Caffe Bene (Review)

A few weeks back, my little family went cafe hopping and found this one located in the business districts of San Marino.  The cafe is located on a main street where traffic is fairly fast so there is a big chance you might miss it.  We came around dinner time on a week night and the place was half filled.  The cafe interior is clean with minimal decorations.  They have a display of their own line of cups and mugs that kind of reminds me of Starbucks.  Their menu is extensive, from coffee and Boba to waffles and sandwiches.  They also sell Honey Bread, their version of Brick Toast.  As usual, my review is based on what we had and who we encountered at the time.

Price: $$

Food: A

Choco Rasberry Saudae Waffle $8.95

I literally had just one bite of this.  It's not that it taste bad it's just because I am not much of a sweets person.  According to my husband who ate most of it, it was pretty good.  Judging from the one bite I had, I would agree because the warm waffle and cold ice cream paired together was a perfect mixture.  To my surprise it was not as sweet as I thought it would be.  My son approved it too, seeing that he ate quite a few spoonfuls.

Bread Bowl Soup Combo $8.95

People often say "It tasted better than it looked" but in this case, it's actually the opposite "it looked better than it tasted".  Maybe I had high hopes for this since the picture on their menu looked very inviting with crusted cheese over the soup.  With this price tag, I was expecting something superior but it really was nothing to brag about except maybe the crusted bread bowl.  The soup was clam chowder but honestly I found more potatoes than clams.

Ambiance:  A

Like I say earlier, their decorations were kept at a minimal but I like the fact that their setup was not busy looking.  We actually felt at peace while having our meal there, which is hard to come by in cafes.

Service: B+

This place is more of a self-serve cafe so you can't expect customer service or waiters coming to check on you.  If you need anything you have to get up to their counter to ask for it.  However, the people that work there are fairly pleasant. 

Caffe Bene

2322 Huntington Dr.

San Marino, CA 91108

1 (626) 291-2393

Open Mon - Sun 7am-10pm

Photography by Herman and Lily

The Reef (Restaurant Review)

The hubby and I ate here to celebrate our 7th anniversary.  It's hard to believe that we have already been married for 7 years!  I mean where did the time go? It happened like in a blink of an eye!  Anyways, I wanted to share some photos of what we had at this restaurant and what I thought of it.

Price: $$$
Fairly expensive but worth the price as the presentation was nice and the food was good quality.  We ordered one appetizer and two entrees.  Our bill came out to be around $80 for 2 adults and 1 toddler.

Food: B+

 Grilled Shrimp and Scallops with Bacon Fried Rice

This fried rice turned out to be really flavorful and yummy!  I mean what's not to love? It's got all of my favorite foods in one plate: seafood, fried rice, bacon and pineapple!  The only downside was that the grilled seafood were slightly too salty for my taste.  It wasn't a big deal, I just rubbed the seasoned side of scallops and shrimp against the pineapple to take off the excess salt, it tasted even better with the tangy pineapple flavor.

Appetizer: Calamari

The Calamari tasted just like it should be, what made it tasted better was the tomato dipping sauce that came with it, a must try!

Almond Crusted Trout with Flavored Rice and Veggies

This surprisingly tasted really good, the gravy on top of the trout was perfectly seasoned, it didn't take away the original trout flavor at all.

Ambiance: A

 The Night Lights

This is the view from inside the restaurant.  If you don't mind the uncomfortable patio chairs and the breeze, you should definitely sit outside!  We couldn't get a good picture since our reflections showed on the glass window but you get the idea!

Service: A
Our server was very attentive, came to check on us often even though we were away from the crowd.

Parking: A
They have their own lot!

The Reef

Long Beach Location

880 S Harbor Scenic Dr.

Long Beach, CA 90802 

(562) 435-8013

 

Photography: Herman Lee

Bon Appetea Cafe

 

 

 Milk Tea with Boba

Boba was very chewy and the milk tea had the perfect amount of sweet!

 Truffle Eggs Open Salad Sandwich

Interesting concept but it was nothing special, tasted a bit bland, over priced egg sandwich I'd say!

 Fried Pork Chops

I passed by this place couple months ago while taking a walk with the family.  It looked really cute from the outside and I've been wanting to pay a visit.  Last Sunday night we finally dropped by because the hubby wanted to lounge somewhere relaxing.  So there we were!  The cafe indeed was very cute with their well thought out decos and dreamy wall arts.  If I could, I would take pictures of all the details but I didn't want to appear awkward to the other patrons ;)

Thank you for reading!

Atmosphere: A

Price: $

Food: B

Service: A

Drink: A

Bon Appetea Cafe

7 S 2nd St

Alhambra, CA 91801 

(626) 281-2266

Photography: Herman and Lily

Review: Yakitori Shabu Shabu Shin Sen Gumi (Monterey Park)

The front of the restaurant

All-You-Can-Eat Lunch Buffet

First of all, I want to apologize that I did not take too many pictures, as this place had all of my favorite foods in AYCE style and I became distracted exploring with the selections.

Rating: 4 stars ****

I give this place 4 stars because 

1. food is very fresh and relatively higher quality than your normal buffet foods.

2. Shabu Shabu AYCE check, Sushi AYCE check, Yakitori AYCE check!  Not that many restaurants offer all of these 3 in AYCE style in One place.

3.  The price! $17.95 per adult

4. Service was good! when it was not peek hours, the server actually brought the freshly grilled Yakitori over to our table for us.

I take off one star * because they only offer this AYCE during lunch hours

Tip: you can call in advance to reserve a table so you don't have to stand in the long line.

Carlsbad Flower Fields

Website: http://theflowerfields.com
Address: 5704 Paseo Del Norte, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Price: $12 adult admission, $6 for children 3-10, Free for children 2 and under.  $1 off admission with AAA membership.
Wagon Rides: $5.00 for Adults, $3.00 for Children 3-10

 

A portion of the flower fields

Rating: 3 stars ***

The place: It's huge! which means a lot of walking.  However, you could basically stop anywhere of the field and can still get a good view of the flowers.  If you've never been there, I'd say you can spend a good hour or so browsing and taking photos.  There aren't any shades on the flower field but have plenty of seating off the field if you would like to rest a bit.

I am taking 2 stars ** off for their relatively pricey admissions, I mean if you were going to charge that much for admission, you should at least offer the wagon rides for free.  The price for the wagon ride is ridiculous too I think.

photos by Lily

Review: Love To Go

So the other night hubby and I decided to have a date night at Love To Go located in San Gabriel.  If you have a baby or babies, you would know how difficult it is to go into these dark, tiny, usually loud tea/dessert places and actually enjoy yourselves.  We got the opportunity to have someone babysit for us so there we were, enjoying our green tea latte and crispy corners.  The marshmallow man was a bonus from checking in on Yelp.

Ambiance:  3 stars
your usual Asian tea places, dim lighting, simple decor.  The place was very tiny compared to the other ones I've been. 

Food: 4 stars
Pretty good! I liked the green tea latte, it was more green tea than Latte if you know what I mean.  Loved the art work on top.  The crispy corners was good too.  Ice cream with waffles plus fresh fruits, enough said!

Service: 2 stars
There were a few things we wanted to order off the menu but weren't available.  The server said it would depend on their cook, like if he shopped for the ingredients that night or not ? Eh... if you offer it on your menu then you should have it ready to go!

Photos belong to ftfinspirations.blogspot.com

Review: Guppy House Taiwanese Food

Food: 2-3 stars
Hubby ordered sweet and sour crispy chicken and I ordered Hawaiian fish.  The flavor of the sweet and sour crispy chicken is just like any other boba tea places like Lollicup.  Guppy house just added the sweet and sour sauce on top to make it more of an entree.  Hawaiian fish in my opinion was way too sour but hubby liked it.

Service: 4 stars
Waiters there are very polite.  The only thing I didn't like was they took a long time to return our card back.

Ambiance: 5 stars
If you are not looking for great food and just want to hang out with friends, this is a good place. It's good for family too if you choose to sit in the back like we did.  There were plenty of room to park your stroller.