Brent "Burento" A.'s Profile

This Starbucks is alright.  I don't find anything particularly wrong with, but it is small.  If you want to come here and zone out, you should probably expect to sit outside.  

The service was a little scattered, but my order was made correctly.  This pales in comparison to my Starbucks, but that's because it has a larger seating area inside, and that the baristas at my place are amazing.

I would come back here for a quick stop, but if I want to actually do work somewhere, there are many other better options.

I stopped here because I wanted Chinese food... When I walked in I knew immediately that's not what I would be getting.

The portions are quite large and really cheap, but it doesn't really make up for the lack of flavor. After looking the food over, I finally decided on the mapo tofu and the spicy chicken. I'll admit this is a step up from Panda Express, but it still really isn't that great... I'll pass next time unless I'm in a pinch.

I have no idea what it is, but it seems that all Palo Alto establishments I've been to recently have a much higher rating on Yelp than they should.  Jing Jing is seemingly a Chinese restaurant, but I'm here to tell you it is not.  If you want American faux-Chinese food, then yes, come here.  By all means come here and stop going to all the great wonderful places that serve delicious food.

I came here with my friend knowing that he had, sadly, eaten here before, but selected to do so based upon convenience.

The service was fine.  I didn't have a problem at all with the service.  It's your traditional flag-the-waiter-when-you-need-something type of establishment.

The prices are sadly over-priced for what you're getting.  I can order one of the dishes, at a superbly higher quality for 50% the price up in SF.  There is no excuse to charge $19.95 for a dish that can be made extremely well and profitably for $10.

Three dishes were ordered: hot and sour soup (how cliché), smoked pork, and spicy chicken.  

The smoked pork was manageable, yet nothing earth-shattering.  The "ma la zi ji" (spicy chicken) should have been friend and spicy.  This came out seemingly flash wok-fried with celery and black beans.  The black beans were expected, but celery does not belong in this dish.  It really was more sweet than anything else.

Quite honestly, the hot and sour soup was the best thing we had, which isn't really saying much.

I have no intention of ever coming back here.  If I have to eat Chinese food in Palo Alto, for now, I'll stick with Jade Palace and Su Hong, otherwise you'll find me in many other parts of the Bay for mouth-watering Chinese food.

Ok, I was starving from having hiked Half Dome this day, so my review may be a little bias.  The waitress we had didn't seem to work here, as she didn't really know what was available, but she did an amazing job at pleasing our group.

The burger was pretty amazing.  I was completely pleased with it.  The fries were good, too.  As for the cole slaw and sauerkraut, I would steer clear, ick.  

If you've been hiking all day and are craving food, then this will probably be your best bet on your way back to the Bay (or wherever).  You can only eat so many Clif bars and such before craving something cooked.

I normally would be skeptical of this place, but the waitress put up with our delirium and foolishness, and the food wasn't half bad.  Under normal circumstances I would skip here, but if you need some food and have been hiking all day, then check it out.  Not only do they have beer, but they take credit card, too.  It will probably be better here, or take less time, than getting food at some of the lodges in Yosemite, especially on a Saturday.

I love this place.  I've started coming here on a regular basis and absolutely love it.  I now sit at the sushi bar and order directly from the chef.  I think on my next visit, he's just going to make food for me without me ordering.  

Over my past couple of visits I've ordered sashimi and a roll or nigiri to supplement it.  Everything has been extremely fresh, and any issues I've had have been resolved promptly.  I'll say for the area, the food here is probably some of the best around.

The chef, although Korean, steers away from Korean influences as much as possible to stay true to Japanese flavors.  He and I were actually talking about him creating a new menu tonight.

I suppose for me, this place is great because when I go, I'll order my sashimi, and then will get a couple extra things from the chef and then we'll have soju or sake together.  How awesome is that?  A chef who is going to make food for me and give me alcohol?  I can't pass that up.  I'm already looking forward to going back and having him make a meal for me as he's been learning my tastes.

For those who aren't close to the chef, the maki is fairly standard, but some of the rolls stand about above the rest.  The Hot Night, for example, is pretty amazing.  If you're in the area, check it out.

Genghix, who would have thought you would be in Castro Valley?  I don't understand some of the poor reviews.  I'll admit, I'm friends with one of the managers, but from my experience this place is pretty spot on.

The atmosphere is just amazing.  I really had a hard time believing where I was when I walked through the huge Asian double doors (new as of last week).  The lighting is very intimate; the table lights themselves are really gorgeous in and of themselves.  The earthy feel of the decor just adds to the ambiance: wicker style table and chair accents, wooden earth tones, et al.

The food I ended up having was primarily the sushi portions.  For starters, we had "a girly man" roll: fried tempura, salmon, tobiko, avocado, etc.  This has the perfect textures blended together making each bite an adventure.  

Next was the Pokemon, a glass of amazingly tender tuna, mango, avocado, and kimchee sauce.  I couldn't help but fall in love with this dish.  My friend actually created this dish.  He's going to have to teach me how because I absolutely love the richness of the kimchee sauce.  The mango adds the perfect amount of citrus needed to liven up this dish.  My absolute favorite of the night!

The next dish was the tuna tartare.  All-in-all, not a bad dish of seaweed, avocado, and tuna with rice crisps.  The sriracha on the side really should be blended into the dish itself.  If you want tuna though, go for the Pokemon.

Lastly our shiro-maguro and hamachi sashimi were served.  The topping on the shiro-maguro was a little too cold and took away from the flavor of the dish.  I had to let it rest a little while before continuing with the rest of it.  The hamachi, on the other hand, were little pieces of heaven.  It was the meatiest, mouth-watering, tender little pieces of fish I've ever had.  I seriously couldn't have ended my meal with anything better.

The presentation of the food here is gorgeous.  The leaf garnish on the roll was cute and added to the name, almost like a feather in a hat; the pokemon being served in a glass situated in a bed of radish and wasabe garnish was clever even.  Presentation here is 5 star alone.

Now, I almost would give this place a 5-star rating, but I need to visit one more time to see if the couple minor food mistakes were just flukes.  The pricing of the sashimi and nigiri are standard ($4-$5 for nigiri).  If you think it's over-priced, then stop eating at Sushi Tomo.  As for the prices of the maki rolls, I would like to see those lowered to around $12 average instead of $14, but for what I had, I'm not at all upset about the $14.

All-in-all, a fantastic place.  I will certainly be coming back and venturing into their other foodie realms.  It's hard to get "fusion" just right because of the interpretation of it.  For some people, they want "authentic" regional dishes when they see them on the menu, which ruins the idea of "fusion" in the first place.  For others, "fusion" is exactly what you'd expect, a variety of styles of dishes which take cues from one another to help create a new dining experience.

I really do like this place, even though I've only gone once.  It is certainly more LA-oriented than any other bar in the area, so do take that into consideration.  The ventilation here is awesome, all the other bars that are hot and humid having nothing on the cool AC here.  Love it!

For your drinks, I wouldn't try and order something exotic because it will either be wrong or you'll probably be told that they don't know how to make it.  Another major plus is that they gladly accept credit card here, which is sometimes a much needed benefit for me so I don't have to hunt down an ATM.

The DJ here was decent, but certainly needed to change up the beat more than what he was doing.  

I do appreciate the fact they have a smoking area, although it is small.  If you prefer you can easily just go out on the sidewalk to smoke instead of dealing with the other people if that's your choice.

I would say I like this place because it is an upbeat change from the other bars in Castro, but it has a few things to change before it will be 5-stars in my book: better DJs, a touch stronger drinks or slightly reduced price, and cooler seating areas than what they have now (as the little alcoves heat up quickly).  I do enjoy this place and would easily choose coming here over other bars, even taking into consideration its few pitfalls.

I came here for the first time last night, and must say I really enjoyed myself when the place wasn't packed to the brim.

I walked in, and loved the rustic, sea breeze warn decor.  The lighting was soft and inviting to the eye.  The petrified wood tables added a nice touch to the seemingly sailor jaunt the place could have been back in the 1800s.  The layout is long and narrow: bar on the right, seating on the left--seemingly reminiscent of similar bars in NYC.

The drinks here are good, especially taking into consideration of the fresh ingredients they have available for the drinks.  I did notice that the bartender was able to make my drinks, and if he didn't know he quickly found out from another bartender (my Kentucky mint julep for example), and learned my shot later, buffalo sweat, was bourbon and Tabasco.  I will say the bartender was rude at one point, and is part of the reason why knocking them a star.  If you start out asking me what I'm ordering, and then immediately turn to the person next to me and flirt with her before coming back and asking me what my drink is again, I'm not going to be a happy camper.

The other point I didn't really care for was when the place got packed.  It was really hard to move throughout the bar, and it took a fair amount of time to get through the crowd to actually get another drink.

The crowd here is mixed, yet is certainly well-balanced from what I could tell.  For this seemingly being a straight/gay bar, it seemed to lean slightly more towards gay scene.  In any regard, a few guys certainly caught my eye.

All-in-all, another great bar to hit up when it isn't packed.  I would certainly check it out even though it is a few blocks away from Castro.

My friend brought me here for dinner as I was craving sushi.  When we walked in, I immediately liked the decor and atmosphere, but I will say the space is really small.  We walked in with no reservations and were quite lucky enough to be seated quickly.  

We only ordered sushi and did not venture into the other dishes, so I will say this review is strictly about the sushi.

The starter we had was tako (Hawaiian) poke, and it didn't really come out as poke.  The first thing I noticed was that it was missing spice, secondly it was covered with onions, and it was drenched in a soy based sauce.  I'm not sure what this was, but poke it was not.  The tako wasn't that fresh, as it had been resting long enough that it was chewy.

The next not so great bit was the maguro sashimi.  It had the right colors, but it was slightly off.  

The rest of the food was fresh and delicious.  Lorelei, Golden State, negi hama, aji, and o-toro.  Their rolls are a little different, but mix components that make them interesting and new.  For instance, the Golden State roll as thin slices of lemon on top of them which make them very citrusy; the lorelei comes with macadamia nuts sprinkled on top.  The aji and o-toro nigiri were delectable and slightly butter in taste from the fats in the fish.  

The service was amazing.  Out waitress in particular was great.  I would go back just to see here.  She even brought me some gelato for my birthday.  I think the staff is very attentive and pays attention to detail, so they have that nailed down.

Oh, and the sake which we ordered.  I found it very interesting how they poured it for us.  First the glasses were set in a little box container of sorts.  Then the sake was poured into the glass until it overflowed into the box.  I suppose that means you get your money's worth, but it's sad to see the little bit of sake spill over and not get drank.

I would certainly come back here, but it may be worth calling in a reservation just in case.

I'm starting to become a big fan of froyo, and I don't really know why.  After having had dinner, I was wanting something sweet, so my friend and I stopped here.  I think the prices are good, as it's easy to buy dessert for two people on $5.  

I'm giving this place 4 stars because of 3 things: clean place, mochi condiments, and TARO flavored froyo!  I love Taro flavored froyo.  I ended up having a little bit of chocolate and taro froyo with mochi and blackberries drizzled with a little bit of mango sauce.  So delicious!