Tommy Bahama Tropical Cafe (Chain Review) - Palm Springs - 2006 (MOVED)

RATING (* for Poor to ***** for Excellent)

Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
Value: ***

OVERALL: ****





NOTE: Mystery Critic has created a brand new website - www.mystcritic.com. You are welcome to check it out - it has all most recent reviews.

This blog will no longer be maintained but will remain accessible with old reviews.


This is probably the best chain restaurant you can go. Well, it's technical not a real chain because it's so small and it's spread around the world. I would actually come back to this place even though it's a chain restaurant.

Food is surprisingly good. Applying regular restaurant standard, I'd still give it four stars because it really deserves it. We had grilled mahi and fillet mignon. Maybe we're just lucky, or maybe the Palm Spring location happens to have a good chef, but they were both perfectly done. The desserts (house cholocate cake and bread pudding) were amazing too.

Service is professional but warm, but we happened to have a slow waiter who was paying too much attention to a table full of young blondes (yup, he's a young guy).

The ambience is "trying" hard to be Caribbean cool, but just like Tommy Bahama style of clothing, it's more like a mix of Hawaiian/Souther Cal. Layout is great though - you don't really feel you're in a large restuarant.

It's on the expensive side (like the clothes), but not overly so. Given the quality of food and even their coffee and tea (Mighty Leaf, in case you're wondering), the value is not great but quite acceptable.

Alright, maybe I'm giving them high marks because that filet mignon is just too perfectly. Whether it's pure luck or pursuit of excellence, I'll never know, but at least for now I'd recommend this place - just forget it's chain restaurant!

Santa Clara - Brigitte's - 2006 (MOVED)

CUISINE: Traditional French

RATING (* for Poor and ***** for Excellent)

Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: **
Value: **

Brigitte's Website

NOTE: Mystery Critic has created a brand new website - www.mystcritic.com. You are welcome to check it out - it has all most recent reviews.

This blog will no longer be maintained but will remain accessible with old reviews.

GENERAL

Silicon Valley is a dangerous place to have French food. I've tried many of them - they either don't even bother to taste like French at all (they just call themselves "nouveau Parisien") or they're downright terrible. Brigitte's is neither a fake nor bad - it just needs to be cheaper and more provencal: Don't pretend you're in NYC when you're in SC!

FOOD

Everything coming out Brigitte's kitchen are meticulously prepared and delicious. From simple salad (try beets salad) to dessert (oh the molten chocolate cake - yummy!), the chef takes good care of the customers by using the freshest ingredients and extremely traditional cooking techniques, ensuring that the basics are solid and customers like me will say "oh, that's nicely done." The food can be simple and in some cases rather bland for this day and age, but the serious attitude that went into preparing the food can be tasted IF you appreciate it.

SERVICE

Brigitte's is a small restaurant with a small staff. The waiters are probably not professionals, but they do a good job being efficient and attentive (not hard to do given the size). They would stop and talk to customers, and even engage in a discussion about food with the customers. I'm almost certain that one of the waiters is an owner - you can smell these things if you've worked in a restaurant.

AMBIENCE

The place tries to be a Parisien bistro, but it's out of place with it's surroundings especially considering the restaurant is very small. It would do better trying to blend into the suburban scenario. Once inside, you feel that you're in San Francisco, but honestly something is missing, maybe the big city rush or business people. While it's neatly and nicely decorated, there's just something funny about the place that's hard to describe.

VALUE

Even with today's strong Euro, eating at Brigitte's is twice as much eating the same kind of food in the same kind of setting in Paris. The food is great, but it's simple, and the simple entrees in a small restaurant should not cost $30. It's the kind of place I wouldn't mind coming back once a month IF I can afford it, but now I would only go when I really, really crave for traditional French.

BOTTOMLINE

Sure, it's "gourmet and healthy" (see website), but unless you are REALLY desparate for classic French, this place is a bit overpriced for what it offers. For diehard traditional French fans living in the Silicon Valley, this is a place that you don't want to miss. It really doesn't get more classic than this.

LAST WORD

It's tiny, so don't bring kids. Making reservations on the weekend is adviced.

Review of the Review Sites (Moved)

There are so many restaurant review sites that I don't know where to begin.... Here are some popular or interesting ones with my own comments about them.

www.citysearch.com

If you want to be misled and find some bad restaurants, use this site. They've managed to gather the Web's most tasteless reviewers - which is really quite an achievement. Even their critics' reviews and ratings are useless. I was dumb enough to try a couple of those 9.5 places - now I don't even remember their names because they are so horrible.

www.jatbar.com

I cannot believe these two guys actually had lunch at 637 restaurants (as of Apr 2006). The effort itself is worth applauding. Mostly cheap places - less than 10% are real restaurants for a sit-down dinner.

The writeups are detailed and entertaining to read, BUT ratings are downright useless. On a scale of 1 to 10, ALL restuarants are rated between 7 to 8, virtually making no distinction between a great place like Shalimar (8) and a terrible (and empty) restaurant like Banjara (7.25).

www.zagat.com

I like this site until they start charging. The concept is good, but in practice it will end up with same ratings as the ones you see on Citysearch. Also, since it has become real popular, the ratings are "diluted", which always happens when you have one or two idiots who decide to give Fleur de Lys one star for food just because his car got scratched while parked on the street.

www.gayot.com

Honestly, this guy's writeup and rating is not bad. At least he has the guts to rate some popular places real low. The biggest problem is the lack of details of his dining experience, and also all the ADs you'd see on this site. Man, I wonder if this is an experimental site to aggregate ALL possible styles of web ads - banner, sidebar, popup, google, you name it - in one place just to see how annoyed a reader can be.

www.yelp.com

An interesting Citysearch. Most reviewers are young people and they are fun to read.

www.michelin.com

HA HA, you wish. Go check out latest tire features, but no reviews here. The conservative folks on the other side of the Atlantic still print them in their little red covers. Good news though - A SF Bay Area edition is coming out soon!

Silicon Valley Asian Buffet Restaurants (Moved)

Unless you don't live in the Bay Area, it is impossible to miss those new Asian buffet restaurants sprawling everywhere. They are mostly operated by Chinese owners, with a few by Koreans. The new ones are almost exclusively hybrids, mixing all East Asian - some even have American - dishes and tastes.

The interesting trend is that there are almost no pure-breed Japanese buffets - the mother of all Asian buffets - except the giant chain of Todai. Maybe Todai is so good that other simply conceded.

I've gathered some writeups from friends who like to try all buffets. I DID NOT write these since I don't eat at buffets all that much, but I just find these entertaining to read.

NOTE: Indians are Asians too, but there are too many Indian buffets around and I will probably cover them separately later.

1. California Buffet In Sunnyvale

Yahoo Local link

My favorite original the oldest buffet in town with high quality KoreanBuffet. Good Korean ribs, some Chinese dishes, squid, sushi, fresh udonnoodles, excellent seaweed soup, crab and the best kim chee and all ofthe standard Korean appetizers. Maybe limited menu for lunch.

2. Octagon Lunch Buffet In Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

A new comer but with good quality Korean food with excellent Seaweed Soup and they have squid as well. Ribs are not as good as Korea Housebut everything else is high quality. Not as crowded, cheaper and greatservice.

3. Korea House Lunch Buffet In Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

This one is also an original classic buffet and it gets very busy atlunch. Get there at 11AM to avoid the crowd but you will only get onechance so get all the food you can on the first run. Good Korean ribs,fried chicken, sweet and sour, one selection of generic sushi, overall good Korea food and very popular.

4. Super Buffet In San Jose & Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

As a new comer, I like Super Buffet as far as Chinese food goes, clean environment, good food, wide selection. Menu may vary at lunch. Most of the people I talk to like Super Buffet.

5. Crazy Buffet In San Jose & Sunnyvale

Yahoo Local listing for the new Sunnyvale site

Crazy Buffet and Super are about the same level in my book. Crazy has a-lot of shrimp dishes, smaller selection if I recall and environment may not be as clean. But hey, we don't go to these restaurants expecting 5 stars. =)

6. Coriya Hot Pot City In Milpitas, San Francisco and Richmond

Yahoo Local listing for the Milpitas site

I don't mean to rank Hot Pot City low, but if you are just hungry and want huge quantities of food, on a cold day Hot Pot City has my vote. Boil up your food in the Hot Pot or BBQ, make sure you take a showerafterwards. Dinner is better because they have wider selection andmarinated lamb for those of you that are interested Yang Ro Chuan(Chuar) Lamb Skewer for dinner not very good Chuar but hey it's Chuar. Marinated beef is good and chicken if you are willing to wait. Go after 10PM and get a discount (and leftover).

7. Uncle Sam's In Fremont

Yahoo Local link

Uncle Sam's has huge quantities of Chinese food and that's all I have tosay about that! Lots of food at a decent price.

8. Happy Buffet In Milpitas

Yahoo Local link

I liked Happy Buffet at its' grand opening but I went back this weekendand was disappointed. The lobster was old, the fish was not good, thesnow crab was bland. Only good thing was the Cantonese style cookedcrab (pepper salt) everything was average or below average. The vanilla ice cream was even broken. But they spent a lot of money renovating so it's clean there. You will even see the guy who used to work at CrazyBuffet at the front desk.

9. China China, Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

THUMBS DOWNIf your friends like poorly made Chinese food this is the buffet to take them to. Does not compare to any of the buffets listed above if you like authentic food. That sums this one up.

10. Palace B-B-Que, Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

I highly recommend this place to the real Korean BBQ fans. See separate review.

Why Are Chain Restaurants So Popular? (Moved)

I must say that, after all these years and having personally witnessed (and affected by) the Chain Revolution, I still hate big chains. I avoid Starbucks. I go to local steakhouses. I even try not wear GAP and Banana Republic. WELL, I'm now sitting here with no coffee, no steak in the last six month and wear nothing but an old underwear (JUST KIDDING!), thinking that maybe I should give Macaroni Grill a second chance.

Why are chain restaurants so popular? Even I go to them occasionally! Business at most chain restaurants are booming due to the same reasons that other chain or franchise businesses tend to have higher success rate than mom-and-pops. Here are some of the reasons according to my observation and analysis:

1) Predictability - All Baja Fresh have fresh same variety of salsa, just like all Starbucks (well most of them) make the same-taste coffee. When you walk into a Red Robin, you can expect perky waitresses (most of the time - well maybe not in Seattle). You can even expect bad food in some of them - no matter where you go.

2) Branding - Whether it's an upscale image (PF Chang) or children-friendliness (Red Robin), chain restaurants project an image and they do make an effort to ensure that what they deliver is consistent with the image. If you feel like a particular kind of experience, you simply have to select the chain and find the nearest one.

3) Convenience - For travelers in particular, you can usually find a familiar name in a decent size city when you don't have your Zagat review booklet handy and you notebook can't find a wifi hotspot that's free. Between a unknown local steakhouse with mostly empty parking lot and Outback, which one would you choose? Would you rather go to Big Joe's Tavern (you won't even find it on the web!) or Chili's for a big and juicy burger when you're out in Tennessee?

4) Sense of Security - No one, or very few people, enjoy looking like a freshman sitting in the registration hall. Most people simply like to sit down and feel like an old customer when they go out to eat - "Yes, I know your beer sampler is a great deal." When you sit down at a Friday's in Ukraine (yeah they do have one there!), you can expect them to have baby back ribs and at least one draft beer.

So, wearing my MBA hat, where's what it take to make a chain, no matter how small, succeed:

1) Be consistent, VERY consistent. Small local chains often don't do this very well, but to scale up you must deliver the same product and service in every location. This means hiring employees rather than entrepeneurs to run your restaurants, and enforcing strict franchising conditions. I get the same allergy to wood every Black Angus that I visit.

2) Project an image, preferably a trendy one. Melting Pot caught on the "Euro-fever" early enough for it to really succeed. Baja Fresh came out just when Baja California became a up-and-coming sun worshipers' destination. Do you know how Buca di Peppo and Maggiano's made it? It's the Sopranos, stupid! You've got to bet on a direct and powerful message, and project it loudly.

3) Take good location and have a wide selection of food on your menu. You want to be where it's easy for people to get to and lots of stuff on the menu for people to choose from. I believe that the best locations are near or in shopping malls. Foodwise, it's ok to be ethnically focuses, but remember you are in a melting pot, so you've got to cater to a wide range of tastes.

4) Creating a feeling of familiarity in details. This is more than consistency - but trying your very best to make them feel that they're HOME with the same decor, same menu cover, same restroom sink. When an Texan-American enters a Ruth's Chris in Taipei, he has to feel like he can act like a Texan and chow down a medium-rare steak with a big knife. This is even important for small local chains - why would I try a California Cafe in PA if it's no longer Californian?

5) Lastly, you've got to price it right. Nowadays entrepeneurs thinks that as long as they throw money into a new chain like Left Bank did, they can create another success. Think again. Lots of chain-wannabes thought they can start a trendy Chinese restaurant and charge like PF Chang. Com'on, even PF Chang had a humble beginning! People are not stupid - unless you all deliver the first four things like Macaroni Grill can, don't charge like you're a Macaroni Grill.

If you want to start a chain, join a franchise or eat at chain restaurant, ALWAYS remember that the true value of a chain restaurant is not the celebrity chef or the size of their lobster, but it lies in the four main reasons for their popularity. So, set your expectation correctly, and enjoy the same familiar experience that you know will be there as long as you and the restaurant are alive.

Yountville, CA - Mustards Grill - 2006 (MOVED)

RATINGS (* for Poor to ***** for Excellent)

Type of Cuisine: Californian

Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
Value: ***

Overall: ****

Mustards Grill Website

GENERAL: A restaurant right off the artery (highway 29) of tourist-packed Napa Valley - this can't be anything but a tourist trap, right? That's what I thought when I first visited this charming little place - but you'd be surprised how good their food is and how it kept some of the traditional French cooking techniques while using best local ingredients.

FOOD: I didn't know this place is local favorite till I went for lunch on a weekday during April (slowest time of the slow season) - and find it packed with a line outside at 1:30pm. They came for the food - simple yet amazingly delicious food. Everything we ordered (even the strange fried calamari with salad ON TOP - sort of like soaking a fried tempura shirimp in udon soup) was great. I was told by someone that the pork chop there is good - and WOW, it's SOOOO tender I thought I was in a Chinese restaurant (OOPS! There a hint of ethic cuisine bias). A kid had a plain cheese spaghetti and even that is good.

You must like well-grilled food to enjoy your meal here. I mean, everything is carcinogenically dark outside, yet vampire red inside (including pork chop and quail - a rather bold move). You have to look beyond the blackenedness to find tenderness inside. Overall, the cuisine here is on the heavier side - sort of a hybrid between good old American and country French. Soup was creamier than cream and sauces were rich and sweet.

SERVICE: Unlike most tourist traps (which is place is really NOT) in California, waiters behave like they do expect to see you again in the near future. No one showed any annoyance by the fact 5 adults and 4 children showed up with no reservation at a restaurant which probably holds fewer than 100 guests. Both adults and kids were given tons of attention and no hint of being rushed - even though there's a line outside. Interaction was always positive and pleasant, and things were delivered swiftly when they were asked for.

AMBIENCE: The place is right on highway 29. You get a view of vineyards and green hills if you sit facing the highway, so the setting it quite pleasant. Inside, however, is rather packed and tables are very small (alright, I haven't been back to Paris in a while). It looks and feels a bit chaotic. Although it didn't bother us too much, it would be an issue for those who prefer a bit more serenity in the air and privacy.

VALUE: Napa Valley is not a place where you'll find a good deal. Trust me, I've tried and failed too many times. Mustards is not going to set you back too terribly - afterall, this is the birthplace of $120 sampling dinner (or lunch!). Given the great quality of the food, I'd say it's not overpriced - which I can't say about most other Napa Valley joints I've been to.

BOTTOMLINE: Stuck in an area with some of the WORLD's best restaurants (anyone heard of French Laundry?) , Mustards is not a bad choice for a more relaxed meal (especially on your wallet) for a down-to-earth taste. It's not fancy or glamorous - for that try Bouchon - but just great food that you would want to try again and again.

LAST WORD: Just like any other good restaurants here, long line is a problem - even for a Wed lunch. Make a reservation, or go in an odd time. Also, ask for a table with a view, else you might be sitting right outside the kitchen or next to the cash register, which will REALLY make you feel like you're in Paris!