Michael N.'s Profile

Five Guys consistently serves great burgers.  I prefer mine relatively plain, with cheese and bacon, not hidden beneath layers of condiments, and these don't disappoint.  (Want lots of goop on your burgers?  Go to Red Robin.)  The "standard" burger is a double, so unless you're very hungry either get the "little" one or skip the fries.

The fries are good too, as long as you don't let them get steamed in the sack (they get soggy).  The portion size is way too big for a "regular" fry, so unless you are feeding an army a single order will do fine for the whole table.

The biggest downside to this location:  It's not big enough.  While it's wide enough, it's not nearly deep enough.  The store overall should be twice the size.  Also, the music was too loud, making it hard to carry on a conversation.  Please, crank it down a few notches.

I prefer the Bellevue location to the Issaquah one - much more spacious.

I'm a fan of German and Hungarian food, which can be hard to find.  (I also like Italian, but it's easy to find, hence we pretty much ignored that part of the menu.)  The biggest challenge with the menu was deciding what to try:  goulash, chicken paprikash, jaeger schnitzel, even stroganoff.

We shared a potato pancake appetizer, which was crisp on the outside, softer in the middle.  For our main course, I chose the goulash and my wife had the chicken paprikash.  Both were very good.  Tender meat, great flavor.  Both had spatzel on the side; the chicken dish also included vegetables.  The presentation of the food was very nice; portion sizes were quite reasonable, definitely not overdone (American style).  Now we want to go back to try the other dishes.

Service was good too: we were seated quickly, our order was taken as soon as we were ready, bread was brought out while the appetizer was being prepared, the appetizer followed soon after, the meal soon after the appetizer was done.  Water glasses were refilled promptly, plates were taken away when we were finished.

The restaurant feels like something you would find in a typical German town.  There were only three or four people working, including in the kitchen.  The owner/manager was taking orders, one other woman was helping him in the dining room.  Quaint and cozy.  When the owner had time to relax, he was friendly.  I'm not sure exactly where he is from, but he has more of a typical German style to him: more reserved at first, friendlier when he gets to know you.  I would certainly never hold that against him.

Prices overall were in the $15-25 range for entrees.  Most were around $20.  Looking at their website now, I notice that it's not up to date - there are different dishes on the menu (e.g. chicken paprikash) and the prices are now higher that on the site.  Our total bill, with two entrees and an appetizer, but no drinks, was $50 before tip.

We used to go to Fazoli's all the time in Ohio and Texas when we lived there.  Now we live where there isn't one, so any time we are near one we have to stop.  (I wish they would move to the west coast.)

Is it the best Italian food ever?  No, but it's quick, cheap, filling, and overall decent.  The unlimited breadsticks are great (yes, they are a bit buttery, but that's what makes them good - if you don't like it, you can ask for some without butter).

My favorite is the baked ziti.

Quick, cheap, and decent drive-through place for burgers, fries, and other standard fast-food fare.  My wife loves the seasoned fries.

There is some outside seating, if you are there on a nice day.

We went to Bangalore for their lunch buffet yesterday.  There were about 6-7 hot entrees to choose from, lentil soup (although they didn't have any bowls), and a few salad bar-type items.

For the hot dishes, there was tandoori chicken (kind of dry), meatballs in a butter sauce, and a few vegetarian items.  These were all very mild - all could have used some additional spices.

We've tried this place for dinner before and the full menu is a little better, but the prices seemed high.  I think we'll stick to the Indian restaurants in Bellevue, Redmond, and Renton (Naan & Curry) as they seem better overall.

Yet another boring Mexican restaurant with only OK food.  Don't believe the $ estimate, as most entrees are in the $10-15 range.  Drink prices seem especially high, with a margarita at $8.25.

I ordered beef fajitas, which were OK.  They were served on the typical hot iron skillet, but weren't sizzling - I think the plate with beans and rice was just as warm.  Everyone else had enchiladas, which were OK as well.

I suggest Taqueria La Venadita, just down the street, as an much better alternative.

The whole family tried out El Comal this evening for dinner.  The restaurant wasn't very busy (one other table in use), although we may have been a little early - they were just setting up for some live entertainment.  (We were gone before that started.)

We tried four different dishes: a combination plate with a pupusa, tamale, rice, and refried black beans; carne asada served with chorizo, rice, beans, and a spicy slaw; carne guisada with rice and beans; and canoa (fried plantains stuffed with ground meat and chopped vegetables).  All but the combination plate were served with fresh tortillas.

All the dishes were excellent (although the spicy slaw is an acquired taste) and we'll likely be back again.  Typical entree prices are in the $12-14 range, with good portion sizes.

The pupusas and tamales are available individually too (seems like they were around $2.50), so a couple of those would make a great lunch.

I hope this restaurant gains more of a following and stays around, it's definitely a good addition to the Bellevue restaurant scene.

I've been to Germany on a few different occasions and am hooked on schnitzel and spaetzle.  We tried it this afternoon.

I had the hunter (yaeger) schnitzel with spaetzle and potato salad (substituted for red cabbage).  The schnitzel was good, the spaetzle was good, and the potato salad was definitely German.  My only complaint: the hunter sauce was a little thin and there was too much of it, with the whole place swimming in it - great for the spaetzle, but not for the potato salad, and only somewhat so for the schnitzel.

My wife and daughter had the wienerschnitzel, which was very good, with spaetzle and red cabbage.  (I'd definitely recommend this one.)

My son tried the currywurst, sausage with a somewhat-spicy curry sauce (basically a spicy ketchup).  If you've ever had one of these in Berlin, this was dead on.  It was interesting that they sliced up the sausage though (good for my son, but doesn't match the Berlin experience).  This was served with fries, thin, crispy, and seasoned nicely, but there was quite a bit of curry sauce that got on those too - the sauce is fine, but I don't really like it on fries.  It would be nice to separate the two and let me choose to put some on the fries (they have a bottle of the curry sauce on the table).

They also have sandwiches (the wienerschnitzel sandwich would be great), soft pretzels, roasted almonds (given to us as we were leaving as a thank you gift), elephant ears, etc.  They have some daily specials as well; today they had roulladen, but were already sold out at 2:30pm when we got there.

Their indoor seating now has space for probably 20-30 people.  All entrees are less than $10.  Portion sizes are good (not huge).  This is a very casual place, with a large-screen TV (watching the UW game while we were there) and some rather large wooden furniture.

If this were as good as the German gasthaus meals, I'd give it five stars.  It's not quite that good, but still the best I've found in the Seattle area.

We were there a couple of weeks ago, and everyone had different kabob combination plates.  Each plate was fairly simple, with two kabobs, rice, and a grilled tomato.  The food was fine but nothing special - maybe there are better items on the menu.  Service was acceptable.

The biggest complaint was the cost, with dinner for four costing about $90.  I think Mediterranean Kitchen is much better overall - or drive further to Mawadda Cafe.

It's definitely out of the way for us (driving from Issaquah), but it's worth the drive (check the directions first) - good food and friendly service from the owner, who seems to always be present.  Most of the locals seem to do carry out, so it's hard to tell how busy the kitchen really is.  As long as you're not in a hurry, you'll be happy.

We've had quite a few different menu items and all have been good.  I would suggest trying the falafel, and anything that comes with the garlic sauce.