Boulevard Burger, Marita’s Sweet Potato Pie and Golden Tea House, plus some thoughts

This is just an update on local eateries:
– I reported a couple of weeks ago that my friend Mauro had had a terrible dinner experience at Boulevard Burger. Despite that, we went for dinner there last night, and our experience was definitely the opposite. For one, there were few people there (probably because it’s a neighborhood joint and word of bad service spreads quickly), which meant that the staff definitely had time to do their jobs. Our dinner was served quickly, accurately and it was very good. I have no complaints at all.
Marita’s Sweet Potato Pie, a bakery which sells cakes and pies only, has taken on the space next door to it (owned by Marita’s owner), previously occupied by Cornerstone Cafe. They are still doing the same operation, but now they also have tables and chairs. I didn’t go inside so I don’t know if they also serve drinks to go with those cakes, but I’ll check it out soon.
– The Golden Tea Garden in Hayward has new hours. It’s now open Tu-F 11-4 and Sa-Su 11-5 PM. I understand that as the place gets empty later in the afternoon, but as we usually linger for hours when we go to tea, I’ll sure our next tea there is no later than 2 PM.
A couple of unrelated additional comments:
– Does anyone else wonder what goes on at Mae’s Soul Food on Victoria Circle in San Leandro? I go by there every day and the place is not open for dinner and only erratically opened for lunch. Indeed, I’d say it’s closed more often than open. I can’t imagine how the restaurant can make any money, if indeed selling food is their main business.
– I went to the Alta Mira Club’s tea and fashion show last week. The fashion show – styles of dance dresses since the 1860’s to the 1970’s – was great, even for someone like me who has no interest on fashion. The tea goodies weren’t bad, the little sandwiches (tuna salad, egg salad and shrimp) were super cute and the cookies weren’t bad, but the tea was close to undrinkable, incredibly weak and tasteless. It didn’t help that they only had half-and-half, entirely too heavy for the watery tea, and no milk. The tickets were $25, a bit steep, but it was an enjoyable afternoon.
– I’ve gone to the lunch buffet at Aroma Cuisine of India in Castro Valley three times now. The first two times I thought the small buffet was great – but yesterday all the food was lukewarm (even though we got there around 11:45 AM). I hope this is not an indication that quality is going down at Aroma.

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