Fulin's Asian Cuisine

My car was in the shop recently (something that didn't get fixed right from when I hit a deer last winter), so I had to take Beardy to work for a few days last week. That meant he also didn't have a car to go get lunch, so I asked if he'd like for Smalls and me to come pick him up and we'd go out. We went to Fulin's Asian Cuisine in the Shoppes of Madison (it's next to Pie in the Sky).

We got there at about 11:45, and it was almost empty. It's not a buffet, like a lot of Asian restaurants in Madison and Huntsville. That's a plus for me. The TVs were showing the Food Network, subtitled in an Asian language (forgive my ignorance, but I don't know what language it was). I actually tried to take a picture of Unwrapped with subtitles, but didn't get it the first time, then felt really stupid and sat back down.

Their menu looks good; they have a lot of sushi (including lunch specials) and Chinese dishes. I got orange chicken from the Chinese Lunch section of the menu. All Chinese Lunches are $7.95. The Japanese Lunches (sushi) come with miso soup and salad and are from $8.95-$13.95.

Fulin's has a kids' menu, and here it is. Vegetarian kids will have to look elsewhere on the menu.

Smalls got the Fried Chicken with Noodles ($4.95) from the kids' menu. The chicken was small chunks fried in a batter--probably the same chicken that was under my orange sauce in my orange chicken. It also came with sweet dipping sauce for the chicken, steamed broccoli (this was a nice surprise), and a little chunk of pineapple. The pineapple chunk had its own little pineapple-chunk-shaped area in the plate, and that pleased me. Smalls also enjoyed the wonton chips that came with Beardy's hot and sour soup. 

Beardy said the hot and sour soup was very good. He also got kung pao chicken, and said it was pretty good. My orange chicken was SWEET. I've actually never had orange chicken before, so maybe this is standard. Beardy compared it to the icing that comes with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and he was right!

Overall, I liked Fulin's. I like that it's not a lunch buffet, and I want to come back and maybe try their sushi for dinner. It was too empty when we were there; I hope more people start supporting it for lunch.

Bathroom report: Nice, clean, three stalls, with a fold-down changing table in the largest stall. This slightly creepy baby is there to greet you.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 3.5 out of 5. Kids certainly seem welcome, but they're not really going out of their way to cater to them (and that is fine!) It's a little quiet, so if Smalls had made a little noise, I might have felt like she was disturbing people.

Food: 3.5 out of 5. The kids' meal is limited (fried, fried, fried) but it did come with unexpected broccoli and pineapple.

Hours:
Sunday - Thursday 11:00 AM - 9:30 PM
Friday and Saturday 11:00 AM - 10:30  PM

Here is their Web site, which lists other locations (Decatur, AL, and several in Nashville.)
http://fulins.com/

The kids' menu is online here:
http://fulins.com/category/kids-meals/

 

Bandito Burrito, Madison

A few weeks ago, I introduced my Aunt Bessie to Old Time Pottery in Madison. If you haven't been there, Old Time Pottery is a warehouse-sized store full of glassware, baskets, bowls, picture frames, rugs, anything for your house, really. And it's CHEAP. We were there for pasta bowls and bottles. I ended up with chicken-themed cloth napkins that say "Laying Mash." Aunt Bessie had to explain to me what laying mash is.
After our OTP adventure, Aunt Bessie, Grandma, Smalls, and I had lunch at Bandito Burrito in downtown Madison.

Bandito Burrito's front entrance on Main Street in Madison.

We arrived at about 1:30. I've been here several times at lunchtime, and even from 11-1, it's never really crowded; I've never had to wait for a table. We came in the back entrance, and seated ourselves (I think that's what we were supposed to do). There are two indoor dining rooms and one outdoor one. Sometimes they have live music outside on weekend evenings (or they did a few years ago). Another interesting feature is that they offer drink specials while the train goes by (the train goes right through downtown Madison, parallel to Main Street). It's a fun place to go in the evening.

Anyway, we found a table, and I found a booster seat for Smalls, and (although it took a little while to get noticed) a waitress brought us menus. 

We got lunch specials (Aunt Bessie and I got pork tamales covered in chili and cheese) and Smalls got the cheese quesadilla basket with fries from the kids' menu. This is not an expensive restaurant. I think the lunch specials were about $5-6, and the dinners are about $10. You can also order a la carte. We got two salsas--one was spicier than the other, but both were good. You should know that I have had bad salsa here; once it was really cold and gelatinous. But this time it was really good. Smalls liked the quesadilla (just a standard cheese quesadilla) and dipped some fries in the salsa. Does it really have to be fries? Crinkly freezer fries. All fries, all the time.

The kids' menu. That's a lot of fries.

I think the food at Bandito is ok. Not great, but I like the location, so that makes it worth going back to.

Bandito Burrito's back door. 

I always park behind the restaurant, in the small parking lot right behind it, or in the larger parking lot across Martin road with the sign that says "Free Public Parking." Then we sneak in the back door. It may not be sneaking; it just feels like sneaking. It's possible the waitress won't notice you right away either even if you come in the front door. There is street parking in the front, on Main Street.

I spotted some interesting above-the-door decorations on the way out.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 4 out of 5 booster seats. It's very casual, and you don't have to sit right in the dining room that contains the bar if you don't want to. There's also covered outside seating on the patio, which is fun. 

Food: 3 out of 5 booster seats. Fries, fries, fries! Next time, maybe we can find our own healthier choices from the sides menu.

Bandito Burrito, Madison
208 Main Street
Madison, AL 35758
256-461-8999 

Bandito Burrito's Web site in under construction at the moment, but it does have a picture of the wonderful funky sign at their location at the intersection of West Clinton and Governors Drive.
This seems to be the Web site for that location (West Huntsville): http://www.banditoshsv.com/

To be honest, I'm not sure how connected the Governors Drive Bandito Burrito and this one are. The Madison location isn't mentioned on the Web site (and doesn't have its own site). I also don't know how related (if at all) Bandito Southside is. I haven't been to the Governors Drive one in years, and haven't ever been to the one on South Memorial Parkway.