|
It's generally a well-known fact that you should name your pizza parlor after a farthest location from where you're currently at. People will tend to believe that somewhere thousands of miles away...
It's generally a well-known fact that you should name your pizza parlor after a farthest location from where you're currently at. People will tend to believe that somewhere thousands of miles away regular folks enjoy this awesome pizza on the daily basis, and now globalization efforts have finally made it possible for you to experience this exclusivity as well. Bay Area pizza places seem to stick to this rule: there's Chicaco Pizza and New York Pizza in Palo Alto, and Amici's in downtown Mountain View or San Francisco advertises the fact that it's an East Coast pizzeria.
There's very little New York at New York Pizza on Hamilton aside from a few photos of Empire State Building on the walls. The space is a bit cramped. but can probably sit round 20 people reasonably well. Most of the visitors get stuff to go, and New York Pizza does have a few combos and flavors to offer. The prices range from mid-10s to mid-20s for "King Kong"-sized pizzas, the service is quick and expedient, the selection of toppings is pretty good, and the results are average to above average.
There's nothing that makes this place stand out aside from the convenient location. The crust is similar to what you'd get at numerous other places, the toppings are more or less consistent, and they do have good recipes. I guess one thing that might make them stand out is the presence of gyros in the menu, but I haven't tried those.
Hide
|
|
La Patisserie used to have some crazy hours, and still closes up shop at 1 pm on Sundays, but if you make it there, it's worth it. It's a French-style cafe, with a few tables inside, a few tables...
La Patisserie used to have some crazy hours, and still closes up shop at 1 pm on Sundays, but if you make it there, it's worth it. It's a French-style cafe, with a few tables inside, a few tables outside, a coffee stand, espresso stand and a pretty impressive selection of the desserts.
They seem to be pretty good on chocolate, mousses and combinations of the above. The small desserts can be packed to go or eaten inside and range between $3 and $5. The cakes looked pretty tasty as well, and while we enjoyed the desserts with some coffee outside the shop, quite a few customers picked up cakes to go.
The staff is friendly, familiar with the recipes and contents of each dessert, and the place is well-lit and clean. Overall, a place dessert lover will probably enjoy. It might be a bit pricey, but generally a dessert from a French cafe would require an air ticket to Paris.
Hide
|
|
It's really hard to find anything wrong with place. This little restaurant in downtown Palo Alto with outside seating available right on Emerson Street during summer hours has all the majors...
It's really hard to find anything wrong with place. This little restaurant in downtown Palo Alto with outside seating available right on Emerson Street during summer hours has all the majors covered. The cuisine is exquisite. The menu is quite simple, but what St. Michael's Alley offers, it delivers well.
Reservations are generally required for dinner, for lunch and breakfast they don't seem to be as busy. The menu is available on the restaurant site http://www.stmikes.com/ The service was excellent, ready with recommendations, and open to discussions on what's included in the dishes. The carafe of the grapefruit juice that we ordered was delicious as well.
The restaurant is clean, dimly lit to create private atmosphere. The awards on the wall happily inform you that it's been awarded The Best Romantic Restaurant in Silicon Valley year after year. Overall, the food is great, the service is friendly, this is a must visit.
Hide
|
|
Frankie Johnnie & Luigi Too is a nice Italian family restaurant in Mountain View with hearty meals, good sauces, free bread with olive oil and wine selection to make every Italian restaurant proud....
Frankie Johnnie & Luigi Too is a nice Italian family restaurant in Mountain View with hearty meals, good sauces, free bread with olive oil and wine selection to make every Italian restaurant proud. The parking is a bit tough to find on busy evenings, but generally possible, the service is pretty good and friendly.
The menu for the Mountain View restaurant is available on this site http://fjlmountainview.com/page/o642/Menus.html and the prices are generally within double digit amounts. The atmosphere is quite friendly and fits a family outing or a romantic dinner equally. The free bread is not as good as the one provided at Lion & Compass.
Overall, a pretty good experience for when one is craving Italian.
Hide
|
|
I genuinely tried to enjoy this place, but it's below-average in pretty much category one can think of. Except for parking. Located next to an Indian food supermarket, it shares the parking lot with...
I genuinely tried to enjoy this place, but it's below-average in pretty much category one can think of. Except for parking. Located next to an Indian food supermarket, it shares the parking lot with other places in this strip mall, and therefore finding a spot even on busy nights is not a problem most of the time.
However, the menu is pretty generic, the selection of dishes is substandard compared to other Chinese places, and the house specials are prepared with the cheaper parts of chicken, meaning you have to bite carefully, since bones might still be intact. They serve jasmine tea, but requests for water seem to go unnoticed. There's an oversupply of onions and garlic in the house special, leaving the customer with a few bites of meat and vegetables.
Overall, a forgettable place with nothing distinguishing.
Hide
|
|
Layang Layang is located on De Anza about a block off 85. It features a pretty extensive menu http://www.layanglayang.us/menu.html of Malaysian and Indonesian dishes as well as a few inventions of...
Layang Layang is located on De Anza about a block off 85. It features a pretty extensive menu http://www.layanglayang.us/menu.html of Malaysian and Indonesian dishes as well as a few inventions of their own.
The parking in front of the restaurant is available, but generally not sufficient. Luckily, the restaurant is on the corner of De Anza and a residential street where street parking is allowed. The restaurant allows for inside and outside seating, and inside seating does look a bit cramped. The waitress and hostess wear traditional clothing and generally maintain pleasant and friendly atmosphere.
The food selection is pretty good, and the presentation is even better. If you never drank coconut milk off freshly cracked coconut and never ate pineapple rice off the pineapple shell, this is the place to go. Pretty much every dish we ordered was an exercise in design and presentation. The pricing for most of the dinner meals is between $6 and $15. Layang Layang serves Malaysian iced teas and some other exotic drink, including coconut milk served off coconut.
Hide
|
|
If you walk down Murphy Ave in Sunnyvale, Del Monte is pretty easy to miss or dismiss as just another hole in the wall. Behind the dark glass, however, is an elegant and friendly Mediterranean place...
If you walk down Murphy Ave in Sunnyvale, Del Monte is pretty easy to miss or dismiss as just another hole in the wall. Behind the dark glass, however, is an elegant and friendly Mediterranean place that's apparently owned by people descending from Croatia (former Yugoslavia) and therefore featuring quite a wild variety of food.
The menu is available on the restaurant Web site http://www.delmonterestaurant.com/menu.html and don't be afraid to ask the waiter for the explanation of any item. We tried Cevapcici Croatian Style, which turned out to be mini-sausages made out of various kinds of meat and prepared fresh, quite tasty for an appetizer.
The Scampi Provencale and the sturgeon (not on the menu, but offered to us during the daily specials recital) were quite good, served with steamed vegetables and some mashed potatoes on the side. The portions are all about presentation, and the large plate was sprinkled with parsley. The service was a bit slow, but they had just one waiter for roughly 12-14 tables that were in the restaurant that night.
The interior is nice, clean, and well kept. This is a white cloth place, and it has a pretty good wine list. Most of the menu is available online on the restaurant Web site.
Hide
|
|
Il Postale consistently ranks as the best Italian place in Sunnyvale, CA, and they're not afraid to tell you about it. The place is located in downtown Sunnyvale across from Macy's parking lot,...
Il Postale consistently ranks as the best Italian place in Sunnyvale, CA, and they're not afraid to tell you about it. The place is located in downtown Sunnyvale across from Macy's parking lot, which provides for plenty of available parking spots at any time of day. The interior is quite nice, surrounded with paintings on brick walls and large wine bottles stashed everywhere in the range of visibility. They also have a full bar with the full selection presented to the customers.
The tables are white cloth, and there's complimentary white bread that comes with oil and vinegar. The wine list, as expected from an Italian place, is extensive, and the menu is quite diverse and doesn't concentrate on pastas or pizzas, as you'd expect anything Italian to feature.
The dinner menu is available here http://ilpostale.com/page/ny84/Starters_Dinner.html and the food itself left an excellent impression. Everything was cooked just perfect, had the right sauce and was generally a pure delight to eat. The service was very good and friendly.
Hide
|
|
La Fiesta is a bit off beaten path, and welcomes the casual visitors with a parking lot for about a dozen cars. The place seems to mainly pitch margaritas and other drinks typical for Mexican...
La Fiesta is a bit off beaten path, and welcomes the casual visitors with a parking lot for about a dozen cars. The place seems to mainly pitch margaritas and other drinks typical for Mexican places, which is usually a bad sign for the quality of the food. Turns out, my premonition was correct.
It's not that the food is outright bad, it's just bland-tasting and doesn't offer any differentation to make La Fiesta stand out. However, there were some positive things about the place as well. Four salsas definitely beats Fiesta Del Mar's three salsas, but the service is quite slow to replace the empty chips baskets even when not too many customers are around.
The interior looks well kept and is quite colorful, generally what you'd expect from a family Mexican place. Overall, La Fiesta is a good place to go if nothing else is available.
Hide
|
|
Golden Wok is located in downtown Mountain View, a block off Castro. Featuring an impressive entrance with fountain, since Golden Wok presents a rather cozy environment decorated in red and gold....
Golden Wok is located in downtown Mountain View, a block off Castro. Featuring an impressive entrance with fountain, since Golden Wok presents a rather cozy environment decorated in red and gold. The restaurant itself is pretty large and has seating for large groups.
The menu overall looked pretty good and had a good variety of poultry, seafood, soups and traditional Chinese dishes. Most of the mealsare within $7-10 range, and a little pepper by the meal description would tell you how spicy it is. The soup is delivered in a large bowl with a few smaller bowls for the party to share. The dishes are delivered on a separate plate, steamed rice can be ordered as well for the guests to share the meals.
The service was pretty friendly and quick, the meals delivered were sizzling hot and tasted good. They serve water and green tea in the kettle. The tea was pretty good, not the generic watery stuff you get at other places, but potent green tea. The inside of the restaurant is clean and well-maintained, they do have white clothes on the table, but cover them with disposable white paper.
Overall, a pretty good place to come back to when you feel a craving for Chinese.
Hide
|