Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 25, 1993 TAG: 9306250169
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Dolores Kostelni Correspondent
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Today's hottest growth market is aimed at the 25- to 49-year-olds who have outgrown fast-food feasting but continue to look for great value, great service and great food. This segment demands casual upscale dining.
Eleven years ago Shoney's jumped on this bandwagon with their upscale restaurant, Pargo's. Their menu, in fact, spells out exactly what they're supposed to be selling: "Great Food, Great Value, Great Service & Great Fun."
Quite frankly, the only things I've found great are the building's design and all of the art by Mercedes Reinhart of Hampton. Both are outstanding.
With the exception of the salads ($2.95-$7.45), curly potato frygos ($1.85), grilled spring chicken ($7.95) and barbecued baby back ribs (half slab $4.95, full slab $10.95), little else deserves the adjective great in a positive sense. Decent and mediocre are more accurate descriptions.
One of the best salads, the BLT ($5.65), usually comes as a heaping flat bowlful of romaine and a mixture of other crisp lettuces with tomato wedges, shredded cheeses and heaps of tasty, perfectly fried bacon. Sometimes this has been served with fresh, well-cleaned spinach instead. In any event, it's worthwhile, particularly when accompanied by their dark, slightly sweet, freshly baked bread.
Another excellent main course salad, the chicken teriyaki ($5.95) comes with lots of dark green spinach leaves, sliced mushrooms, blended shredded cheeses, tomato wedges and a small warm, freshly grilled chicken breast on top.
For good value, the soup and salad combo ($5.85) delivers. A thick, cheesy baked potato soup garnished with bacon and scallions comes with either a house or Caesar salad, and both are fresh and filling.
A full slab of barbecued baby back ribs makes a great finger-lickin' starter for four as well as a delicious meal. Just enough zingy spices, perfect cooking and high-quality meat make this a dish that will satisfy everyman's yearning for ribs. We selected cole slaw and frygos as accompaniments, and nothing could have been better.
Usually, most of the portions look large (or great) in size or give the appearance of overwhelming abundance. Fresh garden lasagna ($6.95), not only the sloppiest of their preparations, also provides one of the best examples of Pargo's type of abundance. Ours arrived as a large flat soup dish filled with an ocean of bright red tomato sauce highlighted by a crater of ricotta. One taste revealed it was cooler than room temperature.
After a lengthy reheating, disappointment was greater than before. The saucy preparation, composed of an abundance of wide noodles, contained exactly four zucchini slices and two mushroom pieces.
At the same meal, I ordered Key Largo pasta ($11.95), one of Pargo's "mouthwatering signature dishes." The pronounced, fishy smell wafting up from it killed my appetite pronto, and I pushed it as far away as I could. But I did notice it consisted of a giant heap of pasta, a scattering of scallops, shrimp and crab and a slick of sauce on top.
The waitress saw a crisis, took the dish away and brought the manager to the table. His polite apologies more than remedied the foul-smelling dish. The replacement meal, a grilled spring chicken breast, proved to be juicy and tasty although difficult to cut because it was served on a small plate jammed with an ordinary amount of food.
Sometimes the abundance is real. Such is the case with an appetizer called mucho nachos ($5.85). In reality, this appetizer looks like a towering pyramid of chips and I thought, `Maybe one false tug will bring it down.' Tough to eat because of its construction, I left most of it. Oversized glasses filled with a beverage of choice are the rule. This includes 10-ounce glassfuls of red or white wine ($3.25-$4.25), a value second to none.
Another disappointment was the turkey club croissant ($5.95), a good-sounding idea but too soggy. The naturally soft croissant stuffed with a mound of thinly shaved smoked turkey and topped with bacon, melted Swiss, lettuce and tomato absorbed moisture from the fillings - especially the tomato - and fell apart. This gives another illustration of perceived abundance: an ordinary quantity of food crammed on a small plate, making it difficult to use a knife because there's no room to maneuver.
With the exception of the two rubbery poached eggs, I ate most of the huevos pargos ($6.40). This simple Sunday brunch concoction offers a flat flour tortilla spread with nacho topping and layers of salsa, blended cheeses, diced tomato, eggs and scallions. Not too much can go wrong with these ingredients except for what they cooked. Again, because of the flat presentation, you get the impression there's a lot of food but there really isn't.
Service is generally good, although I've had to wait too long for my checks more often than not. Pargo's managers excel at apologizing for a mishap, such as the ladybug I discovered in my salad and the unpleasantly fishy pasta dish. Their sincerity and graciousness are convincing and polite.
However, I think more training and supervision are needed in the kitchen. Even if this is upscale dining, if it's sloppy-looking or doesn't taste good, there's no value and no fun.\ \ PARGO'S\ 220 South next to Hunting Hills Plaza.\ PHONE: 989-3189.\ \ HOURS: Sunday through Thursday: 11 a.m.-midnight; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-1 a.m.\ \ BEVERAGES: Full-range nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages.\ \ PRICE RANGE: Lunch $4-$7; Dinner $4-$12.\ \ RESERVATIONS REQUIRED? No.\ \ CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express.\ \ NONSMOKING SECTION? Yes.\ \ Handicap accessible? Yes\ \ Dining Out's evaluations of restaurant accessibility to the handicapped are conducted by the Blue Ridge Independent Living Center, a non-profit organization.
Dolores Kostelni has worked as a restaurant consultant, manager and chef.
by CNB