Category: Restaurants (Page 22 of 53)

New Hong Kong is the closest Chinese restaurant to our home and also my favorite. We eat there or order out every couple of months, and we’re pretty much always satisfied. The food is consistently tasty, the portions are generous, and the owners couldn’t be more friendly and attentive. They work incredibly hard and I’m very glad they’re successful, so far.
We last ordered food from there last night. We had the fried wontons ($3.75) which were nice, crispy and not oily – but not otherwise special, the Mongolian beef ($7.25) and the orange chicken ($6.75). The chicken was nice, juicy and not too sweet, the beef was very tasty, with a deep sauce. We ordered it medium which was a bit too spicy for me and not spicy enough for Mike – so probably correctly spiced as “medium”.
New Hong Kong now has a website and you can place online orders – ready in 10 to 20 minutes for pickup. They also deliver. Check out their take-out menus for attached coupons.
New Hong Kong Restaurant
1750 E. 14th St.
San Leandro, CA
510.357.6288
New Hong Kong Restaurant
Original Review
Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

We went to Little Namking a couple of weeks ago, after speaking out at a city council meeting (which, according to Mayor Tony Santos constitutes “brownshirt tactics”). We hadn’t been there in many years, which is really a shame, as the food is quite good and nicely priced.
We shared the chicken chow mein, lemon chicken (which Mika wasn’t thrilled with but she was in a bad mood to begin with) and some beef dish. The portions weren’t huge but sufficient for 2 adults and 2 kids. We had no leftovers.
In all, a good meal but not superior enough to the ones we get at our nearby New Hong Kong to justify the extra distance.
Original Review
Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

I just came back from lunch @ Creekside Bistro, the new breakfast/lunch venture in downtown San Leandro from the former owners of Planet Coffee. The little cafe serves coffee drinks, breakfast items and sandwiches and it’s open from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM, basically for breakfast and lunch. It’s located in the Creekside Plaza Office Park near BART. Unfortunately, it faces an inside parking lot which means it’s not accessible or visible from the street. Fortunately, that means there is nearby parking.
The little restaurant looks like your standard office park cafeteria. It’s nicely decorated and comfortable and the outside patio will provide a good dining alternative during warm months.
The lunch menu is a bit limited and consists of the soup of the day (artichoke today), five salads, nine meat sandwich (mostly cold) and six vegetarian sandwiches. Most items are $6-$9.
I had the roasted tri-tip sandwich ($7.75), which came with caramelized onions, Provolone cheese and mayo (I had them skip the veggies) in a rustic baguette. It was sensational. The perfectly salted meat tasted roasted and the onions provided just the right amount of sweetness, the cheese helped bring them together and the bread as just resistant enough. It’s a great sandwich and it made Mike jealous. My only complaint is that it wasn’t big enough, specially for the price. I remained hungry.
Mike had the Grilled Black Forest Ham & Gruyere sandwich ($7). This wasn’t as successful. I think the main problem was that the black forest ham was very one dimensional and none of the ingredients added any dimension to the ham. Mike would definitely not order it again.
Both sandwiches came with a small scoop of potato salad, which Mike thought was very good, with a nice tangy flavor. I’m not a potato salad eater myself, and would have appreciated another choice.
I didn’t see any desserts available, but I didn’t ask about them. A couple of moderately-priced choices would be good.
In all, it was a good lunch (great for me, OK for Mike) and I’d go back for that tri-tip sandwich.
Creekside Bistro
500 Davis St.
San Leandro, Ca
510.352.3300
http://www.creeksidebistro.net/
Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Nov. 2011 Update
Went back to Horatio’s a few days – it’s one of the very few places that stays open past 9 PM on a Sunday night. I had their pear bread pudding and was surprised to find out that the dessert portions have shrank considerably. This time, the dessert consisted of a square about half as large as it used to be. It was still $8, though.
To make things worse they’ve gotten rid of the Chocolate Decadence cake, which was our favorite dessert.
I guess I’ll have to start looking harder for someplace else to go for dessert.
Feb. 2010 Update
Despite my previous review of the Horatio’s bar (below), I’ve been there several times in the last couple of years, and I’ve generally been pleased. There is a complete dearth of “nice” bars in San Leandro where you can go for drinks/dessert (Paradiso has a tiny bar, CreAsian‘s is not much bigger and Vila Cereja has terrible desserts), so Horatio’s is really the only game in town. Plus their desserts are usually good (despite a couple of not great experiences).
Anyway, my friends and I tried to go there for dessert last night (a Saturday), only to find out that both the restaurant and bar now close at 10 PM. 10 PM! On a Saturday! It surprised me as, despite the economy, every time I’d gone to Horatio’s in the past there were quite a lot of people. It also annoyed me, as we still were not ready to go home. Fortunately El Torito (see next posting) next door was still open and had desserts – but I’m really disappointed that Horatio’s is no longer an option for hanging out late.
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Last night my friend Desiree and I went to Horatio’s for dessert. As you may recall, Mike and I went there last week and found the lounge closed for renovations. Well, it has reopened and not for the better.
Gone is the enclosed platform where the bar was. Now, it’s just one big room, with a long bar to a side. It’s more spacious and there are tables everywhere. It looks much more like a bar than a lounge, the lights have been turned up and the place is incredibly noisy – you have to shout to hear yourself.
Needless to say, I don’t like it. I found the old lounge both romantic and relaxing, a great place to hang out with friends or Mike. The new place will work best for people looking to party or get drunk. I’m sad.
We had dessert, and at least this time the chocolate decadence cake was not stale – though the slices seem smaller and the prices have gone up (it’s $8.50 now). Desiree had their fruit crumble, and she wasn’t too happy with it. She found the fruit (I think they were peaches) bitter.
I doubt I’ll be going back to Horatio’s.
Horatio’s
60 San Leandro Marina
San Leandro
(510) 351-5556
http://www.r-u-i.com/hor/
M-Sa: last call 10 PM
Original Review
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Note: La Bella Italia has re-opened in the same location under the name Tuscany.
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We have to say a final goodbye to Bella Italia/My Ultimate Tandoori. The Italian-cum-Indian restaurant, located at the old Pring’s building, tried hard, with multiple remodels and a change of focus, but its offerings were ultimately mediocre and the place was often empty. I’m actually it survived at long as it did. I’m also sorry, as the people who ran it were very nice.
Now a new restaurant has opened in its space. It’s called Bardelli’s and I haven’t tried it yet – just driven past it. I’ve also not found anything online about it – not even their phone number. But they have a big sign that says “open”, so I assume they are.
I don’t know when I’ll get to review it, so I’d appreciate any comments from anyone who goes there.
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

I am told that Chang’s restaurant on MacArthur in San Leandro Has recently closed. I’m not really surprised. I knew there was a restaurant on that street on the market, and I figured it could be Chang’s because 1) there was no buzz about the place, 2) I never heard anyone singing its praises and 3) my friend Aamani had a terrible experience there. I personally hadn’t been back since my visit years ago. I can only hope a better place will open at the location.
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

It’s pretty pathetic to be reviewing a Denny’s restaurant – indeed, it’s pretty pathetic to be eating at a Denny’s restaurant – but we were in our way to Lassen National Park, we were starving, and choices for food on that stretch of I-5 are all very poor. Willows offers you two alternatives, The Black Bear diner and Denny’s. We went to BB a few years ago and weren’t impressed, so Mike decided to give Denny’s a chance. I hadn’t been to a Denny’s in many, many years, and the experience was just as I remembered it: thoroughly mediocre.
The Willows’ Denny’s restaurant has a very short menu – and they didn’t have anything that really sounded appetizing. I might have gone for a burger, but they will only cook them to medium-well (I guess they can’t trust their own meat handling). Mike had their bacon burger ($9, I think) and he wasn’t impressed. The dryness of the meat wasn’t as much a problem as the tangy, strange steak sauce that came on the burger. He’d had preferred a regular BBQ sauce.
I had the Philly steak sandwich, and it was also OK. The chunks of meat had been pot roasted and they were very tender, they were covered with a mild cheese. The bread had a nice garlicky flavor, but there were pretty much no mushrooms to speak of. I ordered my sandwich with hash browns, which I quite enjoyed.
My favorite part about Denny’s are the kids prices. Yeah, the portions are tiny, but my kids never eat that much. Mika had the quesadilla ($2.90). The quesadilla was small and had some weird bright orange cheese, but Mika was happy with it. She had it with the veggies with ranch sauce – and I was impressed at the size of the portion. They made a meal into themselves. The carrots didn’t look very fresh, but they were crunchy and tasted fine.
Camila had the cheese pizza with apple slices ($3.50). The pizza was your standard microwaved thingy, but Camila enjoyed it.
We had cokes, which tasted fine, but you will want to avoid the tap water.
Probably the worst part of the dinner was the wait. We got there are 7 PM on a Friday night, and though the restaurant wasn’t very crowded, the kids food did not arrive to the table until 7:40 PM – ours came 10 minutes later. Service otherwise was fine.
In all, you could do worse than Denny’s – but I’m hoping sometime to find a better alternative along that stretch of road.
Denny’s
343 North Humboldt Avenue
Willows, CA
(530) 934-3231
Marga’s Road Restaurant Reviews
Marga’s BA Restaurant Reviews

Last weekend Mike and I took the kids to Lassen Volcanic National Park, to see the sulfur pits, and we decided to stay at the Lassen Mineral Lodge. We had breakfast there, and in all it was a pleasant experience. Given your lack of other choices in the area, this is not a bad place to eat.
The restaurant at the Lassen Mineral Lodge is pretty cute, decorated in a country theme with plenty of wood and green. There are pictures of friends and patrons on the walls, cupboards with cute for-sale trinkets and, and here is the “and”, stuffed deer heads. Yep, that sort of freaked out my daughter – specially after her father told him that the deer had been shot (rather than mounted after they died a natural death) -, so beware if you have animal-loving-children in your party.
Service was very friendly and quite good, though we did have to wait quite a bit for our food. Given how busy the place was early that Saturday morning (and we got there as it opened at 8 AM) in late August, that’s not too surprising.
The food was uneven. My French Toast (6 thick half-slices for ~$7) was OK, it was sort of dry and not particularly interesting. The corn syrup was also lackluster. Mika’s pancakes ($5 for 2 HUGE pancakes and one hot chocolate, a portion large enough for 2 kids) were actually pretty good, they were fluffy and tasted homemade. Mike had one of those egg combos ($8, I think), with fine eggs, really good bacon, perfectly acceptable hash browns (a tad overcooked) and toast. We drank hot cocoa ($1.75 a cup), which was nice and strong. Breakfast came to $24 before tip.
Lassen Mineral Lodge Restaurant
Highway 36 E.
Mineral, CA
(530) 595-4422
Marga’s Restaurant Reviews – Beyond the Bay Area
Marga’s Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

December 2010
I went back to Sylantro a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of people and had a great lunch. Everyone loved the squid appetizer (didn’t try it, I’m not a squid person). I had their combo grilled meats plate (can’t remember how they called it), and all the meats were delicious. Wonderfully marinated, well cooked and juicy. It’s highly recommended. I don’t remember what other people had, but they were all very pleased as well.

August 2010 review
If you read my musings (and why would you?), you have heard me complain at the dismal restaurant choices in San Leandro. Yeah, it’s pretty bad – so much so that tonight, when Mike and I found ourselves unexpectedly sans kids, we could not think of any place in San Leandro where we actually wanted to go to dinner.
Fortunately, our friend and future San Leandro mayor Stephen Cassidy stopped over for a short visit, and suggested that we head to Sylantro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Washington Manor. He’d been there a few times and had always had a good experience. We’re always for something new, so we gave it a try. And we’re so glad we did – Sylantro is definitely a great addition to our culinary “scene”.
Sylantro is relatively new, it’s only been open for about 6 months, but the family that runs it has been in the restaurant scene for over twenty years. They previously owned a restaurant in Oakland – but decided that they preferred the small town atmosphere that San Leandro has to offer. Indeed, it’s that small town feeling which keeps us here as well 🙂
Sylantro’s menu is both familiar and innovative – though it’s more in the style of the new Vietnamese bistros (like Le Soleil and Vo’s in San Leandro than the more traditional Vietnamese restaurants like Le Cheval in Oakland. They have pho, of course, as well as a variety of other dishes – 123 in all, including appetizer and lunch items, but excluding sides and desserts. They serve pho, of course ($7-8). Dishes are reasonably priced, averaging about $10, and portions are generous. We split an appetizer and each had a main dish, and had leftovers to take home! The dishes are also beautifully arranged and presented – though such presentation is out of place in a restaurant that insists on having a large flat-screen TV turned on to music videos in its dining room (mercifully, the “music” wasn’t very loud). Fortunately, we were seated by the window, away from the TV and other diners. I’d insist in sitting there on future visits 🙂 Also fortunately, the food and the service more than made up for the tackiness of the TV-centric surroundings.
Mike and I split the Crispy Imperial Eggrolls appetizer ($6). These wonderful rolls were filled with chicken and crab and had perfectly cooked crispy shells. They were substantial and not as fibrous as other eggrolls I’ve had. They were served with the ubiquitous nuoc cham dipping sauce, and came with cucumber slices, mint and lettuce. I’d definitely order them again. As our entrees, Mike and I shared the deep fried snapper ($11) and the beef with 3 kinds of mushrooms ($9). We liked both.
The fried snapper was perfectly cooked, with a thin breading. By itself it needed more seasoning, but it was served with a beautiful “fiery sauce”. This sauce was tangy and intense, and delicious in itself – but way too overwhelming for the subtle flavor of the fish. Fortunately, the fish was wonderful with the nuoc cham, and that’s how we ate it.
I was very happy with the beef with mushrooms. The sauce reminded me of a thinner and subtler hoisin sauce – it was dark and very well balanced, with sweet undertones. It went great both with the beef and the mushrooms (of which the buttons were my favorite), and specially with the thick-grained brown rice that Mike ordered with dinner. I’m not a huge brown rice fan, but the soft nuttiness of the rice really played well with the sweetness of the sauce. This is a dish I’d order again.
We didn’t have dessert – nothing sounded that appealing, and with our 3 sodas dinner came to about $35 after tax but before tip. Not bad given the quality of the food.
Service was exceptional. Our waitress (the daughter of the owners) was friendly, attentive and eager to answer all of our questions.
In all, it was an excellent dinner and I’m eager to go back.
Sylantro Vietnamese Cuisine
967 Manor Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510-351-9999
M-Su 9 AM – 9 PM
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews