Glen C.'s Profile

A good, not great, dining experience. We had a family luncheon here yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. The food ranged from merely so-so (the gumbo and etoufee) to stellar (the fried catfish). I also enjoyed the "bottle caps" (deep-fried jalapeno slides), and they were certainly better than Chili's.

We found this place on the recommendation of a friend, and it was really, really good. I had the italian beef sandwich, "hot and juicy" (topped with hot peppers, pickled vegetables, and dipped in au jus). Terribly messy, but wonderful. My wife had the bratwurst with sauerkraut and onion, and she loved it. We're definitely coming back.

We were meeting up with some relatives for dinner tonight, and the original restaurant we planned to visit was closed, so we stopped here instead. What a surprise! We had one of the best dining experiences we've ever had.

The waitress was friendly and, more importantly, very, very helpful--she guided us around some of the lesser items on the menu and focused on the good stuff. The artichoke fritters we had as an appetizer were superb, with lovely flavors of spice and fresh parmesan cheese. The crab cakes were full of crab and very flavorful.

The star of the evening, however, was the basil soup: very intense flavors in a cream base, with a beautiful finish and italian-style rolls to accompany.

Our entrees were also top-notch; I had the chili-rubbed ribeye--tender and very flavorful. My wife had the mesquite-grilled salmon with local peach chutney. One of our guests had the Pico Lime Shrimp and claimed it was "out of this world."

We finished with peach cobbler topped with cinnamon ice cream--again, on the recommendation of our wonderful waitress. This was a superb dining experience that was very unexpected because of the out-of-the-way location. Highly recommended.

We decided to go out for margaritas and queso, so that's what we ordered. We finished the decidedly unspectacular queso and our margaritas hadn't even been delivered yet, so we decided to move on to some other place for supper, and asked for our check. Ten minutes later, when our check hadn't arrived, we left some money on the table and headed out.

I guess the fact that there were only two customers in the restaurant at 6:30PM on a Friday night should have told us something.

South Legend is continually amazing. It's a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant located in a strip mail on N. Milpitas Dr., but it has a Michelin "Recommended" rating. Their focus is on true Szechuan cooking, and it's as good as it gets.

The Couple's Beef will leave your mouth tingling, but it's oh so good. The Beef in Fiery Sauce is tender and (as most things are here) very spicy. I always love their QongDing Fried Fish--basically a fried fish served in a heaping mound of Chinese chilies. If you're a fan of spicy foods, you have to eat here. The Cumin Lamb is extraordinary, and the Smoked Tofu with Leeks is amazing.

Prices are incredibly modest, often coming to less than $9 per person for large groups. And the service is the fastest I've ever experienced; typically, there's no more than a 3-5 minute wait between the time you order and the time the food starts coming out.

Highly-, highly recommended.

We had a most enjoyable lunch here today; I had the Jaegerschnitzel, the wife had the sauerbraten, and my son had the veal stroganoff. From my time living in (Wuppertal) Germany, this seems like a classic, authentic German restaurant. The spaetzle was perfectly cooked (al dente) and the polish sausage appetizer was nicely spiced. No, it's not going to knock your socks off, but it should suffice if you're looking for authentic German food in this area.

We actually like most of the food we've ordered here, but the wait staff and management are often terrible. Last night, my wife ordered the lamb shank; when the waiter asked how it was, she said, "Cold." His response was that the lamb is prepared in advance and left warming, so that it wouldn't be very hot.

In the past, we've also had a manager come out and lecture us on why we couldn't order something that was on their daily special blackboard. It's not unusual to sit and wait 15 minutes for a refill on iced tea, or to get your check at the end of the meal.

Many times, the food is pretty good, so we keep coming back (though not nearly as often as we might). The service is hit-or-miss at best.

I'm going to give it two stars; 3 for lunch, 1 for dinner. The food is pretty good both times, but the service is excruciatingly slow. Even ordering a takeout meal (when the restaurant is empty) can take 45 minutes. One evening, my son and I waited nearly two hours for our food; the waitress kept saying it would just be 5 more minutes: for two hours! When we were finished, we waited another 30 minutes, never saw the waitress, so I paid by cash and left.

We will sometimes come for lunch, but never again for dinner after multiple instances like that.

For our first visit here, we were highly impressed. My wife reported that the spring rolls were fresh, light, and tasty (I'm not a fan of lettuce myself) and the Shaking Beef was superb. We also tried the Giant Shrimp Scampi, which was wonderful. The atmosphere is relaxing and the wait staff is absolutely perfect. We're looking forward to trying this again in the future.

Warm, cozy atmosphere, though somewhat dark. The service was absolutely superb; among the best I've had in recent years. The food, unfortunately, was good, not great. The portions are huge, but both the 16oz ribeye and the giant prawns were tougher than we expected. Since it's 40 miles from home, I doubt I'd make the trip again on purpose, but, if you want lots of food for a really reasonable price and you live nearby, you could do far worse.