Welcome to Moe's!

I think the hardest part about writing a glowing piece talking highly of a restaurant is trying to not make it sound like a blatent advertisement for the place. I could go on and on about fresh ingredients and meat choices and so on and so forth to give a detailed description of the place but it's all going to sound like an advertisement and that I got paid to write about the establishment, which I haven't. In fact I haven't been paid by anyone to write good articles about them. So there you go.

Anyway, on to Moe's Southwestern Grill. I love Moe's. I really, really love Moe's. I guess southwestern grill would be better than calling it Tex-Mex. They have the usual southwest faire. You can get tacos, burritos, quesadillas, you can get your burrito in a plastic bowl which makes it a lot less messy to eat (my preference) or you can get a taco salad. They even have a limited breakfast menu but, psh, I'll stick to my Ear Muffs with chicken.

Oh, yeah, that's another thing about Moe's...the names are kinda...odd? I mean a burrito named the Homewrecker? A vegetarian burrito bowl named the Art Vandelay? I know that's a Seinfeld reference but I don't get the connection. When I go back in for dinner tonight I'll ask and see if I can get an answer.

You may have heard about Moe's. They were on Undercover Boss. They also do that signature "Welcome to Moe's!" when a guest walks in. Thankfully since it was 7am they nicely said it instead of yelling it. It's too early to be yelling anything.

Another thing I love about Moe's is their staff. Now the location I'm speaking about specifically is the Flatwoods WV Moe's at the Pilot. The manager there is very energetic, very nice and very upbeat. Always quick to start a conversation while making your lunch/dinner. He's fantastic, I wish every manager I came across was like him. This morning I believe I was helped by the assistant manager and she remembered me from last time and not just by recognition but vaguely remembered what I ordered. For a place I only get to come to maybe once every couple weeks, I love feeling like a regular and having the staff remember me even if it's just "that tall chick who orders the burrito bowl"

Yet another thing I love about Moe's is that they offer tofu! How many chains do you know of offer tofu? It's grilled with some southwestern seasoning. I tried it once and I enjoyed it! Granted I enjoy chicken more, but tofu was a nice change and it gives the vegetarian crowd something else to have. Now I don't know if they cook it right next to the beef or chicken, thus negating the vegetarian concept (I hear Burger King does that when cooking their veggie burgers) but I'm not a strict vegetarian. Actually I'm not any kind of vegetarian, but if you are, you'll probably want to ask just to be safe.

They also have a salsa bar! Their offerings range from mild to hot. So far I haven't tried a salsa that was bad. I prefer some over the others but that's personal. I did try the one labelled hot and while it had a little zing to it, it wasn't "omg my tongue is on fire!" hot. There's one that I particularly enjoy, and of course curse me for not remembering names, that I swear has a little touch of fruit in it. It's quite good, I get a cup of it for my burrito bowl all the time. The hot salsa I tried with the complimentary chips they give you.

Oh..yeah..the chips. They're a little generous with the chips. Everything you get comes with a side of tortilla chips. They have a little chip oven so they're toasty warm and I think just about everything you order comes with chips and a choice of queso or guacamole. The queso is good, it can thicken a little bit when left out, but it's good. If you get a side of queso, you get a nice amount of chips to go with it. If you get the larger cup of queso they practically give you a full bag of chips. If you get the larger container of queso, I think they have a dump truck full of chips pull up next to you. They're a little generous with the chips. I'm not even kidding, I ordered the cup of queso last time. I had so many chips left over, they were my snack while driving the next day. By the end of that day, I didn't want to see another tortilla chip for about a week.

Now this is new to me, but it's starting to become "a thing". One last feature of Moe's is their customized drink machine. I really don't know what else to call it. It's touch screen. It has the thingy you push with your cup for ice, then you set it down on the metal grate. Then you go through the touch screen menu to decide what drink you'd like. After deciding on which Coke product you'd like, THEN you also have options for flavored syrups. Do I want an orange Coke? Maybe a raspberry lemonade? Maybe just Dasani water. Oh, or cherry Diet Dr. Pepper? There are so many choices that while I stood there dumbfounded, the menu actually reset. I usually end up getting Minute Maid lemonade and whichever flavoring I haven't tried yet. I think today I had the fruit punch. :)

However, there's a tiny catch and it's based on location. (there's always a catch). When I was in Greensboro NC, one of the malls had a Moe's. It was not the same as a regular location Moe's! There was no salsa bar. There was no custom Coke machine. Even the chips and queso were already pre-portioned out for maximum efficiency. As I said in my review on Yelp, it was like Moe's Lite. Coincidentally, the manager of that Moe's read my Yelp review and thought "Moe's Lite" was awesome. But yeah, a mall food court Moe's doesn't do justice to a regular location. So, if you want to get your Moe's on, go to a regular location. If you just want some of the goodness, go to a Moe's Lite.

Oddly enough this mall also had a Sonic in their food court. How do you have a Sonic without servers on roller skates?! That's ridiculous!

But this isn't about Sonic, this is about Moe's, and I love Moe's. You should really go here.

..no really, you should.

Moe's Southwest Grill. Flatwoods, WV. I-79 Exit 67. You'll see the signs.
Check out www.moes.com for more information and locations. They also have a smart phone app.