tim "zzztimbo" c.'s Profile

There's no freak'n parking!!

I was able to drive in up to the garage and ask how long the wait would be. He said there were fours cars ahead of me and to come back in a couple of hours later.

I tried to back my way out, but couldn't. I even did an Austin Powers for a good five minutes before I had to yell at someone to move their car. Parking is bad and morons park there. Some idiot was washing his car in that lot as well (he was probably not a customer).

I decided to go to A & B Test Only Center. http://www.yelp.com/bi...

My buddy and I stumbled upon this place due to it's proximity to Milk. We thought Milk would been too much of a been there done that type of meal, so we wanted to try something new. Once we realized it was participating in Restaurant Week, we were both excited. The waitress was pretty and pleasant and allowed us to sit anywhere in the uber small dining area.

My first course was the Curry Lentil Soup. I liked the soup. The curry wasn't over-powering but boy was the serving large. This began the theme of the evening: extra large servings that could be split between two people. My friend had the Eggplant Bruschetta with Basil and Pine Nuts. I had a taste and thought the tomatoes were a little mushy. Otherwise the flavors weren't bad.

For the main course, I had the Blackened Salmon and Tiger Shrimp with artichoke hearts, capers and capellini. The shrimp was nicely cooked, springy and flavorful. The salmon, on the otherhand seemed a little over cooked and flavorless (even with the blackening). Also, I thought there was too much liquid in my bowl. Worst of all, I think I felt a fish bone or something pokey go down my throat. That was rather unpleasant. I tasted my friend's Lamb Tangine with couscous, apricots, zucchini, tomato and pine nuts. I thought the lamb was a little over cooked, but flavorful. The apricots added a wee bit more sweetness than either of us expected. Overall, I think the lamb dish was better than the salmon dish.

For dessert I had the rice with orange blossom and pistachios. This appeared as a large white half domed jiggly mass of a dessert. Don't expect Mexican flan. This flan is more neutral in flavor and less firm. The flavor came from the syrup and pistachios put on and around it. The portion was huge, but the flavors were subtle and definitely had a floral flavor to it. I didn't try my friend's assorted Baklava.

Overall, I think it was a good meal for the $26 restaurant week price and the portions we got. Had the price been any more, I doubt I would have been as satisfied with the meal. The fish bone (or whatever pokey material) was definitely the downer of the night.

I'm in full agreement with Rachael C. $12.99 for a cheese and olive plate that I could put together by using ingredients from Trader Joes for probably under 5 bucks, is ridiculous. The older lady that served us was great; the younger man, not so great.

At least they let me sit with my dog.

The falafel was mediocre at best. The falafel at http://www.yelp.com/bi... was orders of magnitude better. Now that's pretty darn shameful that a food court stand can make better food than a restaurant.

If you're a carnivore, save your money and go to a real steak house. The service was great, but most of the meats were over salted and dried out.
The salad bar was pretty good, but overall the meats were just... meh.

For a near $60 dinner, I would consider many more options before I return to Fogo de Chao or any Brazilian Steakhouse for that matter.

The ambiance left much to be desired as well. I saw a lot of silver-haired folks along with annoying children.

I wanted to try a huarache, which was prominently pictured in the window. The guy behind the counter says it's a special order item. Is the management too damn lazy to add an item to the menu that is displayed in the window?

I paid with my credit card but never got an itemized receipt.

There were two guys behind the counter. One was playing XBOX 360 while the other was using a notebook computer. Is this a place of business or someone's living room? I wasn't quite sure.  

The silverware was dirty. I had to use a napkin to rub the crusty dried food particulate off my fork. The carnitas huarache I ordered was just ok. My girlfriend ordered a carne asada burrito plate. It came out with just a burrito. "Execuse me, didn't we order a plate, where are the rice and beans?" He replies, "they're inside the burrito." When my girlfriend opened up her burrito, there were no rice nor beans to be found. The carne asada inside looked like stale meat that had been fried again. It was dry and chewy and unpalatable.

I ate here last Saturday. There were 7 of us so our bill was instantly penalized with a mandantory 18% gratuity. There was a line underneath that said "Additional gratuity." I was very tempted to write in "-$20.00."

The service was horrible. We had to ask multiple times for drink items that we ordered. The waitress was so inept, she needed another person to tell her what which maki was which.

One of the items we ordered was the Philly roll (not my idea). The salmon tasted fishy. Not a good sign.

If you can't tell the difference between good and bad sushi, then this place will be fine for you. For the rest of us... go elsewhere.

I ordered a roast pork dish and my girlfriend ordered the Musman curry beef. The waitress asked me how hot I wanted my dish. I told her, "make it an 8 please." I liked the fact that you can custom order how spicy you want your dish to be. Boy was it spicy.

The beef and the pork they used in our dishes were not the best quality. Steph's beef was a bit on the dry side. My pork wasn't as tender as the description in the menu said it would be.

The food wasn't that bad. The price was a bit on the high side. The quality of the meat was so so. The flavors were good though. I had a Thai beer and would definitely order that again.

I'm pretty harsh and judgemental when it comes to ethnic food. I have tasted good Japanese food and this place doesn't have it.

My girlfriend ordered sesame chicken. I know that is not really an authentic Japanese dish, but come on,  I expect it to at least be edible. It was dry and tasteless and there really wasn't much chicken, just a lot of breading.

I ordered a whole slew of sushi. The quality was just so so. I would give the sushi a 4/10.

What really blew my gasket was seeing Chinese art work on the walls and being served fortune cookies at the conclusion of our meal. At least get your freak'n Asian countries straight!

This was my first experience with Izakaya style Japanese food.

We had the:

risotto
chicken leg
tongue
tuna croquettes
musha fried chicken
creme brulee

it was all great. the risotto was especially good because they serve it up table-side in a big cheese bowl. the service is great. when we put our name down (the wait was 1 hour), the host even offered to call us back if we left a cell phone number!

they don't serve hard liquor here, so be sure to stop by Renee's Courtyard Cafe next door afterwards.