Champs Americana

I went for a lunch with the girls, the ONLY good thing about the place was the homemade chips regular and waffle very good.    

We called ahead and got a terrible table across form the doors, yay, cold draft every few minutes.  Our waitress was nice - but she was not the one to bring us our food, so it was chaotic what food is who's session, blah!  no surprise, half of us had not gotten extras/subsitutes we requested, overall, they didn't seem to hip on accommodating even the smallest special request.     We were a good 10 min into or meals before anyone came to ask us how things were.  Mind you the restaurant was not even half full and the seemed SO busy.    

ANyway, I had the grilled steak salad, evidently seasoned with some kind of crappy seasoning salt distracting from the meaty flavor of the hanger steak.   Would have been nice to be given a steak knife, as it was rather chewy and slice in big hunks, even having it cooked rare.    The salad ingredients could have been crisper.    Kind of a meh little salad for $13.99  

As for it being a sports bar.  ha! Really?  TV are about as poorly placed as could be...  almost as if they were an after though.   Oh, but our waitress was real nice and discounted our meal - but that is just not enough to make me want to return.  

I don't know why anyone would choose to eat here more than once  for any reason with so many other options nearby.

I'll admit it, I'm an Asian-foodie so when my boss suggested that we should go to Champs during lunch for some American food, I said "OK" all awhile thinking here we go, probably some more burgers and fries, carbs and cheese.... Surprisingly, they actually have a good menu selection here and you can get other things that are tasty, like their pasta!

Well, granted this review is only for 1 dish that I've tried so I'll be fair and disclose that first. But what I can say is that one particular Cajun Shrimp Penne Pasta that I had for lunch today was really good! Good enough to make me want to come back and take my die-hard Americana-food-loving fiance the next time if we are ever in town.

For $15.99, I was served a good portion. The sauce and flavor was there, a bit of cream sauce but it wasn't overly done to make me feel fat and have food guilt. There were more than 3 shrimps in my dish! They actually gave me a quite a few shrimps and they tasted fresh. The pasta also didn't taste too al dente (not a fan) but not too soft and mushed either. It was the perfect meal in that I ate half, felt saturated and now I have left-overs for the next day. One of my coworker let me tried her Lobster mix pasta, which tasted OK, I liked mine better but it could be that I like spices better. So I definitely recommend this dish. And I'll be back later to try some new dishes and update my review.

Service-wise, they weren't too bad. Our waiter was a young boy who seemed new at this. He hesitated a bit with orders and asked us if we wanted our checks or talk some more at the end. We didn't mind though, it wasn't a big deal. At the end, when we left, I had forgotten my box and he even chased me outside to give it to me. It was very nice of him to do that.

Ambiance-wise, there are a lot of TVs to watch sports here. The one TV by the kitchen does carry a glare (for you sports fanatics). What I like about this place is that it gives you ample room between  tables unlike a lot of other American sports bar/restaurants. I'm not a sports person too much but I would come here for the eats.

Oh, and the biggest plus of all was a rush of warm heat coming down as you walk in to your seats, such a relief when you come in from 17 degrees windchill weather... Brr.!  So in all, I'd definitely want to come back! 4 stars... to bring up this place's average ratings ;P

Good for a quick bite before a movie or for a drink with colleagues.

The location of Champs is definitely a plus for me.  I go to the movie theater quite often, and Champs has become a go-to spot for my friends and I.

Good, American-style food, burgers, chicken fingers, sandwiches, salads, really great nachos.

I often get the chicken fingers with a glass of Stella, for me there is no greater combination.

I've had very few bad experiences at Champs.  Order got messed up one time, but I was fine with it, and there was one time a bartender was told by her manager to try and push drinks on my friend and I, which was kind-of annoying but thankfully she ceased.  That particular experience was years ago now, and I have yet to have one similar to it since.

Long story shot, I have been going there for years, and probably still will as long as the theater is around : )