2 stars
Paris Restaurant Reviews
Posted on August 4, 2024.jpg)
Reviews from our Summer 2024 trip to Paris. It has been about 15 years, so it was time to see Olympic ready Paris.
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2 stars
Greece 2024 Restaurant Reviews
Posted on August 4, 2024
Here are Restaurant Reviews and Notes from our Summer 2024 trip to Greece – Athen and Naxos.
Harvest Buffet, Sydney Australia
Posted on June 26, 2024
Harvest Buffet is a top buffet in Sydney Australia, located in the Star Casino. We had not been to a buffet since before the Pandemic, so we gave it a try. The Trip Advisor reviews made this buffet seem a lot better than we found. Check out our other Australia Restaurant Reviews
Australia Restaurant Reviews
Posted on June 10, 2024
Hong Kong Lounge, San Francisco
Posted on March 26, 2024Great choice for reasonably priced, solid dim sum in San Francisco.
Hong Kong Lounge is a popular Chinese Restaurant located in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond district that opened in late 2008. They serve dim sum at lunch time and are quite busy. We ate here last in 2010, so it was great to catch up with the changes. Last meal was summer 2024.
Cheung Hing Seafood & Dimsum (Formerly China Village), Belmont
Posted on November 1, 2023Cheung Hing replaces China Village Seafood Restaurant in Belmont, California located just off the Highway 101’s Ralston Exit. The former had been around since 1996, serving dim sum during both lunch and dinner, as well as standard Cantonese Chinese cuisine, but changed hands in 2022. It appears that they may have a similar menu and chef from before. The interior and exterior are still the same too, so is the phone number.
Cheung Hing has several locations in San Mateo, Millbrae, and San Francisco. Those concentrate on Chinese barbecue dishes and don’t serve dim sum.
4505 Burgers and BBQ, San Francisco
Posted on August 30, 20234505 Burgers and BBQ is run by chef and artisan butcher Ryan Farr. Ryan formerly was executive chef at Fifth Floor. They used to have a stand at the Ferry building but have since setup permanently on Divisadero in SF’s Nopa neighborhood. 4505 also has a thriving business in meat snacks and fried pork rinds.
Decor, Vibe – 4505 Burgers and BBQ has a outdoors picnic area for dining, very casual. Great for during Pandemic. Order at the window and the food comes to you
Phoenix, Sedona Arizona Restaurant Reviews.
Posted on March 31, 2023Southwest Restaurant reviews from our trip in Spring 2023
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Snooze, an A.M. Eatery, Tempe, Arizona
1/27/23
Madrid Restaurant Reviews
Posted on February 27, 2023.jpg "Madrid Restaurant Reviews")
Reviews from our 2023 trip to Spain and Portugal. Our goals were to eat at authentic non-touristy places while fulfilling our wishes to try certain items. One of us is Vegan, so will see many options for vegans and vegetarians.
Portugal – Restaurant Reviews
Posted on February 26, 2023.jpg "Portugal – Restaurant Reviews")
Restaurant reviews and guide from our recent trip to Portugal in 2023. We visited Lisbon and Porto and loved it.
Little Shanghai, San Mateo
Posted on January 23, 2023
Best Shanghainese Chinese restaurant in San Francisco? Little Shanghai Restaurant is a family run Shanghainese Chinese Restaurant in San Mateo near the San Mateo Fairgrounds. They have the usual Americanized Chinese dishes along with a fair amount of Traditional Shanghai dishes not served in most restaurants. Our last visit was in Spring 2023 for takeout.
Joy Restaurant Review, Foster City
Posted on January 23, 2023
Joy, aka Joy’s Taiwan or 5 Joy Restaurant is a small restaurant in the Beach Park plaza strip mall bordering the San Francisco Bay in Foster City, just south of the Highway 92 San Mateo Bridge. A hidden gem in the middle of no where.
Best Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings or Xiao Long Bao in San Francisco
Posted on January 1, 2023Last Update: December 2023
We love Xiao Long Bao (XLB) aka Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings and have eaten all over the world seeking the best. Are you a Xiao Long Bao addict too? Read on.
One tip: If you are looking for good XLB, do not order them from a Cantonese Chinese restaurant. You are almost always guaranteed disappointing results even at the Best Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco: Koi Palace. Order these little balls of wonder from a Shanghainese Chinese restaurant.
Pyeong Chang Tofu House, Oakland
Posted on January 1, 2023
Pyeong Chang is a Korean restaurant located in the Temescal district of Oakland, where a cluster Korean restaurants are situated. Burma Superstar is a couple doors down, while Bakesale Betty and Pizzaiolo are a block or two away. We were looking for some higher-quality Korean food than is present in San Francisco. They also have a location in Berkeley on University. Our last visit was in Spring 2023 at their Berkeley location.
Ramen Parlor Restaurant Review, San Mateo
Posted on January 1, 2023
Why did we dine here? – Ramen Parlor is the second location in San Mateo from the legendary original owner of Santa Ramen, Kazunori Kobayashi. It is located one block from the original Santa Ramen, which now houses the very popular spicy ramen oriented Ramen Dojo. Both are owned by Mr. Kobayashi.
Greens Restaurant, San Francisco
Posted on September 26, 2022.jpg "Greens Restaurant Review, San Francisco")
Greens Restaurant has been serving vegetarian fare since 1979. Their Marin based Green Gulch Farm provides much of the produce. Greens was a pioneer in the early days, nowadays we have many more plant centric restaurants like Wildseed, Baia, Shizen, etc. Today almost every fancy restaurant accommodates vegetarians to some degree. The menu changes all the time.
Kauai Restaurant Reviews
Posted on July 25, 2022Kauai Restaurant Reviews from our visit to the Garden isle in May 2022
Lots of local food trucks and Hawaiian favorites. We did not dine in once! None of these requires reservations.
Checkout reviews of the other Hawaiian Islands
Forest Buffet Harrahs Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe
Posted on July 22, 2021Alas the Forest Buffet has closed during the Pandemic. It was replaced by Sapori Italian Kitchen.
The closest buffet is in Reno – Toucan Charlie’s Buffet at the Atlantis.
- Love eating at lavish buffets like us? Be sure to read Best Buffet in the World Rankings for a list of the top buffets world wide
Hong Kong Flower Lounge, Millbrae Dim Sum Review
Posted on April 7, 2021They closed 12/31/2022. RIP.
Hong Kong Flower Lounge is synonymous with Chinese food on the SF Peninsula. They are part of the Mayflower restaurant group that has 2 Chinese Cantonese restaurants locations in the San Francisco Bay area; Millbrae and Milpitas. Several others have closed. We have eaten at their location in Millbrae many times.
Godfather’s Burger Lounge Review, Belmont
Posted on February 2, 2021
Godfather’s Burger Lounge opened in Belmont, December 2009 right on busy El Camino Real just south of the Ralston Ave. They focus on ½lb. fresh, all-natural “Certified Angus Beef” humanely raised burgers. No added hormones or antibiotics in their meat. Our last visit was in during the pandemic in July 2021, after indoor dining reopened. They still do take out and have some seats outside.
Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot Restaurant Review
Posted on January 15, 2021
Happy lamb hot pot replaced Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot is a hot pot restaurant in downtown San Mateo, right across from Walgreen’s during the Covid 19 Pandemic. The decor is majorly improved and they use serving robots. Prices have also gone up.
Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco
Posted on January 5, 2021
Tony’s Pizza Napoletana is a popular San Francisco North Beach restaurant from Tony Gemignani, 9 time Champion Pizza Tosser, certified pizziaolo. It first opened in 2009. He also runs a the International School of Pizza next door. He is well qualified to make a great authentic pizza! Also part of his empire, the “to go” oriented Tony’s Coal Fired Pizza and Slice House next door, Slice house at Oracle Park, and Italian Restaurant Capo.
Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant Review, San Francisco
Posted on January 2, 2021
Why did we dine here? – Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant is a Chinese Mandarin cuisine restaurant located in the foggy Outer Sunset District of San Francisco. They have been serving up pretty authentic Mandarin dishes for many years. Old Mandarin is an Islamic restaurant that does not serve pork and sticks to Halal certified meats.
Our last visit was about seven years ago, so we were eager to rekindle our fond memories during the summer of 2021 during the Pandemic for Take out.
Singapore Restaurant Recommendations
Posted on March 24, 2020Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in the Singapore? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences.
Here is a compilation of more casual restaurants, snack places we visited during our 2019 Asia trip. Our goal was to find good eats at reasonable prices, primarily restaurants where locals go. We have no interest sampling cuisine that is done better at home in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is challenging on an expensive ‘island’, full of pricey tourist traps.
Izakaya Mai Restaurant Review, San Mateo
Posted on January 1, 2020
Izakaya Mai is a Japanese Izakaya or Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food. They are more small plate oriented restaurants. This restaurant has an extensive drink menu. They’ve been here for years. Several similar restaurants have opened over the years, but this still packs them in.. (Izakaya Ginji, Kokko)
Foodnut Hong Kong Restaurant Reviews
Posted on January 1, 2020Last Update: 2020
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Foodnut travels, eats, and tells. We’re based in San Francisco but have flown all over the place. We love Chinese food and find some of the best in Hong Kong.
Santa Ramen Review, San Mateo
Posted on September 1, 2019Santa Ramen has a new owner in 2020.
Santa Ramen is a very popular Japanese noodle Ramen restaurant in San Mateo. Mr. Kazunori Kobayashi sold this location in 2020 but continues to be the proprietor of nearby Ramen Dojo and Parlor. Located in a small shopping mall with a Diddams Ninja Japanese supermarket, Party Supply and JoAnn’s Fabric, the restaurant has achieved a legendary cult following and has long lines at both dinner and lunch times. We have eaten here many times with our last visit in 2020.
Foster City Restaurant Recommendations
Posted on March 1, 2019Foster City is a suburb of San Francisco and not known for its food. Here are a couple worthy spots.
Little Star Pizza – Blue Line Pizza, San Francisco
Posted on January 1, 2019Little Star Pizza is a popular pizza place with 2 locations in San Francisco and 1 in Albany. We visited the Divisadero location and ordered deep dish pizza. It took about 30 minutes to get our pizza. They have gone on to open several locations in the Bay Area.
Blue Line Pizza is their name for sister locations from Burlingame southwards. We have tried their Burlingame location in the Summer of 2020. The menu is very similar.
Best Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Posted on October 10, 2018We love pizza and finally made the trek to Chicago to find what ‘real’ deep dish pizza tastes like. We find San Francisco’s best cannot compare..
Foodnut Cancun Restaurant Reviews
Posted on July 17, 2018Last Update: 2018
Foodnut travels, eats, and tells. We’re based in San Francisco but have flown all over the place. We love Mexican food and find some of the best in Cancun.
We recently finished up our latest culinary tour of Cancun in 2018. Other reviews farther down are from previous trips. Cancun is a world class destination full of great food. Most of the Mexican food was superior to that in the San Francisco Bay Area. The service is on another level here.
Hanoi Street Food Tour Review
Posted on April 24, 2018Hanoi Vietnam is known for its dynamic street food scene. The language and culture are definitely big barriers to going it on your own. A street food tour was definitely a must.
We took our hotel’s Street Food tour to sample the local restaurants in the Hanoi Old Quarter. This was a fun and useful tour. We dined at several places that we would have been scared to approach ourselves. The guide explained the different types of local food and asked us about specific items we wanted. It lasted about 3 hours, cost $30/per person and included all food and drinks. Cheaper than other tours we saw.
Shanghai Flavor Shop, Sunnyvale
Posted on March 9, 2018
Shanghai Flavor Shop is an inexpensive restaurant in a second rate strip mall. This diamond in the rough is located in sleepy Sunnyvale, and specializes in Shanghainese Chinese cuisine. To the right of this restaurant is the popular Indian Buffet: Sankranti
Pearl’s Deluxe Burgers, San Francisco
Posted on February 11, 2018
Rave Burger Restaurant Review, San Mateo
Posted on January 5, 2018Better burgers!
Rave Burger is a burger joint that opened October 2008 in downtown San Mateo. We were walking by and decided to give it a try to see how it rated. The provide sit down service in addition to to go food. They serve hamburgers, vegan burgers, hot dogs, and salads and a lots more now. We have been to Rave Burger several times over the years with our last visit in 2019.
McDonalds, Barcelona
Posted on December 4, 2017
We like dining at McDonalds at different countries around the world. What interesting items will we find. Our last trip was to Spain. We checked out the local McDonalds in Barcelona and found some interesting items.
Cooking Papa Review, Foster City
Posted on July 1, 2017
Why did we dine here? – Cooking Papa is a popular Hong Kong style casual Chinese restaurant with locations in Foster City and Santa Clara. We have dined at the Foster City location several times. There is a line much of the time, a testing to the popularity of this restaurant. People typically wait at least 30 minutes during peak times. Our last visit was in the winter of 2018.
Shanghai Dumpling Shop, Millbrae
Posted on April 24, 2017
Shanghai Dumpling Shop is a popular Shanghainese Chinese restaurant in Millbrae’s Broadway shopping district. While they have all the ‘standard’ Chinese restaurant dishes, they are specifically known for dishes from Shanghai, including dumplings even though the staff can be heard belting out Cantonese Chinese. Our last visit was in the Spring 2017.
Il Fornaio Review
Posted on January 14, 2017
Il Fornaio (The Baker in Italian) is an Italian restaurant serving “creatively prepared, premium-quality Italian cuisine based on authentic regional Italian recipes.” They have 21 locations, many in California. They have been around since 1972, initially starting as a baking school. Now they are owned by a Private Equity group, no doubt trying to squeeze out profits.
Marnee Thai, San Francisco
Posted on January 1, 2017
Marnee Thai has been serving up Thai food since 1986 in San Francisco. They have 2 locations in San Francisco’s Sunset District. We were in the neighborhood and having not eaten here in a long time, decided to give them a try. Our last visit was in October 2017.
Pancho Villa Taqueria, San Mateo
Posted on November 29, 2016
Stella Alpina Osteria, Burlingame
Posted on September 12, 2016
Gnocchi and Salmon to die for. Stella Alpina Osteria is a small Italian restaurant located a block from the main Burlingame Avenue shopping area. Located below ground level, most people would never know it was here. The restaurant opened in May 2005, and was featured on PBS’ Check Please TV show. This was our 3rd time dining here.
San Tung Restaurant, San Francisco
Posted on July 11, 2016
San Tung and San Tung #2 are a popular Chinese restaurant in the inner Sunset of San Francisco. They serve northern Chinese food that has some Korean influence, as the San Tung region of China is near Korea, hence the free Kim Chee. We have eaten here many, many times, back to when it was located west of here. Our latest visit occurred at the end of Summer 2017 to San Tung #2, when we noticed prices up a bit.
So Restaurant, San Francisco
Posted on June 13, 2016
Why did we dine here? – So is a sister restaurant to San Tung and San Tung #2, run by James Chu. It sued to be located at Irving at 24th avenue. We were stuck in traffic, so it way more fun stopping to eat here! We have dined here in the past and love the fact that we can get the legendary wingz across from the SOMA Trader Joe’s complex, without schlepping out to the Sunset district.
Palo Alto Creamery, Palo Alto
Posted on February 29, 2016
Palo Alto Creamery has been serving up classic burger joint food since 1988 when Robert Fischer took over the business. They used to have 2 locations in Palo Alto, with the downtown location open since 1923 in previously known as the Peninsula Creamery. Stanford Shopping Center location closed in 2013.
Town Restaurant Review, San Carlos
Posted on February 22, 2016
Steak on the Peninsula. Town Restaurant is a steakhouse serving American comfort food in downtown San Carlos. It opened in 2006 and has gotten positive press, so we figured we would see how it stacks up. Over the years, this restaurant has been consistently busy. Town is definitely a hit with the locals, many of which can just walk over for a meal. Our last visit was in December 2015. It is so busy, we had to make a reservation over a week in advance.
Champa Garden, San Francisco
Posted on January 14, 2016
Why did we dine here? – Champa Garden is a Thai restaurant not far from City College in San Francisco’s Ingleside district. The original location opened in Oakland in 2006 and is well loved. Our friends like this casual restaurant, so it was time to give it a try. Last to go visit was in early 2017.
Shabuway Restaurant Review, San Mateo
Posted on November 15, 2015
Shabuway is a Japanese hot pot restaurant in San Mateo that opened in 2004. They also have a location in Mountain View, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Union City. You cook vegetables and thinly sliced beef at your table in a your own boiling pot of watery broth. Shabuway does not take reservations and insists all folks are present when names are called. Our last visit was in 2016, where we get a sense that the business changed hands.