Charlie "The Stomach" L.'s Profile

I wish I could give this place zero stars.  Honestly, I think I would give it 3 stars if it wasn't for the fact that the person working the station actually looked at my validated ticket.

I was there from 7:57 PM to 9:09 PM, my ticket was validated for an hour and a half (should have been free), I still got charged 6 dollars.  Then when I complained, they said it was already processed.

I'm going to give their main office a call tomorrow.  I'm unhappy about this.  Go here if you feel like wasting money.  That $6 could have been put to better use.

Edit: These guys got back to me promptly about starting a refund for my over charge.  1 star now instead of zero.  I'll probably change it when I actually receive the refund.

I'll be honest, I don't know jack about bikes, but the people at Bicycle Express are not only super nice, but will teach you about anything you wanted to know.

Charles, Jim, Phil, and (I didn't catch a few of the names) and I think Sylvia?  (I'm sorry if I got it wrong, I'm so bad with names)  Are extra nice.

First I have to say, I'm glad someone recommended this place to me, I probably would have gone out and bought a new bike, costing me hundreds of dollars.  I brought my super beater mountain bike in to get some spokes replaced, which I originally thought was only 1 broken spoke, but it was two.  He quoted me $15 and that seemed like a fair price.  Then I watched him work and it was completely worth the $15, he found a second broken spoke, balanced it, and put everything back together.  For $15, I couldn't ask for more.  I don't have the tools nor the patience to do it myself.

I really like that this place is family owned, they treat you like you're part of their family, and that makes the experience so much better.

On top of all that, they have parts for just about everything, including a box of random nuts and bolts - which can always be a life saver.

If you got a bike need, go there now, you can't go wrong with them!

I think this place is pretty good, it's worthy of my 4 stars, but it doesn't hit the 5 star mark.

Why not 5 stars?  Well, I take into account price, taste, and quantity of food.

The price is so so, it's on the moderate side, and the servings are decent, but not large like some places, and the taste is there too, but I've had better.  I honestly would love to give more stars, but I cannot.

The thing that sets this place apart from others is that they have oysters on half shells and they have the BEST, that's right THE BEST shrimp cocktails.  Their shrimp cocktails house large meaty shrimp, and the cocktail itself tastes great.  I would come back here just for that and only that.  However, if I really wanted a tasty burrito, I would have to go elsewhere.

I say give them a try if you're in the area.

I'm not sure why people give this place less than 5 stars, but maybe it's because they've had better - and if they have, I sure wish they would send me a message about it.

I love the fact that they have a salsa bar and a fountain for customers to get as much "extras" as they want.

The price is good, I don't think it's expensive at all, $2.20 for a taco and $7 for their regular burrito is pretty awesome bang for the buck.  The servings are massive, my tacos had a ton of meat and my burrito was gigantic, I had so much food I had to take home the left overs.  It's not just the portion size, it's the taste.  It's all their, I sometimes dream about eating their when I'm out of town or when I visit some other taqueria.

Honestly guys, I think this place is as good as it gets - only thing I didn't really like was their menudo and shrimp cocktail (which I don't order much anyway).  The menudo had more intestine gameyness than I would have liked and their shrimp cocktail seemed a bit too sweet.

Other than that, I highly recommend this place.  I just wish they were open late.

I tell you guys, I really wanted to like this place.  I heard they used to be a Top Dog and their menu shows it.  However, their prices are higher and their dogs aren't as good.  You would never think a small thing like a toasted bun would make any difference, but it really did, and these dogs lacked it.  They are also missing the sweet hot mustard, which they've cleverly tried to replace with their wasabi mustard, sorry but it's kind of a bust.

Maybe it was because I went late at night, but their sour kraut seemed to be the same pot that may have been stewing since morning, it was less sour and just cabbage that had been sitting for a long time.

Do I recommend this place?  I think you should give it a shot, but if you miss it, don't worry, you're not missing much.  You would be better off driving to Berkeley and experiencing the real Top Dog.

Like the other reviews have said: this place is truly a dirty little joint.  The customer service is pretty damn lousy too, as others have said, they really don't care about serving you, they're not interested, but they will do it.

I originally thought I would need more than two dogs, but let me tell you, their dogs are about 8 inches and kind of skinny, but they're filling.  After two dogs, I was stuffed, I got the sour kraut dog with mustard, which was quite delicious, but it was just a dog after all.  The other was the chili cheese dog with onions.  Now, I'm not sure what they use for their chili, but I didn't taste much dog, I tasted a lot of beans though and that kind of sucked.

Maybe it's because I've been spoiled by the likes of Top Dog, but this place truly deserves a second visit since a lot of people ordered their nachos and I did not.  They must have something in them to make people come back.

Oh, and one last thing, they really need a sign that tells you that you can order inside.  I was confused and alone; I had to ask other the patrons around me how to order, making me seem like a weird stranger.

I'll be honest. My food looked pretty unappetizing, but after the first bite it was pretty good. I do not recommend getting their combos, their fried food is much better. Great for a quick snack and for a quick thing to bring to parties. I would give them a shot.

Very refreshing.

I'll be honest, I haven't been here in about 2 years, but I'm glad that by a last minute whim, I went in and ordered a drink.  It cost me $3 and some change.  I really thought the drink was going to suck, but much to my surprise, IT WAS DELICIOUS.  I ordered the Mint Freeze, and I don't regret it; it had the taste of mint chip ice cream, without the chocolate chips.  It was like cheating!  Haha, it was so good I wish I had waited another hour for the buy 1 get 1 happy hour.  It seems to be an every day thing from 2-5 PM and then from 9-11 PM.  Oh, and also the drink size is the large size of most other pearl tea houses.

Good stuff, I would visit again.

I would give this place more stars, but the are kind of on the expensive side; while I can understand a price hike for fudge, $15 for a little over a pound of taffy is pushing even my limits.

Despite the price, they have just about every interesting flavor of taffy, I think my favorite is red licorice flavor taffy (and for you licorice buffs, they have TONS of black licorice candy).  In fact, I bought what I like to call the "dark bullet".  It's basically a gigantic black licorice jelly bean, and yes, it did give a strong kick to the anise.

I'd visit this place again, but be careful with the bucket, what seems like just a bit quickly turns out to be a lot.

I really wanted to give this place more stars, however, the cookies were just sub par (they all tasted like they came out of a tube and then were baked) and it just didn't have the kick or zing that I was expecting from the name.

I may give this place another shot, since they let you build an ice cream sandwich from any two cookies with any kind of Dreyer's Ice Cream that they have in house.

If you really need the sugar kick, you can come into here, they got it; don't worry if you pass it though, you're not missing a whole lot.