Chris C.'s Profile

Fremont is fast becoming the Frozen Yogurt capital of Northern California with what seems like new shops opening monthly.  Since Yogurtouille is about 10 minute drive from our home, the wife and I decided to check out the latest Frozen Yogurt Shop of Fremont.

Not hard to locate and located in a busy strip mall right next to Panera Bread Company, Yogurtouille is one of the smaller Frozen Yogurt shops in Fremont, but with about a dozen selection, it's has the most variety.  We've been here about 3 times since this review and it seems like they have something new every time we went there.  They have your standard Vanilla, Chocolate, Sour Milk (Tart) but they also have flavors like dolce, pineapple, pumpkin, cheese cake, strawberry, peach, mocha, and I seem to recall a pistachio just to name a few.

The frozen yogurt here is pretty good and fast becoming my favorite.  It has a thicker texture to it without being icy.  They also have a nice selection of toppings to choose from including a good selection of fresh fruit and my personal favorite, about 6 or 7 different flavored syrups.  The mochi here though isn't my favorite, but that's ok because there are plenty of other toppings to choose from.  The price is pretty cheap at $0.35 an ounce and they do have a punch card system.  The only complaint I have is frozen yogurt comes out too quick.

Overall, probably on of my favorite frozen yogurt spots in Fremont and a well earned 4 star rating.

Located in the Food Max strip mall, Wok King is a half/half blend of the Fast Food Chinese and full on sit down kind of place.  The reason why I say it's half & half is because the menu & ordering is set up fast food style (you go up to the counter and put in your order) they even have a refrigerator filled with beverages, but they cook everything to order, thus it makes their menu a bit more extensive than your normal fast food take out.  Wok King can sit around 35 and has a couple of CRT TVs in the corner with a college game playing.

There's not much décor here and if I'm being honest, I have to say the place was a bit dirty when I arrived.  There were dirty plates on several tables and one had soda spilled all over it.  Though it was me and another guy waiting here, I found finding a clean spot to sit hard.

Prices here are reasonable, you're looking at between $4 - $8 for plates here.  They offer probably around 40+ different items from everything from Sweet & Sour Chicken, Broccoli Chicken, Curry Beef, Mongolian Beef, and several dishes with Prawns.

I decided to get Combo #5 which included Pork Chow Mein Pork Fried Rice, and Lemon Chicken.  I found a spot and sat down.  It probably took them about 10 minutes to cook the food.  The cashier/waiter came out with a decent amount of food.  It looked pretty good, unfortunately looks can be deceiving.

First taste was the Pork Fried Rice.  It was the blandest fried rice I've ever had.  It just had no flavor to it at all.  Even if they added some pepper or more egg to it would have made it better.  The chow main here was equal as bad.  While it had flavor, unfortunately the flavor was from the large amount of grease on the noodles.  You know you're in trouble when you can see the grease dripping off the noodle onto the plate.

I was hoping that the lemon chicken would save the day, but I was wrong.  There were two big issues I had with it.  1st was the lemon flavoring was so strong, it just overwhelmed everything.  But I guess they needed to put a strong lemon flavoring to it because the chicken was fried to a crisp.  It was so over cooked that they fried the juiciness out of the chicken and made it dry and tough.

Even though I was hungry, the food was so bad, I only ate half of it because I was hungry and figured I would just wait until I got home in about 45 minutes to have lunch.

As much as I want to see small businesses succeed, Wok King was probably some of the worst Chinese Food I've ever had in my life.  The two positives for this place is that they give out decent portion sizes and they cook to order.  But what good is that when they either serve bland food, or greasy food, or they overcook the food to the point that it's dry out.  Add to that the place is dirty, just makes for a poor dining experience.  One of the few 1 stars reviews I've given out and would avoid at all costs.

Can't believe I'm already at review #500.  That's a whole lot of restaurants, hotels, and businesses I've reviewed since October 2006 (and not one of those review involves a UYE, political statement, gas station, Walgreens, Walmart, etc, but legitimate businesses that I've or someone else in my party paid for.)  Damn I spend a lot of money...

So for #500, I'm choosing probably one of my most memorial vacations I've done in awhile and doing a review of False Island Lodge.  Located about 1.5 hour boat ride out of Sitka Alaska, False Island Lodge sits about a 10 minute boat ride from some of the major fishing grounds of Sitka.  The best part about this lodge is that the only other people out here are the commercial fisherman, during my 5 day stay here I didn't see another sport fishing boat around.  This makes for an ideal situation if you're going after BIG FISH.

False Island Lodge is actually an old logging barge converted into a sportsman lodge.  They have about 5 rooms with bunk beds so can hold up to about 20 guests plus they have rooms for their staff as well.  For literally being out in the middle of no where, they have all the modern conveniences you would find in anywhere.  The lodge has everything you could need from your basics of running hot and cold water and flushing toilets to a flat screen satellite TV and hot tub.  Only thing missing was WiFi and a regular phone (you could use their satellite phone if needed) and to be honest I didn't miss having any of those things.  They don't have a "chef" but they have a darn good cook that made eating here quite a pleasure with plenty of it including an all you can eat crab feed.  I gained about 4 pounds on this vacation.

Another bonus is that they provide all the gear for you, so you don't need to take your rods or Gundens with you if you want to use their gear.

They run 29 foot boats with heads and the fishing grounds are as close as a 10 minute boat ride but some of the favorite holes are about an hour.  During the time here I saw a wide range of wildlife such as Bald Eagles, Bears, Humpback Whales, and Orcas and in our boat caught about 15 different types of fish including two halibuts that were 116 & 164 and several kings that were 25+.  We also did some shrimping and crabbing too and brought home 9 boxes of meat which equals to 450 lbs.

Overall words can not express what a great time my family had at False Island Lodge.  This is definitely one of those diamonds in the roughs and if you're looking for an exceptional Alaska Fishing Experience, this is one of the top lodges I've ever been too.  Perfect 5 star rating and hope to go back sometime soon.

While here in Las Vegas need some place to pick up some thing quick for breakfast and decided to get something here.  First and foremost, they have a nice display of pastries and donuts which makes your mouth water.  Not only do they have those yummy pastries on display, they also have a decent selection of bagels to choose from and you can get them toasted too.  Price ranges from as low as $1 for a basic donut up to $4 - $5 for one of their more dessert options.  For Las Vegas hotel, prices here are reasonable.  

I ended up getting 3 donuts and 3 bagels to split among my friends.  Overall, the bagel was good.  It was a bit doughy and was expecting more of an east coast bagel than a west coast bagel, but after a night of drinking, I wasn't complaining.  The donut are also decent.  It was more like a cake, so it filled the spot with a light glaze on top.

Overall, if was a good hangover cure and less expensive than most of the places in Vegas.  So overall, 3 stars and worth a stop for a cheap eats in Vegas.

Located inside the New York New York Hotel & Casino, I have to say that Sirrico's Pizza is probably the best deal for food you will get on the strip.  With prices starting out at around $3 and getting a whole pizza for around $16, if you're hungry and looking for something filling at a cheap price, this is your stop.

They offer 2 different types of Pizza "Traditional" which is more of your NY style thin crust slice or "Sicilian" which is more like a forroccia style slice and they have about 5 or 6 different styles of each pizza ready to be served.  They also offer some pasta, sandwiches, and salads.  Sirrico's Pizza is run like a lunch counter, you pick what you want, slide your tray over and pay at the register.  Not much to it.

I decided to get a "traditional" slice of pepperoni pizza.  They guy gave me a huge piece and paid for it and found a seat around the corner.  Took a bit into it and have to say it was alright.  The crust was thin, but not like a cracker so you can easily fold it in half, they were a bit light on the sauce for my taste and very heavy on the cheese.  There was also a good amount of pepperoni on it, so I'm glad they didn't skimp on that.  It wasn't the best pizza I've had, but in Vegas for about $3 and good portion size, I honestly couldn't complain.  It made for a good 3:30 in the after noon late lunch before dinner at 8PM and filled me up.

Overall, yes I would come back because the pizza wasn't half bad and their prices better than most things you would get in Vegas.  It did the job and the job well, normally I would rate someplace like Sirrico's Pizza at 3 stars, but considering the portion and value especially compared to all the other places in Vegas that way over charge you, it's worth rounding up to 4 stars.  If you're looking for something cheap, reasonable, and filling, Sirrico's Pizza is probably one of the best values you will find in Vegas, 4 stars.

The Roasted Bean was me and my friends hangover cure from a long night of parting in Las Vegas .  It's a nice upper end Café that's a lot nicer than Starbucks the offer some pretty good and large pastries.  Prices here are "reasonable" for Las Vegas .  You can get yourself a good size pastry such as a crossant, cinnamon roll, muffin, or bagel (most of the baked goods are under $4) and a coffee for under $10.  They also offer a decent selection of sandwiches around the $9 range.

The times I came here got myself a sugar free muffin 9pretty good about the size you get at Las Vegas), and Bagel (decent size and taste).  They have a good selection of coffees to choose from and other drinks.  I got the smooth tea combo twice and was very pleased with it.

It was a nice little café that offered quality product.  A bit higher than say Starbucks, but as I said the quality is there.  Overall, they were my hang over cure and for a normal 3.5 rating, bumping The Roasted Bean up to 4 stars.

Came to Stack for dinner with a bunch of friends.  Stack is an upscale New American/Steakhouse restaurant located inside the MGM.  The two things I've noticed right off the back is that Stack is very stylish and also very dark.  Everyone at our table was complaining about how dark the place Stack is.

We didn't have reservations but was still able to walk in on a Saturday Night at 8PM.  As mentioned before Stack is New American Cuisine with several steak options too.  Soe we are talking about Kobe Beef Burgers, Lobster Tacos, Steak Fries with Truffles, and Tater tots with Brie and bacon and the prices here reflect the high end items too.  Prices start at around $15 for most of their menu options and if you're looking for a steak here they start at $40.  Also, everything here is served ala carte, so you're going to have to pay extra for sides.

Looking over the menu decided to get Grilled Meatball Pizza and other people got the Pork Chops, the Sirloin Steak, and the Kobe Beef Burger along with Mac & Cheese, Wings, Tater Tots, and Steak Fries as sides.  When we got the food, it came out in a reasonable amount of time and everything came out at once.

My Pizza wasn't anything I expected.  It was a super thin crust pizza (we're talking about the thickness of a cracker) cut into about 8 2 inch squares with just one meatball (about the size of a sweedish meatball) in the center of each "slice".  The portion size was decent, the sauce had a nice bit of spice too, the kobe beef meatball was good and decently flavored, but I still can't get over the cracker they used as a crust.  Just not my thing and was thinking more of "pizza" crust than a Ritz Cracker crust.

I tried all of the appetizers and by far the best was Steak Fries.  It wasn't the fries itself, but the sauce that came with it was excellent.  It was almost like a chipotle/mayo taste to it and was excellent.  The wings were good, but very small.  They were more like wing lollipops than your traditional wings.  The seasoning they used was good.  The mac and cheese was good, nothing mind blowing but good.  And finally the tater tots, to be honest they reminded me too much of what I had from the school cafeteria and while you did get hints of the brie and bacon, I just thought they were just ok.

Comments from the table pretty much ranged in the just OK area whether it was the Burger, Sirloin, or even the other guy that ordered the Pizza.  The guy who ordered the Pork, didn't like it and thought it was overcooked and tough to eat.

The service here is professional indifferent.  The waiter did spill water on me when trying to refill a glass and just kind of blew off as no big deal and of course on a scale of 1 - 10 I would rank it as a 4.  Yeah annoyed, but not pissed, probably would have been a two if the waiter wasn't so indifferent.  Also I noticed we didn't get bread and several other tables did, so not sure if you had to pay for it, or again the waiter being indifferent about it.

My share of the food came out to be about $40.  I'm sure I put in more than others, but WTF.  As to recommendation, to be honest the food was good, but I was hardly blown away especially at the prices you pay at.  I guess I feel the same way about Stack as the waiter felt about us, indifferent.  You could do better, but you could also do worst in Vegas, take it or leave it and from a meh feeling, Stack gets a 3 star rating.

Came to Gallagher's Steakhouse for dinner with my friends while I was here in Las Vegas.  Gallagher's Steakhouse is the high end steakhouse for New York New York Hotel.  The décor here has that feel of an upscale NY dinning establishment.  It's a nice high end feel but comes at a price of that they really pack you so that you're really close to your neighbors and that the acoustics of this Gallagher's is lousy so you have to really speak up in order to talk to the people across from you.

They had our reservations and was able to show us our seats within minutes of arriving.  The menu here is pretty basic and what you would expect from a steakhouse, appetizers such as crab cakes, shrimp or crab cocktails, and bruschetta ranging in the $8 -$12+ range and a range of steaks such as filet mignon, porterhouse, prime rib, and a couple of chops and seafood selection ranging in the $30 - $45.  Also, sides do not come with the meal, so for your veggies, potatoes, and macroni you're looking at spending an additional $6 - $10 each as well as they have 3 sauces to choose from at an additional $2 each.

I decided to get the filet mignon medium and my friends got the prime rib and we decided to share the mash potatoes and the broccoli au gratin.  My friend also got clam chowder which he thought was ok.  When we got our meal, I have to say portion size, I was impressed.  The "queen" size prime ribs were huge, my filet mignon was the size of my fist.  The mash potatoes was pretty small, just barely enough to give each of us 1 spoon full, and the broccoli was a decent size head covered in cheese.

Looking forward I cut into my meat and the first bite, over cooked.  It was closer to well done and maybe even a medium well, then a medium.  As I ate my meat, the cooking was so uneven.  I would say only about 15% of the filet mignon was cooked to a medium, the rest of it ranged everywhere from rare to well done.  It wasn't even like it was just the center that was rare, it was just unevenly cooked everywhere.  The only place that was consistant was that the outside was well done.  The pieces that were cooked to a medium was very good and very tender and you can tell the meat quality is there, just the cooking was almost criminal to waste a good piece of meat like that.

My friends also had the same problems.  One got his prime rib medium well, and it was cooked well done.  NO pink to the meat at all.  My other friend just liked the outside with the seasoning and didn't like the center.  They also didn't serve the horseradish or au jus sauce with the prime rib and I know you have to pay extra for the sauce (personally at these prices and paying ala carte, they should just give it to you) but not giving them the au jus to go with the prime rib is a major faux pas.

The sides we ordered were good, probably the small portion of mash potatoes was the best dish of the night.  Very creamy and looks like they put it through a blender to get out all the lumps.  The broccoli, well it was a nicely cooked piece of broccoli with some high end cheese melt on top, it was good, but nothing special.

The service here was friendly for the most part until one of my friends asked to take home his prime rib (he probably only ate about half his food) and it got into this long and weird awkward moment with one of the waiter's assistant asking if he was sure he wanted it wrapped and asked him several times until he finally got it wrapped.

The total bill came out to be about $175 including beers and tips.  Honestly, for that much money, I didn't walk away feeling impressed with Gallagher's Steakhouse.  For the prices you pay for, the cooking quality of the steaks should be much much better.  The ingredients are there, but if you have a guy who can't cook a piece of meat evenly, let alone to a medium, or even know that a medium well prime rib has some pink to it, you're just wasting your money Gallagher's Steakhouse.  High quality ingredients and portion size can only hide so much, you still need to be able to cook.  I would save your money and go else where, 2 stars for Gallagher's Steakhouse for their high quality ingredents and not much else.

After arriving in Las Vegas my friends and I decided to head over to Sherwood Forest Café fr breakfast.  The best way to Sherwood Forest Café is that it's a Las Vegas Denny's.  It's your basic American Style Dinner that serves Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.  The menu here won't blow you away, but there is something for everyone.  

Most of the breakfast items here are under $15 unless you go for the steak and eggs combo.  You're looking at your "typical" Denny's breakfast menu filled with pancakes, waffles, scrambles, and omelets.  So if you're looking for something more, this isn't the place for you.

I put in for an order of the egg beater scrambled with wheat toasts, ham, and orange juice and my friends also put in an order for 2 egg scramble and eggs benedicts.  We chatted for a while and out came my juice.  It wasn't freshly squeezed juice, but a lot better than most places where they have it tapped into their fountain drinks.

When our breakfast arrived, portion size was decent.  The egg beaters were ok, I asked for some salsa and that help with it.  I got a good amount of hash browns which were good but nothing special.  Probably the best part was the ham.  It was a nice thick cut piece of ham that you see people get at a buffet (which probably happened considering we are in Vegas).  None the less it was pretty good.  My friends seem to enjoy their breakfast, not making either negative or positive comments about it.

To pay, once you get your bill from the waitress, you have to leave your table and pay up front where you came in.  So that's an FYI so you don't sit around forever waiting for the waitress to pick it up.  The service here was ok, kind of equal to what you expect for in Denny's type place.  They were there and that's about it.

As to rating, best way to describe Sherwood Forest Café is that it fulfills a need.  It doesn't pretend to do more than that, it's just there for people to get something to eat.  If you go in with that kind of expectations, you should do fine.  And since Sherwood Forest Café filled my need of having breakfast, it gets a 3 star rating.

Located inside the Mirage, Carnegie Delicatessen is a "New York" style deli serving casual food. I came here twice during my stay in Vegas, once for Breakfast and another time for lunch and both times, I did leave full, but disappointed.

It has the Carnegie Delicatessen has the "NY" feel to it and located almost in the middle of the casino. Open 24hours they offer a good selection of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. Prices here at Carnegie Delicatessen are on the high side. Basic breakfast items such as omelets, pancakes, and such, starting around $8 and goes as high as $20. Sides here will run you around $4 - $5. For lunch they offer a good selection of hot and cold sandwiches and things like chicken livers, hash, meatloaf, etc starting around $12 - $24. Pretty spendy for the type of food you get that usually runs about at half the price.

For breakfast, just needed something to fill the stomach and got a basic bagel and cream cheese. The bagel, well for a "NY" deli, tasted something I could get at Costco. Honestly, nothing special. Everyone else got eggs and one guy got a burger and fries at 6AM and they ate it because after a night of drinking, what else are you going to do. The waitress at this time was a bit bitchy, but not sure if it was us or she was just in a foul mood. Also the service was slow and she forgot my friend's fries.

When I came here for lunch with my brother, service here was nonexistent. They had plenty of servers, at one point I think I counted about 4 or 5 of them gathered just chatting away in a corner while several of us were waiting to get served and several tables had dirty dishes on them.

Brother was suffering from a hangover and decided to get the mozaball soup and I got the hot dog and some fries. When we got our food, I have to give them credit for their portion size. My brother got a big bowl of soup and I got literally a foot long hot dog and a plate of fries piled up high. My brother didn't like his soup at all and this even suffering from a massive hangover when anything tastes good. My hot dog was decent though the homemade sauerkraut was excellent. It was probably a notch better than a hotdog you would be able to get at Costco as it was a bit spicy which I liked. The fries were ok. Nothing special to report about.

The waitress on the other hand, was more interested in talking to her fellow servers than say, bring us a bill. My brother and I waited about 15 minutes before we flagged down someone else to bring us our bill and that took an additional 10 minutes as 2 other tables in our same area requested the same thing.

As to rating, honestly the food is just average but its WAY overpriced. The service here is just plain lousy both times I came here. There are SO MANY other options here, that Carnegie Delicatessen is a waste of time and unless you're coming here at 3AM and no other place is open, I would highly advise people to skip out. They got good portions, but that's about it, 2 stars for Carnegie Delicatessen.