Dec 31

Dragon Palace Chinese Restaurant

2300 Northgate Blvd

Sacramento, CA 95833

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

On this trip for lunch, my team ended up at Dragon Palace Chinese Restaurant in south Natomas. The restaurant offers a choice of the lunch buffet for $6.75 or ordering off the standard menu. We were immediately greeted upon entry by the smiling staff. There are some TVs around to keep you busy as well. The servers quickly took drink orders and continued to monitor drink levels for refills. They charge $1.50 for soda.

Upon review of the small buffet counter, I noticed that all of the food looked extremely fresh and I saw that new food was being produced as the trays were emptied. Some items in the trays included a basic salad, a fruit tray, 2 different types of soup, egg rolls, pot stickers, fried wontons, fried fish filet, broccoli beef, kung pao chicken, chicken chow mein, BBQ pork fried rice, chicken with beans, BBQ pork bun, and orange chicken. For $6.75, that was a excellent selection for the price. Upon trying the food, my visual expectations of the food were correct about the food being hot and fresh. Most of the dishes were a bit greasy, but tasted pretty good. One reason the food tasted good could be because of the possibly large amount of MSG in the food because I became constantly thirsty. It was a good thing the servers kept filling up the drinks.

Overall, Dragon Palace serves up a Chinese buffet with a great value in a clean location. If you are in the area and want some good Chinese food that is ready to eat, head over to Dragon Palace instead of Panda Express during lunch. The prices are great and the service is excellent. I would come back here if I could come during lunch.

Dec 24

John’s Incredible Pizza Co – Roseville

384 N Sunrise Ave
Roseville, CA 95661

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

In an attempt to try something completely different, we ended up at John’s Incredible Pizza Co in Roseville. With Groupon in hand, we were able to save some money on admission/buffet costs. Other than forcing you to buy food, John’s Incredible is like a Chuck E Cheeses on steroids. After paying, you can find seating in one of many eating rooms. Just outside the rooms, there are soda and Icee machines, buffet tables filled with pizza, some pasta, desserts, and various salads. As you go past the food and dining areas, you will find the arcade and some indoor carnival rides. You use a reloadable card to pay for arcade machines and rides. There were a ton of kids around during the weekend, so expect it to be crowded.

In terms of food, there was a fairly vast selection of pizzas available. There are even additional types of pizza available upon special request. Unfortunately, on the first refill trip, we found hair in one of the pizzas. Of all the pizza I ate, the pepperoni pizza tasted good and the sausage pizza tasted good. When I say good, I really mean acceptable since Little Caesar’s tastes a whole lot better in terms of sauce and crust. Since many people were grabbing pizza, the pizza tended to be fresh and continuously made. Other than pizza, there is not much other food. There some sad excuse of pasta available including marinara with spaghetti. I avoided the salad bar with all the kids running around. The desert area was worse than Hometown Buffet in terms of quality, and it was a bit messy.

Overall, you will find decent pizza with a kid-friendly environment at John’s Incredible Pizza Co. Don’t expect amazing food here, but it is edible. You will like bringing kids here who want more than Chuck E Cheeses but without the adult atmosphere of Dave and Busters. They do offer a VIP club that may save you money in the future if you come here often. The arcade seems to be in OK condition, but one of the DDR pads seemed to be a bit off. If you want a balance of food and fun for kids, then you have found the right place.

Dec 17

Taylors – Loomis

3636 Taylor Rd

Loomis, CA 95650

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

We decided to head up to Loomis to visit the very popular Taylors. This burger shack was very busy with the line going out the door. As you enter, you will find limited seating inside and outside. On the wall, you will find hundreds of milkshake flavors in addition to special flavors listed on the side. The staff was nice when you finally got to them, and ordering time was acceptable.

Today, we decided to order the double cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, garlic fries, Oreo banana shake, and tiramisu shake. The shakes were ready before the burgers. Both shakes were quite thick and hard to drink. You can definitely taste the banana flavor in the Oreo shake mixed in with the bits of cookie crumble. The tiramisu shake was not as flavorful, but you can make out the classic tiramisu flavor through the vanilla flavor. We were not really able to drink either shake until they melted a bit. The double cheeseburger tasted pretty good with two fresh beef patties. Other than the beef, the burger was pretty standard without anything special about it. The bacon cheeseburger was pretty similar, and the bacon was crispy. The garlic fries were a bit disappointing because there was not a lot of garlic and were quite greasy. You can taste the garlic, but it was pretty subtle.

Overall, Taylors seems to be a great place to try out a ton of milkshake flavors, but may not be the best place for the food items. If you are in the area, you should come try out the shakes, but just don’t expect to be able to drink them for a while. Prices were reasonable to reasonably high due to the location. Since Loomis seems so far out of the way, I don’t think I will come back anytime soon.

Dec 10

Ju Hachi – Part 2

1730 S St

Sacramento, CA 95814

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

With Groupon in hand, we decided to try out the sushi rolls at Ju Hachi. We were seated pretty quickly, but the rest of the service was not so smooth. The server took a while to bring the menus and water. Then, after reviewing the short menu, we had to wait a significant amount of time to just place the order. To top it off, it took even more time to get our order. We ordered 3 sushi rolls. It should not take 40 minutes to get our food when the restaurant was not even busy.

Today, we decided to order the Madona Roll, Sunrise Roll, and Tempura Roll. The size of the rolls were decent and plated well. Unfortunately, the rolls did not hold up well when picked up by chopsticks and started to break apart. All of the rolls tasted fresh in all aspects, but there was not a flavor. The rolls were bland and only tasted good when dipped into the wasabi soy sauce. The rolls tasted much better at Arigato and would be quite cheaper there too. Of the three rolls, the tempura toll tasted the best, but there was not that much of a flavor difference between the rolls.

Overall, given the opportunity to come back, I probably wouldn’t. The food here is expensive. With the horrid service and less than appealing prices and taste, there is little to like about this visit to Ju Hachi. If you want good tasting sushi at more appealing prices and better service, just head to Arigatos.

Dec 03

Spice Kitchen

1724 Broadway Blvd

Sacramento, CA 95818

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

With Groupon in hand, we decided to try out Spice Kitchen on Broadway. Considering there were not many customers, we received very good service. There is some parking in front of the restaurant and much more parking on the side of the restaurant.

Today, we decided to order the stuffed jalapenos, red tonkotsu ramen, and the 2-item bento box consisting of salmon teriyaki and mixed tempura. I liked how the stuffed jalapenos had a lot of tuna inside, and it tasted quite different than crab-stuffed jalapenos. They went well with the provided unagi sauce. The red tonkatsu ramen’s broth tasted ok, but there was not enough flavor and was not spicy enough. The ramen noodles itself tasted good and the meat was tender. The meal also came with Miso soup, but it was extremely sour and undesirable. The provided salad was good and fresh, but just came with standard ranch dressing. The salmon teriyaki was delicious and had a nice grilled taste. The tempura was crispy with an acceptable amount of batter, but was quite oily.

Overall, Spice Kitchen serves up a variety of dishes that come in decent quantities. Unfortunately, due to the inconsistencies in the meal, I would not say that Spice Kitchen is very good. Some high points included the salmon teriyaki and stuffed jalapenos, but overall, the meal was not worth the price without the Groupon. If you are looking for ramen, you are better off going to a ramen house. If Spice Kitchen offers another Groupon, it might be worth it if you just wanted to try something new, but don’t be too surprised if you are not satisfied.

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