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Photo of Brian W.

Review votes:
112 Useful, 74 Funny, and 70 Cool

Location

Santa Clara, CA

Yelping Since

October 2006

Find Me In

jeans

When I'm Not Yelping...

working

Why You Should Read My Reviews

They're brief

My Second Favorite Website

http://www.sfgate.com

The Last Great Book I Read

Cryptonomicon

My Favorite Movie

Airplane

Current Crush

Lisa

Recent Reviews

257 Reviews

Filter by: Location   Category
1457 Beach Park Blvd
Foster City, CA 94404
(650) 212-5788

Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine  

Category: Thai

5 star rating
 Update - 12/11/2009 3 photos  
This is my current favorite Thai restaurant.  My favorite dish here is panang chicken curry, and order it THAI HOT!!  It's fantastic.  But I've tried much of the menu.  The food is consistently cooked perfectly and extremely flavorful, and the staff and owners are very nice.  There is a reason they are always packed!

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1 Previous Review: Hide »

  • 4 star rating
    6/30/2008

    Very nice little Thai restaurant!  Modern decor, good food, great presentation.  I would write more but I am very full and I am experiencing food coma.

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1886 S Norfolk St
San Mateo, CA 94403

Specialty's Cafe & Bakery  

Categories: Sandwiches, Coffee & Tea

4 star rating
 11/5/2009  
At a recent company function, I encountered the Wierdest Sandwich Ever.  It had peanut butter, apples, bananas, and cranberries.  It looked odd but I decided to try it.  I was glad I did.  It was fantastic.  I decided to look this place up and try the sandwich again, which I did today.  What a cool place, I would definitely come back.  I found out this sandwich's true name which is "Peanut Butter & Stuff"

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1240 S Walnut St
Anaheim, CA 92802
(877) 228-7143

Holiday Inn  

Category: Hotels

4 star rating
 Update - 11/5/2009 1 photo  
If you are reading this, then you are probably planning a trip to Disneyland.  You will find the reviews of hotels in Anaheim (on all sites) fall into two categories:

(1) Families traveling to Anaheim and looking forward to fun at Disneyland.  They liked their room well enough because they weren't there during the day and they just need a place to sleep.

(2) Business travellers who CAN'T BELIEVE their AWFUL luck at being SURROUNDED by all these HAPPY PEOPLE.  They would have loved their hotel if it was located anywhere but Anaheim.

Just ignore all the reviews from people in the second category and you'll be fine.

We got this hotel for only $75 over Labor Day Weekend.  Reading some of the other reviews for this place, I expected a flashback to the 1970's and I wasn't looking forward to getting up every morning and driving to Disneyland.  

I'm not sure why I didn't check the satellite view of the hotel's location.  It is RIGHT NEXT TO the Mickey and Friends parking structure.  This can be both good and bad.

It is good because you can walk to the trams in the morning with no problem.  Just a short walk around the sound wall and through the parking lot.  It's a nice morning walk.  Stress-free.  No problem.

It's HONK bad HONK at night HONK when fireworks HONK set off the HONK car alarms HONK and when HONK people are HONK trying to leave HONK for the day HONK and beeping HONK at each other and somebody's HONK car alarm HONK is going off for HONK some random HONK reason.  But you can always close your window and turn on the A/C.

The hotel is a little dated, but not in any ways that really matter.  In fact some of them are quite cool (a "saloon" with a tiki bar? )

Now for the actual room.  I was very impressed!  It looked like it was renovated in the last year or two.  Nice decorations, furniture, and beds.  VERY CLEAN, a welcome change compared to the Hilton.  

A few LITTLE problems.  There was a coffee pot, and there was coffee.  But it was decaf only.  They didn't bring any regular coffee on subsequent days.  The other thing is we seemed to have fewer towels each day.  We started off with a good supply.

So, overall a GREAT value and we would consider staying here again.

Update 11/5/2009:  We stayed here again and it was great.  The lobby is up to date now, it is ULTRAMODERN, chic, suave.  The tiki saloon is gone.

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  • 4 star rating
    9/17/2008

    If you are reading this, then you are probably planning a trip to Disneyland.  You will find the reviews of hotels in Anaheim (on all sites) fall into two categories:

    (1) Families traveling to Anaheim and looking forward to fun at Disneyland.  They liked their room well enough because they weren't there during the day and they just need a place to sleep.

    (2) Business travellers who CAN'T BELIEVE their AWFUL luck at being SURROUNDED by all these HAPPY PEOPLE.  They would have loved their hotel if it was located anywhere but Anaheim.

    Just ignore all the reviews from people in the second category and you'll be fine.

    We got this hotel for only $75 over Labor Day Weekend.  Reading some of the other reviews for this place, I expected a flashback to the 1970's and I wasn't looking forward to getting up every morning and driving to Disneyland.  

    I'm not sure why I didn't check the satellite view of the hotel's location.  It is RIGHT NEXT TO the Mickey and Friends parking structure.  This can be both good and bad.

    It is good because you can walk to the trams in the morning with no problem.  Just a short walk around the sound wall and through the parking lot.  It's a nice morning walk.  Stress-free.  No problem.

    It's HONK bad HONK at night HONK when fireworks HONK set off the HONK car alarms HONK and when HONK people are HONK trying to leave HONK for the day HONK and beeping HONK at each other and somebody's HONK car alarm HONK is going off for HONK some random HONK reason.  But you can always close your window and turn on the A/C.

    The hotel is a little dated, but not in any ways that really matter.  In fact some of them are quite cool (a "saloon" with a tiki bar? )

    Now for the actual room.  I was very impressed!  It looked like it was renovated in the last year or two.  Nice decorations, furniture, and beds.  VERY CLEAN, a welcome change compared to the Hilton.  

    A few LITTLE problems.  There was a coffee pot, and there was coffee.  But it was decaf only.  They didn't bring any regular coffee on subsequent days.  The other thing is we seemed to have fewer towels each day.  We started off with a good supply.

    So, overall a GREAT value and we would consider staying here again.

    Update 11/5/2009:  We stayed here again and it was great.  The lobby is up to date now, it is ULTRAMODERN, chic, suave.  The tiki saloon is gone.

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2946 S Norfolk Street
San Mateo, CA 94403
(650) 349-1688

Langkawi Malaysian Cuisine  

Category: Malaysian

4 star rating
 11/4/2009  
Tried this place for the first time yesterday for lunch.  We ordered a bunch of dishes and everything was delicious.  

I don't remember the actual names, so here are my made-up names:

* The Beef Dish with Curry Sauce that Starts with an R
* Green Or Maybe Yellow Chicken Curry
* Green Beans
* Some Dish Where You Had To Mix A Bunch Of Things Together And One Of Those Things Was Egg Whites
* Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce
* Egg Rolls Or Maybe Spring Rolls
* Fried Rice, But There was Brown Rice And White Rice On The Plate

If you like Thai food you will love this place!

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19930 Stevens Creek Blvd
Cupertino, CA 95015
(408) 996-9606

Arya Global Cuisine  

Categories: Italian, Middle Eastern, Persian/Iranian

4 star rating
 11/4/2009  
We dropped into Arya one night on a whim.  They asked us if we had reservations - Whoops!  They were able to seat us in a few minutes anyway.  If I had to describe Arya in one word it would be "Festive!"    It's impressively decorated inside, there's a huge menu with many items to try, and we experienced live jazz alternated with belly dancing.  The food and service were great, and we had a great time.  Recommended for a date night or a large party!

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69-201 Waikoloa Beach Dr
Waikoloa, HI 96738
(808) 886-0591

Charley's Thai Cuisine  

Category: Thai

4 star rating
 10/19/2009  
Generally, you shouldn't have high expectations for food on the Big Island.    One of the places that surprised and delighted us was Charley's Thai Cuisine in the Queen's Shops in Waikoloa.  My gold standard for Thai food (prior to 2009) was Krungthai (North Winchester) in San Jose.  The food here at Charley's was different in a couple of ways.  I am used to relatively dry pad thai.  The pad thai here was almost like a soup.  It was drenched in a red sauce.  Also the food here is HOT, even though we ordered it mild.  The most amazing dish here to me was the mussaman curry.  It was spectacular.  The beef was thin sliced instead of 1-inch cubes like I have had other places.  The Thai iced tea was good but on the small side, served in a tall skinny glass.       The waiter was good, but very busy.  They could use another couple of waiters.  One of the best food values that we found.

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1212 South Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 445-9388

Tasty Garden  

Category: Chinese

3 star rating
 10/13/2009  
We recently tried this place for the first time with a friend who lives down the street.  I had never been to a Hong Kong style cafe before.  I have nothing to compare it to!  There's a menu full of things that look interesting.  I had the club sandwich, which is a perfectly ordinary club sandwich with the addition of a fried egg patty!  It was good.  We also had the fried wontons ( shrimp and meat ).  They were cooked just right and the noodle was deliciously crispy.  I had a tapioca milk tea which was similar to Quickly / Tapioca Express but it was less sweet and definitely very strong - it helped me power my way through a 6 hour drive up I-5.

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580 N Winchester Blvd
San Jose, CA 95128
(408) 248-3435

New Krung Thai Restaurant  

Category: Thai

2 star rating
 Update - 8/21/2009  
I don't know what happened.  This place is not the same as it used to be.  The last two times we have been here the food has not been as good as it was the previous (almost 10) years.  But the location in Mountain View is very good.

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  • 5 star rating
    1/31/2007

    This is my favorite Thai restaurant.  The food is awesome.  Most of the complaints here are because  you don't know the Krung Thai Secret:   Get here before 7:00pm.  Otherwise, it's just too crowded.

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3941 Park Dr Ste 100
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
(530) 676-2222

Steve's Place Pizza Pasta & Grill  

Category: Pizza

4 star rating
 7/29/2009  
Good place to stop in for a quick bite when you are on your way back from Tahoe

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4130 Lake Tahoe Blvd
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
(530) 544-5400

Embassy Suites Hotel Lake Tahoe Resort  

Category: Hotels

4 star rating
 7/27/2009  
It's a great hotel but they do try to nickel and dime you.  For $250 a night (WTF...) I expected free Internet access.  They want $20 a day for the Internet access.  Or, $5 for 4 hours.  GHET-TO.  Even the fleabag motels down the street offer free Wi-Fi.

The valet parking is $25 a night, but you can park at Harrah's.  If you do, take your $25 savings and plunk it into one of their slot machines.  :-)

But...  Don't try to park on a Friday or Saturday night at Harrah's!  You will be circling for a loooooooong time and that valet parking will start to look pretty sweet.

Speaking of Friday night, it was quite loud on the Harrah's-facing side.  Around 3am a gentleman decided to air his grievances to the entire world at the top of his lungs.

The room was fantastic.  It was huge and well appointed and very clean.  I liked having 3 sinks.  

The breakfast was very nice also.  Other than waiting in a 10 minute line I had no complaints.  The guys making the omelettes were very friendly.

The location is UN-beatable.  It's in between the Heavenly gondola and shops, and Harrah's.

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Kristy M.

 

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Hasan D.

 

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24 Compliments

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    ...for writing this review! My boyfriend and I are going to be staying… More »

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    At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live… More »

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    Got this on my list of KBBQ spots to try!

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