Amy "Loaded with Snark" D.'s Profile

This is the kind of restaurant my grandpa would have loved. The portions are ginormous, the breakfasts are good, all-around country fare.

It's Bakersfield so I'm happy to overlook the semi-lame "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast" attempts at patriotism because the staff is super friendly and unlike The Rocket Shop Cafe (I recently had my first visit there for breakfast) they actually appear to appreciate your patronage and that you chose to spend your hard earned money with them.

I love the Chicken Fried Steak but the Eggs Benedict are really good too. The biscuits and gravy are done well and the chocolate chip pancakes are a huge hit with my family.

They are always busy on the weekends but we've never had to wait too long and, as previously mentioned, even on a super busy Saturday morning the staff is always smiling and the service is top notch.

Planned a nice, family breakfast at Narducci's only to find that they were "on vacation" for a week. Lucky them. /eyeroll

We drove down Union to The Rocket Shop at the recommendation of a good friend whose parents love the place. They have several decent beers on draft (read: not just typical Coors and Budweiser) which is always a big plus in my book. I ordered a Bloody Mary and was really happy with it.

We ordered the sweet potato fries (thank goodness because the wait for our food was so long we would have been half-starved by the time it arrived) which are good and the price was great for the size of the basket. I really wish I had ordered lunch because the sandwiches and burgers I saw on trays going to other tables looked amazing. Instead I let my husband talk me into ordering breakfast and I tried the top sirloin and eggs special.

The steak was good and cooked medium-rare per my request. The country potatoes weren't anything to write home to mom about but they went with the steak and eggs. I was less than thrilled with the biscuit and gravy, while the portion was huge I come from a long line of killer gravy makers so I tend to be more critical than most.

My biggest complaint is the staff. Slow, confused, befuddled, absent-minded... the waitress almost forgot to take my husband's order, the food took a solid 45 minutes to arrive and when it did - we had to ask for the biscuits and gravy we ordered. Getting a refill took an act of congress and when I ordered my second Bloody Mary (don't judge! I had a LONG wait!) the bartender brought it out and had to ask the waitress what table it went to and the waitress, standing 4 feet away from our table had to THINK about it for almost a minute before she remembered.

Meanwhile, some older woman who could have been a manager or something kept running around like a vulture snatching empty glasses off of our table (and others) because "we are running short! I need to clean these up!"

The service doesn't exactly make you feel like your patronage is welcome or appreciated. Maybe it was off day. My husband I are willing to try it out again based solely on the beer selection and a desire to try something other than breakfast. That being said - we won't pass up Pappy's on Rosedale Hwy. to go here for breakfast, that's for sure.

We've been going to Lengthwise (Brewery) for years. We've purchased kegs for our kegerator at home, we've had the root beer and the orange cream soda, we've tasted every beer they make and love the food too. What we didn't like was the long drive from Rosedale over to Schirra Court, we pretty much only made the trek to pick up a fresh keg.

You can only imagine the thrill when we found out that Lengthwise was opening up shop around the corner on Calloway. The new "Lengthwise The Pub" is great. I love the open airy feeling.

We had the stinky fries and they were amazing. It's still the same old walk up and order service, but for the quality of food and beer - it didn't bother me. My husband and I split a southwestern chicken salad and it didn't disappoint. It was a generous salad with quality greens and lots of chicken it even included their deep fried artichokes which are insanely delicious.

I'm a huge fan of their Centennial beer, but I love the porter they make as well. Not a huge fan of the Summerfest but that's totally a personal thing with me and absolutely no reflection of Lengthwise, I'm not all that big a fan of Sierra Nevada either and that's what the Summerfest reminds me of.

Bottom line here is that after watching Tilted Kilt and Bobby Jack's (happy to see that one go) fail in that location, I think Lengthwise will finally make that location a success. I'm just stoked to have really good beers at a nice place close to my house and thrilled to support a quality local business. We'll definitely be back.

Without a doubt, I'd say this is the best Chinese food... in Bakersfield. Great Castle has been around forever and that  means something around here. Not that Bako is known for being a mecca of culinary delights, but we do have our favorites and there are some old standbys that would be sorely missed if they disappeared.

My favorite menu item is the Pineapple Duck, but I haven't had anything I didn't like.

Also? The best Mai Tai and Singapore Sling in town. They make their drinks "old school" and they know what they are doing. Might be considered a little pricey by some, but it's worth every penny.

Since we live in Rosedale it takes a lot to get us to go all the way over to Union to eat. We end up over there once every 4 - 6 months. The service and food are always consistent.

This cafe serves lunch and breakfast according to the print on the windows. Its a tad misleading to call it breakfast and brunch with such a limited menu and no "brunch" style choices at all.

The menu is basic American diner/coffee shop standards (pancakes, waffles, eggs, sandwiches, burgers)  with the typical California/Mexican twist since they have chorizo and eggs as well as breakfast burritos.

My husband and I were there for breakfast and I have to compliment the establishment on their cleanliness because the place was almost sparkling. The decor attempts to invoke a feeling of a 50's style diner with the counter dining, red and white color scheme and vinyl covered booths and bar stools. Unfortunately, this motif is probably one of the most overused and weakly attempted diner decor schemes and like most of its counterparts The Chili Hut falls short here. Its okay because that era of atmosphere is definitely a "go big or go home" style and most don't have the heart or passion to really pull it off. I will say that at least they didn't stoop to the super cheesy pics of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis and Coca-Cola signs.

The staff was friendly, big smiles that seemed genuine and the service was good. The menu is limited to pretty much items you can make at home. The chili was good but tasted just like what my hubs makes at home minus the love; if your establishment's name is Chili Hut the chili probably ought to blow your socks off. Portions were tiny and for a $4 bowl of chili there should have been more than a dainty pile of cheese and onions and a packet of crackers with it.

I ordered eggs, bacon, country potatoes with a biscuit and gravy. The gravy (supposedly sausage gravy per menu) was clearly from a bulk restaurant supply jar/vat. Bland, no flavor save the large pepper flakes that were clearly there to convince you that no one poured wallpaper glue over your biscuit. Although, it tasted better than wallpaper glue coming from a long line of classic country gravy makers - it fell sadly short and instantly made me grateful I didn't order the chicken fried steak. Its pretty tough to jack up bacon and eggs so no points there either. The potatoes were the best thing on my plate and the most seasoned too, however, potatoes should never be the star of any meal.

The coffee was exactly what I'd expect from a typical diner - Folgers pre-ground at its usual. All in all, mediocre at best - I could have had the same thing at Denny's, just not in as clean or friendly of an atmosphere .

Tripped out to this restaurant on the pier recently. The special for the week was a shrimp or fish (grilled or fried) burrito with a lime ginger sauce for $5 having never been to this taco shack before my husband and I wanted to try a few things across the menu to get a feel for it. The prices were reasonable so it made it easy to try a few things.

We opted for the burrito with grilled shrimp, a fish taco, calamari taco and shrimp taco. We also ordered iced tea which was clearly fresh and really good - can't say that for a lot of places anymore so props to them on that one!

The burrito was HUGE. HUGE. Thankfully it was also split in half ;) it was fresh, loaded with shrimp and absolutely delicious. While their menu sports several exotic types of salsa we were given simple options when ordering like: hot, medium, mild or pico de gallo which is also mild. We went for hot and medium and both were pretty good.

The tacos were BIG. Worth every penny. They were loaded with fresh greens and not cheap head lettuce or cabbage. The shrimp taco had diced cherry tomatoes and avocado as well. Really more like a gorgeous shrimp salad on a tortilla. The tortillas, by the way, were hot and fresh another big plus.

I probably won't opt for the calamari taco again simply because it was deep fried (per the menu so not a problem there) and the calamari was a little tough. I'm not a huge fan of deep fried food anyway so it's not going to hurt my feelings to avoid that on future visits.

To sum up - great food, fresh ingredients, great view, great prices.

And, quite frankly, I'd pick it over Eric Ericcson's (restaurant and bar across from Beach House) ANY DAY. We'll be back for sure!

Huge fan of Basque but up until this point have been a die-hard J.B. and Marie's fan. I've heard of Narducci's but rarely ever get over to that part of town. Last Sunday it was cold and raining and my husband had been dying to take me to the Arizona Cafe. We circled the block several times and couldn't find a parking space; magically, a spot opened up in front of Narducci's and I told my husband it was a sign we were meant to have Basque and not Mexican. I love Mexican food (and if you live in Bakersfield you'd better, right?) but I really wasn't in the mood for a Sunday Menudo-fest.

I'm still thanking my lucky stars for suggesting we trip into Narducci's.

We sat in the bar which is an amazing, old school, dive - the atmosphere is nothing short of wickedly cool. The bartender was friendly and on her toes while still appearing very relaxed and mellow.

My husband and I ordered the Basque set up and a side of pickled tongue. From salad to tongue it was delicious and really hit the spot on a chilly, rainy day. The bartender was very sweet and suggested we make reservations for Thursday night to enjoy their $10 steak night. The patrons all seemed to know one another and the bartender, but she certainly wasn't clique-y about it and seemed genuinely happy to have new people popping in to check the place out.

I'm bummed we don't go downtown very often, but I can guarantee the next time we are antiquing we're going to pop in for sure!

Long time veteran of Tokyo Gardens (on Ming, thank you!) and Akira (prefer Tokyo Gardens) but I transplanted myself to Rosedale back in '06  and sushi wasn't a priority what with the bust of the bubble and gas prices... ahem.

I digress... moving on.

The hubs and I drove by Ninja (advertising it's "Grand Opening - Coming Soon") and waited for it open, then we waited for the paycheck Gods to line up with the Gods of child supervision so we could drop in and scope the place out. Tonight (Friday night) we finally made it!

First off, the restaurant is SUPER clean, the staff is knowledgeable AND friendly! Then we found out that the owner/head chef was the head chef at Tokyo Garden for over 10 years - hello serendipity!!!

Our server was quick to tell us what was popular and what she really liked but really didn't try to sway us when we chose something slightly off the beaten trail. My husband and I elected to order a platter of Dragon Tails and (oh, I hope I get this right) 5 Color Fish.

The Miso soup arrived first and it was hot and delicious. Our platter of sushi came up quickly and it was colorful, gorgeous, fresh and the best sushi I have ever encountered (and I've had sushi in L.A. and Newport) let alone encountered in Bakersfield.

I would probably order extra wasabi on my next visit but that is neither here nor there when you consider the quality and taste of the sushi. I really can't compliment the establishment enough and I sincerely hope they stick around for a long, long time.

We'll definitely be back... probably tomorrow.

Pizza near the coast does not get any better than Klondike. We've been going to Klondike since our oldest child (now 19) was 4! There are so few places out of town that you can say you have visited enough that you actually have pictures of your kids through the years there. We've got some wonderful family memories built around our trips to Klondike. The kids look forward to our trips to the beach and Klondike is definitely the main highlight.

We have actually taken day trips from Bakersfield, CA just to have Klondike Pizza and hang out at the beach for a little while before heading home. If you haven't experienced a Saturday night sing-along then you've missed out on a great night. It's a family tradition for us every time we go camping at Pismo or Morro Bay. We set up camp and drive back to Arroyo Grande for pizza at Klondike. We usually take a walk around Arroyo Grande after dinner and it's like a family night out of a fairy tale. Such a wonderful experience not to be missed!

As always the ultimate test of good pizza is how good it is cold the next morning and Klondike never disappoints. My son is a die-hard pepperoni only guy but my husband and I love the Roadkill and the Denali. The pizza is always amazing, the salads are good and the beer is cold - highly recommend the Alaskan Amber. The owners' sense of humor is apparent throughout this unique establishment and the staff is always funny, friendly and treat you like a regular even when it's obvious you're there on vacation.

They kept our car until Thursday and only called once to update us. Really poor communication. Avoid.