I came to this restaurant with family last week. We were pretty impressed with its decoration and service. Our server was very friendly.

Food-wise, I personally think it’s a miss or hit. My sister’s dish was really good while my duck config dish was just ok. Hence, I gave it a 3 star. I would bump the rating up to 4 stars if the dish quality is more consistent.

We came here for an early dinner. The restaurant has 2nd floor and we could have the Ballard street view in a Sunday afternoon, not bad at all!

The restaurant is not too dressy, not too casual. Just right for what it claimt for “your neighborhood Italian restaurant”! The food is surprisingly good, full of garlic and tomato flavor. I recommend this restaurant if you get a chance to pass by Ballard neighborhood. Btw, I believe this is a chain and they seem to have another one in Issaquah as well.

Great restaurant with a bistro feel. However, the restaurant no longer takes MS prime card… so it becomes quite pricey!

Instead of “drive-thru”, this restaurant provides a true “drive-in” experience. If you’d never been this place before, you definitely should try this out. Upon driving into this place, you will realize there is NO sit-in area for customers. You can either order take-out directly in the cashier; OR, you can park your car outside of the shop, and order right at your car. A waiter will come to your car and take your order (menu actually is posted right in front of your parking spot)! Of course, food is also delivered to your car when it’s ready. How convenient!

Upon you received the food, you pay the bill. You can drive out whenever you finish the yummy burger. Now, this is truly what a In-and-out restaurant should be!

This cafe will be one of many reasons that makes me wanting to move to Capitol Hill. This is simply a great hang out place with friends. Funky decoration seems to be unorganized and random, but everything coming together just makes it look and feel right. The menu selections are big, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. To me, the dessert menu stands out the most! I just have to wonder why I did not discover this place earlier?!

This cafe used to be the “Triple J” coffee shop in Kirkland downtown. I think it changed to be “Oriel” less than a year ago. I finally got to try this place last week for brunch. Surely, it did not disappoint me. The atmostphere is almost the same as the previous “Triple J” cafe. Most furniture remains, including the black sofas and the cozy fireplace. It wasn’t overly crowded. Defintely a great place to hang out with friends for a lazy and relaxing Sunday morning. Oh.. another great thing, it still provides free wireless connection. So if you decide to try this place alone, don’t forget your laptop.

The atmosphere of this restaurant is exactly what you are looking for in New York City. Trendy, romantics with a bit of edge. Food is good though I would not say fantastic… I guess my expectation runs a bit higher in New York City. If you are looking for some trendy restaurant to hang out with friends, this is the place.

Missing one star because even with reservation, you still need to wait for an hour for a table. However, once the steak is presented on your table, you know exactly why there is such a long wait. The steak is just simply …. GREAT. The big draw of the restaurant obviously isn’t the service nor the ambience, so don’t expect coming for a fancy / romantic dining experience. For some of us, that means skip the touble of dressing up (even it is in New York City).

I guess I have high expectation since I saw some good review about this cafe. I think atmosphere is pretty good: causual and fun. However, I think it is a bit dirty. The food feels very homey, but I am not too impressed by the food nor the service.

Authenitc Thai food with good priced lunch menu. My favorite is the Yellow Curry Chicken lunch special. If you can endure spicy food, make it at least 4 stars! Yummm….