Restaurant recommendation, Milly's in San Rafael, CA

Someone wrote:
>Following over 4 recommendations regarding Milly's in San Rafael,
>we decided to cross the bridge (we live in South Bay) and try it out.
>
>The prices were very high, (typical $12.95 to $14.95 per entree NOT including
>basics such as Soup or Salad. BTW, Salads are in the $5 neighbourhood).
>
>The entrees were far from tasty or filling, the Seitan "steaks" did not resemble
>any meat product in taste (although it sure looked like it). The brown rice
>tamales were even worse.
>
>Overall, for the dinner above including 2 drinks (Reed's Brew Ginger Ale and
>Herbal tea) we paid approx. $45.
>
>White Lotus in San Jose does a much better job in both taste as well as prices.

I guess if you were not warned, the price at Milly's could surprise you. Especially if you are used to $7 entrees all the time. $45 for dinner for two is not what I would call "very expensive."

My reaction was that $15 was a small price to pay to get food I couldn't make at home and couldn't get anywhere else.

Here's another Milly's story: the other night, my husband, who is a grad student at Berkeley, dragged home after classes, tired and shagged out as usual. We decided to get some food, but he couldn't decide on anything and he was totally unmotivated and practically asleep. Well, I had just been to Milly's for the first time a few days earlier, and I was itching to take him there, so I bundled him into the car and drove 1/2 hour to Milly's (though he had specifically said that he would NOT go anywhere further than 5 minutes away, because he was so tired out).

The minute we got the menu, he woke up and his eyes got all sparkly. He said, "Hey! A menu where everything sounds like something I would want to eat!" I hadn't realized before what an annoyance it is to have to sift through menus looking for food I am interested in. There are usually just a few choices, and they have to be carefully ferreted out, including quizzing the waitbeings on ingredients and HOPING they are not just making up the answers as they go. Milly's is safe!

We ended up with some summer squash soup, little cakes made of squash and I-don't-know-what but the flavor was exquisite, a sort of squash pie and the tamales. Dessert was persimmon pudding and oil-free yet extremely moist ginger cake, which I took half of home for breakfast the next day. When the waiter took my plate, he noticed that I had not eaten the sauce (I admit I did not like it), so he gave me another slice of cake to make up for it!

We had a great time, with constant "wow!"s over the food. The neat thing about Milly's is the spicing combinations. I had that same rice tamale that you describe as "even worse," which boggles my mind. Where are your taste buds???? It had a great filling that tasted just like toasted red peppers (as a tamale should!), and the rice wrapping (very-sticky rice, used in place of the corn husk) had a lovely lime-juice flavor. Not to mention the sweet, yet cilantro-flavored tomato chutney, and the pool of luxurious coconut/curry sauce. The tamale itself was about 7x3x2 inches, not what I would call a skimpy portion. It must have weighed about a pound.

In fact, on my first visit to Milly's I got so stuffed that I had to take half of everything home.

I have not tried the seitan "steaks" because I am not interested in eating things that even resemble meat. "Meat substitution" is not the idea at Milly's, anyway.

In the interests of fairness, if I ever end up in
San Jose I will give the White Lotus a try. Or is it one of those vegetarian Chinese places where all the dishes are "imitation" chicken this and that, with seitan the starring player? Or do they truly have a vegetable-oriented vegetarian cuisine?

Hmm, this got long. I guess the point is that it's all a matter of taste, and I hope others won't let your posting discourage them from trying Milly's for themselves. Not that Milly's seems to need the business!