Last Thursday, I was visiting Portland and after a disappointing experience with another restaurant in the area (see my previous review), my group of ten was left without a reservation. Ut-oh. A couple of the ladies had said that they visited Jake’s the night before and loved it and wouldn’t be adverse to going again. We walked over knowing that they might not be able to accommodate a large group, but hoping we could at least get on a list and walk around a bit or something.

They were not able to seat us right away, but the manager himself found us some tables together in the bar to wait (a very nice couple offered to move over to another area for us – nice folks all around). We ordered drinks and the waitress was able to get us some appetizers that were on the happy hour menu (even though we were past happy hour – we wanted hummus, darn it!). We happily chatted and waited 45 minutes to an hour and had a great time – the wait staff were all very attentive and we never felt like we were a bother at all.

We were seated and had a fabulous waitress (shout out to Amy). We were very very well taken care of. They even had a magician that came around to entertain us. I’m still working out how he made the dollar bill float. Cuz I was sitting RIGHT there in front of it. I suspect they put hallucinogenics in my water cuz nothing else makes sense. I’m just saying.

The decor of the restaurant is very nice, very regal – yet relaxing at the same time. It felt cozy, just what a steakhouse should feel like.

The food was amazing. I had a beet salad that was perfectly dressed and tasted amazing. I also had the Jake’s Mixed Grill and OMG. I ordered the steak medium and came out perfectly cooked along with a lobster tail and a prawn. Amazing. Simply amazing. We finished up with three desserts for the table and passed them around so everyone got a taste (major shout to the cheesecake).

I even forgot that gratuity was included because I was paying for a large party. Amy came over and quietly pointed it out and asked if I wanted to adjust it. I did a little, but still left her a large extra tip for being so honest.

Great place. Great food. Relaxed yet nice. A winner. I would not hesitate to go here again.

I also found out later that they are part of the McCormick and Schmicks family. We have one of those here in Austin so I’m looking forward to checking it here as well. Major thumbs up for Jakes!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I was recently in Portland for a business conference and was taking ten people out to dinner. I asked our hotel concierge to recommend a place that was moderately priced (I was paying!) and would be accommodating. He suggested Pastini’s. He called, found out they didn’t take reservations for Thursday nights but the manager on duty told him that they would make sure there wasn’t a problem.

My group of ten ladies walked in and were treated rudely. Not only were we told that they didn’t have room for us and there would be a 45-60 minute wait, but he basically said “you’ll probably just want to leave”. No offer to split the party. No apologies. No offer to seat us in the bar while we waited. All of us felt like we were being told to just go away. A severely disappointing experience. He then demanded I give him the name of who the concierge talked to. Needless to say, we left, where I happily dropped $550 in drinks and dinner at Jake’s Grill a few blocks over.

Would not recommend this place to ANYONE. Avoid.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

The husband and I don’t often go out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. We usually have kids with us or we go with friends. Not a problem, but we wanted to really just go somewhere nice and quiet and enjoy. I really wanted seafood and he’s a Cajun fan. Several of our friends recommended this place so we decided to give it a go.

We got there and, after poking around, found the entrance. We were seated in a small little room to the right. Looked perfect, we were obviously a couple out alone for the night. There was another couple there with two small kids, but they were finishing up so it was fine. We ordered the fried crawfish tails (which were amazing, seriously amazing!).

In the meantime, the hostess and and waitstaff were rearranging the room a little. A little noisy for a $150 dinner, but okay… and then came in grandparents, parents and 3 kids. This seemed odd to me. The restaurant doesn’t look small and while I have nothing against bringing kids to nice restaurants (I bring mine all the time). I really do blame the hostess. You simply don’t sit a couple out together next to a table with kids. Especially because there weren’t that many people there. We were really disappointed in this.

My husband had the steak (which he loved) and I had the tortilla crusted salmon. He said his steak was great and my salmon was to absolute die for. The chef’s potatoes that night were amazing. Dessert was a shared key lime pie that was absolutely fabulous and was plenty to share. The food here is absolutely delicious, for sure. Well worth the cash we laid down for it — had the full experience been worth it…

…. and then the kid at the next table made a vomit joke and we were reminded that their seating procedures obviously need work. Not even the gigantic long island iced tea I had covered up for that fact.

Overall, I must admit we were disappointed. I was expecting the waitstaff to be a little more attentive to the fact that we were out to be alone, not listen to someone else’s kid. I also think they disappeared a little too readily. We were out on Wednesday night, the place wasn’ that busy. We did that by design because we wanted a nice quiet night out.

Would we go back? Probably not. Honestly, the food is really great, but not $150 great. Louisiana Longhorn is really good as well – without the pretense (and with kids anyway). I’m still on the hunt for a great seafood restaurant up this way… Eddie V’s and Truluck’s is next on the list to try.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

On a random Saturday a couple of months ago, we found ourselves up near Highland Mall with an hour to kill. We headed into Lincoln Village to see what new shops had opened since we had been there (many years ago) and saw a little cafe. We decided to stop for coffee.

That is until we got out of the car and were hit by the most luscious smell of baking cinnamon rolls. My daughter and I quickly decided to split a cinnamon roll, my husband got a sticky bun and my son ordered up a cookie.

All were absolutely fabulous. That has to be one of the absolute best cinnamon rolls I’ve had in a very long time (it would be “the” best but I’m one of those freaky people that loves raisins on their cinnamon rolls, I’m not deducting a star though since I know it’s a “me” thing).

We had a fabulous time in this small cafe, chatting and taking our time. The food was amazing and we all left very happy

My son is STILL talking about this place. So much so that he’s decided to bring a few of his friends and his grandparents there the weekend of his birthday to have a treat. *laughing* Yes, my son wants to have his “party” at the cinnamon roll place.

I’d call that a rousing endorsement for certain.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

We moved to Anderson Mill five or so years ago. I remember our last night, we ordered Sarpino’s Pizza because we knew we’d never get back across town to have it and it was our favorite pizza. We were sad that we’d have to travel to enjoy our favorite – the Super Taco. When we saw that this one opened recently nearby, you were so excited. But had they changed? Did they mess up a good thing? Would we still like it? Had we built it up in our head too much?

Um. No. Sarpino’s is, hands down, the absolute best pizza in this area for delivery. I love Saccone’s too, but Sarpino’s does have them beat, I’m afraid. The crust is always a perfect crunchy yet soft inside dough. Delivered timely and still warm (and they text message you when it’s on the way if you order it online – did I mention that? You can order it online!)

My kids loved the sauce and pepperoni and the husband and I had pigged out on Taco pizza. We’ve had many different types from their I35 location and couldn’t be happier that there’s one here and they don’t seem to have changed the recipe – don’t mess with a good thing is something a lot of pizza places could learn from.

Now, all my friends in Anderson Mill – order pizza from Sarpino’s. Lots of it, we want them to stick around!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

When you first walk into Domenick’s Pizzeria, you are struck first by how stark and kind of boring the place looks. There’s not much there really. It appears to be family-owned though which I absolutely love. Domenick himself came out to talk to us briefly and ask how we were doing. A very nice lady, whom I believe to be his wife, took our order and served us. They were both such super nice folks. For that reason alone, I would definitely return. I can see if we lived really close, it would become a family tradition pretty quickly.

The pizza was really good. Large slices, not too greasy, crisp crust. Very good. We didn’t try anything else on this trip, but my kids loved their pepperoni pizza.

My problem, and the reason it loses a whole two stars, is that Domenick committed what I deem to be the single largest sin in pizza. He put jarred mushrooms on my pizza. Yes, you heard that correctly. Mushrooms from a JAR. This is so not okay. Jarred mushrooms should be outlawed all together, but to put them on a pizza is downright insulting to the pizza and the pizza maker. What would have been a really great “everything on it” pizza turned into an “eh” pizza. Pizza really truly needs fresh mushrooms.

I consider myself a mushroom freak and pizza simply isn’t pizza without some of that wonderful fungus on it. If I return, I would have to say “hold the mushrooms” which would break my heart.

Recommended, just don’t order the mushrooms. They do keep the jars in the kitchen, so I didn’t have to look at those poor mistreated mushrooms.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

My family tends to head to these place when we can’t decide where to go or everyone wants something a little different. I mean, you kinda get what you make at places like this, and complaints aren’t allowed. Here in Austin, we only have Mongolian Grille and Firebowl Cafe (that I know of), so while on a recent visit to Houston when my hosts suggested this place, I was all for it!

It’s a little different in that you walk in and are seated. Your drink orders are taken and you fill out a card saying what type of rice/noodles you’d like, etc. You then go up to the bar, choose your veggies and meats and sauces and leave it with your card on the counter and someone cooks it and brings it to you. Pretty awesome.

The big difference for me was that they had calamari. I. Love. Calamari. I’m not kidding, totally made my evening. Yum. They also had shitake mushrooms and all kinds of extra goodies.

The place was clean, not overly loud, a tad on the dark side inside, but a really nice evening overall. We didn’t feel rushed or hovered over. I would most definitely go back here (and hope they branch out to the Austin area.

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

While visiting Phoenix, a group of six of us decided to go out for dinner one night and chose Tommy V’s – gourmet pizza, casual atmosphere is what the website promised us and we were not disappointed!

A friend and I agreed to split meals so we could have different tastes of different things and everything was really good. My favorite salad was the Beet Goat Cheese, amazingly well done. We also had a really nice Caprese salad. I simply cannot get enough tomatoes with mozzarella.

We decided to stick to pizza because well, we felt like pizza. We had the Braised Short Rib pizza and the Pancetta, Gorgonzola & Artichokes pizza. Both were amazingly delicious. I think I may have liked the short rib pizza just a little more, actually, but I would easily order either one on a return trip.

Our companions had other pizzas, spaghetti and fish. Everyone raved.

The staff were very friendly, when we arrived, we immediately felt right at home, I was kinda looking for a sofa in the corner to kick my shoes off and take a nap afterward! If anything, the staff may have been a little too attentive. Several times they stopped in to see if everything was okay. It was nice, but we could have gone a little longer. Maybe it was just because we were all immersed in our food and conversation. Not a bad problem to have I suppose! We did have a small mistake when they forgot to leave the nuts on the side of a dish, they immediate took it away and were back in just a few short moments with the corrected plate, I was surprised that there was not an additional wait while they redid the salad, but it’s obvious they went that extra mile.

I only wish I had had another day to stay in Phoenix, to try out Tomoso’s next door.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Last month, while at a conference in Phoenix, a group of about 16 of us made reservations and went to Tarbell’s. I had heard great things about this place and being a bit of a foodie, I was excited about it. I began to worry because… well, you know when you build something up in your head and it doesn’t live up to what you are expecting? Two months is a lot of anticipation!

I was lucky enough to be seated with four other people that were big foodies too, which was perfect. We all loved food and, even better, we liked to share. Score! Still… would it live up to the hubbub? I’ve only watched Iron Chef a few times, but had no idea the chef had won it, quite honestly. Had I, I probably would have skipped the restaurant, honestly. I’m glad I didn’t because this was one of those meals that I will remember for a good long time. One of the ladies at my table was also from Austin (where I’m from) and we are still working out how we can get Mr. Tarbell to move here (hey, if you’re reading this, Mark, Austin is a super cool city… just sayin’).

We tried many of the things on the menu, I’ll share my favorites…

For the table we ordered the Brussels Sprouts as well as the Shisitho Peppers. I’m not a pepper fan, but those that liked them said they were well done. The sprouts were perfectly cooked and we managed to convert one person in our group that claimed they did NOT like them. Heh, apparently she loves them now. For salads, I tried a few, but my favorite was the beet salad. Absolutely must get this. It was amazing, the goat cheese was mild and the flavors blended beautifully. The house pulled mozzarella was also very good.

For the main course, I had the Pan-Seared Ahi Tuna (rare). OMG. I have had quite a bit of ahi in my life, but this was, easily, the best. It simply melted in your mouth. The nicoise on the side was a perfect compliment to bring out the flavor for the fish as well as the potatoes that were served on the side. I also got to enjoy some of the salmon (divine) and house-made ribbon pasta (absolutely wonderful). The stand out for me was definitely the ahi, but really adore tuna, if done correctly.

We also skipped dessert. Until we saw the menu. None of the four of us could decide on any one thing, so we each ordered something and then passed them around in circles. We got a few laughs, but hey, you only live once, right? I must say that the desserts were all simply amazing (and huge!). The stand out was the mascarpone cheesecake with rosemary caramel sauce (Oh my, I wonder if my spouse would think it odd if I booked a trip back there JUST to get a slice of this cake – Psssst, the recipe is on their website though!). We also had the bread pudding, which I was leery of, but it was, again, absolutely amazingly well done. We had the apples (which I didn’t get to try, I’m allergic, but everyone said they were so very good) and the profiteroles (which one of my table mates had a bit of a When Harry Met Sally moment over). *laugh*

The staff were attentive, answering our many questions. We never felt rushed and spent a good time talking and enjoying the company. The restaurant itself seems very unassuming in a small strip mall type of area. Parking looks like it could be a bit of a problem (we took a hotel shuttle). The place is a bit on the loud side, but nothing we needed to scream over. I would not hesitate to bring my husband or business folks here again. Though, definitely not a place for kids.

Thank you, Tarbell’s, for a memorable evening of good food, good atmosphere and good fun.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I had always wanted to go to PF Changs, but never had the chance until I attended SXSW last month. I ended up having dinner with a crowd of about 15 people. I was excited as I had heard good things about the restaurant. After a very long wait (20 minutes turned into nearly 90), we were seated. It wasn’t a really bad wait, I should say – I had really great company and the time flew by, their waiting area near the front is very comfortable and inviting. When we were seated, the server told us that we were all being given appetizers on the house because of the wait. Wow, I don’t think our group really complained (maybe I missed it?) but either way, super nice of them and it really started out the evening on a good note with lots of warm fuzzies for the restaurant.

Having never been there before, I decided to stay safe and chose the lemon chicken. It was absolutely divine and I would absolutely order the dish again. Everyone’s dishes looked really good, the presentation is very simple but beautiful. The restaurant itself is a little loud, the prices aren’t cheap, but they aren’t too bad either. Overall, we had a really nice evening with some really good food.

This would be a good choice again if I’m downtown with friends or out with my husband and another couple.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars