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Business & Tech

Table for Seven in Paradise

Three adults and 4 kids dine at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Truth is, I had a difficult time deciding where my family would eat for my first dining review. I wanted to take the kids someplace they were somewhat familiar with, but not one of our favorite hang-outs. We took a family vote and finally decided on located at 1608 South Randall Road in Algonquin.

Cheeseburger in Paradise is a theme style restaurant with 34 locations in 17 states. The menu offers everything from Cheeseburgers to Jerk Chicken Wraps, Chocolate Nachos to alcoholic and non-alcoholic specialty drinks.

We were a party of seven, three adults and four kids ages 14, 6, 6 and 4. We had no trouble getting a table and were seated in the back on the bar side of the restaurant. The atmosphere of the restaurant is relaxed with the sounds of Jimmy Buffett and other “island” music playing loudly, but not so loud that you cannot hear the person sitting across from you. The decorations and paint colors are easy on the eyes and fun to look at.

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We ordered drinks and a Triple D, which was tortilla chips with crab and spinach dip, spicy queso dip and guacamole.  The kids loved the queso dip but thought the crab and spinach dip was “yucky.” They did not try the guacamole dip because the big people at the table got to it before the little kids could try it.

For our main course we ordered a variety of meals: two Chesapeake Bay Burgers (one beef burger, one turkey burger), an El Cubano and the Back to Basics Burger with Bleu Cheese.

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The kids menu has an assortment of kid friendly meals including: Mini-Cheeseburgers, Cheese Quesadillas, Corn Dogs and Grilled Chicken Breast.

The prices of the kids’ meals range between $3.99 and $6.99 and include a beverage. The kids ordered Chicken Strips and Mini-Cheeseburgers with French Fried Potatoes. All the adult sandwiches came with fries but the little ones were offered French Fried Potatoes, Teriyaki Broccoli or Mandarin Oranges.

The kids menu is an activity book filled with games, word searches, coloring pages and a Mad- Lib-type of activity that is fun for both the kids and the adults.

However, activity books only last so long.

Thank goodness we brought the kids their Nintendo DS’ and our iPods because we waited for our food forever. The restaurant was not necessarily busy while we were there, but it seemed like eternity when dealing with three hungry kids.

The adults in our party enjoyed their meals. The el Cubano and Chesapeake Bay Burger were huge hits. The kids however, were not all that impressed with their mini-cheeseburgers or the chicken strips.

My 6 year old son considers himself a chicken strip expert and can tell you where the best chicken strips are served in the Algonquin/Lake in the Hills area. He left a majority of his chicken in the basket; however, the fries were completely gone. It was that way with all the kids’ meals we ordered.

For dessert, we ordered the Chocolate Nachos.

I know, Chocolate Nachos? Sounds kind of gross, does it not? Chocolate Nachos are amazing. My friend, Karen, looked at me as though I lost my mind when I ordered them but she enjoyed them as much as the rest of us did. As soon as the kids got over the thought that the strawberries were not tomatoes, they dug right into the Nachos and housed them as well.

At the end of the day, I would give Cheeseburger in Paradise 3.5 out of 5 stars. The waitress was great refilling our drinks and bringing us extra napkins, the food was fairly good and served warm, the atmosphere was fun… the only downfall was the wait for our meals.

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