Brian B.'s Profile

I tried this restaurant tonight and was not impressed, 6ish and there was NOBODY in the restaurant which was surprising considering how packed the parking lot was. Guessing everyone was at Sweetie Thai. We decided to try it anyway based on all the Yelpers recommending the Twinkie Walnut Shrimp, which is what we got. Not really impressed, the shrimp were not de-veined and it was such a pleasant sight the first view of the entrée, then they coated in mayonnaise.

Basically it was a mediocre version of Honey Shrimp.

The 2 of us shared the dish and with rice tax and tip it came to $24... for 1 entrée??? I don't think so. I will not be going back.

Christmas year-round! This shop features ornaments and trimmings all year. There is a huge selection of beautiful decorations including Nativity sets and traditional Scandinavian items.

Wow, what a cute idea, Pebble People has a lot more than families of rocks with eyes, but that is what gets you in the store. There is a wall with hundreds of Koo-koo clocks, a room full of fan stuff; Disney, Elvis, Wizard of Oz, Precious Moments. Lots of jewelery, much featuring turquoise and silver.

It's a Hallmark store. Everything you would expect, Christmas ornaments were out. I didn't find what I was looking for, but all in all it does the job, if you need a greeting card or anything else they would sell there.

I was shocked, I can not believe the way this mission is run. After attended what could loosely be called "Mass" here and hearing the pastor speak of the financial hardship of the mission. I looked over the budget they provided and find it difficult to see how they can go through $780,000/year.

The gardens are pretty, the "museum" offers very little for the $5 admission. I would expect it to be in line with other missions that ask $2-3 donation.

If money is no object than this is about as good as it gets.

We saw this restaurant on our walk back to the hotel and looking inviting, ok it was like the only place in Solvang open after 7. Beautifully decorated... so we peek in and peruse the menu, desserts looked amazing and were the only thing we could dream of affording.

We got an $11 devils food cake with 7 layers, chocolate ganache and mocha ice cream and it was amazing.

We peeked at the bill for the table next to us after they left and they paid $72 for 2 cheeseburgers & fries, a beer, a glass of wine, and cheese appetizer. I almost fainted. Neither of them even eat half of their burger and the fries were barely touched.

So maybe if my lotto numbers come up I will dine at places like this... nah I'm to cheap.

I have been to several Kabuki locations before and this one was the worst. I am thinking bad location is the start, it is well out of the main strip so one has to go looking for it or know where to find it. Second, to me it looked like it used to be a Subway before Subway moved over to Mission Blvd. The "bar" was like 2 or 3 seats at a little glass counter. The whole restaurant looked like it could seat 25 people inside, which when not doing anything looks kinda big. It was 7pm on a weekend and we were the ONLY customers there.

I was surprised when we walked in and there was a Mexican "chef" and they hostess/waitress was an older blonde woman... Not being racist but, I kinda appreciate seeing someone Asian around when I get sushi, even if it's Korean.

Another difference from other Kabuki locations, Happy Hour, here goes from 5-6:30 Monday - Friday, and was only on like 3 cut rolls and fried rice or some such. I was expecting a little longer window for Happy Hour and usually Kabuki has half price everything if you sit at the bar or on the patio.

I realize this is some uber-rural community 8 miles from the ocean so getting fish is challenging and the prices have to reflect that. Or is it that they are the only Sushi place for 4 miles and they think they can charge prices like one would find on Maui or in Laguna Beach because people don't want to get in there car and drive 5 minutes.

So we didn't stay, it didn't look fresh and I was rather disappointed with the vacancy, prices, and service. As we were leaving I saw a real Samurai-looking Sushi chef come out of the back, not enough keep us there.

Freaking Awesome.

Ok so we were feeling something different than the Danish Sausages again and were going to do Kabuki, but we were less than impressed, so we came here. What a surprise, AMAZING.

So after perusing them menu we had our selections, Beef with Orange Peel and Pineapple Chicken... and the waiter said no.

We said Yes, and he said NO... Uhm OK. So he tells us that the Beef is the best selection, but doesn't go with Pineapple Chicken we need Cashew Chicken. And after some protest we gave in and got the Cashew Chicken.

OMFG the 2 meals totally complimented each other and made for probably the best Chinese meal I have ever had in my life.

The Beef with Orange Peel was simply beyond amazing. The chili peppers were infused with orangey goodness. They were not dried out and crunchy like many places but instead moist and delicious. And oh so beautifully hot and spicy.

Definitely worth a stop whenever passing by Solvang on the way to NorCal, since I don't see myself spending a whole lot of time in Solvang again real soon.

Having been to MANY of the WorldMark resorts this is one of the better ones, albeit one of the newest ones.

Walking distance to EVERYTHING. Solvang is a really small town and the WorldMark is basically with most of the other hotels near the Mission Santa Inez on the fringe of town. Not as "It's A Small World" looking as the rest of town with windmills and traditional Danish arcitecture.

HOWEVER
- Our room, on the third floor of the main building had ants. Supposedly we are the first to ever have ants in this building.

- The quality of the TV reception really sucked.

- There is a pool table off the lobby, which is good, but unlike other locations we have been to, it is a pay table. As an OWNER I don't like to be nickel & dimed. So as an owner I believe it should be free to play a little pool.

- Machine noise heard in the room, dunno if it was the air conditioners on the roof, maid's laundry machines, alien spacecraft, but all day and night can hear machines chugging along in the background.

The Vinhaus may have the best selection of vine and cheese in Solvang, but service sucked.

We sampled several selections of cheese available for tasting, then before we could ask any questions about the cheeses the lady disappeared. We asked another lady behind the counter and she said she was unfamiliar with the cheeses, basically an "I just work here" attitude.

Nice selection of crackers also, however most of them are brands one can pick up at Costco for 1/4th the price Vinhaus wants.

So we made some selections on our own and took them to the counter and the first lady was now the cashier, and proceeded to try and charge us more for our purchases than we were told the prices would be.. many items are not priced, so I guess it is up to the cashier as to what they feel like charging each customer. Maybe it is cheaper for locals than tourists, I dunno.

I doubt I would ever go back.