Today we went to Pisa Pizza Ristorante, and it was absolutely delicious. Instead of digging into the separate pasta dishes, we decided to eat a few pizzas as a group. We also had a couple of great appetizers. The one that sticks out in my mind is the plate of bruschetta. The juicy tomatoes were mixed with a cheese that made for a perfect start. We received our food in a timely matter, and always had full glasses.

During our stay, we heard more than once that the pizza at Pisa Pizza was perfect for when you wanted a pizza dish with a little bit of something extra or different. That’s exactly what we got. Pisa Pizza was the perfect cure for the unoriginal pizza you find at other pizza parlors. I would recommend Pisa Pizza Ristorante to those looking for a pizza dish upgrade.

With my cousin in town, I decided to bring her to my favorite restaurant. Upon entering, we were seated promptly. Our waiter was friendly and was always checking up on us. We ordered a lot of sushi between the three of us, as well as a few rounds of drinks. The service was a nice improvement from my last visit there and the sushi was great. She seemed to to enjoy the food and drinks, especially one of Kona Grill’s custom rolls, the shrimp tempura naruto roll. The naruto roll is composed of shrimp tempura and crab, wrapped in cucumber and topped with sprouts and a mild wasabi sauce.

We stuck around for one more round of drinks after finishing most of the sushi and walked off our meal around the mall for a bit after. Overall it was a fun night.

Located on the border of Chandler and Gilbert is one of YC’s Mongolian Grill locations. The setup is similar to other Mongolian restaurants, where you pay as you enter and then select your raw food to be cooked. Being that it was my first time there I followed my friend’s lead. Basically stuffing as much raw meat and vegetables as you can fit into your bowl. The meat shrinks down probably over 50% as the chef prepares your meat/vegetable combination. Within minutes your food is cooked before your eyes. You can also add your own custom sauces to the food as well as reference their own recipes hung on the wall.

Once the chef gives you back your cooked bowl of food, you can also add some soup and other sides to your meal at another station. You also have access to unlimited fountain drinks and soft serve ice cream after you have found a table in the seating area. For people not wanting to eat in the restaurant they also offer to go containers.

My friend and I chose to eat there. The food was very good and not greasy. Even though the meats had shrunk I still couldn’t finish my bowl. While eating we also seemed to noticed the large amount of body builders and people coming arriving after working out at the gym or cycling there for a meal. This made sense due to the fact that no butter or oils are used in the cooking process. Just whatever you put in the bowl and water that the chef adds when preparing the food. I would recommend trying out Mongolian food if you have never had it before. It is a good alternative to Chinese food which can be filled with grease and MSG.

One thing I have learned since moving out to Arizona is that it is almost impossible to find good Chinese take-out or food in general. I unfortunately had to learn the hard way when I went to China King Buffet located in Chandler. Upon entering the restaurant I was bombarded with some Chinese woman promoting a Chinese theatrical event. Not only could I hardly understand her, I could barley hear a word she said with the live karaoke entertainment in the background. Hardly entertaining and mostly annoying, I denied buying tickets and preceded to be seated. After realizing that I would be exposed the their “live entertainment” for the entire duration of my dinner, I quickly decided to just order some take-out.

Returning about 15 minutes later, I paid the woman at the register, after having to deny buying tickets yet again. Finally returning to my apartment, my roommate and I realized that they had taken down our orders incorrectly. Being hungry we just sucked it up and ate. To our surprise the food was not half bad. At least that’s what we thought.

About an hour after eating we both had stomach aches and swore never to return to China King. I am still on the look out for good Chinese take-out almost 5 months later with no luck. I might just stick to Japanese.

Of their five locations in Arizona I usually hit up the Chandler location right around the corner from my apartment. I had always passed it before until one day I figured I would try it out. Since then, I usually go there once every couple weeks. They offer several different options from beef and chicken teriyaki bowls to a nice selection of sushi rolls. The portions are very good and the rolls are quality made. Although it is a chain,  the sushi is not as cheap as you would think.

My favorite roll they offer is the crab crunch roll. It comes with crab and avocado, rice and a generous sprinkle of tempura crunch over it. You can even get the roll with shrimp tempura added. One of my friends really likes their Philadelphia roll and Dragon roll. But if your not in the mood for a beef or chicken bowl or even sushi, they also offer other noodle dishes.

You can make your order to stay or go. I usually get it to go, but I have eaten there before. The food is prepared relatively quickly with no loss of quality. Come to think of it, I might just have to stop there tonight for dinner. Overall if your in the mood for good sushi but don’t want to do the whole sit down thing at a restaurant, Yogi’s is definitely the place to go.

Before even moving out to Arizona, I visited a few times. Being that im obsessed with sushi, I researched to see what was the best sushi place out here. Most sites and reviews pointed to Zen 32. After making a necessary reservation, I ended up sitting outside. The inside was full of people and seemed very small. The restaurant was filled with a younger crowd and a lot of college students. After ordering a couple beers and a appetizer I was not impressed. The beers were totally over priced and the appetizer portions were small.

The big test came when I ordered my sushi. Unfortunately, I don’t have many good things to say. Not only was the sushi over priced, but it didn’t seem fresh. I had ordered a shrimp tempura roll amongst other rolls and it was cold and not appetizing. My friend who joined me at the time was not pleased either. The worst part was yet to come. Once we got served with the bill it was a lot more than we had anticipated and definitely not worth it. I would pick a dinner at Kona Grill over Zen 32 any day of the week.

I don’t see myself heading out to Phoenix anytime soon to try their sushi creations again. I still don’t see what the big deal is with Zen 32 besides their catchy name and crummy service.

A couple weeks ago I went to Elephant Bar in Chandler, located across from the Chandler mall. I had heard good things about it so I tried it out.  I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. The interior decor reminded me of an African safari gone bad and was kind of cliche. The place was packed with a lot of families and seniors. It was quite noisy and the service was ok. Me and my friend ordered some simple dishes which seemed to take some time to make. Again it was very loud and crowded and everyone in the restaurant seemed to all know each other, to the point of people having conversations with other tables on the other side of the sitting area. The food was fresh but not memorable, I honestly don’t even remember what I ate.  The best part of the meal was the appetizer; a salmon tempura sushi roll.  For a person who doesn’t like salmon, it was actually very good. I don’t see myself going to this restaurant again in the near future, but it is definitely worth trying.

First Impressions

Tasty Joe’s resembles a slightly toned-down Pei Wei, with the menu-board on the wall leading to a cashier, an open kitchen, and an informal, ‘pan-asian’ style.  The restaurant is fairly clean, and seemed remarkably not crowded for a lunch party.

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Chicken Cantonese Sweet and Sour Stir Fry with Brown Rice

Prepare yourself for a bright red Sweet and Sour sauce that is more sweet than sour. It matches nicely with a combination of pineapple and green and red pepper dices. Although it is served with onions as well, I prefer to remove them after the meal is served to preserve some flavor derived from them being cooked with the rest of the food. The dish comes with your choice of meat, but I think chicken is the best in this combo. Paired with brown rice it makes for a good meal.

Just make sure your fortune cookie has a fortune in it!

First Impressions

They’re another option at an already packed corner (Power and Brown), sharing a corner with no less than two pizzerias, a Sonic, and the Hot Dogs and More franchise previously reviewed here.  I wonder how exactly one gets so many restaurants on your corner….

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