Oct 12

Far East Cafe

5014 Freeport Boulevard

Sacramento, CA 95822

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Far East Cafe is a Sacramento classic when it comes to Chinese food. Located on the busy street of Freeport surrounded by plenty of other Chinese food restaurants, Far East Cafe really distinguishes itself as a leader in Chinese cuisine. The restaurant provides fairly good service at acceptable speeds.

Today, I ordered the combination plate and the sweet and sour chicken lunch special. The combination plate is a great deal because you get soup of the day, fried rice, chow mein, and sweet and sour pork for under $5. The lunch special for $5.50 included soup of the day, steamed rice, chow mein, sweet and sour chicken, and a vegetable egg roll. The dishes came out very fresh and hot. The chow mein and fried rice tasted great. The sweet and sour meats were crispy and came with the sweet and sour dipping sauce, which is nice considering other restaurants will have the meat pre-smothered in the sauce which can cause them to get soft.

Overall, the portions received for the price paid is great. The food tastes fairly good. From previous experiences with their dinner dishes, overall food quality and taste will be great. If you are in the area, then Far East Cafe is the go-to Chinese restaurant.

Oct 07

Pho Nam – Milpitas

41 Serra Way # 106
Milpitas, CA 95035

Rating: ★★★★¾ 

I mentioned Pho Nam in an earlier review of Pho Saigon in Sac. Out of all the pho restaurants I have been to, I rank Pho Nam as my top choice. With that being said, I know that I have not been to every favorite pho restaurant in Sacramento or San Jose, but Pho Nam is definitely the best so far. The only reason Pho Nam didn’t get a 5/5 was because of this one annoying fly who wouldn’t go away.

Today, I ordered the usual Pho Tai with added beef balls, no onions. I do like how Pho Nam offers cilantro for the pho as well, even though I declined. I also ordered a strawberry smoothie. The pho noodles were fresh and did not stick together. The broth was fairly clear, not cloudy at all like Saigon, and was filled with rich beef flavor that reminds me of Pho Tau Bay, but better. The meat portions were generous and tasty. The strawberry smoothie tasted really good and fresh.

Overall, Pho Nam is an absolute pho stop whenever I am in the San Jose area. Until someone tells me otherwise, I will still consider Pho Nam as the pho of choice. If you are visiting the Milpitas area, I strongly urge you to try them out after your visit to the Great Mall!

Sep 18

Red Robin – Part 2

8245 Laguna Blvd
Elk Grove, CA 95624

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Honestly, I was about to leave a review to tell everyone never to come eat here ever again. Today, we received the worst possible customer service ever in a restaurant. We walked into the not-so-busy Elk Grove restaurant and were greeted with a smile by the hostess. Then, we were brought to a table against a wall, away from other tables. At this point, I will copy and paste the complaint I sent to Red Robin Corporate:

The server, Junemarie, approached our table with a frown and attitude. After taking our drink orders, she left us alone for a while. During this time, she served food to a few other tables. Upon returning with the drinks, she slammed each glass onto the table. When she walked away, we realized that one of the water cups were dirty and 3 out of the 4 utensil sets were wet. We flagged her down when we saw her again to have the water replaced. She was not happy about this notification, and then I also requested for straws for the waters. She left with the dirty cup, but never returned. She continued to serve food to the other tables in a happy cheerful manner. She must have waited at over 5 tables over a period of 15 minutes without ever coming back to our table with a replacement water, straws, or even taking our order that we have been ready with over the first 6 minutes. Due to the long wait and lack of ordering, we contemplated leaving the restaurant entirely. We decided to speak to the manager on duty. I left the table and went to another server to speak with the manager on duty. A couple minutes later, Trisha greeted me as I went ahead and explained the issues we had with the server. As I was explaining the situation, my cell phone rang with a call from someone from my party at the table.  She explained that Junemarie finally came with the cup of water and then forcefully jammed straws into the water cups and then walked off. At that time, the rest of my table joined me as we told the manager that we were planning to leave due to the poor service. Trisha apologized for the poor service received and offered to make things right. She offered to set us up with a new server and provide the meal on the house. We hesitantly agreed, and we got set up with a new server named Ashley C. I was provided with another survey in which I will rate the rest of the service. However, I will mention that at the end of the service, Junemarie came by the table acting all nice, pretending to offer refills on fries when she wasn’t even our server anymore.

Now, here is why Red Robin received a 4/5 instead of a 0/5:

After the manager Tricia appointed us with Ashley, we were promptly seated in the outside patio, away from Junemarie. We received superior service from Ashley, which makes a lot of sense since she is a trainer for servers.

Today, we ordered the Burning Love burger and the Guacamole Bacon burger. The burning love burger sits on a jalapeno cornbread bun, housing a large beef patty, fried jalapeno slices, lettuce, and sauce. The burger was juicy and delicious. We also substituted the regular steak fries with garlic steak fries. The fries were equally delicious. The Guacamole burger was juicy and full of flavor. To compliment the burgers, I ordered another freckled lemonade. The drink is always delicious, and should always be ordered.

Overall, stay away from Red Robin if you are being served by Junemarie. Otherwise, you will love the food here! The burgers are huge, and the fries are infinite. I was surprised by the great serviced provided by Trisha and Ashley C.

Sep 14

Elements Buffet – Reno, NV

2500 E 2nd St
Grand Sierra Resort
Reno, NV 89502

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located inside the Grand Sierra Resort, the Elements Buffet has underwent a remodel that is almost complete. The new decor is reminiscent of the great outdoors with classy accents. As you enter the food stations, you get a good view of all the available food.

We went in for breakfast since it was the last day of the trip. With coupon in hand, we were seated near the food area. Elements had the standard array of breakfast food including eggs, sausages, bacon, ham, hash browns, pancakes, french toast, biscuits & gravy, rice, and new york steak. They also had cereal and an omelet station. Also, a row of various breakfast pastries and cupcakes were available. I felt that the eggs were a bit watery and tasted like they came from a bottle. The sausages were OK, but a bit soft. The bacon was crispy and tasty. The french toast and biscuits & gravy were pretty good as well. I was not too pleased with the hash browns as they were not crispy and had a weird taste to them.

Overall, Elements buffet provides a nice buffet experience, but their food is a bit lacking. Although this review focuses only on breakfast, I worry that the same food quality would be evident in their lunch and dinner as well. In terms of selection, breakfast generally has fewer choices, but Elements does have all the main ones. I feel that their breakfast would be much better if they had waffle irons as well.

Sep 12

The Little Nugget Diner- Reno, NV

233 N Virginia St

Reno, NV 89501

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Home of the Awful Awful burger, the Little Nugget in downtown Reno is definitely worth a try if you are coming to Reno. As seen on Food Wars on the Travel Channel, the Little Nugget came up as the winner for the best Awful Awful burger against John Ascuaga’s Nugget’s Awful Awful burger.

Seated atop a 1 pound bed of seasoned french fries, the 1/2 pound burger with crispy patty, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a special sauce housed between an onion bung, the Awful Awful burger becomes a delicious meal. With more than enough fries to serve a group of people, the $7 meal serves to be a great value. The meat is perfectly seasoned and crispy. The fries are cooked to perfection.

Overall, the Awful Awful burger is a winner in my books. The only reason they received a 4.5 instead of a 5, is that the diner area doesn’t seem to welcome, and the Little Nugget looks a bit run down, but the diner is definitely a rare gem in the city.

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