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Tag: San Leandro (Page 1 of 10)

San Leandro Bites: Wonderful Cafe

December 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Disappointing take out

Last night I got take out from Wonderful Cafe, the Hong Kong restaurant that has opened in the Le Soleil space. I loved Le Soleil for many years, before it became tired and I stopped going, so I wasn’t necessarily sad to see it go – but I wish a better restaurant had taken its place.

I didn’t go to pick up the food, so I can’t tell you about the atmosphere and service, but photos I’ve seen online make it seem closer to a cafeteria in style than to the “Asian bistro” look of the 00s and 10s which I so enjoyed. The walls are half painted in a hospital-teal color which I’m guessing is aiming to exude “cleanliness,” I can’t imagine what else.

I ordered the Beef Brisket Clay Pot Vermicelli ($18), which looked nothing like its picture online, and actually consisted of a few cubes of fatty meat, rice and bok choy. There was no vermicelli. The beef cubes were mostly fat, there was very little meat to speak of. The rice was tasty enough in the areas that had been caramelized, but it was mostly insipid. If I hadn’t had a dog to whom I could feed the fat, it would have been a complete miss of a meal. Obviously I wouldn’t order it again.

Mike had the sweet and sour grilled pork ($19.5). It was “just OK.” He found it to be bordering on bland, without the intensity of flavor and just “tastiness” that he was looking for. He wouldn’t order it again.

The people at the restaurants were very nice, they even gave Mike some candied walnuts while he waited for the food. Those were quite good. For this reason, I may give them a try in the future, once they have found their stride and hopefully corrected criticism. 

Wonderful Cafe
1515 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA 
510-756-6103

San Leandro Restaurant Week is here, but is it worth it?

July 13, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Dearth of good deals means no FOMO if you skip it.

San Leandro Restaurant Week is upon us and, if possible, it’s even lamer than last year. There are very few deals that will make me want to try a new restaurant or revisit an old one.

Here are the best ones, which I might try:

– Paradiso has a $45 prix-fix menu available daily from 4 to 5 PM. During restaurant week, you can order it all day.

– Nella’s Place, a Southern food place, offers half off a second dinner, so $9 to $11 off the price of two dinners. I haven’t tried it, and this seems like a good opportunity.

– Scend offers several promos with small discounts, for example you can save $1 on a 2-wing/fries/soda lunch deal, buy one dessert get another for 1/2 off. It might be a good opportunity to try their oxtails, though, as they do offer a small order of 2 oxtails over rice for $17, and usually you need to get a full order for over $40.

The offers from the other nicer restaurants in town leave much to be desired.

– Horatio’s has a 2-course menu with only 4 choices of entrees for $33 – which saves you an average of $5 over regular menu prices, depending on what you order and whether you go for dinner or lunch.

– Moussaka gives you a free babaganoush or hummus ($8) with purchase of an entree

– Top Hatters gives you a free order of lemon ricotta doughnuts ($10) but only for lunch for a party of at least two people.

Some restaurants are adding cheap freebies

– Elio’s will give you a free cup of tapioca pudding or scoop of ice-cream if you order their daily-special dinner.

– Leisure Cafe offers a free ice tea or milk (~$5) if you buy its baked pork chop or black pepper spaghetti.

– Tequila Grill has a 3-course menu for $25, featuring half-entrees, which basically means that by ordering the very limited choices for appetizer and entre, you get a free flan.

– Tsuru Sushi offers 3 orders of chicken teriyaki for the price of 2 or a free California roll if you buy ramen. The latter is not bad, but who wants three orders of chicken teriyaki?

Discounts at other restaurants are pretty paltry:

You can save $3 at 21st Amendment brewery, but only if you want to eat fish tacos with an El Sully beer.

Fieldwork Brewing is offering an appetizer + pizza for $30, usually $27 to $41 (assuming all items are included in the promo).

You can save $1 on a Bento Box at Makiyaki.

Sushi Delight offers its 9-piece sashimi dinner for $22 or $6 off its regular price and its “tempura & teriyaki” dinner for $19, or $2 off its regular price.

You can save 15% on the dish-of-the-day at Habibi’s Birria.

And then some restaurants don’t offer any savings whatsoever.

Drake’s Barrel House, Sons of Liberty Alehouse, Zenti Bistro and Mai Thai, as well as Koolfi Creamery are serving a dish or two not usually in the menu.

Pistahan is offering its same weekend buffet at its regular price.

Josephine Southern Cuisine is opening a pop-up on July 18th & 19th from 11 am to 4 pm only, at E14th Eatery and Kitchen and serving their fried chicken with mac & cheese and collard greens for $25, which seems like their regular price.

There are also a few bars/drink places with offerings, but as I’m not someone who goes out to drink I didn’t analyze them.


San Leandro Bites: Farmhouse Kitchen Express

May 17, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Good but expensive Thai food to go.

Some weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go on a lunch date and thought we’d give Farmhouse Kitchen a try. We had been there before, during the pandemic, and had had a lovely lunch on the patio – except for the noise from the construction next door. The restaurant had closed and reopened since, and we were hoping to have better luck – though as the weather was turning, we figured we’d have to eat inside this time. As it happens, Farmhouse Kitchen in San Leandro – part of a small chain – has turned into Farmhouse Kitchen Express and they no longer have indoor dining – the whole of the restaurant has turned into a kitchen. Indeed, they don’t even have waiters or even checkers to take your order: you have to order and pay online (better have a credit card). They do have a terminal in the restaurant you can use to order, however, though it’s a little bit clunky.

We did hang out in the patio while we waited for our order, and it’s nice-enough, though it seems in need of care. Of course, this has been a very rainy spring, so they might be waiting for the weather to turn nice before they work on their patio (I know that’s what I’ve been waiting for myself). Weather you eat there or not, the food comes in to-go containers.

I got the yellow curry with rice ($16) with beef ($4). It was good, but a bit on the spicy side. The curry that depth and it was well developed, but it wasn’t anything extraordinary. I think for the price, it should have been better. I also got a couple of crispy roti ($3) to go with it, and these were pretty good but they were swimming in oil. They were crispier and denser than others I’ve had, but they were still very nice with the curry. The oil, however, made limited how much of them you could eat.

Mike had the roti mataba ($15), a “crispy roti stuffed with curried potato and ground chicken,” which came with yellow curry, ajad (Thati cucumber salad) and a samosa. He enjoyed all of them very much. They were too spicy for my taste, but I’m a lightweight.

He also had the pad thai ($15), which comes with shrimp. He thought it was quite good for a pad thai, though nothing mind blowing.

In all, we felt the quality of the food was pretty high, but also that the prices were on the high-side and not really justifiable for take-out food. We probably wouldn’t go back, given other alternatives in town. But if we did go, we’d order from home first.

Farmhouse Kitchen
16695 E 14th St, San Leandro
(510) 363-8309
Order

San Leandro Bites: Fieldwork Brewing

March 27, 2025 / / 0 Comments

A second visit to this popular San Leandro brewery

Last week, we met our friend William at Fieldwork Brewing in downtown San Leandro for a long awaited catch up. It’s amazing how time flies.

William suggested Fieldwork as he frequents its Berkeley location and we were game. Mike and I tried it a year or two ago, with our friend Elektra, and while we weren’t impressed by its expensive pizzas, we did appreciate the patio-like atmosphere.

Fieldwork is a small but expanding chain of tap rooms situated in the Bay Area and surrounding counties. They offer a wide variety of beer as well as pizza and other bites. The San Leandro location is at the Washington Plaza, in front of the downtown Safeway. It features a large enclosed patio, with both picnic-style tables and benches and lounge-type chairs around gas fire pits. It’s open air, though they have a retractable roof they can close down when it rains. They also have some indoor table and bar seating.

We were there before dinner time, so we just got some beers and appetizers. William had a tasting of 3 beers, and I went for a 1/2 glass of Hills & Valleys American pilsner ($5), which I enjoyed very much. It was a bright, easy to drink but balanced and flavorful pilsner, without the bitter tones often found in this style of beer.

We shared some Honey Calabrian Wings ($16), which were very spicy and quite messy. They probably weren’t sweet enough, but they weren’t bad. the portion was quite generous (or we weren’t that hungry).

We also got the Brussel sprouts ($13) and they were a hit at the table. They were nicely caramelized.

We had the pizzas once before and we also felt they were OK but overpriced – their small pizzas are $19 to $25. They are now offering all their pizzas in “Detroit style,” with a thicker crust, so I might enjoy them more. I’m usually not a fan of “Neapolitan style” thin crust pizza, their other choice.

What annoys me most about Fieldwork is their ordering system. You have to scan a code and order and pay online. You can also go into the restaurant and order at the bar, but of course that means waiting in line (if there is one). Waiters bring your food and drinks, but if you need anything you need to go inside the restaurant to get it.

Fieldwork Brewing
100 West Juana Avenue,
San Leandro, CA
(510) 564-4298

San Leandro Bites: Mai Thai

March 11, 2025 / / 0 Comments

For fifteen years, this has been our default Thai restaurant

For the last fifteen years, since it opened, Mai Thai has been our “default” Thai restaurant in San Leandro. The food is good standard Thai-restaurant-in-America faire, the prices are reasonable and it’s close enough to our house. Since the pandemic, we usually get take out from there but last Sunday night we decided to go there for a quick date before watching White Lotus on TV – this season the series is based in Thailand.

Mai Thai has been remodeled since our last visit, and I can’t say I like the new format. It now has a long bar, which I guess allows for alcohol sales and more casual dining, but the restaurant altogether has a more casual look.

The decore now looks pretty generic and not really Thai, though I did like having flowers at the table.

I also liked the table setting, even if came with paper napkins.

Still, I’m not sure I feel a compelling reason to go to eat there versus getting take out.

Though we have explored much of Mai Thai’s menu, we tend to go back to our usuals, and we did so this time as well. To start with, we shared the roti with yellow curry ($13). I discovered this dish at Mai Thai and the restaurant continues to have my favorite version of it. Roti is a multi-layered flat bread, rich with oil, that is absolutely delicious – dipped in a good yellow curry, it’s just heavenly. I don’t really understand why this dish is so expensive, but it’s invariably so no matter where you order it. On the plus side, it’s so rich that you can’t eat that much of it.

I had the massaman curry with beef ($19) and, unfortunately, this recipe has changed a little. It was spicier than usual and I could taste the bitter flavor of the pepper. The curry also didn’t feel as deep and delicious as usual. It did continue to suffer from having undercooked potatoes, but this is a problem with every massaman curry I’ve had everywhere.

Mai Thai uses sliced beef which I think they add at to the curry after cooking it, rather than cubed beef cooked in the curry itself. This makes sense practically, as they can then offer your choice of multiple proteins with each curry, but it means that the meats are tougher and less flavorful.

Mike had the panang chicken ($19), which we both felt was better. It tasted just as it usually does, though it was less spicy than usual. Still, he enjoyed it. Like with the massaman curry, the sliced chicken seems to be cooked separately and is therefore not as succulent and tasty as it otherwise could be.

Rice was an additional $3.50 for a single but generous portion and a soda was $3. Service was friendly and competent.

Read my original reviews of Mai Thai.

Mai Thai
13700 Doolittle Dr #110
San Leandro, CA 
510-351-9898

San Leandro Bites: Roti Indian Cuisine

March 2, 2025 / / 0 Comments

A new Indian restaurant takes over Kismat’s space

San Leandro has a new Indian restaurant. Sort of. In reality, Kismat, an Indian restaurant that had opened near Bayfair Mall during the pandemic, has rebranded as Roti Indian Cuisine. I’m not sure whether it’s also under new ownership or management, but I can tell that it has a new chef. I personally liked Kismat’s food the couple of times I got take out from there – but my family had found the dishes too sweet. The new chef seems to be sinning in the opposite direction.

We got take out from Roti Indian Cuisine last week and overall we liked the food – it’s pretty solid. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much as that from other nearby Indian restaurants. On the other hand, it was cheaper.

I got the lamb korma ($17), my usual. It was pretty good, the lamb was tender and not too fatty and he curry was developed, but it lacked the slight sweetness I want to taste in this dish. I probably wouldn’t get it again, but wouldn’t mind eating it.

Mike got the butter chicken ($16) and this was probably the biggest disappointment. Once again, the sauce did taste developed, but it just wasn’t as compelling as butter chicken usually is. The chicken itself was fine, but the sauce was ultimately flat. We’d definitely skip this one.

Much better was the paneer tikka masala ($15). This sauce was everything the butter chicken sauce was not. Bright, intense and just yummy.

The curries come with rice, which was also disappointing. It was a low quality white rice which tasted boiled.

Fortunately, we also got nan which was much better. We shared plain nan ($2.50), onion nan ($3), garlic nan ($3) and kabuli nan ($4) and they were all pretty standard – nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either.

Though we were doing take out, service was an issue. The restaurant was completely empty when my husband went to pick up the food. There was a server behind the counter looking at her phone and she did not lift up her eyes once to acknowledge my husband – until, of course, he spoke to her.

In all, I don’t think we’ll be rushing back here. 

Roti Indian Cuisine
15099 Hesperian Blvd Suite A
San Leandro, CA 
(510) 460-9280

San Leandro Bites: Porky’s Pizza Palace

October 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A favorite San Leandro pizzeria never fails to satisfy

Last night, my oldest was in town and had a hankering for pizza. I didn’t myself, but I still have been craving pasta, so I decided to order from an old favorite: Porky’s Pizza Palace. This is a restaurant we have frequented ever since we moved to San Leandro, almost a quarter of a century ago. I love the old-fashioned, family-oriented, small-town-America feel of the place, and there food is pretty good as well. I didn’t take pictures this time, we just dived into the food.

The kids had a half-pineapple, half-Golden cheese pizza ($28). They thought the pizza was OK, pretty average pizzeria pizza.

We also ordered cheesy garlic bread ($6.3) and it’s definitely very cheesy. However, the cheese is not that flavorful. Next time we’d order the garlic bread without the cheese.

I decided to order a quart of ravioli ($14) and three meatballs ($12), so I’d have food for three meals. I really like Porky’s ravioli and meatballs. They are not going to win any culinary awards, but the ravioli are well cooked, with soft pasta, and are bursting with beef filling. The meat sauce is flavorful and tastes home made and the meatballs are light and, while commercial, not something I can actually buy myself at the supermarket. They are also pretty large.

In all, I like Porky’s Pizza, in particular the ravioli, and I’ll continue to order from there from time to time, as I have over the decades.

Porky's Pizza Palace
1221 Manor Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
(510) 357-4323
Mon-Thu 3 – 9 pm
Fri 3 – 10 pm
Sat 1 – 10 pm
Sun 1 – 9 pm

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Chain Restaurant Reviews: Nick the Greek

October 7, 2024 / / 1 Comment

This Greek fast food chain serves authentic souvlaki pitas!

I have written before about how my first introduction to Greek food was during a trip to Greece while doing my year abroad in Egypt. I was a starving student and Greece seemed expensive compared to Egypt back then, so my diet while there consisted pretty much only of souvlaki pitas. These sandwiches of sliced lamb and beef, with tomatoes and onions, French fries and tzatziki sauce were absolutely delicious. I had the opportunity to try them again when we travelled back to Athens, right before the pandemic. They hadn’t changed.

The gyros that Greek and Mediterranean restaurants in the US were different, and not just because they lacked French fries. I could never really tell why, but the flavor was just not there. Thus I was surprised that Nick the Greek – a chain of all things – has managed to approximate them so well.

Nick the Greek opened a location in San Leandro in the last couple of years, and we’ve been regular costumers since. They have a pretty limited menu, however, of pitas, plates and a bowl.

I usually get the Beef/Lamb Gyro Pita ($12.50). I’ve now learned that the difference between a gyro and souvlaki is that the former consists of meat shaved off a chunk of meat cooked in a rotisserie, while the latter refers to meat cooked in a skewer. I could have sworn that the souvlaki pitas I had in Greece were cooked in a rotisserie, but I could be wrong. I do prefer the taste of texture of meat cooked in skewers, as it turns out.

I like how soft and spongy the pita is. The meat is a little too salty by itself, but it mellows out within the pita. By itself, the lamb has a very intense flavor – you can tell it’s lamb -, while the beef is softer. I like having fries in the pita, though these could be a bit crispier, you don’t really notice them while you eat. The whole combo just works together well, though the predominant flavor is that of onion, when you get a piece, and of the tzatziki when you don’t.

I’ve tried the chicken souvlaki pita before, and I didn’t like it as much. Despite the marinade, the flavor of the chicken was too soft to measure up to the rest of the ingredients. My daughter has done the felafel pita before and she thought it was OK, but not remarkable.

My husband prefers to get the gyro bowl ($13.50) which includes the meat of your choice, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and cucumbers, feta cheese, tzatziki and spicy yogurt on a bed of rice. The whole thing feels like a larger, more substantial meal than the gyro and is enough for two meals. He likes how the flavors meld together.

Nick the Greek has been expanding throughout California and the west, and I can understand why. It’s not a place where you’d eat every day, given the limited menu, but a great place to grab a pita when you don’t feel like cooking.

Nick the Greek
1509 E 14th Street.
San Leandro, CA
Daily 11 AM - 10 PM

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Chain Restaurant Reviews

San Leandro Bites: Alonso Baking and Foods

September 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Competent pastries from this stand at the Farmer’s Market

I woke up very early Saturday morning so by the time mid-morning came about, I was actually hungry enough for a bite. So I talked my husband into going to the farmer’s market for some fresh orange juice and something to eat.

There aren’t too many food choices at the Bayfair farmer’s market – dumplings, felafel and a couple of bakery stands – so Mike went for the obvious and got me a couple of pastries from Alonso Baking and Foods, a Hayward based bakery.

Overall, I liked the blueberry strudel, once I heated it up. Even before I appreciated the crystalized sugar on the pastry, which gave it texture in addition to sweetness. But the blueberry compote/jam was just OK – too sweet and one note. I’m not sure that it could be any better in a baked good, however. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I’d get it again.

The cream cheese danish reminded me in taste and appearance of a cinnamon roll, though it didn’t have the heavy cinnamon flavor. The pastry has that rustic texture, somewhat on the dry side, that so many artisan bakeries seem to favor nowadays. I actually prefer them softer and chewier, but they do get better with heating. The flavor, however, was on point. The thick, dry sugar glace was delicious and the cream cheese was just heavenly. It tasted farm made. I’d definitely want it again.

Both pastries were $5 each and they were huge, large enough to share – one would be way too much for one person. 

Alonso Baking and Foods
San Leandro Farmers’ Market at Bayfair Center
Bayfair Center Parking Lot by Khol’s San Leandro, CA 
Sat 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

San Leandro Bites: Bit of Ireland Bakery

September 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This old time bakery offers some tasty treats

I’ve lived in San Leandro for decades, but it wasn’t until a week ago that I ever thought of trying Bit of Ireland Bakery. That’s mostly because I’m not in the habit of going to bakeries. I will buy the occasional pastry at the supermarket, or get a craving for donuts, and when the kids were little, we would stop at the Chinese bakery in the way from school, but otherwise it’s Mike who gets the idea of bringing pastries home.

Thus he was surprised when I suggested that he go to Bit of Ireland – or rather, “that Irish bakery on that strip mall we always drive by” – and try to get some actual Irish pastries. By the time I suggested it, it was a bit late in the morning, so I’m not sure that he succeeded. But the pastries were pretty good.

He got three pastries. One was clearly a cinnamon roll, another seemed to be a butterhorn, and the other an apple flavored sweet Danish. In reality, they all had a similar flavor profile. They were tasty when microwaved – because every pastry is better when warmed – and dipped on coffee, though that made the apple one lose its flavor. It was $8.50 for the three.

I’d like to send Mike again and try the more Irish stuff, but I guess it’ll have to be earlier in the morning.

Bit of Ireland Bakery
1268 Davis St
San Leandro, CA 
(510) 568-7398
M - W   5:30am – 3pm
Th - Sa 5:30am – 4:30 pm

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

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