JM C.'s Profile

This is my new go to spot.  Just like others have said.  Whole Foods + Trader Joe's - Cashiers = Fresh & Easy.  Food is healthy, good, and cheap.  If you go to the clearance section, you can get lunch for less than $5 (Example I got Salmon over Spinach and a big cup of chopped fruit).  Better than any food you get from fast food.

This place is mediocre at best.  Coffee is not that good.  Pastries is ok.  Salads and warm food is mediocre at best.  It's a great location and that's their main attraction.  If they had better coffee and service, this place would rock.  I work in downtown Campbell and have decided the Starbucks a block down is hands and above better than this place.  I wanted to support the local community and make this my go-to coffee shop where I can spend afternoons reading, people-watching, and all that good stuff but won't go here unless I had coffee in hand and was interested in a $2 cookie that is like everything else here, just ok.

This isn't necessarily a knock but take it how you will.  I wanted to get a chocolate croissant toasted and they did not have a toaster that fit the croissaint.  I go to Starbucks and ask for the same and ta-da, they have it.

I can go into more detail but this place doesn't deserve anymore time and effort.

This review is for the lunch buffet.

I was driving down bascom and saw a sign for buffet for $8.99 for Kabob.  I love kabobs so let's do it!  The two of us walk in and it's fairly ok looking and they sat us at a table with 12 glasses on them.  Obviously we had to wait (while sitting down since they sat us) while they cleared the table.  Okay so the service is below average although the water refill test went well, always had water.  Here is where it gets curious.  Upon entering the buffet area, I did not find any meat/kabobs, only veggies, rice, and other sides.  Thinking that this may be a veggie type place I was ready to walk out the door to go to a place with meat until I asked the waitress about the meat.  She mentions that the kabobs will be brought to our table, that got me thinking "How fancy!".  The kabob plate came out with two koobideh and one chicken kabob.  We each had a koobideh and split the chicken kabob.  Decent impression for our first place.  I went to the buffet to get more rice and veggies then returned to the table.  After sitting at the table with my rice and veggies for 10 minutes, I asked the waitress if we can get more kabobs, and she says No (WTF!).  She says that we only get that one plate for the two of us even though we saw one person sitting alone by himself and having the same portion of kabobs.  So at the end of it all, it's a buffet for rice and veggies but not kabobs.  If I knew this ahead of time, I would've skipped this place.  $8.99 for Persian buffet is too good to be true.  Going back to my go-to kabob joints, "Negeen" and "International Kabob House".

If my review is too long, here's the summary:
THIS IS NOT A TRADITIONAL BUFFET (VEGGIES AND RICE ARE THE ONLY THINGS ALL YOU CAN EAT).  YOU ONLY GET ONE PLATE OF MEAT.

The food, EXCELLENT.  Decor/Ambiance, EXCELLENT.  Service, EXCELLENT.  As good as the food was, our server (I forgot his name, young guy with dirty blonde hair)  took it over the top.  Excellent knowledge of the menu and ingredients.  Chef Gordon Ramsey may be the only person to find something wrong with this place (the hours maybe).

The only drawback is the weird hours, I'd like to eat lunch here but can't most of the time.  If they maintained consistent hours, I would not be surprised if this place became the top spot in downtown Campbell.  I'm tempted to take a star away for the weird hours but I won't because it's a great place to eat.

This place is good.  Now to make it clear, I have a strict 5%, 95%, 5% breakdown.  Of all the taquerias, taco trucks, and mexican restaurants they fall into three categories.

05% - WOW and I mean WOW (5 stars)
95% - Decent (3-4 stars)
05% - Sucks (1-2 stars)

As you can see, most of the places I go to falls into the 95% category.  They're all usually decent with nothing really separating itself from the other.  You really have to do something wrong to not get 3 stars for this type of establishment, but at the same time, getting 4 or 5 stars is rare at least for me.  The only thing this place does different is they give you a bag and you get your own chips.  

So all in all, I'll go back just because it's close by.

Came back from the debauchery and stayed at the Vdara.  I got a city suite for the weekend and did not regret it one bit.  This was 1 bedroom, kitchen, and living area.  Two 42" LCDs and the bathroom is designed for him and her.

The best part is there is no casino AND no smoking.  The lobby isn't crazy with tourists like at all the other hotels.  Check in and check out was a breeze.  There weren't any kids or tourists running through the hallway.  Very upscale, if you bitch about the price, go to Excalibur and split a $75 room with 3 other people.  You do not belong at the City Center.

The hotel is in the city center but it's in the back so it's a walk and tram to the hotel.  I suggest cabbing it.  From the strip, you see Aria and Vdara is to the rear and right.  The restaurant is not that great, a bit over-priced in my opinion.  The bar in the lobby is great, as it's usually chill and better than the other hotel lobby bars, due to its open design.  The pool is on the small side but since it's on the 3rd floor, it's more private than the casino hotels.

This is my hotel of choice moving forward.  =D

Japanese fast food, is there really anything else to say?  

Overpriced "Japanese" food.

Ordered a half chicken half beef teriyaki bento box (safe option or so we thought) for $8.  Now that I think of it, I'm switching from 3 to 2 stars.  It's pretty bad, it was not horrible tasting, just the thought of spending $8 for only $3 worth of edible stuff is what gets me.  I felt ripped off after eating the food.  I guess that says a lot don't you think?  The value of fast food is not present at Don Don.

My recommendation, if you drive by it and are interested, KEEP ON DRIVING.  There's other places that charge the same on the street that you can get something better.

Below is my technical analysis and professional opinion:

I heard the hype and found out it's fairly close to my new residence and decided to try it out.  I had no idea what I was in for but overall was pretty satisfied.

FRIED CHICKEN.....simple as that.

They have a few flavors, if you're a rookie get the sampler/combination plate.

You get a combination of regular sized drumsticks and chicken wings (drumettes & wing).  4 flavors (original, love, spicy, honey) I would say the original fried chicken and the honey were my favorite.  The love and the spicy were pretty much the same (sweet), except one was spicy.

They have side salad, other items, and steam rice at the self-serve bar (very small, don't get it twisted) which is included with the purchase of the chicken.

The service is pretty non-existant.  The restaurant set-up is more self serve than anything else.  The only service you get is the chicken gets served at the table.  Then that's it, no actual service.

I plan to make a visit here once a month as it's pretty good just doesn't live up to the hype that everyone else is doing.

CHEERS!

I so want to give this place one star.  We came here on a Saturday night.  It was my first time here and was surprised at how packed it was.  We were fortunate to be seated immediately as there were a few tables empty.  As soon as we sat down, the rush began.  More people started to come in, for both pickup and sit down.  This is how ridiculously busy they are, I counted a combination of 14 people standing at the far end of the restaurant to pay and pick up food.  They have about 3 or 4 servers for the two rooms.  BOTH rooms were packed, now I understand why they put pitchers at every table, so they don't have to deal with re-filling water.  The unfortunate part is, as soon as we were seated and given water, we were waiting about 10 minutes after putting our menus down for someone to take our order.  We ordered the basics and received them about 25 minutes later.  I have a habit of timing these experiences.  We get the Tandoori chicken first, then about another 15 minutes later comes the rest of our meal.  Guess what, they forgot our rice, so now I'm just eating the food, with the Na'an that we ordered.  The food is OK, nothing exceptional.  The portion is actually quite small for the price that you pay for.  The only reason I gave them 2 stars instead of 1 is because the place is quite nice and I assume that the service will be better if the restaurant is not as packed.  With that said, the manager needs to understand how to provide better service by getting more than 3 servers for over 20 tables.  This place increases the stereotype that "ethnic" restaurants just care about getting your money and not providing good customer service.  If they were short on servers, please inform the customers.  The servers barely said a word to EVERY table.  I heard grumbling from the surrounding tables about how HORRID the service was.  I will try them again and if the same experience happens, I will remove the star and hopefully bring their average down.  The people that gave them 4 or 5 stars are not totally incorrect.  But the reality is, the restaurant cannot handle a high volume of tables/orders.  Due to the fact that this place is the most popular take-out place in the area, it just adds to the ridiculousness of the service.  

PLEASE NOTE, expect the worst service for mediocre food.

So saw this restaurant in a tiny plaza.  Wasn't sure what to expect but when I first got in, it is nicely designed.  I was thinking to myself, "Nice decor, now let's see how the food stacks up."  I'll tell you this, the lunch special is pretty good.  Unfortunately I did not remember what I had so I went back for dinner the next day.  This time I ordered the Bistek, steak with rice beans and fried banana.  Awesome, they don't hold back on the seasoning.  Very tasty.  We also had this appetizer, potato slices covered in yellow sauce.  Also pretty good.  The prices are a tad high, but at the end of the day I thought the value was there.  The lunch special was only $7 and it includes a drink.  Can't beat that!  Will definitely go back.

Tip:  The place isn't that big so it may get packed some evenings.