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Tag: closed restaurants (Page 3 of 4)

Thai Satay

July 11, 2008 / / 1 Comment

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

Update: We’ve been to Thai Satay many times since it opened, though less frequently since Mai Thai came to town.  While the restaurant was inconsistent at the beginning, it greatly improved in later years. Mike still orders their chicken penang to go quite often.

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Thai Satay is San Leandro’s only Thai restaurant, and as such we visit it from time to time. Mike often gets pad thai from there to take to his School Board meetings, and we go there for lunch once in a while. Yesterday, my friend Lola was visiting, and we decided that Thai sounded good.
I had the roasted duck, which comes in a bed of spinach and rice, accompanied by a strong, somewhat sweet sauce. The duck was nicely salted and tasted great, but it was very, very fatty. There seemed to be more fat than duck. I sort of enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t order it again. The sauce was pretty good with the rice, however.
Lola had a combination of masaman curry and basil chicken. The curry was good, though a bit heavy on the potatoes, but the chicken was unbelievably dry. The flavor, mild and inviting, was very good, but Lola couldn’t stand eating it. She did like the soup and salad which came with lunch.
At $9 each, the dishes were a bit pricy for lunch, but from time to time you can get “buy one, get one free” coupons at the SL Times.
In all, while Thai Satay doesn’t have the best Thai food in the world, it does have the best and only Thai food in San Leandro.
Thai Satay
1376 E. 14th Street
San Leandro, Ca
(510) 351-2345
http://www.thaisatay.com/
Original Review
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

'borrowed' from Zen's

Zen’s Filipino Cuisine and Ihaw-Ihaw (BBQ) House – San Leandro – REVIEW

May 13, 2008 / / 0 Comments

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

image borrowed’ from Zen’s

Jan 2012

I’ve returned to Zen’s many times since my original review. I think it’s by far the best deal for lunch in town, the food is delicious and the lunch buffet very nicely priced. It’s well worth the trip to the Marina.

May 2008 Review
Zen’s has been open for two years and I only read about it today, which tells you I’m not as in tune with the San Leandro restaurant “scene” as one might think. And a great pity it is, because if its buffet lunch is any indication, Zen may very well serve the best food in San Leandro.

I found the restaurant on TripAdvisor.com while looking for restaurants in San Leandro I might have missed. I suggested it to my friend Aamani, who I was meeting for lunch, and she was all for trying it – so we headed towards Doolittle in the hopes of finding it, which we did easily. It’s located in a strip mall, just off Fairway.

The little restaurant is pretty cute with a tiki-bar kind of feel. It has, however, two annoying flat screen TVs showing Filipino shows. They are very loud, making conversation difficult.

The buffet consisted of about 10 dishes, including a chicken soup, chicken and pork adobo, BBQ chicken, Filipino steak, chicken in a coconut sauce, and a few other dishes I don’t remember now. There was one noodle dish I didn’t try, and one green-bean dish. There was nothing else for vegetarians, so they may want to keep away.

Everything I tried was excellent, the meats were tender, flavorful and not exceedingly fatty. The sauces were full of flavor, the bbq chicken was delicious. My experience with Filipino food had been limited to adobos and lumpias, what I tasted seemed like a fusion of western and Asian foods – as you would expect.
According to its website, Zen’s is also open to dinner until very late. They have music and karaoke some nights, so you may want to call them if you are just going for the food. I know I’ll go back.

Zen’s Filipino Cuisine and Ihaw-Ihaw (BBQ) House

13876 Doolittle Drive
San Leandro, CA
510-351-3312
http://www.zensfilipinocuisine.com

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Prince Dim Sum House

May 12, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Update: Prince has changed owners and it’s now King Kong Dim Sum.  It’s a shame because we had returned to Prince for Mother’s Day this year, and I had decided to make it my annual Mother’s Day brunch place.  The food had been amazing, so good that we returned the following week when my brother visited us.  The new place gets mixed reviews on Yelp.

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Prince Dim Sum House opened a few months ago, I think, at the space where East Village used to be. The restaurant underwent renovations before it opened as Prince, so I’m not sure if the owner, as well as the look and the name, have changed. The menu is pretty similar, as are the prices. I’d been to East Village several times, and this was my second visit to Prince as such.
Esthetically, they spiffed up the room a little bit, putting new furniture and a wine wall and removing the unattractive handwritten “specials” posters from the walls. Still, the room is square and has a flat ceiling, and there isn’t that much you can do with it to make it attractive. The place is nice enough, but it’s not and does not pretend to be, a “date” or “special occasion” sort of restaurant.
Service leaves something to be desired. We were seated quickly, but it took quite a long time for someone to come to take our orders. As we were waiting we saw the host chatting with people at one table, and one of the waitresses clean up another table, so I don’t think the problem was that they were just busy. Once we ordered the food came to the table quite quickly, which we liked as we were starving. It took a little bit, though not as long, to get our bill. Prince, just East Village before it, has a printed dim sum menu and you chose what you want to eat and then give the completed form to the waitress. They have several dozen items, costing $2-$5.25 depending on the ingredients. In all, lunch here is comparable in price to lunch at most non-sandwich restaurants.
I’m not the best person to review a dim sum place – which is why I’m writing about it on my blog, rather than in one of my more formal (and edited!) restaurant reviews – as I don’t really like most of what appears in dim sum menus. I do love pork buns, however, and that’s what kept bringing me to East Village, and now to Prince.
Prince’s baked BBQ pork buns are very good ($2 for 3). They are small and have a sweet glaze, they also have a nice amount of pork. I fear that they may be too sweet for some people, but they are my favorites in San Leandro. If you go, you should give them a try.
This time we also tried the Baked BBQ Pork Tart ($2.75 for 3). These are longish, thin pastries, also glazed and filled with BBQ pork. The dough is very flaky and Kathy liked it very much. I found them somewhat dry (though not nearly as dry as other versions of this dish) but also very yummy. We ordered a second serving.
I’d never had the Hong Kong Fried Bread Sticks ($2 for 3) before, but I was curious about them. They ended up being very light pieces of fried dough. They were a bit salty, but I thought they’d be delicious dipped in sugar – alas, there was none on the table. They were a bit oily, and kind of boring by themselves, and I wouldn’t order them again.
The fried chicken wings ($5.25 for 4) were plump, juicy and very hot. They were lightly spiced and salted, so you could really appreciate the taste of the chicken, and I liked them quite a bit – but I thought they were too expensive for what they were.
Finally, we had the Layered Egg Custard Cake ($2.75 for 3 small slices). Neither Kathy nor Mika were crazy about it, but I thought it was OK if you like Chinese cakes. I do think Mika would have been happier with a custard bun.
In all it was a good lunch, and I’ll go back to Prince again for those pork buns.
Prince Dim Sum House
14736 E. 14th St.
San Leandro, CA
510-667-9888
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

Lunch at Chicago Blues Cafe

May 4, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Update: This restaurant has closed

Chicago Blues Cafe is a tiny restaurant and coffeehouse located in the parking lot of the Palma Plaza shopping center. It started as a place where you could get coffee, then branched out into hot dogs, and has since become pretty much a full fledged restaurant, serving late breakfast, lunch and early dinner (they are open from 11 AM – 7 PM weekdays, from 9 AM – 7 PM Saturdays and closed on Sundays). The owner, Mark Tichy, is a colorful character currently running for city council.


I went to Chicago Blues Cafe for breakfast a few weeks ago, and had a very nice crepe, and I have since been wanting to go back to try their BBQ. The opportunity finally presented itself yesterday (my birthday) when Joaquin Deli, my first choice, was closed.


Chicago Blues offers a large menu of hot dogs, sandwiches, BBQ items and deep-dish pizza. My friend Elektra had had the latter and has enjoyed it. Prices are moderate, with pizza slices starting at $4, and BBQ lunch plates averaging around $8 (it goes up to the low teens for dinner and combinations). You order at the counter and can either eat inside their little covered area or in one of the unshaded tables outside. There isn’t really much room for more than 2 or 3 parties inside – but I find the place cute. We ate outside, however.


Mike had the links BBQ plate with potato salad. He wasn’t happy with it. He thought the links tasted mostly like plain sausage covered by BBQ sauce, rather than by the slowly smoked links we usually get at our favorite BBQ joint. He found the medium-spiced sauce to be quite spicy, but otherwise unremarkable. The potato salad was also pretty pedestrian.


My dad had a hot dog with sourkrat and he was very happy with it. He thought the baked beans were very, very good.


I had the pulled pork sandwich, which is often on special for $5. The sandwich was huge, and definitely a great value, but I didn’t find the pork very appealing. It had the look and texture of pork that had been boiled rather than smoked or baked. The flavor was quite mild (Camila liked it). I also found the vinegary mild BBQ sauce unremarkable, though better than commercial products. In any case, I wouldn’t be rushing back to have this dish. All this said, with E&J’s around, my standards for BBQ are pretty high.


In all, I’m glad that Chicago Blues Cafe is around, and I’d definitely go there for breakfast or for a hot dog, and might even give the pizza a try, but I wouldn’t go for their BBQ again.


Chicago Blues Cafe
13802 E. 14th St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 352-3053

Chicago Blues Cafe

April 8, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Update: This restaurant has closed

I first heard of Chicago Blues Cafe when I found out that its owner, Mark Tichy, was running for city council. The little restaurant occupies the space that belonged to a flower & coffee shop in the parking lot of Palma Plaza. It’s expanded its size and now it features a small, covered dining area. It’s pretty cute.
The cafe serves an extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu (though I think they close early, perhaps at 7). They seem to specialize on pizza and bbq. My friend Elektra has had their chicken pizza and she said it was very good, it featured a thick crust that reminded her of Zachary’s.


I went for breakfast, however, and ordered their caramelized banana & nutella crepe (about $4.50, I think), one of the three crepes they offer (all with nutella). It was *very* good. It was huge, with very generous amounts of both bananas and nutella, and it was delicious. I would definitely order it again, but this is a dish to share – it’s just too sweet to eat it all by yourself.


The only problem was that it took a long time to get it. We’d plan to eat at the restaurant, but I I had to pick up Mika at a set time. It probably took them a good half an hour to prepare it.
I’m planning to go back to Chicago Blues Cafe, this time to try their BBQ.


Chicago Blues Cafe
13802 E. 14th St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 352-3053

Tequila Grill Redux Redux

February 3, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Update: This restaurant has closed

Last week our friends Arthur and Eddie suggested that we go out to dinner at Tequila Grill before the kids headed to a show at the library. I’m always in the mood for not cooking (well, that’s not really true, but I thought it sounded cute), so I thought it was a splendid idea. Well, perhaps not splendid as I haven’t been impressed with Tequila Grill in the past, but it’s nice to get out. And alas, it’s good I have that attitude because Tequila Grill failed to impress me yet again.

I had the milanesa sandwich, and the milanesa was nice and tender but not very flavorful. There was also too little meat to bread ratio. The fries it came with were perfectly fine.

I also ordered some guacamole and I did like it a lot, it was fresh and well balanced. Alas – there were no chips to eat it with (I did ask for them, they just never came). I found out that french fries with guacamole sort of work.

Mike had the flautas and he thought they were just OK.

I didn’t ask Arthur and Eddie what they thought of their dishes, but Elektra – who’d come with us along with her kids Orestes and Aegea, didn’t seem very impressed with whatever she ordered. Orestes’ actually found his burrito nauseating, though he couldn’t quite figure out why.

The younger kids seemed fine with their quesadillas (I didn’t try them).

So no, I won’t be rushing back to Tequila Grill, though I imagine I’ll end up there again some time.

Tequila Grill
1350 E. 14th St.
San Leandro
(510) 895-5351

Mae’s Soul Food

December 28, 2007 / / 0 Comments

2013 Update

Mae’s closed down. A Chinese fast food place has opened at the Dutton & Bancroft space.

May 2011 Update

Mae’s has now moved to the corner of Dutton & Bancroft. I hadn’t gone back to eat there because it’s open between 1 – 8 PM, too late for lunch, too early for dinner. But I’ll try it sometime.

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Dec. 2007 Review

Mae’s Soul Food is the newest venture to open on Victoria Court in San Leandro – at the space occupied until a couple of months ago by Joplin’s. Indeed, it was to Joplin’s where we were headed today, for a burger, when we noticed that the sign with that name was no longer in front of the business. A new owner and a new menu greeted us inside, and always the adventurers we decided to give it a try. But for the fact that we got stuffed, it was not a bad call.

Mae’s Soul Food specializes in fried food, their menu, indeed, is pretty short and basically includes fried fish, fried shrimp, fried chicken and fried pork, available in various combinations with or without gravy. There are also a plethora of side dishes, from candied yams to red beans and rice. There are also po boy sandwiches, made with, you guessed it, fried meats. Don’t come here if you are watching your weight. Prices go from $7 for a 3 pieces of fried chicken to $17.50 for a seafood combo platter with shrimp.
I had the 3-pieces of chicken platter with french fries. The three chicken drumsticks were large and meaty, they were very nicely breaded and seasoned, and they tasted fresh and crisp. They also managed to not be oily. If I wanted fried chicken, I’d definitely come here. The fries were less successful, they were very thick and long, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. Not my favorite type.

Mike had the chicken po boy sandwich, which was also enormous, and he liked it though he’d preferred less bones on his chicken. He also liked the crispy romaine lettuce in the accompanying salad. Mae, the proprietor, is proud on not skimping in either quantity or quality, and the results show.

Service, at the hands of her son, was good – but, as we were warned, it takes quite a lot of time to get the food to the table. It’s made to order and it takes time for chicken to fry. Don’t come here if you are in a hurry.

Atmosphere wise, the place is not very different from what it was Joplin’s – there are still some Joplin posters around. They have, however, decorated with a nice array of beautiful wooden African masks.

My final warning is that they still don’t have heat in the restaurant, so if you are coming here bring your jacket.

I should mention this is not the Mae’s first venture as a restauranteur. Her restaurant was previously open in a high-crime section of Oakland, Mae decided to move to make it safer for her customers to eat at her restaurant.

Mae’s Soul Food
585 Victoria Court
San Leandro, CA
510-382-9200

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Sizzler

December 3, 2007 / / 0 Comments

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

Yes, Sizzler.  Mike wasn’t happy about it, but I’d seen it there, on the corner of Davis and East 14th, for years now, and I thought that sometime I should review it. And why not? Yeah, it’s a lowly chain, but once upon a time that lowly chain represented the epithomy of culinary achievement to me. Growing up, or at least during that period that constituted my growing up in America, we were poor. Our idea of a fine meal out – on those rare occasions when we had one – was Bob’s Big Boy (and really, their double cheeseburgers rocked). Sizzler was a couple of steps up from that, a place where we’d go in the most special of special occasions, and in particular if my aunt Gladys was paying. And indeed, I think I had my graduation dinner at Sizzler’s.

But times have changed, at least for me. And like it or not we look down at Sizzler’s. I haven’t had their food in many years, so it may be unfair, but we didn’t recall it as being particularly good. Our visit a few days ago, didn’t really improve our opinion.

Mike had their cheeseburger, which he couldn’t have made to order. It was well done instead – I guess they don’t trust their meat. In any case, it wasn’t dry. Still, he prefers the much cheaper burgers from Nation’s instead.
I ordered the ribs. Yes, I know, Sizzler is a “steakhouse” and I should have ordered the steak, but they just didn’t look good in the pictures. The ribs weren’t bad. The BBQ sauce was generic, the type of stuff you get from a bottle, but the ribs were tender and meaty enough. Of course, they couldn’t compete with those from Chili’s.

The kids had the equivalent to the chicken nuggets, and I thought they were pretty good for chicken nuggets. They didn’t taste frozen.
The fries that came with our meals were sort of wimpy. The cheesy toast was very good, however.

The really low point of the evening was the service. I wanted a refill on my drink, and not only the waiter never came to ask me if I wanted one, but he was nowhere to be found.

In all, it was an OK but not special experience, and I don’t see why I’d go back.

Sizzler
201 Davis St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 483-0110
http://www.sizzler.com/

Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Chain Restaurant Reviews

Cafe Americano

August 7, 2007 / / 1 Comment

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

Updated 5/11

Cafe Americano has been closed for a while now. I think the building is for lease.

Update 3/10 Cafe Americano is now under new management. They are serving simple breakfasts (bagels, eggs, bacon,sausage, ham), cold sandwiches (ham, roast beef, roast chicken, pastrami and turkey – all $5), salad sandwiches (egg, tuna, seafood, chicken, all $5) and several hort sandwiches, most $5. For the vegetarians they offer avocado & cream cheese sandwiches ($5). They continue serving coffee drinks at *very* reasonable prices. That said, I haven’t check them out so I can’t opine on the quality.

Cafe Americano opened a block away from my house a month or two ago, but it wasn’t until today that I visited it. I generally hang out at Zocalo, which is much further from my house but has a play area for children. Cafe Americano is very nice, it has newly painted orange walls and multi-colored chairs, but it’s small and there is no space for kids. It has, on the other hand, a full sandwich menu making it a great place to get both a latte and lunch.
Indeed, it was in search of lunch that we went there today. I had their spicy tandoori lamb kebab wrap, while Mike had their regular tandoori chicken kebab wrap. I liked mine much better. The ground lamb kebab had a strong lamby taste and it was nicely seasoned. It was spicy but not too much. My only complaint was that there wasn’t enough meat for the vegetable content (but it was a pretty large wrap, and at $5 definitely well priced). It was also a bit on the thick side, so it was difficult to get both the lamb and the veggies on the same bite. Mike really liked the chicken kebab, though the chicken seemed overprocessed to me. I’d definitely stick with the lamb.
They also offer a whole array of “American” sandwiches which I may or may not try again, as I said, I may just stick with the lamb 🙂

I didn’t try their coffee products, but they also have a whole array of cold drinks. We had a strawberry smoothie ($3.50 I think) and I was disappointed. It was more like a shake, consisting of ice cream and a strawberry product, and it tasted like fake strawberries. Mika drank quite a bit of it, but wasn’t too enthusiastic, and Camila didn’t drink hers at all. On the plus side, the smoothies are very large, and they were very nice in serving one smoothie in two cups.

Most of the pastries I saw were in plastic wrapped and did not look very appetizing. However, they had three types of refrigerated cake, including chocolate and carrot. They had canned and bottled drinks as well.

Cafe Americano also offers wireless but their service seems to be spotty, at least it was this afternoon.

Given that this place is so close to my house, I’m sure I’ll go back again, probably when I don’t want to prepare my own lunch 🙂

Cafe Americano
2150 Washington Ave (at Marina Blvd)
San Leandro, CA 94577
(510) 895-8044

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Ohana Hawaiian BBQ

January 7, 2007 / / 0 Comments

2013 Update: This restaurant is now Ahu’s Hawaiian BBQ

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San Leandro has more Hawaiian restaurants that I can count, and I’m not sure that Ohana was actually needed (and judging by the lack of patrons last Thursday evening, I may not be alone in that assessment), but it’s not entirely unwelcomed. If you are at that shopping mall (you know, the one that has Home Depot, Walmart and the Pet food store – which was why we were there) and you are hungry, your choices are limited to Togos and whatever fast food place there is in Walmart. So Ohana at least presents another choice for food. And while it’s a chain, it’s well located in chain heaven.
Ohana presents a menu very similar to those in other Hawaiian restaurants. It includes BBQ meats, alone or in combination, chicken katzu, curry and a couple of chicken dishes with “special” sauces. They also have burgers and spam.
We weren’t too adventurous that evening and decided to go with the Seafood BBQ Combo ($8), Chicken Katzu ($6) and BBQ Chicken Saimin ($4). The seafood combo was good, but it only contained one piece of fish!!!! There wasn’t even enough to share. The chicken katzu was heavily breaded – as it usually is – but tasted fine, though I think I prefer Ono’s version. I’d ordered the saimin for the kids and they weren’t thrilled by it. It basically tasted like chicken noodle soup, so clearly the problem wasn’t in the dish.
In all, Mike thought the meal was fine, and probably better than at Ono’s (where we go from time to time as it’s close to our house), while I think I rather go back to Ono, though the portions there have gotten smaller and smaller.
Ohana Hawaiian BBQ
Westgate Mall Shopping Center
1933 Davis St. #135A
SL, CA
510-383.9898
http://www.hawaiianislandbbq.com/

Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

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