Kelvin "Code Monkey" L.'s Profile

Let me start with -- excuse me if I'm being harsh.  And to qualify myself, I'm a Japanese Cuisines fanatic and spent a little over a month in Japan.  I'm Asian also... so I think I can tell what's Americanized food or not :-)

I honestly can't find anyway to give anything more than 2 stars.  I was thinking of 1-stars... but... I just haven't had rated anything 1-star yet in Yelp.  I don't wanna go that direction...

8 of us went there for dinner, because half of the group had lunch here before and had recommended greatly.  I think for the other half new comers (including myself), it's safe to say we were sorely disappointed.

To begin, I ordered 2 orders of gyoza & agedashi tofu to share.  The gyoza... completely over cooked/fried.  It's dry.  The agedashi tofu... is probably the WORST I've ever had.  I would even say it's a total rip-off.  I've never seen it made this way, and not too add the dry texture of the tofu... I thought I was eating Chinese tofu bean curd.  If you wiki for agedashi tofu, I can promise you the one they served in Sushi Cruise is no where remotely close to the one described in wiki's entry.

3 of us 1st-timers ordered the sashimi platter to start with, the other 5 each ordered the Americanized combo.  The -LOOK- is so-so for the sashimi, but the taste is... word can't describe how poor it was.  I'm quite sure it's MILES away from the word "fresh". I seriously wonder whether the whole platter was pre-cut and just come out from the fridge...  

I've never ever before, while using my chopstick holding up a piece of salmon and it is so cold so frozen that it can stay horizontal.  The tuna and yellow tail were probably the leanest you can find in town.  There wasn't a single line of fat tissue on the meat.  I don't even have word to describe the albacore.  I'm a fairly easy going person, but this is probably the very rare occasion that I actually called the waiter over and complain, and show him how "nicely" the sashimi platter was... for $25.95, I honestly can't justify paying a penny more than $15 for the one we got.  I am 200% certain I can get better and fresher sashimi at Mitsuwa or Nijiya supermarket.  On my way to restroom I even checked through all there little fridge on the sushi bar (I think there were 5-6 of them), and I think all the Tuna and Yellow tail in there were, in my humble opinion, should not be served to anyone.

For the combo-orders, the chicken and steak teriyaki were pretty much like meat-jerky.  The California roll... yuck.  The spicy tuna was a little bit more tolerable.  Maybe cuz of the spicy won't let you taste anything that's not fresh.  I wonder if the rice were over-water-cooked, or it's from the previous night.

Since the sashimi went so poorly, I picked hot cooked sushi roll instead as a follow up: salmon skin, volcano and spider.  The spider is fair, at least it's hot so I know it's fresh.  Not too much batter for frying but lack flavor, so I probably will give it average score. The salmon skin... below fair.  Volcano roll... sorry ... their sauce is just too plain.  A lot of places they will put some masago on top of the house's special sauce after the volcano roll come out from the oven, and certainly that's not in consideration Sushi Cruise's chef mind.

I'm able to give this place 2-stars only cuz of the cooked roll.  They are eatable. Or else I would have go 1-star, or might even go below 1-star.  At the end of night, with tips we each paid around $22-25 out the door.

Maybe their lunch is better, or the all-you-can-eat is better (I can' justify $25 buffer dinner when there were so many exclusion).  For me, even if you will pay for my meal, I don't think I'll waste my tummy space and time to ever go back again... I would even say *[[avoid at all cost]]*.

Thankfully the day before I had a $26 dinner at Shabu Shabu House in Little Tokyo.  Or else I'll be totally screaming and crying foul for the $23 I spent for this meal, and be totally deprived of Japanese food for this weekend~

After reading the review of a fellow chowhounder, I made a spontaneous decision - picked TB as my 2nd stop for Newport Beach Restaurant Week.  It was 11:35am and I made a reservation for lunch at noon.

This restaurant is located inside the Corona Del Mar Plaza, where the Newport Beach Public Library is located at.  It's pretty easy to find it.  When I saw the picture on the website, and the actual place... *BIG* different.

Once I stepped inside, I was greeted by the nice hostess and then led me to my table.  The decor of the place is really really REALLY cool.  Very interesting light fixture, very island-stylish waiter/waitress uniform.  I got sat at the far corner at the back... there were 4 2-seaters.  So a word of advice - if you are trying to impress your girlfriend, asked for a table for 3, so you'll be sat at the middle of the dinning room instead of the corner.

It was my solo lunch run, I was completely fine with the corner.  In fact I got to seat next to the window, a little bit of sunlight shinning inside with the breeze... it set me up with an excellent mood to enjoy my lunch.

The bisque, very solid.  Warm and not too hot, not too salty, just right for my taste.  In comparison of the soup I got at Bayside... it's far supr.  The scallop slider once again surprised my palate - very tasty and yummy.  Another word of advise... if it's a bit cold for the day, try not seat outside or next to the window, or else the food get cold REAL fast.  I was so happy taking picture of my food... that my slider went a little bit on the cooler side.  Bummer...

Dessert... awesome.  Gotta taste 2 instead of have to choose 1.  Personally I luuuuuv the bite size Chocolate Cake.  It's SUPER rich in flavor, flourless, and instantly melt in your mouth.  I'm not a big chocoholic... but that 2 bites definitely pull me a bit toward that direction!  The tart's crust is very soft, and the key lime flavor is on the light side.  So it's really a personal preference that... I luv the cake over the tart.  Same as... I like the stronger flavor twisted mojito over the regular one.

I was so full, that I don't have any room to try out Gelato Paradise again~

p.s my waitress Kimberly was super nice, I wish there's a way I can give a half-star on her behalf.  she made the lunch so enjoyable!!!

p.p.s. Kimberly is a very cute blonde :-p

With all the selection available in Rowland Heights... I will just say this -- if Red Ant, Boston Cafe, Boston Kitchen, and Maxim are *ALL* closed... THEN will you consider stepping food here.

Food, not much you can expect, it's cafe food.  A fair amount of selection. But the service... GOSH... it's hooooooooooorible.  Now that Boston Kitchen is directly next to them, I hope it's just a matter of time that this place will flop on its own.

Not much for me to add.  Period.

For me, unless there's absolutely no other alternative (e.g. skipping this meal? maybe?), then would I eat here.

It's located in the Diamond Plaza, which automatically you can deduced parking is a nightmare... it's at the store where Noodle Hut used to be.

Well, Red Ant Cafe is my #1 choice for HK-style cafe food around Rowland Heights... now that Tasty Garden (next to HK supermarket)Tasty House (on Gale) is closed, my #2/#3 would be the Boston's, then follow Maxim.  Unless there's absolutely no alternative (e.g. I can simpily skip a meal..), then would I step food into Garden Cafe.  I think that's all the cafe around...

Red Ant got a neat selection menu. food is almost always served hot and yummy.  I can't think of anything bad about Red Ant... other than... finding a parking to get here.

When I have a chance, I shall take some photo of the menu.  I eat there all the time :-)

For all the HK-style cafe around Rowland Heights, Boston Kitchen I'll rank it as my tied at 2nd/3rd, cause It's sister restaurant Boston Cafe on Azusa Ave would be the one at the same level.  Sometime Boston Cafe is better, sometime Boston Kitchen is... really depends on what you plan on ordering :-)

Hmm what am I to yelp about this place... being a Chinese myself, not much.  Typical selection of dishes and a fair-to-good quality of food (depending what you are ordering).  Service is... just as you expected from a HK-style cafe.  Period~

My top choice among -ALL- the HK-style cafe around Rowland Heights would definitely goes to Red Ant Cafe!!!  I only came to Boston because parking over at Diamond Plaza for Red Ant Cafe is a *MEGA*NIGHTMARE*......

I've been to Staples Center a few times for Lakers game.  I've sat at different places like
- section 333 (those $27 cheapest all-the-way-up-there seats), and
- C-22a the Toyota's  suite :-p

I'm still waiting to experience Premier-13 box seat for the Lakers-v-Warrior game in March.

You can get a tentative view from your seat from Staples Center site
http://www.staplescent...

I looooove the Staples Center.  Beer isn't as horribly over-price (well $8.25 for my coors).  Food was as decent as you can expect from a sport arena.  Got plenty of choices inside for food such as McD, Panda Express, Wetzel's Pretzels and Domino's pizza to list a few.

You can't go wrong spending say around $25-50 for a night with the gang cheering for your favorite team~~~

GOOOOOOOO L-A-K-E-R-S!!!

It's my 1st time venturing to Newport Beach Restaurant week.  So needless to say, I was full of excitement and brought a few friends along.  We had a party of 6... and I don't think much of us were impressed.

I picked this as my 1st stop because the online menu attracted me.  But the sad part... when you arrive and look at the menu, they CHANGED it!!!

Our server, Kent, he's pretty funny.  He married with a Taiwanese woman, and knowning that my entire party are Chinese-speaking, he just start rambling out Mandarin with a heavy American accent.  It probably was one of the funny highlight of the meal~

Our food arrived.  Majority of my party ordered the soup, and all of us commented - it's NOT hot enough.  On a scale of 1-10, it would score a 7.5 IMHO.  It's creamy with reach flavor... but being only lukewarm ruined it.

I tried a bite of the swordfish from my friend's plate, it's so-so.  The sauce is fairly good.  But... compare with the "Oven roasted wild mushroom crusted organic salmon" that's suppose to be... I gotta to say it's no where close to my imaginated tastiness.  My Prime Culotte Steak was fair.  It's well cooked evenly (I ordered medium rare).  The sauce for my steak was... interesting.

The only thing that wasn't change on the menu was the dessert.  And shall I say, if not because of the dessert, I'll give Bayside just a 2.5 or even 2 star.  The dessert saved the meal and the mood of my party.  The little warm and fluffy/soft chocolate cake was yummy, and the icecream was full of hazelnut flavor.  Neither was too sweet, just to the right level.

2 outta the 3 stars in my rating is mostly for the ambient of the restaurant.  It's very nicely decorated, with live piano music playing.  I would think it probably is a nice place for happy hour (the bar look comfy and classy).  Other reviews that gave 4 or 5 stars seem all refering to brunch.  So I think this place is a "depend on occaution" type of restaurant.  It's not the "always good consistently awesome" kind of place.

I didn't pick Sage (as many other did mention while discussion) cause the menu wasn't as "special" at a first glance.  Not Roy either cause I tend to stay away from the chain.  French 75 and Ritz are too... classy in Fashion Island.  So as you can imagine... the level of disappointment I was in, when I look back slap on myself -DOH-, Should Have-Could Have-Would Have ...

Each of us (a party of 6) paid $45 out-the-door.  And for $45, I definitely have had waaaaaaaaay better food than this.

See the pictures that I uploaded... and decided for yourself.

well... what can you expect from when sitting at the bar booth of a chain restaurant?

It was Lakers-V-Sun last night so I though to grab a good meal to enjoy the game at the bar.  I work in Irvine so I searched around what's good...

I found The Auld Dubliner @ The District (http://www.yelp.com/bi...).  It's next to DSW store... but what a bummer, only 2 small TV showing European soccer?!  Next I tried Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) that's diagonally across the street... but freaking packed.  grrrrrrr... There's also this JT Schmid's brewry... but that place look a bit too up tight for me to let loose and enjoy myself.

Without much options that's close by in Irvine/Tustin... Chili's was where I ended up at.  I was able to snare a booth as a party were leaving.  The server must be a newbie... anyway I ordered my rib and beers... the shrimp came out sort of cold.  not much of service if you are in the bar booth I guess... and when I'm done he just brought the check without even asking I want a dessert or not! pssst.

if there's a next time... I think I'll go for Firecracker Tilapia with Honey-Chipotle Baby Back Ribs instead... figner-crossed it'll be warm through the meal.

Maybe next time I should drive further to BJ at Tustin Marketplace...

I usually come here to pickup either the combo or 4-strips for lunch.  I don't think I ever had a bad experience of their food.  The fry's ok... I'm not a big fan of it.  The cole slaw is pretty good (unlike the KFC kind that can go straight to the trashcan).

I've only tried the garlic parmesan and lemon pepper... not sure about the rest.  I don't enjoy spicy food much...so my next try probably will go for Hawaiian ;-)

I parked my car in front of the store today during lunch when I was picking up my to-go order at Wingstop a few stores down.  So... I decided why not check it out.

I got my order of lemon-pepper boneless strips in my hand, so I was really just thinking of "take a look" only.  And the, I see smoothie choices!  yay.

So my review, is for the fresh fruit smoothie, not the yogurt.

I paid $5.80 for a mango-peach smoothie.  It's definitely a bit more on the expensive side... compare to other like Jamba and Robek and Juice-it-Up.  But then, they use fresh fruit not frozen fruit.  I can see it because the store is very open, and you can see how she made it.  The portion (see the picture) is fairly generous...and they better be for that price!!!  I enjoyed my smoothie as it accompany my boneless strips very well for lunch!!!