Foovius F.'s Profile
Date
San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 348-8818
Clear Optometry
Categories:
Optometrists,
Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt,
Eyewear & Opticians
As optometrists, they're excellent. Got my glasses and my sons' glasses there, and they did a much better job with both the glass quality and with the frames than I'd gotten with the cheaper alternatives.
The downside is that their glasses are very high end, and very, very expensive. The upside is that the glasses are very high quality and great looking. I'm very happy with the results, though the price for a couple pairs of glasses was a serious sticker shock. But hey, I wear them all the time, so it was worth spending the extra money.
I suspect that there's not a huge amount of difference in the optics (it's not like they're grinding the lenses themselves), so I bet that there are plenty of optometrists who are similarly skilled and use good suppliers for lenses. Clear Optometry has an excellent package of great service and high quality products, and for me, it's worth paying extra for that--since new glasses aren't something I buy that often.
1 Previous Review:
-
7/9/2010
This is NOT a review of Clear Optometry, a place to get glasses and have your eye checked.
No, this is a review of Clear Optometry, the BEST YOGURT within several Peninsula cities. Yes, better than Blush, Tuttimelon, or any of the other frozen yogurt spots that are so sprouting so commonly these days they make Starbucks look rare and exotic.
Clear Optometry has excellent ice creams (from East Bay), high-end coffee and gelato, and absolutely fantastic yogurt. I'm not sure why it's better than others', but it is. Something about the 'mouth feel'--the texture. They've also got really good, fresh mix-ins, including Japanese-style jellies.
Lychee, Original (tangy and delicious) and especially Mango--great flavors.
The cool thing is they're right next door to another yogurt spot (Quickly, I think), so you can tell people you're going to Clear Optometry for amazing yogurt and they'll think you're kidding until you walk right past the yogurt places and into the glasses place.
San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 342-9463
Grape & Grain
Categories:
Wine Bars,
Tapas/Small Plates,
Pubs
The munch selection is overpriced and underwhelming, however. I'd expect some salty snacks to either be larger in volume, lower in price, or higher in complexity.
Love to see a cheap cheese/pretzel/spicy mustard combo to go with the beers. Or at least something that would last longer than a single beer.
Can't wait to go back to this place, though! Ok, I'm heading there now.
Crowded to busting by 6:30. Get there when they open to get seated right away. Otherwise there will be a big wait. The place was jumping by the time we left.
But we enjoyed it as a family, and I'd be happy to go back on a date night.
Burlingame, CA 94010
(650) 342-9888
Shanghai Club Restaurant & Lounge - CLOSED
Category:
Chinese
On the negative side:
Terrible music. Really awful, wretched China-Musak. Almost bad enough to sour the food, when there aren't enough people in the place to drown it out with conversation.
And although the Dim Sum for lunch is good, the experience is menu-driven. So it's not really the same--no sense of discovery from having strange food come by on carts. I won't be heading there again for Dim Sum anytime soon, though we keep heading back for dinner.
1 Previous Review:
-
8/20/2010
I'm surprised at the small number of bad reviews for Shanghai Club. Our family of 4 went there at 6:30 on a Saturday night and had no trouble getting in. While the place filled up nicely later on, it was neither empty nor crowded. Service was excellent and super-attentive throughout.
Shanghai Club is a beautiful restaurant--stunning , really--with attractive staff (always a nice bonus). The food was really excellent, and on the upscale side in both presentation and flavor.
The standout dish to me was the Peking Duck, which was the best I'd had since traveling to Beijing last year. We enjoyed the soup dumplings as well--they weren't the best I've had, but they were quite good nonetheless.
Every dish we had was marvelous and easily shared family-style, and we all want to go back soon. Perhaps the menu tilts toward American-friendly dishes, but that's a pretty reasonable expectation given the location.
The restaurant serves Dim Sum for lunch, so that'll be the topic of our next visit. And soon--we really enjoyed this place.
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650) 952-2809
The Famous Rib Shack
Categories:
American (Traditional),
Barbeque
Listed in: Top Restaurants near…
1 Previous Review:
-
12/3/2006
NOTE: Ownership of the Rib Shack changed around July 2006, and the current manager (Carlos) and his staff were great when we went in.
The place is now just "The Rib Shack" -- and they've got the best BBQ I've had since moving from Texas. Really great food, and terrific and lively service. We had a really good time there. A very community kind of place: everyone was talking to each other.
We went in a group of 5, which was perfect as we could order the "3-5" person combo (which left us enough leftovers for several more meals) and sampled everything. The pork ribs, beef ribs, sausage, hot links, etc. All great. The chicken was the "least great" IMHO.
Good sauces, good collard greens (never liked those before, but I liked 'em here), very good coleslaw and potato salad. And the cornbread was absolutely the best I've ever had, bar none. I'll go back just to get cornbread take-out. It was incredible.
The restaurant is well worth a visit. On our two trips there over the past month there haven't been nearly as many* people as the quality would suggest, so I'm not sure what's going on. I suspect part of the problem is that they're not open for lunch, so the number of people who get accustomed to the restaurant is limited.
The sake and shoju are limited in selection but high quality. The prices for food are reasonable, and the sushi and sashimi quality are very good. For two people, expect to pay anything from $65-$120 depending on quantity, drinks, and dessert.
I can't tell who owns the place--we tend to assume the sushi chef, but nope. I normally expect to see the sushi chef as the owner for a small place like this; perhaps CouCou is a secondary establishment for its owner. I'm not sure. At any rate, all of the staff were very accommodating and friendly.
Go there!
*i.e. almost none.
San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 401-8859
Tuttimelon - CLOSED
Category:
Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt
The only downside is that unlike the Burlingame Tuttimelon, this isn't self-serve. And on my three trips here, they've consistently had only one very overworked person there, so that there was a wait as well as nobody to clean up the otherwise well-appointed place.
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207 Useful, 80 Funny, and 84 Cool
Burlingame, CA
Yelping SinceDecember 2006
Find Me InBurlingame, wearing a bathrobe
My HometownBurlingame, CA
My Blog Or Website When I'm Not Yelping...I'm working on my second or third unpublished novel.
My Second Favorite Website My First ConcertGrateful Dead, 1975 - 5th grade!
My Last Meal On EarthI hope my last meal on Earth will be whatever's popular in the year 2165.
Three of us, with Japanese sodas for the boys and a shochu drink for me, lots of skewers and a bowl of ramen, total bill $75. Acceptable for the amount we ate.
Waygu beef was good but not revelatory: might have been a mediocre cut, because there was more chewy fat than I'd expected. The bacon-wrapped asparagus, chicken heart, chicken skin and pork skewers were stand-out. The pork ramen was excellent as well, though not the best ramen I've had. The rice ball was really good, and was quite large. Glad we only ordered one.
Decor is really beautiful. I like the inset tatami tables--good ambience without the discomfort of traditional tatami seating. The kids enjoyed the shoeless experience.
Note to management: remind patrons to put their shoes back on before going to the very lovely restroom area!
Comparing this restaurant to Izakaya Ginji in San Mateo (which has similar food offerings), I'd say Ginji has the better overall food, but I couldn't say why. I'll have to go back to both places and compare a bit more closely.
Mokutanya has "wild game" nights during the week. Might be worth a try.