> > Coming to the Silicon valley next week and need recommendations. All types > of > > food welcome though on the less fancy end of the scale, as I will be > > travelling with a child. Thanks. 'Sweet Tomatoes' is an excellent buffet style restaurant featuring salads and fresh made pasta and soup, etc. I know of at least one in Sunnyvale. 'Fresh Choice' is a similar chain which we enjoy. For all you can eat pizza, go to 'Straw Hat' on Tues.
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
visiting silicon valley
Major wrote in message ... > >> > Coming to the Silicon valley next week and need recommendations. All types >> of >> > food welcome though on the less fancy end of the scale, as I will be >> > travelling with a child. Thanks. > >'Sweet Tomatoes' is an excellent buffet style restaurant featuring salads and >fresh made pasta and soup, etc. I know of at least one in Sunnyvale. 'Fresh >Choice' is a similar chain which we enjoy. For all you can eat pizza, go to >'Straw Hat' on Tues. Yuck. Two places we avoid like the plague. Mediocre food and often we found that the dishes and flatware not very clean (though this can happen anywhere, you don't see the dirty dishes when the plates are delivered to you table with food already on them). Not cheap either. Even for lunch, you can get a good Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, or Japanese lunch special for less money. ST & FC remind me of most of the buffets in Las Vegas, all the mediocre food you can eat for one not so low price. I had no idea Straw Hat was still around, but 15 years ago the pizza was pretty bad. The Good Earth, well let me just say that Fresh Choice and Sweet Tomatoes are wonderful places compared to the Good Earth. GE has this disgusting tea that smells up the whole restaurant. Uninspired food. The only good thing there is their berry cobbler. People have stopped me on the street in Palo Alto asking for directions to the Good Earth and I convince them to eat somewhere else. Okay, what I recommend is staying away from the pseudo-healthy places like ST, FC, & GE and try some ethnic restaurants. There is always something your kids will eat. Take your kids to New Tung Kee Noodle house, Country Gourmet (Sunnyvale and Mountain View, not ethnic but good), and some of the Chinese restaurants on Castro street in Mountain View (Sunnyvale has one good Chinese restaurant on Murphy but I forget the name). I don't know any good Italian restaurants in Silicon Valley (and my co-worker who is Italian doesn't know any either!). Gisueppe's in Campbell is good sometimes, but is uneven. For fast food hamburgers go to In and Out (much better than MD & BK). For pizza go to Tony and Alba's and Stevens Creek and Winchester near the Good Guys.
NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 Apr 1999 17:09:08 GMT X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2014.211 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2014.211 Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu ba.food:37408 Steven M. Scharf offered a critique of: STRAW HAT: > I had no idea Straw Hat was still around, but 15 years ago > the pizza was pretty bad. There are still 20 listed in the Yellow Pages... Agreed. They still burn the pizza crust (uniformly) at all three establishments [Milpitas, San Jose, & Sunnyvale] in the South Bay -- I can't verify this at the ones in the East Bay, though. <g> They are a great zoo for kids, though. Minimal parental supervision maintained, an arcade area, "movies" playing loud enough to drown out any attempts at conversation... 'Course, if you're looking for a playground with lousy pizza, Chuck E. Cheese off Tully & 101 is the place to go. SWEET TOMATOES & FRESH CHOICE: > Yuck. Two places we avoid like the plague. Mediocre > food and often we found that the dishes and flatware > not very clean (though this can happen anywhere, you > don't see the dirty dishes when the plates are delivered > to you table with food already on them). Not cheap > either. Even for lunch, you can get a good Chinese, > Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, or Japanese lunch > special for less money. ST & FC remind me of most > of the buffets in Las Vegas, all the mediocre food > you can eat for one not so low price. Yep. That's pretty accurate. Dirty dishes and silverware delivered to the plate dispenser -- but they **are** warm to the touch, so at least they went through the dishwasher... The food is bland, the choiced limited (doubling up on the "cheaper costing items" is standard practice), and the lunch crowds are huge (no accounting for taste.) ;) I would also add Hometown Buffet and Sizzler to your list of places to avoid (although there aren't many Sizzlers around anymore.) Hometown specializes in greasy food, partially warmed at a rediculous prices. BUT it does pay to take kids there. GOOD EARTH: > The Good Earth, well let me just say that Fresh Choice > and Sweet Tomatoes are wonderful places compared > to the Good Earth. GE has this disgusting tea that smells > up the whole restaurant. Uninspired food. The only good > thing there is their berry cobbler. People have stopped > me on the street in Palo Alto asking for directions to > the Good Earth and I convince them to eat somewhere else. Again... Good summary. The GE is an acquired taste. I don't think the tea is as bad as stated, but their food is pretty "uninspired." It does have it fanatics, though. You either like it or hate it... I would also add Hobee's here; over-priced, non-existant quality, again "uninspired", and very poor service. COUNTRY GOURMET: > Country Gourmet (Sunnyvale > and Mountain View, not ethnic but good), Yep. Service is good, too. Their almond/cashew chicken salads are great (and filling.) IN & OUT BURGERS: > For fast food > hamburgers go to In and Out (much better than MD & BK). Nice comparison... <g> Pretty much *anything* beats MD & BK... As was pointed out in another thread, if you're looking for a good burger, Clarke's and Kirk's are good choices. TONY & ALBA'S: > For pizza go to > Tony and Alba's <ACK!> No way! It's got "Y-U-P-P-I-E" stamped all over it (i.e.: artichoke on pizza!!!) Pizza: Hit Willow Street Wood-fired Pizza. Awesome service, good food, reasonable pricing. (And, yes, I know this has "Y-U-P-P-I-E" stamped all over it, too -- what can I say? I'm a hypocrite. <g> I've never been disappointed at Bella Mia in downtown San Jose with their service, luncheon menu or pricing. FJL's (Mountain View) isn't bad, but the wait is terrible. CHINESE RESTAURANTS: Jade Tree (Cupertino) and Tsing Tao (Campbell/San Jose) offer GREAT luncheons and excellent prices. They're quick on service and offer items to go. THAI RESTAURANTS: Krung Thai (SJ), Amarin Thai Noodle House (MV), and Bangkok Garden (SJ) are all good choices for inexpensive, quick lunches. KOREAN RESTAURANTS: Tough call; Korea Buffet isn't bad (it's not great, though.) Korea House -- ditto. Steve
Steven S. wrote: } I don't know any good Italian restaurants in } Silicon Valley (and my co-worker who is Italian doesn't know any either!). } Gisueppe's in Campbell is good sometimes, but is uneven. I like Pezzella's in Sunnyvale. They're consistently very good and have an atmosphere appropriate for a special night out. The Galleria in Santa Clara isn't quite as high on my list but is still in the "good" range. It's also less expensive than Pezzella's. In Mountain View, Florentine and Frankie-Johnny-and-Luigi-Too are both okay. They're edible, but nothing to write home about. It's usually much easier to get a table at Florentine than at FJ&L, which is entirely too "in" for its own good. Note that I'm being stingy with assessments like "good" and "very good". To me, the average upscalish restaurant around here is only "okay". I'm not like the food critics from the Merc who give _every_ restaurant at least 3 out of 4 stars.
Bill G. wrote: > Steven S. wrote: > } I don't know any good Italian restaurants in > } Silicon Valley (and my co-worker who is Italian doesn't know any either!). > } Gisueppe's in Campbell is good sometimes, but is uneven. > > I like Pezzella's in Sunnyvale. They're consistently very good and > have an atmosphere appropriate for a special night out. The Galleria > in Santa Clara isn't quite as high on my list but is still in the > "good" range. It's also less expensive than Pezzella's. In Mountain > View, Florentine and Frankie-Johnny-and-Luigi-Too are both okay. > They're edible, but nothing to write home about. It's usually much > easier to get a table at Florentine than at FJ&L, which is entirely > too "in" for its own good. > > Note that I'm being stingy with assessments like "good" and "very good". > To me, the average upscalish restaurant around here is only "okay". > I'm not like the food critics from the Merc who give _every_ restaurant > at least 3 out of 4 stars. > > -- > Bill Garrett Nobody, on their deathbed, ever said, > wfg1 @ concentric.net "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." Formico's, hidden in the little shopping center with Lucky's, at Embarcadero and 101, Palo Alto, is quite good, and cheap. But I have only had their pizza. Steven Goodman [email removed]
Someone wrote: : : Yuck. Two places we avoid like the plague. Mediocre food and often we : found that the dishes and flatware not very clean (though this can happen : anywhere, you don't see the dirty dishes when the plates are delivered to : you table with food already on them). Not cheap either. Even for lunch, you : can get a good Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, or Japanese lunch : special for less money. ST & FC remind me of most of the buffets in Las : Vegas, all the mediocre food you can eat for one not so low price. I think people are generally not very conscious of the fact that they are much more discriminating about some things than others. I try to only compare restaurants that are in the same class: I don't think it is useful to try to compare the Good Earth with a pho place. : The Good Earth, well let me just say that Fresh Choice and Sweet Tomatoes : are wonderful places compared to the Good Earth. GE has this disgusting tea : that smells up the whole restaurant. Uninspired food. I don't really care for Good Earth; I think Hobee's is better. I go to Fresh Choice infrequently... there are a few dishes I like, and it is hard to mess up basic salad ingredients. It isn't great food, but I think of it as good value when I'm really hungry. : Okay, what I recommend is staying away from the pseudo-healthy places : like ST, FC, & GE and try some ethnic restaurants. There is always something : your kids will eat. I think that depends on your kids. It certainly wasn't true when I was a kid. : Take your kids to New Tung Kee Noodle house, Country Gourmet (Sunnyvale : and Mountain View, not ethnic but good), and some of the Chinese restaurants : on Castro street in Mountain View (Sunnyvale has one good Chinese restaurant : on Murphy but I forget the name). I think most of the Chinese restaurants on Casto Street are pretty awful. As benchmarks, I think of Su Hong as reliable but unexciting, and Hunan Home as pretty good. But I'm not very discriminating when it comes to Chinese food: I don't eat it often enough. : I don't know any good Italian restaurants in : Silicon Valley (and my co-worker who is Italian doesn't know any either!). That's what I'd expect from an expert, but I'd also take their opinions with a grain of salt for exactly that reason: I'm not an expert so I'll like things that they won't tolerate. For Italian restaurants, I think Frankie Johnnie and Luigi's is overrated... I like Gambardella's, Palermo, Carpacio... I think Il Fornaio is overrated and snobby. I've liked Cafe Pro Bono but the menu is small and I've only eaten there a couple times. : Gisueppe's in Campbell is good sometimes, but is uneven. For fast food : hamburgers go to In and Out (much better than MD & BK). For pizza go to : Tony and Alba's and Stevens Creek and Winchester near the Good Guys. I think In and Out is the most overrated and overhyped restaurant I've ever seen. "Much better than MD & BK" is such faint praise... Tony and Alba's is decent... I prefer Applewood. But then, I'm from Chicago, and can authoritatively tell you that all California pizza is crap. Well... Zachary's is ok. -- Dave Hinds
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Steven G. wrote:
>
> Formico's, hidden in the little shopping center with Lucky's, at Embarcadero and
> 101, Palo Alto, is quite good, and cheap. But I have only had their pizza.
Have you been there lately? I thought it was the best pizza around a couple of years ago, but in the last year they seem to have gone downhill: skimping on toppings, no longer particularly good-tasting, just blah. I've gone back to Applewood Inn -- wish their crust were thinner, but it's still tasty.