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Mexicali Grill is conventiently located by AMC Mercado in Santa Clara, so the place already has a location to attract a large amount of people done with the movies and ready to head down for dinner....
Mexicali Grill is conventiently located by AMC Mercado in Santa Clara, so the place already has a location to attract a large amount of people done with the movies and ready to head down for dinner. My coworker and I were there for lunch, and it was a good sign that the restaurant was quite busy at 1 pm.
The service is pretty good - we were seated quickly, and offered the complimentary chips and salsa. The salsa was not too spicy, and the chips were of good quality. Their menu offers a variety of standard Mexican meals in $8-15 range, with the usual items you'd expect to find at other restaurants.
The food that we ordered came quickly and was ok. Again, nothing outstanding, but good quality, although small portions (perhaps because we were ordering from lunch menu). The restaurant inside was clean and quite nice-looking. It's a good place for its ambiance, but don't expect miracles from food.
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Cafe Baklava offers a pretty good menu with various Mediterranean dishes and Turkish kebabs made out of chicken, lamb, beef and pork. They also have a pretty good variety of meats and fish prepared...
Cafe Baklava offers a pretty good menu with various Mediterranean dishes and Turkish kebabs made out of chicken, lamb, beef and pork. They also have a pretty good variety of meats and fish prepared in various Greek and Turkish sauces.
However, when you go beyond the house specialties, the food selection is pretty boring and you get the impression they're just repackaging the desserts they bought in bulk at Costco and selling to you at marked-up prices. Few of the desserts that I've tried on my visits there were a bit watery and did not make me a fun of the restaurant.
On arrival the customers are greeted with a serving of pita bread and hummus. The hummus is pretty good, although if you closed your eyes, the taste definitely reminds of guacamole sauce at a Mexican place. The quality of the entrees is ok, but nothing spectacular. Eggplant seems to be ever-present in all their menu offerings, with several entrees including eggplant as the main dish. The service is inevitably slow, and the waiters have taken a solemn oath to read the daily specials even if you already know what you want, and you explicitly tell the waiter you're ready to order.
The place does not have enough ambiance to justify for average food, and generally doesn't become one of those places that you dream of coming back to. If you want to avoid the slow and dull service at Cafe Baklava, but would still like to enjoy a good kebab, drive up Castro past El Camino to Rose's Market (across from Washington Mutual building), where they make all sorts of kebabs on open fire. They will make it faster than Cafe Baklava, too.
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Even people who are picky about the restaurants generally have some specific requirements that concern the quality of the food, its presentation, the interior and cleanliness of the restaurant, and...
Even people who are picky about the restaurants generally have some specific requirements that concern the quality of the food, its presentation, the interior and cleanliness of the restaurant, and the quality of service. At Elephant Bar & Restaurant it seems that they took care of everything.
The menu is available online at http://www.elephantbar.com/ourmenumain.htm and from the looks of it, Elephant Bar is primarily an Asian Fusion restaurant with the desire to please a little bit of both tastes, which justifies having cheeseburgers and fish with salsa.
We had to wait for about 10 minutes before getting into the place on Saturday evening, and the parking lot on Stevens Creek Boulevard was full. The drink menu is what one would expect from a restaurant that has a full bar in place, but they also serve a variety of specialty drinks mostly prefixed by the word "Jungle". The drinks are mostly in $4-7 range, with the meals ranging from $8 to $15.
The menu is quite vivid and full of pictures, and the presentation of the food at Elephant Bar Restaurant is great as well - they do really make sure the food looks good before it's served.
The service was bit hectic with the restaurant packed on Saturday, but nevertheless the waiters were courteous and expeditious. The place itself looks very clean, quite new, and has an African theme to it, which explains the sculptures of giraffes and large variety of plants inside.
The lunch menu varies from $6 to $9 and also features some of their excellent fish dishes.
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Be it weding reception or romantic dinner, Falafel Drive-in fits perfectly... Aaah, who am I kidding? The place is a little hole in a wall, and not a drive-in to begin with, as it's quite hard to...
Be it weding reception or romantic dinner, Falafel Drive-in fits perfectly... Aaah, who am I kidding? The place is a little hole in a wall, and not a drive-in to begin with, as it's quite hard to drive in with only 4 parking spots available and limited street parking. Nevertheless, the lines are always there during lunch time for the $6.50 large falafel and banana shake special. The falafels are tasty and plentisome, they're kinda messy to eat on the spot or in the car, but make a perfect lunch at home or at work.
There are a few picnic tables with tents over them to cover people in case of rain. The food preparation process is quite fast, and generally one doesn't have to wait a whole lot to get their food. Each to-go serving comes with extra red sauce. Definitely a must-try if you happen to drive near Stevens Creek Blvd.
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We've decided to try Sarpino's over a weekend, since the menu looked good, and the prices were quite competitive. They also have a weekly mailer with coupons inside, which just happened to arrive a...
We've decided to try Sarpino's over a weekend, since the menu looked good, and the prices were quite competitive. They also have a weekly mailer with coupons inside, which just happened to arrive a few days, so the decision-making process, as far as choosing the pizza place to call, was quick.
The person on the phone was very friendly and spoke good English (a rare find for pizza places), and quite quickly the order was accompanied by free chicken wings and two salads, courtesy of some coupon in their weekly mailing that she pointed me to. Estimated delivery time was 30-45 minutes, the driver arrived in about 35 minutes.
The pizza was hot, tasted great, the chicken wings were not as hot. Salads comprised of thinly cut vegetables in plastic containers with dressing brought in a smaller container. The menu selection at Sarpino's is pretty good, and their gourmet pizzas sound interesting enough to give Sarpino's a try next time we need hot food delivered quickly.
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The 5 page menu at this place features more than a hundred items, with selections in soups, fowl, pork, mu shu, chicken and seafood.
After seating the guests are greeted with obligatory tea and...
The 5 page menu at this place features more than a hundred items, with selections in soups, fowl, pork, mu shu, chicken and seafood.
After seating the guests are greeted with obligatory tea and spicy cabbage, which I haven't seen at other Asian places.
The meals are served in family-sharing mode, so anything you order comes with a number of plates, and the waiter distributes a generous portion of the meal to everyone at the table.
The place is not expensive, although there were some items on the menu (sea cucumber, I think), which were at $25 a plate. Expect most of the food to be in the $8-12 range.
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Nola's menu includes some esoteris stuff like crawfish-alligator dumplings and spicy jambalaya. The staff is friendly and the whole atmosphere is casual, filled with loud music and good food. With...
Nola's menu includes some esoteris stuff like crawfish-alligator dumplings and spicy jambalaya. The staff is friendly and the whole atmosphere is casual, filled with loud music and good food. With the exception of occasionally being too oversalted, the food is pretty good, and the cocktail menu is impressive.
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