Birthday weekend

I can't believe today is already Monday and my 5-day mini birthday/vacation long weekend is coming to an end. Can I NOT go to work tomorrow?  :-)   After 3-day off-site seminar, I took Thursday and Friday off as vacation days. What sucked was that I got sick late Wed. I most likely caught the bug from mao-mao (she's a germy baby!).  So on Thursday, I did nothing but stayed home and moped around.  I have to give myself credit though for finishing Sarah's 6-9 months photo book.

On Friday, I was a little better after some OTC drugs, so I did a whole bunch of errands, i.e. Costco and Target runs.  I feel like that's what I always do during my day off, especially since SQ hates going shopping so we seldom go during the weekends. He doesn't realize that diapers and toilet papers don't get filled up miraculously!  After SQ came back from work, we went to Mandalay Burmese Restaurant. This is one of my favorite restaurants in the City. All the dishes are soooo tasty and good.  I always order my usual dishes because I can't afford not to order them (and satisfy my cravings) whenever I go there.  However, I guess it was sort of a bad day to go ...because of my congestion, I didn't enjoy the food as much as I would have.

On Saturday, my sisters took me to Spiazzo Italian Restaurant in West Portal..  I thought the food was just OK, but I was happy for the birthday treat!

I feel especially happy this birthday (despite my cold) because it's my first time celebrating my birthday with Sarah.  Same time last year, she was still inside my tummy! :-)

Restaurants in Hawaii

Despite hating the long work days and being away from my family, there are great perks when it comes to business travel.  One of them is fine dining.  Because our meals can be expensed, we have the option to go to nicer restaurants that we would not have gone to if the cost came out of our own pockets.  I'm a budget-conscious person by nature, so I  am usually fine with good food, expensive or not.  However, some of my co-workers are a little finicky, so they opted for the coolest restaurants on island.  I tagged along (because I hate dining by myself), and here are a few of the restaurants we tried throughout the week that are really worth mentioning!

(1) Blu Water Grill - my friend brought me here because it was in Hawaii-kai and away from Waikiki. Their food was very good.  I especially liked the Kulua Pork Quesadilla, although the Mango-Guava glazed baby back ribs were also very yummy.  This is a local Hawaiian hang out, a great place for classic dishes.

(2) Merchanko-Tei - This is a sushi restaurant that gives you HUGE portions. I know, Huge portions and sushi usually don't go together, but it is possible, at this place!  The nirigis all have a generous cut of fresh raw fish. I would totally go back here again, even on my own dime.

(2) Morimoto - This restaurant is inside the trendy Edition Hotel on Ala Moana.  As you know, this restaurant is owned by Chef Masaharu Morimoto, one of the Iron Chefs. We went there with a hope that the food will wow us, but I was seriously underwhelmed by the dishes. We ordered a lot of appetizers and a main entree.  Of all the things we ordered, I only enjoyed the wagyu carpaccio and the braised cod.  The others were just "ok." Great presentation, but some of them were simply not that special.

(3) Nobu Waikiki  - I saved this for last because it IS the BEST restaurant of all.  Every dish is an OMG-delicious, and I am not joking!   The taste, texture, and presentation are superb.  Everything was delicious.  Dishes don't come cheap here, but I think it's worth just to try it and experience it. Your taste buds and tummy will be on Cloud 9!

A pleasant surprise

I walked into the office last Friday and saw my boss delivering little white envelopes on everyone's desk. I got one too. I opened it up to find a summary of my 2010 bonus payout, and I was extremely surprised (in a good way)  at the amount!  You see, I work for a retail company. Our main objective is to drive sales and earn profits for the company by buying the right products to sell to customers.  This might be an understatement - but I have a highly stressful job with lots of responsibility and accountability.  I'm dealing with hundreds of million of the company's dollars afterall.  I get paid a decent salary, but what really motivates me is our annual bonus. If I meet all my targets (and there are few of them) then I can earn a bonus equivalent to 30% of my salary. During a good year, this 30% can easily jump up to 40% or 50%, etc.  But there are hardly any "good" years... the targets are usually aggressive and some even impossible to reach.  If I get at least 15% at any given year, I am content.

Well, last year, in 2010, the company had a "good" year.  Overall, sales were great, and profitability was outstanding.  Within my area of management, I've exceeded on some targets and missed some.  But net-net, I got a great bonus %.  Although I got a great %, I only worked for 5 months last year... So I figured that even a great % against my 5 months worth of pay is not going to yield any big dollars.  So here was my surprise when I opened the envelope.  The great % was calculated against my full year salary! What a pleasant surprise! It's too good to be true. I can't quite believe it....

I guess with everything in life - if you don't have high expectations, then you won't be disappointed.  If you don't expect it but end up getting it, you will be so ecstatic to receive such a pleasant surprise!!

So my sister (she got a big bonus too) and I decided to celebrate our bonuses by treating our family to a nice dinner at Koi Palace.  Koi is pretty well-known for their great and innovative Chinese dishes. Or maybe I should use the verb in past tense, was known.  We ordered a set menu, which came with Shark Fin Soup, Abalone, scallops, crab, etc just to name a few.  We also added a Westlake Minced Beef soup (for non Shark Fin eaters) and Peking duck.  I must say that all the dishes were kinda bleh.  It's not that they weren't good, but I guess I expected them to be great.. (the higher expectation = the bigger disappointment).  I definitely didn't get the WOW factor - you know, the memorable dishes that had everyone at the table talking and reminiscing and thinking about when's the next time we'll all go again?  Well, didn't happen with this dinner at Koi's.  And of course, service was mediocre.  It'll be a long time before I revisit Koi's...at least until my memory of this meal fades and I accidentally put them back to my good restaurant list again.    

new restaurants

SQ and I love to go around our neighborhood trying out new restaurants. This weekend we tried out two places.

LOU'S CAFE (on Geary, between 14th and 15th)
This place opened about 4 months ago. We found it via Yelp. They serve sandwiches, soup and coffee. We ordered the LLB Special (roast beef, turkey, ham on Dutch crunch). It comes with Lou's special sauce and jalapeno sauce. Also ordered a custom sandwich with chicken breast and avocado. We also ordered a cup of clam chowder. I must say that I absolutely love everything we ordered! the clam chowder was really delicious, even better than Boudins IMO. Nice service and clean atmosphere. I would definitely come back.

SAWAII RAMEN (on Irving between 23rd and 24th)
This place also just opened. It used to be Macau Friends before it went under. We ordered the fried tofu as appetizer. The tofu came in a plate with the sauce. The tofu was a bit soggy because of the sauce. I think I would have liked the sauce on a separate plate. We also ordered the pork ramen. Really disappointed with the meal. While the soup and noodles tasted fine, the bowl only included 3 pieces of cha siu, seaweed, bamboo shoot, and wood ear. That was it. No bean sprouts, no egg, no fish cake, no red ginger. So it was kinda blah.

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Kome Buffet

My nephew, TY, celebrated his 1st birthday at Kome Sushi Buffet in Daly City. This is the same place near Century Theaters - once known as Todai, and McSkewers. The previous 2 restaurants have gone under. I've never been there before prior to the party, but I heard that there were lines out the door!! Really? A serious contender to rival against Moonstar?
When I arrived at the restaurant at approximately 11:40am, there was indeed a long line out the door. It was incredible how many people were there. Inside the restaurant, it was PACKED. Every table was occupied. Tons and tons of people...there were even lines to get food. They had a great sushi bar - lots of variety. They had shrimp tempura rolls, spider rolls, catepillar roll, hand rolls. just to name a few special ones. Of course, there are the usual salmon, tuna, himachi nigiris. Too bad I can only stick to the good ol' California rolls!

The other main counter was the Chinese food section - they had fried noodles, chow fun, broccoli beef, fried chicken wings, eggplants, veggies of all sort, and the "siu lap" section - roast pork, BBQ ribs, roast duck, BBQ pork, etc. They also have a soup noodle station & a steam station with steamed buns (baos) and Shanghai dumplings that they make fresh on-site.

The dessert bar was decent - mango pudding, green tea pudding, various cakes, tiramisu, chocolate pudding,5-6 flavors of ice cream, and fruits (mostly melons).

Not a whole lot of seafood or expensive foods, but a lot of variety. The taste of the dishes were decent. But from what I heard, the attraction is the price. Weekend price is only $12.95 for lunch and $20.95 for dinner. That's a really good deal to eat your tummy out!!

Weekend Dinners

We eat out almost every weekend - since we had a long weekend this time around, we did more eating out! Below are my very mini Yelp reviews!

Friday night (9/4): Mayflower Seafood Restaurant on Geary Blvd.

Although we pass by this restaurant on Geary at least a few times each month, we never end up eating there. The last time I've been there was for a dinner, at least 10 years ago. I remember I had just been laid off from my 1st job and I treated my family a nice dinner at this restaurant with my bonus/severance package money. So we went on Friday with my parents. The meal was decent although service was horrible. 3 tasty dishes and 1 miss. The waitress was very arrogant and plainly just has an attitude. With so many restaurants offering both good food and service, it'll probably be another 10 yrs before I go back there again!

Saturday night (9/5): Parkside Tavern on Taraval St.

This place used to be a run-down bar and grill place called Rick's. Since Nov 08, Rick's closed down and after months of renovation, Parkside Tavern popped up. This restaurant is the owned by Larry Doyle, who also owns Johnny Foley's, Beckett's of Berkeley, etc). Every night taking the MUNI L-Taraval back home, we pass by this restaurant so I want to try out their food. It's a great sports bar, and a relaxing place for some good food and live music. We shared a mussels appetitzer and then ordered a couple of pot pies for entrees. We also later shared a peach blueberry crumble. All 3 dishes were good - we would come back again to try some of their other dishes. Perhaps also just order some drinks & listen to their live performances.

Sunday night (9/6): Pagan Burmese Restaurant on Clement St.

This place is fairly new - it used to be a Hawaiian BBQ place, which went under a few months ago. It's quite sad to see how many businesses go under, but on the flip side, it's exciting to see how many businesses come up. We came here to celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary! We ordered a noodle salad dish, a chicken curry, and beef bariyani rice. I was only impressed with the noodle salad dish. The other two dishes are kinda dry. The beef bariyani rice was the worst of the 3. Also disappointed that they didn't have mango sticky rice that night though they have it on the menu. I guess I was expecting to see a similar menu to Mandalay, but surprised to see that they are not similar at all! It's not bad to the point that I wouldn't go back, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

Monday night (9/7): Park Chow on Irving St.

We have been to Park Chow many, many times before and I love this place. Speaking about businesses going under, I didn't realize that 2 Pasta Pomodoro's have been closed down in the SF (the one next to Kabuki Theater and the one on Irving). I was craving pastas so wanted to go to Pasta Pomodoro for a quick fix but sad to see that the one on Irving was already closed. So we ended up going to Park Chow. I ordered one of my favorites - Fusilli with Italian sausage, mushroom with a creamy tomato sauce. Love it! I got my pasta fix! Best off, I ended my weekend-long dinner dates with an absoluely delicious ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream. It is still soooo delicious! Yumm!!!

Food-Filled day!

The Fourth is definitely a Food-Filled Day! SQ and I woke up late today, did some garden clean-up and went for a late lunch at the Outerlands. It is a nice, sweet little cafe in the Avenues (Judah and 45th). I always like to patronize our local eateries whenever we can. The Outerlands has an unique decor - their walls, tables, chairs, benches, and floor are all made from re-claimed wood. It not only has a very rustic feel to it, it is environmental-friendly. Since today is a holiday, the cafe served a limited menu selection. We shared a corn chowder, which was really really good. Not too heavy, filled with fresh sweet corn, potatoes and my favorite, roasted bell peppers. Yum! It was so good that the bowl was gone before I remembered to take a pic of it! We also ordered a Roasted turkey open-faced sandwich, complete with cheese and granny-smith apples. It was delicious! I would definitely come back to try some of their other dishes... Yelpers said that their Mac and Cheese is to die for!
As if we didn't already have enough food, we ended up going to Bi-Rite Creamery for their specialty ice cream. They have the best ice cream in town...yes, IMO, even better than Mitchell's. I got the Balsamic Strawberry and SQ got Toasted Coconut. Both flavors are first timers and keepers! Enjoyed the ice cream with a free show at Dolores Park.

Bi-Rite Creamery is also associated with the Bi-Rite Market on 18th & Guerrero. They are very well-known in the neighborhood, because they promote and sell only organic and locally and sustainably-raised meats, poultry and seafood. It is actually a very small market, but check out their cheese selection!

While in the neighborhood, we would be shot if we didn't stop by Tartine Bakery. It was close to 3:30pm by this time - and we were both very stuffed, but we still managed to chow down their famous bread pudding and a cup of latte. The peaches are in-season and extra-delicious! I am not a big fan of bread pudding but this is indeed quite good. SQ loved it!!! Next time we have to come back on an empty stomach.

I wonder if we will skip dinner tonight, having eaten more than we can possibly eat? Chances are, probably not! We love food too much!

Others go out of town on the 4th. Others BBQ. Others go watch the Fireworks. For SQ and me, we chow down on the 4th!!

Buca

It has been years since I last dined at Buca di Beppo on Howard & 4th. You just got to have a big group to eat here because the portions are so big. Thank goodness I have such a big family. We came here last Thursday to celebrate my dad's birthday. There were about 25 of us ... and boy oh boy, I was STUFFED walking out the door! We had calamari, brushettas, pizza, pasta, you name it... the meal was probably my whole week's worth of calorie in-take!




But it was fun...gotta love hanging out w/ the family.

The Tong Family
(P.S. These family pictures are harder and harder to come by)

Viva Las Vegas

Perhaps this is the best SQ has come in surprising me. After a couple of days of non-stop heavy rain, our original plan of spending 4 days driving south along the Pacific Coast was "washed away." It became apparent to us on Sunday that the entire California would be rained out, north or south. Since I had already taken the days off work, I was prepared to spend the next few days at home, relaxing.

But on Monday morning, SQ woke me up at 8am and told me that we had a flight to catch at 11. I thought he was joking, but SQ is not someone who pulls tricks like these. Sure enough, by 10am, we were at the airport...flying to Vegas!

We've been to Vegas many times, but this was really somewhat of a surprise. We stayed at MGM and SQ even got us Cirque de Soleil tickets for KÀ.I've only watched one Cirque de Soleil, many many years ago - tickets courtesy of Googi. But that was a travelling show, which means that the set and special effects were minimized. So KÀ was definitely a nice treat. Very cool! I heard that "O" is also very good - hopefully, I'll get to see that next time.

On this trip, I was determined not to eat at any buffets. Every time we go to Vegas, we end up chowing down some buffet at some hotel. Although the food most of the times is good - I was just sick of it. So, this time, we went to Wolfgang Puck. We chose this place for 2 reasons: (1) it's in the MGM, and (2) the magazine had this place listed with only $$, which means entrees are $20-$25. The rest of the listings we saw had $$$ to $$$$, which is $25-$60 per entree!! We couldn't afford that! So Wolfgang it is.

We ended up ordering their tasting menu, which is a prix-fixe with a starter, entree and dessert. Of course, SQ and I ordered different things so we could try the entire menu.

For starters, SQ ordered the Arugula salad - yummy but too much dressing for my taste. I ordered the cream of Cauliflower, which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED! This was the best of the 3 dishes I had.

Entrees: pictures below. Quail on a bed of spinach (left) and braised short ribs (right). I'm not a big quail fan so didn't eat much out of that plate. The spinach was to die for. So tender and tasty. As for the ribs, it was OK. It was actually a really big piece of meat. The picture doesn't really show it. At first the dish tasted really good, but after I ate 1/2 of it, it got kinda heavy... so this wasn't my favorite.

There was only 1 option for dessert - carrot cake with pecan ice cream and nuts. This was good, not great.

Overall, I was neutral on this restaurant. It didn't WoW me but I did like the soup. I always like his soup recipes. They're good. At the end, I was just super glad that I wasn't in some buffet.

P.S. No luck on gambling... we both lost $$. :(

Polker's Gourmet Burgers

We went to Polker's Gourmet Burgers today at Polk St today for lunch. We waited about 20-30 minutes or so for a table - a bit long... in my head, I am still questioning if there is really a recession out there...?

We utilized the wait time to browse Cole Hardware, which is a few stores away on the corner. In high school, I worked as a weekend Cashier at Cole Hardware, not at this particular store on Polk - but at the original store on Cole St. in Cole Valley. Anyways, back to Polkers - we got our table and I ordered a Crab and Shrimp Benedict (a) and SQ ordered a mushroom burger with Curly fries (b). The Benedict was rich but good... a heart-attack special - complete with crab, shrimp, egg, avocado, scallop potatoes and whatever creamy sauce that blended everything together. I was most excited to try their burgers since this place is called Polker's Gourmet Burgers afterall. Somewhat disappointed because the mushroom burger was a bit on the dry side probably because SQ ordered it medium well. But I do love the swiss cheese and mushrooms that came with it. Curly fries are overfried and I didn't like them at all. Glad to at least tried out this place - sometimes I feel like there are so many restaurants out there in SF and SQ and I just eat the same ones over and over again. We're just creatures of habit!

(a) Crab and Shrimp Benedict (b) Mushroom Burger with Curly Fries

After Polker's, we stopped by La Boulange and got myself a yummy Iced Mocha. This one on Polk has a very nice decor - cute little pastries and sandwiches ... very Parisian! Love it!

A delicious bowl of Udon

There was some kind of bomb threat on the Chinese Embassy on our way home on Geary this past Friday night, so we had to take a detour and drive near Japantown. We ended up finding a nice parking spot there so we decided to eat dinner there. Our normal place to go is Tampopo, the Ramen restaurant in the central J-town open plaza, but we wanted to try something new. I was most interested in going to a Shabu Shabu place, but don't know of any off hand. So we walked into one of those random Japanese mall and stumbled into Kui Shin Bo. The name of the restaurant sounded a bit Korean to me, but we walked in anyways. The restaurant was quiet, only 2 other tables were occupied.

SQ and I both ordered the udon, and this is one of the best udon I've ever had!! I was very happy with the broth and mainly the udon itself. Between udon and ramen, I always prefer ramen because I always think that udon is tasteless and the noodle itself is well, thick and chewy. But not here!! The noodles were tasty, even without the soup, and most importantly, there were springy. Each bite was so good! They serve the udon in this iron pot/bowl which kept the soup and noodles hot, the way any soup noodle should be!

As we were enjoying the delicious meal, it dawn on me that everyone in the restaurant spoke fluent Japanese. They were conversing with the waitress and the Sushi Chef, all in Japanese. Then I realize ...THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE THE NATIVES GO TO! No wonder it's so yummy and authentic! I would definitely go back there whenever I want a bowl of udon!

Another Birthday dinner @ Piazza Pellegrini

I met up with my coworker from Hong Kong and she treated SQ and me to an Italian dinner at Piazza Pellegrini. This restaurant is located on Columbus Ave, in the heart of North Beach. Since it was a Wednesday night, we didn't have to wait for a table. We ordered a Pizza Margharita to share as appetitizer. The crust is very thin and it was pretty good. There were 6 generous pieces. However, the entrees were disappointing. Here are some of the entrees we ordered:

Fusilli con Pollo

Fettuccine with shrimp and peas, in a chardonnay saffron sauce

Angel Hair pasta with cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil

I must say that the food wasn't all that great. Very typical Italian, nothing extraordinary. None of us were wow'ed by our dishes. The food was a bit on the bland side - because I ended up having to sprinkle some salt over mine to get a little more taste out of it. Given our disappointment with our entrees, we didn't hand around for dessert.

Besides the food, we had a great time hanging out.

Birthday Dinner @ Chouchou

SQ and I enjoyed a nice and quiet birthday dinner yesterday. We dined at this lovely French bistro called ChouChou (pronounced Shoo-Shoo) in the Forest Hill area. It is a small quaint restaurant almost in the middle of nowhere but definitely worth trekking to. I ran across this place through a recommendation from a co-worker and it was a great restaurant indeed!! Service was great and the food ... it was Yum-Yum excellent! SQ ordered the prix fixe menu that came with a selection of appetitizers, entrees and dessert - all for only $25.95. He chose the Frisee aux Lardons (Frisee salad with poached egg and pancetta as appetitizer and I got the Sauteed escargots with garlic, butter, and puff pastry. Both were delicious. Sorry we both got so excited about the food that we forgot to take pictures of our appetitizers!

For entrees, I ordered the duck confit - shredded duck nestled inside the lightest, tastiest, thinniest fingerling potatoes I've ever had. Simply deleeessh!! SQ ordered the mussels with the side of shoestring fries. Mann, that bowl must have had 50+ mussels in there... they definitely didn't go cheap on the portions even though the mussels were part of the Prix Fixe menu. The broth that came with the mussels was excellent.

Then came the dessert. By this time, I was too full to have any - but since SQ's order came with dessert, we picked the Mixed fruit tart to share.

And mann o mann....I practically ate 1/2 of this tart even though my tummy was about to explode. It was soooo good!! The crust was thin and sugar-coated, which provided a great balance with the fruits. Excellent!! The dessert was my favorite even though I liked everything else too. I would definitely recommend this place if you are looking for a non-pretendious French bistro that gives you all the things you're looking for - service, price, and great food!!

Southern BBQ : Memphis Minnie's

(a) (b)

After seeing "Memphis Minnie's" featured on PBS Check Please Bay Area, my hubby SQ and I decided to pay this place a visit. We got there aroun 6:30pm and the line to order food went out the door. All the tables were packed and we thought it may be better if we order take outs instead. So we stood in line, going through the menu. That kept us busy while waiting in line. We ordered the following 2 dishes:
(a) Meat Two way combo: St. Louis Pork Ribs and Santa Maria Tri-Tip Steak Plate. It comes with 2 sides and I chose potato salad and potlikker greens
(b) Meat Two way combo: Texas Big beef Ribs and Beef Brisket. 2 sides included Fries and Mac N Cheese

By the time we ordered, the tables emptied and we got seats right away. Then it was a wait for the food to come out. A couple right in front of us ordered To Go and they waited just as long... so there is really no shorter wait for take out. We got our food after 20 minutes or so. I must say that the food is overrated. The meats are dry and bland. You have to depend on pouring tons and tons of sauce (they have 3 for you to choose from) on the meats to get some flavors out of it. Quite disappointed. I've had better BBQ... but their business will probably continue to prosper because there is a niche of good ol' Southern soul food in the Bay Area. People tend to always associate old, funky places like these a gem. To me, it's one of those restaurants that I can say, "Been there, Done that." I can now move on.

Dish #7 please

I went to San Jose this Saturday with 4 girlfriends - purpose was to look for bridesmaid dresses for IT's upcoming January wedding. But what is a trip down to SJ without a stop at a Vietnamese restaurant?? We stopped by lunch at Tay Ho, where they serve one of my favorite dishes, Banh Cuon. It is a steamed rice roll with ground pork inside, served with the veggies, the Vietnamese sausage, Cha Lua, and the Vietnamese fish sauce. It was soooo yummy, not to mention that I have been craving to eat this dish for a couple of weeks! In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to eat it again!!

SQ's birthday

Friday was my hubby, SQ's birthday. We celebrated the day with a nice dinner at Plumpjack Cafe on Fillmore and Steiner. We got there around 7pm and found a parking space right outside the restaurant! SQ ordered sea scallops for appetizer and the Rib Eye for his entree. I got the cream of corn soup and a Roasted chicken. Right as we were enjoying the food, Gavin Newsom walked in! He wasn't dining there, but walked into the rear of the restaurant (where we were seated) to wait for his takeouts. As you know, Newsom owns Plumpjack, so he was merely in his kitchen getting his dinner. He waited there and chatted with the staff for a while since the food wasn't ready. I took a few quick glances at him. He was well-dressed in a suit and tie, hair slicked back as usual, tall, and quite handsome. Ok, Ok, the birthday boy was handsome too.

Finally his food came and he walked out of the restaurant. It was one thing seeing Newsom on TV or in public event, but it's one thing seeing him in a private occasion. Odd. So we finished our food and shared an apricot tarte tartin. It was yummy.
Happy Birthday sweetie!

Highway Robbery

My co-worker and I went to try out this new restaurant called Medicine Eat Station for lunch today. It's a new, posh/hip restaurant, located inside the Crocker Galleria in Downtown San Francisco. Their "niche" is to offer a healthy, vegetarian menu, inspired by the cooking of Zen Buddhist monks in Japan, dating back 500 years. Their motto: Food so healthy that it has historically been called by a Japanese word meaning 'medicine.' Today in Japan, this cuisine is called shojin, a word that means "working to better oneself." Bottom Line: BULLSHIT. The food is so bland and tasteless that I wonder if they even cooked or seasoned it.

I ordered one of the 5 "Foundation sets," which is their healthy, ultra-simple foundation for a meal. Again, BULLSHIT. They offered an "artisan tofu" which is nothing more than a square of uncooked tofu off a box (aka Vitasoy Tofu). Not even a peck of salt on it. Tasteless. Then I got 4 pieces of extremely small pickled turnip. Hurray. My main course was a bowl of Soba (buckwheat noodles) in a Shojin broth. Okay, instant noodle is a lot 100x better than this. The broth tasted more like hot water, and the noodles, well, very buckwheat. I feel like barfing when I ate it. I hate to diss food like this, because I was taught never to complain about food. But believe me, this is perhaps one of the worst meal I've ever had! Charge for this bland, favorless and unsavory meal: $8.95

But this is not the end of it... on the bottom of the menu itself, these words, "For convenience, a service charge of 17% is automatically added to your bill. No tipping is accepted. " BULLSHIT! Convenient for them! No, don't get me wrong, this is not your typical, add 18% for party more than 6, etc. This is 17% no matter what. It is sooo ridiculous!! The service is by no means impeccable, but we (a party of 2) were forced to pay this 17% to a waiter who didn't even fill up our glass of water or drop by to ask how we're doing. Now, this is highway robbery.

Needless to say, I will never go back there again... plus, I need to spread the word and let everyone I know how ridiculous this restaurant is. Food is horrible and overpriced. Service is poor to warrant the mandatory 17% charge. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone, even to my worst enemy. Yes, it is THAT bad.