It was my sister's birthday yesterday, so we all decided to go out to dinner. Ended up at Boca Rotis in West Portal (on the corner of WP and Ulloa), where West Portal Joe's used to be. Unfortunately, it was not a very good experience. The service was pretty bad -- snotty and inadequate. My girlfriend and my sister both asked for water and the waitress said she'd bring water all around, so I didn't ask for it. (I ordered hot tea, but wanted water as well.) When she brought the drinks, only brought water for my girlfriend. (which she actually gave to me and gave my girlfriend my tea.) A waiter brought a small dish of olives in olive oil (presumably for dipping bread?) but no bread. When my father asked what it was (they could have been grapes or ?) they waitress told him in a way that sounded like "obviously, they're olives, and if you weren't such an old non-trendy uncool person, you'd know that." Anyway, I'm usually a big tipper (I start at 20% and go up) but I left her an embarassingly small tip. The food was unimpressive. My father had the rotisserie chicken which, while certainly not bad, wasn't overly noticeable. I had a sort of spaghetti with fennel sausage. The pasta was a bit undercooked, but certainly edible. There was a bit more sausage than I would have put, but that's just personal. My sister and girlfriend both had spinach and cheese tortellini with maranara sauce, and again, the pasta was a bit too al denta. My sister actually likes her pasta a bit crunchy, but she said that the cheese filling on many was cold and hard. The potatoes that came with the chicken weren't bad, but I do prefer the ones at Chalkers. (These were a little less greasy/oily than chalkers', but hence drier.) On the upside, the decor was nice, if you like trendy decor. Some nice jazz playing unobtrusively. They did keep the chef-boyardee head on the sign that Joe's had. And the bill was not too bad, $48 for the four of us (but no soup/salad, wine, or dessert. In fact, she never even asked if we wanted soup/salad or dessert. Anyway, I'd say skip it. The Bull's head (across the street on Ulloa) is pretty good (steaks and chicken). Spiazzo was decent, although expensive the one time, long ago, that I tried it. It has new owners, though. Godzilla down the street is unassuming and has good burgers and burritos. Or, go a little further south to Lakeside Village (Ocean Ave. bet. 19th and Junipero Serra) for Paul's (My favorite italian), Jitra (thai) or Taipai (chinese). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad [email removed] that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
San Francisco, CA