Maya C.'s Profile

Service: 5 stars
Food: 3
Overall Rating: 3 stars, but what the hell, Ashok was so nice so I'll round up.

I don't understand how this place has a 5-star rating.

Okay, here's the deal. I came here with a very picky bunch. We all have particular diets and eating habits and we're all very opinionated when it comes to food. Ashok, the owner, is VERY accommodating. He will make you anything you want based on your dietary needs or your culinary whims.

With that being said, the food was good, but not great. I was expecting a mouthgasm and it just didn't happen for me.

I ordered the samosa for an appetizer and it was a good samosa. Nothing special.

I ordered the punjabi enchilada and I had predicted exactly what it was going to taste like before I got it. And I was right. No surprise there which was a bummer. I didn't think the flavors worked for me. I would rather eat Indian food or Mexican food on their own. Indian yogurt and tamarind with jack cheese? The tamarind was overwhelming the other flavors of the dish and it turned out being too sweet for my taste.

With that being said, everyone else seemed pretty happy with their meals. I know Indian flavors like the back of my hand from eating my mom's homemade goodness for 25 years, and I have a picky palate when it comes to Indian food.

The dessert was amazing. It was light, still extremely satisfying and this time, the "multi-ethnic" thing was actually working. I'd go back just for the dessert but not for everything else.

The food was not worth the price for me, but props to Ashok for trying to take care of his guests and being such a great host. But at the end of the day, I'd rather pay a little more and get a gourmet meal at Rivoli.

Rivoli is hands down my favorite restaurant. It's classic French-Californian cuisine at it's best. Every dish is comforting, presented wonderfully and has a mix of flavors that always complement each other. I've been here over a dozen times, and they always treat me like VIP. The scene here is a little WASPy and tends to have an older crowd, but at Rivoli, it's all about the food. The food is excellent, the wine superb, and the desserts are out of this world. There is one waitress there who tends to be a bit snooty, but everyone else there is really nice and helpful with the menu. You can tell they pay close attention to detail when it comes to plating and picking fresh, local, seasonal ingredients.

The portabella fritters are always on point, and so is any appetizer with Serrano ham. I usually get a seafood dish when I come here, and my dining companion usually gets a seafood or chicken dish. We have never left unhappy.

I will always continue to come here (and I usually come every time they change their menu, which is once every two weeks). Props to chef Wendy Brucker! Check out the pics I submitted if you're curious.

My dining companion decided to take me here for what he called a "nice, quiet, breakfast." That's pretty much what we had. The ambiance is super cute, reminscent of a British tea parlor, the service very friendly and accomodating, and the eggs benedict with smoked salmon and hot chocolate (with a touch of whipped cream and dark chocolate Sharfenberger) are to die for.

I'm pretty particular with my reviews, and although this place was very good, I had to minus one star for the potatoes that came with my breakfast. They were average compared to the eggs benedict. But the citris hollandaise gave ths dish a very interesting and refreshing twist. I wil definitely come back here for the strawberry cream cake and possibly some other pastries.

The portions are a good size and breakfast wasn't bad for $10.

Butter Cream is a nice place to come to on the weekend and not have to be worried about the noise and crowdedness like an equivalent place in the city.

I also thought it was great and refreshing to see an establishment like this run by women of color.

Kudos to them and I hope this place continues to get more business. Go for the eggs benedict. Come home happy.

cheap: check
lunch spot: check
good for your tummy:

two words: food poisoning

Being a bay area food snob, I was skeptical of finding good eats in San Diego, let alone La Jolla. We were staying at a friend's place who recommended Osteria Romantica, conveniently right across the street.

We went there with stomachs pretty much in starvation mode, browsed at the intriguing menu, and sat outside on a warm sunny day for lunch.

We were greeted by a friendly server who gave us warm bread with pesto spread *DROOLING just thinking about it*. It was amazing. It tasted very fresh, had the right amount of basil, cheese, olive oil and pine nuts (and i think crack). I couldn't stop eating it. The flavors were frolicking on my tongue.

I sat there devouring the freebies in hopes that my entree would be just as good...and it was. I ordered a ravioli that came with cream sauce, but instead I asked for a tomato sauce with just a touch of cream. I can be picky about food, but our server was very flexible and knew exactly what I wanted. The ravioli was SOOOOO GOOD and the sauce that it came with was out of this world--extremely flavorful tomato sauce that didn't taste like it had too much sugar in it, with a touch of cream. It was divine. The ravioli was al dente, just how i like it, and very light and airy.

Osteria Romantica boasts excellent food, cozy ambiance, flavorful entrees, attention to detail and outdoor seating.

What more could you want on a lazy Saturday afternoon?

Definitely a 5-star dining experience but I'm only giving it 4 for now, because I've only been here once.

Next time I'm in San Diego I'm making it a point to stop here.

Yelpers, you lead me in the wrong direction.    =(

I hate to be the party pooper here. But i gotta keep it real.

I really thought I would like this place. Norey, Vicky and I went here last week and the three of us were disappointed. We went for dine about town, but instead decided to opt for the $50 five-course menu. What a waste.

I had corn soup to start off with, which was too sweet for me and pretty boring (and so small--about three spoonfuls of soup).

Unfortunately, you can't even pick what starters you want, which was a little disappointing initially, but then I accepted giving the chef the benefit of the doubt since i figured he/she would give us the best stuff. I was wrong.

For our second course, the chef sent us:
spreads----(boring and unoriginal, once again too much sweetness in one of them) which contained a spicy sweet spread, a chick pea spread (not hummus unfortunately) and a tzatziki type yogurt/dill sauce. I should give them credit for the flat bread, it was grilled to perfection and had beautiful grill marks on it. But it should have been all about the spreads, not the bread. We asked for some more bread and they charged us for it. Whatever. I couldn't stop comparing these spreads to the spreads at Saha, which are 1000% better
----cannelloni beans in some sort of sauce and cheese. The beans were a bit crunchy in my opinion and drenched in cheese. Now, i love me some cheese but this was just too rich. Then, there were some crunchy bits in this dish but none of us could figure out what it was. They tasted and felt like grape nuts. It was an odd pairing that I didn't really care for.
----we had some meatball/grape skewers that my dining companions seemed to like, but I didn't try so I can't comment. They did look pretty good though.

2nd course: You must have a mandatory basteeya. They don't allow you to pick anything else. 2/3 of us didn't like it. I just can't get with chicken that tastes like dessert. I was explaining to our server that I don't care for basteeya (before deciding to go for the 5-course meal), and he explained that their basteeya is "more savory" than traditional basteeya. This is what influenced me to go with the 5-course to begin with, as I was planning to just go with the three course. Well, he was wrong. It tasted like every other basteeya I've had (tons of sugar, chicken, cinnamon, eggs, and a flakey crust all mixed together). It wasn't savory at all.

For our entrees, we had:
Scallops with lemon-saffron risotto. The scallops were not bad, but mediocre. They should have seared them. They were a bit mushy. The lemon-saffron risotto was also WAY overcooked and had too much sauce in it, making it very heavy.

Lamb shank:
Extremely good. I really I wish I would have ordered it. It melted off the bone, had good flavors, and was not gamy at all. It's pretty easy to screw up lamb and they executed the dish very well.

Cous Cous with vegetables and Lamb:
Okay but boring. I could have made that myself. It was extremely bland. Isn't Moroccan food supposed to have more flavor? What made it even worse is that the server recommended this dish to us.

A few minutes after we started eating our entrees another sever came by (who was extremely nice) and gave us harissa sauce to spice things up. I was excited. I love spicy food. I was hoping this could save 2 of the entrees. Once again, utterly disappointed. The harissa sauce I had at Mezes seemed more like the real deal. This harissa tasted like they made it out of ketchup and added a bunch of smoked cayenne pepper.

For dessert we had:

----Chocolate souffle with "coco nibs" ice cream. It tasted like an extremely heavy chocolate mousse, and not like a souffle AT ALL. The ice cream was good by itself, but did not complement the "souffle" in any way. It was mediocre at best.
----The yogurt with fruit. This was much better than the chocolate dessert, and that's saying a lot because I love chocolate. The yogurt wasn't sour, but extremely smooth and went really well with the strawberries. It was actually pretty refreshing. The crunchy bits on top added a new texture to the dessert. It was a good dessert. Not great.

The service was very good and the staff extremely helpful as we were a bit perplexed by the menu, but the best part of our meal was a bottle of Rhone Syrah that we had. Delish wine. I actually want to go out and try to find it. +1 star for the service and +1 star for the lamb shank dish alone.

You have to rate food relatively. We paid $75 each for our meal and we didn't come out of the restaurant happy. We all agreed...we will not be going back.

Saha, Aziza made me really miss you!

Here we come!

I can officially give this place 5 stars because I've eaten there three times! Yay. =)

Penny's is no frills, unpretentious, home-cooked food at it's best.

Thanks to all the fabulous yelpers, I decided to give this place a try. Once upon a time, I was craving some good Jamaican food, and I was blind to think that Jamaican Soul and Caribbean Cove (which is now closed) were the only places around. But this Trinidadian joint probably has the best Caribbean in the Bay Area.

People keep saying this place is in a ghetto neighborhood, but I don't really think it's that bad, especially in the daytime. Now, to the food:

Everything I've had (except for this deep fried potato thing that I tried for an appetizer) has been excellent. I've had the jerk chicken, chicken curry, rice and peas and the spinach and coconut rice.

The last time I went I had the jerk chicken, which came with rice, a side of greens (which she changes up, that particular time it was spinach), macaroni pie, and fried-to-perfection plantains.

Now most places will serve dried up jerk chicken breast or leg, but Penny's was a whole new experience. She actually bakes the chicken to seal in the moisture, and the chicken is drenched in the most flavorful jerk chicken sauce I've ever tasted. She typically uses dark meat, which in my opinion, is more tasty (and authentic). So if you're looking for chicken breast with all the fat trimmed off, you probably won't be satisfied with Penny's. Nonetheless, I'm really picky about what kind of meat I eat and where I eat it, and although there are occasional bones and skin you have to push aside, they add tremendous flavor to the dish.

The sides: The macaroni pie was delicious. It was like an oven-backed casserole smothered with buttery goodness with an outer surface of slightly hardened, melted cheese. The greens were so flavorful yet simple, and really complemented the strong flavors of the jerk chicken. You know you're at a good spot when the greens are actually on point. The rice had some lentils in it, and it wasn't your typical Jamaican style rice and peas. The plantains were sweet, rich, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

A lot of the flavors and dishes reminded me of Indian food (the curry, lentils, roti and even the names of some of the dishes are derived from India: alou=aloo=potato, pelau=pulav=rice pilaf), but of course, it stood out and was delicious in it's own right.

To wash all the goodness down, I had a sorrel, which was too sweet for my taste, but then again, it was a good contrast to the spiciness of the food (which I intensified by adding too much hot sauce). **BEWARE:** THAT HOT SAUCE WILL BITE YOU IN THE ASS LATER---LITERALLY. Don't ask. When Penny says it's hot and to be careful, she means it! I thought we brown folk are supposed to be immune to spicy food getting the best of us, but this takes it to an entirely new level. Let me reiterate: A few drops of this stuff will suffice for the ENTIRE dish.

PLEASE NOTE: The food can take up to 30 minutes or more to make, depending on how busy it is. If you're stomach is eating itself, don't go here. But, in my opinion, the food is totally worth the wait. I would also recommend calling ahead of time. She is not always there and doesn't work regular hours, so call to make sure it's open.

Other noteworthy things to try: spinach and coconut rice, chicken or veggie roti, sea moss (basically a mild seaweed-like milkshake). I haven't had the mauby yet, but I hear it's for the adventurous. I also tried the ginger beer, which was too gingery/spicy for me. It was making me drip sweat. I thought I liked strong ginger flavor, but this was almost unbearable. But some reviewers really liked it, so who knows.

Penny was nice and friendly. She was always smiling, and you can tell she takes pride and joy in cooking meals. Her warm spirit is infectious. She introduced my dining companion and me to Chutney, which is the new musical rave in Trinidad. It's a mix of bollywood and soca. Ask  her if she has it on hand. It's pretty cool music, and if she has it, she'll be more than happy to play it for you.

SO I've totally dragged this thing out . In a nutshell, go to Penny's. Affordable (plates range from $6-12), tasty, filling (I only ate half of my jerk chicken plate. I love leftovers!), warm vibes. What more could you want?

FIRST VISIT: Nestled in North Berkeley's "Gourmet Ghetto," Misto Italian Bistro is a new dimly lit, cozy restaurant that features Italian small plates and entrees at decent prices comparable to the area.

Now, to the food. The meal started off with complimentary bread and long, thin crunchy bread sticks paired with an earthy parsley pesto. I would have preferred a more traditional basil pesto to offer a sharper taste that stands out from the plain bread. The parsley lacked flavor and was rather boring. Even butter (though not very traditional for an Italian bistro) or olive oil and vinegar would have been a better choice.

For starters, we decided to order the calamari fritti ($6). At this point, I became a little more hopeful and optimistic about the rest of the meal. The calamari was undoubtedly the best part of the meal---golden and crunchy on the outside and melt-in-your mouth goodness on the inside that can only be achieved by using fresh ingredients and the right combination of herbs and spices. To top it off, the calamari came with two dipping sauces, a flavorful house-made marinara and a tangy, smooth aioli. It was just the right combination of freshness, textures and flavors. In fact, I had to ask our very friendly server for another helping of the marinara. There were a ton of small plates that looked interesting and inspiring, but we were glad we stuck with the calamari.

After narrowing it down, for the main course I ordered the Caramella (recommended by our server), a creamy pasta filled with chicken, mushrooms and velvety mascarpone cheese. Conceptually it was a winner--flavorful elements combined in one dish. The presentation was appropriate, but the actual execution of the dish could use more refining. The dish had good texture, but seemed too bland. A tomato cream sauce would have added some needed complexity to the dish, not to mention lighten it up. Because the combination of mascarpone and cream made the dish heavy, I couldn't bear to add parmesan to the intensely rich dish, so I opted for dried chili flakes and black pepper. This vastly improved the dish, but after devouring the calamari, I just wasn't that satisfied. However, my dining companion was a fan of the dish, and actually wanted to switch entrees with me. Perhaps this was because his cacciatore style hen (served over polenta) was over salted and had very little meat. The thick diced vegetables in the sauce resembled an overcooked gumbo. The polenta didn't have any richness or thickness to it, and tasted like watered-down grits. I couldn't understand how a new restaurant would dare mess up a classic can't-go-wrong dish. The hen tasted fresh, at the least, but left our palates with more to be desired---with one dish under-salted and one too salty, we were craving some balance, but by that time we had eaten enough. At least the friendly, cheerful service was perfect.

Nonetheless, we decided to go for dessert in hopes to end our meal on a positive note. We're suckers for any kind of cheesecake, so we chose the amaretto cheesecake, made with ricotta cheese drizzled with raspberry and caramel sauce. To say we were thoroughly impressed was an understatement. The cheesecake was dense enough for us to fork away the desired morsel size (my morsels being very big), yet lighter and fluffier than most cheesecake. The hint of ricotta and almond fragrance from the amaretto left us practically licking the plate clean.

Although our entrees were disappointing, and our experience as a whole was really hit-or-miss, we started our meal content and left satisfied. The service was excellent, and because the variety of dishes were so abundant, I might return and give this new Berkeley establishment a second chance---but I'd probably stick to the small plates and dessert. Give it a go, and if you can successfully avoid the rollercoaster, you could leave pleasantly surprised.