Alinna "You get in my way, and I'll eat your face."

This is a “treat” place for us. They’re located in what appears to be a former Coco’s or some like-minded diner place. Their pho isn’t too oily, and has lots of goodies in it, and their vermicelli bowls (grilled pork with spring roll!) are YUM-O, Rachael Ray! Service is fast, and to the to-go option is worthwhile. In the five minutes it takes to dish up your order, you can sidle on over to Popeye’s (attached to a TapEx) for a tasty bit of instant gratification.

Note: It’s not the cleanest place in the world, so be prepared to see the errant bit of dried cilantro on a chopstick.

i’d give it a 3.5 stars. solid italian food, but nothing that wowed me. they do make their own sausages (which you HAVE to eat WITH the spicy relish) and their own pasta which was a plus. we had a special (some kind of tomato cream fusili with crimini mushrooms and pancetta) which was quite delicious, but the risotto was a too al dente and not creamy enough for me. the dessert (chocolate cream roll with rum and orange) was good, but the cake part was a bit on the dry side.

i would downgrade it to a 3 because the service was spotty and even though we had made a reservation, we got seated in an inconvenient location right back next to the kitchen (even though the restaurant wasn’t that busy) where i would occasionally get whacked in the head by the waiter trying to squeeze through.

really good. a total firetrap, but it was hopping at 2 pm. the interesting thing about food here is that it leaves you to wonder — is this fusion food? or is this “cuisine of the country stuck in between these two other countries”? some dishes clearly had more thai elements to it, while others had a more indian flavor to it. person favorite: garlic egg noodles. hideyo’s favorite was the coconut chicken noodle soup. go nuts — it was worth it.

really, nothing can top gelato in florence, italy, but this place had its perks. they’re totally happy to give you samples — on REAL spoons, which enhances the flavor of your sample AND is environmentally greeny goodness. my nicciola (hazelnut) half was very nutty, though a tad icy. the scharffenberger chocolate side was too … cacao-ish for me.

price was reasonable, and you can even recycle the plastic containers they give you. huzzah for them.

HORRIBLE. this is the worst kind of restaurant — pretentious and overpriced with subpar food. the decor was tacky (think local artwork where a bunch of big 5 sporting goods plastic bags are wrapped around a giant neon light) and the food options were limited. neither my sister-in-law nor i got what we wanted (we weren’t informed until we ordered that the restaurant doesn’t do burgers or pizza on weekends) and there were no daily specials. at 7 pm, they had already run out of 2 of their 3 types of oysters and fingerling potatoes had been replaced with mashed potatoes.

while all of our dishes came on time, none of the food was remotely interesting. the portions were tiny and while my husband’s dish was the tastiest (thank God for pancetta) his risotto resembled a really chunky chinese jook more than anything else. we all finished our food (including my THREE ENTIRE RAVIOLI which were bland and lost in a sea of runny former cherry tomatoes and some kind of weedy vegetable that may have been some kind of pea sprout) in under ten minutes, except for my poor mother-in-law, who had ordered a seafood bolognese (misspelled on the menu), which looked like a mommy owl had chewed up all the seafood and spit it back out for her baby owls. it was unpalatable to look at and unpalatable for her to eat — period.

the upside to the restaurant was that they were well-staffed (though our waitress was somewhat patronizing) and their desserts were decent (though akin to trader joe’s molten lava cakes) and the beer was okay. however, two hours after dinner … i am ready for second dinner.

i 4.5 stars like it, but i don’t know i can do that here. the only misstep was the chilled artichoke hearts (totally mealy), but the artichoke soup was AWESOME. honey loved his prime rib (really good for a not-meat-specialty place) and they had REALLY good cioppino. i didn’t love the cumin in it, but you definitely get your $25’s worth of crab. also really good ollalieberry pie (local favorite) — but i still like fat apple’s pie better.

the thing i loved the most: SOURDOUGH BREAD. piping hot from the oven, this place had phenomenal crumb and was delicious with everything we could dip it in — the aioli sauce, the au jus, the cioppino, straight with butter … oh my … i’m thinking about it again.

we went up into the mtns, and it was like we entered biker universe. TONS of hogs around. we ate at the counter. service was slow, but the food is decent but not exceptional. i had a ham and cheese scramble, while honey had the chili cheese and onion omelet. shoutouts to the hasbrowns. wish they were crispier, but good flavor.

This is my favorite restaurant in the Bay Area. It is a complete bitch to find parking on a Saturday night in Russian Hill, but it is so worth it. Sangria is fresh, and the paella is WONDERFUL. Their tapas are pretty good too. The mussels in garlic wine sauce and the sauteed mushrooms are my favorite. They have a really tasty mango mousse cake for dessert. Line can take a while and since it’s so small, it can get pretty dark, but I love that their waitstaff is actually Iberian, and the atmosphere is both relaxed and intimate. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth splashing out on for a special occasion.

i LOVE this place. the wait was much shorter than we had anticipated (it was a race between getting a table and ordering to-go in order to catch our flights) and the staff was really nice about it. their house coffee isn’t bad for restaurant coffee and the blueberry cornmeal pancakes were the BEST i’ve ever had. adding the eggs and bacon for $1.75 is a deal for sure. good plating too, if you’re into that kind of stuff.

i do mightily love their chips and salsa, and the taste of their fresh tortillas. if only they weren’t an affront to the spanish language by being called “el machino.” that really annoys the hell out of me.

honey loves the best of the best, but i always get the flautas. clearly the restaurant is bigger than the staff can manage — service was eh and hideyo’s best of the best was half completed. the condiments guy must’ve been sneaking a cigarette break. while the staff is friendly, be prepared to be pretty proactive about getting what you want.