John "JohnBot" W.'s Profile

Mediterranean Cuisine

I will remember a great meal at this great restaurant that I had gone to on my wedding night.  I celebrated my wedding day with my family and close friends here and it was one of the most enjoyable meals I've had in a while.

We had started out with the appetizer, and ordered the sampler which contained 9 different types of 'meze'.  It was very interesting, with a mixture of hummus, eggplant, grape leaves, etc.  Each item was very good and very fresh.  Nothing to complain about.  As for entrees, I had ordered the marinated lamb tenderloin.  Other guests had the braised beef short ribs, the lamb steak and the mixed grill platter.  My lamb was cooked perfectly.  There wasn't any game-y type taste that you normally get when you eat lamb meat, and it was marinated very well and it was very tender.  Very good.  I had tried a little of some of my other guests meals they were just as good.  The braised beef had a good flavor to it, and was very ample in size.  The mixed grill came with lamb tenderloin, lamb chops, chicken 'adana'.  The chicken 'adana' had an interesting flavor with a nice spicy kick to it.  I liked the flavor and the taste of it.

All the guests enjoyed what they had ordered and the service was very good.  I would definitely recommend this restaurant and would come here again, great food all around.

Spanish Cuisine, Tapas.

A friend of mine pays me with food when I prepare his taxes yearly.  As payment for prepping his taxes last year, he took me to a restaurant that him and his wife enjoyed.

Once you go in, you notice the atmosphere of the place, really nice and elegantly designed.  However, it can get a bit noisy when it is busy, which I think is a bit annoying when you are trying to carry on a conversation.  

So what's the verdict?  The food here is decent.  I expected more I guess.  We had ordered two entrees (skirt steak and paella) and then several tapas dishes.  The entrees were good.  The skirt steak was probably the best I've had from the many restaurants I've eaten at.  It was cooked very well. I enjoyed it.  The paella didn't stand out all that much.  It tasted about the same as the many I've had in my lifetime.  Standard domestic paella, which is what I can call it.  As for the tapas, it was decent.  I've had better tapas at other places, and the tapas wasn't really all that special to me.  Granted it is more traditional tapas, but I felt that they could have been more experimental with some of them because I felt the flavors just were not there on some of the dishes, and then some just felt very plain and underprepared.

Overall it was a decent meal, but I would not frequent the restaurant again.

Italian Cuisine

What should I say about this place?  You pay for what you get.  Probably you overpay for what you get.  Granted, if you are visiting from out of town and you are looking for some affordable food choices, then this is the place for you regardless of taste and enjoyability.

I had ordered the chicken marsala dish with pasta, and it did not taste nor look like a chicken marsala that I am used to.  There wasn't really any flavor to it.  The pasta that it came with was very buttery, granted that is what the menu described it as, but it was more buttery than I expected it to be.  The guests I had eaten with felt their meals were just 'ok' and nothing special, but they would definitely not come back here for food.

Not a place I would come back to.

Asian Fusion Cuisine

What we have here is Asian Fusion food at a great price.  Some of a rarity in the downtown area of San Diego.  I've ordered the sweet and sour chicken and the Korean BBQ Philly sandwich off the menu.  Both items were done very well.  My friends have tried other menu items and they all liked it.  The eggroll shell orders are really interesting and very big for a meal, but great tasting.  

It's really hard to find good asian food, but this is a place to frequent for some.  Good tasting food and great value.

Seafood

There aren't really any good and affordable seafood restaurants in Gaslamp.  Especially when you are there on vacation and spending alot of money on other things.  This is one of the spots that provides you with great seafood at really good prices.  If only everything wasn't fried, with the exception of a few fish tacos, I would have eaten here all the time.

The seafood here is fresh and tasty.  You can taste it in every morsel and every bite.  I've had the fried fish platters, the fish tacos, the calamari and the fried oysters.  Everything is cooked well and just right.  I don't think there is anything on the menu that I could not recommend to anyone.  Did I mention that I loved fried oysters?  The oysters are pretty large here and are cooked perfectly.

Great value and great tasting food.  Definitely a must eat again when I'm in San Diego.

Cupcakes

Coming from New York City, I'm not a stranger to cupcakes.  I know I'm exaggerrating but cupcake shops are like Starbucks, one on every corner.  Everyone tries to outdo the other and make the best cupcake possible.  Strangely enough, I found a place not in NYC that makes great tasting cupcakes!

Being in San Diego from my 3rd trip for Comic-Con, I had trekked over here after seeing people advertise about the shop.  Upon entering the shop, it's nicely laid out with a board that contains all their cupcake flavors.  They mark out which cupcakes are available at that time and you choose which ones you want.  I had the carrot, coconut, lemon coconut, red velvet, peanut butter and strawberry cupcakes.  They all were very good.  The cake was not too soft and not to hard, a good balance.  I'm not a fan of really sweet icing (Magnolia in NYC) and their icing was just right, perfect if I must say.

I do miss the cupcakes here, and if I go back to San Diego, I'm having them again!

Korean Cuisine

A restaurant mixed in with several restaurants along this strip of Northern Blvd.  This place offers some different cuisine that most places I have gone to does not serve.  A menu featuring soups and 'healthy' Korean foods, this place is a great place to change it up a little.

I came here with several friends after hearing them rave about the special herbal chicken they served here.  They had ordered the herbal chicken, an herbal soup and several other dishes like bibimbap.  The chicken was cooked very well.  It wasn't anything special, as I didn't taste anything different from a traditional boiled chicken.  However, the soup that was ordered was very light and refreshing.  Something you would never see in a traditional Korean BBQ place.  Everything else that we ordered was on par with most Korean restaurants, so it's nothing to rave about.

A simple restaurant serving good food.  If you want to change it up a little from your normal Korean food spots, definitely come here to try it out.

Korean BBQ

A warning before you come here.  If you don't like grungy, almost hole in the wall type restaurants and you feel like you need to hand sanitize everything around you, this is definitely not the restaurant for you.

Located around the Murray Hill LIRR train station, is this gem of a place.  Offering great late night eats at great prices.  There are ample amounts of food on the menu, and alot to choose from that you aren't sure what you want to eat.  I've ordered some meats and mainly seafood BBQ orders when I've come here.  The meat is standard for most BBQ places.  The seafood is very fresh and they give you a good amount.  Good food at a good price and a fun atmosphere.

Parking is a little of a hassle as the neighborhood is a little cramped and alot of people come down to eat or go to the bars in the area.  So there are always cars on the small streets looking for parking.

Korean Cuisine/Bar Food

Upon hearing about this place from a friend of mine I had decided to trek here to try what he called were the most interesting and tasty chicken wings he had had - gyoza wings.  Which were fried chicken wings stuff with 'surprise' ingredients inside.  Well it isn't really a surprise, but it varies from corn, veggies, shrimp, rice and kimchi.

So how is this place?  I really enjoyed it.  It's on my list of one of my favorite places to have Korean fried chicken.  Their menu is quite ample, there are many items to choose from, other than their fried chicken.  I've ordered the spicy rice cakes and the korean fried rice.  Both items are very good.  I've had their grilled chicken and spicy fried chicken and both tasted great, however I preferred the fried version instead.  The spicy isn't overly spicy like Kyochon, but it has a good kick to it.  Of course the gyoza wings are great!  They are all of the wingtip section of the wing and even though they are small wings, they are stuffed well with ingredients.

The prices here are a little on the high end, but the gyoza wings are worth the price of $15 for an order. The lighting is a little dark in the place because of the bar atmosphere, and sometimes it can be a little hot inside, but overall it's a great experience.  A hidden gem, so to say, as it is 'off the beaten path' of downtown Flushing.

Korean BBQ

Sure most people eat around 6pm, but if everything is close, where are you going to go?  Looking for late night Korean BBQ in the vicinity of downtown Flushing without having to travel too far?  This is one of the best places for it when you are craving it.  

I've come here several times and usually order most of the same foods.  The BBQ meats are done well.  Usually we order the beef ribs, but on occasion have ordered the pork and the chicken.  I prefer the beef more, as when you get the marinated meats, they prefer you to grill the meats on a hot plate versus the traditional grill.  If you don't like to order the BBQ meats, then I don't know what you are doing here (kidding).  But you can always order other dishes they have here.  The jap chae is pretty good.  Standard taste for most Korean restaurants.  The spicy rice cake with squid is very good.  Cooked very well and if you like squid, there is plenty of it!

With every order you have, just like most Korean restaurants, you are treated to an ample amount of mini appetizers that range from marinated radish, bean sprouts and kimchi.  However, for here, you get a steamed egg dish and a soup to go along with your meal.  On several occasions we have gotten an extra seafood pancake or dumplings with our meal too.

Overall a nice small spot, compared to other Korean BBQ places.  Semi-busy at times, but never too crazy packed that you can enjoy your meal on your own time.  I feel the prices aren't so bad compared to other spots.  Good atmosphere and great service!