. I have to bring you back the next time you go somewhere with a bottomless brunch.
I hardly post reviews on anything. But I had experiences where services were so bad that I posted reviews out of anger. What made you start posting reviews on yelp? Did you have a bad experience that you didn’t want anybody else to have?
Guitelle: Haha, no! I started reviewing because I enjoy actually taking pictures of food and posting that. So I started off just posting pictures of food from these amazing restaurants I’ve been to and then I started writing reviews for Yelp and never looked back.
Jerry: Have you ever run across someone that recognized you? What was that like?
Guitelle: Never, lol. Maybe one day, lol.
Jerry: Are there any plans to have your reviews on other platforms? if so, where would you post?
Guitelle: I’ve been thinking about Instagram. Maybe! We’ll see…but I also have a profile on an app called Atmosfy where you’re able to view short clips of the restaurants I’ve been to and the food I’ve had. My profile name there is @Guits15.
Jerry: You got to do Instagram and TikTok. I’ve never heard of Atmosfy. Thanks for introducing us to a new app.
Guitelle, it was a pleasure to have you.