I dined at 5 Southern Alberta restaurants, here's my review

During my southern swing of the province, I had the opportunity to eat at a variety of restaurants, some locally owned franchises and some owner operated mom and pop places.

I have reviewed 5 of these restaurants that I would like to share with you.

#1 - Denny's in Brooks provided a very disappointing and exceedingly expensive experience. I wrote the company about my experience and will be writing an article on said experience. I had to ask for a refill not once but twice. I finally asked for a to go cup so I could enjoy my coffee on the bike because I was at the till before I could to get my refill...that's right after two requests for a refill at $3.79 a cup I had to go to the till to pay to get a refill, in a to go cup.

#2 - Ricky's Grill in Brooks was the slowest restaurant that I have ever eaten in (3 tables - 40 minutes to get food) and there were other things that went on that I wrote the company about and will be writing an article on. The franchise office has already contacted me with apologies and gift card offer which is impressive considering I only wrote them this morning.

My experiences in Patricia at the Patricia Hotel, Mae's Kitchen in Mirror and the Olde English Restaurant in Delburne were far different experiences.

# 3 - Patricia Hotel: A 6 OZ sirloin with baked potatoe, soup, salad, garlic toast and corn on the cob for $23.00

#4- Mae's Kitchen: A huge bowl of the best Hamburger Vegetable soup I have eaten in a long time plus a cheeseburger with a coffee for $19 - the coffee? $2.60 a cup WITH REFILLS!

#5 - The Olde English Restaurant: $5.00 for Toast and Coffee with jam and REFILLS!

Supporting local is more important than ever and the meals are better quality with more substance and less cost.

The later surprized me because of the trucking costs for food. I would have thought that the costs would have been higher in independantly owned businesses considering they don't have the co-op buying power. But the average coffee price in a franchise is $3.79 at Denny's, $3.89 at Ricky's and many are much higher.

When you are on the road in your car, van, truck or on your motorcycle please consider taking the chance on an independantly owned business as opposed to a franchise - these are often the businesses that don't have highway frontage, that you have to drive/ride out of your way to go experience....but they are generally so worth it!!!!