Topgolf

I went to Topgolf a few weeks ago as a late afternoon corporate event. Just so you know - I did not personally book or pay for the event.

I pulled into the large parking lot, easily found a parking space and noticed that they had several charging stations for electric vehicles. The building is a large three-story building with an impressive entrance and a staircase leading up to the doors. There was an outside ramp and an elevator for access, but I wouldn’t recommend the venue to someone who has difficulty walking for a distance.

 

I was excited to join my friends as I was the last one to the party. I went to the desk and told them the company I was there for, the person who booked the event, the time it was slated to start and my name. They looked at the list, looked back at me confused and said they didn’t see anything related to any of that information. They didn’t offer any help to find out where I needed to go. Luckily, I had contact information for my friends and one of them came to escort me back to our bay which was ironically just a few steps away from the entrance desk.

The remaining time was fun for the whole group, no matter our individual skill level. They allowed 6 golfers to be in each bay and our party was in two facing bays allowing interaction for the whole group. There are individual heaters and air conditioners to help climate control. Even with the sudden cool weather, everyone was warm and dry.

Each bay is open to the field to let the golfers hit the balls as far as they can to the various targets. If you make it to a target your ball is automatically scored depending on how close it is to the flag. There are some targets that are fairly close for easier scoring. We had and overall leaderboard for the group and a leaderboard for the bay. With that many people, we were able to complete one full game and one half game in the 2 hour time allotment but we all felt like we had plenty of play time.

Topgolf has safety precautions in place for participants. They only allow one person to be in front of a line to hit the ball at a time. When you are in this area you are closest to the open edge of the balcony. There is a net off the edge in case someone accidentally stepped off. I don’t know if anyone in our group is afraid of heights but the vantage from our bay on the 2nd floor wasn’t an issue.

The pleasant waitress continued to bring us food and drinks. The macaroni and cheese appetizer was the group favorite. Overall, I would recommend this for a group event as we were treated well and we had a good time.

I looked at the website for pricing and it looks like you can rent a bay for $30-40 per hour. For a date night you could reasonably expect to spend $150 for a few hours to include food and drink. For a family outing I think it would be at least $200. A group of friends could split the cost for a more budget friendly outing.

Heaven’s Gate Restaurant

The Hubs has been looking for a good breakfast buffet for the last several years. I did a recent search and found Heaven’s Gate Restaurant which is located near Mecham airport, just north of the stockyards area. We ventured out on Sunday to try it. It is a little over 30 minutes from us and we weren’t moving very quickly. We managed to arrive at a very awkward time – approximately 30 minutes before changing from the breakfast to the lunch buffet.

 

The parking lot is a good size (40 spots or so) but it was fairly full. We were able to get one of about 4 open spaces. The restaurant was busy, but we went in and were quickly instructed to seat ourselves at one of the large tables. We didn’t immediately see our waitress, so we set our things down and went straight to the buffet. The restaurant was pleasantly decked out in Christmas décor.

They had many food options, although they were running a little low due the difficulties of changing foods out. The options included breakfast staples such as bacon, sausage, various types of scrambled eggs, French toast, pancakes, hashbrowns and biscuits & gravy. There were a few niche items as well: Menudo, fried chicken, pork chops, pinto beans, and tortillas.

We collected our food and were greeted by our attentive waitress when we returned to our table. We had our fill, paid our waitress and left. We were in, fed, and out in a reasonable amount of time which is important to us. The Hubs always wakes up hungry for breakfast.

Expect to pay about $16 a plate for the breakfast buffet or you can order by the plate for about $12. A la carte items are also available. The menus are available on the website.

The distance is a drawback for us, we may not go back just because of that. If you are in the area - I recommend that you try it out. Breakfast is served all day.

Another perk of this restaurant is they are open on the holidays. If you need a place to eat on Thanksgiving or Christmas, go see these friendly folks. Be sure to call ahead for the hours.

Their normal hours are Monday through Friday 5:30am - 3pm, Saturday 6am - 3pm, and Sunday 6:30am - 3pm.

Kincaid’s Hamburgers

A few weeks ago we went to the Kincaid’s on Overton Ridge Blvd and Bub was hooked. He considers himself a bit of a hamburger expert and this is his new favorite. He asked if we could go this evening and I said sure! When I suggested that we go to the ORIGINAL location he jumped at the opportunity.

 

Different locale, same great food and good service.

It takes a second to orient yourself once you get inside. Most of the tables are set up “community” style to accommodate large groups and meeting new friends. You stroll right up to the counter and put in your custom order from a variety of chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs and grilled cheese. Each item comes separate, so don’t forget to order your fries or other sides. You can get your drink and relax; the staff will call your name when your order is ready.

If the weather is nice there is outdoor seating or you can opt for some shaded benches across the street. The dedicated benches are a sweet location to stop and watch a few moments pass by. Drop in to Kincaid’s Hamburgers at 4901 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas 76107 while it is still “in costume” for Haloween.