Herman C.'s Profile

I am always on the look out for affordable, authentic Asian food and Seattle has made this pursuit well, not an easy one - especially when compared to the more gastronomically developed cities of Chicago, Boston, and NYC.

Fu-Lin makes a pretty good showing on the small eats front with its staple of noodle soups. I always go back to the Beef Noodle soup - as it has a Taiwanese flair to it - just like mom's home cooking. The dumplings are worth a try but could be a little less doughy IMHO.

What's interesting is that the menu is a combo of Chinese and Japanese and the latter's influence is seen in its decor. I'm glad to say the owners have also followed through with the Japanese tidiness. This is not your hole-in-the-wall noodle soup found in a dingy Chinatown alley.

Overall, solid choice for lunch or dinner - light on the wallet and satisfies the belly.

Huge fan of Molly Moon's.

It's really "unfortunate" for me and my waistline that I can literally walk a few blocks to get to this ice cream crack store from my doorstep. As alluded to in other reviews, there is usually a throng of people wrapped around the outside of the store down 45th Street.

To avoid this truly unfortunate situation, I end up waiting till 10:30 at night to get my Honey Lavender and Maple Walnut fix. Only upon closing time, am I mano y mano with the Molly Moon server and have the freedom to sample a new flavor without the pressure of anxious customers. Zero wait time, beautiful.

I must give my business 2 cents to Molly Moon and say that if she so desired, she could easily put herself into a new tax bracket if she improved the operations of serving and cashiering. It may be part of the experience to have to wait in line for the yummy ice cream but I think a lot of customers would appreciate faster service - in other words, ice cream in belly faster.

1 star short of perfection for the wait time.

You done right Fu Man.

You just made a Chinaman very happy - bringing back the dear old memories of going down a smelly alley in Taipei, planting my ass on a plastic kiddie bench, and gorging on dumplings till I could fill my belly no more.

For the Seattle metro area, these dumplings here are probably going to be the closest thing you're going to get to the authentic ones described above.

Besides the dumplings, the soups are highly recommended - the real deal (i.e. not the kind you'd find at some Americanized Chinese food establishment like Panda House).  We were big fans of the Hot & Sour and Spinach Egg Drop soup.

It's a bit of a trek to the place (north of Seattle, near Bitter Lake) but clearly worth it.

One thing to note, if you're heading for dinner, make sure you get there by 8:30 pm and not a minute later. Some poor family got there at 8:32 pm (literally) and the owner was like, 'sorry, no sit downs after 8:30 due to the kitchen prep time.' And the dad of the family even spoke Mandarin to the owner to work his 'I'm a brother man. gimme' a break' angle. No dice. "No dumplings for you!"

I am going to come straight out and be a hater. I totally get that fuel ($4/gallon gas) and commodity prices are at all-time highs but let's be reasonable here. I should not have to pay $37 for brown rice (2 bowls equivalent), green curry, and pad thai - and it was take-out!

When I got to the restaurant and did a double-take on the bill, the cashier mentioned that they prepare each dish from scratch. Ok, I get that you had to put some extra time into the prep but it's not like you're putting exotic truffles or slices of kobe beef in the curry. Let's be serious.

At the end of day, I gave them two stars for the "quality" prep since the food was pretty tasty but as duly noted above, the cost/benefit ratio was way out of whack.

I will not be back for awhile. Maybe I'll hit it big one Vegas weekend and feel the need to splurge on expensive Thai.

Food here is pretty deelish and the waitstaff is very attentive and friendly. Primo pastas, melt-in-your-mouth Osso Buco, and solid wine selection. You might ask why only three stars. What's the deelio?

Pretty simple. $16 entrees that'd barely satisfy a munchkin and a very stealth 10% surcharge on take-out orders (not cool!). Fortunately for the proprietors, these are things you can fix pretty easily.

Feed the Hungry Man appetite and no tax on take out = 4 stars!

If I could only eat one kind of sandwich for the rest of my life, it would be a double meat, provolone cheese chicken salad sandwich with hot peppers, oil, and italian seasoning from Potbelly's.

Not sure what it is about their sandwich craft, but damn, they have it down and have been doing it for some time (since 1977). Toasted buns, perfect blend of meat, spices, melted cheese, ooh, ahhh.

I was first introduced to this fine LP eatery when I was just a spring chicken right out of undergrad at my 1st job in the city. Their sandwiches were THE Sunday morning antidote to a Saturday night of imbibing along Lincoln Ave. Oh, the sweet memories...

And to ... today  .... every time I am back in Chi-town visiting, I make it my own personal sojourn to hit one of the Potbelly locations that have expanded through out the Chicago metroplex. It is a religious experience for me. I go with my tried and true chicken salad, a bag of chips, and top off the order with one of their handmade old school chocolate shakes.

I may have to look into franchising this into Seattle. It would totally disrupt the sandwich market on the West Coast. It'd be the second coming of In-N-Out but for sandwiches.

Happened to stumble upon this place after a show at the Paramount to grab a drink ... which turned into drinks and then into a satisfying meal.

Bambuza is a Vietnamese 'bistro' (as they call themselves) with more sophisticated decor and dressed up Vietnamese dishes (in  a good way) than your typical bare bones pho joint.  

We didn't try a lot of things on the menu, a few apps and 1 main dish but they were all pretty good. The Bambuza salad rolls and honey glazed walnut prawns hit the spot. These were followed by a spicy beef noodle soup which could have had higher quality meat but broth was not too spicy and not too oily.

Service like others experienced was ebb and flow.  A lot of it had to do with the fact they seemed to be understaffed due to the influx of pre and post show folks. Still though, gotta' plan for these things management team.

Would have given Bambuza 4 stars ....

Btw, they make a killer drink called the b-sting: vodka (ketel's my choice), triple sec, and honey liquer. Wow, It's like drinking kool-aid. I'd go back for that alone.

Big fan of the Moxi ... these ladies have got the right idea ... funk, creativity, and service.

Been a loyal client for 2 years+ now and haven't looked back post several debacles at other Seattle salons. Trista works with you to "get it right" and everybody here is super cool.

I always look forward to my weekend cuts.

Unique sandwich shop in city. It's gourmet as they describe on their website (in other words, we can charge you more for it.  :)

My typical meal here is: crispy Tofu baguette because it's super tasty (satisfies my Vietnamese s'wich fix with the daikon, cilantro, and carrots) and beets salad. Yah, kind of a weird combo but I'll be first to admit my palate is eclectic/strange.

They've got a bunch of other sandwiches like tuna salad, pork loin, drunken chicken but for the value, stick with the crispy Tofu since it's $2-3 cheaper.

Average sandwich costs $6.25-$7.50. Enjoy!

4 stars, only because the brewskies are not as light on my wallet as I'd like them to be.

Agree with all other posts, THIS is the one-stop-shop for premium beers in Seattle and it's in Walling-hood.

Through Botttleworks and its opinionated yet helpful employees, I've come to appreciate the finest Belgium beers. Just ask and they'll hook you up with a beer or beers that will delight the palate and make you coming back for more.

Nice bonus is that they tend to have a much higher alcohol content (i.e. 9-11%) but I guess you're paying for it - as I mentioned earlier.

Bottom line - come here after LONG week at work, fight with a spouse/partner, when the sun don't come out (sorry Seattleites), your dog running away, et al., you'll find great comfort with a few sips of their finest.