| Restaurant Name | City |
Rating
|
|---|---|---|
| Lori's Diner | Cupertino, CA | |
|
It should be better. It's not. Meh food. Good service, though.
Steer clear of the burgers.
|
||
| Pedro's Restaurant & Cantina | Santa Clara, CA | |
|
This place has an odd location tucked away behind a bunch of office
parks. You'd never know it was there from the highway or even
from a major street.
<br>
I went here for the mother's day brunch buffet. If you want
to go be sure to get a reservation *well* in advance, even a month
or so.
<br>
I was pleased with the quality of food and the selection. They
had a mix of traditional brunch fare such as eggs benedict, omlettes,
and waffles, and mexican food such as enchiladas, and chili rellenos.
<br>
I found the service to be pretty good. It was *crowded* but they
seemed pretty good about keeping our juice glasses full and handling
our requests.
<br>
The food was a little on the bland side. The hollendaise sauce
on the eggs could have had more flavor. It wasn't bad, though.
<br>
Like all mothers day brunches, it was a tad pricey. $20 for all
you can eat.
<br>
I would definitely give this place a try for lunch sometime.
|
||
| Dave and Buster | Milpitas, CA | |
|
Dave & Buster's (not 'Dave and Buster') is
a sort of adult Chuck E. Cheese's. It has lots of pool tables
and an absolutely gigantic video game and midway area.
<br>
The food isn't bad, but it's not particularly good either.
They have a number of semi upscale dishes but I've found the
food to be quite average.
<br>
I was there for lunch recently and got a cheeseburger. I specifically
asked for it to be made with cheddar cheese. Nope. They had a couple
of slices of plastic american cheese on it. Bleah. Also I asked
for it to be cooked medium. It was cooked pretty dry and lifeless.
The fries were mediocre. I've had worse, and I've had
better.
<br>
One upside for this place is that they have nice private rooms
if you have a big party planned ahead of time. You can reserve a
nice room with a pool table all to yourself.
<br>
If you're looking for a simple place for lunch, eat somewhere
else and go to Dave & Buster's afterward to play games.
|
||
| La Val's Gardens | Berkeley, CA | |
|
La Val's is sports bar level pizza. If you're a student
looking for a quick bite between classes, or your softball team
needs a bunch of pizza and beer to celebrate the big win, this is
a good place. Otherwise, the pizza is incredibly average. The
sandwiches are not so good. They charge $.35 for refills which
I feel is simply chisling the customer.
<br>
I had a mini pepperoni and mushroom pizza and my wife had an eggplant
parmesan sandwich. The pizza was pretty bland and the pepperoni
was obviously of an inferior quality. The crust was thin, but
not bad. The sandwich was inedible.
<br>
The service is, to be generous, minimal. You place your order
and pick it up at the counter. If you're lucky the guy calling
your number has a rudimentary command of the English language
and you'll be able to make out what he said. Otherwise you
have to walk up to the counter every time anything comes over the
P.A.
<br>
When I was a student at Cal, I went to La Val's every day for
lunch. The simple reason was that it's cheap. They still
offer a slice and a drink for $2.50 which is a pretty good price.
<br>
If you've got a little more time and money, go elsewhere.
|
||
| Quiznos | Cupertino, CA | |
|
Quiznos is a national chain of sub restaurants. It's a major
competitor of Subway and Togo's. They also high quality
ingredients (unlike Subway), and toast their subs (unlike Subway
or Togo's).
<br>
They also offer soups which are good but not great.
<br>
I recommend the smoked turkey sub on rosemary bread with rosemary
sauce. It's really good.
|
||
| Chipotle | Cupertino, CA | |
|
Chipotle is a smallish chain of mexican restaurants. This one
is located near the Albertson's on DeAnza in Cupertino.
<br>
The selection is pretty limited. They do burritos, tacos, and
a few other things and that's it. And it's a good thing
because their burritos are fantastic. I haven't bothered
to have anything else there because I like the burritos so much.
<br>
They make their burritos with a special cilantro spiced white
rice, not the usual red spanish rice you see everywhere else.
You can choose chicken, beef, or pork. I always choose the chicken.
Unlike most Mexican places, they obviously take the time to trim
their chicken and use only the white meat and not the cheapo crappy
dark meat floor sweepings you see other places. You can choose
black beans or pinto beans. I always choose the black beans. After
that they have the usual additional fillings to choose from including
several types of salsa.
<br>
A word about the salsa. I always get the medium salsa. Oh man is
it good. I sometimes spring for chips and an extra container of
the salsa. Mmmmm.
<br>
When they make their burritos they aren't chintzy either.
When they hand you your paper bag with a burrito in it, it's
surprisingly heavy. If I could get away with it diet-wise, I'd
eat there a whole lot more than I do now.
<br>
I highly recommend this place.
<br>
Sorry about the phone number. It was the one registered with the
chamber of commerce. I couldn't find this place in the phone
book yet.
|
||
| Alotta's Deli Cafe | Cupertino, CA | |
|
This is a tiny neighborhood sandwich place. They've got
one soup selection. You order at the counter and can sit either
inside or outside.
<br>
They have some sandwich specials, but other than that this place
is pretty run of the mill. It's a smaller, less well funded
version of Eric's Deli Cafe. The sandwiches are not cheap,
either.
<br>
When we went there the service was average at best. We ordered
cheese on a sandwich which they forgot. When my wife told them,
they didn't even apologize, they just told her to bring the
sandwich back.
<br>
Frankly, you get a better sandwich at Quizno's.
|
||
| Kapp's Pizza Bar & Grill | Mountain View, CA | |
|
This is somewhat of a fixture on Mountain View's Castro Street.
It used to be Stuft Pizza but years ago it turned into Kapp's.
<br>
They serve pizza, burgers, sandwiches, and a lot of other things.
They have a nice bar, and good atmosphere, with booths and tables.
<br>
The prices are about what you'd expect for a place like that.
<br>
The pizza is very good in my opinion. Good quality toppings, chewy
crust, good sauce.
<br>
The burgers aren't bad, but they're nothing special.
<br>
It's a great place to go when you want to actually sit and talk
with someone for a while and enjoy a meal.
|
||
| Eric's Deli Cafe | Cupertino, CA | |
|
Eric's is located in the strip mall on Steven's Creek
just down from Blaney on the right side as you head toward Vallco.
<br>
This is mostly a sandwich place but they have soup as well. The
interior is an old west motif. You order your sandwich at the counter
and seat yourself and bus your own table.
<br>
They offer a pretty wide variety of sandwiches with more interesting
than usual ingredients. The bread is usually a negative as they
tend toward soft sliced bread which turns to adhesive in your
mouth.
<br>
The soup is pretty average.
<br>
They offer free refills on drinks and use mason jars for glasses.
<br>
Overall I feel this place has good potential, but something prevents
it from coming together. It may be as simple as the high prices
combined with the lame bread.
|
||
| Pizza Chicago | Santa Clara, CA | |
|
With the demise of Pizzeria Uno over a year ago, Pizza Chicago
is one of the few places in the San Jose area to get real deep dish
pizza.
<br>
The good news is that they do a pretty good job of it. This isn't
a Pizza-Hut-like "deep" dish which is essentially
slightly thicker crust. Nope, this is genuine deep dish pizza.
<br>
The restaurant itself is pretty small with just a handful of tables,
but they do take your order and serve you.
<br>
I have always found the pizza to be very good and the service to
be excellent.
<br>
The only deep dish remaining in the whole Bay Area which is significantly
better is Zachary's in Berkeley, but I'm not enough
of a die hard to drive an hour for pizza.
|
||
| Willalby's Cafe | Madison, WI | |
|
This is a nice traditional cafe near downtown Madison. It has
tables, booths, and stools at the counter just as it should be
with a cafe. It's full of regulars who the waiters know by
name.
<br>
I had a very simple breakfast of eggs over medium, toast, and hash
browns. Everything was cooked properly and arrived hot. The
service was outstanding. The waiter was very nice to our baby
and was quick with the coffee refills.
<br>
I definitely did not leave hungry. They are not chintzy on the
portions and the price was far lower than I expected.
<br>
The only reason I didn't give this place 5 stars is that the
menu is a bit limited, which is understandable.
<br>
I highly recommend Willalby's.
|
||
| Michael's Frozen Custard | Madison, WI | |
|
I've never had the food here. Do they serve food here? I'm
not sure. Who cares. They serve frozen custard which is an extremely
rich form of soft serve ice cream.
<br>
There's not much to say except it's really good stuff.
|
||
| Armadillo Willy's BBQ | Cupertino, CA | |
|
This is, of course, a chain, but a reasonably good one. I usually
have the chicken, which is generally cooked well. The baked bean
side is particularly good. If you get take out they're pretty
quick about it which is nice.
<br>
I recommend this place.
|
||
| Cafe Torre | Cupertino, CA | |
|
This is a cloth tablecloth, expensive, fancy Italian restaurant
just down from DeAnza on Stevens Creek in a little strip mall.
<br>
The service is pretty good and reasonably friendly.
<br>
The food is also pretty good, but not out of this world. The selection
is a bit limited.
<br>
Overall I do recommend the place if you want a fast upscale dinner.
|
||
| Coffee Society | Cupertino, CA | |
|
I had a frozen chai tea there. I'm not much of a tea person,
but it was really good. I was able to sit outside and enjoy my tea
and good conversation.
<br>
Sadly, the evil empire of Starbucks has moved in across the street
so this place may die soon.
|
||
| Donut Wheel | Cupertino, CA | |
|
What can you say? It's a good doughnut shop. Nice quick service.
Good doughnuts. A good combination.
<br>
Mmmmmmm...doughnuts....gaaahaaahahahah - Homer Simpson
|
||
| Florentine Italian Foods | Cupertino, CA | |
|
This is a family run Florentine's, and they run it very well.
The food is standard Florentine's fare, which I happen to
like a lot. The service is usually very good indeed. There are
a couple of waiters there who treat is well. We did have one waiter
there once who was a bit short with us, but he seems to have left.
<br>
Once we actually had to call the manager over to complement the
waiter on the good service he gave us.
|
||
| Fontanas (Italian) | Cupertino, CA | |
|
I looked at the reviews for this, and the redundant other entry
for Fontana's and they all are about 3 stars. That's
pretty darned accurate in my opinion.
<br>
This is a fancy and expensive northern Italian restaurant. When
you go there, expect to pay something like $25 per person for a
typical meal.
<br>
The food is upscale, but still somehow average. It's well
prepared and well presented, but lacks any flair. The selection
is pretty limited as well.
<br>
The service was good, if a bit over-eager.
<br>
If you're looking for a really high quality fancy Italian
meal, this really isn't the place.
|
||
| Fresh Choice | Cupertino, CA | |
|
This Fresh Choice is actually in the Vallco mall. You pay something
like $7.50 and you can eat all you can eat, like every other Fresh
Choice.
<br>
The setting is a bit cramped as it's tacked onto the end of
the mall, but they keep it reasonably neat. It can get kind of annoying
when it's crowded.
<br>
It is a good place for lunch if you want to avoid other mall food.
|
||
| Hobee's Restaurant | Cupertino, CA | |
|
Hobee's is famous for their coffee cake and rightly so. It's
moist and the topping is crumbly and tasty.
<br>
Their breakfast fare is pretty good, although it's hard
to do breakfast food wrong.
<br>
Their dinner entrees are well done too.
<br>
Here's a tip. Get a friend to order something that comes with
coffee cake so you can get some without having to finish the huge
piece they give you.
|
||