Sep 14

OBO’ Italian Table & Bar

3145 Folsom Blvd

Sacramento, CA 95816

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

A new eatery from the Selland family of Sacramento appeared in East Sacramento called OBO’ Italian Table and Bar. As you enter the restaurant, you have the option to purchase deli items from the case, order dessert, order drinks, or order food. Various staff wait in the menu board area waiting to take food orders. We reviewed the menu on the wall and on paper before approaching the staff to place our order.

Today, we decided to order the salumi pizza, tagliatelle poached egg pasta, and espresso tiramisu. After placing our order, we were given a number to take to the cashier to pay. We requested for a rosemary lemonade and the espresso tiramisu at the register. After paying, we were given the lemonade and tiramisu and the number card with a stand to take to your own table. The restaurant was quite packed, so we ended up sitting outside at an available table. While waiting for our food, we decided to eat dessert first. The espresso tiramisu was amazing. Layers of light sweetness with creamy coffee taste and pieces of bread went together perfectly. The small jar holding the delicious dessert was quite creative and served as the perfect vessel for the tiramisu. Soon, our pasta and pizza arrived. The fresh pasta came in a small dish with extremely thinly sliced crispy prosciutto and poached egg. The pasta tasted fresh and light. The prosciutto tasted good, but we wished there was more of it in the dish. The poached egg went well with the pasta by providing a different form of texture, but the dish as a whole tasted quite bland even with the lemon butter. The salumi pizza had ample amounts of ham and salami, but I feel the tapenade threw off the flavor of the pizza. The bottom of the crust was burnt in several places, and caused a few areas of the pizza to taste quite charred. The rosemary lemonade was extremely sour and reduced the flavor of the rosemary.

Overall, Obo serves up some reasonably priced Italian food, but we must have ordered dishes that were less appetizing for our palates. Service was quite good from ordering, to paying, to receiving our food. Since there were quite a few other things we wanted to try on the menu and having tasted some delicious dessert, we do plan on revisiting Obo in the future. If you like Italian food, then you should give Obo a try.

Sep 11

Yue Huang

3860 Truxel Rd

Sacramento, CA 95834

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Located at the former site of Johnny Carino’s in Natomas, Yue Huang brings higher class Chinese cuisine to Natomas. As you enter the restaurant, a large glass display case appears to your right filled with various bottles of wines and pieces of porcelain. We opted to visit the restaurant for dinner as it would be quite unlikely to drive up to Natomas for dim sum. A hostess quickly seated us at a table, provided us with menus, and took our drink order. While reviewing the menu, another server came by to take our drink order, but we let her know that we already placed the order. The menu is of high quality and comes with many color pictures. Our complimentary tea and ice water arrived and the server took our order.

Today, we decided to order the honey walnut prawns, Yangzhou fried rice, chicken chow mein, rainbow chicken, and empress chicken. The honey walnut prawns arrived first and tasted quite savory, but not that sweet. The walnuts also lacked the sweetness normally present in this dish. The pawns themselves were quite large and tasted fresh. The chicken chow mein came with ample amounts of chicken, but was quite oily and lacked much flavor. The Yangzhou fried rice came with nice fresh shrimp, but the BBQ pork was quite stale. The rainbow chicken looked really good and tasted quite spicy, but the dish was extremely savory and salty. The empress chicken tasted OK, but the skin was extremely salty and the rest of the chicken tasted quite bland.

Overall, Yue Huang comes across as a high-class restaurant, but the food quality really falls short for the prices charged. The best deal of the meal was the grand opening special for $10 for a whole empress chicken. The rest of the meal did not seem like a good value. Service was hit or miss because staff did check on us, but a server forgot about us after they packed up the leftovers. If you are looking for a nice Chinese restaurant to dine in Natomas, then Yue Huang may fit the bill, but the quality of food makes this an unfavorable option. If I happened to be in Natomas in the morning, I may come try their dim sum, but I would not come back for dinner.

Sep 07

California Kabob Restaurant

9677 Folsom Blvd

Sacramento, CA 95827

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Located in an eclectic strip mall in Rancho Cordova, California Kabob serves up various Mediterranean dishes from a simple menu with different meat combinations. As you enter the restaurant, you can review the menu and order at the counter to your left. The restaurant has a strong indescribable aroma inside, so I went outside after ordering and opted for outdoor seating.

Today, I decided to order the chicken, beef, and lamb combo. The meal came with two pieces of chicken, two pieces of lamb, and a long piece of beef sausage. The chicken was a bit dry, but was seasoned well. The lamb was quite tough and tasted a bit burnt. The beef was tender and flavorful, but was a bit salty. There was almost enough rice to go with all the meat, but the accompanying salad was not very appetizing. The salad dressing was very tart and not appetizing. There were even pieces of lemon rind, which was a bit odd.

Overall, California Kabob serves up a variety of different meals, but I was not impressed with the taste of the food and the meal seemed overpriced at $14 for limited pieces of meat. You can probably get better quality rice plates at other kabob restaurants. If you are in the area and want to eat kabob, then California Kabob will do the job, but you may want to look elsewhere.

Sep 04

Pegasus Bakery & Cafe

6825 Stockton Blvd #265

Sacramento, CA 95823

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Located in the same plaza as Asian Pearl Restaurant, Pegasus Bakery & Cafe serves up various self-serve bakery items along with crepes and cakes. Having been drawn in to the store after seeing the sign for hot egg tarts, we decided to take a look at what was available. Other than the egg tarts, we decided to try out one of their dessert crepes with banana and vanilla ice cream. The bananas were sweet and went well with the delicious vanilla ice cream. The crepe was a great vessel for the ice cream and bananas, but I wish the crepe was crispier because it got quite soggy. There were two types of egg tarts available, regular and puff pastry. I decided to order some of both to give them a try. The regular version consisted of a thin cake crust, but the crust did not hold up well and broke apart easily. The custard filling was lightly sweetened and not dense at all. The custard held up well and did not become watery. The puff pastry version was much better because the crust was thick and did not fall apart like the regular version. Unfortunately, I did not get to try the egg tarts fresh, so I will need to return to enjoy them while they are warm. Overall, Pegasus offers a variety of bakery and cafe items at reasonable prices and is worth a try if you wanted something other than a traditional bakery.

Aug 31

Gong Cha

6825 Stockton Blvd #230

Sacramento, CA 95823

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

In an effort to avoid the grand opening rush, we decided now to finally try Gong Cha located near Asian Pearl Restaurant near 65th Expressway and Stockton Boulevard. Like many other popular tea houses today, Gong Cha serves up various flavors of drinks with options for size, sweetness, ice level, and toppings. Today, we decided to order the oolong milk tea and mango green tea. The oolong milk tea tasted quite mild but not too milky. The flavor tastes similar to T4U’s milk tea, but did not seem as flavorful as T4U’s roasted oolong milk tea. The mango green tea came with small bits of mango, which was tasty, but once the ice melted, the drink was getting a bit bitter. Before the ice melted, the mango green tea did taste very refreshing. Given a choice, I would probably go to T4U instead of Gong Cha, but if I was in the area and was looking for tea, I would definitely give Gong Cha a shot again.

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