The Sunshine Factory

We ate at the Sunshine Factory in Crystal on Saturday of this past weekend. We met our friends Gina and Steve since they live near there and it had been ages since the four of us had been out to dinner together.

It was about 6:00 or so when we got there and discovered there are sort of two sides to the restaurant, the actual Sunshine Factory and then another part called "The Bistro." The normal restaurant was rather busy, it would've been nearly 45 minutes for a table, so we agreed to be seated in the Bistro as they promised us a full menu. We got a nice table near a window.

The menu was pretty large, but I am thinking it was a slightly smaller offering than what the regular restaurant menu was. At any rate, there was a lengthy appetizer list, salads, soups, burgers, sandwiches and also a good number of entrees. I chose a Surly Furious to drink as it was on tap, Nate had a bottle of Horizon Red Ale, Gina had Blue Moon and Steve had soda.

I decided that even though the sandwiches sounded really good, I was more in the mood for something else as I had a sandwich for lunch earlier that day. So I chose a pork chop with baked potato and salad. Nate also steered away from a sandwich or burger and chose beef tips with pasta in a white sauce. Gina chose the turkey club panini and Steve chose the chicken bacon ranch panini. We also ordered spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer and Gina and Steve chose steak bites as an appetizer.

Here's where I ended up a bit disappointed. First of all, my salad didn't come out right away. Then when it did, it was super cold. Now I know that sounds funny, but it felt like it was in a bowl that was sitting in the fridge all afternoon. Then we were sitting around talking about how we hate it when a place brings you the appetizer and then two seconds later brings your entrees. Well, we ended up getting our appetizers WITH our entrees only a few minutes after my salad came out. All of sudden our table was so full we didn't know what to do with ourselves! So that was a wee bit frustrating.

Most of the food though was really quite good. I liked the dip, we had it with baguette bread and it was really quite tasty. But, my pork chop was pretty dry, not much flavor to it. The potato was also a little disappointing in flavor. Nate's pasta on the other hand was very good, creamy, with some garlic flavor as well. The meat was tender and juicy. Both Gina and Steve said their sandwiches were really good too. They looked tasty, the cheese melting and the bread nice and toasted. So, I'm the only one who really didn't love my meal, and I should've known better, I usually am disappointed when I order pork chops most places. The only place that does pork chops the way I really like them is Jax! Ha.

At any rate, it was a nice place, they had plenty of indoor and outdoor seating on the Bistro side. Full drink menu and the service was decent other than the fact that we got our appetizers with our main course! I'd be interested to see what the other side is like sometime. Since my sister-in-law also lives close to the Sunshine Factory I'd say odds are we will end up back there sometime, who knows?