Reviews of Restaurants

Blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:07:00 +0000

Hi fellows,

All of the posts of this blog have been moved to the main blog page now under the Restaurant Review label. I'll be hiding this page eventually. New reviews will be posted on the main blog only.

Thank you,
Kanan

Coconut Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:04:00 +0000

One of my favorite restaurants for Thai food on the Peninsula. I actually like Narin that's next door from this place better, but since I ate here only last week, I thought I'd write about it.

I do have to tell you that it's a little pricey for the amount of food they give, but it's good nevertheless. The place is very well lit from the inside and also has quite a lot of daylight because of being located on the corner.

For lunch, as a vegetarian you don't have too many choices but you can request them to make a meatless/egg-less Pad Thai noodles and their Panang Curry is quite good.

They have a bar next door as well and the place is small but very cute and clean. The service is good but they get very busy at meal times so if you're planning to eat there, make reservation or go a bit early.

* - the dinner item I've tried in the past and liked.

Garden Fresh Rolls * - Rice paper rolls with fresh vegetables served with a carrot sauce

Roti with Curry sauce * - Grilled East Indian flat bread served with a curry dipping sauce

Jungle Tom Yum Soup * - (Special request to make it vegetarian without chicken broth or meat) Chicken or prawns in spicy and sour soup with mushrooms, tomatoes and lemon grass

Papaya Pok Pok Salad * - Shredded green papaya mixed with green beans, Chili, carrots, tomatoes and ground peanuts. This stuff is very delicious! They do give a small amount for this one.

Vegetarian Delight Salad * - Green salad, bean curd, tomatoes, cucumbers, Red onions, bean sprouts, topped with peanut dressing.

Then they have a whole section for the veg. items:

Spear & Shield - Sautéed asparagus spear with whole shitake mushrooms and garlic sauce (Seasonal)

Curry Powder Vegetables - Sautéed mix vegetables with mild curry powder and garlic

Tangy Vegetables - Sautéed mixed vegetables with pineapple, onions tomatoes, cucumbers and black fungus

Oyster Sauce Broccoli - Sautéed broccoli with oyster sauce garlic and black mushrooms

Vegetable Combo - Sautéed fresh seasonal vegetables with soy sauce and garlic

Curry Vegetables * - Fresh seasonal vegetables in panaeng curry with coconut milk mushrooms and sweet basil

Peanut Sauce Vegetables - Boiled spinach, cabbage and bean curd topped with mild curry peanut sauce

Sweet Basil Bean Curd - Sautéed bean curd with sweet basil, chili, garlic, zucchini, bell peppers, green beans and snow peas

Bean Curd with Eggplant * - Sautéed bean curd with eggplant, egg, chili, black bean sauce and sweet basil

They have about five or so desserts. I've tried the fried banana with ice cream only, but I am sure others will be good as well. Can't wait to try the fried banana with honey the next time I go.

My rating for Coconut Bay: 4/5

Name: Coconut Bay
Type: Thai
Average Price: $8-10/person (Lunch), $12-18/person (Dinner)
Address: 1300 Howard Ave, Burlingame, CA 94010 (At the intersection of Howard & Park Rd)
Phone: (650) 558-8268
Website: http://coconutbayrestaurant.com/

Vaso Azzurro Ristorante

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:01:00 +0000

Classy Italian-French dining - that's what I call it. I love this place. If you're going out on a dinner date or for lunch with your colleague, you will love it here.

The food is great and the service is awesome! The staff is very polite and always smiling to help.

It gets a little crazy when they are crowded so the best time to go is in the early hours to avoid waiting for your meals.

My favorite dishes are:

* - my personal favorites

PANINI

Vegetali Panino - On a bun with aioli, grilled marinated eggplant, zucchini, roasted bell peppers, portabella basil, and sun-dried tomatoes, served with mixed baby greens side salad.

ANTIPASTI

Bocconcini Di Mozeralla Lombardy - Fresh mozzarellas, tomato slices, basil, oregano, olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Aubergines Au Grill Modena - Hot stew of marinated eggplant with olive oil, diced red onions, tomatoes, garlic, roasted sweet red peppers.

Bruschetta Milano * - Freshly baked bread topped with fresh chopped tomato, red onion, garlic, basil & olive oil.

INSALATE

Insalata Della Casa * - Spring baby greens, kalamata olives, red onion, grated parmesan cheese & house dressing.

Insalata Trevisiana * - Fresh spinach, arugula, radicchio, caramelized walnuts & cherry tomatoes, house dressing. (Arugula is a herb)

Insalata Avocadro * - Fresh avocado, romaine lettuce, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, tomatoes, lemon-herb dressing.

Insalata Arugula * - Fresh baby arugula, hearts of palm, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, lemon-herb dressing.

ENTREES

Capellini Al Pomodoro Fresco - Angel hair pasta, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, EVOO, and spinach.

Penne Alla Diavola * - Pasta tubes with chunk of marinated eggplants, garlic, onion, basil, red bell pepper, spicy marinara sauce. If you like a spicy Italian dish, this is the one to order. It's very delicious!

Gnocchi Di Spinaci Al Gorgonzola - Spinach and potato dumplings in rich creamy gorgonzola cheese sauce, splash of chardonnay. Great if you are a cheese lover.

Ravioli Con Spinaci Di Mascarpone * - Pasta, stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese, sauted in a marinara mascarpone cheese sauce.

Risotto Fungi - Imported Arborio rice with Portobello mushroom, peppercorns, sundried tomatoes, and touch of cream.

You can practically order anything else that you see on menu and request them to not include the meat and they are kind enough to make it for you.

They have a fantastic collection of desserts as well, ranging from Italian ones to the Middle Eastern ones, including Flan, Mud Pie, Tiramisu *, Creme Brule, Cheesecake, Chocolate Fudge Cake, Baklava *, Affogata, Zabaglione, Sorbet, Gelato *, Chocolate Sundae, and Helen of Troy.

And btw, if you still didn't know, Vaso Azzurro means blue vase; they do have a whole bunch of them in the restaurant as well.

My rating for Vaso Azzurro: 4/5

Name: Vaso Azzurro Ristorante
Type: Italian-French
Average Price: $10-14/person (Lunch), $12-18/person (Dinner)
Address: 108 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041 (At Evelyn Ave)
Phone: (650) 940-1717
Website: http://vasoazzurro.com/

Firehouse Grill & Brewery

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:28:00 +0000

Pretty good for a brewery to have at least one vegetarian item in each category. I like this place and have been there numerous times. You don't get too much of a choice as a vegetarian but the food is quite good and so is the service.

Starters: Bruschetta - Tomato, Basil, Garlic, Sourdough Crostini
Mozzarella Sticks. They also have Fire House Garlic Fries for dinner.

Soups & Salads: Fire 'House' Salad - Seasonal Greens, Carrot, Cucumber, Red Onion.

Pizzas: Margherita - Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella.

Pastas: Roasted Vegetable Ravioli - Tomato Basil Sauce, Parmesan Cheese.

Sandwiches: Fire Roasted Portabello - Fontina Cheese, Spinach, Eggplant, Roasted Peppers, Pesto, Served Open Faced.

Surprisingly enough, I still haven't gotten a chance to try out any desserts at Firehouse. They have Blackberry Parfait (includes alcohol I believe), Chocolate Mousse, Crème Brûlée Cheese Cake, Mud Pie, Apple Pie, and assorted Gelatos & Sorbets.

My rating for Firehouse Grill: 3/5.

Name: Firehouse Grill & Brewery
Type: Brewery
Average Price: $10-14/person (Lunch), $12-18/person (Dinner)
Address: 111 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (At Evelyn Ave)
Phone: (408) 773-9500
Website: http://www.firehousegrill.com/

Fina Estampa

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:11:00 +0000

Got to eat lunch at this place back in September of last year. I didn't really have a choice to decide because I was there with a group and majority of the people wanted to eat Mexican so we decided to go to this place. The place does not look very impressive from the outside. It is located right at the corner of Van Ness and Geary in SF downtown. Once we were inside, the atmosphere was quite authentic. The place has a Spanish/Peruvian decorations and the looks quite nice, not too fancy but makes you feel at home.

The menu has two lists of items - one Peruvian and the other Spanish/Mexican. A lot of Spanish names sound very original and you can tell it's not American-Mexican but authentic Mexican food.

They have THE BEST salsa ever. The chips and salsa are served as soon as you are seated. They also serve warm fluffy white bread (looks and tastes mostly like the French bread) slices with butter. There are four different kinds of sauces/condiments served as well.

After trying to make up my mind between the two kinds of ethnic foods, I decided to go with Peruvian. They have separate section on the menu for veg. items. This dish I tried (I forget the name) has sauted vegetables with French fries and is served with steamed rice. It was very delicious and has become my favorite now. I can't wait to go there again and try out other veg dishes that they serve along with the dessert.

There is parking available on the street as well as across the street under the Cathedral Hill Hotel where public can park for reasonable hourly rates.

For the fans of Mexican/Peruvian food, this is a must-eat place.

My rating for Fina Estampa: 4/5

Name: Fina Estampa
Type: Peruvian & Spanish/Mexican
Average Price: $8-14/person (Lunch), $11-16/person (Dinner)
Address: 1100 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94109 (At Geary Street)
Phone: (415) 440-6343
Website: http://www.finaestampasf.com/

Tabla Flavours Café

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:45:00 +0000

So last night I got to eat at this place. First of all, I didn't know where it was located so we had to roam around the shopping plaza to find the place. Eventually, we ended up finding it hidden behind other shops in the Charter Square Shopping Center.

I found out at the end of my dinner that they call themselves a cafe. Since I didn't know about that I had expected a little more. And then I thought since the place was in Foster City, it would have it's signature charm, etc. but sadly enough I was when I entered the place.

I had seen the menu outside so I was looking forward to find out what the South Indian food tasted like. The service was below average... the main waiter looked like he was having a bad day and didn't smile all throughout the ~45 minutes we spent there. We had just been given the seats and he walks over and asks us whether we already ordered. I felt like giving him don't-you-have-any-common-sense look but refrained. We told him we hadn't ordered so he threw the menus at us, literally. We ordered all the things we wanted but he forgot to write down the last item that I had ordered, which I realized half way through my meal because it never did come. Just to double check, I asked him whether I had actually ordered it, he said yes and that he remembered I ordered it, but then he came back from kitchen saying I hadn't ordered.

The food took quite a while to come, specially the thaali. So two of us who didn't order thaali got the meals quicker and rest of the two were waiting till the first two were done with their meal. So at any given time, two people were sitting at the table, just waiting - either for food or for others to finish their meals. Quite ridiculous if you ask me.

The food was alright but quite spicy, which I don't mind but it was mainly the service that disappointed me a lot. If you're craving for spicy Indian food, this is the place to go, but be prepared to face the waiters who seem like they haven't been fed any food for days and are mad at you for just being there.

Their menu mainly has the basic South Indian items. It also has quite a few non-veg items made from halaal meat.

We requested the grumpy waiter to make sure our food was vegetarian and he looked annoyed, we had to soften him up saying we just wanted to make sure for it. He didn't seem to like it.

They have the veg thaali listed with $7.99 but we were charged $8.29 + tax and similary the mysore masala dosa we ordered was actually for $5.99 but we paid $6.29 + tax. We didn't wait to deal with the waiter any longer so we just kept mum and paid and left the place.

They also have a few other locations in the bay area, I wonder whether they are the same as this one. Would I go to the place again? I seriously doubt it.

My rating for Tabla Flavours: 1/5 (that's for the food).

Name: Tabla Flavours Café
Type: South Indian/Pakistani
Average Price: $8-$10/person (Dinner)
Address: 1088 Shell Blvd, Ste C, Foster City, CA 94404
Phone: (650) 638-1555
Website: http://www.newtabla.com/

Dish Dash

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:52:00 +0000

If desis hangout any where in Sunnyvale that's not a desi place, it's Dish Dash. LOL! just kidding... [For those who're unfamiliar with the term desi, it means Indian and don't mean it to be derogatory in any way]

The food is good and so is the service. Their staff is quite friendly and polite. The place is fine middle eastern cuisine. When they say fine, they mean the prices.

The place does get crowded quicker and so if you're a large party, your best bet is to make a reservation or go at an odd hour to make sure you get seats without waiting long.

A few of their items that I've tried/tasted are Sambusak - spinach, mushrooms, onions, almonds and feta cheese wrapped in filo dough, and served with a special tahini-herb sauce.
My favorite M'shakaleh has layers of mushrooms, grilled eggplant, cauliflower, tomatoes, and rice, served with a yogurt-tomato sauce.
And the Tabsi Falafel is falafel, a Middle Eastern Favorite, topped with a thick sauce of eggplant, onions, peppers, tomatoes seasoned with garlic, mild curry and dry lime, served with rice. You can check out their vegetarian items page here.

They have quite a few traditional desserts. Baklava being the most famous & favorite that's the only one I've tried so far. I can say it is good but not the best I've tried.

Over all, Dish Dash is a fun place if you want to catch up with an old school pal or colleague for lunch. They have nice seating area outside as well, if weather is good. Being right in the middle of Sunnyvale downtown, it's a noisy place so not the best setup if you're taking someone special out on a romantic date.

Parking is hard to get close by to the restaurant during peak hours but a couple of blocks down on Evelyn, opposite from Caltrain station, there's huge multi-level public parking where you can park for 3 hours at a stretch without paying for it.

My rating for Dish Dash: 4/5.

Name: Dish Dash
Type: Middle Eastern
Average Price: $12-$15/person (Lunch), $15-$20/person (Dinner)
Address: 190 South Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Phone: (408) 774-1889
Website: http://www.dishdash.net/

Village Wine & Cheese, A Gourmet Market

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:10:00 +0000

I got a chance to eat at this place a few months ago in May. We just ended up at this place by chance as we were walking on Broadway on a late rainy afternoon in this tiny college town of Columbia. It was great to find a restaurant that was open around 3:30 PM in the afternoon. Usually, they're closed for a couple of hours right after lunch time and before dinner time.

This one is quite a large place, one part of the restaurant is a huge bar with lots of wine choices. You can almost call it a wine-lovers' paradise. They have rows and rows of racks filled with wine bottles. And the other part is main restaurant. The ambiance was good and gives the place sort of a romantic yet casual atmosphere. The waiters were very polite and helped answer quite a few of our questions.

They have an extensive menu of sandwiches that you can choose from and more than seven different types of veg sandwiches you can pick from. The ones I got to eat and taste were the following:

The Village Garden sandwich has assorted roasted vegetables, fresh tomatoes and Swiss cheese baked on foccacia bread; finished with herb aioli, scallion cream cheese and alfalfa sprouts.

Their Mary Ellen’s Mozzarella Madness has roasted eggplant, tomato, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella & balsamic vinaigrette served hot on a French baguette.

These have been the best Italian sandwiches that I've ever eaten. The portion was quite large and very filling. I didn't get to try any desserts as the sandwich was heavy.

While we were leaving, we bought some wine for our alcohol drinking friends and asked whether they had another restaurant in California. Unfortunately, they are family owned and this is their only location in the US. I would love to visit this place again at any time!

Dinner is not served daily at this place. Please visit their site for more info.

My rating for Village Wine & Cheese is 4.5/5.

Name: Village Wine & Cheese, A Gourmet Market
Type: Sandwich, Steak, Seafood
Average Price: $10/person (Lunch), $15/person (Dinner)
Address: 929 East Broadway, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Phone: (573) 442-1010
Fax: (573) 815-9703
Email: info@villagewineandcheese.com
Website: http://www.villagewineandcheese.com/

From the outside

The Village Garden sandwich

Mary Ellen’s Mozzarella Madness sandwich

Sakura Sushi

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:16:00 +0000

I have visited this place at least three times for lunch. They're located right in Sunnyvale downtown.

Their Veggie Lovers Bento Box is served with miso soup, salad & rice. All the dishes come with the gari (pickled ginger) and the wasabi sauce. Both of which make all the food quite delicious!

As a veg, we have a choice of asparagus rolls, vegetable tempura, agedashi tofu, wakame (seaweed salad), vegetable rolls, inari (kind of a stuffed and fried roll), and kanpyo maki (pickled-gourd rolls).

For lunch, you can choose up to two items from the above list and for dinner you can choose up to three items as part of your bento box.

My most favorite is the wakame and vegetable rolls. Their wakame has nice amount of sesame seeds which give it a real good taste and the rolls are also quite delicious. Their miso soup is also nice.

Their menu says they serve jalapeño poppers as part of all the bento boxes but I've never seen any. Hmm... I should ask that next time I am there.

The place is small but usually isn't too crowded for lunch time. Staff is courteous and polite.

My rating for Sakura is 3/5.

Name: Sakura Sushi
Type: Japanese
Average Price: $10/person (Lunch), $15/person (Dinner)
Address: 173 South Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Phone: (408) 481-9474
Website: None.

Ni Mo Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:29:00 +0000

A vegetarian person has good number of choices here. Located right in San Mateo downtown. Ni Mo offers good service and has friendly staff. I've been to the place more than twice just for this reason that they have more veg options.

The server starts you off with some fresh boiled whole soybeans to munch on with green tea until the meal is served.

Their vegetarian bento box has all different kinds of Japanese foods one can eat including veg tempura, veg rolls, veg aged tofu, seaweed salad served with salad, miso soup and steamed rice.

In addition to that, they have more than nine different kinds of veg rolls like sour plum, wild carrot, mushroom, fermented soy bean, deep fried yam, pickled radish, cucumber, avocado, and asparagus.

My rating for Ni Mo is 4/5.

Name: Ni Mo Japanese Cuisine
Type: Japanese
Average Price: $8-14/person (Lunch), $11-16/person (Dinner)
Address: 73 East 3rd Ave, San Mateo, CA 94401
Phone: (650) 342-0288
Website: None.

C'era Una Volta

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:41:00 +0000

In Italian, "C'era Una Volta" means Once Upon A Time.

If you really want to impress someone (e.g. take someone on a date, take your hiring manager for lunch ;), etc.), this is the place to go. Fine Italian dining is what I call it. The place is nice and cozy and the location is hidden from the main street so not visible if you drive past on the 1300 block from the Park street. Got a chance to dine there when a friend got surprise proposal party there. The restaurant parking is accessible from the parallel street named Park Avenue. Reservation is a must.

The food was quite good and the staff is very friendly and polite. That's what you can expect when you are paying that kind of money to dine at such a fine place.

They do have a selection of veg. dishes. I personally love mushroom so enjoy anything with mushroom in it.

Starting with salads they have two we can pick from. Insalata Dell’Orto is mixed greens topped with seasonal vegetables and olives and Insalata di Spinaci has baby Spinach with walnuts and zesty onion dressed in a warm balsamic vinaigrette and topped with goat cheese.

Cannelloni di Spinaci is rolls of traditional pasta fresca filled with fresh Ricotta and delicate Spinach.

Gnocchi is potato dumpling pasta served with your choice of pesto, gorgonzola or meat sauce. This one you have to request the vegetarian version. It is very creamy and rich so quite filling dish.

And I got to try the Ravioli di Porcini that has porcini mushroom ravioli with mushroom cream sauce. It was quite delicious if I say so myself and not too filling.

Ravioli di Spinaci has ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta. This was quite good as well.

The Melanzane alla Parmigiana has delicate slices of Eggplant layered with Italian Cheeses and a light Pomodoro Sauce. Quite large portion even for dinner.

The place is closed on Mondays and their menu changes with seasons so not all of these items might be available throughout the year. They also host a (paid) monthly meeting of regional culture, food and wine.

My rating: 4.5/5

Name: C'era Una Volta, Caffé Enoteca Ristorante
Type: Italian
Average Price: $15-20/person (Dinner)
Address: 1332 Park Street, Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: (510) 769-4828
Website: http://www.ceraunavolta.us/

Here I'd like to share an interesting piece of information. Here in the US generally speaking it is a norm that when you go to an Italian restaurant, you are served bread and butter/sauce before you get your main course. They usually don't charge the guests for this bread and you can request for more, if you want more. This is true for certain Mediterranean, German and American restaurants as well. But what I found out recently was that in Italy, the guests actually pay for the bread also, along with their meals.

Black Angus Steakhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:13:00 +0000

If you're a vegetarian, might as well stay away from this place. This was my first time there, but I know I won't go there again as they don't have any interesting veg. dishes. The service is good, but the ambiance is okay. They were nice enough to say they will replace any meat ingredients in items with vegetables but I ended up choosing an appetizer item that was vegetarian along with a garden salad. Their Crispy Garlic-Pepper Zucchini has freshly cut zucchini, dipped in garlic-pepper batter and breadcrumbs then gently fried to a crispy golden brown, served with cool cucumber dip (this looks and tastes like cucumber raita). This was good but would go as an appetizer only. The garden salad was good also.

Now directly to the dessert. Sky-High Mud Pie is mocha almond ice cream with swirls of fudge layered on a chocolate cookie-crumb crust, topped with rich fudge, almond slices, and chocolate shavings. Quite delicious if I say so. If you are a chocolate/coffee lover, this is a must have! The Crème Brulée is a rich, creamy custard topped with a crisp coating of caramelized sugar. It's also good and quite creamy like they say. Other desserts also looked good but I didn't get to try them.

Over all, as a vegetarian, I give this place a rating of 1.5/5.

Name: Black Angus Steakhouse
Type: American
Average Price: $12-$15/person (Lunch)
Address: 740 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Phone: (408) 245-4501
Website: http://www.blackangus.com/

Taverna Bistro

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:34:00 +0000

This place has been my favorite place since past few months. They have quite a collection of vegetarian dishes and most of them taste very delicious.

Since I have been there multiple times and got a chance to try out many veg. items, I am going to list them all here. First and most important, the bread in this place is to die for!!! It is awesome. The kind they serve for lunch is different than the one you get for dinner. Both of them are very good but the lunch one wins hands down. They serve it with oil and balsamic vinaigrette right before the meals.

Tomato Mozzarella (slices of fresh tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella cheese served with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette) is an appetizer item and very delicious.

Eggplant Salad is flame grilled eggplant mixed with freshly pureed garlic, herbs and parsley. This is going to be the item I eat when I am there next time.

Baba Ghanouj (flamed grilled eggplant lightly mixed with fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, salt and white pepper) is perfect for lunch with the bread that they serve. Little smaller portion because it’s a starter item but very delicious.

Greek Veggie Salad cauliflower, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers, olives and feta cheese served with homemade Italian dressing (Olives with seeds).

Avocado Orange Salad (seasonal) is toasted sesame seeds mixed with field greens topped with peeled orange and avocado slices tossed with walnuts and homemade Italian dressing. I am yet to try this one but it sounds quite good.

Their Veggie Combo (eggplant salad, hummus, sarma and Greek salad) is delicious and tops on my list of favorites at Taverna.

Falafel Plate is also quite good with freshly made falafel balls served with hummus, eggplant salad, Taverna salad, rice and yogurt sauce.

Veggie Mousakka (baked layers of grilled potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers baked to perfection in béchamel tomato sauce, served with rice) is little larger portion for a lunch but good nevertheless.

Veggie Guvec (casserole, mix of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mushroom, bell peppers, onions, garlic and parsley cooked to perfection, served with rice.) is my second favorite item at Taverna.

Imam Bayildi means swooning imam (baked eggplant stuffed with sautéed vegetables, served with rice and plain yoghurt). This was quite good but very filling. I personally found the yoghurt little too sour as I am not used to eat it but my colleagues said it was quite traditional Mediterranean yoghurt and really enjoyed eating it plain.

Veggie Dolmathes (baked bell peppers stuffed with a mix of rice tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and spice, served with Taverna salad and plain yoghurt). I am yet to try this so no clue what it tastes like.

The Falafel Wrap (falafel balls with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and hummus) under the Wrap section is also vegetarian.

And their Baklawas are very delicious (although I admit they were smaller sized). :P

The staff is friendly, and they have outside (front and back patio seating), which is a lot of fun if the weather is good. And the place does get crowded a bit at peak times so reservation is recommended if you're party of more than two. The place is considered fine Mediterranean cuisine so prices are also quite fine.

Note: Always double check before ordering an item to ensure it contains no meat, no fish, no chicken broth.

Taverna gets a rating of 4/5.

Name: Taverna Bistro
Type: Mediterranean
Average Price: $10-$12/person (Lunch), $15-$18/person (Dinner)
Address: 133 South Murphy Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Phone: (408) 735-9971
Website: http://www.tavernabistro.com/

Intro

noreply@blogger.com (Kanan) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:15:00 +0000

I had always wanted to share my views about the restaurants where I have eaten before, but never really cared I saw Neha's Bangalore Restaurants Reviewed blog. So then I said to myself, better late then never and so here I begin.

I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian so once in a while I have had a hard time finding edible items at certain restaurants. But here in San Francisco bay area, it's almost never the case that you end up in a restaurant that serves no vegetarian items. That's because the population here originally comes from all over the world and has brought with them their culture and their ethnic foods with them. In fact, finding vegetarian or vegan food in SF bay area is probably the easiest in the entire country as there are many restaurants that serve only vegan/vegetarian foods.

I remember once when I was in Houston, TX for an interview and the hiring manager took me out for lunch. Unfortunately, the person taking the order at the restaurant didn't even know what vegetarian food was. I made an attempt to explain to him and gave up eventually when he called his manager to help explain what I was talking about. So we were forced to leave from first two restaurants we had stepped into and finally ended up eating at Pizza Hut because that was the only place in the area where I knew would be able to eat a cheese pizza. Of course, not the entire city of Houston is such and there are some really good restaurants that serve vegetarian food but here in the bay area, you will almost never end up in that kind of situation where there is no vegetarian food on the menu in a restaurant.

I've been to many good restaurants in the SF bay area as well as outside so I'm not limiting them to this geographical area only. Most of the dishes I'd recommend would be vegetarian only (unless once in a while when I find out what dishes my non-veg colleagues liked). Here I go...

Bon apetite!