Bamboo Garden

3509 Baker Road
Acworth, GA 30101
770.529.9828

Bamboo Garden is located on the west side of I-75 near the HIghway 92 exit.  It is behind the Zaxby’s in the shopping center with the Publix. (Google Street View)

This is your typical retail center, take out Chinese place.  There are 4 tables for eating on location, but most people will call their order in ahead, show up, pay for their food, and leave.  Our lunch group ate there and took up half of the tables.

Overall, everything about Bamboo Garden is typical.  It is almost like there is a website that you can go to and order a Chinese take-out in a box.  When it shows up, you simply follow the instructions on where to hang everything and before you know it there are customers walking in the door.

Lunch was $5 which was the best part of the meal.  I was not impressed with the actual food (although there was plenty of it) and I ended up with that, “You ate at Chinese restaurant didn’t you?” smell that lingered all day.  Chinese food is one of those personal things though.  What one person likes another may not.  With a take out Chinese place on each corner around here the best thing to do is try them all and decide which one is your favorite.  For me?  I’ll keep looking!

Read more lunch reviews at www.acworthlunch.com.

I used my new-every-two credit from Verizon to upgrade to the new Blackberry Tour last week.  So far I am liking it.  The newer OS seems faster and the brighter, higher definition screen is very nice.  However there are 2 nagging issues I am still working to figure out.

1. My old 8830 I could get to vibrate when in the holster and ring when not in the holster.  I also had it vibrate for a text message when in the holster and play a sound when not in the holster.  I have not figured out how to do this correctly on the Tour yet.
2. With the new OS you sill cannot “reply to all” without opening the email first.  This was a big “miss” on the 8830 and is an even bigger “MISS” this time around.

Catfish Jim’s

41997 Cob Parkway
Kennesaw, GA 30152
678.290.8808

Catfish Jim’s is located on the west side of Cobb Parkway less than a mile north of Barrett Parkway.  It is right next door to the boat dealership which makes sense since Catsish Jim’s is a seafood restaurant.  (Google Street View)

First, a little history.  I think this building is cursed.  In the 10+ years  that I have lived in this area, there have been at least 3 restaurants that have attempted to make this location work.  It is also the first time I have stepped inside the building and for several years I worked less than 2 miles away.

The wear-and-tear on the building shows through as soon as you walk inside the door.  The soda fountain’s spill over tray was full and running on to the floor when we arrived.  When it was brought it to the attention of a staff member, a guy grabbed a bucket and used his hand to scoop enough water out of the tray into the bucket to stop the leaking.  The air conditioning system was rather crude as well with several exposed ducts blowing cool air and several portable construction fans placed around to help with air flow.

The menu was pretty simple… fried seafood and hush puppies.  I opted for the fried whitefish.  It came with a drink, 2 HUGE pieces of fish, 4 hush puppies, and 2 sides for $6.99.  The food was decent and if you leave hungry then you probably have a tapeworm.  The consensus from the lunch group was that the hush puppies were amongst the best they have ever tasted.

While the food was good, the staff were friendly, and the facility itself was an interesting experience, I am still in search of a good place to get seafood for lunch.  I would love to find somewhere that has non-fried choices on the menu in that $5 to $7 price range that is perfect for lunch.

Read more lunch reviews at www.acworthlunch.com.

Last night the Atlanta Track Club posted the official times from the Peachtree Road Race.  My official time was 54:31.  This is 2 seconds faster than the time I had recorded.!  I placed 6,808 out of 50,009 runners and 5,117 out of 26,171 men that ran.  My friend David finished 9 seconds in front of me in 6,708th place.  It is crazy to think that in only 9 seconds 100 people finished the race… in front of me.

Mark another one off the list this year… run the Peachtree Road Race, the world’s largest 10k.  At 7:30a David Huey and I joined 55,000 of our running buddies at Lenox sqaure in Buckhead to start the 6.2 mile trek.  This is the most relaxed I think I have ever felt in a race and it was reflected in the mile splits.

Of course, this is nowhere near the 4:20 miles that the winner was putting down at the start of the race.  Or, to think if it another way, the leader was nearly a 1/2 mile into the race when I crossed the start line!  Unofficially I finished in 54:33 which, if they don’t change the qualifying times, should qualify me for the same running group in next year’s Peachtree.

Here is the race summary in case you are interested:

I am already planning to run it next year.  Anyone else interested?