Jack's Prime (San Mateo, CA)

UPDATE 3/25/13:  So after a 3 star review and a copy of the review below, I get a message on Yelp! from the owner of Jack's Prime.  Honestly, very responsive and good customer service. 

Messages:
Owner

6 hours ago

Charlie, thank you for the taking the time to write a review and I apologise for making you wait an inordinate time for your to go order. I will speak to the manager on duty and would like to extend to you a gift card for $20 for the inconvenience. Simply send me an address that works best for you and I shall mail it.

Thank you
Micheal Mallie (owner)

Charlie W.

2 hours ago

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your email. As much as I appreciate you're offer to extend a gift card, I am grateful, but respectfully decline. I am however thankful for the fact that you have reached out and offered to correct the problem. I only write my reviews in the hopes to provide something better for the next guy who happens to appreciate good food, in which case, your establishment does offer very good food and I certainly will be back in hopes of a better experience.

Thank you for your time in writing today.

All the best,
C

 

Micheal M.
Owner

One hour ago

appreciate it sir and a critique like yours only helps us get better
thank you

micheal

________________________________________________

After a day of romping around SF we were beat and looking for a quick bite. Yelp! search for burger joints near current location please.

Pretty decent find! Plenty of reviews and 4 stars to boot! Get directions button.. Start guidance... And off we go to Jack's Prime.

I'll say this much... If it wasn't for the food, it took forever and a day to get our to go order outta there and this could have been a 2 star rating.

Phoenix flame burger, Prime rib burger, and a classic cheese burger (vegan patty)... Wedge salad... Onion rings... Strawberry milkshake, and yeah, 2 diet cokes (they have one size cups for to go orders, no bueno!). Total bill $70.

Wifey took the Phoenix burger and gave me like 1/4. Good burger, one of their most popular and now I know why. Juicy and just plain good old great tasting burger with some jalapeño to turn up the heat, but just the right amount. Seriously, much better than mine, totally. Wifey also gave the milkshake a thumbs up.

Mother-in-law... Veggie burger... Also a thumbs up.

Wedge salad was good, crisp and fresh. The prime rib sandwich was very very decent. Great flavor and juicy. Onion rings were also very good. The aioli dressing they use for the onion ring dip is also very good, I think I used 2 little servings and licked the bottom of the cup!

I'll say this much. Review could have been better, but just so turned off from the long long wait. I saw many people who entered after me who were dine in, waited, got seated, and got their food faster than I did. Extremely disappointed! Extremely. I left a $10 tip making the total bill around $80 for a few burgers and some sides, I figured I wasn't going to be waiting 30 minutes for the food. The girl up front came by once to say its coming out and sorry for the wait, but the fact that I saw people who arrived after me get their sit down meals first was a very aggravating experience.

Final Thought: Although the wait was horrible for a to go order on a few burgers to wait as long as I did, the food turned out pretty darn decent. I would say give it a try, if not for the service/wait time... Try it for the food.

Stay hungry my friends! Cheers!

Water Grill (Downtown LA)

Water Grill

Categories: Seafood, American (Traditional)
Neighborhood: Downtown

 

3/19/2013

Dude! So pissed!

Never again will I go back to Water Grill... Supposedly a 1 star Michelin from 2009? Maybe back in its hayday! But why do places like Patina manage to maintain the service and quality when places like the Water Grill don't. Definately not the experience I was expecting for a $400 meal.

Thought this would be a nice place for mom's birthday dinner... Reservations at 8PM, arrived, the maitre 'd was ok, not impressed with his attitude, the valet guy out front was friendlier! Get seated, and wait... and wait... ahhhh... finally the server comes by for the drink orders... appetizers we good, 1/2 dozen oysters, clam chowder, mixed green salad, and a wedge salad, all of which we're pretty good, honestly nothing to brag about, and after the server asking who is eating what, they still mess up the seating and give everyone the wrong food, there's 4 of us not 40! So the kicker is when the entrees come out, they push the empty plates from the appetizers aside with the entree plates by sliding them in place of, seriously??? Really??? Then once they 'dropped' off the entree they picked up the empties reaching across everyone's dinner. I'm so serious, I'm so ready to leave now. Drinks! Martini! Gin, up with a twist and make it snappy! The sea bass was cooked very well, not over done, not under done, the rib eye, eh.... I've had better, no complaints on the steak, this isn't a steakhouse.

So once the meal ends... we wait... and wait some more... about 25 minutes to get the table clear... Oh and if you're just some poor soul drinking water, BYOW! (bring your own water). Seriously, we had to flag down someone else to bring water to the table. So after 25-30 minutes of waiting, they hand us the desert menu... Actually, forget the desert part... It wasn't that interesting.

Bottom line, Had to apologize to mom for the.... Shi... Ahem... bad service.

I'm sure there have been many pleasurable experiences for many others, perhaps our experience was an anomaly of sorts, but for the same amount perhaps a little more, I would have rather gone to Patina down the block... Heck, I would have had a better time at those newly renovated Sizzlers!

Stay Hungry! Cheers!

 

 

Patina (Downtown LA)

141 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Read my reviews on Yelp!
Categories: French, Venues & Event Spaces
Neighborhood: Downtown

Yesssh please!

Valentines Day, prefix pick 3, 4, 5, or 6... 6 for me and 5 for the wifey!

Honestly... I thought we were off to a shaky start. Walk through the door and announce our reservations. Very friendly up front, but a little slow. We had to wait a little bit for our table to come available, but in all fairness, it's valentine's day.

Since we're waiting... uuummmm... drinks at the bar! Bartender made up a nice sweet drink for the wife and a gin martini (you know)... up with a twist... shaken, extra cold. Beautiful! Tasty! A perfect shake! OK, now it seems to be getting better... Friendly bartender who makes a righteous drink? Who could ask for more.

Number 88!! We're up! They take our drinks from the bar, tray them and bring us and our drinks to our outside table... Little chili for the wifey, but still manageable. Server was friendly and we even had a laugh... Good start. Oh wait! We're out of booze, another round monsieur. Of course another great round of drinks. Getting more and more chilly, although you would have thought the alcohol would have kept us warm by this point but the wifey all sexy wasn't having it. So we ask to be moved inside, and again well executed, a good transition. At this point I'm not sure what we're ordering with all the alcohol being consumed... 5 of one and 6 of another... The truffle risotto, amazing! Perhaps it was the fact someone comes out with a little wooden box, puts on white gloves and slices it right on the plate... bon travail! So good in fact although I ordered it, the wifey ate the whole top part with the truffle like a cute puppy who ate around his pill in the food bowl (she'll read this eventually, I did mention it was a puupy, a young one and that it was cute... a girl puppy, ok, done) and left me the truffle-ish tasting risotto... Still great!!! This place should have been a 2 star back in '09 when Michelin was still in the neighborhood!

Dessert was great... but chocolate thing's been done before.

But overall impressed by the food and service!

FINAL THOUGHT: Dinner for 2 @ $700 tax and tip included... No complaints! Would gladly do it again for the service and quality of food. T'was a good valentine's day all around :)

Stay hungry my friends! bon appetit!