Simply Thai (Jarvis
Ave, Newark, CA) – December 2016
This
was near where we were staying, so we decided to check it out. The establishment was located in a strip
mall, so there was plenty of parking available.
The interior was well-lit, clean, and neat. We started off with an appetizer of satay,
which was good, and that was about it for the evening. My fiancée ordered the pad kee mao at mild
spice, and I asked for gai prik sod at medium spice. The kitchen reserved the spice levels on the
dishes, which pretty much made it difficult for my fiancée to finish her
meal. When this was brought to the
attention of the server, she gave an apathetic response to the situation. There were no offers to make amends, nothing
deducted from the bill for the experience.
In fact, they charged us extra for a tiny bowl of sticky rice. Also, my water glass was never refilled, and
my fiancée wasn’t able to get another glass of wine because the server didn’t
come by to check on us until it was time to give the check (kind of late for refills
then). Can’t say we we’re going to
recommend this place to anyone.
Applebee’s (Ranch
Drive, Milpitas, CA) – December 2016
This
was near the area where we were today, so it made a good destination for light
lunch, as we knew the menu and it would be reasonably quick. It’s a national chain, so one location looks
like another, and the food quality is consistent. My fiancée had a chicken wrap with fries, and
I had the BBQ chicken bites. Both were
good, but I do recall the portions of the chicken bites being larger in the
past (where the appetizer was a meal in itself or shareable). Our server was friendly, and the booth had a
kiosk in it which allowed us to pay without needing to wait for our server to
bring us the check. That certainly makes
things easier for those who may have time limits (like professionals having
lunch).
Burger Joint (San
Francisco Airport, CA) – December 2016
We
wanted to get lunch before our flight, because we knew we wouldn’t have the
time to get anything during our layover.
We decided on this place, because we could see the cleanliness of the
grill, and watch our food being prepared (as opposed to some other places were
the food was done behind a partition).
The cheeseburgers we received were larger than what we expected for
airport food, and done correctly to our specifications. Fries weren’t hot (not as fresh), but that
was a minor quibble because the main portion was delicious.
Computer History Museum
(Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA) – December 2016
What a
great place to visit! Easy to get to off
the highway, and plenty of parking. As
you pass through the exhibits, you go from the earliest form of computation
(abacus) to the first computers of the 20th Century. From there, you see the evolution of the
room-sized UNIVAC to smaller and smaller systems as the technology
progressed. There’s lots of nostalgia
here, especially for those of us who lived through the times when data was
stored on reels or eight-inch floppies.
Each section
has a specific theme, so you can see computerized toys, silicon wafers, and
industrial robots. The section of the
console games was one I enjoyed because I got to see the first console I ever
owned (the Odyssey system), as well as the classic Atari and the underdog Turbo
Grafix.
Other
highlights included a copy of the first edition of Windows, some early PCs, and
some of the old Macintosh products I used to use (like the DuoDoc). I was nice to see an actual Lisa. The amount of artifacts contained within here
was astounding, and what an amazing collection it was. Highly recommended for any lovers of history,
computers, or both.
Tech Museum of
Innovation (Market Street, San Jose, CA) – December 2016 (daycare with museum activities)
The
information on the website advertised this as a technology museum with lots of
exhibits to see. What it turned out to
be was something completely different.
We were looking forward to seeing the various galleries, especially the
items about robotics. Turned out to get
inside any of the galleries was something which would cost us extra on top of
the hefty $24 per person that just got us inside the door. We expected to pay a little extra if we
wanted to see one of the IMAX films, but not in order to interact with any of
the exhibits. When this was mentioned to
the staff, the response was “well, you can come back any time during the
day.” That did not address the concern
of what was advertised on the website was far different than what the actual
admissions were at the front desk.
Additionally,
the day we went was mobbed with many school groups, so there were hordes of
elementary-age kids running all over the place, shoving us out of the way as we
tried to walk through the area, or even when we were on the escalator. It didn’t surprise us there was no adult
supervision from the school groups, but none of the “museum” staff (using the
term loosely) seemed to care about the chaotic nature of what was going
on. When running kids almost knock over
some adults, the staff wasn’t going to do anything to keep from someone getting
hurt. That was another example of poor
management. Oh, and when that was
mentioned to the museum staff, they didn’t care because they’d already gotten
their money from us.
This
was a complete waste of time and money.
We spent less than 30 minutes in here because there was nothing for us
to see or do, and no refunds we were told.
We’ve been to other science museums, and even ones geared towards
children, and the exhibits were more accessible with a much friendlier and
helpful staff.
Golfland (El Camino
Real, Sunnyvale, CA) – December 2016
We
always look for mini-golf courses when we’re on holiday, and we’re glad we
found this one. There’s an interior arcade
and grill which we can’t speak much about, as we’d come for the golf. Three courses are available, but other than
structures encountered, there wasn’t much differences between the courses. There was a lot of getting your ball up an
incline into the hole, or through sliding doors. The facility was maintained very well, clean,
plenty of parking, and easy to get to from the highway. We’d come in the middle of a weekday, so we
had the place pretty much all to ourselves.
If we lived in the area, this would be a place we’d be coming back
to. It was enjoyable, just not as
challenging as we’d hoped.
California State Capitol Museum (10th
Street, Sacramento, CA) – December 2016
This was very
interesting to visit. I liked how one corridor
had a display for each county showing the unique aspects of that particular
region. While the portraits of past
governors were nice to look at, I rather enjoyed the statue of Ronald Reagan,
as I recall the highlights of his term.
The museum is essentially scattered through the entire building, with
rooms which reflect the styles and décor of the late 19th and early
20th Century. These were an
interesting window into the past, and the way an office (much less a
government) was during those times.
The special
collections area had various old books, which included some pages from the
Guttenberg Bible. These tomes, many
which were hundreds of years old, were impressive to see, considering the
handiwork required to make the wood-cuts for illustrations, and the by-hand
coloring.
A treat in itself
was just the architecture of the building, with the carving of the bears on the
stairwell banisters, and the design of the rotunda. The exterior, with the classic Greek columns,
added an air of distinction to the place to.
It was a little chilly to walk the grounds around the capitol, but from
the street they looked nice.
Out front was the
holiday tree, which stood tall and had many nice decorations. Since our visit was in the middle of the day,
we didn’t get to see it lit up, but we could imagine what a beautiful spectacle
that would be.
Gloria’s (Domain, Austin, TX) –
January 2017
We’d seen this
location a number of times when we went to the Domain, but the wait time was
always so extreme that we ended up going to other places. Eventually we were able to arrive at a time
when we didn’t have to wait an hour, as we were informed they didn’t accept
reservations. The interior was spacious
and clean, but there were no soft surfaces, and the tables were close together,
so we could imagine how loud this place could get. We were lucky and got seated towards the
back.
I’ve always
judged a Mexican place by the quality of the queso and the cheese enchiladas,
and those were the signature dishes I’d be getting. The queso was good and warm, the way it
should be. That was the only thing which
was done correctly in our meal. My
fiancée noted the prices for the glasses of wine were twice that of other
establishments in the Domain.
Since “cheese
enchiladas” weren’t technically on the menu, I had to order chicken enchiladas
and have the cook do a substitution of ingredients. The “traditional red sauce” which covered my
enchiladas was far from it, as it was clearly jarred spaghetti sauce that had
been warmed and poured over the top. Not
at all traditional for a Mexican place.
The “Spanish rice” which came as a side was simply white rice with some
sparse chopped bell pepper pieces scattered within. There was no other flavoring or seasoning
besides that. My meal was not at all
satisfying.
My fiancée had
ordered the pork fajitas, and she considered them a complete failure. The guacamole which came on the side was so
saturated with lime juice that was the only thing which could be tasted. The pork was bone dry, which was indicative
of it being previously cooked and then re-heated. Fajitas are supposed to sizzle on the plate
when they arrive, and these were mildly warm.
Our server was working a large party table at the same time, so there
was no opportunity to have anything corrected.
This was mentioned before the bill came, and nothing was adjusted for
the poor experience we had. I could not
locate the manager when I went looking, and the hostess wasn’t even at her
station. We’ve never left a place
without paying, but no tip whatsoever was given. This place was all hype and absolutely no
substance. This is not a place we’ll be
coming back to, because the opportunity to make amends for our experience was
even attempted.
Roaring Fork (Stonelake Blvd,
Austin, TX) – February 2017
My fiancée went
here as part of a work function, so this lunch had been set up weeks in
advance. It just happened to be on the
day it was cooler than normal, and the party was sat outside … in the cold … in
the shade. There were space heaters
scattered around, but when they were turned on, they only stayed on for about
five minutes or so. A number of people
in office attire had expected to be sitting inside, so no one had brought
jackets. My fiancée ended up running to
car to get a blanket, and she wasn’t the only one. Interesting that there was a lot of space
inside that could’ve accommodated the group.
The water glasses
were filled once, and that was it. The
orders were taken after a reasonable time, but it took about 90 minutes for the
food to arrive. Especially when a place
is expecting a large party, the kitchen should’ve been prepared for this and
they weren’t. The soups were tepid, so
there wasn’t anything to even keep the shivering group warm. The servers were informed of the situation
repeatedly, and I’m sure they did all they could, but they were at the mercy of
the management which kept customers in an uncomfortable environment.
This is what was
reported by my fiancée, so I could document her experience. She liked this place a lot, but she commented
that she couldn’t see coming back any time soon after what she went through.
BJ’s Brewhouse (Arbor Walk, Austin,
TX) – February 2017
We’d heard about
this location, and wanted to get a decent burger. Since it was a weekend, we’d called ahead to
secure our seating, but we still ended up waiting. The restaurant appeared to be packed normally
for this time of day, but the kitchen was a bit on the slow side. Our table for two was sandwiched between two
other large parties, which pretty much meant we were forgotten about most of
the night. It took a long time to even
get a glass of water, much less the drinks we did order. My fiancée ended up having to ask for some
soup crackers to munch on because our appetizers were taking so long. Our server was very apologetic, and did the
best he could considering the situation.
The burgers, when we got them, were decent, but not at all worth the
wait. We didn’t know if this was a
situation with just the kitchen being understaffed, the location of our table,
or a combination of both, but it made for a less-than-pleasant dining
experience. We may or may not give this
another try.
Pluckers (Lakeline Mall Blvd,
Austin, TX) – March 2017
I’ve been a Plücker’s
member since 2003, and we’ve never had a horrible experience like we did
here. Our server was extremely
inattentive, and clearly didn’t want to be there. She rarely bothered to check on us, and we
ended up needing to go up to the bar to get a refill on our drinks. I ordered my usual boneless basket, but there
wasn’t much flavor to them. My fiancée
got her boneless wings, but they were the wrong flavor. Since the server wasn’t present to inform her
of this, we just had to eat it. I
mentioned this lack of service to the bar when getting the drink refill, and
the manager was nowhere to be found.
Once the server
brought our check, she stood there and hovered waiting for us to pay the bill,
and we weren’t even finished with our drinks yet. Essentially, we were forced to pay for a
shitty meal because no manager could be found.
I had eaten half of my food, as I was going to take the rest for lunch
the next day. We stepped away briefly,
and my take-home box had vanished (although the rest of the dirty dishes were
still on the table). We had a sneaking
suspicious where my take-home box went, and I watched my credit card activity
for a bit to make sure the server hadn’t cloned it.
On the way out,
the manager finally appeared and we informed him of our experiences. The manager wasn’t very apologetic, as he
defended the server and put the blame on us for the situation. There was no offer to refund any of our bill,
as all he did was give us a $20 gift card for our next visit. Really, that didn’t even cover half of what
we’d spent that night. The whole
experience just left a sour taste in our mouth, and not just from the food
being not correct.
I did post a more
in-depth experience on the Plücker’s corporate site to make them aware of the
situation, and strangely had never heard anything back from them. While we would return to a Plücker’s
location, it just would never be that one again based what’d happened there.
Maggiano’s Little Italy (Domain,
Austin, TX) – April 2017
This place came
highly recommended for good Italian food, and it lived up to the
expectation. Being located in the Domain
means that you have to make arrangements for parking and reservations here are
encouraged. The interior space is
well-used and has the waiting area and bar separate from the main dining
section. The staff was friendly, and the
décor nicely done. The establishment was
packed, but there wasn’t an unreasonable wait at any point during the evening.
We started off
the Crispy Zucchini Fritte and Mozzarella Marina. The portions were good sized, and extremely
tasty. The breading on the appetizers
was thin, so it didn’t take away from the delicious tastes of the items. The mozzarella was melted just right. For the main courses, we ordered the Veal
Marsala and the Chicken Parmesan. Both
of these dishes were crafted with excellent quality, and were extremely
savory. The appetizers were filling by
themselves, but the portions of the main courses were large and well worth the
money spent. Between the spaghetti side-dishes
and the complementary bread, we had a table-full of delicious food. Needless to say, we needed to get a to-go
box. Guaranteed this is a place which
we’ll be going back to.
Bombay Bistro (Highway 183, Austin, TX) – April
2017
My fiancée and I
love Indian food, and we’ve found few good places for it in Austin. This is our favorite. We come here so often, it gets hard to find
new things to say when the food and the service have been consistently
good. Before we knew each other, we’d
been going to this establishment for years, so it was nice to have a place that
we both had history with. The décor is
elegant, and the staff always friendly.
We’ve never had much of a wait to get seated, and our food has always
come out in a reasonable time – hot and fresh.
Texas Roadhouse (Highway 183,
Austin, TX) – April 2017
We’re not ones
who’d go to national chains, but when our local favorite restaurant had a
half-full dining area and told us it’d be over 30 minutes just to get seated,
we called around to see if we could get into someplace else quicker. With only a ten minute wait time, we quickly
when from where we were on 620 down to here and were pretty much seated
immediately. My fiancée wanted a good
steak so she went for the six ounce Dallas Filet. I decided to go for something more “home
style” and got the country fried chicken.
My piece was a little thin than what I’d expect, but it was a good sized
portion nonetheless. My fiancée raved
about how great her steak was. The
establishment was busy for a weekend evening, but we had good service. The meal we had here really saved our evening
out. Thank you!
Dunkin’ Donuts (12200 Research
Blvd, Austin, TX) – April 2017
I stopped here
one morning to get a couple of dozen donuts for my co-workers. The coffee-only people were in one line, and
another group was handling the drive-thru customers, so there was quick service
getting donuts. Everything was fresh,
and the service was good.
Veteran’s Memorial Park (Cedar Park,
TX) – April 2017
I came to this
park to take part in the Hounds for Heroes 5k.
While I noticed the pool to the right as I pulled in, it wasn’t
something I would be experiencing on this visit. There was also a decent-sized dog park near
the car park which was fenced in, and had its own small pond for them to
use. The car park was nicely designed so
it was equal distances from the pavilion and other features. The trails are a mix of pavement and crushed
gravel, and circle nicely around the perimeter (we had to run it twice in order
to make the requisite 5k distance).
The main
attraction of the park was the path which lead to the memorial. The first part of the path has names on
bricks of various service personnel from a number of branches. The path then spirals up a small hill to the
actual monument, which has an obelisk for each branch and flags flying
overhead. The architecture of the park
was nicely put together, and was an enjoyable place to visit.
Jenna’s Asian Kitchen (RR 620,
Austin, TX) – April 2017
This is actually
two experiences. The first was last week when we showed up for dinner. The
restaurant was mostly empty, but we were one of five couple who'd been told
there was a "20 minute" wait. As each new couple came in, the table
wait increased by five minutes. The official response delivered by the uncaring
receptionist was the kitchen was backed up. Yet there were a dozen of people
that walked in to get take-out, and had no wait at all. It was very clear that
the take-out business was far more important than the people waiting to be
seated. In the end, since it didn't seem very likely we'd get our food in a
reasonable time after being seated, we ended up going to another establishment
(located near Main Event) where we were able to be immediately seated on this
Saturday evening and didn't have to wait an unreasonable time for our made-to-order
food to be delivered.
So we decided to
give Jenna's another try last night. Since take-out seemed to be primary business,
we opted for that. We placed an order online at 6 pm for a 7 pm pick-up, as an
hour should be enough time for it to be prepared. When I arrived a few minutes
before 7, I saw the lobby situation was the same as the previous week. Couples
were being given a 20-30 minute wait time on a mostly empty establishment where
the "kitchen was backed up" again. Some of those customer chose not
to wait, and left. There were a few people from GrubHub that were anxiously
awaiting orders to.
The receptionist,
who demonstrated no empathy about the situation, couldn't even locate our
order. It seemed to have not been noticed, so it was never started. I waited
until 7.30 for my order which was supposed to be ready for pick-up at 7.00 pm. Everything was warm when received, but not hot
like it would've been had it been brought to the table by a server. At that
point to get them to attempt to correct the situation would delay dinner even
more.
So when I got
home and opened the order, the General Tso Chicken was okay, but the portion
was a lot less than what it'd been when I'd ordered it in the restaurant. The
Mongolian Beef had a fraction of the meat it should've had, and it wasn't even
cooked properly. The meat had been boiled, and no spices were added. My wife
ate a couple of bites, but was unwilling to finish it. That small amount gave
her stomach issues that lasted throughout the night, with a lot of discomfort.
We tossed out all the remaining left-overs, as we didn't want to chance eating
this again as we were concerned about what G.I. issues could develop from this.
We were regular
clients of Jenna's when it first opened, it had been one of our favorite places
to go. But we see the "fresh ingredients" that we enjoyed are no
longer there, as the place has become geared towards buffet-style food and
take-out at the price of quality sit-down dining. The level of customer service
and the poor quality of food means we will never return to this establishment
again. A once good place has now become horrible.
Zushi Sushi (Domain, Austin, TX) –
May 2017
Because Austin is
not a coastal city, it’s been very difficult to find a sushi place that served
fresh fish that hadn’t been previously frozen.
We’d read some reviews of this place, and thought it sounded like a decent
place to try. Since it was located
within the Domain, parking was easy, as it was a nice short walk to reach the
establishment. The first thing we
noticed when we came in was how quiet this place was. It had a high ceiling, carpeted floor, and
some dividers between sections, which served to absorb the noise of this full
restaurant. We’d made reservations,
which was recommended.
The individual
rolls were the perfect size for one person, or if they wanted to be
shared. We decided to run the gambit of
flavors, starting off with the Lincoln Heights (a combination of tuna and
avocado), Dragon Roll (eel and cucumber), and some chicken yakitori to start
with. We got so in to the deliciousness
of the meal that I forgot to take a picture of the food until we were nearly
finished. Apologies for the picture of
partially eaten items. There were so
many things on the menu here that we plan on coming back again to sample even
more.
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