Soddy-Daisy restaurants Archives

Ricko’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine (Lakesite, TN)

June 14, 2017

Ricko’s Pizzeria is a pizza restaurant in Lakesite, Tennessee (Soddy-Daisy/Hixson) that serves pizza, pasta, & sandwiches & has quickly made a name for itself!

Usually, when I write about a restaurant, it’s the first time I’ve been in. That’s not the case with Ricko’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine, though. Ricko’s Pizzeria opened back in March and, since it’s just a couple of miles from my house, we’ve eaten there several times since they opened. I’ve mentioned plenty of times that I like to give new restaurants some time to get their flow before I write about them, though, so we decided to wait.

Ricko’s is in a spot that has been a handful of other restaurants in the 15 years that we’ve lived in this part of town, most recently occupied by Ron’s Pig Out, a barbecue restaurant. The interior is pretty basic. You order at the counter and they call your number out when it’s ready. If you’ve ever dined at a Rafael’s in the area, the menu will be familiar to you – it’s very similar to the menu at Rafael’s, right down to the buy-one-get-one-free pizzas (excluding the personal pan pizzas). It is my understanding that the family that owns it was previously connected to a Rafael’s restaurant…not sure how.

Anyway, we placed our order immediately when we walked in and our food was out in about ten minutes. Philip wanted to try the garlic knots, so we got an order of those. The garlic knots were a little crusty on the outside, soft on the inside. I prefer them just a little bit softer on the outside than these were, and would have liked for them to have a little more garlic. Still pretty good, though. They were served with a basic marinara sauce for dipping.

On this visit I decided to have the Italian cheese steak with mushrooms for $6.45. Sandwiches are served with fries and a pickle spear. The Italian cheese steak is tender sliced steak with melted provolone on a crusty Italian roll. You can order it with peppers and onions or with mushrooms (I am sure they would do both, but I haven’t asked). I am pretty sure there is a little mayonnaise under the steak. I really like this sandwich. It’s flipping huge (I ate half that night and the other half for lunch a couple of days later) and very flavorful. The only complaint that I have is that I am fairly certain the mushrooms are canned, and I am just not down with canned mushrooms. They are not a deal-breaker, though. The fries are basic frozen fries – pretty good but not anything that sets them apart.

Philip was in the mood for a pizza so he went with the personal pan pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms ($5.25 for a two-topping pizza). The pizza here has always been good when we’ve ordered it. The crust is not too thick or too thin and they don’t over-sauce it (something that drives me crazy). Again, canned mushrooms…but not a deal-breaker. We definitely choose Ricko’s over the national chain that’s just a little further down the street. It’s very convenient to call it in and have Philip stop on his way home from work.

Ricko’s Pizzeria is a welcome addition to the Lakesite/Middle Valley area. They serve sandwiches, salads, pasta, and other entrees in addition to pizza, and the staff is always very friendly. We’ve never had a long wait here, even on days that they are busy (which they often are). It’s nothing fancy, but it’s good. Judging by the number of cars we usually see in the parking lot at dinner time and after church on Sundays, I think that Ricko’s Pizzeria will be around for a while.

Ricko’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine is located at 8615 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee, 37343. They are open Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can call Ricko’s at (423) 682-8050. Ricko’s does not have a website, but you can find more information on their Facebook page.

BBQ Andy’s (Soddy-Daisy)

September 7, 2016

BBQ Andy’s, located in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, has a very small menu that allows them to do barbecue well – including making their own sauce.

When it comes to BBQ in Chattanooga, I feel kind of “meh”. I’ve written about quite a few BBQ places around town and truth be told, most of them are perfectly decent but less than memorable. There’s nothing that I hate more than eating at a barbecue joint and seeing sauce in a package or getting meat that tastes like it was cooked two days ago (I get reducing food waste, but come on…if I want leftover barbecue I’ll make it myself).

BBQ Andy’s has been around in Soddy-Daisy for several years now and I have eaten there once before, but it was an unplanned dinner with my family and I wasn’t really prepared to write about it. Their hours are kind of limited (11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday) and they don’t really have much of a seating area. Not knowing that, Philip and I once tried to go there to find that they were packed out and there was a 20+ minute wait for food, so we went somewhere else and vowed to come back when we could call it in ahead of time, which we have dutifully forgotten to do ever since.

The first few weeks of school give me infinite excuses to dine out on a weeknight, though, and I’m trying to get a week ahead on my dining out experiences, so it finally dawned on me last week to call BBQ Andy’s. So that’s what we did! I pulled up their menu on their Facebook page. It’s a very limited menu – “Killer” potatoes, sandwiches, plates, a handful of sides (like, three – potato salad, baked beans, or coleslaw), and banana pudding. I called at about 5:30 on a Monday night and was told by the friendly girl on the phone that it would be about fifteen minutes. When we arrived, there were no other customers in the store. We paid for our order and headed home to try it out.

As is my Chattanooga BBQ restaurant tradition, I went for the BBQ potato, or, as they call it, the killer potato. Since Philip was ordering pulled pork, I decided to go for the beef on my potato. They cut the potato up into small pieces that they scatter over the bottom of the styrofoam container, then they top it with meat, butter, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and BBQ sauce. I got some extra sauce so I could taste it on its own as well. I was a little surprised when I opened the container and saw this big mess of a potato, but it was quite delicious. Beef barbecue can sometimes be a little dry, but this was tender and moist. The sauce was very tasty – BBQ Andy’s makes their own sauce (hip hip hooray) and it’s the red tomato-based sauce that is common around here, just a little sweet and a little spicy. I ate half that night and put the rest in my Thermos for lunch the next day.

Philip also went for his standard – the BBQ pork plate. He was a little disappointed that they didn’t have fried okra, but settled on the potato salad and the coleslaw. Like the beef, the pork was very tender and moist, well seasoned and lightly sauced. He actually really liked the potato salad, which was your basic mayo-based potato salad with potatoes that were cooked to a nice consistency and not too much dressing. We are picky about coleslaw and found this one to be very nice. We like it chopped up fine, and this was. There was not too much dressing, which makes coleslaw soupy and unpleasant, and it was just a little sweet.

I decided that I wanted to give the banana pudding (or Nanna Pudding, as it’s listed on their menu) a try as well. At $2.50 for a cup that was plenty big enough for me and Philip to share, it was hard to pass up. It was pretty much what you’d expect of banana pudding – creamy sweet vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, and vanilla wafer. Definitely worth $2.50 to have a nice Southern dessert to go along with your BBQ dinner.

BBQ Andy’s is close to home for me and I have to say that I was pretty happy with the food (house made sauce is definitely a plus). At $17.48 for a BBQ potato, a pork plate, and banana pudding (with enough of our entrees left over for dinner the next day), the price was definitely right. The staff was extremely friendly, and you can’t overlook the fact that BBQ Andy’s consistently scores 99-100 on their restaurant inspections.

BBQ Andy’s will definitely be on my “don’t want to cook” weeknight short list! Check them out!

BBQ Andy’s is located at 106 Karen Drive, Soddy-Daisy, TN 37379 (near Merv’s Burgers). They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and you can call them at 423-332-2011. They don’t have a website, but you can find BBQ Andy’s on Facebook.

Merv’s Burgers Soddy-Daisy

April 20, 2016

Merv’s Burgers recently opened a new location in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. The burgers definitely lived up to the expectations set by the original location!

If you’ve lived in Chattanooga for a while now, chances are that you have heard of Merv’s Burgers on Mountain Creek Road. They claim to have the best burgers in Tennessee and a lot of people contend that they have the best burgers in Chattanooga. While you probably know who tops my burger list, Merv’s is on there with their classic burgers. So when it got out that Merv’s was opening in Soddy-Daisy, just about ten minutes from my house, I was pretty excited.

The new Merv’s location opened in February in a location that, unfortunately, has seen a lot of turnover in the past several years. It was a classic meat and three, Ronnie’s Restaurant, for years and years before Ronnie decided to hang up his hat and move on. Since then it’s been two different Mexican restaurants, an Italian restaurant, and a couple of other things. The location seems cursed, which is odd because Home Folks across the street has been there since I was a kid. We decided to go and check it out for lunch with my brother on his birthday.

They’ve done a lot of work inside. It’s been painted and metal panels have been installed on the walls, which is a nod to the Mountain Creek Road location. There’s a dining space and a pool hall space. They have a “seat yourself” sign, which I appreciate because you guys know I can’t stand when I walk in to a restaurant and I’m not sure if I should seat myself or wait to be seated. Our server, Shana, approached us immediately to get our drink orders while we perused the menu (we all went with water).

The menu at Merv’s Burgers is pretty basic: appetizers, salads and wraps, burgers and sandwiches, sides, and entrees. Philip’s eyes lit on the pork rinds on the appetizer menu, and at $2.99 it seems like we couldn’t possibly pass up freshly made pork rinds. For those of you who don’t know, yes, pork rinds are pieces of fried pig skin. These were fresh out of the fryer when they came to our table, still crackling and popping like crazy. They tasted like porky salted air. I honestly have never been much of a pork rind fan, but then I’ve never had them freshly made. These were delicious.

We all three decided to go with burgers – no big surprise there. I’d like to know how many meals a day that Merv’s serves that are not burgers. I had a L’il Merv with American cheese and no onion, Philip had the L’il Merv with cheddar and bacon, and my brother went for the gusto with a regular Merv burger with American cheese, grilled onions, and bacon. Here’s the thing about a Merv’s burger…they’re so simple that it almost seems too simple. There’s no fancy bun, no special sauce, no out-of-the-ordinary toppings, no swanky meat. And it’s it that simplicity that the Merv’s burger shines. With their irregular shape, they’re obviously hand-patted, cooked up just to doneness on the flat-top, cheese melted on top, and toppings judiciously done (i.e. the condiments and toppings don’t slip and slide all over the place).

We split a large order of fries ($4.99) and the basket was more than big enough for the three of us. Merv’s seems like the kind of place where the fries would be an afterthought, just a necessary but neglected menu item, something that goes beside the burger. That’s not the case, though…the fries are hand-cut, skin-on, and perfectly cooked and seasoned. I have a love affair with hand-cut fries, for those of you who don’t know.

I read some reviews on the Facebook page, and some of them were a little negative, not so much about the food but about the service. However, those reviews were all posted within the first couple of weeks that this location was open, so I have to guess that they were probably really busy and they were probably just getting their sea legs. Our food came out very quickly and Shana was very attentive.

To cap it all off, the three of us ate burgers, fries, and pork rinds (we drank water) for $29.31 pre-tip. That’s three adults eating in a non-fast food restaurant for under $30, and that’s not bad. There was a steady flow of diners coming in to eat lunch, with others coming in to shoot pool. I don’t drive that way often, but I’m guessing that they’re doing a pretty good business at night too. I guess it’s too early to tell, but I’m thinking that Merv’s might break the curse of that location.

Merv’s Burgers is located at 8968 Dayton Pike, Soddy Daisy, TN 37379. They are open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. They do not have a website, but you can follow Merv’s Burgers on Facebook.

Backyard Barbecue Closed

June 29, 2015

Backyard Barbecue was a BBQ restaurant in Soddy-Daisy near the lake. We enjoyed our meal there. Unfortunately, it closed just a couple of months after this review.

There’s a little spot near Soddy Lake that’s been a produce stand for as long as I can remember. I recall going there often as a little girl with my mom as she would buy tomatoes, squash, okra…of course, she knew the owners and they knew us. Small town connections. Anyway, a few years back half of that building was occupied by a restaurant. It’s been a couple of different places, but not all that long ago a BBQ joint, Backyard Barbecue, that had been in Daisy near Wal-Mart (in the old Delia’s location) moved in.

The owner of Backyard Barbecue contacted me a while back via the blog and invited me in. I had every intention of getting there before now, but I’ll be honest…I forget about it when I’m trying to think of somewhere to go. A friend texted me a few weeks ago to tell me that she had enjoyed her meal there, and my sister texted me the same thing this past week. I didn’t have anywhere else in mind for this weekend, so Philip and I decided to head over and get some barbecue.

There were no other patrons in Backyard Barbecue when we arrived around 12:30 or 1:00 on Saturday. The owners’ daughter took our order and promised us that we wouldn’t be disappointed with our meal. The joint is owned by a husband/wife pair; the man wasn’t there when we arrived but came in while we were eating. The lady heard us tell their daughter that we hadn’t been in before and brought us samples of the baked beans and potato salad, which she said were both recipes her husband had developed, to taste.

I didn’t take pictures of the potato salad or the beans; I guess I should have. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll tell you that I wasn’t too sure about the beans. They definitely don’t look like your run-of-the-mill baked beans…they are very dark in color, contain ground meat, and look more like chili than baked beans. I was a little suspicious but needn’t have been. They were delicious! They didn’t taste like run of the mill baked beans either, but I am not really a huge fan of baked beans so that was okay with me. They were sweet, tangy, and just a little bit spicy. The potato salad was actually very similar to the loaded baked potato salad I make (spoiler alert: I already have this recipe ready to post this Wednesday. Coincidence!) with red-skinned potatoes, bacon, and green onions. It was delicious as well. Neither of us ordered beans or potato salad to go with our meals, but we definitely will next time (and you should too!).

I considered getting a sandwich but decided instead to get a platter-meat, 2 sides, a roll, and sauce. I opted for brisket with fries and fried okra. They slice or shred the meat when it is ordered as opposed to having the meat already prepped ahead, allowing the meat to be served as fresh and moist as possible. The brisket was rubbed with a delicious, slightly spicy rub that I assume is made in-house and sliced thinly with the fat cap still intact. It was moist and delicious. Instead of drizzling the sauce on my meat, I decided to dip my meat into the sauce. The sauce was housemade…it was a thin sauce, not thick and tomatoey as you typically find around here. It was sweet and tangy and a little spicy, but not too much so. The fries were skin-on and appeared handcut; they were available seasoned or plain and I went for seasoned. The seasoning was a delicious rub. The fried okra was pretty standard for a barbecue joint-pretty sure it was frozen but it wasn’t bad. The roll was also pretty nondescript. I wish I had tried the honey cornbread that was listed as an available addition.

Philip decided to get the pork shoulder platter with slaw and fried okra. He was served a generous portion of pork shoulder that had been shredded. It had plenty of “bark” (the delicious dark bits from the outside of the smoked meat) mixed in and it was moist and flavorful. The slaw was a little sweeter than we would have liked. As I mentioned before, when we go back we will order potato salad and baked beans as our sides.

As I read reviews on Tomato (formerly known as Urbanspoon), as I typically do before visiting a restaurant, I noted that a few people said it was pricey. At $24 for two platters and two waters, it might be a little pricier than most barbecue joints in town but not too much so. Some also complained about the wait time. We didn’t have to wait long but there wasn’t anyone else in there while we were waiting. Since they prep everything as it is ordered, I could see how thing might be a little slower going on a busy night. If you are in a hurry, you might want to order ahead. The food was very tasty, though, and the people were very nice, so I’d encourage you to try Backyard Barbecue out for yourself!

Backyard Barbecue is located at 11210 Dayton Pike, Soddy-Daisy, TN, 37379. You can call them at (423) 457-9547. They are open from 11-8, Tuesday-Saturday. They do not have a website, but you can like Backyard Barbecue on Facebook.

MoMo Hibachi (Soddy-Daisy, TN)

January 5, 2015

MoMo Hibachi is a popular hibachi restaurant that serves great, inexpensive hibachi food in a casual atmosphere in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee.

I’m not really sure how MoMo Hibachi has been in Soddy-Daisy for at least a year or two and I have never been there. That doesn’t really matter, though. Saturday was the day. It was a terrible rainy day and we have been working on giving our kitchen a facelift, painting the cabinets and countertops (that, my friends, is a process!) so we didn’t want to venture too far away from home. We headed over to MoMo at about 2 p.m., when there was only one other table occupied.

We had a seat and the server brought us menus and took our drink orders. The restaurant is clean and fairly sparsely decorated and is somehow smaller than I had envisioned (El Metate takes up a large portion of the strip mall). We spent a few minutes perusing the menu, which consisted of appetizers, salads, fried rice dishes, and yakisoba dishes.
We decided to order some spring rolls, which came out very quickly. The spring rolls were light, perfectly fried, and stuffed with cabbage and a few carrots. They came with a packet of hot mustard and a couple of packets of duck sauce in those telltale takeout plastic packages.

Entrees come with a side salad, which is served with ranch, honey mustard, and ginger dressing; we both chose ginger. The salad was a pretty standard hibachi restaurant salad, just iceberg lettuce and carrots, but the ginger dressing was not the thick orange dressing that you find at Ichiban. It was a thin, very sweet gingery dressing and was very tasty though maybe a bit too sweet right at the bottom of the salad.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted chicken, steak, or shrimp, so I decided to get all three with fried rice. The rice was well-seasoned and the meat cooked well and, again, seasoned well. I would have liked to have gotten a little more of the vegetables (zucchini and onions) and maybe some mushrooms too. However, I really liked the dish and it was a large portion for the price ($7.75) and I brought home leftovers. A bottle of “MoMo sauce” was brought to the table as well. It was the standard Japanese Yum-Yum sauce, sweeter than my Japanese White Sauce but very tasty.

Philip also decided to get the chicken, steak, and shrimp combo but he decided to get the yakisoba noodles instead of rice. His dish was very similar to mine, except, of course, for the noodles in place of the rice (the yakisoba chicken, steak, and rice combo was $7.95). The noodles were thick and chewy, very delicious. We liked them a little bit better than the rice. This will probably be the standard order for both of us when we go back, though I’ll probably order the steak from now on as it was my favorite of the three meats.

The service was good. There was one server working. While we were there, quite a few tables filled up and she managed to check on us several times, keep our drinks filled, and take our credit card when we were finished while waiting on the other tables. The food came out quickly and was fresh and tasty. The portions were good for the price.

I’d recommend MoMo Hibachi for a quick and tasty hibachi meal.

MoMo Hibachi is located at 9332 Dayton Pike, next to Soddy-Daisy Wal-Mart. They are open Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. You can call them at (423) 332-3003. They do not have a website, but you can “like” MoMo Hibachi on Facebook.