Food: Ballyhoo Grill

I think there's a dearth of truly good steakhouses here in Gainesville, which allows places like Ballyhoo Grill to flourish. I'm not sure if it's part of a chain of restaurants (there's another Ballyhoo Grill in Tampa - warning, site has some obnoxious music), but for whatever reason, there's one in Gainesville.

Which is not to say the food is bad. The real problem with a sports-bar/casual restaurant like this is that it's inconsistent - one night the New York strip you're eating is succulent and tasty, and the next night, it's tough and flavorless. I guess you shouldn't expect much for $20 in this day and age, but it begs the question - why go here instead of a mega-chain like Outback?

One answer to the question might be the decor. Instead of a faux Australia, you have a faux Florida-themed design, complete with bamboo fence lining the walls and restrooms done up in a Key West sort of way (not really a fair comparison, since the actual Key West sometimes feels like a hyperreal version of itself). The outdoor seating area is a bit spartan, but if the weather's nice, it's probably the way to go.

The selection of actual steaks is sort of limited (they don't even have a T-bone listed on the menu), but at least you get a decent amount of food for your trouble. An entree comes with salad, side, and bread. The real sideshow is the desert menu, where people were ordering some kind of flambéed desert (likely Bananas Foster, but it might've been a baked alaska).

2/4 stars