El Jarito on Celebrity Drive

RESTAURANT:El Jarito Mexican Restaurant
LOCATION:704 Celebrity Drive,Ruston, LA 71270-3875
PHONE:(318)251-0600
WHEN WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT:2012
PRICE RANGE:Moderate
FAVORITE FOOD:Salsa
OTHER GREAT FOODS:Beans
FOOD WE LIKED LEAST:Rice
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE:Comfortable, attractive decor.
APPEARANCE: Clean, Roomy.
SERVICE: Adequate.
COMMENTS:El Jarito isn't bad, but it isn't great either. The food is consistently average Tex-Mex food at a reasonable price.

Mugshots, Flowood

RESTAURANT:Mugshots
LOCATION: 4245 Lakeland Drive,Flowood, MS 39232
WHEN WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT: 2012
PRICE RANGE: moderate
FAVORITE FOOD: TUCKER’S PULLED PORK. NOTE FROM THE MENU -- 8 oz. of warm BBQpulled pork, tender and juicy,racked with our tangy BBQsauce and fresh dill pickles … served with a heaping helping of Kayla’s cole slaw … $8.79. The barbecue was tasty.
OTHER GREAT FOODS: Sweet potato fries.
FOOD WE LIKED LEAST: Liked all of it.
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE: Unique atmosphere.
APPEARANCE: Clean.
SERVICE: Very sweet waitress, who seemed new, slightly unfamiliar with the food and the process of serving.
UNIQUE FEATURES: Neat website with pictures and a to go menu. mugshotsgrillandbar.com
COMMENTS: It would help to have nutritional information readily available.
This sports grill and bar has a prize winning hamburger.
LOCATIONS LISTED ON WEBSITE:
Baton Rouge, LA
Biloxi, MS
Flowood, MS
HattiesburG, MS
Meridian, MS
Starkville, MS
Tuscaloosa, AL
Vestavia Hillls, AL
Montgomery, AL
Mobile, AL

Wendy's in Ruston, LA

RESTAURANT: Wendy's
LOCATION:1440 N. Trenton Street, RUSTON, LA 71270
ONE OF THE DATES WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT:2012
PRICE RANGE: Low
FAVORITE FOOD:Crispy Chicken Sandwich According to the page linked here, this yummy sandwich has 380 calories, not bad; but it has 680 mg sodium (oops!). Let's add a little container of ketchup. Harmless, right? Now it has 390 calories, but 740 mg sodium. http://www.wendys.com/en-us/chicken/crispy-chicken-sandwich
OTHER GREAT FOODS: Fries. The small order without ketchup has 130 calories. Let's talk about those medium fries just a minute. They have sea salt now so they won't have so much sodium, right? But they still have 330 mg sodium. Before the ketchup is added, the crispy chicken sandwich with small fries has about half the sodium an adult body needs in one day.
FOOD WE LIKED LEAST: I've never found anything at Wendy's I didn't like.
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE: Quality, tasty food quickly prepared.
SPECIALS: These vary. Look at the signs in the windows for the current ones.
APPEARANCE: Clean
SERVICE: Courteous.
UNIQUE FEATURES: Exceptional fast food. The fried chicken in the sandwich is some of the most delicious imaginable.
COMMENTS: Sodium in fast food is not our friend. Wendy's is no worse than anybody else. One of the worst sources of sodium is the home salt shaker.

Chick fil-A, Thomas Road, West Monroe, LA

RESTAURANT:Chick fil-A
LOCATION:203 Thomas Road,West Monroe, LA 71291
PHONE:(318) 651-4448
ONE OF THE DATES WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT:2012
PRICE RANGE: Low to moderate
FAVORITE FOOD:Salads
INFORMATION ABOUT SALADS:
Asian Salad has 330 calories and 1090 mg sodium.
Cobb Salad has 430 calories and 1370 mg sodium.
Grilled Market Salad has 180 calories and 680 mg sodium.
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing has 280 calories and 540 mg sodium per serving. There are two servings per package.
Fat Free Honey Mustard Dressing has 100 calories and 360 mg sodium per serving. There are two servings per package.
OTHER GREAT FOODS:Chicken Sandwiches, Diet Lemonade
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE:Courteous and pleasant employees
SPECIALS:Check http://www.chick-fil-a.com/
APPEARANCE: Clean and beautiful
SERVICE:Outstanding
UNIQUE FEATURES:Concern for the comfort and eating pleasure of the diners
COMMENTS: Most of us need to pay attention to sodium content of all the food we eat, whether at home or in a restaurant. Chick-fil-A has yummy food, no more loaded with sodium than other foods. (Try reading the labels on canned food and processed meat in the super market.) Source of information about food values:http://www.chick-fil-a.com/

Peking Ruston

RESTAURANT:Peking Restaurant
LOCATION: 1300 N Vienna Street, Ruston, LA 71270 Convenient from Interstate 20. Take the second exit from either direction. (Ruston has three exits.)
ONE OF THE DATES WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT: 2012, 2013
PRICE RANGE: Low to moderate
FAVORITE FOOD: Sushi complete with ginger and wasabi
OTHER GREAT FOODS: ice cream, green beans
FOOD WE LIKED LEAST: Many of the foods on the three serving lines don't look very interesting, but it's easy to find something else.
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE: convenience
APPEARANCE: Both the interior and exterior could benefit from a facelift.
SERVICE: Excellent.
UNIQUE FEATURES: A buffet line of American food. I don't know when I've seen so much American food in a restaurant advertised as Asian.
COMMENTS: Peking Restaurant has improved. The food is much better than it was a few years ago.

Grump's in Stephenville

RESTAURANT:Grump’s, Stephenville
LOCATION: 1645 West South Loop, Stephenville, TX 76401
TELEPHONE:(254) 965-9659
HOURS:Monday - Saturday, 11AM-9PM. Closed on Sunday.
WHEN WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT: 2012
PRICE RANGE: Moderate
FAVORITE FOOD: Hamburger
OTHER GREAT FOODS: All Kinds of Hamburgers: Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheeseburger, Queso Burger, Swiss Mushroom Burger, BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger, Chili Cheeseburger, Guacamole Hamburger, Junior Hamburger.
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE: Friendly Texas attitude.
APPEARANCE: Clean.
SERVICE: Good
UNIQUE FEATURES: Grump's has its own store where they sell caps, tee shirts, jalapeno ketchup, and other stuff.
COMMENTS:(Also Grump's is in Burleson and Granbury.)

Red Lobster. Let's go there.

RESTAURANT: Red Lobster
LOCATION: 2968 E Texas Ave.
Bossier City, LA 71111
TELEPHONE NUMBER:318-741-3618
TIMES WE VISITED THE RESTAURANT:2012, 2013
PRICE RANGE: Moderate to pricey
FAVORITE FOOD: All of it
OTHER GREAT FOODS: The ones on other people's plates. It always looks and smells wonderful.
FOOD WE LIKED LEAST: Lobster (not as tender as one would expect)
MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE: Biscuits (all you can eat)I’ve been eating at various Red Lobsters for years. It seems to me the biscuits are not as cheesy as they once were. Online I found three recipes for Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits simply by typing in “Red Lobster Biscuits.” There was no consensus about how much cheese is required.
SPECIALS: Go to Red Lobster.com and check these out. Red Lobster is constantly changing the specials. All of these we’ve tried have been outrageously good. Although Red Lobster is a little more expensive than we think it should be, we don’t object as long as the restaurant has those fantastic bargain meals.
APPEARANCE: Clean, nautical
SERVICE: Outstanding, really outstanding. The service at Red Lobster, 2968 E Texas Avenue, Bossier City, LA 71111 has been incredble. The only problem with the Bossier restaurant is that sometimes we have to wait a while for a table.
UNIQUE FEATURES: freshness of shrimp
COMMENTS: Not long ago I went with some friends who were omitting gluten from their diet. They were able to find some good selections.