May 31

Two Rivers Cafe

Red Hawk Casino
1 Red Hawk Parkway
Placerville, CA 95667

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

You don’t really have much of a choice for food at 12:45 in the morning when you are at a Casino. Luckily, Two Rivers Cafe is conveniently located inside Red Hawk Casino. With my $20 comp in hand, I went ahead and ordered two Fortune’s overnight special, Hawaiian Combo Plate, and two cookies.

The fortune’s overnight special is fairly basic because it includes Two Scrambled Eggs, Two Strips of Bacon, Toast, and a drink. It’s a great deal considering it only costs $1.99. The eggs were not fluffy, the bacon was tasty, the bread was toasted well, and the drink came in the form of a soda. The Hawaiian Combo plate was not too great. The macaroni salad was oily and had bacon bits in it, the meat was small and thin, and there was not enough rice for the meal. The cookies tasted good and fresh.

Overall, I find Two Rivers Cafe to be a good final resort. If you can eat somewhere else, do so. If you can eat for free, then go to Two Rivers Cafe. Some of the other items on the menu like the panani taste really good, while others like the Hawaiian Combo Plate just plain fail.

May 26

Applebee’s

2024 Arden Way
Sacramento, CA 95825

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

I will start off by saying that Applebee’s has a pretty good selection of happy hour appetizers. The appetizers are tasty. Today we ordered the Mozzarella Sticks and the Spinach Dip. There was an ample amount mozzarella sticks and dipping sauce. The spinach dip was cheesy, but there was not enough chips for the amount of dip provided. The dip itself was quite tasty. Throughout the meal, good service was provided by the server in terms of refills and check-ins by the managers.

Unfortunately the praise stops with the drinks and appetizers. First, the 9oz steak did not look appetizing. We asked for medium, but there is no pink remaining in the meat. The cut was also over-salted, and thus the only flavor that prevailed over the meat was salt. The vegetables were puny, but was the only thing to offset the saltiness of the meat. The baked potato was good, but it’s pretty hard to screw up a baked potato.

We also ordered the Steak Penne because it was a part of the 2 for 24 combo. The dish arrived last in comparison to the others at the table. Luckily, the steak was not as salty as the 9oz. The pasta seemed quite plain, but had accents of cheese and garnish. The sauce was a bit ouly and lacked depth. The breadstick was underwhelming and doughy.

Overall, I would recommend Applebee’s for their happy hour from 3-6pm and 9pm to close M-F, but I would not recommend them for their entrees at all.

May 22

88 Tofu

6914 65th St 301
Sacramento, CA 95823

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

When it comes to Korean food, you usually need to head towards Rancho Cordova. With 88 Tofu opening in south Sacramento, Korean food got a whole lot closer. Located in the same shopping plaza as SF Supermarket on 65th St by Stockton Blvd, 88 Tofu sits at the end of a busy strip mall. Decor is minimal, but service is pretty good. After ordering the happy hour special for Pork Bulgogi, the waitress brought over 6 side dishes and 1 salad side dish. After finishing a couple of the side dishes, the waitress offered a refill of the side dishes, which was nice.

The pork bulgogi arrived on a hot plate with a side of rice in a metal container. The pork had a spicy BBQ sauce on them, which was a bit spicy but not too spicy. The pork was juicy and delicious. They gave plenty of meat on the plate, almost too much for the amount of rice given.

Overall, 88 Tofu did a great job on the pork bulgogi. I have not tried their tofu soups yet, but I assume they will be just as tasty as the pork bulgogi. 88 Tofu definitely deserves a second visit to try out more of their dishes.

May 17

Silver Skillet

2828 El Centro Rd
Sacramento, CA 95833

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

A visit to Sacramento’s 49er truck plaza off of West El Camino on I-80 will bring you a handful of restaurants to choose from. Since I never been to the truck plaza before, the 24-hr Silver Skillet sounded like a good choice. Located in a busy truck plaza, Silver Skillet provides family fare including breakfast, burgers, pasta, salads, and BBQ. They currently have a check-in offer on Yelp for 15% off as well. Today we ordered the Giant Buffalo Wings, Sausage Links with Eggs, and a Full Rack of Ribs.

The giant wings were really good. The buffalo sauce tasted pretty standard, and came with a decent amount of kick. The carrot and celery slices were clean and fresh. The Sausage Links with Eggs came with hash browns and biscuit. The eggs were fluffy, but needed more flavor than salt and pepper (so I used ketchup). The hash browns were cooked nicely and tasted great with ketchup. The sausage links were OK, but did not have as much flavor as Denny’s. The biscuit was good and flaky.

The most impressive part of the meal were the ribs. The full rack of ribs were HUGE! In comparison to every other full rack I have ever ordered, this one is definitely the largest. The ribs come partially cut up to the fatty/meat part. I found it interesting that they kept that part of the beef on. The ribs had a smokey red glow and had an adequate amount of BBQ sauce rubbed on it. The meat was tender and juicy. Unfortunately, with all the food ordered, only half the rack was consumed, leaving the rest for left overs.

Overall, Silver Skillet turned out some really good BBQ. For the breakfast, I would say they are OK. If you were to go to Silver Skillet, I would definitely suggest the BBQ. Don’t go too late in the evening because the last thing you want is for them to run out of ribs.

May 12

CF Cheng – Part 2

2063 Arena Blvd
Ste 140
Sacramento, CA 95834

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Again, when you want real Chinese food in Natomas, you still need to visit CF Cheng. Unlike my previous visit, this time I just ordered some classic Beef Chow Fun (without vegetables because vegetables are evil). As always, I received great service and multiple water refills. The dish arrived in a timely manner steaming hot. The noodles were cooked to the right softness, and there was an ample amount of beef. I did find that the dish was a bit oily, but noting out of the ordinary for Chow Fun. The simple lunch trip ended with a standard fortune cookie, and another water refill. I still recommend CF Cheng for authentic Chinese food in Natomas, hands down.

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