An Online Journal - by Clake and Klake

AN ONLINE JOURNAL_
by Clake and Klake

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Finally: The Dealio with Milio's
posted by clake at 1:40 PM

I really always thought I liked sandwich restaurant Milio's (formerly Big Mike's Super Subs), but I've only just now realized this is not the case. The revelation came when Klake and I decided to get dinner at Subway. We stood at the end of a very long line of patrons, watching sandwiches being prepared one at a time by the one and only guy who appeared to be working there. I imagine one or two people had called in sick. Klake far preferred Subway to Milio's, but we were hungry and neither of us wanted to wait the amount of time it was going to take to get our food, so we went across the street.

This is when it all clicked for me. Seeing the Milio's menu immediately after reading the menu at Subway suddenly made the connections in my mind that allowed me to see that Milio's really sucks. Their selection is pretty bad, and any customization of your sandwich is almost unheard of. Meanwhile, Subway sets up their operation around the idea that you deserve to determine exactly what goes on your sandwich and should have a lot of fun sauces and toppings to pick from and no, that isn't picky at all and they're happy to do it for you. At Milio's, you walk in take a moment to look at the menu for a couple of seconds and are immediately bothered by one or two employees who seem to be under the impression that you work there and it is your job to order as fast as possible and not have any unexpected requests.

It's too bad, because I like to support businesses that are more "local". However, I won't shop locally simply for the sake of shopping locally. If the quality of your product and customer service suck (Hamburg Inn) then I'm not going to support you. However, if your product is good and your establishment is pleasant to do business with (Whitey's Ice Cream), then I will absolutely choose you over your national chain competition (Cold Stone Creamery). Does anyone else dislike Cold Stone? Their business model is gimmicky and their product is expensive and not terribly good.

So you finally did it, Milio's. You got a bad review on my blog. You will never recover from this. Do you know how much clout I have with people who eat sandwiches? Everyone I KNOW eats sandwiches!

Comments:

Clake forgot to mention many of the local places that we love or hate in his roundup of IC local business

Love:

Pagilia's Pizza
Can't spell it or pronounce it, but they have really great pizza and a good atmosphere. My only complaint is that boys work in the kitchen and girls waitress. What is this, 1953?

Falbo's Pizza
Cracker thin crust and spinach and tomato topping. Perfection.

Wig and Pen
I ate here during my morning sickness phase so I don't really want to think about their food now. But Clake still likes it.

Hunan Chinese (carry out only)
They have perfect beef fried rice. Remember Easy Place fried rice? Like that but better.

Hate:

The Brown Bottle
The food was of frozen dinner quality: limp pasta with bland sauce dumped on a plate. And I think the waitress really, truly, deep in her soul hated us.

Quintons
The food is good but the service is terrible. Last time we were there the waitress never came back to collect the bill. After 30 minutes we dug exact change out of the depths of our wallets and left. I bet our bill and payment is still on that damn table.

Summary: Clake and Klake like their pizzas hot and their diet cokes full.
# posted by klake : 4:11 PM