Christina N.'s Profile

Love this place, and now my favorite place to go to for Thai. It's a cute family establishment, and just lovely, friendly people. They make the cutest drawings on the doggy bags. However, service may take a while.. so just be a little patient, and find something to think or talk about.

The food is delicious. You know when you go to those make-believe Thai places and order some curry... and they all sort of taste similar? Yeah, that doesn't happen here. Curries are all pretty distinct (as they should be) and everything is cooked well. Their thai iced teas are also pretty decent.

Decent eyebrow and lower leg wax, pedicure... probably will end up being my go-to place for eyebrows and pedicures for the summer.

Yeah, service isn't all that personal with the nail services.. but what can you really expect? They are all perfectly nice, though.

Star for ambiance, another star for the location and mediocre food.
Overpriced for the quality. The lamb seemed fine. The lobster risotto- oh dear. It tasted a bit too salty/bitter for some reason, and a ton of pieces of green onion... and not to mention, I'm getting some sort of stomachache afterwards. Blah.
French? Not really.

Awesome nail salon in Solana Beach. Pleasant experience; the owner, Lani is super nice. I loved my manicure and pedicure here over winter break. All the ickyness on my feet went away. Decent clothing here, cute boutique.

Service had been inattentive, and I felt my haircut was rushed... and frankly, not particularly good. Their styling is better (because they have to make up for the poor cut).
Overpriced if you're a regular.. the first time I went in September, there was a discount if you were new to Blondie.

I love my haircut that I got today. I had super heavy, really long, thick hair. Thao thinned my voluminous hair to something much more manageable, and did lovely layers. I must have lost a good pound or so of hair... and gotten the haircut that I absolutely love.
She also spent time after the usual working hours on a Saturday! And I brought a friend to get his hair cut afterwards too. T has been nothing short of amazing. She chatted as much as I wanted to, and made sure that I got the haircut I wanted.

Went back this week, and it's still good. My friend and I were splitting the Souffle di Porcini, and the other two were splitting the calamari salad. Yummy souffle, and mediocre salad. I had the duck, and absolutely love it. It was bold, and oh so amazing. I fear I won't love duck from other places as much. The gnocchi my friend had was good. My SO had some yummy gorgonzola ravioli-- I'm not much for blue cheese, but it was pretty good. Not spectacular, but decent. The mussels were also decent. Service was decent this time around as well.

Our service was phenomenal, which really took the dining experience above and beyond our expectations. Our server was amazing-- such a cheery disposition, and explained everything well. Her descriptions of all the food and wine were perfect. Everything was perfectly timed, even our valet [will get to that later]. The dishes always arrived at the right temperature.. this is definitely a leisurely dinner; not something you'd want to rush.
As far as the food, we loved the wine parings, and everything seemed to come together fairly well. There is a lot of food, and the portions are on the larger end for the French portions they are... so I'd refrain from eating a lot during the day if you're going for the chef's tasting menu (which I'd highly recommend). There is also a lot of wine [at least for me] with the wine tasting... but we didn't particularly want to make any choices this evening, so we went with pretty much everything. I love the unsalted, fresh butter and the fleur de sel with the fresh rolls.
The first three seafood courses were lovely-- tasted great, and were slightly more adventurous than the duck and the beef dishes. We opted for the prune stuffed gnocchi- absolutely heavenly and a must if you visit. The duck was good, but it wasn't as interesting as the previous courses. The beef was great too, and I didn't know turnips could taste so good... but a little conservative [although I don't know if you can do very much with beef]. Do opt for the cheese dolly if you're not full yet. My SO loves cheese [sometimes more than me],  so it was a given we would get some cheeses. We're not much for strong blue cheeses, so we got three milder cheeses-- a gouda, a young blue, and a brie-like cheese [I don't remember, although it's not brie]-- which were all great, but I loved the gouda the most. SO loved the the brie-like one. The palette cleanser afterwards was pleasant since I like grapefruit, and it did its job. The dessert was divine... chocolate and maraschino cherries like how maraschino cherries are supposed to be. yum. We also got some tea, which was decent.. mostly just to get something warm after that rich dessert and all the wine. The sea salt chocolates are good, but the [I think] passion fruit or fruity something was so good...
Thankfully, the meal took three hours, so everything could digest a bit. After our meal, we left the car for another two hours (which our server said was just fine), and came back. When we handed the valet guy our ticket, he said, "oh, you just came in time" and led us outside, where another guy was sitting in our car, driving to the curb... strangely prophetic, much? We didn't ask questions, and just left because it was that strange. I don't think he went in a joyride either, since the gas and mileage were not drastically different. Perhaps they move the car every two hours or something. Anyways, all in all-- a perfect experience.

A little underwhelming when I went. I loved the lighter fare on their Sunday menu, but the more rustic, hearty fare just wasn't for me. And since that's what Rialto is known for, I'm not sure its type of food resonated with me that evening. Perhaps I just need to go back when I'm in the mood for that-- which is probably sometime in the next few weeks when it's cold and depressing outside.

Yum. Went here a few months ago, and it was absolutely wonderful. Dishes had interesting twists which made the experience so much better. I loved the ginger drink, and the service was decent. I think I need to go back to get a better feel of the place, and eat more food, of course.
I love love love the butterfish.