Lauren M.'s Profile

Top 10 brunch of my life. That should be enough to make you check out Sideboard.

I had never heard of Danville before last weekend. Now, it will forever be known to me as "the Sideboard town".

The manfriend had a half marathon in Danville so I tagged along to support (not run) and to choose the breakfast place afterwards. We drove down the quaint Hartz Ave to see if we could spot a good, local place to grab a bite. This place had tables outside that looked like they were filling up quickly, so we parked (all too easy-- love the suburbs!) and headed in.

We stood in line as we gazed at the Specials board and looked over the menu. The specials included beignets. BEIGNETS. These are a delicious doughnut, dusted with powdered sugar (served with a fruit dipping sauce in this case). When it was our turn (1 minute later), we ordered those, a side of bacon, and then I asked for a recommendation. (As always.) The nice guy at the register said "honestly, if it looks good, it probably is." I went with the huevos rancheros.

We grabbed a seat at one of their oversize, square indoor tables. We poured ourselves water from the big jar and picked up silverware and napkins. As we anxiously watched the other food come out of the kitchen ("Excuse me sir, what's Breakfast Pudding?"), I knew brunch was going to be a treat.

Finishing the huevos rancheros was actually upsetting. My brunch date said I looked like I was going to cry. They were so good. Not too big, lots of flavor (didn't even add Cholula!), and perfectly cooked. I wanted another order. And a Breakfast Pudding. And the Breakfast Sandwich.

We will be back, Sideboard. I don't know when, but I'll find an excuse to get us out there again...

And did I mention the bacon? Order it. Delicious.

Wow. Underwhelmed would describe how I felt about this restaurant.

This came recommended not only by Yelp, but by the very nice hotel nearby where a family member was staying. So, my expectations were high.

We entered the restaurant at noon on a Wednesday. There was no one to be seen anywhere. We poked our head around the corner and found the restaurant deserted. We walked back to the door and double-checked the hours-- yep, they open at 11:30am. Strange.

Finally, someone rounded the corner and asked if we wanted lunch. Yes, please. We were seated in the middle of a deserted restaurant, with a nice waitress who made herself a little bit too scarce during our meal.

The decor is a little over-the-top for my taste; I'd compare it to a restaurant at Disneyland. (I say that in the most honest way possible.) It seemed very themed, which some people might like just fine. Perhaps the decor would have faded in to the background a bit more if there was the usual crowd present, but since we were the only ones there, it just seemed overdone.

"I'll have the Pho, please."
"No, we don't have that."
(I'm at a Vietnamese restaurant, ordering Pho off of the menu, and you're out of Pho?) "Really?"
"No Pho."

Ok. I fell back on the "Quick Lunch" special, which is a $15 salad, entree, and spring rolls. I chose the chicken. It was... fine. It wasn't bad, but it didn't taste amazing. It reminded me of something I could get at any fast food place.

After finally flagging down our waitress (at this point there was one other table filled near us), we paid and left. I almost forgot to write this review because I was so unimpressed by my experience here.

I would consider coming here with a group of people, at dinner time, when it is livelier and I have the option to try something a little more adventurous. But for lunch, I wouldn't come back.

I had a friend move in to town, and Royal Ground fell between our homes on a map. We met up there. At first glance, the inside seemed a little dingy: small, beat up wooden tables and chairs. But I headed to the counter and ordered my coffee. The guy behind the counter was extremely warm, efficient, and friendly. The latte was delicious-- no complaints.

My friend and I were able to sit and catch up for 2+ hours without being bothered for a second. It was a relaxing and easy place to grab a cup of coffee. Granted, it was the middle of the week-- but I can't complain about a quiet coffee shop with good coffee.

I hear they have free wireless-- but we were so busy catching up that we didn't even get a chance to try it. The decor seems a little worn, but for a local coffee shop, it does the trick.

I won't lie. I don't really "read books", per se. I just don't usually make time for it. I can't talk about the latest bestsellers, I regularly have nothing on my bedside table, and I'm not sure I could list five current authors off the top of my head.

So why review a bookstore?

Well, sometimes I do, in fact, decide to read a book. (It's not often, I promise.) But I love the Russian Hill Bookstore for a different reason.

The store looks quaint. It's old, a little beat up, and has tons of used (I think) books. Upon entry, you're in a room with lots of tall shelves filled with books, books, books. But upon entry, I walk straight through this room in to room number two, the cards and gifts room. (It's on the right,  for those of you who want to avoid reading a book, too.)

Whether you are looking for real, soft, beautiful letterpress cards to give to your grandmother for her 80th birthday, or a funny card for your girlfriend who just had a crummy day at work, Russian Hill Bookstore will probably have it. They also have pretty wrapping paper, small gifts, a slew of Moleskine journals, and other fun trinkets.

They will sometimes set you back upwards of $5, but believe me-- for a real, handmade card, $5 is well worth it. (At least to me.)

As for the books... I'll have to save that for a future review.

I moved to the city a few months ago. We signed up to turn on gas and electric, and the woman on the phone was pretty nice and said everything should work fine. I got to our new place, and sure enough, gas and electric were working. Great.

We were receiving bills and glancing at them, and paying them without thinking much of it. (Not having AC or Heat really reduces your bills versus our old home!). Soon, we got a bill mid-cycle that was triple our original bill. It looked like it was a separate bill, solely for electricity for the last three months.

I called and spoke with R. She was curt and asked, "so you're telling me, you saw that you weren't getting charged for electricity, and you didn't call us? Because I just want to get that straight." No, R, that's not what I'm saying at all.  All I wanted to do was clarify that we didn't do something wrong with the hookup, and that if we paid this bill in full we would be in good standing. And to clarify that, going forward, we would get the bills on one statement. (Paying two checks to the same company each month is a huge waste of time and paper.)

"A bill states what you're getting charged for. It has a breakdown of everything that you need to pay," R stated.  I replied (rudely, I'll admit, to match her tone), "I know what a bill is, thank you." She was implying that it was my fault for receiving this bill, not PG&E's fault for sending it out three months late.

Anyway, since it was their mistake, they just sent us a bill. I gave 2 stars (instead of 1) because they did not charge late fees, and they have a callback service so theoretically, you don't have to wait on hold over the phone. I did not give additional stars because, well, "Meh. I've (definitely) experienced better." I could have done without the attitude, the time on the phone (they called back with the service and I still ended up waiting on the phone), and the extra paperwork.

And I definitely could have done without getting slapped with a bill for three months all at once.

I came to Duckhorn with a large group of friends on a Sunday in June, and had an *amazing* experience. Fair warning, though-- I think we got pretty lucky that day.

We pulled in to see a beautiful house and massive parking lot with plenty of spaces available for our two cars. We arrived with a group of seven, a relatively big group for a tasting. We were told we all had to choose the same tasting, but since we were all poor recent grads, we stuck to the smallest one (~$21 for 5 or 6 wines, if I remember correctly). Easy. To complicate matters, we had two additional people arriving about 10 minutes later. "No problem, we'll bring them right out to your table. Also, a big table just opened up on the patio-- would you like to sit outside?"

We happened to be there on quite possibly one of the most beautiful days I've seen yet. We were seated outside, and the server poured us a glass while we waited for our two other friends to arrive. "I'll just pour a different glass when they get here," she said with a smile. We couldn't get enough of the rosemary almonds, so she told us the (very easy) recipe for making them at home.

When our friends did arrive, service continued to be great, and we had plenty of wine to drink (all very tasty) to compliment the beautiful day. Each wine was presented with a coaster explaining its background, which you could take home to help remember the wines you liked, and the staff was around to answer any questions. Several couples dotted the edges of the patio (I fully expected at least one of them to get engaged), each at their own spacious table. The patio overlooked the vineyard, and the big chairs and calm setting made us feel relaxed and un-rushed. After we finished tasting, we wandered around the vines and the garden, enjoying the weather and warm sun.

The staff was pleasant and efficient, and we felt like we were treated like royalty. What a wonderful afternoon treat. I will be back.

Pretty much everything about Fifth Floor made me happy, happy, happy.

We were meeting a few people downtown for dinner (a party of eight in total). We stepped off the elevator, and noticed a strange plastic covering over the entrance to the restaurant.

"Good evening, are you joining us for dinner tonight?" A host approached us, he had been waiting at the elevator for customers to arrive, to direct us around the temporary renovation of their front lobby. After giving him our name, he (from memory) said "of course, welcome! Dinner for eight. We have your table ready, but the other members in your party are running late. Would you like to wait in the bar or at the table?"

Happy #1: Polite, efficient staff that don't give you even a smidgen of attitude, and give you options while you're waiting.

We chose the bar. We pulled up three seats, and a very nice bartender handed us menus and promptly brought us glasses of water while we decided on beverages. Happy #2: Water upon sitting down at a bar!

The cocktail list looked delicious. I knew we'd have wine with dinner, so I asked the bartender for her thoughts on a good cocktail. She gave me a few options and I chose their tequila-based signature cocktail. (Almost like a margarita, but much less sweet.) The other two ordered two beers. Happy #3: Good cocktails, nice bartenders, still no attitude.

Clearly, I could write a short story on this place, because we haven't even sat down for dinner and the review is getting a bit long.

Happy #4: once our party arrived, we were seated immediately-- no waiting around. A party of eight can be a big burden on a small restaurant-- but no problem here. We felt like we had a wing to ourselves and weren't in anyone's way.

Happy #5: great service. Nice staff. Helpful recommendations. If they didn't know the answer to a question, perhaps about wine, they would grab the sommelier, for example. (Wine list was half-off, by the way-- as a result, we enjoyed an amazing couple of wines with dinner.)

The bread basket curbed my appetite, but I wish I hadn't wasted the space in my stomach on the bread. We had a tasty little amuse-bouche (compliments of the kitchen) of shrimp (with ginger, I believe). The summer squash tortellini were fresh as an appetizer. And the seared scallops... make sure they come out and dress your dish with the sauce vierge, as stated in the menu. (They almost forgot mine!) Tasty, tasty, tasty.

Happy #6: the doughnuts on the dessert menu. They were unpretentious, light, fluffy, and just barely tossed in some sort of delicious citrus glaze. Served with Guinness ice cream (which, to be honest, didn't taste much like Guinness), the hefty portion was a great ending to a very tasty meal. I could have split it with a friend.

And finally, Happy #7: the two platters of bite-sized desserts that they brought out at the very end, like a parting gift. Mini eclairs, chocolate chip cookies, meringues, and other colorful treats.

This would be a *great* place for a celebration dinner, fancy date night, business meeting, or other big occasion. Easy, fun, delicious, and not too pretentious (but expensive and high quality). NB: people were dressed in all sorts of attire, from suits to gym clothes. (I might not recommend the gym clothes, but they apparently won't kick you out.)

Do you like ginger? If so, I have three words for you: house-made ginger ale.

I needed to choose a nicer restaurant on Polk street, as a family friend wanted to take us out to dinner Sunday night. I had heard good things about Street so we ventured there. The four of us walked in around 7pm and seated ourselves at a table right near the front of the restaurant. Nice and dark inside-- just how I like it when I'm tired from a long weekend.

Our waitress couldn't have been nicer. You could tell she just wanted to share in the excitement of the tasty food. As promised, I ordered the house-made ginger ale. We all ordered entrees (I got the pappardelle and the man-friend got the steak) and then our friend ordered two appetizers for everyone to share.

The fritters were light and fluffy, perfectly done, with little morsels of sweet corn scattered inside. The ranch dressing they were served with wasn't life-changing, but it was a nice cool dressing for the hot fritters. I will probably go back to Street just for those fritters.

The hummus plate was lovely. Chunky, fresh hummus on a platter with a few pita slices, olives, and cherry tomatoes.

My pappardelle was great. I never order pasta at restaurants-- something about wanting to eat well-cooked meat when I can, because let's be honest, I'm no cook-- but I asked the waitress to recommend something light and tasty. This was the perfect rec! There was a good amount of pasta and fresh tomatoes. Not too heavy, definitely filling, and very fresh-tasting.

We were all beat so we didn't make room for dessert. Also good to note: Street does not have an espresso machine, so if you're craving an after-dinner pick-me-up, you'll have to settle for coffee.

A great, local place for an easy, tasty meal. Not the cheapest joint in town, but I would say worth it. (Especially when someone else is paying.) I hear the drinks are outstanding, so take note that I'll be back. And that ginger ale... you have to try their ginger ale.

Wednesday night rolled around, and a girlfriend and I wanted to grab a drink to relax. We both had recently walked by Bacchus, and surprised by it's tiny size and therefore inherent cute factor, we decided to check it out.

We arrived to find the bartender (perhaps owner?) chatting with two gentlemen at the bar. We took two seats at the bar as well, and were handed a wine menu. With my wine knowledge being as limited as it is, I decided not to even venture in to the wine list, which looked massive. I told the bartender that I wanted to try a glass of sake instead.

After throwing out a sentence about what I liked in sake, he suggested a sake with a cantaloupe finish to it. "Would you like to try a sample?" Yes please! It was fruity and refreshing-- so we ordered two glasses and spent the next hour chatting before we paid and walked home.

This seems like a very mellow place for locals to stop by and have a drink together, as long as its not crowded. The art on the walls was beautiful (but sadly, too pricey for my budget). I would hesitate to recommend this place to non-locals, however, because it could fill up in a heart beat., and thus might not be worth the trek. (I think there were perhaps 7 seats at the bar, and two couches in the front of the room?)

I will be back!

Pacific Nails is about two blocks away from my place, so I had to check it out to see if I had a go-to place for salon services. I agree that some of the tools are a little bit sketchy (is re-purposed cardboard really a good way to cover something that is meant to be sanitary?), but as with most of the other reviews here, I agree that Jane was great and the service was, too. Thorough and efficient.

I called ahead, they wrote down my name, I stepped through the door ten minutes later, and I stepped outside fifteen minutes after that. A little sore, but nothing that a couple of Advil won't fix!

I paid for the service on my credit card, but the tip in cash-- that's what they prefer (even if Jane was too polite to say it).