Aug 28

Hong Kong Islander – Part 2

5675 Freeport Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95822

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

In comparison to their mediocre Dim Sum offerings, their dinner meals are actually fairly good. Today, dinner consisted of the $70 family meal which included over 7 dishes plus a seafood soup. Overall, this seemed like a good value.

First, the seafood soup was OK. It was a bit fishy and had a lot of the squishy stuff in it which I am not too fond of, but it did redeem itself by actually having real crap pieces inside. Next, the appetizer platter consisted of soy sauce chicken, roast duck, jellyfish, and pickled dikon radish. The portion size of the platter was OK. The soy sauce chicken and duck were good, but I did not try the jellyfish or dikon. Next, the honey walnut shrimp came. I found the shrimp to be a bit small, and the flavor of the glaze to be too sweet, sweeter than many other Chinese restaurants. The presentation of the dish was not spectacular since I’m used to seeing the shrimp on a bed of greens.

I did not try the green veggies or the other queen’s chicken dish this time. The vermicelli dish with lobster was really good in terms of the noodles. I am not a fan of lobster, but the noodles were spectacular. The picture I took of the noodles features the dish with my visiting cousin. Next, the beef, mushroom, and green bean dish was good. The beef was flavorful and tender. The fish was OK, but it was a bit undercooked in some places. It was quite boney, and I wished it was the deep fried fish instead. For desert, red bean soup and oranges were served.

Overall, Hong Kong Islander creates a value-filled dinner meal; however, their inconsistent meal offerings prevent me from truly recommending this restaurant. If you want a nice family style Chinese food dinner, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere. My personal favorites include Regent Seafood Restaurant and Far East Cafe.

Aug 22

Hong Kong Islander

5675 Freeport Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95822

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

I know that Hong Kong Islander has been open since July 26th, but we finally got a chance to try it out. In short, King Palace runs laps around Hong Kong Islander. Since the last time I was in the building of Hong Kong Islander, renovations completely changed the look of restaurant since its buffet days, returning to its original dim sum roots. I do have to say, the new decor is quite inviting.

Now, the decor is where the pluses end for the most part. Service when greeted was acceptable, but no extra mile was provided. Food carts were around, but many of the workers lacked enthusiasm and courtesy. Selection mirrors most of the other dim sum restaurants.

Today, we ordered har gow, sui mai, beef balls, steamed shrimp balls, shrimp chow fun, chicken sticky rice, and fried shrimp balls. The har gow was pretty good. The sui mai was not formed too well, but it tasted OK. The beef balls were not that good, and were a bit red. The steamed shrimp balls were OK. The shrimp balls were tasty. The chicken sticky rice was not that good. There was some weird fishy taste inside, and not many big chunks of meat. The fried shrimp balls were very fresh and crispy.

Overall, if I were given a choice to come back to Hong Kong Islander, I would pass. If I was looking for dim sum, I would go to King Palace for better food and better service. If you live around Hong Kong Islander, and you don’t want to travel far for food, Hong Kong Islander is acceptable.

Aug 10

BJ’s Restaurant – Part 2

3531 N Freeway Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95834

Rating: ★★★★★ 

A much improved visit to BJ’s in Natomas prompted a new review in lieu of the previous review. Plus, this time BJ’s party for two combo is back again. Two soups or salads, a medium pizza, and a pizookie for only $19.99!

I started off with their delicious clam chowder. It was piping hot, creamy, and loaded with clams and yumminess. Then, I ventured toward their five meat pizza, with ample amounts of meats atop a bed of cheese straddled on fluffy deep dish crust. Although not Chicago deep dish, BJ’s pizzas are quite tasty! (and not as messy). To finish it off, a white chocolate macadamia pizookie completed the delicious meal. During the entire time, I was downing two cups of their tasty crafted root beer.

Overall, BJ’s in Natomas continues to provide amazing tasting food with great service. The pizza deal for $19.99 is only available for a limited time only, so catch it while you can. You can also upgrade the pizza from a medium to a large for only $3 more.

Aug 08

Buffalo Wild Wings

6301 Sunrise Blvd
Citrus Heights, CA 95610

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Walking into Buffalo Wild Wings, you will notice all of the walls lined with LCD TVs and projector screens. You can come here to eat and expect to see your game on at least one of the screens. We went for their Tuesday wing special, consisting of 50 cent wings.

Today, we ordered 5 pieces of each flavor: BBQ, Asian Zing, Hot, and Spicy Garlic. We also ordered a side of potato slices. Unfortunately, the wings were either not fresh, or were just not hot enough. The BBQ flavor was savory tasty. The Hot flavor was definitely hot on the hot scale. The spicy garlic was spicy, but not overbearing. The Asian Zing definitely tasted the best out of all the flavors we tried. The potato slices were hot, and probably would taste even better if we added the supplemental seasoning.

Overall, Buffalo Wild Wings has quite an impressive sauce selection. I would definitely go back to try other flavors and Asian Zing again. Compared to Wingstop, I would choose Buffalo Wild Wings because of their selection and restaurant size, but freshness still belongs to Wingstop.

Jul 31

The Cheesecake Factory

251 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

In the heart of San Francisco, located on the 8th floor of the Macy’s at Union Square, Cheesecake Factory appears filled with an array of hungry customers, ready to fill their stomachs with delicious food. The wait was fairly long for a Tuesday evening, and I could only imagine what the wait would be like on a weekend or holiday. Arriving at 7PM, the wait was 35 minutes for outdoors and one hour for indoors. With stomachs growling, we opted for the outdoor seating. By the time we were called for seating, the sun began to set on the windy San Francisco day.

After we were seated, we were greeted by our server Oscar who was very courteous and was very knowledgeable about the menu. We were given complementary bread with butter. The darker bread is absolutely delicious! With or without butter, the bread has its own distinct flavor that could only be found at Cheesecake Factory. The white bread was good and crispy. We were offered a refill on the bread while waiting for the rest of the meal.

We ordered mini corn dogs as an appetizer. The mini corn dogs were beautifully presented on a crafty iron plate with a side of mustard. I liked how there was not much breading on the hot dog. The hot dog was quite juicy and went well with ketchup or mustard.

For the entree, we ordered the Crusted Chicken Romano. You can never go wrong ordering the Crusted Chicken Romano from Cheesecake Factory. The chicken was moist and plentiful, covered with a bunch of pasta and sauce. The pasta was cooked al dente, and the sauce tomato based. The portion size was definitely large enough to share for two.

Finally, we ordered the Oreo Cheesecake, which was huge! After the bread, appetizer, and entree, the desert was pretty much a lost cause. With that being said, the cheesecake was well made and consisted of a sturdy chocolate cake base, Oreo-filled cheesecake, and topped with chocolate creme and an Oreo wafer. The cheesecake was quite sweet compared to other cheesecakes I have tried.

Overall, Cheesecake Factory continued to meet my expectation in term of food quality and server quality. The only reasons the Cheesecake Factory has a 4/5 rating is because of the extremely long wait on a Tuesday night and the somewhat high prices of the dishes. Other than that, Cheesecake Factory is a definitely must go for its great variety of great tasting food and deserts.

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