You don't go to Ruby's for fine cuisine, but if you have kids, it's really good, even better than Friendly's for kids. The kids' menu has good choices (e.g. mac and cheese, PB&J, corn dog in addition to the usual fried stuff), and kids get an activity booklet, crayons, and a toy to take home. One thing I especially like about the kids' meals is that the dessert that it comes with is SMALL -- a tiny little ice cream cone that is the perfect size, in the opinion of someone like me who's tired of seeing her kids hardly touch their "real" food and then down a big ol' sundae or something. <br> On the regular menu, the seasoned fries are good. Most food is satisfactory -- it's not great, but it's what you would expect for the price, and certainly not bad. Oh, and you don't go to Ruby's for nutrition, either, so just keep that in mind. My kids love sitting at the counter and watching the trains on the overhead track, and also watching the continuously-playing "Wizard of Oz" on the floor-level, round screens built into the front register. Service is adequate and sometimes good, and they're very tolerant of kid stuff (special orders and so on). A good value, and a good place for easy dining with rambunctious kids.

I order from the Peking regularly, but I almost always get takeout. Their service is impeccable. They handle special orders easily. They always double-check my order to be sure I've got everything I asked for before I take it away. They are always polite and friendly and efficient. I'm always told it will be "20 minutes", and the food is almost always ready by the time I get there. I've never been disappointed by the quality of any of the dishes -- fresh ingredients, not overcooked or oversalted or anything. The restaurant itself is small compared to the number of people who want to eat there, but it is tastefully decorated and pleasant. The branches in the Granite Run Mall, in Frazier, and in Wayne are also very good.

I have eaten dozens of times at the White Dog and I have never been less than happy with any of my meals -- not once, which is extraordinary. I've had most things on the regular menu, and they've all been prepared well and with fresh ingredients. Service is always friendly and helpful, and I like the charming atmosphere of the different rooms. I also like the fact that they're very environmentally conscious, and run the restaurant with an eye to ecological and political/social issues such as low wages paid to laborers who harvest a certain type of food (which they then avoid). The outdoor seating is wonderful in the summertime. They have interesting special soups and drinks such as watermelon juice, and homemade ice creams and sorbets in unusual flavors such as ginger or blood orange. The White Dog is one of my favorite restaurants in the city, and is a consistently good first-date choice. ;^)

I've been going to Minella's for about nine years now, ever since we got fed up with the high prices and bad service at the Villanova Diner, and I wonder why we ever went anywhere else. At Minella's the service is friendly, polite, fast, and consistent; the food is fresh, prepared the way we ask (even special orders for kids, which they are happy to accommodate), and very reasonably priced. At the time of this writing the building has been torn down and is in the process of being rebuilt much bigger, to handle their high demand.