mandeelish "i always have room for food"

I’ve been waiting for a solid Indonesian restaurant to come to the South Bay, and now I have it at Bay Leaf.

They call themselves a Thai-Indonesian restaurant. It’s not mixing the two flavors, though. They have separate menus. Whenever I go, I usually stick with the Indonesian foods.

The service is friendly, and the place is usually not too crowded during dinner/weekend hours, but can get busy with the lunchtime office crowd.

Now the food isn’t the best Indonesian food I’ve had, but there aren’t many choices around here. I’ve tried places that have come and gone, and this is one of the better ones.

If you’re out late and are hungry, I’d suggest heading to this place instead of Denny’s.

They both serve the same types of food, but Cardinal seems a lot cleaner and less greasy than your typical Denny’s. If you’ve also got a large group, this place can accomodate.

It’s also connected to a bar which has entertainment nightly.

This restaurant lies on El Camino, but you can’t see it on a drive-by. If you do find it (it’s behind a fedex-kinko’s) then you should give it a try.

It’s a izakaya style restaurant, and so plates are small. The plates here are even smaller than I’m used to. Agedashi tofu comes with just one piece of tofu! But the price for the size isn’t so bad.

I went on a Friday night, but I called ahead to see how long the wait was. Luckily I was able to hold a table though, because it was quite crowded when we arrived.

The menu may not be as extensive as Gochi, but the items are unique. They also have a large drink menu with lots of sakes to try.

One thing I’d like for a restaurant to be is organized. Well that and to have good food. This place had neither.

I came here with a large group for New Year’s Eve. Now, this is a big night for restaurants so you’d think the place would be prepared. This place definitely was not.

First, not everyone could eat at the same time. They gave one type of soup, and the other type came much later. I chose the lobster bisque. It was so salty, it made everyone’s mouth pucker. One member of our party said the seafood chowder tasted like pudding.

Our salads came next. But again, the salads came at different times. And they were supposed to come with shrimp, but didn’t. Mine actually came with the shrimp, but I got to eat it about an hour after most other people.

The entrees of course came out at different times. And they yelled out the orders, so you had to raise your hand so they’d know who to hand it too. My halibut was bland, but the vegetables were salty. Can they not hold the salt there? Oh and we sat down at 9pm, and didn’t eat our entrees until 11:30pm.

One thing I also saw was one of the waitresses touch another table’s food, asking them if they wanted her to reheat the food. She touched it!

We weren’t the only dissatisfied customers though. Another table tried to complain to the manager, but the manager didn’t come over. The waitress told them to walk over to the manager on the other side of the room. What kind of service is that?

Definitely one of the worst restaurants I’ve been to. So beware!

Too bad I can’t give this place zero stars.

As the other reviewers have stated, the service here was atrocious. I’m just so sorry that I even suggested this place. I will not come back here. I wouldn’t even get their pizza to-go.

I recommend Pizza Antica or Amici’s for thin crust pizza in the bay area.

I’ve read a couple glowing reviews about Range, so I was quite excited about going. I was not disappointed!

After a very disappointing evening the night before with lackluster service, I was so relieved that the service here was so good. My water was always refilled, and the waitress was so nice and friendly.

I recommend trying this place out. It’s great for a small group of friends, or for a date. Prices are very reasonable for the quality of food. And portions aren’t bad, either!

Recs for food:
Starter – The clams or the salad.
Entree – Bavette steak
Dessert – Coconut bavarian

I’ve been to Espetus, which took a big chunk out of my wallet. Cleo, on the other hand, was much kinder in that respect.

Food-wise, though, Espetus is the winner. Cleo had all the meat, but I found it to be quite salty. Also, their ‘hot’ buffet wasn’t so hot. Most of the dishes were tepid. And I wish the cheese bread was freshly baked and warm.

The restaurant itself is cozy and small, with a live band playing. However, we got seated in the back, pretty much at a table by itself. However, it was right next to the buffet table and in between the 2 kitchens. We were far from the band, and far from the other patrons. The only good thing was that we got first dibs on the meat.

Maybe I came on an off day, since I have heard good things about this place. I’d recommend it to people who have never had Brazilian food, and are price-conscious.

First off, make a reservation! This place can get crowded.

Also, the seating is mainly tatami style. Which surprised me since I figured it was a fusion restaurant, that it would be less traditional. But it has a clean, minimalist atmosphere.

We were seated in one of the tatami booths, after a 30+ minute wait (we didn’t make reservations). However, during our wait we got a chance to peruse the menu.

There is a lot on the menu. We tried to get one dish from each category, but there weren’t enough of us to eat all of it. So the waitress was very helpful in giving her opinions on what we ordered. Although it did take awhile to flag her down to take our order.

The dishes came out fairly quickly and all were delicious. I’d give it 5 stars, but they need to improve their service quality. We always needed to flag down a waitress to refill our water and tea.

Citizen Cake is a cute little restaurant/bakery in Hayes Valley. We came here on a Sunday, and it was quite busy, with people going to the performance halls for matinee showings.

We came during brunch on a sunny day, which was nice since it’s a corner restaurant with lots of uncovered windows. It’s also a nice place to sit and people watch. Both in the restaurant and at the passersby.

The menu is quite unique. It’s not just scrambled eggs and ham. But beware, because I wanted to try the desserts but came out too full from my salad.

Portions aren’t huge, but I’d say a good size for brunch. If it were dinner though, I’d think the sizes were too small.

Overall a good experience. I’d like to go back again to try the desserts though.

Oh I remember those lazy sundays in college, when you’d wake up late and hungry. There’s nothing like a short walk to Ann’s kitchen to fill you up.

There really isn’t much to the place. The decor is minimal, and the place isn’t the cleanest, and I also remember seeing jugs of oil in the kitchen. Mmm.

But the food here is good, like the huge pancakes and greasy homefries. The portions are big.

If you want a more high class brunch place, walk over to La Note. But you’ll feel at home at Ann’s with sweats on. And the food will make you full and happy.