Nathan R.'s Profile

Have eaten here many times and strongly recommend it. There are a few negative comments about the food in others' reviews, and I see where they're coming from -- the food is simple, not especially exciting or innovative, and it's presented without any fanfare at all. But it's solid, careful, consistent cooking, and I've never had a bad dish there. And you can't beat the prices. The brunch deal, especially, is an unbelievable value. This may not be the place for a fancy date-night dinner, but as a place to take the kids on a moment's notice, seriously, you can't possibly go wrong. Also, there's always Univision on, so you can brush up on your language skills while you're there. Bonus!

Oh, one side note: when you walk in the front door, you pass right by the entrance to (I think) the Moose lodge. Because of that, you have to pass through a sort of weird cloud of aromas, vaguely smelling like old cigarettes and disinfectant. Don't be dissuaded -- it's not coming from the restaurant. Press on.

I have to leave a bad review for this place, and I really do wish them well, but the last time I went there the fish wasn't fresh enough, and the gimmicky hand rolls were bland and boring. Something's gone wrong with this place. I've probably eaten there half a dozen times in the five years or so, but I don't think I'll be back.

True, this place has great food, no question. The chef really knows what he's doing. The reason it's getting three stars from me instead of four is that the prices are way out of line for what you get. They have a great selection of pizzas and hoagies in the $8 range, which seems about right to me, but if you venture into more refined territory, you're looking at mostly $13 to $18 for entrees. I was there with my wife and two kids, and we had a serious, full-scale meal: the kids split a cheese pizza, I had a risotto and chicken special, and my wife had a stromboli. We had one appetizer and one large salad, plus three desserts, two cups of apple juice for the kids, and a total of four adult beverages. With tip, we ended up paying about a hundred bucks. Now, it was a good meal, but not a hundred-dollar meal, in my book. The ambiance is pretty nice, but frankly the place has to lose atmosphere points because it's one of the only spots on Bridge Street (maybe the only spot?) where you can get beer, and the entire time we were eating -- a freezing-cold night, incidentally -- various sketchy Phoenixville characters were staggering in and out with twelve-packs of Keystone and stuff like that. As as result the place kept filling up with frigid air and the smell of stale smoke.

So anyhow, my verdict is: great food (mine especially was really, really good), but a little spendy if you go for anything but the pizza or the sandwiches (or the $10 dinner specials) -- and definitely kinda hit-or-miss with the atmosphere.

Good spot for a nice, unhurried breakfast. If you come in for breakfast, try the oddly-named "potato cakes," which are actually deep-fried patties made out of mashed potatoes, jack cheese, and minced onion and are quite delicious. The other thing I've tried is the "meat lover's skillet," which is great except for the large unnerving dollop of DayGlo orange "cheddar cheese sauce" (which has the consistency of buttercream frosting) lying on top of the food. It tasted good, though.

Holy cannolli. Like sandwiches? Try this place. Good bread, good meat, holy ****, let's eat. My five-year-old, who's usually very picky about, well, everything, said, and I quote, "Let's eat here every day." If you're not sure what to order, and you like spicy, have a hot pork with provolone and long peppers. You'll be freaking out, it's so good. Yeah, my mouth is pretty much watering right now.

I should probably begin by saying I'm not exactly a connoisseur of dentists. I went twelve years without seeing one, during which time some miraculous combination of good luck, reasonably good habits (I always brush, mainly out of fear, though I never flossed), and the obligatory fluoride treatments I got as a child of the middle class in the mid-70s kept the damage to three significant cavities and a receding gumline. Anyhow, after twelve years, I decided to see one, and I found this practice more or less at random, and I have to say, I cannot imagine a better dentist. First of all, they can manage with nervous little kids absolutely fine. Nothing fazes them. I brought my two-year-old in after her she fell face-forward and banged her tooth, and they handled her fine. They've inspired my five-year-old to brush twice a day. And, second, maybe even more miraculous, they persuaded me to start flossing without ever making me feel guilty about my previous bad habits. They have a pretty much all-inclusive practice -- they do pediatric dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, periodontics and oral surgery all in-house, and it all seems to be run as a sort of benevolent dictatorship by Dr. Singh and his daughter, who everyone seems to call Dr. A. One thing that really struck me as incredibly considerate is that, if you have insurance, they will try to find out when you make an appointment precisely how much your co-pay is going to be, and they'll write it on your appointment card. They really go out of their way to work with your insurance company to try to keep your costs down. And they're all so nice! They seem to have a practice-wide philosophy that you should never scold a patient because it just doesn't help, and I think they're right. If you're looking for a dentist near Phoenixville, check them out. It may sound impossible to like your dentist, but I predict you'll like these folks.

I've eaten here once. I came with my wife and two kids. My wife and I each ordered fancy egg dishes -- I had the Crab Benedict and she had Salmon Florentine -- and the kids had Belgian waffles. I'd give four stars for the waffles and two stars for the eggs. Next time I come, I'm going to go with pancakes, waffles, French toast, or a real simple omelette or something like that. The Hollandaise sauce was a little too gloppy, and the salmon and crabmeat were okay, but not great -- both had that sort of fishy smell that you get with cheap, bulk packaged products. It was most definitely real crabmeat, though. Some of us have eaten so much imitation crabmeat over the course of our lives that the genuine item just tastes wrong somehow. So maybe it's my problem.

Anyhow, though, the waffles were amazing. The batter has just the right amount of egg so it's light and fluffy, not too sweet, not too doughy, and the fruit toppings are simple but really good. They're generous with the cream and butter too. My kids ate way more than I would have expected. The service was attentive and friendly (I came at a slow time, around 2 p.m. on a Sunday). I sat outside, which is pleasant in good weather. They have a fenced-in "patio" (i.e. basically a patch of concrete with six or seven tables) that abuts Bridge Street, which can be noisy and isn't particularly scenic, but it beats sitting inside on a nice day. The inside is kind of dark and drab. To me it seems like a fine place to bring kids. It's laid-back and pleasant, and the food is fine, if not spectacular. Prices run about eight bucks per entree, which seems about right for this area. You can probably get out of there with more food than you can finish for ten bucks a head or less, I think.

I should start off by saying I'm not a car expert. And it probably shows. I'm your classic pointy-headed professor type. Mechanics can smell a sucker  a mile off, you know, and, well, I'm pretty sure I have that aroma. Also, I always drive pretty crappy cars, and I don't know how to maintain them properly. So it's possible I've been had by these guys on the basis of my naïveté. That having been said, though, they could have fleeced me many times over, and they haven't. They sell good-quality products at a fair price -- not the cheapest in the area, but fair. They're thorough. I've never had a problem with their work. They will tell you the truth (I think) about whether or not you REALLY need some particular repair job done, or whether you can let it ride another couple months. They're always friendly and polite, and the facility is clean and comfortable if you have to wait around. They seem to get done when they say they'll be done, in my experience. Anyhow, so here's my overall verdict: a good, solid mechanic's shop that'll give you reasonable prices and honest reliable work -- in other words, a keeper.

I've only had take-out from this place once, so I'm not going to comment on the service, decor, or ambiance. I was impressed with the food, but not as impressed as I was hoping to be. If Yelp had half-stars, I'd give this place three-and-a-half stars, I think. Here's what I had: Chicken 65, Samosa Chat, Palak Paneer, and Gobi Manchurian, along with a vegetable utappam and an order of naan. My overall verdict on the food is that it's good, but not spectacular.

You know that Anne Tyler novel, "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant"? It's one of the best fictional treatments of food as a theme in contemporary American writing, if you ask me, not that you did (and there's no extra charge for the book recommendation either). Anyhow, the cook and restaurateur Ezra Tull, in the book, is always talking about how his food is "made with love." I just never quite got the sense that the food at this place is made with love. It's made with skill and competence, but it didn't make me want to jump out of my chair and applaud, you know? I should also add, as a disclaimer, that I like South Indian food but I'm definitely no connoisseur, so, take that for whatever it's worth.

Here's the run-down. The chicken appetizer was tasty but a little dry; the palak paneer was a bit too soupy; the bread and utappam were, well, just a little boring. The sambar was nice but a little on the bland side. The samosa chat got my attention -- lots of big chutney flavor and the right mix of samosa dough and chickpeas for a really substantial chunky consistency. And then I really got interested when I tried the gobi Manchurian, which I'd never had before. If you don't know it, it's basically dry-fried cauliflower in a sauce that'll remind you of sweet-and-sour Cantonese dishes, except that it really isn't sweet (just a hint of pineapple) and it has a nice chili kick. It was a little too spicy for my wife, but I thought it was just right.

So there you have it. I'll definitely order the gobi Manchurian again, and I love dosas, so I'm going to give them a shot as well. Other reviewers like the biryanis The other stuff I tried was, well, just not quite as exciting as I'd hoped, but still good. I'll be back, for sure.

I've only been here once, but I will be back. I had the Dumplings in Chili Oil, the cold Rabbit and Peanut appetizer, and the Spicy Hot Pot. Our waitress actually tried to talk us out of the hot pot because she thought it would be too spicy for a first-timer. Well, it was powerful, but I'm glad I had it. The dumplings are spectacular, with a delicate sweet flavor on top of the chilis. The rabbit was a little bony for me -- I'm not used to rabbit, honestly -- but the dish was delicious. And the hot pot -- wow. Spicy, yes, but such a complicated blend of flavors. It was a mixture of meat, fish, glass noodles, tofu, mushrooms and vegetables in a peppery sauce. The sauce was fiery but not overpowering, with cardamom, almost lavender-like peppercorns, and perfectly cooked fresh fish. I loved it. I had lunch on a Sunday and didn't get to talk to Han, but the young lady who waited on us seemed tickled that we enjoyed what she said was their hottest dish. It was cute.