Medieval Times -- Labor Day Specials & Savings!

*Must mention or enter code LDWEB15 at time of purchase. Discount is valid only off of full-priced admission rates. Not valid with other discounts, offers, or group rates. Upgrade packages, tax, gratuity, and applicable fees are additional. Restrictions may apply. Valid only at the Dallas location thru 9/7/15.

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Dallas Review

Medieval Times: Official Website

To get to review Medieval Times is awesome and a wonderful opportunity. I went as a child a couple of times, and once prior as an adult. My husband and daughter had never been so I was excited to get to see their reaction to it. We arrived at the castle at 6:45pm, and there was already a pretty long line. I had left over 45 minutes before that so to say Dallas has bad construction traffic is an understatement. We arrived and stood in line for about 10 minutes talking with my Mom and Dad. Then you heard them blow the trumpets and announce it was time to come in. The line to go in was pretty quick,  though it was clear from the moment you got in there they wanted to try to get you to buy photos. On the same spot you purchase any tickets from your reservation, is a sign to pay $5 to get a picture of someone in the stocks. That was right away, though I had had thought of doing that to my husband!

Olivia was so happy to be there with her Grandpa and Nana!

Then, you go through after finding out what knight you will be rooting for and you get a crown. From there, you have an opportunity to stand with the Princess Catalina and get your picture taken with her. So right there not even five minutes into the castle are two opportunities to spend money on pictures. From there, you get the opportunity to dress up and have a picture taken in a costume. We got to get Olivia's done, and it was just so cute! But the prices, it was $20 a photo! If you aren't careful you can spend upwards of $100 before you even make it into the main area!
From there, we walked in and a bar was right in front of the doors. Want a beer? How about spending $7 on a cup of Shiner...seriously. You want a cute tiara or crown? How about a princess hat? $14-$20 a piece! We saw a tube of dragons (kind of like a tube of green army guys) that I wanted to get Olivia as a stocking stuffer for Christmas. $15.95 and a third of the tube was empty. I'll wait for Toys R Us. But, Grandpa and Nana's job is to spoil the kiddo so she got quite a bit! The pictures also came out really great as well and I was so appreciative they purchased them for us. I loved all the backgrounds they had, we let Olivia choose her background and she wanted the red dragon. I really loved the white, but the princess gets what she likes!

After about 15-20 minutes, it became clear that the lack of air conditioning and the hundreds and hundreds of bodies really did not mix well with an alcoholic drink. Sweat was pouring off of us as we waited, but it was still fun to show Olivia the castle's insides. I even took her up to meet the King as he sat on his throne and she was the shyest little thing. But he was really kind and a "friendly King" as he put it. We also showed her the horse stables through the windows, which she absolutely loved. One was scratching his nose on the window and others were just staring out and I love horses. I adore them I think they are the cutest things like "big dogs". When the time came in to go to our table, we figured out we were front row! The royalty package my Dad upgraded us to confirmed 2nd or 3rd row seating. Front row was even better, one employee said that was "considered VIP". Well, alright then! We sat down and being in front row you get the best spot in the house. In fact, our table was near the middle of the arena (Black and White was the actual middle so...kind of to the side). My husband and I took turns during the show holding the kid so we could eat as she didn't want to sit alone. Hard to eat with your fingers, when the kid wants to be front and center but you make it work!

 When I went to Medieval Times for the first time as a child, I sat in the Red Knight's cheering section. Last time it came back full circle as I was once again front row and in the Red court! When the show started, the smoke machines kicked in, the lights started going all colorful and I felt like I did when I first went. The food was great and they brought it out every 15-20 minutes. First, you got a choice of unsweetened iced tea or pepsi. Then you got a piece of garlic bread, and a bowl of "dragon soup". Which is tomato bisque with vegetables; then a huge roasted chicken piece like half a chicken. Then a half of a potato, an ear of corn (and props to my surf for hearing me say I couldn't corn on the cob so instead he gave me two potatoes and gave my ear of corn to my husband), The chicken tasted fantastic and normally I do NOT like getting my fingers and nails dirty when I eat, but seeing as here your right and left hands are your fork and knives, what are you going to do? Ignore the amazing food? HA! Finally for dessert an apple turnover that came out very hot, and the filling dripped on you. But you forget to eat really you're so into the show!

We first got to see a beautiful white horse, then a falcon entertain us. The whole show my daughter was mesmerized by the horses and kept asking if they'd be back when they disappeared. During the show, the knights would participate in a "tournament" and every time a knight won a round, he'd receive 5-6 carnations from the princess to pass out to the audience. We kept trying to get the knight to give Olivia one, and the first round he seemed to ignore us. But then he smiled and waved at her, and I thought that was sweet. Round two, he almost seemed to just skim right over us, and as he rode away he made a motion like he was thinking about her, and winked. At that point my Mom thought he had something special planned for her. Third round, again, he completely looked over her and the lady beside us gave Olivia her carnation which was sweet.

 By then, Olivia's attention was turned not to the show but to the "flowers being thrown" and I was grateful the woman gave her the carnation but a bit disappointed that Olivia didn't get anything.  She soon didn't care, and went back to watching as the knights continued to joust, and fight and have fun. A couple of times when the knights dismounted their horses, the horses did NOT want to run out of the arena! It was so cute, the horses were just trotting around or running around not even caring that sparks were flying off swords and loud bangs from shields. The attention would steer off the knights and we'd spend more time watching the horses playing and trotting around like "Haha, can't catch me!". Of course, my husband's "Mystery Science Theater" style jokes during the show made it even more awesome. At one point when a horse took off and REALLY ran out of the arena he made a "peace out" joke and I couldn't stop laughing. During the tournament, our red knight was nicknamed "Mr. Shinypants" by my husband, yes, I cracked up hard. Probably funnier with alcohol in your system. Also, our speaker looked like Weird Al Yankovic. He did, totally. In fact I overheard Dad telling Mom that after my husband had said it to me. Plus, I swear the red knight looked like Kevin Sorbo, haha.

As the tournament part of the show came to a close, the knights all had a small sash with a carnation tied to it on the end of their lances. Imagine our surprise and happiness when the red knight came right over, and gave the sash to Olivia! I helped her get it off, and it was SO sweet that he bowed to her and everything!  At this point, we'd been watching the show over an hour and Olivia was getting tired and not understanding she'd won something so sweet, so I spent the remainder of the shower waiving it like a flag for her. I loved seeing the knight make little gestures to his horse as well when sitting on him and waiting to go. You can tell these knights take their position seriously and the horses are attached to the owners. It was really sweet and fun to watch.

By the end of the show, we'd cheered until our throats were scratchy, eaten wonderful food, enjoyed all the fighting and the story line and had a blast. I really hope to get to return soon, as I would love to make this a "Royal Tradition" with my daughter. A huge thank you to The Red Knight for making my daughter feel so special last night, and thank you to Medieval Times for the tickets! My parents celebrated their TWENTY-FIFTH wedding anniversary with dinner part one last night here! Thank you for helping me make their anniversary memorable!

Roscoe's NY Diner & Sports Bar in Grapevine, Texas Review

Roscoe's NY Diner & Sports Bar: Official Website (Grapevine Location)
Roscoe's NY Diner & Sports Bar: Official Facebook (Grapevine Location)

Note: I read the Google reviews before we went to the restaurant. My review is not paid for, and I truly don't know what those people were on when they came here because I do not agree with ANY negative review I saw. I'm an honest reviewer, so get ready for the ride.

When we pulled up to Roscoe's I was very nervous. After the horrible experience we had at Lonesome Dove Bistro I was worried that another experience would occur that would completely make me want to stop blogging. After we came in I was immediately impressed. The name is "Diner" but this does not look like a diner it looks really fantastic. It's big, open, airy, they have the sports bar on one side and the diner on the other. 

 The bar area looks great with a large bar, televisions, an awesome electric jukebox that I wish I'd gotten a picture of, and a meeting area that seats I believe he said 30 or 50. Matter of fact, I'm hoping to tell the Panther Creek H.O.G. my parents are members of about this place and have them come out some time. Can you imagine fifty motorcycles all coming up the highway and pulling into this place? I love the idea, personally. The manager, Jeff came out and greeted me once we arrived and after speaking with him I was a lot more at ease. Turns out, he is best friends with the owner of the original Roscoe's Diner in NY and after moving to Grapevine, got tired of having to go back to NY for food like this. He wanted to bring this kind of food to Texas where he felt Texans were getting tired of chain restaurants. Yes, he couldn't be any more right. When the opportunity comes for us to eat out at a restaurant we are always groaning at the chain restaurants. After a while, everyone tastes the same. We were seated by the hostess and our server was Emily.

It was nice and cool the whole time, the seats sat us a little low (Jon said it felt like he was a kid, haha). They gave Olivia a couple of crayons (Crayola too, not name/generic brand that was too waxy!). It took us quite a while to figure out what to order, because the food sounded incredible. Jon said that Gordon Ramsay has always said a place with pictures on the menu is not a good place and pictures are never needed, but this place we really wanted the pictures! There are so many incredible options when it comes to their menu, and we just could not decide.

In the end our order came out like this:

Olivia

Chicken fingers

French Fries

Grapes (Additional)

Milk

Jon

Surf & Turf Burger (A Hamburger, topped with a crab cake, with a horseradish aioli) cooked medium

Caesar Salad

Mango Sweet Tea

Elizabeth

Open faced roast beef sandwich

Mashed Potatoes

House salad with Ranch

Sweet Tea with lemon

As soon as Olivia's food came out, and by the way a huge thank you to Emily for suggesting we order her food before we had decided so she could eat while we waited, I had to compliment the chicken tenders. Most places use a thick batter so when it fries, it gets crunchy, hard, and dries out the chicken. This was juicy, VERY juicy. The batter was thin and had a small amount of seasoning to it which for an almost four year old who is a picky eater was perfect. The french fries she loved (You can see in the picture as we tried to get a good shot of the food she was already diving into the ketchup with them) and since we've gotten home the majority of her food is gone. 

My salad came before my meal (was given the choice) and I was impressed! The salad was very fresh, was baby greens and not the typical iceberg lettuce you see in a house salad. My only slight complaint would be the cucumber slices had a bitterness/sourness to them but Jon said it was because they were larger. The cherry tomatoes were perfectly ripe though unlike most chain restaurants you get those wrinkly little things. The sandwich came shortly after the salad, and I tried the potatoes. IN-CREDIBLE. Fresh mashed potatoes there is NO instant in this house folks! You could see bits of skin still in the potatoes, I'm usually one of those people that has to dip something in something. Like bites of potatoes in gravy, nope. Even after feeling full I could NOT STOP eating the potatoes! I just kept nibbling even though I felt like I was about to pop! The roast beef was amazing, tender, tasted home made (who needs to eat at home anymore, just come to Roscoe's!) and the bread with the gravy was amazing. I could go on and on but now to the best entree of the night.

Jon's burger, oh man, this burger. He kept talking about it while he ate it begging me to take a bite and I was trying to eat my own food there was so much of it (FYI, the portions here are perfect to really get full from. If not, you have lunch tomorrow.) but he said you could taste crab in every bite with the hamburger (which was perfectly cooked to medium by the way). He didn't taste the horseradish though, said it tasted like a seasoned mayo yet when I did get a bite of it I totally could taste the horseradish so I think it's just a person's taste. I'm not a crab cake person at all, yet one bite of this burger and I was wishing I'd gotten the burger instead of the roast beef! Oh it was incredible the flavors were just so bold. This is not food you expect at all for a place called a Diner, you really don't! The entire time I sat there eating all I could think of is "By the time I'm done with this review it'll be ten pages of compliments!" and guess what, I was right.

Then...dessert. I have to be honest I completely COMPLETELY forgot to get pictures of the desserts and for that Jeff I sincerely apologize. But...come on those things were taunting us to eat them. We were given three slices of Roscoe's homemade colossal creamy cheesecake with strawberry topping, and one slice of their Skyscraper Chocolate Bavarian Cheese Cake. To the person on the google reviews who stated that their strawberry topping was nothing more than a gelatin canned topping only IHOP would serve, you're an idiot and a liar. I'd say more, but this is a family blog and I don't use profanity in writing. 

You want perfect cheesecake? You know you do, if you live in DFW or even visiting and going near Grapevine Mills mall you HAVE to come into Roscoe's JUST for their cheesecake. Jeff informed us they are priced LOWER than Cheesecake Factory, and theirs is made fresh on site at the restaurant every day. Cheesecake Factory is frozen! So why would you eat frozen cheesecake that is more expensive and miss the quality of excellent cheesecake right outside the mall? Yeah, this is something that even now I want more of. The topping is so fresh, as soon as Jeff brought us the boxes I opened the strawberry one up and picked a slice of strawberry out. Fresh, real strawberries within a great topping. You CAN NOT find this anywhere else, I'm serious. I'm a cheesecake-aholic I try to eat it anywhere I can. I'm the one who makes two cheesecakes every Thanksgiving and Christmas for our family get togethers (yes, instant of a box but still) so that tells you how much I love it. Again, I could go on and on and on about their food but how about you just go find out for yourself?

Manager: Jeff Lewis and our Server: Emily

As we left, we were getting Olivia situated in her car seat when a woman pulled up beside us. She asked us how it was and I told her that I did not expect the food that we received, it surpassed any initial opinion I may have had going in and I told her no matter what meal she got, she HAD to get dessert. We are lucky to have had this opportunity and I again would like to thank Jeff for the great experience. We will be going back as often as we can to try their breakfast and try more of their other meals. Oh and Jeff, we hope you like the picture Olivia drew for you!

Out of five stars, I give Roscoe's NY Diner & Sports bar in Grapevine: TEN STARS!!!!!