Ken B.'s Profile

Neat & clean.  Nice assortment of furniture.  Reasonable selection of electronics (printers, etc.)
Shop the sales, but read the fine print very closely.  
Garage parking is a plus.

Haven't been in a long, long time.
They've cleaned the place up a bit since my last visit, which is a welcome change.
The service is still friendly, and helpful, and the prices are reasonable for generous portions.
We had the vegetable curry egg pie, which had fried eggs on top.  Delicious.
And the imperial rolls are a must-try.  Crunch and chewy at the same time.  MMM.

I love Alameda for all the local flavor and small business it has to offer.  However I'm not sure I'd make another special trip here for this pizza.
The food is mediocre at best, and service from the waitstaff is decent, but the host is certainly a piece of work.

The dough is fine, nice in the Neapolitan style:  thin, crust which is at the same time chewy and crispy.  However the presentation of the simple personal size pepperoni and sun-dried tomato I ordered was not so great.  The cheese seemed to have cooled and congealed back into sort of shingle where one takes a bite, and the entire layer of cheese comes off all at once.

They have a "signature" appetizer which is some sort of dough pieces swimming in garlic oil.  Nice, but one must order sauce on the side.

This wasn't my first outing here, but after this one I feel compelled to Yelp about it.
First, the sauce issue.  Our waiter balked when after the appetizer came,we asked for sauce.  He said we should have asked when we ordered.  Yes, for a side of marinara sauce.  This prompted a conflab with the host, who I'm pretty sure was the owner.  We did get our side of marinara, but they seemed to be protecting it as if we were spies from a competitor and were going to analyze it and steal his trade secret or something.

Now back to the host.
I've been here on two separate occasions, and observed this man behave in a manner unbecoming to that of a host (and employer.)  Without going into too much detail, let's just say The word "smarmy" about sums it up.  Generally he's just too self-important to lift a finger and even bring a menu to the tables he seats.

Clean, tasty, roomy.

It's a big place, and there's always plenty of seating.  Sometimes on the weekend, there's a live band  (not just wandering mariachi) which is fun, except sometimes they're too loud.  In that area with the high ceiling, they really don't need electronic amplification.

The platos are all very generous.  I've found, though, that I like a little of that orange grease on my al pastor.  Here it's a little dry.  Also, they've got a heavy hand on the lettuce.  Those nachos look HUGE until you get past all that iceberg.

They've got a few different salsas, but most must be ordered at the counter.  On the table there is a simple (yet tasty) red and green salsa in "ketchup" squeeze bottles.  They do have a cebolla y jalapeno encurtida which is about the spiciest they have.

Although everyone else in my group swears they've seen it before, last visit was the first time I noticed the frijoles negros refritos, which is pretty much my favorite.

Lovely place.  Believe it's family o/o.  Everyone's very friendly.  Try your Italian skills!

Pizza is of course all hand made with fresh dough.  I've had a few pizzas, and a ravioli dish. All were superb.

Well it's Peet's.  How is one really different from another.  Of course the coffee is delicious.  It was a weekday around lunchtime, and it wasn't terribly busy.  They also had a lot of retail goodies for sale besides coffee and the typical paraphernalia.

Best thing they have probably is the large seating area facing the water.

Wow.  The ambiance was terrific.  Lots of traditional art all around.  Open and airy.

Service was very friendly, and the menu was not run-of-the-mill.  Very traditional plates from Oaxaca and Jalisco.  Many moles to choose from.  The presentation was attractive and the big ol' corn tortillas were hand-made.

After our weekday lunch, the full menu looked as if it could be either lunch or diner, typically around $15.  There were a dozen or so less expensive lunch specials, too.

Later, it looked like they were setting up for happy hour buffet or something like that.  They also have a medium sized bar in front, and reasonably wide range of tequila.

Our outing was much more fun as we took the ferry from San Francisco and walked over to the restaurant.

Cute little place.  They should be busier, but out  in that neighborhood, I guess it's difficult to draw a crowd.

Food is tasty and affordable, an the service comes with many smiles.

There are daily specials, and happy our deals on draft beer and sake.  What more could you want?

Another little water feature here.  It's the end of the river that comes from the Prayer Brook Cross.  Pedestrian crossing is over some rocks where the water flows beneath.

Depending on the time of year, there are all manner of foul bobbing around in the pond.

Friendly, and full service.  Passport photos, shipping, and rental of "p.o" boxes where they'll accept all manner of deliveries for you.