dmo

Berkeley lacks in authentic Chinese food, and the few restaurants that surround campus target college students on a tight budget. Moreover, most of those restaurants lack in authentic dishes. Great China offers Chinese food found in better Chinese restaurants where you actually sit down and order food.

The only complaint I have is service and size. The place is packed on the weekends and the wait can be tremendously long. Service lacks quality as it seems they’re trying to rush you during the business hours. However, most of my eating experiences deal with to-go food, so service is not too much of an issue for me. The kitchen can be slow sometimes too.

Overall it’s great food, and even better if you can show up at a less crowded time.

I’m surprised. SGD Tofu on San Jose has 5 reviews but BCD only has 1? This is the best tofu house I’ve ever eaten at. I’ve driven down El Camino Ave. in San Jose to test out different tofu houses. I’ve been to Korea. I’ve been down to Korea Town in LA to try places out too, and BCD by far offers the best meal.

Soondubu is meant to be eaten with side dishes. I was impressed that BCD offered fish with their tofu, something Koreans say should be included. Moreoever, all the side dishes you get just makes the experience even better.

For the same price, you can go eat soondubu elsewhere and you won’t be getting the quality and quantity that BCD offers. You can even argue that soondubu is almost the same wherever you go, but only the silkiest tofu should be used in such a dish, and once again BCD offers that. The dumpling tofu soups are signature to the restaurant, and any diner should definitely try them out. There’s always your classic soondubu, but you can see on the menu that there are a variety of different ones offered. Each store location has its signature soondubu.

There’s a reason its open 24 hours a day and people from the Bay Area speak of this place and how godly it is.

When you get cravings for Taiwanese food, this is the one place to check out. Where else are you going to get Taiwanese noodles or Chinese sausage? Where else do you think you can get stinky tofu? Sure there are some other places to go, but Tainan Southland restaurant offers a variety of Taiwanese dishes at a low price.

The atmosphere is more like a Taiwanese cafe or Taiwanese quick eat, but service is definitely satisfactory.

The food is great, and of course greasy like Taiwanese food should be.

This is your Chinese Restaurant that offers a decent quality of food. You can tell just after walking in that the atmosphere is a slightly above mid-level Chinese restaurant. The decorations are plenty and you can tell service will be at least satisfactory.

The food is definitely a little above average in pricing, but the portions are fair. You can’t expect a dish to be that giant in portions but for the level of quality that this restaurant offers, you have to expect a reduction in portions at these still affordable prices.

What makes this place even more interesting is that Dim Sum is also offered during lunch. No, it’s not a place where carts fly around and people are grabbing dishes left and right. There’s a menu you can pick from if you want Dim Sum dishes and occasionally they will walk a few specialties around like buns and what not. Thus if you don’t feel like eating family style or the lunch special, you can always pick a few dim sum dishes to spice things up. Variety is always nice to have.

Overall I think that paying for quality yet great food balances out this place. It’s not the best Chinese food I’ve eaten, but this restaurant offers a level of sophistication often found at even pricier restaurants. Thus the value and quality result in a 4/5 rating for me.

Darda is your typical Muslim-Chinese restaurant where pork isn’t offered. Now I’ve been to some great restaurants of this type around the Bay Area, but this one is new to me.

The atmosphere isn’t the most delighting, and you can tell it’s not too upscale. However, this is no Panda Express either. It’s definitely a less formal place, but definitely better than casual.

A quick glance at the lunch menu reveals a plethora of 5.95 dishes and 6.95 dishes. Great prices you say? Yup. Not only are the prices great, the portions are terrific. Additionally, the food is definitely tasty.

This place is crowded at lunch and service definitely isn’t the best during the noon hour. But hey, it’s just hard to grab a hold of somebody, but they’ll definitely help you out when you can get them.

I find 3/5 a little harsh and I would give it a 3.5/5 if I could. The food is definitely great and so is the pricing. Are there better restaurants out there? Sure, but you definitely have to pay a lot more to get only marginally better quality. In the end you’re just paying more for environment and service.

People speak of BJs and Unos but seriously, those are second rate, especially Unos. BJs definitely offers excellent pizza, but Pizza Chicago is by far THE BEST deep dish pizzeria you can find in the South Bay.

There is no question that this place is popular as there is a wait at this location. I’ve passed by the SJ Downtown location and it is usually bustling too.

Service is great and so is the food. Once it comes you should gobble down those slices before they get cold. The cheeses that Pizza Chicago uses just totally blows other places away. It’s amazing.

I can’t believe no one’s reviewed this restaurant as it is a very popular place in Cupertino.

I grew up eating at this place. Over 12 years ago, I went to their old location and I ate there so frequently I watched them move to their new location. Wow. There are waiters that still work there a decade later.

Anyways, the food is definitely well priced with good quality. While I haven’t dined in recently, I can say I eat their food to-go quite frequently. The quality is surely above average, and I’d have no problem living off of this food for the rest of my life. There’s enough selection to keep me wanting more.

I recently went in for Dim Sum as it is one of the few good places in the South Bay. It’s certainly not the best Dim Sum, but the fact that there is the option of Mandarin style and Cantonese style dim sum makes this restaurant unique. Only a few others can boast such offerings.

In terms of price the dim sum prices are quite in line with restaurants in the South Bay. However, being a frequent dim sum goer in San Francisco and Oakland Chinatowns, I can tell you this is nowhere near cheap. It’s certainly not expensive though when you compare against competitors in the region.

Compare this to Panda Express and it’s DAY and NIGHT. I would eat at Panda anyday over this. You can see the MSG on the food and not only that, I could cook better than they could even if it was my first time trying to cook the dishes they serve.

The selection is decent but when it comes to quality, there is none present.

Cheap? Yeah. Not the cheapest. If I’ve seen Chinese food for $1.35 per dish in Berkeley, then this place and their $5.25 for 2 items + rice is just a rip off… considering the quality is just so bad.

This is seriously a last resort. Just driving a few miles further to Rivermark and eating Yan Can’s Americanized Chinese Food will make me cry tears of joy after having this.

Many people love visiting breweries for both the drinks and the food. Of course, it is expected that the beer should be great, but the food isn’t always top notch. You can say that about some breweries, but Gordon Biersch is definitely a place I would come back to given it’s wonderful foods and tasty beers.

The upstairs area is excellent for large parties, but make sure you reserve ahead. Downstairs is the bar where it gets quite crowded, especially after a Giants game. It’s certainly a fun environment to enjoy a game on the HDTV sets they have there over a beer. Parking is not an issue despite its proximity to AT&T Park. It’s still a few blocks away that it’s not realistic to walk all the way to the ball park.

This restaurant is a good blend of western setting along with Japanese cuisine. Typically, you expect bento boxes at a Japanese restaurant.

Hey, but this meal is better than that. It’s like the expensive meals you eat following a trip to the hot springs. You get plenty of food, and its all cooked to perfection.

Small side dishes add a nice touch to your main course featuring seaweed, minced beef, pickles, etc.

All of this is served on gorgeous dinnerware including interesting rice and soup bowls.

Most of the time when you order teriyaki, it comes slightly charred like any bbq. It’s edible, but with Yoshida you get teriyaki that’s tender with a crispy outside and a juicy inside. This is exactly what you want. Nothing is overcooked and nothing is too burned to be eaten.

The atmosphere is a peaceful and romantic scene, complemented by courteous service.

While the restaurant offers a sushi bar, you’re most of the diners tend to order dishes.