Category: Restaurants (Page 21 of 53)

SO & I were in Sacramento a couple of weeks ago for the California Democratic Convention and, on our first night there, we wanted something quick, easy and cheap for dinner. SO LOVES fish & chips, so when he came across positive reviews for Cape Cod Fish & Chip, we knew that’s where we were headed. It was a good call.
Cape Cod Fish & Chip is a very modest restaurant located in a strip mall. It has an open kitchen, a couple of seats at a counter and a few tables. It is not going to win any prizes for ambiance. The menu is quite straight forward: fried fish & seafood, assorted fried things, teriyaki bowls and burgers. Prices are reasonable, I think we paid about $7-8 for a plate with 3 fried fish fillet & fries.

The fish was quite good. Not terribly flavorful (but the tartar sauce helped here), but very crispy and non-oily. I enjoyed it. The fries were average. Service was prompt. We’d definitely eat there again if we were back in Sacramento..

Cape Cod Fish & Chips
5113 Folsom Boulevard
Sacramento, CA
(916) 456-4404

Marga’s Restaurant Reviews

I planned my day at Disneyland quite well, including where to go for lunch, but I neglected to make dinner plans. Truth be told I thought the kids would be too tired to eat and would grab something quick somewhere. I forgot about me. So, when we found ourselves hungry outside of Disneyland near 8 PM, facing a one-to-two hours drive home, we knew we had to get some food, we just didn’t know where. So I walked down Downtown Disney trying to find something that wouldn’t be too expensive and had a hope to be good. The Jazz Kitchen Express seemed like our best bet, but the food was poor and expensive for the quantities, next time I’ll do my homework.
The Jazz Kitchen Express is basically a food counter attached to the full Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen restaurant in downtown Disney serving Southern/Creole sandwiches and dishes. Sitting is outside, by the street. It was cold on a May evening and they didn’t have heat lamps.
I ordered the catfish & fries for myself (~$8) and was amazed that the catfish portion consisted of two microscopic pieces of fish. I’d say that in all I probably got 2 oz of fish. It was fairly tasty, if a bit cold, but come on! The portion of fries was more abundant, the fries were not particularly tasty and a bid dry, but edible. Mika and Nikki were unhappy that the cheese in their plain cheeseburgers ($6) wasn’t melted, using cold cheese and not melting it also made the whole burgers sort of cold. SO probably fared best with his pulled pork Po Boy sandwich ($8) but only by default. The meat wasn’t very abundant and it wasn’t particularly tasty.
I finished my meal with a large piece of bread pudding ($5.50). It was decent. The hot chocolate ($3), however, was not. It was made with water rather than milk and it was steaming hot. Even with some ice it took over half an hour and a couple of burnt tongues to cool down.
In all, it was a disappointing meal, the sort of meal you have when you have no other choices.
Jazz Kitchen Express
Downtown Disney District
Anaheim, Ca
714-776-5200
http://www.rbjazzkitchen.com/jazzexpress.php
Venue Restaurant Reviews
Restaurant Reviews

A couple of days ago we took the kids to Disneyland. We were going just for a day and I spent a fair amount of time researching what the best place to eat at Disneyland would be. In our previous visit, we had eaten at the Blue Bayou and, while we had enjoyed it, it wasn’t an experience worth repeating. What I wanted this time was good food for a reasonable price, and I have to say that I found it at the Plaza Inn.
The Plaza Inn is located in what looks like a fancy Victorian restaurant, at the end of Main Street near the Disney/Mickey statue. It’s actually a cafeteria with a couple of stations selling broasted chicken, penne pasta & pot roast ($13-$15), salads ($7) and desserts ($5). They have chicken or pasta kids meals for $7. You can chose to eat inside one of the ostentatiously decorated dining rooms, or outside on the veranda, under an umbrella, with a view to all the Disneyland action. The outside spots are good for people watching and for catching parades. Mika loved how fancy it looked inside, so that’s where we ate.
I had read that the chicken was actually good at the Plaza Inn so that’s what we had. We ordered two plates of chicken (each came with 1 half breast, 1 thigh and 1 drumstick, mashed potatoes and green beans), and two child pasta dishes for three adults and three kids. We had plenty of food. The broasted chicken had a crispy skin, was perfectly herbed/spiced and very moist. It was very tasty. The pieces were rather large. The mashed potatoes were also good, though the green beans were sad and wimpy and rejected by all. The kids were happy with their pasta (which comes in a Micky Mouse shaped tray), but they aren’t picky. They didn’t like the herbed breadstick it came with, and ate the bagged carrots later as a snack.
Fountain soft drinks at the Plaza Inn are ~$3, as elsewhere in Disneyland, but here you get free refills. You can also get iced water for free, and because it’s the water that comes from the soda machines it’s purified already. It tasted fine.
We were in Disneyland on a Tuesday in May and the park was as non-crowded as it gets. We had lunch around 12:45 PM, and there we no lines at all at the Plaza Inn and only a few tables were occupied.
I’m not planning a return trip to Disneyland any time soon, but I’m sure I’ll head here next time. I can’t imagine you can have a better meal for the money anywhere in the park.

The broasted chicken at the Plaza Inn Restaurant. Picture courtesy of LA Foodie
Plaza Inn Restaurant
Disneyland
Annaheim, CA
http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/plaza-inn/
Venue Restaurant Reviews
Marga’s Restaurant Reviews

It was our anniversary, we had managed to snag some last-minute babysitting and we wanted to try something new and good nearby (since we’ve had children, the possibility of going out to dinner in San Francisco doesn’t even occur to us). After some online menu and review consulting, I decided to give Nex a try. Nex is a small restaurant, situated right next to Mua in Oakland’s dying Auto Row. It shares an executive chef with Mua, and as I’ve loved the food at Mua I figured Nex was worth a try. It was, the food we had was great tasting and consistent – but not particularly novel. I’d say come Nex for well made classics, but to Mua if you feel more whimsical.

Nex is a pretty small restaurant, with a tiny bar and a industrial look. It’s hip and original, though perhaps geared to a slightly older audience (30’s) than Mua. It wasn’t what you’d call a typical anniversary place, but I was there for the food and not the ambiance.

The menu was pretty similar to the one online. Though several of the appetizers sounded appealing to me, Mike wasn’t sold by any of them and I was still too full from lunch to attempt one on my own – so we went directly to the entrees. I had the duck confit ($19) and my “please keep my name out of your reviews” significant other (SO) had the cod. The duck was perfectly cooked, with a delicious crispy skin. The meat was tender and juicy, without any fattiness. It was perfectly spiced and succulent. There was nothing special about it, but there is much to be said about perfectly cooked duck. I don’t usually like beans, but the accompanying white beans were also wonderfully seasoned and cooked, they had a hearty, slightly smoky flavor. I loved them and ate them all. While the portion look a bit small in the plate (one duck leg and thigh and maybe 1/2 cup worth of beans plus half a carrot and some lettuce), it filled me up. Then again, I wasn’t that hungry to start with.

SO had the cod and he was quite pleased with the flavor of the dish. The thick piece of fish was nicely cooked and came with a delectable sauce. The accompanying asparagus was nicely grilled. However, he regretted not having ordered an appetizer as the entree wasn’t very filling. Personally, I think that’s true of most fish entrees at restaurants. They really need to be served with a starch if they don’t want patrons to go hungry.

For dessert, SO and I shared the funnel cake fries ($7). These are fried dough sticks, with a tiny bit of powdered sugar, served with a spicy chocolate and a raspberry sauce. I love funnel cake but this one failed miserably. The sticks were very bland by themselves – a dash of salt in the batter would help as well as more uniformly applied powdered sugar – and the sauces needed more sweetness and flavor. As it was, this desert was a waste of calories.

Service was quite good and efficient, and we had a good time – but I didn’t find either the food or experience compelling enough to merit another visit.

Nex Oakland
2442 Webster St (@Broadway)
Oakland, CA
(510) 238.8224
http://www.nexoakland.com/
M-Th 5:30 PM – 9 PM
F-Sa 5:30 PM – 10 PM

Marga’s Restaurant Reviews

Read below for a March 2011 dinner update of Aroma
I’m so happy with Hayward’s Favorite Indian restaurant, that I have not felt the need to explore the other Indian restaurants in the area. According to my friend Alpana (who, btw, is a great family photographer – check out her website), a native of India, that has been a mistake. So it was on her suggestion that my friend Mauro and I headed to Aroma yesterday for their buffet lunch. Alpana was right – while I still love the California-Indian food at Favorite Indian, Aroma’s more carefully crafted fare is definitely worth tasting.
Aroma prides itself in offering a higher quality product, using organic and fresh ingredients when possible. As the restaurant itself, their buffet lunch is small (11 or 12 items, including rice and dessert) and carefully crafted. During our visit, there were only 3 meat offerings (chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala and lamb vindaloo), and that, of course, is what I tried. I was impressed, in particular on the tandoori. The perfectly cooked, moist chicken legs were infused with flavor and lacked the artificial red coloring that most Indian restaurants confer onto them. They were probably the most understated and best tasting chicken tandoori I’ve ever had.
I wasn’t as fond of the curries but I had to confess that they were good as well. The lamb vindaloo had a nice quick, and tender lamb. The tikka masala was a bit too acidic for my taste, but it tasted fresh and bright. You can feel the quality.
Buttered naan is brought to the table, and the one had a very nice light consistency. I also tasted the dessert, some runny pudding made of rice flower with nuts and spices, and I enjoyed it quite a bit as well. Mauro wasn’t as keen of it, but he did enjoy everything else he had.
While we only sampled the buffet on this occasion, Aroma has a full lunch and dinner menu, its prices are on the high side, however.
Aroma is located in a small space at a strip mall in Castro Valley Village, the small room actually looks quite cozy, the beautiful serving dishes and the faint scent of incense helps give it a non-tacky atmosphere. Service was very good, our drinks were refilled quickly and our dishes taken away.
In all, it was a great lunch experience. The buffet lunch for two, with a soda each, came to about $27 after tax and tip. Not a super cheap lunch, but this is not super cheap food.

A couple of nights ago my friend Aamani and I wanted to meet our friend Miranda for dinner somewhere in Castro Valley, and Aroma popped to mind. Though I’ve been there many times for lunch in the last year, I’d never tried them for dinner. It was just as good, solid food, fresh flavors and very good service. I’ll definitely be back.
Aamani and I shared the chicken pakora (battered chicken served with a cilantro and a sweet & sour sauce, $6) and I was quite pleased. The chicken was nice, hot and tender. The batter was tasty, though perhaps a little soggier than I would have wanted. Still, I’d order it again.
I had the lamb korma ($13), one of my favorite Indian dishes, as my entree. The lamb was moist, tender and not too fatty and the sauce was creamy, well balanced and perfectly spiced medium, as I’d asked. I enjoyed the dish, though it didn’t really awe me. That was Miranda’s opinion of her navratan korma ($13), a vegetarian version of my own dish. She ordered her spicy, and she also said it fit the bill. Aamani had the dal saag (a spinach lentil dish, $11) and she was quite pleased. Aamani is Indian, but she doesn’t like cooking so she may be less demanding. We ate everything with rice ($3 for a huge portion), which was quite good as well.
Aamani also enjoyed the keema nan (a bread stuffed with spiced ground lamb, $5), but I forgot to try it! I did enjoy the kabuli nan (called Kashmiri nan at Aroma, a bread stuffed with a sweet filling, $5), Miranda thought it was too sweet but it was fine for me. Miranda had a good masala tea with dinner ($2) and I enjoyed my sweet lassi ($2), though it also wasn’t outstanding.
I don’t usually order dessert at Indian restaurants, but Miranda was in the mood for something sweet so I ordered a kulfti (a pistachio froze dessert, $3). The ice cream itself was too icy and not that flavorful, but it came with a delicious condensed milk sauce. Miranda and Aamani seemed to enjoy their kheer (rice pudding, $3). I’ve had it before in their lunch buffet and, indeed, it’s very good.
Service was very diligent. We stayed there late and they didn’t make any moves to kick us out, which I appreciated.
The meal came to $88 after tax and tip, but I had a $25 off gift certificate from restaurant.com I’d gotten for $2, so really it came up to $65. Not bad for that quality of food, in particular considering that we had enough left overs for lunch for two.
Aroma Cuisine of India
3418 Castro Village Dr.
Castro Valley, CA
510-888-9555
http://www.aromacuisineofindia.com/
Everyday: 11:30am – 3:00pm, 5:00pm – 9:30pm
Marga’s Restaurant Reviews