Vicky "CCG" L.'s Profile

My friends and I are geniuses: observe very s-l-o-w-moving line outside Purple Kow, phone in our order while standing outside looking at the menu, then go across the street to Hockey Haven for a drink while we wait the 30-35 minutes for our order.  At 10 PM on a Saturday night, the wait was RIDICULOUS.

An almond green milk tea, original boba (with green tea) milk tea, a chamomile "pop tea" and a matcha fresh milk tea and $14.17 later, we decided that yes, the drinks were very delicious because the tea was very fresh and fragrant, not that sweet, and of gigantic size.  I don't want to know how many calories I sucked through that straw.

The place is horribly designed, with the counter/waiting space close to the tables and chairs, and just one cashier.  They should make the kitchen/prep/cashier part larger, section off the waiting area towards the back, and get rid of the tables and chairs, as I'm sure that doesn't help increase their revenue, since it only adds to the crowd/noise level.

I probably will not return to this establishment, as it's super far out from the rest of the world, and it's not really worth the wait.  But if I'm ever in the area and I don't see a line (or if I remember to phone in my order), yeah, I'll probably get another quart-sized drink.  It's worth the calories.

Shabu in the Marina??  Yeah, that's pretty much what everyone asked.

Upon walking in, there was one table of 2, and there were three younger Asian guys who were in the kitchen.  No one came out to greet us.  In fact, they didn't hear us or see us until a few of us tried waving and yelling at them to make our presence known.  Luckily they put our tables together pretty quickly and we were seated.

With our group of 11, we pretty much occupied 75% of the back portion of the restaurant on Monday night.  I've never seen this place more than half full, and it's probably due to a few reasons: 1) it's located on Lombard, away from trendy Chestnut St. and too far from the "popping" spots on Union, and 2) people in the Marina probably have no idea what Shabu Shabu is.  No offense, but when was the last time you saw a group of Marina-esque people trekking to the Sunset or Richmond to have hot pot?

Our group consisted of seasoned shabu/hot pot eaters (including hawt fellow Yelpers Cherylynn N. and Sara P.), and for the money ($19.99/person for AYCE, $24.99/person for AYCE and AYCD sake and beer) it wasn't bad.  They did have a 2-hour limit for AYCE, though I'm not sure what they'd do to enforce that.  Would we have to finish all our food in the last 5 minutes?  Would we be charged another $20 a person if we were 8 minutes over the 2-hour mark?

Choices of broth included chicken, pork bone, spicy, or half/half.  The meats were pretty fresh, and they had chicken breast, which was a new one for me.  We pretty much tried everything on the menu, and I liked the fish balls and the beef tendons.  However, the dumplings were pretty dismal (choice of fish or shrimp), as was the fish egg dumpling (one word: ew).

The spicy broth had a really nice, strong kick, though it's not the spiciest I've had.  Their pork bone broth was meh and lacked flavor in general.  Other gripes: 1) they didn't have a very good selection of dipping sauces, so I ended up with soy sauce and minced garlic, and 2) they didn't bring us several things that we'd checked off on the menu - were they out?  Thanks for letting us know.

3-3.5 stars for the actual food.  Of course this place can't compare to the ones in the Richmond and Sunset, but for the Marina, it's not bad.

1 star for the (lack of) service.  In fact, I'd give it less than 1 star if possible, because our waiter was pretty much nonexistent.  We ended up having to get up and find our own water because our glasses sat empty for such a long time, and no one even showed up to check on us.

I feel like I should move to the Jersey Shore, except I send my L out, and now with my tan, I look thinner so I don't do the G part either.

"I've heard really good things about Psycho Donuts!"
"Want to go?"
"Hmm.. well, we're going to Hawaii next week ..but okay.  Just one donut."
"Ok."

10 minutes later, Boyfriend and I walked out with 6 of the biggest, heftiest, craziest donuts.

It's hard to order just ONE donut when you have so many unique ones to choose from.  We decided on the:

- Feng Shui.  Green tea icing with chocolate chips.  I loved the bitterness of the green tea (seriously tasted like matcha) but I didn't like the chocolate chips.  Chocolate and green tea just don't go together in my mind (or mouth).
- Vegan Neapolitan.  Chocolate cake donut with vanilla and strawberry icing, and sprinkles!  This one was my favorite, as it was the least sweet one out of the bunch.
- Cereal Killer.  Marshmallow cream and Cap'n Crunch cereal.  I don't like marshmallow cream, but the cereal was a unique and nice crunch.
- S'Mores.  Marshmallow cream, chocolate chips, and graham crackers.  This was maybe my least favorite, because the graham crackers were too big, and made breaking up the donut pretty difficult.
- Strawberry Fields.  Strawberry icing, freeze-dried strawberries, chocolate chips, and a strawberry Pocky!  Not bad, but I could've done without the chocolate chips.
- Suicide Squeeze.  Chocolate pudding-filled donut with chocolate icing with crushed Oreo cookies.  SO. SWEET.  But surprisingly good, with the Oreo cookies giving a nice balance.

The donuts are BIG.   Like one of them will probably fill you up, which means no, I didn't eat all six of them - I cut a little bite out of all of them to try.  I love the creativity in the decoration, the names of the donuts, and the toppings, so this is definitely a must-see place when you're in the South Bay.

Ever since I've started being a mild workout junkie (keyword: mild), I've become slightly obsessed with spending money at sports shops.  When I saw a Groupon for Lombardi, I jumped on it stat, hoping for a happily ever after.

In some ways, Lombardi is like my Prince Charming:

+ Decent selection of athletic clothing, although I'm sort of a lulu snob.
+ Decent selection of shoes, but my favorite part is that they offer a wide variety of Sanuks, which, if you haven't worn them, are super duper comfy slip-ons.  Unfortunately they don't have TOMS, which I was hoping they did.
+ Decent selection of random casual clothing, including Joe's Jeans and True Religion (?).
+ 1 hour free parking!

Unfortunately, Lombardi is like the ugly stepsister of Sports Basement in many other ways:

- Even though they do price-matching, most things I've found at SB were way cheaper.  Plus, SB has been offering a 20% off everything until it snows.  Seriously.
- Parking garage is tiny, and spots barely accommodate my small SUV, with just a wee bit of room for sliding out without banging the car door next to me.
- EXTREMELY unprofessional staff.  This is the biggest kicker for me.  I was waiting for a friend one time near the front, and I felt like I was standing in a high school boba shop.  The cashiers and person who stands at the front door to give directions/check in bags seemed to all be in college or something, and they chattered loudly about their lives, even in the presence of customers.  I'm sorry, I'm here to buy a yoga mat, not to hear about how you met your cousin's friend's girlfriend's cousin's smoking hot sister.  At a party.  And seriously, what is up with the rest of the staff throwing out random f-bombs at the front of the store while talking about the 49ers?  I get that you're friendly with some of your customers, but I'd rather not hear about that stuff, thanks.

Because of my Groupon, I was forced to spend some money here.  Now that it's done and over with, I'll be going back to Sports Basement, even when they stop offering discounts.

When I was a wee little kid, my parents introduced me to Japanese food.  Much to their dismay, I spent the next few years of my childhood wanting to be a "sushi waitress."  Especially if the perks included free green tea ice cream.

Fortunately, those days have passed, and I still love Japanese food (and green tea ice cream).  Which is why it's really annoying when Japanese-hunger-pangs hit me in the middle of the workday, and the closest place to my office is the Floating Sushi Boat place run by Chinese people in the middle of Chinatown.

One day my stomach decided that it wanted some hot noodle soup.  My first instinct was to go to Ramen Underground, but I was too lazy to stop by the ATM first, even though it was on the way.  So I looked up Tokyo Express, saw that you can order online (!) and immediately clicked my way through the website for some tempura udon, Alaska roll (salmon and avocado) and the Heaven roll (spicy tuna, basically).

I placed my order through Seamless (if you're a first-time user, put in X949yT in the coupon box for $5 off!) and they said my order would be ready in about 30-35 minutes.  I headed to pick it up, and they asked for my ID, gave me my food, and sent me on my way.

Unfortunately, I didn't know how long my food had been ready prior to my arrival, and although they were in separate bags, the heat from my udon made my sushi lukewarm, so I had to stick it in the refrigerator for a bit before enjoying.  I sort of wish they'd put my sushi outside or something until I got there.  The udon was good too, and it came with a small salad.  Downside was the price - as with most Japanese places, it's pricey if you order more than your basic bento box.

Total fan of this place, especially when I'm really craving some good ol' sushi.  The only thing missing was the green tea ice cream at the end of my meal.

Some of my friends make fun of me for pronouncing things like Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite.

Like when I say "CHEV-vee's" instead of "SHEV-vee's" - not that I eat there anyway.

But despite my ability to pass as half-Mexican, "Aqui" came out of my mouth as if I was speaking French (which I actually used to semi-fluently), and my half-Mexican boyfriend gave me a withering look.

Nevertheless, it didn't diminish my experience at Aqui Cal-Mex, because when you put the blue corn pancakes together with their outdoor seating on a warm, sunny January Sunday, they'd have to do a whole lot of crap to screw things up.

The blue corn pancakes were soft and fluffy, tasted like actual corn, and went well with both the whipped cream (not sweet at all) and strawberries, as well as the pico de gallo from the salsa bar.  I may actually like it better with the salsa, because the pancake's slight sweetness paired with the savory spiciness made it a fiesta in my mouth.  Ha.

Definitely better than CHevy's because the food tastes fresh and wholesome.  Sort of wish the dish came with some kind of side, but I think that's just me being a glutton.

I really like people who think outside of the box.

For example, last year at the CNY Run (year of the rabbit), some guy dressed up as a carrot instead of the usual rabbit (and let me tell you.. "Playboy bunny" should never be associated with the words "YMCA Run To Benefit Kids In The Community."

This year, since it's the year of the dragon, I told my friends that we should brainstorm a way to stand out so we can win the costume contest (yes, a costume contest!).  To which my friend replied: I'll just go naked and represent a newly-hatched baby dragon.

Nice.

Not the most scenic route (Bridge to Bridge trumps that) but definitely a fun, fast run.  Pretty crowded and they don't separate based on your pace, so it's not for hardcore runners looking to zip through the crowds.

(For my runner friends, see this year's event/registration here: http://www.yelp.com/ev...)

The worst part of this run, since there are kids allowed, is that all the kids run faster than I do.  Ego deflation.

THE BIN BURGER.  SWEET BABY JESUS.

Thick, juicy, medium-rare patty
+
Onion jam
+
Arugula
+
Crispy pancetta
+
Soft roll
+
Smoked white cheddar
=
One of the best burgers I've ever had.

What is "Bomb Sauce" at The Sandwich Spot?

I have no idea, because they forgot to put any on my sandwich.  If it's really as good as other reviewers are raving, I'm sure it would've made my bland turkey-avocado-proscuitto sandwich on Dutch Crunch a lot better.