Panda Express is one of my sister Katherine’s favorite chains. We go there when she is in town and practically never otherwise. However someone mentioned that they often went for take out there, and it occurred to me that we could give it a try. My conclusion is that it’s OK, but nothing special.
I had a three entree plate ($6.75) with chow mein (one side dish is free), orange chicken, mandarin chicken and chicken with mushrooms. I liked the bitter tangy sauce that came with the mandarin chicken and the mushroomy one that came with the chicken with mushrooms. The orange chicken tasted good enough, it was just a tiny bit spicy, but the breading was pretty thick. It was even thicker in the sweet and sour pork that I ordered for Mika ($4 for a kid’s meal which includes a side, a small drink and a cookie), but it also wasn’t unpleasant. The chow mein was the most disappointing part of the meal. The ultra thin noodles were crispy but had no flavor at all. I’d definitely wouldn’t order them again.
The restaurant itself is pleasant enough, though the high tables and chairs are not the most comfortable in the world.
Panda Express
1271 Marina Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510.667.9585
Category: Restaurants (Page 37 of 52)
It’s been quite a while since I’ve gone to CreAsian, the Asian fusion restaurant on Macarthur in San Leandro. I never think of going there, mostly because it’s not particularly cheap, not particularly child-friendly, and when I go out with Mike on a date, I prefer to go to a new place. Still, I’ve gone to CreAsian a few times for drinks/dessert – and I like it for that purpose.
I went there Monday night with five friends on a “Mom’s night out” sort of thing, just for drinks and dessert, and it was pretty good. They have an extensive list of mixed drinks, in addition to coffees with a variety of alcohol and hard liquors. Their dessert selection is somewhat limited, and I suspect they don’t make their desserts in house. Their creme brule cheesecake was OK, what I had, was OK but nothing spectacular. People did like their fried calamari and tuna tartare, and the pineapple fried rice I had was pretty enjoyable. Their food presentation is quite good.
The atmosphere, however, is a tad weird. Service is competent yet on the cold side, and I never manage to feel completely comfortable there. Another minus is that it closes at 10 PM on weekdays.
Still, it’s not a bad place for an occasional night out.
CreAsian
1269 Macathur Boulevard
San Leandro, CA
510.895.8028
Updated Review – August 2009
Sweet Fingers is a Jamaican restaurant that has been opened in San Leandro since May. And yet, it wasn’t until a couple of days ago that I finally visited it.
It’s not that I didn’t try to go before, but even though it does have a sign with the Jamaican flag outside, it is still pretty hidden. The best way to locate it is to remember that it’s just across the street from Angelina’s.
Sweet Fingers is located in what probably used to be a bar. There are no windows, and the bar area is quite large. There isn’t much in the way of decor, just wire tables and chairs. It’s definitely a no-frills sort of place. That said, they have reggae music on weekends, and it’s perhaps better considered a music spot where they also serve food. Indeed, we were the only people who were there for lunch that Tuesday at noon.
It’s a pity because the food at Sweet Fingers is pretty good. Nothing outstanding, you won’t go home thinking San Leandro finally has the restaurant it deserves, but I liked it nonetheless.
Their lunch menu is very short. If you want meat, your choices are between jerk chicken and curry chicken – there is also a fish sandwich and quite a few vegetarian options. The dinner menu is broader and includes beef, lamb and oxtail as well as several seafood choices. The vegetarians are, once again, well covered. Lunch prices are $6-11, while most dinners are $15-16.
Aamani decided to go for the jerk chicken dish ($8), while I had the curry chicken ($9) just to be different. Indeed, the main difference between the two dishes seemed to be the curry sauce. We both found the chicken to be very good, moist and tender. The slightly spicy jerked flavor was very nice, but the skin could have been crispier. Perhaps it was better that it wasn’t, as there was little temptation to eat it. The curry sauce was very mild, nice but not compelling. The dishes came with rice and beans (I thought they were OK, but I’m not crazy about rice and beans to begin with) and with two slices of fried banana, these were great. A side dish of cornbread ($2) brought a huge, crumbly slice. I couldn’t decide how much I liked it. I think it was nice, but not extraordinary. Finally, my coke was flat.
Service was good but slow. That’s probably because the food had to be made from scratch when we got there – and we did appreciate the freshness of it.
I’ll definitely go again. Next time I’d like to try it for dinner, though. It’d also be an ideal place to go late at night, on weekdays it doesn’t close until midnight.
Sweet Fingers
464 E. 14th St.
San Leandro ,CA
510.553.9869
M-Th 11 AM – 12 AM
F-Sa 11 AM on
http://www.sweetfingersrestaurant.com/
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
January 2012 Update
Do yourself a favor. If you have $10 (plus tax & tip) to spare, head over to Paradiso and have a burger. Paradiso’s burger is simple: a half a pound of chuck in a homemade bun with no accoutrements. When I first ordered it I was skeptical, no cheese? no bacon? no fancy sauces? And then I took a bite. And another. And soon I could swear it was, by far, the best burger I had ever tasted. The secret to the flavor of Paradiso’s burgers is not one you can easily replicate at home: they are cooked in their wood burning oven and are imparted with the smoky flavor of the burning oak.
Their sliders (3 for $11) are equally as good, though these are made from Kobe beef and served with good, though unnecessary, caramelized onions. When I ate them, I had to stop the waiter and ask if there were any condiments on the bun, I really couldn’t believe a piece of meat inside a bun could be so flavorful and moist. But alas, they were plain.
The rest of the food during a couple of recent lunches at Paradiso was also solid and good, though not particularly exciting. They continue using the same sides for all dishes, which I don’t like. In any cases, if I go back to Paradiso it’ll be for the burger.
—
2007 Review
Last night it was girl’s night out with my friends Penelope, Desiree, Victoria and Paz. We went to Paradiso for appetizers, drinks and dessert.
As usual, I got the filet mignonettes ($12), slices of beef pan seared and served on crostini with a marsala mushroom sauce. As usual, it was very good. Desiree and Paz shared the Calamari Fritti ($10) and the smoked salmon pizza with goat cheese ($15). I forgot to ask them how they liked it, but I will report about it as soon as I hear from them.
We all shared a bottle of the Salentein Malbec, from Mendoza ($32). I don’t remember what year it was. It was absolutely delicious – it had a good body, not too light, not too heavy, soft tannins and a hint of oak and fruit. I see they sell it at BevMo, and I’ll have to trek over there some time to buy a few bottles.
For dessert (all $6) I had their famous sundae. I wasn’t as impressed with it as everyone else seems to me. The ice cream was just OK, the chocolate sauce very good but scant. It wasn’t a particularly big sundae either. The rest of the team shared a couple of apple crisps and they all seemed to be very happy with it. They thought it was just right.
The only negative part of the evening is that they close fairly early, they threw us out by 10 PM (this was a Wednesday night). Still, we had a very good time and I’d recommend it for a mom’s night out.
Paradiso
685 Bancroft Ave
San Leandro, CA
(510) 430-9212
http://www.paradisosanleandro.com/
These are places we went to recently, while the kids were away.
Zza’s is a very nice Italian restaurant that is also very child friendly. We liked the food.
Breads of India was a great disappointment. Mild Indian food without complexity.
Chili’s in San Leandro is a chain restaurant but they offer great ribs and a wonderful chocolate cake.
Tonight I was left alone at home with nothing to eat, and Mike suggested I get some Indian. As the kids, who don’t like Indian, are not home, that seemed like a good idea.
Favorite India is my favorite Indian restaurant, so it’s very fortunate that they are both in the area and deliver here. I’ve been ordering from there since it opened several years ago, and I’m seldom disappointed. This time I wasn’t.
I ordered my usuals, lamb korma, chicken tikka masala and a mixed grill (yes, I was alone, but they have a $25 minimum for delivery). All three were good, the sauce in the lamb korma, in particular, was excellent, very creamy, very deep and balanced. The tikka masala was also very good and balanced, with a hint of acidity. The mixed grill was a little on the dry/overdone side, however. My sweet lassi was good, a bit watery but I expect that’s from the ice melting while I waited to drink it. The kabuli naan was particularly good today, filled with nuts and cherries.
In all it was a very good meal and I’m stuffed and have lunch and dinner for tomorrow! 🙂
Mike finally returned to me a few restaurant reviews I wrote early this year. He edits them for me, as he thinks my prose is definitely in need of help. These are:
Adagia is nice restaurant in Berkeley with a dining room that looks like an Ivy League cafeteria. Good food too.
Le Cheval is a popular Oakland Vietnamese eatery, its food wasn’t as good as I remembered, though.
Spettro is another popular Oakland restaurant, this time eclectic Italian. I liked it.
Fringale is an upscale French Basque restaurant in the city. Our dinner was good if uneven.
and finally
Angelinas has become our favorite place for a pizza with the kids, not in the least because they are very child friendly.
As you know, I recently took a trip to the wine country and the mendocino area. Here are the restaurant reviews from that trip.
Mendo Bistro is a bistro in Fort Bragg, Ca, which lets you chose what you want to eat and how you want it cooked.
Timber Cove Inn Restaurant is the restaurant of the hotel of the same name located about 15 miles north of Jenner, California. There is nothing else in the area so the restaurant gets away with charging ridiculously overpriced but still good food.
Solbar in Calistoga offers high-end interpretations of American Cuisine and mostly gets it right.
La Hacienda is your typical Mexican Restaurant in Cloverdale
We had a great lunch at the Mendocino Hotel Garden Room in a beautiful bee-filled garden.
And a disappointing lunch at the the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station, with extremely underseasoned food (but in another beautiful garden).
As you can discern from my postings below, Mike and I spent three days traveling through the Napa Valley, tasting wine and relaxing. We had a few really nice dinners, and more conventional lunches. But as I swore to review everything about the trip (to make it even more fun for me), here are my notes on our Wine Country Lunches.
Sunday we were in Napa and had lunch at Giugni’s Deli in St. Helena. This is our favorite sandwich shop in the whole world. *Every* time we come to Napa, we go eat there. Napa may be filled with culinary delights from north to south, but we will never know them because I will never have lunch at a place other than Giugni’s. It *is* that good.
Last night we got take out from New Hong Kong. I always order the same things, orange chicken, szechuan beef, sesame chicken, orange chicken, and then I’m a bit disgusted by the gooiness of it all. This time I decided to try something different and got the crispy chicken ($6 for half a chicken) and the ginger beef ($6.50). I also got the pork buns, chicken chow mein for the kids, and an order of free fried wontons.
The pork buns were good, as usual. They are steamed and they have a pretty high ratio of bread to stuffing, but they are good none the less. The friend wontons are crisp and very good with the sweet-n-sour sauce they came with. Pure fat and a guilty pleasure. Can’t comment on the chow mein ’cause I didn’t try it. But both the crispy chicken and the ginger beef were very good. The chicken was moist and had been nicely spiced (but it wasn’t spicy), and it’s skin was almost crispy enough. As it was, you could skip it and all that fat. The ginger beef had a light ginger flavor, and was nicely complimented by the green onions. The one problem is that there were just too many scallions and too little beef. Still, I’d order both dishes again.
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