The Most Entertaining Iron Chef

Iron Chef, Masaharu Morimoto.

Well, before we get back to some regular reviews, lets talk about one of my favorite TV shows, which is Iron Chef. There are two versions, the original Japanese version and the New American Iron Chef.

The original Japanese Iron Chef was the stuff of legends. This was the standard from which all other shows are compared two. It basically set off the trend of competitive cooking. I remember the first time I watched it. It was a battle of shrimp and I kept asking my friends what the hell are they doing. There the show sets off the premise of secret ingredients, different style of cooking and weird english translations. All this under the time constraint of 1 hour. It was fascinating to watch them make gourmet meals out of the most bizarre ingredients.

After the original Japanese show retired and went off the air, the American versions has sprung forth and taken the baton. Like the Japanese versions, there are different styles of cooking mixed in with the secret ingredient. So far they have enlisted chefs Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, Cat Cora and Michael Simon to be Iron Chef. Out of those thee one I find the most entertaining to watch is Masaharu Morimoto.

Now I'm not saying he is the best Iron Chef. That will depend on their win loss records. But I'm saying he is probably the most entertaining to watch. The reason is that you never quite know what he is going to do. He is perhaps the most unpredictable out of all the Iron Chefs. He is not afraid to take chances, and he absolutely believe in his own convections, even if he has to lose points with the judges. Often times he'll make something raw with the secret ingredient, I just know that the western palates of the judges would not appreciate it. Yet I think secretly he doesn't really care. He'll make what is exciting to him. How can anyone forget some of his foolish fish deserts, or the time he made noodles out of fish.

That kind of craziness not only serves to inspire younger chefs, but also teaches one of the limitless boundary that food can present. We just have to throw out our preconceived notion of what is acceptable food. Therefore, Hypertaster salutes Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto for his fearlessness, and hope that he will continue to delight us with his culinary inventions.

Special shout out to my friend Tung, who was able to score me an autograph menu from his restaurant in Philadelphia.

Foodie guide to "Day out with Thomas" in Felton

Day out with Thomas

Roaring Camp Railroads

Felton, CA 95018

(831) 335-4484

I have two young boys and one thing they absolutely adore Thomas the Tank Engine. Every year they would bring out a life-size replica out and for an abhorrent fee, allow you to ride with Thomas for a very quick ride. I usually implore my wife to skip the ride, but she feels it is more important for the boys to get the full experiences. Out of protest, I elect to skip the ride and stay behind. So what does one do while waiting for the others to get back from their trip to nowhere? That's right I go straight to the BBQ pit and food vendors to sample the available edible goodies.

Now there are some warnings which I must impart. First the cooks are from the local high school, so don't expect award winning techniques here. Last year they over cooked my chicken. This year it was actually not bad. So it is a crap shoot on whether your food will be cooked to order. Also, the prices for food is pretty much the standard gouging you would expect. For example a small can of soda, cost 2.50.

The first thing I tried was the sonora pork sandwich. With a name like that I was hoping for something new and great. It wasn't bad, but it was basically shredded pork with a bit of BBQ sauce. It tasted pretty much like a Sloppy Joe expect with shredded pork. They did give a generous helping of pork though.

Next, I tried the BBQ beef ribs. Last year it was okay. This year, it was seasoned well, but it practically screams for some BBQ sauce. If it had just a bit of sweet BBQ sauce then it would have been perfect. It needed that counter balance of sweetness for the salty seasoning they had.

My wife had the 1/2 chicken with the beans. The beans tasted like some of the can beans I had and was quite bland. The chicken was not bad. It was seasoned well, and this year, they didn't over cooked it. It was tender and still juicy. My son enjoyed his chicken quite a bit. The corn on the cob was my wife's favorite. It was sweet, and steaming hot. She actually went back to order a few more.

Since I wasn't filled from my beef ribs, I ordered the hamburger. It tasted like the type of hamburger you get from the cafeteria in high school. But like I said, it was high school kids cooking, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

Upon walking around, it can get somewhat tiring and hot. I recommended that you try the snow cone. It was actually refreshing and you can get it in multiple of flavors. You can eat the ice while it's still have the flavoring, or wait till it melted a bit and drink it through the straw. Perfect for just lazy strolling through the hordes of kids running around.

Overall, I would say that "A day out with Thomas" is more suited for my kids. But the food was okay as long as you don't expect too much out of it. You can always bring in your own snacks and food, which we did for our kids. But it is much easier just to buy food there, especially the ice cream and cold foods.

Road Foods

I have made many trips up and down the I-5 over the years. Most recently was a trip to Disneyland with my family. This was one of the few times, I decided to take the path less travel when it came to my dining experiences.

Often, I am guilty like the rest of you of just going with the old stand by. Burgers and fast food chains that follow you where ever you go.

I'm not saying that this is a totally bad thing, since often the familiarity provides the most comfort. But what I am saying is sometimes we need to go beyond our comfort. Sometimes you may surprise yourself with something quite unexpected. On this trip, this happened a couple of times. First on the way down to L.A., I was surprised by the Willow Ranch BBQ. A really good BBQ in the middle of nowhere. It was quite by accident that we found it, and once we tasted the food, we knew we were in foodie heaven.

Even in L.A. we made detours just the get out of the ordinary. Like when we found Joe's Ice Cream stand. A popular hangout place in Orange County for some late night sweet cravings.

There is something to be said of the adventurous spirit needed to out of your comfort zone. I know of people that for some reason or another, refuses to trying anything new at all. On trips they would go to the same stops, order the same food and have the same exact experiences each time. I was once like that. I like knowing what I was getting myself into. But as I'm getting older, I realized that to not willing to try something new, I'm depriving myself of unexpected treasures that life has set out for each of us.

Some times it may not go our way, (see my Song Long review), but at least I can say I was not afraid to try it. On road trips, especially, we can get out of our daily ruts. Try something new and report to the world what we found.

There were still some stops which I was looking forward to trying but we never quite reach them. Split Pea Anderson is suppose to have some of the best split pea soup around. There were many fruits stands to probably sell the fresh fruit and vegetables you can get anywhere. Unique restaurants that can be found no where else. I'm actually looking forward to my next road trip. It's like an unopened present. You don't know what is in it, but you look forward to opening it.

Harris Ranch

Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant
24505 West Dorris Avenue
Coalinga, CA. 93210
1-800-942-2333

Sorry for the tardy update, but I have not been home for a few days.

Harris Ranch is located almost exactly in between San Francisco and Los Angeles if you take the I-5. This is the place if you remember right where you see and smell massive amounts of cows. Upon pulling up to the restaurant you'll realize that it's actually pretty big. There is a small gift shop where you can purchase some souvenirs and some decent bake goods.

We stopped there on our return trip home from Disneyland. It's actually a decent place to stop, rest and refuel your car. On one side of the bridge you have your typical fast food. The other side you have mainly just Harris Ranch. I've often driven past several times but never stopped to eat at Harris Ranch.

There are actually two restaurants, one for family dinning and another for a more older crowd. Since I had my child with me, we selected the family dinning one, which is called Harris Ranch Kitchen. The decor is what you would expect to find from any ranch style restaurant. There are the usually cowboy, and farm motif on the walls and the tables.

Since we just stopped by for lunch we ordered light. My wife ordered the Caesar Salad again, but this time the salad included slice sirloin. I ordered prime rib open face sandwich with ranch beans. I know what you are thinking, you probably are wondering why did I go to a steakhouse and not order any steak? Well, we just came back from vacation and we were really just looking something not too heavy.

My prime rib sandwich was okay. It was soft and tender, though I did find it a bit bland. It was a generous portion and it came with some onion strings. I guess either my taste buds were overused on this trip or the seasoning wasn't just right. I ranch beans was only okay also, they did not compare to the ones we had at the Willow Ranch BBQ (see Willow Ranch BBQ review).


My wife's salad was pretty good. The steak was well seasoned and cooked properly. It was tender and soft, which match well with the salad, which was fresh and crispy. The dressing was nice and not over powering. One of the few times I wish I had order what my wife had instead of my dish. For lunch, I would say that that dish is pretty perfect. Gives you a refreshing lunch, but still had some protein.


After our lunch, I really wished I had tried some steak and some BBQ to really give a a good review. But alas, our time was short and our stomach was full. I may review this restaurant again in the future, but we'll see.

The service was adequate. We were served pretty quickly and they did check in on us from time to time.

Final Thoughts: Good place to stop and stretch the legs after a long drive.

Food: 3 stars
Service: 3 1/2 stars
Price: Above Average
Overall: 3 stars

Seafood Cove

8547 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 895-7964

After sampling a few of the restaurants in and around Disneyland, it was nice to get out and try a different style of restaurant in the Orange county area. I talked with some friends while was down there, and my good friend (I'll call her Thu) recommended Seafood Cove in Garden Grove.
I was a bit leery of recent recommendations (see my review of Song Long), but I trust her, since she has lived there all her life.

There was no wait and we were seated immediately. After perusing the menu, we settled on a fixed family still meal. Be warned in Asian cuisine, family style involves lots of dishes coming at you, so prepared to see lots of food.

The first course was sour soup. No, not hot and sour soup, but sour soup. It is an distinctly Vietnamese, and I must say I usually.....hate it! Why? Well, my mother in law orders this all the time. Usually there are some variant, often you see it serve with fish, or shrimp. My main complaint about this dish is that the flavor lacks depth. You only taste sour, and that's it. Now imagine drinking a bowl of sour liquid. Not very appetizing is it. Well, the sour soup served at Seafood Cove, just changed my overall impression of this dish. I actually liked it. There is the sourness, but this soup actually has some flavor depth. There is an underlying rich broth, that you can taste. They also made it more spicy than the usual sour soup I usually try. The spiciness hits you in the back of your throat and gives it a bit of lingering hotness. My only dislike was the fact that they used imitation crab meat.


The next dish was a cubed steak. It was seared and cut into tiny cubes, like little bits of heaven. This dish shows why Seafood Cove differs from other Asian restaurant. There is the usually soy and salty flavors that you usually taste, but then there was another underlying flavor. And that flavor was....butter. Yes, butter in Asian cooking. I found that by adding butter to the dish, it added another dimension, that I just never tasted before. I liked the newness, though my wife complained the meat was a bit tough.


The pea shoots came out next. It is a dish you often see at many Chinese restaurant. It tasted fresh, and was not over cooked. There were bits of fried garlic through out. This tasted like others I had, so Seafood Cove did not do anything new here.


My friend that had eaten there before suggested they had a dish that was similar to the Dry Fried Chicken (see Sang Tung review). He did not remember what it was at the time, though afterward he said it was the kung pao squid. We asked the server, and she said it was the kung pao chicken. It was okay, but it was not on the same level as Dry Fried Chicken. It was sweet and a bit spicy, but it lacked the crispy texture of Dry Fried Chicken.



Part of the set menu was the crispy flounder. This is also another dish that you find in most Chinese restaurant. This was prepared nicely, with two sauces. There was the usual sweetened soy sauce and there was a new red sauce, which I don't usually see. I didn't care for the red sauce too much, it was tangy with a bit of hotness. The fish itself was fine, with flaky flesh and crisp skin.


My wife particularly liked the crab. It was the common dungeness crab you often find everywhere. It had a oyster sauce based, but once again, there was the hidden layer of butter flavor underneath. It definitely made the sauce more rich than what it was. I liked the fact that they chopped the crab into more friendly bite size pieces. It made of easier eating, since crab is usually a bit hard to handle to eat properly.


We also tried another familiar dish which is the salt and peppery shrimp. This is a dish where they coat the shrimp in batter and then deep fry it. After which they pan fry it with onion, salt and peppers. It was pretty tasty, but after you've eaten it a million times it can be a bit underwhelming.


Lastly, we ended our meal with a typical Chinese dessert, tapioca. This tapioca was pretty good. It was not too sweet and it was actually quite fragrant. I would've have eaten more, but I already had so much food that day.


Service was okay, though a couple of times, the language barrier prevented me from getting what I really wanted. There was another dessert at another table, but my server could not understand what I was talking about.

Final Thoughts: Something new in Chinese cuisine.

Food: 4 stars
Service: 2 1/2 stars
Price: Average
Overall: 3 1/2 stars

Catal Restaurant and Uva Bar

1580 S Disneyland Dr # 103
Anaheim, CA 92802-2294
(714) 774-4442

Catal is a spanish cuisine restaurant located in the heart of Downtown Disneyland. There is a Uva bar outside, and don't ask me what is an Uva bar because I do not really know and I forgot to ask. The restaurant is actually located upstairs and provides a nice view of the surrounding shops and other restaurants.

Once again we were pressed for time, due to the fact we wanted to catch the Electrical Parade in California Adventures. We were seated quickly and some warm bread with butter was brought to us. The server quickly took our order, but from that point on, we had to wait.

We order some sashimi, a Caesar salad, and for the first time my wife ordered the same entree as me, which was the Spanish Paella.

The sashimi was fresh and had a nice crushed herb oil with it. I believe the fish was hamachi but I could be wrong. The flesh was firm and was not fishy at all, but it did lack some fatness that would have made it a bit more rich. It was a nice choice to start of the dinner since, it was not too heavy of an appetizer. The crushed herb oil surrounding it was a good accompaniment since it gave the fish some extra flavor that it lacked.

Once again, my wife had to order her favorite Ceasar Salad. The dressing was fresh and it was stated on the menu that it was made in house. It definitely tasted freshly made. The salad itself was crunchy and matched well with the garlic croutons. It was a decent salad, though after tasting so many Ceasar Salad on this trip, they all seem to be about the same. Not one really stands out in my mind.

Our main course took some time to get to us, but it was well worth the wait. The official name listed on the menu was Paella a la Valencia. It had shrimp, clams, mussels, chicken, chorizo (type of spanish sausage) and scallops. It was made the traditional way in a cast iron pan. The rice was flavored with saffron that gave it that underlying flavor. The only slight disappointment was that usually the Paella would have a crust on the bottom of the pan, and these did not. The flavor though could not be beat. When you mix in all the ingredients together it provided a symphony of flavor that was well harmonized together. It provided 3 of the most key elements of a great dish. The presentation was outstanding, the flavor was top notch, and it was even a generous portion. I was so full, due to the fact I could not stop eating it, and had to finish every last bite. The portion was a bit too big for my wife, but she did manage to finish more than half of hers.

One a side note, I was able to taste my child's chicken potpie dish while he wasn't looking, and it was pretty good. It had a nice soupy base and the puffy pastry they used on top was a nice touch.

The service was acceptable overall. We were seated quickly, and most of our request were handle quickly. The food did take a bit to get to us, even thought he restaurant was not packed at the time.

Food: 4 stars

Service: 3 1/2 Stars

Price: Above average

Overall: 3 3/4 stars

Blue Bayou Restaurant

Among the many different types of themed restaurants in Disneyland, one of the more unique ones is the Blue Bayou Restaurant. What makes it so special? Well unlike the many food stalls you'll find (see my guide on dinning in Disneyland), this is an actual restaurant. Also, this restaurant is incorporated as part of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Yes, as you ride out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, you'll see diners on pier, and what appears to be decent food. This is the restaurant that you see. However, I do have to suggest you either make a reservation or go early. The reason for this, is that the ambiance is great, but if you don't get some of the lake side seats, you'll won't see anything and the experience won't be as much as it could be. This is probably one of those once in a lifetime experiences. Be warned though, the prices is higher than average and even quite a bit higher than the surrounding restaurants.

We were greeted at the door, where they take the number of seats and then the server leads you to your table. The ambiance is dark and it's actually quite hard to see. I'm sorry for the poor photos, but the lighting is not exactly what I called the best. I ordered some braised ribs and my wife ordered the crab cakes. I suggest you also ask to see the souvenir cup. It either has the glow in the dark Tinker Bell or Lightning McQueen. Since my young son was an avid Cars fan, we ordered the Lightning McQueen cup. These cups are something you will not find anywhere else in the park, and I've looked. It really it's just a LED clip that glowed, but cool never the less.

My wife's crab cakes were decent. They were not exactly what I would call jumbo crab cakes. They were rolled into the standard size crab cakes, and was fried. I did not taste it unfortunately, so I can't really comment on the taste. There were only a few of them, so I felt bad if I were to pillaged them while my wife was not looking, though the thought did cross my mind.

My braised ribs were actually quite flavorful. It was very robust with the wine reduction. Since the meat was braised, they were fork tender. Braising the meat means slowly cooking it over time. If done properly, the meat comes out perfect tender and of course very juicy. I really did not need a knife, since it just fell apart at the slightest touch. It was a pleasant surprise that I did not expect to find. Actual decent food inside Disneyland Park.

The server ask if we were interested in a dessert. I asked what they had, and he responded "we have something special." Well, that something special turned out to be a special pirate ship ice cream. The bottom was a warm cookie dough, the body was a vanilla ice cream, and there was a edible mast sticking out of the ice cream. The mast may be edible, but the server told us not to eat it, since it does not taste very good. I was happy just to take his word for it. There was a warm chocolate and caramel sauce really just put it over the top.

The service was decent but we were left a lone for some time. The food did take a bit to get to us. I think we were just unlucky to have our order come in exactly the same time as the other people, since we came in as the restaurant just opened. We did have to request refill on our drinks a couple of time. Overall I say, the service was just acceptable, not great, but acceptable.

Final Thoughts: Decent food, great ambiance, but high price.

Food: 3 1/2 stars

Service 3 Stars

Price: High

Overall: 3 stars

Morton's Steakhouse

1895 S Harbor Blvd
Anaheim, CA 92802-3509
(714) 621-0101

Sometimes you know you are being a bit too excessive. You are bordering on being a bit too self indulgent. But during those times you must say to yourself, "I deserve it!" I knew that by going to Morton's Steakhouse, that I was going to blow my vacation budget. I knew that the bill was going to be astronomically high. But it was a chance I was not going to pass up.

The restaurant was literally only a block away from our hotel on South Harbor Blvd in Anaheim. There was another steak house closer called Chris Ruth's Steakhouse, but we made the extra effort in going to Morton's. Although we were not dressed for the occasion, the hostess did not mind. All she requested was that I remove my cap in the main dinning room, to which I was happy to oblige. Inside, you'll find a very old time rustic decor that screams out that they take their food very seriously. Most of the patrons were smartly dressed which made us feel a bit under dressed. The main dinning room was pack, and plenty of servers with their hustle and flow provided a great ambiance.

The servers provide a show before they take your order, which included the different cuts of steak. They tell you specifics, like how long they aged their meats, what sauces are with what dish, and any dessert that require pre-ordering due to the cooking time. All the servers were very knowledgeable and we found them to quite friendly. After the presentation, we decided to start with a lobster bisque, a Jumbo Shrimp Alexander for my wife, chicago style bone in rib eye for myself. We also pre-order the Raspberry Souffle so that we could end our meal with even more decadency. The sides were extra, but we ordered some hash browns and steamed vegetables, because eating nothing but meat would have been a bit too self indulgent.

The bread that most restaurant starts out with is usually pretty forgettable, but not Morton's. The bring out a onion round loaf. If you never had one, it's like eating a big onion bun that you find in bakery stores. The crust is crisp and the inside tender. With the accompanied soft butter, I could have just eaten that by itself for the the whole meal.

Our soup came out first, it was the very rich lobster bisque. My wife thought it was way too rich, but I suspect that she does not understand what a bisque is. I tasted it, and it was fine to me. The rich buttery silky smooth soup with the lobster flavor as the background. I think my wife expected more of a lobster chowder.

The shrimp for my wife's Jumbo Shrimp Alexander were truly huge. Usually when people claim jumbo they really just mean large. Most shrimp are not big enough to be consider an entree by themselves, but the ones we got were. They were coated with some seasoned bread crumbs and served with a white creamy sauce on the bottom. The shrimp tasted fresh and was seasoned nicely. I'm not a big shrimp fan, often I find them very boring, but these shrimp definitely woke me up a bit. The picture do not really convey the how big these shrimps were.

The star of the night was definitely my rib eye. I often choose rib eye due to the fact that the cut has great marbling. Morton is more known for their porterhouse cut, but there was no way my wife and I could've finish a steak that size. Now when Morton's ask you how you want your steak done, you better know for sure. When they tell you that they can prepare exactly the way you want it, they mean it. If you say medium well, with a slick just a hint of pink throughout, that's exactly the steak you'll get. I requested medium rare, and it was exactly the way I want it. My steak had a good charred crispy steak and the more center you cut the more rare it got. The outside was seasoned perfectly. The meat was aged which means they let it sit, usually for time time in a dry cool cellar. This allows the meat to become way more flavorful and way more tender. The side order of hash browns unfortunately was a bit too crispy and over done. The server noted it and took it off our bill.

We ended our meal with the raspberry souffle. It was presented as usually with the top overflowing it's container, but quickly deflated as it was cut into. The raspberry flavor was very mild and nice. The souffle was nice and smooth and not too eggy. There was no sauce served with it, but they did scope a rich heavy cream next to it. It was a nice contrast of the light souffle and heaviest of the cream. My wife, who is not a souffle fan, even said it tasted pretty good.

Our servers were excellent. We did not have to request for refills of our water. They even bought out a live lobster to show and entertain our small child. Everything was handle quickly and professionally. Plus the fact they were are very knowledgeable was a bonus.

Final thoughts: Well worth the price of admission.

Food: 4 1/2 stars

Service: 4 1/2 stars

Price: Very high to Astronomical

Overall 4 1/2 stars

Song Long

9361 Bolsa Ave
Ste 108
Westminster, CA 92683

(714) 775-3724

While we down in Orange county, my mother in-law insisted that we had to go to Song Long. Apparently this place was highly recommended by her family and friends. Song Long was actually a bit hard to find. We had to travel down the length of Bolsa Ave only to find it tucked away in a small plaza. When you walk in you will find baked goods on racks near the door with seating in the rear. The decor is like most Vietnamese family restaurants you find, with just the bare minimum required. Do not expect to find table coverings here.

We were seated promptly since there was no wait. The menu selection was large compared to other Vietnamese restaurants we've been to. We ordered some appetizers, a grilled pork chop for myself and a seafood noodle soup for my wife. The others in my party mainly ordered about the same thing.

The first appetizer that came out was the Vietnamese egg rolls. These were like traditional egg rolls except the filling was with Vietnamese meat and vegetables. The skin was crispy and the flavoring was nice. I did not try the fish sauce, since I'm not a big fan of fish sauce, though my wife says it was okay. Unfortunately, our meal went down hill from there.

Next came the puff pastry which is called pate choud. Essentially this was a puffy pastry that is filled with seasoned meat, usually a liver pate or ground meat of some kind. The pastry itself was not prepared well at all. It was soggy and the pate inside was way too livery. There was a hint of sour smell as well. The server took back our order and apologized for it. I suspected that this pate choud was way past its' expiration date.

My grilled pork chop came out next. It was sweet like most Vietnamese grilled meat. However, it was a bit dry and tough. I was a bit disappointed by this, since most of the Vietnamese restaurants I go to, this was my standby dish. The accompany egg meat loaf was better. The rice was a bit on the hard side. Some one else in my party had rice that was rock hard. This could be either due to two things. One, it could be day old rice. The second which seem more plausible to me, is that the rice was undercooked. That's why my rice was only a bit hard while my other party member was rock hard.

My wife's seafood noodle soup was a complete disaster. It looked good, but tasted completely bland. It was as if someone took the standard soup broth and decided to pour some extra cups of water to dilute it. Most of the seafood was okay, though I was disappointed that they used imitation crab meat. Not a major offensive since I'm beginning to see imitation crab meat more and more in Vietnamese cooking.

The service was okay, they took our complaints seriously. They apologized for the pate choud. I wish I could say something more positive, but I can not.

Final Thoughts: Song Long should change their name to so long, because I will not be back.

Food: 1/2 star

Service: 2 star

Price: Average

Overall: 1/2 star

Naples

1550 S Disneyland Dr
Anaheim, CA 92802-2322
(714) 776-6200

We were in Downtown Disneyland for the first full day to grab something to eat while waiting for our parade to start in California Adventures. We decided upon Naples due to the fact that the could seat us right away. The restaurant is more of an modern Italian restaurant with modern furnishings.

We decided to seat outside for two reasons. First there were seats available and we could be seated right away. Second, it was not hot but actually quite pleasant to sit outside for our dinner. Although we were seated right away, we were in between shift changes, and our initial server had to leave. We had to wait a bit before our second server came and took our order.

We finally decided on calamari, Caesar salad, Ahi Tuna salad and a thin crust pizza. The pizza was topped with sausage, onions and roasted red peppers. We had a small group of people so we needed the extra servings. Unfortunately our server mistook our Ahi Tuna salad to replace our pasta order instead of an addition, otherwise we would have had more variety.

The calamari was prepared properly. It had a thin seasoned crust. The dipping sauces was good, though not spectacular. The marinara sauce had a good tomato base, while the garlic mayonnaise provided a good counter balance.

The Caesar Salad was pretty fresh. The dressing tasted homemade and the lettuce had a good crisp. The croutons were decent with a good crunch. I was glad that the portion size was big that it feed my whole party.

The thin crust pizza was also decent. It had a nice cheesy flavor with the sausage providing the bulk of the meat flavor. The crust though could have been more crisp, it should not flop as much as it did. Fortunately it too was a decent size.

Lastly, the Ahi tuna salad came last. It was prepared nicely with a nice herb crust and a raw center. The herb crust was surprisingly flagrant, almost flowery. The only draw back that it was quite pricey and yet the portion was really quite small. The tomato and cucumber salad that accompanied it was pretty good. It provided a nice freshness to the dish.

Service was okay, given that fact that the place was pack and we had to switch servers. We did have a bit of a wait time for refills of our water. We were left to ourselves a lot and it took awhile to get our check back.

Final Thoughts: The food was okay, but unfortunately nothing memorable.

Food: 3 stars

Service: 3 stars

Price: High

Overall: 3 stars