Dec 07

Umai Savory Hot Dogs

3620 N Freeway Blvd #310

Sacramento, CA 95834

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Located in multiple locations in the Sacramento area and growing, Umai Savory Hot Dogs serves up creative hot dog concoctions in innovative ways. With so many different types to choose from, we decided to give them a try, especially since there was a $12 for $20 Groupon available.

To put it bluntly, we had a horrible experience. The worst. We placed our order at 6:45 pm on 12/2/16. We waited 30 minutes since the orders seemed to be coming out slow, and we still didn’t receive any food. People who arrived after us already received food. We ended up being the only people there without food. When I asked what happened, they said the check didn’t print in the kitchen, which is unacceptable since servers continuously came out to bring people food. The servers seem to have memorized who ordered what because they seldom call out numbers, so they should have recognized that we received no food. We were already hungry and were not willing to wait. We received a refund of the credit card difference, but we also wanted a refund of the Groupon purchase because we did not intend to return. Unfortunately, the staff there, nor the manager whom I called could get me that refund. I ended up requesting the refund directly from Groupon, which went through just fine.

Overall, I do not recommend this restaurant. Service was slow overall, and this fiasco costed them a customer. Some other customers who did receive food were missing parts of their order and waited just as long as we did. Great job Umai for being my first 0 star review!

Nov 30

Gen Korean BBQ House – Milpitas, CA

500 Barber Ln

Milpitas, CA 95035

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Gen finally opens a second location in Milpitas after a very successful opening in San Jose. Long wait times and horrible parking plagued the San Jose location, so this location will hopefully alleviate the pressure for Gen visitors. Unfortunately, the parking situation in the Milpitas parking lot is just as bad since there are so many restaurants and shops sharing the same lot. After finally finding a parking space, the wait continues as we put my name down on the 1.75 to 2.25 hour wait list. And so we waited, and waited, watching group after group get seated. We were finally seated after 2.25 hours at the bar since that was available first. A server soon came by to take our drink order and bring over the salad. The server seemed a bit frazzled, running back and forth taking care of the bar customers.

Like the San Jose location, Gen has two different service options depending on the day of the week and time of day. There are 37 different items to choose from during dinner and weekends at $24.99 per person. The side dishes were pretty underwhelming and the salad was quite bitter. Today, we decided to order the premium brisket, premium steak, beef bulgogi, pork belly, Hawaiian steak, miso pork belly, Cajun shrimp, and japchae. After getting all settled in, the server did do a good job in checking in and taking our refill orders. The brisket tasted fresh and delicious, going well with the provided dipping sauces. The brisket tasted so good that we ordered it three more times during the meal with each time tasting just as delicious and tender. The premium steak was quite sizable and took a bit longer to cook. After cooking both sides for a few minutes, I used the scissors to slice it into strips. The steak was a bit fatty on one side, but it was tender and juicy. The beef bulgogi was seasoned well with bulgogi sauce, but the meat was hard to separate on the grill. The pork belly was thin enough to cook through on both sides in a reasonable amount of time. I also sliced the pork belly with the scissors to make each piece bite-sized. The meat was juicy and tasted even better when dipped into the sauces. The Hawaiian steak had some pineapple flavors, but tasted more like bulgogi again. The miso pork belly was the most disappointing because it was very thick, so it was hard to cook though. The seasoning was also extremely salty to the point of being inedible. The Cajun shrimp was tasty, but peeling the shells was quite time-consuming. The japchae tasted mostly like soy sauce and did not have any flavor nor enough sesame oil.

Overall, Gen Korean BBQ House does serve up a wide array of dishes at a very reasonable price. The parking situation and long wait times are extremely discouraging, just like at the San Jose location. The restaurant’s blaring music and club-like lightning may deter some as it is hard to have a conversation with how loud the restaurant was while cooking. Service started out slow but got drastically better as the meal went by. By the end of the meal, we ordered meat four times, with a maximum of four items per order. If you want excellent Korean BBQ in the San Jose area, I would definitely recommend Gen. If you want to avoid some of the wait time, just go as early as possible. Since there are two locations now, you may also want to call both locations to see what their wait times are and go to the one with the shorter time. If you want to eat during dinner on a weekend or holiday, prepare to suffer.

Nov 27

JP Thai Kitchen

6004 Freeport Blvd

Sacramento, CA 95822

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Located in the former home of Erawan Thai Restaurant, JP Thai Kitchen re-brands the former restaurant with what seems to be new owners and a new name. The common Thai menu items are available here in varying degrees of spiciness.

Today, I decided to order the yellow curry with chicken and brown rice. I had ordered the dish at a medium spice level. There was an ample amount of chicken in the dish swimming in the spicy curry. JP definitely gets the spice right because medium was actually pretty hot. The current went well with the small dish of brown rice. The potatoes were cooked properly and had some firmness. The curry was sweet and savory. Due to the spiciness, i could not drench my rice with the curry as much as I would have at other restaurants.

Overall, JP Thai Kitchen serves up decent tasting Thai food at moderate prices. Service was pretty good since water refills were taken care of. If you like Thai food and are in the area, then you can’t go wrong with JP Thai Kitchen, but just know that they are very accurate with their spice levels.

Nov 23

Giant Orange

1407 Howe Ave

Sacramento, CA 95825

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

If you were looking for a burger joint, you would not normally think of Giant Orange as a go-to place based on the name alone, but Giant Orange does just that. Tucked away on Howe Avenue, Giant Orange serves up burgers in a diner environment with a great menu selection. As we entered the restaurant, a server quickly seated us at a booth and provided menus. There were plenty of interesting choices on the menu, but we were able to quickly pick what we wanted when the server came by.

Today, we decided to order the Big Mock with regular fries and the Go Chuck Yourself! with garlic fries. The Big Mock tasted good and contained a sauce that was very similar to the McDonalds counterpart, but you don’t get a middle bun. Other than the sauce, the burger tasted pretty standard yet tasty. The Go Chuck Yourself! was massive and stacked with three beef patties and cheese slices.  I had ordered the burger medium, but the patties came closer to well done. With that said, the beef was still juicy and the cheese was melting all over. I had trouble eating the burger due to its sheer size, but I managed to finish it just fine. All of the fries seemed like they were cut and cooked fresh. The regular fries tasted delicious with ketchup, and the garlic fries tasted just as good with ranch.

Overall, Giant Orange serves up some tasty burgers and fries at reasonable prices. The burger patties are huge and juicy, which go well with the fluffy buns. Service has been great until it was time to pay due to a large party that arrived. If you are in the mood for a burger and don’t want fast food, you should definitely give Giant Orange a try if you are in the Arden area.

Nov 20

Journey to the Dumpling

7419 Laguna Blvd #180

Elk Grove, CA 95758

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

A new entrant to the Elk Grove restaurant scene, and one of the only restaurants in Sacramento County serving up prized pork soup dumplings, Journey to the Dumpling brings in a lot of hype and curiosity to the busy Target shopping plaza causing wait times exceeding an hour. Having attempted to eat here a couple times already and leaving due to long wait times, we decided to come around opening time to avoid the rush. Luckily, we arrived around 15 minutes after opening and managed to score one of the last two tables before filling up. As we entered the modern restaurant, a hostess quickly seated us at a booth and provided us with menus. After reviewing the menu for a few minutes, we knew what we wanted, but a server never came by. Eventually, a server came by to take our drink and food orders.

Today, we decided to order the pork Xiao Long Bao, pork potstickers, wonton with chili oil, and tan tan mein. Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) come from Shanghainese and Taiwanese cuisines and were made famous due to the worldwide Taiwanese chain, Din Tai Fung. Since the closest Din Tai Fung is in San Jose with their own long wait times and reservation system, it has been hard to find good Xiao Long Bao in the Sacramento area. Luckily, the pork Xiao Long Bao at Journey to the Dumpling do very well by providing an ample amount of savory broth in each dumpling with an adequate amount of meat inside. The wrapper was a bit thick at the top, but the overall wrapper was not too thick. The pork potstickers were flavorful, especially when dipped into the provided sauce, but the potstickers themselves were quite small. The wonton with chili oil was a good value, but the sauce was not spicy enough. The wontons themselves were also very small. The tan tan mein had very soft noodles with good texture, but there really was not any flavor in the broth and meat. The servers did mess up and bring a journey noodle soup with large thick noodles on accident, but we were able to keep it for free since she said it was tan tan mein. This soup was like a combination between minestrone with hot and sour soup. The noodles were fresh and tasty. The meat varied in fattiness, but there was enough meat for the noodles.

Overall, Journey to the Dumpling did very well for the pork Xiao Long Bao, but some of their other dishes were disappointing. I would say it is worth coming here for the Xiao Long Bao, but I would not wait an hour. I would want to give this place a try again to taste other menu items and possibly new dumplings that have not hit the menu yet. Service was mediocre until the server messed up, but all of this is expected in a new restaurant. If you want to try Shanghainese or Taiwanese cuisine, then you should definitely give Journey to the Dumpling a try, but just get there early if you are going on a weekend.

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