Review: Danville’s “Ricky’s Grill”

We’re heading to Nordan Drive to check out the new “Ricky’s Grill”.

Ricky’s Grill is in the former Domino’s Pizza location across from Nor-Dan Shopping Center. The owners have put in the basic restaurant equipment to get the place going so it’s time to pay them a visit.

I decided to give them a try around 4PM on a weekday. There’s plenty of parking there even during the busy times so that’s not an issue. The only difference from when Domino’s was there is that the pizza gear is gone and the grill and fryers are there. The colors are still the Domino’s blue. I don’t really care about that, though.

The menu is burgers, sandwiches, wings, fish, subs and dinner plates. I’m a sucker for a fried bologna sandwich so I order the combo with fries and a drink. Ugh… the drink is my choice of a canned drink from a cooler. One 12 ounce soft drink isn’t usually enough for a meal. The order-taker is polite and it’s hard to beat a sandwich, fries and drink for $5.00

While I’m waiting for my meal to be fixed, at least 4 people come in for to-go orders or phone-ins. That’s a good sign that the business is getting a fair number of customers in the 4PM hour. Anyway, I’m waiting a reasonable amount of time and my order is ready. Sigh… it’s wrong. When I order a friend bologna sandwich, I expect a big chunk of bologna. This was 4 regular slices of bologna and they put mustard on it which I didn’t want. I reject the plate and switch to a cheeseburger combo. When the order-taker went back to change my order, the cook seemed to get a slight bit of attitude at my rejection. I stood my ground and another man came from the back and cleared the problem up quickly. So now I’m waiting for the cheeseburger and it’s ready in a reasonable time. It’s good, but it’s a generic frozen thin burger patty out of a foodservice box-o-burgers and not a handmade beef patty like I’d expect from a “grill” type of restaurant. Still, the taste was good and the fries were seasoned crinkle-cut. The meal was definitely worth the $5.00 price tag.

Let’s go to the ratings…

Service: Nothing special, but nothing bad. The one potential problem that I had was handled very well. I was greeted when I came in and wished well on the way out.  Score: 87 (B)

Food:  With the menu being generic pictures that look they’re standard restaurant supply photo cards, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting. That being said, it’s good enough at their price points. It’s standard grill type food and you should know what you’re getting from that. Score: 87 (B)

Atmosphere: It still looks like Domino’s. Bland, nothing at all to catch your eye. However, I’d rather see a start-up restaurant invest that category of money into the food operations. The music is a small portable radio that I could do without. Score: 75 (C)

Intangibles:  Canned drinks don’t cut it for me. Lots of parking, excellent prices, decent location. But does anybody even know this place is open? I’ve seen absolutely no advertisements for this restaurant.  Score: 81 (B)

Overall: Ricky’s Grill is a restaurant with low prices and acceptable food quality for those price points. They seem to have a decent flow of customers and they’ll need that flow with their low prices. It is what it is. I will recommend it to others, and I’ll be back there when I’m in the area.

Overall Grade:  84 (B)