Charlie "The Stomach" L.'s Profile

I absolutely love this place and highly recommend it.  Now, you may ask why it got 5 stars and for me, it was really simple:

They have an excellent product and their staff is informative and very friendly.

I didn't visit this trip (October 2011), but I did visit in May 2011.

This place has a huge area that you can look at where they have all their machines and information posted near the machine.  I'm sure they give tours, but it's actually quite fun to go explore yourself.

Now, the coffee samples are excellent.  They offer two different samples so you can taste the differences.  I forget which ones they have exactly, but they have their own distinct properties.

The coffee they sell comes in different varieties and roasts, some being organic, some not - they also can grind the beans for you on site if you don't have a burr mill or grinder of sorts.

Now, I was really curious about their organic peaberry - when I asked if there really was a difference in taste, the lady said that if I could taste the difference in the two coffees (I had announced that one was actually bitter but still tasty), then I would be able to tell the difference in the organic peaberry.  Well, I went ahead and bought a large bag (with no regrets, because it is truly delicious).

The other thing they had was chocolate covered coffee beans - now that I come to think of it, almost every chocolate covered coffee bean has tasted the same to me - I'm sure it's because the chocolate over powers the subtleties of coffee.

They also offered mac nuts - these mac nuts were HUGE.  Also, they tasted really good, a bit almondy and a little sweet.  If you can't make it to a mac nut plantation, their bag of mac nuts are sure to please.

Also, enjoy the free bananas they have outside - just don't take the entire hand/hands they have, apparently a customer had just done that before we arrived.

While this place is a bit difficult to get to and even a bit hard to find - it is completely worth the trip.  You'll have some of the best coffee you can ever taste and be treated with respect.

I really wanted to like this place based on all the reviews - but I'm sad to say, I didn't.  While their presentations were quite informative, I felt like they were quite pretentious and always going for a hard sale.

The coffee itself is all right - and by that, I mean, they only let me sample one coffee and one tea.  The makale tea was pretty good, and the coffee was just okay - in fact, it didn't leave any impression on me and I had no idea what the sample was.

One thing I thought was odd was on the shirt section, they put a sign not to touch anything there.  Why?  it's a shirt, I want to know what it looks like and what it might feel like.

They did have very cool caffeine infused lotion and soap that smelled absolutely delicious.  I wanted to bathe myself in it, but not for $40 for an 8 oz bottle.

They also had some chocolate covered coffee beans, white chocolate and dark chocolate - but it wasn't something that left me saying: God damn, I have to buy this.

Needless to say, I ended up leaving empty handed and smelling quite nice and perhaps more informed about coffee.

If you can't visit the plantation but really want their coffee, I believe you can buy it at Costco in a bulk package.

You might have a much better time at a different plantation.  For me, it's Holualoa Kona Coffee Company.

The place seems fairly large, but their shop is actually kind of small - I think it's because 75% of it is their factory behind the scenes operations.

It is very cool to watch them dip the short bread.

Upon walking through the doors you will be greeted, and they will give you samples and offer you coffee!  Always a plus!

I walked by something I had no idea what it was, no samples were available, but a helpful worker asked me if I wanted a sample - I was not going to decline.  I always love customer service like this.

The prices are pretty decent and they have such a huge variety of items that I wasn't sure what to buy - I almost wanted to buy the entire store.

I would go there again just to see if they offered new stuff.

You might wonder why I only gave this place a 4 star review.  Well, why it fell short is simply because it seemed more like a novelty visitor shop than a hardcore Hawaiian spot.

I wouldn't pass this place up though if I was close by.

This place is great.  I absolutely love the fact that they are willing to give you a sample of _ANYTHING_.  All you have to do is ask and they'll be more than happy to provide it.

The prices are also easily laid out and visible, I wanted to buy pretty much everything I had a taste of - and ended up doing so, since it really wasn't a difficult choice.

Any how, if you go there, ask for Helen L.  She is a lot of fun and super kind and friendly.

Be sure to walk around the entire store, they have lots of stuff, more than just mac nuts.  They have shirts and even soap and lotion.  One of the coolest things has to be playing with the two different type of nut crackers they got there.

Disregard their brochure - it seems to be old and outdated.  The brochure only had 7 flavors listed.  When I was actually there, it seemed to be 20 different mac nut flavors and they also had other things such as: flavored popcorn, brittle, chocolates.

Do yourself a favor, go there now, get the pineapple snow chocolate.  You won't be disappointed.

Also, their facilities are clean, which is always a good indicator.

PS.  Ask about the discount card, every 5 bucks you spend you get a punch out.  I ended up spending about $200 bucks, hahaha.

I don't quite get the appeal of this place.  It used to be a Todai, I believe.

In my honest opinion, the food is pretty mundane.  While the price is pretty awesome right now, the food just tastes like fast food affair.

I grabbed about 2 of every roll - and between the amount of mayonnaise they put on it and the rice packed in - they all tasted the same.  What made me even more sad was the tako didn't even taste like tako.  It had the texture with none of the taste.

Well, not a big deal, there is other food to be had other than their sushi.  I grabbed small portions to try out the hot food section.  Lots of chicken, fried rice, noodles, etc - the only saving grace being the tempura shrimp up for grabs - but even then, it didn't make up for the fact that I felt like I was eating Asian slop.  It's like when you go to Hometown Buffet, you know what to expect, what I put gingerly as American style slop - well, this is the equivalent to Hometown with an Eastern spin.

While my parents and relatives enjoyed it - I sadly did not.  I won't be making another trip back.

Bomb roti, the only problem is - they need to figure out how to set up their counter so they can have the appropriate people helping you instead of having confused workers who either want to take your order for gelato or your order for roti.

I recommend the regular - but for more heart clogging goodness, try the butter or the cream cheese.  Yes, it is exactly as it sounds - there is a glop of butter in the center or a glop of cream cheese that you would normally spread onto one of those ethnic donuts.

Also, big thumbs up for having them serve me roti even though I arrived 30 minutes after they closed on Saturday.  Sorry to the group of about 6 people who were there 45 minutes before closing and didn't get roti.  I would have shared - but I felt like I was going to get my butt kicked by a group of six since I some how went in like a boss and got 2 rotis 40 minutes after they closed.

Awesome place with your anime needs.  The owner Levin and his apprentice Dino are awesome people to deal with.

All the stuff they sell is genuine, no copies or knock offs.  I've bought many a key chain and plush here as gifts and people have always been satisfied.  Do yourself a favor and visit the shop if you need something.

Levin or Dino can usually special order something for you if it's not in their B&M.

This place has spawned the epic internal struggle within, there have also been a few weeks on occasion where I have indulged myself in their delicious taqueria food for several days.

So what makes this place so great?

For one, their food cost is really low.  Seriously, a taco is like $1.50 or something low - and not to mention, the small tortilla boats they use to hold the contents are overflowing with meat.  I've never seen a tortilla ship be capsized by meat until recent.

Second, if you need a fix of unrelenting flavorgasms, this is it.  Select from a healthy variety (by this, I mean water and possibly a veggie burrito ) of choices to the extreme artery clogging madness that can only be described as: food addiction... well, that and the endless possibilities of what you can do with a handful of chicharones - or a slab of chicharones.

The only thing holding this place back, is that sometimes, they don't speak English - but it is understandable, you're in a Mexican joint - burrito in Spanish is still burrito in English.  They'll be able to take your order, but unfortunately order #15 is not fifteen in English - but they'll repeat the number in English if they realize the person that ordered doesn't speak Spanish.  That and this place doesn't have a salsa bar like they did in the old school Mi Pueblo Taqueria (that I have no idea if it exists anymore or not, since the last time I attempted to visit that area was well over 5 years ago).

So here's what I recommend getting, and I don't know why I waited over 5 years or more to even try it.  Nachos with carne asada.  DO IT.  Burrito with al pastor and pineapple.  Also, try the tacos with tripas (and don't be a fool like me pronouncing it try-pass and then later learning it's actually pronounced tree-pas).

So, eat and be merry!

I must have gone here about 3 weeks ago when one of the patrons decided to explode on a manager and I thought I was going to witness the makings of Ip Man 3.

Well, I used to want to give this place 5 stars, as it was seriously THE BEST dim sum of the South Bay - but quality has gone down since I had first gone there about 2 and a half years ago.  I can only assume what has happened is the chef has left the building and they got his less adept counterpart.

Food here is now all right - but here are some tips.

Food is better when you arrive at about 11:30 AM - yes, there is a huge crowd, but you won't be the first patrons in.  My guess is that the food that comes out immediately isn't always fresh as it should be (I know right?).

Order the roasted duck that you see hanging, I usually get a half for 4 people and it's enough to fill all of us.  The quality of this is almost the same.  It's still crispy and not as fatty as other places.

Try the congee.  Get the lean duck meat with hundred year old egg if you're adventurous.  If not, stick with just congee and duck.  Add the deep fried Chinese doughnut to it (I think it's like $2.50 extra, which is expensive if you think about what you're getting but completely worth the flavorgasm).

That's about all the tips I got.  Until I can find a better dim sum place, this place will still be king for now.

This happened 3 months ago and I have been telling myself to go back for more ever since.

It was late on some Wednesday or Thursday night, I can't remember anymore - it may have been around midnight.  7 friends with empty stomachs departed from an open mic location with one thing in mind - we wanted food, some Indian food, and we wanted it now.

We chose this place on a whim, it was close by and look!  Tons of Indian people (please don't take this as a rude remark, I just think if I'm going to eat ethnic food and people eating at the place where their food originates from, must be a good indicator of how good or authentic the food may be).

We walked in, and I had to use the bathroom pretty badly - too bad they only got 1 bathroom, and it's for both men and women.  No matters, I'll just order first.  Holy crap, the menu is pretty gigantic and I don't even know what to order at this point.  Well, the owner, who I assume is the person who helped me, gave me pointers on what to get.  So, I got some lamb vindaloo and rice with a can of cola (sorry, no fountain here, just canned drinks).

After I paid, I sat down and waited for my food with my friends - they had this "salsa" bar (for a lack of better words), kind of thing going on.  It was basically chopped onions, jalapenos, and different types of chutney.  I did as the locals did, grabbed a plate of it with some chutney and ate it - now I don't usually just _eat_ onions or jalapenos, but these were pretty good with the chutney and helped to ease the wait time for my food, or perhaps it was just the hunger telling me to "eat damn you".

Finally my food arrived (oh, and I did visit the bathroom before eating) and let me tell you - I was surprised at the portions.  While the small looking Styrofoam bowl of food looked meager, it was actually quite substantial.  Also, the rice was a completely filled fine piece of paper Chinette.  I was none the less completely satisfied and full, and still had rice left.

All the while eating this food - I felt like a prince to some small island that played music which was "assumed" to be my flavor of jams.  "Why?" you may ask yourself; it's because the owner was DJ'ing some music - damn, this place was popping.  This place is not only a place with some pretty awesome cuisine, but if they dimmed the lights and put a disco ball and a smoke machine with some crazy lights - you would be fooled into thinking it was a club.

So, with my late review in - I hope to go back soon.