Madras Curry House

We've gotten food a couple of times from this new Indian restaurant in our area. On our last visit we got the onion and spinach pakora, the potato samosas, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer and chicken dum biryani. Had a side of naan as well.

All of these were very good versions of these dishes--we've had them at several restaurants and these are up with the best. Nothing unusual, just very well executed. The saag paneer had a pretty good kick, which it's supposed to. I usually can't eat biryani because it's too spicy, but this version was just tame enough for me to handle.

What stood out for me was the portions. Massive! Entrees are in the $16-18 range but each one could serve 2-3 people. We had leftovers for days. Service is enthusiastic and friendly, they are serious about building their business. I think they will do well, and can recommend them as a great Indian option.

My Yelp Review

Koto Sushi & Ramen

We have been watching this place and stopped in now that it's open. We got the tempura mix appetizer, a Negima skewer (chicken thigh and scallions), the Unagi Don entree bowl, the curry chicken Ramen, and the Yaki Udon noodles with shrimp. Finished with a green tea Japanese ice cream sandwich and a bowl of ice cream.

Japanese dining is all about aesthetics so I'll start there. The restaurant is very nicely furnished, with subtle decoration and appetizing colors. The dishes also paid good attention to presentation. The ramen came with a large monogrammed wooden spoon, entertaining but a bit hard to manage. The Unagi Don bowl was beautiful, laid out in stripes with great care. The serving plates and dishes have a beautiful handmade look and are designed for what they serve--for instance, the appetizer dish had its sauce bowl built in. So a high score there. The bathrooms were attractive, clean and ready.

The tempura was nice and crunchy but didn't have much flavor on its own. Texture of the shrimp was OK, the vegetable texture (onion, sweet potato, and zucchini) was spot on. It was served with soy sauce for dipping. Fine if you want tempura but not a big attraction on its own.

The Robata skewers are a nice addition to a meal, under $3 for most of them. The chicken thigh on the skewer was salt-forward on the seasoning but quite tasty. There were some green onion slices scattered on top. Overall pretty good.

The Yaki Udon noodles with shrimp were a little disappointing. The noodles and sauce were very good, but the shrimp were overcooked and chewy. The chicken curry ramen was a reasonable representation, overall satisfying.

The Unagi Don bowl was the highlight. A nice serving of Unagi (grilled eel) with eel sauce, some seaweed salad, a pickled vegetable, and crab meat salad. The seaweed salad was as good as any--personally I think it's very tasty for a few bites, and you get a bit more than that so I was happy. The crab meat salad was very tasty and creamy. The Unagi was well cooked and the sauce was delicious. All on a nice bed of rice, it was a tasty and satisfying meal, I can recommend it.

The Japanese ice cream sandwich is an experience worth having. We got a green tea one. The waffle exterior has little flavor and is a bit chewy, but it's a perfect vehicle for what's inside. The inside of the waffle is lined with chocolate and complemented the green tea ice cream really well. You should definitely get this. The chocolate ice cream is ice cream, it was fine.

Service was enthusiastic but stressed. They are having growing pains, it was a pretty full house but they only had one server on duty. He was still learning as well. We had a fairly long wait for our check and our drinks (water and iced tea) were not refilled. The manager tried to help and I saw some other staff coming out front, but they were outside their lane. I think they will get better on all counts, and overall we enjoyed the evening.

My Yelp Review

Rusty Horseshoe

I hadn't been in this place since the change from Bareback. We went in early on a Saturday and got dinner--chicken tenders with and without Hot Honey sauce and a couple of Rusty burgers, all with fries. Followed that with a waffle sundae for dessert. Got a couple of beers and soft drinks to wash it all down.

The burger is a nice thick patty and was very well cooked. Got crispy onions and bacon on mine, and it all held together and ate quite well. The tenders were cooked perfectly, done but still juicy and tender, I would say they were above average. The hot honey sauce is quite tasty and has a pretty good kick.

The fries are unique, I can best describe them as kind of short, curly steak fries. They are lightly breaded and nicely crisp. Would be a great late snack with a beverage. Some of the best I have had.

The dessert deserves special mention. The waffle sundae is a very crisp cinnamon waffle topped with vanilla ice cream and a very light caramel sauce. The waffle holds up very well to the ice cream and made a great combination. We ate it all up!

It's not quite perfect. When we were there they did not have pizza or the pulled pork quesadilla, items we would have been interested in. Other reviewers have had negative things to say about the service. Ours was fine, but I can see where that might have been different--our server was very engaged with her buds at the bar and might have left us for awhile if not for some intense staring. And we didn't all get utensils with our food. Just needs to tighten up. I like a draft beer with dinner at a bar, but all their beer is in bottles.

Overall I'd say they come close to delivering on their promise of a family-friendly sports bar. The place was clean overall, with comfortable outdoor furniture and a nice play area for kids. There are two stages for different levels of bands. There's an all-gender (no changing table so not family) restroom at one end and large facilities by the dance floor. They appeared clean and ready, though I also did not see a changing table in the men's room. I would go again.

My Yelp Review

Viva Jalisco #5

We decided to try the latest Tex-Mex place in our neighborhood. Viva Jalisco has moved in where most recently Sona Glocal Cuisine was located, next to Sprouts grocery store. We got the enchiladas Suiza and the carnitas, and followed with sopapillas for dessert.

Service was OK but there were several small issues that took away from the experience a bit. When we ordered drinks, we ordered an iced tea and an Arnold Palmer--half tea, half lemonade. I usually explain that to the server and she repeated it back to me. She then said "OK, two tea". And that's what we got. When my wife ordered the enchiladas she asked for charro beans instead of refried. She got both, and we got charged extra for the charros. So a rough start.

We started off with chips and salsa. The salsas had a different, less complex flavor than we're used to. The green salsa was the one with the kick. The chips were heated so they were nice and crisp.

The enchiladas were OK. The green sauce was on the thin side and formed a pool that surrounded the rest of the food on the plate. But they ate fine. The charro beans were very much a bean soup, but quite a good bean soup, perhaps the best item of the evening.

On the menu the carnitas say it is deep fried pork. Our pork was not deep fried, it was a smoked pork shoulder. Not a huge thing, I like them either way. The tender bits were quite delicious but about half of it was tough and dry. The tortillas that came with it had been warmed up a bit too much, they were also on the dry and chewy side. The rice and beans were fine.

The sopapillas have lots of sugar on them and are drizzled with chocolate sauce. We also got honey, not quite sure why. The sopapillas were pale, done just enough not to be raw. But they were good with the chocolate sauce and sugar and we ate most of them.

The interior walls are painted an appetizing yellow, no decoration except over the bar. And there's a world map left over from Sona Glocal in the hall to the bathrooms, which were clean and ready. The furniture is quite impressive. The wood tables are polished to a high shine. The chairs and booths are also polished wood and are very comfortable. Every piece of furniture has a router depiction of the restaurant logo, and the booths have different Mexican icons and scenes. They spent serious money on that furniture.

The restaurant has a large menu of all the usual Tex-Mex favorites for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. I don't think this would displace any of our regular Tex-Mex places. Might be worth a visit to see that furniture, then you can decide if you like the food enough to come back.

My Yelp Review