Lunch at Tickets Bar and Grill

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During several driving tours of Newport, we have passed Tickets Bar and Grill a few times and have said each time, “We should stop there one of these times.” Well, today was that time. Tickets is not a very large place, but the atmosphere inside the restaurant is very comfortable, modern casual. The kitchen has a brick oven for making pizza’s, which normally would be an instant decision for The Todd. Instead, he went out on a limb and ordered the cheese burger. I was instantly attracted to the chicken soft tacos, as I am typically drawn to anything related to a Mexican platter. The kids played it safe with a pizza and chicken fingers. When the waitress asked me if I would like French fries, mashed potatoes or a side salad with my meal, of course I opted for a salad. However, she failed to inform me that this was an additional $1. This still only brought my meal to $9, so I was ok with it. Todd however thought he was getting fries AND a side salad, so he was a little bummed when his fri-less plate arrived. Since the children’s meals were large enough to feed a trucker, he opted not to make the waitress go back for fries.

 

The presentation of the food was great. I did not expect my 3 little chicken tacos to be perfectly rolled and presented as if I were eating a 5 star restaurant. I was very anxious to dive into my salad since I am typically a fan of most balsamic dressings. Well, balsamic anything really. However, I believe they might not have let the oil mingle with the balsamic for more than a second before putting it on my lettuce. Sadly, I couldn’t finish my salad. I felt fairly certain this was not the lightest part of my meal, in fact the cheese pizza in front of me was very likely less calories than the field greens on my plate.

The chicken soft tacos were in fact roll ups, filled with very tasty marinated chicken and just enough cheese. Not enough cheese if you are The Wino, but just enough if you are trying not to intake more calories than necessary.  On the side of the tacos was sour cream, a tropical salsa and some fresh guacamole. The salsa was great, and very refreshing. The guacamole on the other hand, I believe was made with parsley instead of cilantro… interesting choice… not something I would have done, but it didn’t totally kill it.

In doing my part to make sure that everyone was enjoying a safe meal, I tested everyone’s food. The pizza tasted less than impressive. Having had better pizza from the frozen section of the grocery store, I left that all up to the Todds’ to finish.

I grabbed a fry off of the other plate, (I love fries) and strangely enough, that tasted awfully similar to a corn tortilla. How one accomplishes this, I have no idea. So, no temptation there. I went back to my chicken tacos, which were possibly the best choice on the table.

 

After we paid the bill, being a measly $28 for the 4 of us… (yes, a great relief from last nights’ meal) we were given little mints, which were excellent and we ended up sneaking 4 more as we left.

I can’t say I would recommend going for a pizza, but I would suggest you check it out when you’re in the area. The atmosphere is very comfortable and clean, the food is served with excellent presentation and in large portions, the prices are very reasonable and the service was good. I’d give it a 3 Wandering Sisters rating based on this visit, only because the meals could have been better.