Wayne "Devastating" K.'s Profile

Came here a few times during happy hour for beer and appetizers.

THE GOOD:
- A bagillion beers (160 to be exact) on tap.  They have so many that their beer menu felt like one of those wine menus you get at a fancier restaurant.  If that doesn't appeal to you, they have most of the classics... I didn't mind ordering a Blue Moon or a Heineken.
- Friendly, attentive staff.
- Lots of TV screens.
- Modern decor and very clean.
- Happy hour food is $2 a pop, which hard to beat (3:30-6:30 and 10-close).

THE BAD:
- The food was hit-or-miss.  Some, like the spinach dip, the chicken wings, and the brushetta, was quite good.  The sushi and the shrimp, not so much.
- The beer was hit-or-miss.  That's the downside of 160 beers:  You'll hit some crazy good ones, and you'll hit some awful ones... one of the berry ciders tasted like a juice box.
- Too popular.  During happy hour they seated us, but I don't they had enough chairs so I was really squished into there.
- No drink discounts during happy hour?  What's up with that?

To sum it up, lots beer variety and cheap happy hour appetizers.  It is what it is.

Thaiphoon is such an unremarkable Thai restaurant that it took me 5 minutes to remember which restaurant this was when I sat down to review it.

I have nice things to say.  Unfortunately, these are true of most Thai restaurants I've visited in the area (e.g. Amarin, King of Krung):
- Pretty decor (though they seated us next to the noisy kitchen).
- Reasonable prices and specials... ~$20 for lunch or dinner including drinks and tax.
- Pretty-to-look-at and tasty drinks like normal Thai iced tea and some alcoholic ones.
- Large portion size.
- Decent-tasting food, but nothing special.  Everything from the roti and satay, to the fried rice, to the currys was good, but completely forgettable.
- Wait staff that got the job done, but didn't really go out of their way.

If I was wandering Downtown Palo Alto, Thaiphoon probably wouldn't be my first choice.  I wouldn't mind visiting again if someone in my group was craving Thai, but I wouldn't make a special trip.

SUMMARY:
Mind-blowing buffet selection and service with mediocre quality.

AMAZING SELECTION:
Walking into this buffet is like walking into Chinese and seafood heaven.  My list won't do it justice, but here're some of the items they had.
- Whole lobster in the shell
- Raw oysters on ice
- Baked mussels
- Cooked clams
- Crab legs on ice
- Shrimp cocktail
- Crawfish
- Prime rib carved for you by a dude
- Teppanyaki make-to-order - fill a bowl with raw veggies, pick a meat, and a guy stir fries it for you
- Noodle soup dishes made-to-order: miso noodles, udon, and seafood and noodles
- Snails
- Soups: hot & sour, shark's fin, miso, seafood
- Dim sum carts with all your favorites like shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork buns, chicken feet, egg tarts, long shrimp noodles, and siu mai
- Sushi rolls and sashimi made right there by 4 sushi dudes
- Cooked food like Mongolian beef, fried rice, bean sprouts, asparagus with Japanese mayo
- Baked goods like cream puffs, mini almond cookies, cake, and tiramisu
- Soft-serve ice cream
- Fresh fruit

PRICING:
$11 for lunch, $17 for dinner and weekends (it's not $15 as another review states).  So just over $20 for dinner including tax/tip, which is a steal considering how many choices they have. Extra for drinks like $1.50 for a pot of tea and drinks at the beautiful bar.

If you're short, you get a discount... half price if you're under 5 feet, free if you're under 3 feet.  They have the heights marked on a wall Disneyland-style so a bunch of girls in our group took off their heels to try to get under 5 feet but didn't quite make the cut.  :)

SERVICE:
There weren't very many tables, but the service was great.  Dim sum carts made regular rounds, plates were cleared almost instantaneously, and service was very prompt and helpful.

AMBIANCE:
Uh, it's a buffet.  But the seating and the waiting area are comfortable, the window view of downtown is beautiful, the bar is classy with a flat panel TV, and the high ceilings are very nice.  I wouldn't come here for a quiet or important conversation though since buffets are naturally loud.

FOOD QUALITY:
Ah, so here's the catch: the food's not that good.  It's good for a buffet, and there's no such thing as bad lobster or bad all-you-can-eat clams. But, you'll find better food in every category.  You'll find better sushi at Sushi Tomi, better Mongolian BBQ on Castro, better egg tarts at the bakery on Castro, better dim sum in Milpitas, better prime rib at Sundance or House of Prime Rib, and better seafood at Cantankerous Fish among other places.

All this means is if you're craving something in particular, go to a specialized restaurant.  If you just want to fill your belly or go somewhere where there are choices for everyone, Villa 08's not a bad choice.

THE NAME:
Ok, I have to ask, what's up with the name?  I get that it's on Villa St.  Why "08"?  If they're going for Chinese luckiness, why not "Villa 88"?  If they're going for the year, uh, it's 2009, and even "Villa 09" isn't the smartest choice considering it'd only be good for a year.  I guess this will remain one of the mysteries of the universe.

I'll definitely be back to Villa 08 to eat more and to try to figure it out.

The standard Denny's fare including my favorite, the mix-and-match Grand Slam for $5.99 where you can choose four from among a large list of breakfast items.  Open 24/7.

But about this Denny's in particular:

GOOD:
- Very friendly service with frequent unsolicited water refills, regular checkups on our table, and no flak for not ordering drinks.
- Non-sketchy bathroom.
- Lots of parking.

BAD:
- Food items seemed smaller than at other Denny's I've been to.
- Some people got their food a lot sooner than others.
- There was an auto-added 15% tip because our group was larger than 6 people, which seemed deliberately designed to make it harder for you to tip more than 15%.  Random.

SUMMARY: A nice neighborhood sushi joint for when Sushi Tomi is full.

NOTES:
- The nigiri is decent though nothing blew me away.  Half of the combo I ordered was average but the salmon was pretty good.  Dinner wasn't horribly priced at ~$20.
- The mackerel sashimi appetizer was excellent, much better than expected.  I'm definitely looking forward to trying more sashimi here.
- All the cooked food was sub-par.  I'd skip that and stick to the raw stuff.
- The decor is very Japanese but nothing fancy.  They have normal tables or you can take off your shoes and sit in one of those rooms with cloth curtains.
- Ok for larger groups without reservations.

IN SHORT: Hit or miss food at an outrageous price.

GOOD:
- There were definitely some gems.  I enjoyed the beef tagine, the crispy briwatts pastry appetizer, and the lamb tagine with carrots.
- The decor was nice.  I've never been to Morocco but I definitely felt like I was in another world when I walked through the doors.  The ambiance is dark too, which makes everyone look a little better.  ;)
- Friendly staff.
- Really, no complaints about the drinks here.  The sangria was especially great.
- Easy parking.

BAD:
- The food overall wasn't outstanding.  I expect stewed Moroccan meats to be so tender that they fall off the bone, and that wasn't the case here.  The sauces and spices were also kind of strange, like the sweet apricot sauce that drenched the tagine and masked the flavor of the meat.  The couscous was no different than couscous I might make myself and several lentils in the lentil salad were too hard to chew.  Nothing was awful, but I'd definitely not craving anything I ate.
- Weird seating.
- Way overpriced.  For ~$30/person, I expect truly special food and exceptional service.

I might recommend Morocco's if someone was looking for a different kind of meal or was really was craving Moroccan food.  But I'd find it difficult to recommend for a general meal.

SUMMARY: Hit or miss food.

GOOD:
- I really liked their starchy dishes.  The pad see-ew (pan fried rice noodle with broccoli and egg) noodles were perfectly cooked.  Their fried rice was also solid... had the kaw pad, fried rice with egg, tomatoes, carrots, peas and onions.
- Much has been said about the Thai iced tea with unlimited refills for $2.50.
- The staff was very accommodating of our large group which grew in size and came at different times.
- Slightly cheaper than most Thai places I've been.

BAD:
- Most of the other food was below average, including the pad thai and various curries.  Everything was certainly edible, but it's no comparison between The Old Siam and Mountain View Thai restaurant staples like Amarin or King of Krung.
- The Thai iced tea had free refills, but the tea itself was not one of the better ones I've had.  Too sugary.
- Service was mixed.  You could tell this was a real, family-run restaurant so "A for effort," but the food came at different times, the language barrier made conversations difficult, and several times there was the dreaded upsell.

In short, come if you're in the area or if you're craving one of the dishes they excel at, but I wouldn't make a special trip.

BEST ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT-SUSHI:
- Everything's made to order.
- You have an actual seat with a waiter who brings you food so it doesn't feel like a Hometown Buffet or Sizzler.
- Laminated ordering cards that you mark with a dry-erase pen, which saves you time and avoids too much unnecessary waiter interaction.  You can order 3 things at a time, they bring you the food, and you can submit your next order, which they make while you're eating.
- They have all the sushi you'd expect to find at a sushi place from scallop nigiri to hand rolls to deep-fried lion king rolls.
- Supports large groups well over 30 without a problem.
- Their language about "no sharing" and "don't waste food" is strict, but it's not enforced too strictly.  You don't feel them watching you like you do at other buffet places.
- Candy when you're done.
- Punch card so if you buy 10 buffets, you get 1 free.

QUICK TIPS:
- Come with at least 3-4 all-you-can-eat friends so you can share orders and don't get sick of eating the same thing over and over.
- Start with nigiri and work your way up to fried rolls or you'll get full too fast.
- Variety is the key.  Don't get 3 of the same thing, at least to start, or you'll regret it if it's not awesome.  On my first visit our group made the mistake of ordering multiple fried rolls and we had to force those things down.
- Among the Americanized rolls, I really like the Wayne roll.  Even people who aren't named "Wayne" like it.  It's avocado and tuna garnished with crunchy flakes.  Among the traditionals, the fresh salmon is awesome (it's actually orange) and I like the scallop nigiri too (don't get the roll or you get the cheap baby scallops).

Would I come here and pay for any of this stuff a-la-carte?  No way... friends have and have lived to regret it... go to a real sushi place.  But for $25 dinner/$17 lunch all-you-can-eat sushi, can't beat it.

SUMMARY: Come for happy hour or appetizers but skip the meal.

POSITIVES:
- Awesome ambiance.  It looks and feels like a comfy, friendly neighborhood restaurant.  Tables are voltive-lit with real silverware.
- Super friendly staff.  We even got a shout-out from the bartender as we walked in the door.  Frequent water-refills and visits from our server.
- Delicious steamed mussel appetizer.  You get tons of fresh mussels - way more than I expected - in an awesome white wine sauce.  Well worth the $10.
- One of the best clam/seafood chowders I've had in a long time.  Real chunks of fish and clam inside and very flavorful.
- Open til 1 AM.

AVERAGE ENTREES AND DESSERTS:
The entrees and desserts consisted of a bunch of dishes that were... good.  Nothing sucked but none were stand-out great either, which was disappointing after the appetizers.  If this was $25/person I'd definitely come back but given the price -- ~$45/person without drinks -- I find it unlikely I'd return for a full meal:
- I had a grilled ahi tuna set on wasabi mashed potatoes and topped with a cabbage garnish.  It was good, but I got sick of the taste after I was halfway through.  I also felt they were trying to be too creative with the cabbage.  The individual components -- the potatoes, the ahi, and the cabbage -- were done well, but the sum was worse than the parts.
- Tried some of the crab pasta.  Had legitimate chunks of crab, but the dish just didn't come together for me.  Just sort of tasted like ordinary pasta.
- I like ice cream so I enjoyed my sundae dessert with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, but it was honestly not much better than going to Safeway and pouring some Hershey's chocolate sauce on some Breyer's ice cream.  The nuts were unique and crunchy though.
- The cheesecake was better than average, but not as good as Cheesecake Factory in anyway.  I'm not a huge cheesecake fan though, so your mileage may vary.
- The hush puppies appetizer wasn't that good.  It was fried so they ended up being too heavy against the other seafood.

I really wanted to love Cafe Maritime, but considering the average food and all the great San Francisco restaurants at this price range, I'm stuck just liking it.  I definitely recommend it for appetizers though.

Nothing here is great... I've had the chirashi, California rolls, tempura, salad, miso soup, spider roll, spicy tuna, and sashimi.  You won't find much outside of Americanized rolls and the core tuna/salmon/yellowtail.  It's not dirt cheap so compared to all the other great sushi places in the Bay Area, it's hard to justify a visit if you're hankering for some raw fish.

But this place grows on you.  The food is consistent and I've never gotten sick from eating the fish.  The service isn't friendly, but it's certainly efficient and fast.  You could do worse looking for sushi in Redwood City.

Would I recommend Yokayama to a friend looking for a sushi recommendation?  No way.  Will I be back?  Definitely.