Gil L.'s Profile

My group of four dropped in on a Sunday around 5pm. There was no wait and we had our pick of tables. The waiter sat us promptly and gave us (first timers) an overview of the menu. The place was super clean and the decor was nice. Having Sunday night football on the HDTVs didn't hurt either.

We didn't have to wait long for our food and I was very impressed with my first taste of Bon Chon chicken. The taste and crispiness definitely set it apart from traditional fried chicken. I've read some reviews comparing it unfavorably to Church's -- those folks are probably better served buying their fried chicken on sale at Safeway.

I like my food a bit spicy and was able appreciate both the spicy and the soy garlic - some in my party couldn't handle the spicy flavor so be warned. We had a large order of wings / drums with some potstickers, zucchini fries & sweet potato fries. Everything was fresh - the potstickers and fries went fast. Even though we were hungry it was probably too much food for us.

Great service & terrific food that is worth waiting for. Don't forget to try the Peach soju too!

Bashful Bull Too is an example of a place trying to do too much. The menu has way too many items (some items only listed on handwritten signs, with typos mind you) and the dining room is cluttered with inventory and merchandise spread everywhere (any interested in buying boxes of green tea?).

The food itself wasn't bad (the calamari steak I had was unremarkable). The glass of wine ($2.00) tasted like it was out of a box (not wholly unexpected). There was a bit of a scene when the hostess was loudly asking a group that had been seated to move tables when a larger group came in. That topped off my unpleasant time at BB2.

I'd rather support other small businesses in the Sunset.

Happy Donuts has everything. Fried chicken, donuts, sodas, and sandwiches -- they've truly maximized the use of floor space. During Giants games, they even have merchant who sells merchandise, tickets, etc from inside the shop.

I stopped in for a sandwich and was pleasantly surprised by it. When they offered me the works on my sandwich it included sprouts and peppers (not your typical donut shop fare). The sandwich also came up with the world's smallest bag of chips and a cup of potato salad. Not bad for about $5.

Bonus points for the flat screen TVs where you can watch the game. Negative points for the clutter and the noise that the Giants merchandise crowd generates.

All in all, not a bad spot to pick up lunch before the game.

I haven't had drinks at Lefty's yet (save the fun stuff for last, right?) but I've had dinner and lunch here. Lefty's is a no-frills type of spot and that suits me just fine.

I'm a big fan of Hof Braus. Although I would probably rank Lefty's behind Brennan's and Tommy's it isn't a San Francisco institution for nothin'. The service is fast, the food was tasty (I've had a turkey leg and a roast beef sandwich). The decor is nothing to write home about but is comfortable.

If only they would get rid of the Barry Bonds posters and upgrade the super old (burned in?) televisions in the dining room.

I found the reviews of Kerry on Yelp and had to see him when my car got into a minor scrape. Kerry was very responsive on the phone and I made an appointment with him with little hassle.

After dropping my car off for a couple of hours it looked terrific (with some buff work). Kerry was terrific about outlining my different options for more work but did it in an educational way.

I agree with the other reviews that he is a stand up guy who will do his best to provide great, honest service.

I work a couple of blocks from this bar and would love to be able to recommend it. The problem is that the place is just nasty.

I feel bad for the Union Square tourist crowd that seems to frequent this place (the night I went tourists appeared to outnumber locals 4-1). The drinks are overpriced ($6 for a domestic beer, really?), the tables are rarely cleaned and the bathroom, I won't even mention the vile bathroom.

I admit that the bar has pool tables and plenty of flat screens. I had no problem with the bartenders or the service but would prefer to find a place where I didn't stick to everything in sight.

I had dinner at Miss SaiGon and for the most part it was an enjoyable experience. I agree that the restaurant is located in a 'sketchy' neighborhood. I was with a friend (male) and the smells (ewww), sights (random street people) and sounds (cursing, loud arguments) made for a disconcerting experience.

Sitting down within the restaurant was felt like finding an oasis in the desert. The atmosphere was very clean and bright. The Celine Dion DVD that was playing wasn't the greatest of lite rock selections but was fine. The staff provided helpful suggestions and was very friendly.

The food was decent. The spring rolls with peanut sauce were tasty. The pork and fried rolls over vermicelli was good but I found the noodles a bit soggy. I had an iced coffee and it was tasty but not particularly remarkable.

Miss SaiGon also had some dinner specials (buy 1 get 2nd half off) but we decided not to go for the entrees. I might go back at some point but think that I'll give some of SF's other Vietnamese restaurants a try.

I want to like this place -- I really do. It replaced one of my favorites, So, and I'm always looking for good options in the area. I went to MF today and my experienced was mixed.

The decor -- the place was kind of funky. It has walls painted bright orange to match the multiple 'Portugal' flags that were hanging on the walls. I didn't know that the colony loved Portugal that much. The Portuguese vibe was sort of weird but there was a cool neon jukebox in the back corner of the dining room. I don't think it behaves like a traditional jukebox (where consumers can make requests) but the neon blue was a cool vision in the otherwise orange room.

Service -- the service was ok. I think it was a bit challenging to have to point to each of the items on the menu and wait until the waitress read back the item in Chinese to us. Although we understand Chinese our attempts to order via (universal) item numbers and English were limited at best.

Food -- The food is definitely cheap. We got a spam and egg sandwich, two buns (the garlic portly one is labeled deceptively), a fried noodle dish and a soup noodle dish for around $22. Super cheap, right? The food itself was just ok, the portions seemed a bit on the light side but for $4 you really can't complain.

The tea was hot, the servers looked like they were trying and the placed appeared clean. It won't replace the crispy fish from So but I'm willing to give this place a shot.

This place is definitely a 'throwback' spot. I haven't been to Villa D'Este in about five years and it is definitely just what I remembered. The decor and vibe hadn't changed since I went to high school in the area and that was a WHILE ago.

The staff was very friendly and the vibe was okay if you're down with the geriatric set. I don't think this would be a place that I would take friends or anyone other than my family (with older relatives). The food was ok but wasn't particularily flavorful or rememorable. The soup and salad were wholly unremarkable and the calamari steak I had wasn't as good as I had remembered.

The price point of $14-24 isn't bad (considering that it comes with anti-pasta, coffee, soup, salad, bread and a small side of pasta) but someone in my group commented that the ice cream tasted funny. Interestingly enough the chocolate, spumoni and rainbow sherbet all had a chocolate color to them. Umm... shouldn't rainbow sherber involve the colors of the rainbow? There's definitely something fishy there.

Villa D'Este is still a classic joint-- if you read the Yelp reviews you'll know exactly what to expect.

It appears that the 100 reviews of Judy's Cafe that have come before mine have done a pretty decent job capturing the essence of this restaurant but I wanted to chime in with a couple of observations.

I ate here on a Sunday afternoon, right after the brunch rush and didn't have to wait in line. True, I didn't get to sit in one of the sunny tables outside but I got seated right away. The problem was that I had to shoe horn myself between two tables to get to my seat. I'm working minimizing the size of my posterior but getting in and out of my seat was definitely sub-optimal.

The menu seemed simple enough. I ordered the Huevos Grande and it was pretty good (although with too much sour cream). The pumpkin bread was pretty delicious and I was happy with the heavily herbed home fries. Looking around the cream cheese french toast with bananas and strawberries looked tasty and omelets didn't look bad (but not quite as big as my eggs).

The prices were probably a little on the steep side ($35 for two breakfast orders and two drinks) but I expected that from the Marina location. The service wasn't spectacular but they quickly replaced a coffee cup that had caught a fly.

The decor was sort of cheesy -- thumbs up for the photos of Tony Bennett and Billy Dee Williams. Thumbs down for the multiple pictures of Barry Bonds -- double thumbs down for the Kobe Bryant photo (umm, a Laker portrait in SF?)

Although I wouldn't make a trip to eat at Judy's -- it wasn't half bad. I'll give it 3.5 stars. Be sure to bring cash... no credit accepted.