According to Mike, there is a sign at Andy & Joe’s Restaurant saying that the restaurant is for sale or rent. I’m not surprised, as every time I walked by (and as it’s on my way downtown I walked by it a lot) it was empty or semi-empty. Alas, if they didn’t improve on their food, I’m not surprised. The restaurant business is hard and you need to offer a superior product to make it. If you do, like Le Soleil, staying alive shouldn’t be a problem.
I think there were a couple of other things that andy & joe’s did wrong (apart from offering mediocre food). One was to offer the same type of food that you can get at other established restaurants downtown. And it wasn’t a destination sort of food, like Vietnamese, Thai or Indian may be. The other was to not advertise widely at first. That’s when they need to get the word of mouth going. Putting flyers in area businesses and homes would have helped them. And finally, they priced their offerings too high.
The location may be a problem, too. This is the third restaurant in a row that fails there. The first one (since we’ve lived in San Leandro), Casa María #2 was closed down by the health department, briefly reopened afterwards, and then moved to a different (and one hopes cleaner) location. I haven’t been there again.
The second one started as Kolbeh, offered mediocre Mediterranean fair. Though I wished the owners well, their food just did not convince me. Apparently it didn’t convince others’ either, as they closed it and revamped it as a Mexican restaurant, Taqueria. They had a strange scheme, they served burritos and you paid $1 for each ingredient you wanted. That made a meat and guacamole burrito a bargain, but an “everything” burrito quite expensive. Alas, the pre-cooked meat wasn’t that great either. I was sorry to see them go, I liked the owners, but it was also inevitable.
And now Andy & Joe’s.
But alas, I don’t think the problem is the location. I think the problem is the mediocre food that all these restaurants are serving. And the lack of imagination. Do we need a burger place downtown? Ummm, no. Do we need another taqueria? Los Pericos practically has the whole San Leandro market. What we do need, if anyone is listening, is an INDIAN restaurant. There is one in Hayward, Favorite India, which delivers to San Leandro – but it’s not the same as having one here. Plus an Indian buffet would do well with the downtown business crowd.
And here is a radical idea, how about an Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant? As judged by who attends the library story time, San Leandro has a large Ethiopian and Eritrean population. That provides a built-in market for a restaurant. Add to that all the Berkeley-transplants who live here, and you have a winner. An Ethiopian restaurant could offer a killer lunch buffet as well.
A Persian restaurant could be a great addition, as well, though I’m less sure there is enough of a market for it.
But anyway, restaurant entrepeneurs take notice, here is a space you could turn into a good and much needed restaurant with some vision.
On a different note, I’ve learned there is a new Jamaican place in town, but when I went looking for it I didn’t find it (not surprising, given how I am). Friends ate there, though, and they liked it. I’m hoping to visit it soon and give you a report.
Category: Restaurants (Page 38 of 52)
I just heard that a new Afghan restaurant has opened near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. I don’t know anything about it, so if you’d been there and have an opinion, please comment here. Still, for me any new Afghan place is good news. here are the details:
Kabul City Restaurant
380 Beach St
San Francisco, Ca 94113
415-359-1400
Yesterday was my birthday (yeaaaay!), and while I’m having the main celebration Saturday (and I’ll write more about the food for that in my next posting), Mike was nice enough to take me out for lunch and dinner yesterday. We did, however, go to San Leandro favorites (sort of) rather than all the way out of the city.
For lunch we went to Paradiso and for dinner to Horatio’s
Lunch was very disappointing, all the more so because Paradiso is supposed to be the best restaurant in town and because I’ve had a couple of good lunches there lately (if you go, order the filetes mignonettes, those are very good). I ordered a dish of penne with mushrooms and filet mignon slices in a Marsala creme sauce (doesn’t that sound good?). Alas, it wasn’t that great. The flavor of the sauce was just too mild, and the beef needed some salt to bring its own flavor forward. It wasn’t bad, but not $15-good. Mike had the scallops, and he thought they were fine, but the portion was too small to fill him up. The OK fries didn’t help much. He ended up eating some of my lunch. I don’t think either of us were inordinately hungry. Service was blah, even though there seemed to be a dozen people working that day. Our waiter never came to check on us after our food was served, and the bill was just brought after we were done with our entrees, without asking if we wanted something else. Lunch came up to somewhere over $40 before tip, definitely not worth it. Still, Paradiso does a brisk lunch business, though choices for nice lunch places in town are very limited.
Dinner was something different. Once again, we had Horaio’s delicious foccacia bread with garlic butter (I think that’s what they serve, at least), followed by the warm brie with macademia nut crust ($11). We’ve had this before and it’s delicious, in particular with the apple and the balsamic vinegar. I only wish they served more than 3 small slices of apple and a drizzle of vinegar. Still, it’s something I’ll keep ordering.
As our entrees, I had the Hawaiian baby back ribs ($19), which were quite nice though nothing special as far as baby back ribs go. The meat did fall completely off the bone, though, which Mike particularly liked. It came with sweet potato fries, I think I’d have liked regular fries better, these ones had a very mild taste.
Mike thought his crab stuffed sole was delicious, albeit a tiny bit in the salty side. He couldn’t taste the crab, however, though that didn’t seem to deter from the dish. He’d order it again.
For dessert I had the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, which is pretty much what I always order, and I liked it a lot.
Service was very good, I got a window table just as I requested on my reservation – though we had to wait a little bit for it. Our waitress was jovial and cordial, and kept an eye on our needs. All in all we had a great time – made better by the fact that I got a $20 off coupon, as it was my birthday. It really pays to join their club.
I received the following complaint about the Apple Peddler in Sutherlin. I’m posting it at the request of the sender
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My kids were here on vacation-they wanted pie. We went to the Apple Peddlere in Sutherlin. We bought two cream pies, cheese cake and a piece of peach pie.
The cream pies were very good. The cheese cake was enjoyed by my daughter-the peach pie was mine.
I opened the to go container and found two slices of peach that looked like they had been sitting in a dehydrater for 7 days. The filling had jelled-I had moved past the dried peach slices and put my fork into the slice-how on earth did the server send this old, stale slice of pie out of the store? I immediately called and spoke with the server that knowingly pass this on to me. I would return the next day for a refund. She politely acknowledged my request.
My kids were here on vacation-we went with my mother early to the Wild Life Safari. When we retuned I sent my son to Apple Peddler to get the money-$3.75. He came home with the same dried out pie-really upset me. So I called again. I started with ” I want to leave a message with the manager.” I was told to quit yelling-I was using an angry voice but far from yelling, although I did volunteer to yell, then I was told “The manager does not have time to take out of his busy day and return my call.” Yes, I was then very pissed off. I explained that I had spent $26 on pie and that I wanted to have my complaint satisfied. I finally hung up the phone. I am making the third trip to the restaurant today to take care of the dried up pie situation.
I will never eat here again. The customer service leaves much to be desired.
Chris Dockstader
Sutherlin, OR
Mike and I just took a trip to Bellevue, Washington (he had work there), so we went out to dinner in the area. I wrote several reviews, which you can now read online:
Chutneys is an upscale Indian restaurant, with an amazing lamb dish.
Andiamo is an Italian restaurant with a really annoying singer.
McCormick & Schmicks Seafood Restaurant is a chain with pretty good fish
On our last day, we visited Seattle and had a very good meal at Pike Place Bar & Grill
Note: This restaurant has closed. A burger joint may
open in its place.
A few weeks ago my friend Lola came to visit me and we were looking for a place to have lunch. I decided it was time to give Cafe Encore another chance, I’d been there years before but it had since changed ownership. We were surprised to find out that it had also changed names and concept, it now serves wine country cuisine and it’s called Sonoma’s Restaurant.
The place hasn’t changed much in looks, it has a pleasant bistro-like atmosphere, perfect for a nice lunch. Its lunch menu – I haven’t been there for dinner yet – concentrates on fancy sandwiches, mostly $9-10. I went for the Napa Valley Burger which added prosciutto, blue cheese, mushrooms and greens to some fancy ground beef. It was quite good but pretty unmanageable. The burger kept falling off the bread, and the whole thing was too thick to fit in my admittedly small mouth. It wasn’t too easy to eat with knife and fork either. I liked the taste of the blue cheese, though it did overwhelm the prosciutto which I couldn’t taste at all. Still, I liked the whole thing and I’d order it again.
Lola was very pleased with the sandwich that was the special of the day. It had salame, provolone cheese, bacon and avocado. She found it very tasty, though also hard to eat. In addition, he bread had been toasted in olive oil and made her fingers oily. She also liked the mixed green salads dressed with balsamic vinegar. We both really liked the piquant salsa served on the side.
Service, by David, the new owner, was very good. He was attentive but kept his distance from out very intimate conversation.
In all, we had a very nice lunch experience, and I’d definitely go again. Now it’s time to try them for dinner.
Sonoma’s
1027 MacArthur Blvd
San Leandro
510.636.1143
Last night my friends Eddie, Katrina, Parker and I had a well-deserved Mom’s Night Out. We decided to go to Spettro’s for dinner – and a review of that restaurant will follow soon – but we didn’t want to get there too early, lest the place be full of children. If we’re out without our children, we definitely want to avoid other people’s as well.
So we decided to go to a bar instead. Katrina had one in mind, blocks and blocks away from Spettro’s, but right before we got there we went by di bartolo and it seemed like a really nice place to stop. We were concerned that it was too much of a restaurant, but they have a bar area in the back which was just perfect for us. It’s small, dark, and while it was crowded, it was quite comfortable. The front dining room is also small and dark, and I think it could be a pleasant place for a romantic evening.
di bartolo offers ten interesting mix drink concoctions ($10), products of a very creative bartender. Eddie and I went for El Rojo Obispo: Absolut ruby red, patron citronge, fresh mint, pomegrante juice and lime. It was very good, though a little bit too sweet for me – as the ice melted and the drink diluted that was less of a problem. Both Eddie and I would definitely order it again. Katrina had the grand: vanilla vodka, mission fig puree and fresh lemon, served up. It was delicious, it had a warm fussiness to it, and a caramelish taste. I’d definitely order it. The loser of the evening was Parker’s Madagascar sazerac: Maker’s mark, vanilla sugar, thyme sprig, served on the rocks. The problem was that it tasted very alcoholic, if you are the type of person who drinks your alcohol straight you might like it, but if you are a mixed-drinks type of person, you may want to stay away from it. In any case, Parker couldn’t finish it. Finally, Eddie and Parker shared a mojito. I didn’t try it but they both said they liked it.
In the middle of our drinks we figured it’d be good if we had something to eat (though we’d munched on crackers with goat cheese, nicely provided by Eddie, in the car) so we ordered their garlic fries ($5) and their mushroom pizza with caramelized onions and chevre ($14). The fries were good, though not nearly as good as the fries from A Cote, or even our neighborhood’s Joplin’s (though they were definitely more refined, thinner, than the latter). For $5 I would have expected them to be somewhat better. The same thing can be said about the pizza, it was very good with a very thin crust and a good balance of toppings (though the mushrooms were particularly good), but it was definitely too small for the prize – or too pricey for the size and lack of “awe” element. But you know me, I’m pretty jaded by food and it was a good pizza.
In all we very much enjoyed our time at di bartolo and we are planning to go there for dinner at our next mom’s night out.
di bartolo
3306 Grand Ave
Oakland, CA
510-451-0576
Last weekend we went to Tilden with our kids, but neglected to pack a lunch to bring along (that neglect can be put squarely at Mike’s shoulders, as I would never pack a lunch to begin with). So once there, we had to go into Berkeley in search both for gas (as Desiree had been running on empty for a couple of days by then) and food. We managed to get a place to park near Cactus Taqueria and so there we went.
The long lines did not foreshadow particularly good food. We all found the burritos (~$6) – and we got carne asada, carnitas and chicken burritos – to be just OK. In my particularly case, the cold ingredients (salsa, cheese, lettuce, cream & guacamole) completely overwhelmed the meat. There were bites – about 50% of them – that came with no meat at all. The lack of meat was also noticed by my companions. Even the rice and beans were not particularly noteworthy, though the kids ate some of them.
All of this said, the food wasn’t terrible, though I’ll look for some other place next time we’re in the area.
Cactus Taqueria
1881 Solano Ave.
Berkeley, CA
510-528-1881
Frequent visitors to my website will probably have noticed that I haven’t updated my restaurant reviews in a while. Part of the issue is that I don’t eat out as much as I used to – it’s a pain in the butt to go to restaurants with Camila, and the kids are going to sleep pretty early lately -, but a bigger part of it is that Mike has been singularly busy for the last few months and he has not edited my restaurant reviews. Moreover, he doesn’t think my writing should appear anywhere without editing (that’s very flattering), so he kept telling me that he’d have them ready and to wait just a couple of days more. Finally, when I threatened and threatened to post them unedited, he relented and did them all. So here they are:
In San Leandro
Horatio’s. An update on our local steak & fish house. Read about how we managed to have a three-course meal for $25.
Makiyaki. This Japanese restaurant in Pelton Center has good sushi but terrible teriyaki.
Chang’s. This new restaurant at the new MacArthur development offers scaled-up Chinese food with fresh ingredients.
Vila Cereja update. This strange restaurant has no windows, but some cool design motifs – as well as very good food. Now, if only the service could match it.
Further afield
Pappo, in Alameda, offers solid food that needs a little bit more pizzazz. Still a good choice for a Californian meal.
La Note in Berkeley has a lovely room and did a good job with a ratatouille but completely failed with a simple burger.
Also in Berkeley, Viceroy Indian Cuisine proved that serving good food is no requirement for staying in business in Berkeley.
In Oakland, Tanjia serves tasty Moroccan food, in a tent-like atmosphere, as well as bellydancing. But the service is stiff and the tea could be tastier.
And talking about tea, the Leland Tea Company in San Francisco serves an impossibly cheap tea service which includes a very weak cup of tea. Some of the food was good, however.
A better choice is Secret Garden, which is frilly and delicate but has good tea and good food.
Finally, there is a November update from a visit to the Buenos Aires Grill in the San Fernando Valley.
I’m off to two new restaurants this week, and I still have to write a review of Angelina’s, so keep your eyes open for more reviews coming soon.
The other night, before a City Council meeting (in which our friend Jim Prola was appointed to City Council to my endless happiness), we decided to drop by Hoagy Steak for a bite. The place is very close to City Hall and I imagine it gets quite a bit of business from there. Both Mike and I got the plain Philly Cheese steak – though we probably should have gotten one with more stuff on it. I thought the cheese steaks were pretty good, if a bit salty. Mike didn’t like them, probably because they were made with the foulest of all cheeses, American cheese. In any case they were fresh. The fries, also made right then, were steaming hot and pretty good. I can see going back there if I have a hankering for a Philly steak or a hoagy, or I’m just around City Hall.
Hoagy Steak
691 East 14th St.
San Leandro, Ca
510.635.3631
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