Annastasia S.'s Profile

Came here at around 8:30 and my table of three was seated downstairs in the "dungeon" as Gigi called it. It's really just a mini banquet room...unfortunately the atmosphere wasn't as lively as it was upstairs on the main level. HOWEVER, Gigi did turn on some music later on during our dining experience. We all just wanted water, so our server gave us a neato blue ceramic pitcher. They serve complimentary ...sourdough bread i believe...or plain white bread....anyways....my fellow diners and I ate our bread with butter. Then after 10 minutes, we realized that we had a bottle of unopened olive oil and an unopened bottle of vinegar. We opened them and asked for more bread:
Us: May we please have more bread? We just discovered the olive oil and vinegar.
Server: Sure *about to grab our bread basket*
---Gigi shows up---
Gigi: MORE BREAD? DAMN, JUST GET NEW BREAD. FRESH!! (like jokingly mean)
Server: Hah okay.
few minutes later Gigi comes back with an entire 2 feet long loaf. he heads over to the table next to us and literally goes BAMMMMMMMMMMMMM and splits the loaf in half above his knee. he gives one half to the table next to us and literally DROPS the other half of the load "into" our bread basket. i took that half and tried to split it, but the loaf was too short...or i was too weak....i believe it's because the loaf was too short. My friend found it rather aggressive and obnoxious, but my other friend and I found it rather funny and lively (referring to Gigi's actions). We were like, THIS IS THE ITALIAN SPIRIT! Like we knew what the Italian spirit was...
OKAY NOW TO THE POINT
Ciopinno 27 dollars, penne with:
small but tender scallops
juicy mussels
clams
crab

and the west coast oysters were indeed fresh. no sandy texture, no sea flavor, and doesn't taste blobby. mmmm mmmmmm good. don't expect them to be huge though. they're average sized..small, but good.

the bathrooms were very modern. black eerrthang.

if you order ciopinno, they'll bib you!

I came here couple years ago and got some pomelo mango dessert. It was pretty good. Not something I would crave though. I came back today, but only for a drink. I had to beat my curfew at midnight, so my only option was to order drinks for the car ride home. I ordered honey jelly with mango and pomelo. It was decent. The mochi mango balls were a little bland, but I'm sure if it were sweeter, I'd say it's too sweet. Haha. Since we were on a time crunch, they decided to mess up my friend's order. The cashier misheard my friend's order and we had to wait an extra 5 minutes. YES, THOSE WERE PRECIOUS 5 MINUTES BECAUSE WE WERE VERYYY TIGHT ON SCHEDULE. What could we have done? Nothing. Just waited...they brought out the new order and we dashed out of the door. Well priced, good atmosphere, and pretty prompt service.

The last time I had an actual meal here was about 6 years. Apparently they recently changed the menu, but since 6 years was so long ago, I am unable to recall the changes. I was deciding between hibachi tuna steak and salmon tsutsumi-yaki. Since I always get salmon or sea bass for fish, I decided to go with tuna. I like tuna salad tuna and raw tuna, but not baked or fully cooked tuna by itself. This tuna was seared tuna cooked medium rare (or to your desired temperature) which ended up being delicious. Honestly, I have to say that 40% of my decision was based on the fact that the hibachi tuna came with avocado. It was served with this tomato, avocado, and edamame topping...along with fried onion. This lady at my table said my dish won for best presentation =D  I concur-ish. My fellow diner ordered colossal mango shrimp which tasted decent. Not like OMG, but decent. However, it did LOOK OMG. Yes, the shrimp is actually colossal. Unfortunately they butterfly, then cut it...you dont get the thrill of eating the entire shrimp at once. You only get a few, so I wouldn't suggest that anyway.

My hibachi tuna was 22.60 w/out tax. That included onion soup (delightful since I was slightly sick), salad (mediocre), shrimp appetizer (mediocre, pretty much cooked and flavored shrimp), hibachi vegetables (just grilled and flavored onion & zucchini), 2 dipping sauces, steamed rice, and hot green tea. Oh yes, and plus entertainment. Yes, the teppanyaki chefs do mess up on occasion, but cut them some slack. I just think of it as free entertainment, and that I paid for food, not a show. Each chef does seem to vary in skills, so depending on who get as your chef,  your experience will be different. Overall 4 stars for atmosphere, food, and service put together.

They like to say "See you tomorrow!" Our chef said that, our server said that, and the hostess said that on our way out. A little much I think. Hearing it once or twice is enough.

Hungry? Craving Thai? Cheap Thai? Order here. Don't expect it to be good though. If it's six dollars, expect it to taste like it's 6 dollars and not 9. The Pad Thai Chicken combo comes with an egg roll, crispy wontons, fried rice and chicken pad Thai. Pad Thai was not that great....a little worse than mediocre. The fried rice was absolutely plain.

Convenient if your flight arrives right before the hour. I took the Flyaway Bus a few times and had a different experience every time. First time the trip took foreverrrrr because of traffic. Like 30-45 minutes. Second time I had to wait for the Flyway to come after my 8:05pm arrival...stood there for about 45 minutes. Yea...sucks if you arrive a little after the hour. However, the ride was quick. I took the flyaway this morning and it was quick as well. Seats are comfortable, but the ride on the highway is bumpy. Oh well, tolerable. My first Flyaway ride was smooth because we went s  l ooo ww  ly...in traffic. Overall, it's worth the convenience if you don't have to wait for the bus to come. Good thing I always exit at terminal 1...I'm usually one of the first few that get on the bus.

Chicken Tostada - Something different. Tasted very authentic. You may or may not like it, but at least it is worth a try!

Cheese Quesadilla - Average. Nothing spectacular.

Carne Asada Nachos - Not worth it. Nachos with not enough cheese or meat. Oh, and that is all it has. Cheese and meat.  

I got guacamole, but I don't know if it was for my quesadilla or for the nachos. The guacamole tasted more like cilantro than avocado. I heard the tacos are good. Small though, so get like three and something else. You have to ask for napkins and they give you just enough. Sour cream is an extra 1.25. They do not give out water, so bring your own.

Pad Thai was a little plain. I had to sriracha and lime it. There are leftovers in the fridge that I probably will not eat..hha...ha. The pho was a bit small in portion...welll small for the 7.25. Props for the service though. Constant water refills =D

Turkey Sandwich was alright.
They forgot the guacamole, so I went back and they added it. The amount of guacamole in my sandwich was a little ridiculous. They spread the guac on the bread and it was probably equivalent to peanut butter on half the slice of a normal wonder bread. It wasn't BAD, just average three stars. The tabasco sauce looked really old. They need to get new ones or refill the bottles. Maybe I need to go back and try the pasta? Till then, three. Alliteration! What fun.

I've never had dim sum at 9:45am in the morning until today. HEY- short wait if you go early!  And yes, it does get filled up when it opens at 9am on Sundays. Usually the dim sum places my family dines at are all pretty similar. Yummy, yes, but makes me burp dim sum for the next few hours, not yummy. We go to Koi Palace once in awhile, but before today the last time I went was about a year ago. Dim sum is good AND it isn't AS oily as the other dim sum  places I've been to. When we got the coffee glazed pork spareribs last year, THEY WERE THE BOMB. We ordered it this time and nobody liked it...sad. They have "xue shan bao" which I thought was taro...but was some almond thing. It wasn't bad though. The service was good because they constantly refilled our tea and were pretty much at our service. Maybe because it was morning and they weren't TOOOO busy? If you come here around noon, be prepared to wait.

They need more stalls in their bathroom. Unfortunately, that can't be changed? They have a few taro selections...and I tried them all. Taro is my fiance...we're gonna get married. SO GOOD. TARO SMOOOTHIE, FRIED TARO, TARO CAKE, WHATEVER TARO I LOVE.

I like Karaoke in Asia. Wait, we're not in Asia. In that case, Gamba is a decent place for Karaoke. Don't get caught up with the wide selection of songs because there are a lottttt. They're not all in one binder, so you have to search and search and search. For us it went something like:
1) Look for songs in a binder
2) OH THIS SONG! Punch in song code.
3) Continue searching. OH THEY HAVE THIS SONG!
4) Punch in song code.
5) Oh my turn to sing? Okay.
6) Search for more songs.

I felt like I was searching for songs the entire time. Next time, I'm just gonna stick with one source and look through just that. Because there were so many song selections, people ended up canceling songs midway since we were short on time.

It was clean. The staff was friendly. They don't have a large selection of snacks and drinks. You get what you pay for. The end.