Alex K.'s Profile

I grabbed a quick bite here today.  Highly recommended by my co-workers, their lunch special is a big box of Italian goodness.  I had the meatballs, the eggplant, and the sweet sausage.  I wish the meatballs were bigger, even though they were good and homemade.  The eggplant was large, cheesy, and meaty.  Delish.  The sausage was milder than I prefer, but they threw in peppers and onions.  I thought the portions were supposed to be bigger, but I can't complain too much with the food they put in my box.  

I lined up in the wrong line.  The hot lunch you can order at the cash register.  Cold sandwiches you order in the back at the meat counter.  Doh.

I definitely need to come back for dessert.  

What sucks about this place is there is no seating anywhere.  And this place is crowded during lunch, so either come early or come late.

I came here for a family friend's wedding today.  Absolutely gorgeous views of the golf course, ocean, pool.  And that's just the outside.

The pre-lunch reception consisted of:
Duck eggroll - nicely cooked on the outside, mixed with either mustard greens or a bok choy, but couldn't really taste the duck.
Steak teriyaki skewer - flavorful, but I found the meat slightly tough
Fried ravioli - deep fried goodness.  Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.
Smoked salmon on brioche - not a big fan of brioche, but the smoked salmon was delish.  Could have used a few more capers.

What's a reception without a few drinks?  I love an open bar, but I'm going to highlight 2 of the signature drinks picked by the bride and groom.

Lychee martini - not enough lychee juice, so the drink was a bit stiff.
Pomegranate mojito - definitely could taste the mint, but probably could have used just a little more pom to bring out the flavor.

Lunch started off with a rosemary roll which was flavorful and a creamy halibut chowder.  The fish tasted fishy.  But the parsley and corn bits did cut down the heaviness.  
It was followed next by a seared tuna set on a green papaya salad.  Excellent piece of fish.  Would have been better with some toasted sesame seeds.  The papaya salad consisted of papaya, microgreens, red onion, and daikon radish.  Well balanced, with a tangy papaya seed dressing. Although I am not a fan of papaya, it probably could have used a little more to bring out the papaya-ness.  
The main course was a Veal Scaloppini and Baked Sea Bass Filet on a wild mushroom risotto.  Creamy delicious goodness.  The veal was tender, cooked perfect.  The fish was also well cooked, flaked off with a slight nudge of my fork.  

Service was absolutely perfect.  The bartenders were friendly and chatty, the waiters were running out drinks and finger foods during the reception, and during the lunch, they were refolding napkins after a guest left the table.  Who does that??  

So as I was cutting through the St. Regis restaurant to get to the luncheon, I happened to walk through the Sunday Brunch.  Wow what a spread!  I'll have to try this the next time I'm here.  

Overall a great dining experience today with great views to boot.

So after all the hype of this place opening, etc etc I made the drive with two of my fellow Yelpers to review this place on the day of the grand opening.  Um... and what's the big deal exactly?

Ok so we actually ordered food.  I ordered a halfsie, a half BLT or TLT, soup or salad, and fries.  All for $6.50.  Bargain for lunch.  The toast was pretty greasy, the lettuce was shredded and messy, and you really can't screw up tomatoes and bacon.  The fries were waffle fries, like the kind you get at Chick-fil-A.  Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.  The soup was a tomato basil.  Had bits of basil and tomato chunks.  Better than canned.  Simple, nothing fancy.  

My first partner in Yelp Kate ordered a Reuben and garlic fries.  Something tasted really funky in the meat.  I can't put my finger on it.  I think it was the preparation, and not how it was cooked.  Not enough kraut as well.  The bread held up well.  I can't find a lot of places where the bread doesn't fall apart as you're eating the sandwich.  Garlic fries are same waffle fries with garlic salt and articificial flavoring.  

My second partner Anita ordered the sliders.  The bread was burnt on my bottom bun.  The meat was nothing to write home about.  Premade frozen patty.  Comes with waffle fries.

So this is an ice cream place.  We split a mocha nut.  Butter pecan, coffee, chocolate, Spanish peanuts, whipped cream, and I think fudge.
Decadadent, maybe didn't need the fudge since it was already very sweet already.  Very good.  

Was it worth the trip?  Maybe if I have a really hard sweet tooth that can't be fixed with any other kind of dessert.  

Service was very good.  Attentive and friendly.  
This is not a great place to have a conversation.  Every 5 minutes there were bells and train whistles going off and a drums going off for people's birthday.

Mariscos Chapala is definitely a pretty interesting place.  One half of the space is a bar with pool tables divided by a wall, the other, a tiny hole in the wall sit down restaurant.  

If you want a cheap lunch you can't beat $5 lunch plate specials.  

But on the recommendation to visit this place, I came for the seafood. They serve fish 4 different ways here - deep fried, deep fried in red sauce, deep fried in hot sauce, and deep fried Veracruz style.   I ordered a deep fried red snapper in a Veracruz sauce (white wine and ranchero sauce).  Kind of reminds me of a sweet and sour sauce and it lacked heat.  Served on a plate of beans, salad, and Mexican rice,   the fish was crispy on the outside, soft and fleshy on the inside, topped with peppers, onions, and jalepenos.  I probably should have stuck with ordering a tilapia instead, since the bones are much easier to pick through and less sharp.

I might be inclined to try the shrimp next time I'm here.   They offer up an entire page of shrimp plates with pictures.  I don't really think you need to know a lot of Spanish to come here; the menu has pictures you can point to, and I found the staff friendly and able to speak English.

I'm a PC and I love this store.  Today's the big grand opening, and I'm on a Lenovo computer typing this as I speak.  It's designed similar to the Apple store, but I think it's more open and airy (there's a lot of white walls and video displays spanning across the walls of this place.  Lots of helpful associates proactively asking if you need help, PCs, home convergence technologies, and Xbox360s.  No more having to be shamed by my elitist Mac Steve Jobs loving-zombies about not having a sanctuary of my own.  But why oh why Bill G did you open this place so far away from me?  You have enough money to buy the city of Irvine!  

Once the crowds die down, this place probably won't be as chaotic as it is right now.  It's hard to think and type with all these people and all this noise all around me.

I went here for lunch today.  Ok I love taco Tuesdays, but $2 for a small fish taco?  Well, it's cheap for what's on the menu.

I ordered a mahi-mahi taco (grilled) and a fried fish taco and 2 sides to complete my meal.  The mahi was over seasoned.  Lots of seasoned salt, but it left the taste of the fish something left to be desired.  The plus is that it came with lots of lettuce and cheese to help balance it out.  The fried taco was meaty, stuffed with cabbage and a tangy sauce.  Good, but like the mahi taco, smallish.  Maybe I was really hungry?  I added the salsa.  Pretty fresh, but I could make better at my house.  And I have.

My sides were grilled zucchini and hummus.  The zucchini had some weird seasoning.  Maybe it was some vinaigrette, but hard to tell. The hummus, I was told, was made fresh daily.  But it doesn't come with pita to dip it with.  That's separate.  WTH?  Ok the hummus was good.  You could tell it was homemade because there were a few lumps in it.  

Service was pretty good.  Bathrooms were clean and tidy.   Parking sucks at this place because it shares the lot with 3 other office buildings.

I came here a few weeks ago after having not been here since it was Irvine Tofu House.  

The specials are a great reason to come here.  $10 bucks for soondubu and BBQ!  Really?  Can't get that anywhere I know of.  

The soondubu was good.  It was too mild for my taste.  The kalbi was nicely cooked, and came hot to our table.  

The banchan was slightly above average.  I didn't find anything that stood out, but everything tasted great.  

I also ordered the yukgaejang, since it was a cold night.  I think I accidentally ordered it mild, because it didn't have any heat in the broth.  The meat was soft, the vegetables nicely cooked.  

I found service pretty prompt and friendly.  I had heard that the service had gone down on this place, but I didn't notice it.

These guys catered our lunch on Saturday for an all day seminar.  Great stuff.  

I wish I had a chance to talk food with the chef; I was too busy stuffing my mouth with all the steak and chicken.  The meat was nicely cooked and there were several sauces to pair them with.  It was just as good plain than having to go crazy with the different aoilis that were offered.

Ugh.  This is like the 3rd day of gorging myself in food, and this was the worst of the bunch.  I like trying buffets.  

The food is okay but not great.  Decent selection of items in the salad bar, but I wasn't fond of the cuts of meat available.  The roast beef was tough on the outside and dry.  The ham was a little too salty.  

Julie is dead on about the weird layout of some items.  They have stickybuns in the same bar as the meat, and the fried chicken is in the bar where the french fries and macaroni are.

There was a decent dessert bar, and the soft-serve dispensed strawberry and vanilla.  

You can't beat the price, but there are better.

The Boise Depot is the old train depot where the trains would drop off passengers and supplies during the gold rush at the turn of the century.  

The building is like a mini version of LA's Grand Central Station in downtown, with its handpainted beams, old train benches, and the wooden ticket counter.  

There's also a bell tower on one side of the building that you can take an elevator up to the top, with some great views of the city.  Even at the ground floor, the Depot sits on the top of the hill, and you can see all the way to the State Capital.