Continue from last Friday, after an disappointing lunch at the train, we wanted to go to City Walk and decide which to go to when we get there. One thing lead to another and we decided to just do Saddle Ranch(something about seeing people flying off the bull). I have never been to City Walk before anyway so wth, lets do it. I got there and paid my 10 bucks for parking, and proceeded to wait in front of Hard Rock( where we agreed to wait), but the ladies were not there. Being extremely patient I waited and waited, until time flowed by and I was ready to call it quits. I was actually making my way to the parking lot when I saw a vehicle that looked like one of the ladies vehicle, so what the heck, lets do one more round, walk from HR to Saddle, and if I don't see them then I would leave. Well surprise surprise, the girls were sitting on a bench outside, their coats wrapped around them like a blanket, and they were waiting for me.....
What happened to waiting at HR???? Oh well
We went in, it was 8:30, and Z was going to come but will be really late. They didn't card us or anything, and there were no lines, B had a headache(probably from that Special Lasagna earlier), and so they both had soda while I decided to have their Arizona sunset..or was it sunrise.. whatever, the girls said it was good so I tried it. For our food, they girls had the combo platter and I decided to have steak so Filet Mignon medium. For those that don't already know, their combo platter was huge and enough to feed 3 people, and it was appetizer.... So my drink came, I stirred it , then took a sip...and I wanted to spit it out. It tasted like children's strawberry flavor cough syrup! B thought I was crazy, so I let her tried it, and she wanted it spit it out! I was ready to just leave it as it, but E decided to tell the guy who came asking us how everything was, and she got me a replacement. This time there were more OJ(I think), which masked most of the yucky flavor and the taste was passable, though I was still not a fan of that cough syrup after taste. So then our food came, the two girls shared the platter which had ribs, chicken, fries, mini burgers and an assortment of other stuff. I had my steak with veggies and garlic mash potatoes. While I was not a fan of the drink, I was an open human trash can to the food and everything on my plate landed safely into my stomach. As the waitress said "I am sorry you didn't like your food", as she came and took away my empty plate :)
I can say with certainty, that the steak was comparable to Steven's, and the side dishes completely blows Steven's away. It was that good. It wasn't greasy, and since I had that pasta in the afternoon, I wasn't really hungry, still I found everything in my personal food refinery....
Z got there around 9:30ish and we stayed for another hour plus watching girls being thrown off the bull, it was never really crowded inside, so I was surprise as we were leaving, to see a long line has formed on the outside, and they were tagging people with wrist bands... very strange to me but I guess they like seeing long lines.
Overall
Environment****************B+, it was noisy, but that is expected. Very western, that too is expected, the only thing I would say is that I would like to see more private booths would have been nice. It felt too public if that makes any sense.
Parking*********************C! 10 bucks to 20 bucks, structure parking.
Food***********************A, really really good western cooking.
Drinks**********************D, at least I didn't like it, though the girls said it may just be an off day.
Price***********************D, it is pricey. Food and Drink for me was 50 bucks.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
IL Treno
Sorry, we didn't do anything the prior week, but to make up for it, this week we will be blogging 3 places. The first one we are going to talk about is IL Treno, located on 5403 S Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles. This place used to be a hub, a classy place for white collar people in the Vernon/Huntington Park area, to do lunch. In a way it still is, but it is also just a shadow of its former glory. It is in an area whats known as food central of southern California, in the same building as Peacock Cheese. It looked like a train cart, thus the name. I has its own private parking, and is readily accessable.
The BETZ team was at full member, BEZ got there first as T had to make a trip to the office before he can go. We choose outdoor seating....that was mistake number 1. The flies... what is going on with the flies? T finally got there and everyone placed their order. B ordered Special Lasagna, E ordered Chicken Fettuccine al fredo, T had the Linguine al Frutti Di Mare, and Z had the Salmon affumicato. Out of these four dishes, B's was just not that good, E's was all right, T's flat out sucked! and Z's was barely passable. We are talking about low quality ingredient, overcooked, and overall just not good. The shrimps were literally glued to their own shells, and the top part was already peeled, you just cant get the shrimps off the tail.... the pasta was soggy, the flies were abundant, service wasn't all there either as we had to request for refills, was it because it was Mothers day weekend and everyone was not all there or something?
Overall it was disappointing, especially since I was there before during their "glory years"
Environment ***********************D, put some insect repelling lamps out in the patio area for crying out loud...
Parking****************************B, free parking but spaces were tight
Food*******************************D-, very sad, had this been written a couple years ago it would have at least scored a B+ if not A-
Drinks******************************N/A, being a lunch place for office people
Price*******************************C, while they are now serving substandard fare, they sure charge standard pricing. Expect 15-20 dollars per person for lunch, drink, taxes, and tip.
The BETZ team was at full member, BEZ got there first as T had to make a trip to the office before he can go. We choose outdoor seating....that was mistake number 1. The flies... what is going on with the flies? T finally got there and everyone placed their order. B ordered Special Lasagna, E ordered Chicken Fettuccine al fredo, T had the Linguine al Frutti Di Mare, and Z had the Salmon affumicato. Out of these four dishes, B's was just not that good, E's was all right, T's flat out sucked! and Z's was barely passable. We are talking about low quality ingredient, overcooked, and overall just not good. The shrimps were literally glued to their own shells, and the top part was already peeled, you just cant get the shrimps off the tail.... the pasta was soggy, the flies were abundant, service wasn't all there either as we had to request for refills, was it because it was Mothers day weekend and everyone was not all there or something?
Overall it was disappointing, especially since I was there before during their "glory years"
Environment ***********************D, put some insect repelling lamps out in the patio area for crying out loud...
Parking****************************B, free parking but spaces were tight
Food*******************************D-, very sad, had this been written a couple years ago it would have at least scored a B+ if not A-
Drinks******************************N/A, being a lunch place for office people
Price*******************************C, while they are now serving substandard fare, they sure charge standard pricing. Expect 15-20 dollars per person for lunch, drink, taxes, and tip.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sushi Tenno
Last Friday we all had to work, except for B who was on vacation, that biotech! We decided to go somewhere close by after work, and well, Little Tokyo was close by. Well this isn't the Little Tokyo I know of anymore....its crowded, parking was difficult dispite having paid parking structures, there are so many yuppies here you'd think that it was a college town, except these yuppies have money. You would never know there is a recession if you hang out here...
So Sushi Tenno is located on207 S. Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012. It is not very traditional, in fact, I would dare to call them fusion Japanese food. They had these big lanterns hanging out front, but inside was fairly modern in design. We had arranged to gather at 7 pm, but it was closer to 8:20 when we assembled(I am such a sucker). Anyhow, E decide to bring a couple of extras with her, one of which is only a tad bigger than a worm, the other one was a teenager, we will ignore the worm and call the teenager extra R. We were quicky seated, no waiting at all. The waitress immediately ask and served us drinks. Z and T were not in the mood to drink so they had hot tea, E and R had soda. They did serve Japanese beer(canadian really), sake, and cocktails.
We ordered mostly various sushi's and rolls. The interesting thing about this place is their hot food selection. We had ordered suimai and tenpura udon as hot food. With all the sushi and those, it was plenty of food. I tried to target basic fare sushi as I was teaching the teenager his roots(yes hes of Japanese decent), the products they used were fresh, their wasabi was way too white washed though....the service was not too good however. First they gave us a cup that was cracked and leaked tea...ok so the waitress might have not known...it was easy to miss. Ok how do I excuse her forgeting our hot food order? Both the suimai and udon never came, I had to question her about it.... For Japanese, service like this is embarrassing, but I will forgive her, she was cute, a homely kind of cute...sorta >) The suimai came and you can see that they hand wrapped these, they are not the prepackage JFC stuff, very cool. The Udon came and I wanted one, it was literally boiling in the clay bowl...and I had to try it, I really like that soup stock they used. This was what udon should have been.
Overall
Parking***********************************C+, for a Friday night, it was difficult to find, even after paying it was difficult
Environment******************************B+, the place was simply ok, nothing too thrilling. The + was for the toilet, yes finally someone imported smart toilet seats.
Service***********************************D+, hey it wasn't good, the plus is for her being cute...sorta
Food*************************************A, as far as fusion Japanese goes. Lots of creative rolls and special cut sushi, dragon roll, tiger roll...stuff you would not find in Japan, but they do taste good.
Drinks***********************************B, interesting selection plus cocktails.
Price*************************************B-, 20+ dollar a person is to be expected, for big eaters, bring big wallet.
So Sushi Tenno is located on207 S. Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012. It is not very traditional, in fact, I would dare to call them fusion Japanese food. They had these big lanterns hanging out front, but inside was fairly modern in design. We had arranged to gather at 7 pm, but it was closer to 8:20 when we assembled(I am such a sucker). Anyhow, E decide to bring a couple of extras with her, one of which is only a tad bigger than a worm, the other one was a teenager, we will ignore the worm and call the teenager extra R. We were quicky seated, no waiting at all. The waitress immediately ask and served us drinks. Z and T were not in the mood to drink so they had hot tea, E and R had soda. They did serve Japanese beer(canadian really), sake, and cocktails.
We ordered mostly various sushi's and rolls. The interesting thing about this place is their hot food selection. We had ordered suimai and tenpura udon as hot food. With all the sushi and those, it was plenty of food. I tried to target basic fare sushi as I was teaching the teenager his roots(yes hes of Japanese decent), the products they used were fresh, their wasabi was way too white washed though....the service was not too good however. First they gave us a cup that was cracked and leaked tea...ok so the waitress might have not known...it was easy to miss. Ok how do I excuse her forgeting our hot food order? Both the suimai and udon never came, I had to question her about it.... For Japanese, service like this is embarrassing, but I will forgive her, she was cute, a homely kind of cute...sorta >) The suimai came and you can see that they hand wrapped these, they are not the prepackage JFC stuff, very cool. The Udon came and I wanted one, it was literally boiling in the clay bowl...and I had to try it, I really like that soup stock they used. This was what udon should have been.
Overall
Parking***********************************C+, for a Friday night, it was difficult to find, even after paying it was difficult
Environment******************************B+, the place was simply ok, nothing too thrilling. The + was for the toilet, yes finally someone imported smart toilet seats.
Service***********************************D+, hey it wasn't good, the plus is for her being cute...sorta
Food*************************************A, as far as fusion Japanese goes. Lots of creative rolls and special cut sushi, dragon roll, tiger roll...stuff you would not find in Japan, but they do taste good.
Drinks***********************************B, interesting selection plus cocktails.
Price*************************************B-, 20+ dollar a person is to be expected, for big eaters, bring big wallet.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Steven's Steakhouse
So last Friday we went to Steven's Steakhouse. We have all heard a lot about this place, but have never had tried it. I finally got online and saw their menu, and I thought it was fairly inexpensive as far as steak house goes, so I made the decision for everyone to go(during lunch though), to sample their fare.
Getting there during afternoon wasn't too much of a problem, though I did get stuck a bit in traffic as a Benz decided to stall on me in the middle of Atlantic Blvd. Steven's Steakhouse is located at 5332 E Stevens Place, Commerce, CA 90040. Again I should have learned my lesson, when I schedule for a location, always arrive at least 30 minutes late...everyone else does!
So we all assembled, they had a huge lot in the back and a valet parking area. If you have a nice car, I suggest the valet as the back lot is unattended. By the time we got in, we might as well have the restaurant to ourselves. We took a peek at their ball room as someone was decorating it for a wedding. It was huge, must have had 25 tables in there with plenty of room left. The front entrance had a bunch of boxer pictures and Wonder Woman...I mean Linda Carter. The main dinning area had decent lighting, not too bright or too dimmed. I was expecting more of a classy place, but it was more a place to conduct power lunches or friend/family gathering, even though they do weddings and banquets, I find the notion of romance missing in this place(See my review of Waters Restaurants, that place reeks of romance). We were quickly seated and began to order. They had a decent wine list, but it was lunch time so I didn't order any, instead we went with the common stuff like Iced Coffee, Iced Tea, coke...sprite..etc.
B ordered Carne Asada, E had Fettuccine with Shrimp, T ordered Fillet Mignon medium rare, Z had Salmon Fillet. Special Guest Star V and J had ordered the assorted platter and the speical Steak and Lobster tail. Food arrived, and right off the bat, that Fettuccine with Shrimp looked really good. Salmon was well done too, as was all the main dishes, the assorted platter was ok, thought some of the meat were too well done, definitely nothing to say wow at. Overall the main dishes were pretty good, the soup that came with it were excellent(I had clam chowder and I can say that it wasn't canned clams)....but wth is with the side dishes? My veggies and mash potato that came with the steak had way too much oil/butter in it. The effect was like a beautiful painting of a perfect red rose...with dead leaves coming off the stem...
Maybe dinner would have been better, or it was done by helpers instead of chefs, as we did get there rather late. I don't know, but it is odd to have great main but bad sides. Service wise, for being not busy, it was not too great. We had to ask for refills, were mostly ignored, they did the bill wrong(to our advantage, then corrected), for a lunch, our table spent about 150 including tips, personally I think I could have had better service.
Overall
Parking ***************************************A+, valet and regular lot, your choice.
Environment***********************************B+, something is lacking
Service ****************************************C
Food ******************************************A-/B+, I just need to overlook the side dishes
Drinks*****************************************A-/B+, a nice selection
Price******************************************B-, about 18 to 25 dollar a person, including tip.
Getting there during afternoon wasn't too much of a problem, though I did get stuck a bit in traffic as a Benz decided to stall on me in the middle of Atlantic Blvd. Steven's Steakhouse is located at 5332 E Stevens Place, Commerce, CA 90040. Again I should have learned my lesson, when I schedule for a location, always arrive at least 30 minutes late...everyone else does!
So we all assembled, they had a huge lot in the back and a valet parking area. If you have a nice car, I suggest the valet as the back lot is unattended. By the time we got in, we might as well have the restaurant to ourselves. We took a peek at their ball room as someone was decorating it for a wedding. It was huge, must have had 25 tables in there with plenty of room left. The front entrance had a bunch of boxer pictures and Wonder Woman...I mean Linda Carter. The main dinning area had decent lighting, not too bright or too dimmed. I was expecting more of a classy place, but it was more a place to conduct power lunches or friend/family gathering, even though they do weddings and banquets, I find the notion of romance missing in this place(See my review of Waters Restaurants, that place reeks of romance). We were quickly seated and began to order. They had a decent wine list, but it was lunch time so I didn't order any, instead we went with the common stuff like Iced Coffee, Iced Tea, coke...sprite..etc.
B ordered Carne Asada, E had Fettuccine with Shrimp, T ordered Fillet Mignon medium rare, Z had Salmon Fillet. Special Guest Star V and J had ordered the assorted platter and the speical Steak and Lobster tail. Food arrived, and right off the bat, that Fettuccine with Shrimp looked really good. Salmon was well done too, as was all the main dishes, the assorted platter was ok, thought some of the meat were too well done, definitely nothing to say wow at. Overall the main dishes were pretty good, the soup that came with it were excellent(I had clam chowder and I can say that it wasn't canned clams)....but wth is with the side dishes? My veggies and mash potato that came with the steak had way too much oil/butter in it. The effect was like a beautiful painting of a perfect red rose...with dead leaves coming off the stem...
Maybe dinner would have been better, or it was done by helpers instead of chefs, as we did get there rather late. I don't know, but it is odd to have great main but bad sides. Service wise, for being not busy, it was not too great. We had to ask for refills, were mostly ignored, they did the bill wrong(to our advantage, then corrected), for a lunch, our table spent about 150 including tips, personally I think I could have had better service.
Overall
Parking ***************************************A+, valet and regular lot, your choice.
Environment***********************************B+, something is lacking
Service ****************************************C
Food ******************************************A-/B+, I just need to overlook the side dishes
Drinks*****************************************A-/B+, a nice selection
Price******************************************B-, about 18 to 25 dollar a person, including tip.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Maddalena Restaurant, San Antonio Winery
So last Friday the company decided to give us another fully paid off day, and I decided to do lunch at the San Antonio Winery, and also shop for some decent wine. Z wanted to come, B and E were claiming to be too poor to eat, and well, their lost.
It wasn't too difficult to find, even though I have never met so many Sunday drivers on a Friday before... We got their about 2:30pm. They had their own secluded street, which I thought was pretty awesome. Decent size parking lot within their gated area. We went in and the first thing we saw was their retail area, and I immediately got attracted to their bottle of Château Margaux...for only...$1200.00....and I was completely transfixed and just could not move or take my eyes off it.... ok so we finally broke me away from that security area and we went into their restaurant area.
Taking a minute to recover, I recomposed myself, at first you would think this is a cafeteria, and in a way, it was.... they didn't have a menu. They had instead 2 tables, each table has about 12 dishes, one table is bread/sandwich products, the other is rice/pasta/dishes. Each dish has a name tag on it, you find what you like, then walk up to the kitchen counter and tell the clerk what you want. The clerk then takes note, and hands you a menu stand with a piece of paper labeling what you had ordered. You then scoot down to the cashier area, and pick your drinks, regular stuff, pre pour glasses of wine...water....etc. Then you pay for your meal, and a waiter carries your tray and escorts you to a table.
The restaurant itself is Italian in design, and they had a musician there playing at almost 3 in the afternoon. They also have segmented out rooms for events, be it company event, or wine tasting that they host...etc. All meals were served with salad and bread, but we didn't get to choose any dressing for our salad. The bread was ehh...whatever... I am and will never be a bread eater anyway...
We both had pinot noir, though I knew I should have had pinot grigio since I ordered Linguini shrimp scampi. Z had fresh Salmon breaded and served with rice. The waiter brought our dishes over, and I got stunned as soon as I had my first bite, it was that good! It wasn't a good thing though as I had my first bite right when the musician finished his tune, and I was so stunned that I didn't even applaud, and my table was closest to the musician... embarrassing.
The linguini was perfectly al dente(unlike macaroni grill), and the shrimps were not over cooked(unlike Water's Restaurant), the flavor was perfectly balanced, strong garlic but not overly salty, very well done and very Italian. Z's eyes lite up with she tasted the salmon, I personally dont eat cooked fish so I cant tell you how good it is, but she did finish her plate.
Overall
Parking ******************************A, come on, free gated parking in LA always gets an A
Environment *************************A-, very cool place, their is only 2 problems I found with this place, one they don't open late enough, close at 7pm...come on.... and two, selection menu is pretty small compare to other places.
Service ******************************A++!!! Friendly servers, and not just the restaurant, but over all everyone there, even the retail wine area where they had a wine waiter serving samples. As I was drooling again after the meal in front of that bottle of Château Margaux, someone came by and asked if I needed help, so I asked if they had Alter Ego de Palmer(sorry that's the highest I have tried in my short wine life), he wasn't sure and went away. I then went to the taster counter and started picking out daily wines to try, as I was doing this, that guy who asked me earlier came back, hunted me down with a supervisor and asked me to repeat the name, just to confirm that they truly didn't have it. The supervisor knew what it was and confirmed that they don't have it. But it is exactly this kind of service that I do not expect in the US, if this was Japan I would expect nothing less. That's my little story of why they made A++ on service.
Food********************************A-, bread...spread...whatever, salad was average, but the dishes...omg! Go there and try for yourself, you wont regret it.
Drinks*******************************A, its a winery after all!!!
Price ********************************B. Expect about 22-25 bucks a person with food and drink and tip
Overall*******************************I am giving this place an A, and they can definitely expect more business from me!
It wasn't too difficult to find, even though I have never met so many Sunday drivers on a Friday before... We got their about 2:30pm. They had their own secluded street, which I thought was pretty awesome. Decent size parking lot within their gated area. We went in and the first thing we saw was their retail area, and I immediately got attracted to their bottle of Château Margaux...for only...$1200.00....and I was completely transfixed and just could not move or take my eyes off it.... ok so we finally broke me away from that security area and we went into their restaurant area.
Taking a minute to recover, I recomposed myself, at first you would think this is a cafeteria, and in a way, it was.... they didn't have a menu. They had instead 2 tables, each table has about 12 dishes, one table is bread/sandwich products, the other is rice/pasta/dishes. Each dish has a name tag on it, you find what you like, then walk up to the kitchen counter and tell the clerk what you want. The clerk then takes note, and hands you a menu stand with a piece of paper labeling what you had ordered. You then scoot down to the cashier area, and pick your drinks, regular stuff, pre pour glasses of wine...water....etc. Then you pay for your meal, and a waiter carries your tray and escorts you to a table.
The restaurant itself is Italian in design, and they had a musician there playing at almost 3 in the afternoon. They also have segmented out rooms for events, be it company event, or wine tasting that they host...etc. All meals were served with salad and bread, but we didn't get to choose any dressing for our salad. The bread was ehh...whatever... I am and will never be a bread eater anyway...
We both had pinot noir, though I knew I should have had pinot grigio since I ordered Linguini shrimp scampi. Z had fresh Salmon breaded and served with rice. The waiter brought our dishes over, and I got stunned as soon as I had my first bite, it was that good! It wasn't a good thing though as I had my first bite right when the musician finished his tune, and I was so stunned that I didn't even applaud, and my table was closest to the musician... embarrassing.
The linguini was perfectly al dente(unlike macaroni grill), and the shrimps were not over cooked(unlike Water's Restaurant), the flavor was perfectly balanced, strong garlic but not overly salty, very well done and very Italian. Z's eyes lite up with she tasted the salmon, I personally dont eat cooked fish so I cant tell you how good it is, but she did finish her plate.
Overall
Parking ******************************A, come on, free gated parking in LA always gets an A
Environment *************************A-, very cool place, their is only 2 problems I found with this place, one they don't open late enough, close at 7pm...come on.... and two, selection menu is pretty small compare to other places.
Service ******************************A++!!! Friendly servers, and not just the restaurant, but over all everyone there, even the retail wine area where they had a wine waiter serving samples. As I was drooling again after the meal in front of that bottle of Château Margaux, someone came by and asked if I needed help, so I asked if they had Alter Ego de Palmer(sorry that's the highest I have tried in my short wine life), he wasn't sure and went away. I then went to the taster counter and started picking out daily wines to try, as I was doing this, that guy who asked me earlier came back, hunted me down with a supervisor and asked me to repeat the name, just to confirm that they truly didn't have it. The supervisor knew what it was and confirmed that they don't have it. But it is exactly this kind of service that I do not expect in the US, if this was Japan I would expect nothing less. That's my little story of why they made A++ on service.
Food********************************A-, bread...spread...whatever, salad was average, but the dishes...omg! Go there and try for yourself, you wont regret it.
Drinks*******************************A, its a winery after all!!!
Price ********************************B. Expect about 22-25 bucks a person with food and drink and tip
Overall*******************************I am giving this place an A, and they can definitely expect more business from me!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sakura of Tokyo
So last Friday our company decided to finance us for a day off and pay us to go bowling!! What a great company we have:) We decided to go to the West Covina bowl, and afterward we can try this Japanese restaurant call Sakura of Tokyo. Well the day didn't start off too great though, as they had some nasty accident on the 210, closing like 4 lanes or something like that, and so it funneled everyone to the 605 and the 10, so the 10 and the 210 were completely backed up and what would take 20minutes took 1hr 30min.... So we were suppose to get there by 1pm. I made it there first at 1:45!! The others didn't get there until almost 3:00. It was the first Betz bowling.....competition...no that's not the right word...exhibition...nah that doesn't work either...disaster!! yes that's it, the first Betz bowling disaster!! We are probably the 4 most non talented bowlers in the history of humanity. We each had 2 games and at the end, our combine scores for 2 games each did not exceed 400, that means we average less than 50 a game!!
So what, at least we know how to eat...well B and E had to go so it was just TZ going to eat....We went to this place called Sakura of Tokyo, located at 533 S. Glendora Ave, West Covina, CA 91790. It had it's own private parking lot, and the interior was very Japanese, and it might have been authentic at some point in it's past history....however, as soon as I heard the staff spoke amongst themselves, I knew I was in trouble. They were speaking in chinese!!! So they showed us this menu that had pictures in it on most of their dishes, I am growing even more concern. We decided to have spicy tuna and sashimi as appetizers, and for our main, we had teppanyaki and nabeyaki udon. Those of you that remember, teppanyaki is similiar to the ones we had in Sambi, except here they serve it as a sizzling hot plate instead of cooking it right in front of you. Nabeyaki udon is simply udon served in a pot instead of a bowl(nabe means pot or kettle).
The appetizer came, I was surprised that it was fairly good, even though the portion was immensely small for the sashimi. Had they cut it any smaller, you would need a microscope. At least the Salmon and Tuna were fresh and tasty. The spicy tuna was ok, average fare as far as spicy tuna is concern, nothing compare to Noshi's spicy tuna or Sambi's ninja rolls. The teppanyaki came, it looked good, all piled up and everything....with bean sprouts! Worse, the hot plate was actually designed with the center protruding up, so that it looked like the content was much more than it really is.
The nabeyaki udon came....it was the worse, I mean worst nabeyaki udon I have ever had. Seriously, what kind of udon was it? Thousand year old crispy udon? The fish cake was cut way too thick. It was greasy.....and I can taste the generic soup stock they used to make the broth, stuff you can get at the market, instead of making their own stock.... only redeemable quality was it was hot(as in the temperature), I make this stuff as my staple diet on a almost daily basis, I can do better with my eyes closed and using only my pinky!! If I were to compare this place's product with say Hanaichimonme's soup stock, this stuff here would be pour down into the toilet and flushed away immediately....Needless to say I was completely disgusted with the place.
Honestly, they had some nice ingredients for sushi and sashimi, but they were too interested with their own pocket books to give decent portions. The hot cook fare was completely junk. It is simply the worse Japanese food(not counting Japanese fast food) I have ever had... I find this most discouraging.
Overall
Parking ****************************************B+, private lot
Environment************************************B
Service*****************************************B-, nothing speical, waitress was nice, the old lady (probably owner) was scary.
Food********************************************D-, would have been an F- if it wasn't for the sashimi
Drink*******************************************B-, at least they had sake and Japanese beer...
Overall*****************************************C--/D+ I would not recommend it to any one....unless I really dislike them.
So what, at least we know how to eat...well B and E had to go so it was just TZ going to eat....We went to this place called Sakura of Tokyo, located at 533 S. Glendora Ave, West Covina, CA 91790. It had it's own private parking lot, and the interior was very Japanese, and it might have been authentic at some point in it's past history....however, as soon as I heard the staff spoke amongst themselves, I knew I was in trouble. They were speaking in chinese!!! So they showed us this menu that had pictures in it on most of their dishes, I am growing even more concern. We decided to have spicy tuna and sashimi as appetizers, and for our main, we had teppanyaki and nabeyaki udon. Those of you that remember, teppanyaki is similiar to the ones we had in Sambi, except here they serve it as a sizzling hot plate instead of cooking it right in front of you. Nabeyaki udon is simply udon served in a pot instead of a bowl(nabe means pot or kettle).
The appetizer came, I was surprised that it was fairly good, even though the portion was immensely small for the sashimi. Had they cut it any smaller, you would need a microscope. At least the Salmon and Tuna were fresh and tasty. The spicy tuna was ok, average fare as far as spicy tuna is concern, nothing compare to Noshi's spicy tuna or Sambi's ninja rolls. The teppanyaki came, it looked good, all piled up and everything....with bean sprouts! Worse, the hot plate was actually designed with the center protruding up, so that it looked like the content was much more than it really is.
The nabeyaki udon came....it was the worse, I mean worst nabeyaki udon I have ever had. Seriously, what kind of udon was it? Thousand year old crispy udon? The fish cake was cut way too thick. It was greasy.....and I can taste the generic soup stock they used to make the broth, stuff you can get at the market, instead of making their own stock.... only redeemable quality was it was hot(as in the temperature), I make this stuff as my staple diet on a almost daily basis, I can do better with my eyes closed and using only my pinky!! If I were to compare this place's product with say Hanaichimonme's soup stock, this stuff here would be pour down into the toilet and flushed away immediately....Needless to say I was completely disgusted with the place.
Honestly, they had some nice ingredients for sushi and sashimi, but they were too interested with their own pocket books to give decent portions. The hot cook fare was completely junk. It is simply the worse Japanese food(not counting Japanese fast food) I have ever had... I find this most discouraging.
Overall
Parking ****************************************B+, private lot
Environment************************************B
Service*****************************************B-, nothing speical, waitress was nice, the old lady (probably owner) was scary.
Food********************************************D-, would have been an F- if it wasn't for the sashimi
Drink*******************************************B-, at least they had sake and Japanese beer...
Overall*****************************************C--/D+ I would not recommend it to any one....unless I really dislike them.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Macaroni Grill
Last Friday was a very special day for me. It was special because for the first time since our group's inception, we were all available, and we had no extras, no special guest stars, no star trek red shirts, no add on luggage, no carry on's, it was just the four of us. We decided on Italian, well sort of, more like Americanized Italian, which was cool. We picked Macaroni Grill in Cerritos, located at 12875 Towne Center Drive Cerritos, CA 90703-8585. It was right off the 91 Freeway, in a shopping plaza, fairly convenient to get to. I arrived at 8:45 pm and everyone was already there and had already started ordering.
The place was fairly large, the decor from the outside looked like a barn though. Inside it was contemporary, with an open kitchen. The setting was definitely family oriented, it is a step up from say Denny's but not nearly the level of Maggiano's. I liked the way they casually leave bottles of wine around, I was tempted to garb one and help myself.... They also serve Italian wine, which was rare for a restaurant of this level. The waiters are their number one asset imo, friendly, professional, and some have the makings of being great singers.
They served us bread and we ordered a few ceasar salads, which for 2 bucks it wasn't bad at all. The bread wasn't very good though, it is passable if you dip it against your dish and use it as a plate cleaner. For drinks, I ordered La Crema Pinot Noir, which was surprisingly decent. The girls had ordered their drinks ahead of time from the bar, and I found out that Z actually had the same after I ordered... oh well.
So we ordered our dishes. B and E both decided to create their own pasta, but they both decided to have Parm Chicken as the main protein. T and Z were both drinking Pinot Noir, so it was natural that they too ordered chicken dishes, so it ended up everyone was a chicken...I mean had chicken. T ordered Penne with Oven Roasted Chicken, and Z ordered Pinot Grigio Chicken. They had on their menu a very tempting picture of Berry Tiramisu, we gave in and ordered just one to share. They promptly took our order and our meal got to our table within 15 minutes. That actually got my hopes up a little as I thought it meant they dont precook their pasta. Well, to be honest, I don't know if they do or not, but it sure taste like they do. I had my Penne, and I tried B's linguine, and it was not al dente... the sauce and flavor were ok... actually, it was good, but the pasta was lacking. Simply there were no bite to it. The breaded parmesan the girls ordered were slightly too brown, which meant they need to change the fryer's oil. It tasted good though so the girls didn't mind. The Tiramisu was very nice, and actually looked like the one from the picture, we should have ordered 2.
All through out the evening we kept hearing waiters singing birthday songs in Italian(I think its Italian), and E and Z were yearning for it, it was just so obvious. It was also very obvious that even though they had several singers, they both had their eye on this one(the one with hair) Anyhow, it got to the point where our resident compulsive liar E decided to just go for it, and told our waitress that it was Z's birthday(so that she can say she did it for Z......Right! and I'm Tinkerbell). The gamble paid out, not only did they not card anyone, they gave us a small chocolate cake, and they got the singing waiter they wanted. To see them drool...priceless.
Overall
Location/Parking*************************** B(it would have been an A-, with parking so plentiful, but when I left I found someone left a couple bags of used fast food under my car)
Atmosphere/Environment******************* A, thank the waiters
Food ************************************** B, the pasta needs work
Drink**************************************A- nice wine selection
Price************************************** B+, for Italian it was inexpensive, about 14 dollars a person
Overall************************************B+
The place was fairly large, the decor from the outside looked like a barn though. Inside it was contemporary, with an open kitchen. The setting was definitely family oriented, it is a step up from say Denny's but not nearly the level of Maggiano's. I liked the way they casually leave bottles of wine around, I was tempted to garb one and help myself.... They also serve Italian wine, which was rare for a restaurant of this level. The waiters are their number one asset imo, friendly, professional, and some have the makings of being great singers.
They served us bread and we ordered a few ceasar salads, which for 2 bucks it wasn't bad at all. The bread wasn't very good though, it is passable if you dip it against your dish and use it as a plate cleaner. For drinks, I ordered La Crema Pinot Noir, which was surprisingly decent. The girls had ordered their drinks ahead of time from the bar, and I found out that Z actually had the same after I ordered... oh well.
So we ordered our dishes. B and E both decided to create their own pasta, but they both decided to have Parm Chicken as the main protein. T and Z were both drinking Pinot Noir, so it was natural that they too ordered chicken dishes, so it ended up everyone was a chicken...I mean had chicken. T ordered Penne with Oven Roasted Chicken, and Z ordered Pinot Grigio Chicken. They had on their menu a very tempting picture of Berry Tiramisu, we gave in and ordered just one to share. They promptly took our order and our meal got to our table within 15 minutes. That actually got my hopes up a little as I thought it meant they dont precook their pasta. Well, to be honest, I don't know if they do or not, but it sure taste like they do. I had my Penne, and I tried B's linguine, and it was not al dente... the sauce and flavor were ok... actually, it was good, but the pasta was lacking. Simply there were no bite to it. The breaded parmesan the girls ordered were slightly too brown, which meant they need to change the fryer's oil. It tasted good though so the girls didn't mind. The Tiramisu was very nice, and actually looked like the one from the picture, we should have ordered 2.
All through out the evening we kept hearing waiters singing birthday songs in Italian(I think its Italian), and E and Z were yearning for it, it was just so obvious. It was also very obvious that even though they had several singers, they both had their eye on this one(the one with hair) Anyhow, it got to the point where our resident compulsive liar E decided to just go for it, and told our waitress that it was Z's birthday(so that she can say she did it for Z......Right! and I'm Tinkerbell). The gamble paid out, not only did they not card anyone, they gave us a small chocolate cake, and they got the singing waiter they wanted. To see them drool...priceless.
Overall
Location/Parking*************************** B(it would have been an A-, with parking so plentiful, but when I left I found someone left a couple bags of used fast food under my car)
Atmosphere/Environment******************* A, thank the waiters
Food ************************************** B, the pasta needs work
Drink**************************************A- nice wine selection
Price************************************** B+, for Italian it was inexpensive, about 14 dollars a person
Overall************************************B+
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