The Word On Restaurants – Page 3 – A Word From The Three Sisters

Lazy Dog – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

Not long ago, we went to lunch at the Lazy Dog restaurant in Temecula. We went on a Saturday, but it wasn’t overly crowded, we only had a 5 minute wait. Since the restaurant was named Lazy Dog, all the decorations had something to do with a dog, including two big statues of dogs made out of nails. The ambiance of the restaurant, the lighting, the lamps, made it look like a fancy restaurant.. However, we thought that the waiter’s outfits, jeans and a black t-shirt, didn’t match the ambiance of the restaurant.

My sisters and I ordered the ‘Build Your Own Pizza’. After a long wait, waiters brought us raw dough, parmesan cheese, cherries, pineapple bits, and pepperoni. We got to put the toppings on the pizza and then they took it back into the oven, which meant we had to wait even more!

If you are going to order the Build Your Own Pizza, just keep in mind that it needs some time. When we finally got our pizza back, we all agreed that it was good.

Our mom and dad both got the Avocado and Swiss Turkey Burger. When they finally got their burgers, after a long wait, they discovered that it was huge! It was so big that neither of them could, put their mouth around it, things kept falling out. My mom and dad had to eat their burger with a fork and knife! That looked funny!

I think that the wait to get our food was a little too long, and I think that they could have made my mom and dad’s burger at a more eatable size. Overall, I think we all enjoyed our visit to the Lazy Dog Restaurant.

For more information go to the Lazy Dog restaurant website.

Macaroni Grill – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

A lovely drawing of fruit! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

We went to Macaroni Grill to celebrate my little sister Svara’s 7th birthday. There was no wait, and we were seated quickly. Macaroni Grill is one of our favorite restaurants. What my sisters and I like about Macaroni Grill is that there is butcher paper over the tablecloth and they give crayons so that kids can draw on the paper while they wait for their food. I was tempted to draw Hogwarts, from the Harry Potter books, but I didn’t have enough room to draw that, so I ended up drawing vegetables and fruit. My sisters Svara and Kiran both drew Hogwarts.

Let me eat my yummy dessert!(Image by the Jayasinghe family)

Kiran, Svara, and I all got the kids cheese ravioli. This is our favorite dish! For appetizers,we got two orders of the spicy ricotta meatballs. Our father got spaghetti with Ceaser salad, and our mother got the penne rustica. As always the food was delicious and we finished all of our food. For desert, we got one Homemade Chocolate cake to share. The Homemade Chocolate cake was served with a little bowl of chocolate sauce on the side. Yummy! Our mother and father got the tiramisu cake, which they like quite a lot.

We always enjoy coming to Macaroni Grill and this visit was no exception! If you haven’t been to a Macaroni Grill we recommend that you give them a try. To learn more about Macaroni Grill, click here.

Buffalo Wild Wings – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

Wild Wings! We visited the Buffalo Wild Wings location in Restaurant row on San Marcos Blvd not too long ago. The restaurant is close to where we live and we had seen it being built over several months. Although we wanted to try out the food as soon as they opened we waited a little till the crowds died down.

My family, together with my grant parents went on a Saturday for lunch. We were given a buzzer and tol IMG_0095-1 d that the wait would be about 15-20 minutes. The wait wasn’t too long, and we were seated in about 5 to 10 minutes. The inside of the restaurant has a lot of television screens, all of them playing some sort of sport. There were a lot of people and I thought the seating was a little too close together. Kiran, Svara and I got the Kids Cheese
Flatbread, our mother got the Chicken Ceaser salad, our grandfather got the Hickory Pulled pork sandwich, our grandmother got the Barbecue chicken sandwich and our father got the the Southwest Philly sandwich.

IMG_0092-1 — The range of sauces!(Image from the Jayasinghe family)

The food was good although it was a little messy to eat as the food didn’t come on silverware, they came on paper plates. We really wanted to try their wings, because that is what they are famous for! We were told that we could sample different sauces, because they had many flavors, for free and then pick which sauces we wanted on our wings. We chose one small size Parmesan Cheddar
wings, and one medium size Honey Barbecue wings. The wings were delicious, and everyone like Honey Barbecue sauce the best. The wings were the messiest to eat. There weren’t any plates because we were supposed to just take it from the box and eat them with or fingers. We also got one order of the Fried Pickles. We enjoyed the pickels, and they tasted a little bit better than the ones we had made with our dad.

For dessert, we picked the Chocolate Fudge cake. The slice of cake came with a scoop of ice cream and chocolate sauce drizzled all over the plate. Kiran, Svara, and I shared one slice for dessert. Before eating the cake, we had wanted on slice each, because it looked small, but afterward, we thought that it was way too rich to have our own slices.

Our visit to the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant was most enjoyable, the food was good, and we recommend that you try it out at least once. To learn more about Buffalo Wild Wings, click here.

Onny’s Thai- A Restaurant Review

By Kiran Jayasinghe

If you’re looking for a good Thai restaurant in San Marcos, Onny’s Thai is the restaurant for you. It is located on the corner of San Marcos Blvd and Rancho Santa Fe Rd. It’s a bit small, but it is beautifully decorated with a Thai theme. We went to have dinner at this restaurant about two weeks ago. We were seated at a nice table at the back. Behind our table, there was a television showing pictures of sceneries from Thailand and was playing music. Onny’s Thai only serves lunch and dinner.

Flaming pot of soup. — The delicious Tom Yum soup in the flaming pot (image by the Jayasinghe family).

For appetizers, we shared two orders of pot stickers. We also had Tom Yum soup with chicken, which was served in a pot that was shaped like a ring with a chimney-like hole in the middle. In the hole in the middle was a flame (the picture shows what it looked like). For our main meal, we had yellow curry with chicken, white rice, thai fried rice with chicken, and Pad Gra Pow with chicken. Pad Gra Pow is a dish of stir-fried bell peppers, onions, thai basil, green beans, and chili garlic sauce. All of our selections were extremely delicious. To drink we all had water, except for our father, who had Thai beer. In addition to Thai beer, Onny’s thai also serves wine, soda, and Thai tea. We all enjoyed our food, which tasted delicious.
The owners of this restaurant are Onny and Bill Eitel. The owners themselves work at the restaurant, since they don’t have many employees. Mr. Eitel even came up to us and asked if we wanted a spice rack!
Onny’s Thai is a great place to sit and enjoy a wonderful thai meal!

Check out Onny’s Thai’s website.

The Cheesecake Factory – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

Thick creamy chocolate cheesecake with gooey marshmallow dip on the side with whip cream. That is what comes to mind when I think of The Cheesecake Factory. About a month ago, my grandparents wanted to take us out to dinner to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory. This particular Cheesecake factory, was, at the NorthCounty Fair Mall in Escondido, 200 E. Via Rancho Parkway Suite 370 Escondido, CA 92025 US.

We went on a Saturday, and usually it is so busy, that there is about a two hour wait. But this time, we got lucky! We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. We were seated at a comfortable booth situated in a corner. It was in a half circle, and right above where our heads rested, there were mirrored panels all around. When we were seated our server bought couple baskets of warm bread with some butter. The bread was so good! Just remember not to eat too much bread or you will spoil your main course.

Yummy food! (image by the Jayasinghe family)

For the main course my dad and my grandpa both got orders of the cheeseburger, and salad with a vinaigrette. My mother and grandmother both got orders of the chicken enchiladas, which they claimed to be very good. My twin sister, Kiran, and I, both got the kids quesadilla which tasted excellent. Kiran had chocolate milk with her quesadilla and I had lemonade with my quesadilla. My little sister, Svara, got the kids spaghetti and meatballs with apple juice. The quesadilla, and the spaghetti with meatballs, we ordered from the kids menu, weren’t too small or too big. If you don’t like quesadilla or spaghetti then the kids menu had some other good choices too.

Delicious Cheesecake! (image by the Jayasinghe family)

For dessert, we of course had to have their cheesecake. They are famous for their cheesecake, and they have 50 different types of cheesecakes! Svara, got the lemon meringue cheesecake. I got the Toasted Marshmallow S’mores cheesecake. Kiran got the Hershey’s chocolate bar cheesecake. Svara did not like her lemon meringue cheesecake. She thought it was too lemony. It was a lemon meringue cake with whip cream on the side and little shreds of lemon peel and some mint leaves adorning it. The cheesecake had a little bit of melted marshmallow on the side. My Toasted Marshmallow S’mores was a chocolate mousse cake with a rich chocolate frosting, which was very thick, and a dollop of whip cream on one corner of the plate. The cake had a couple of graham crackers sitting on the rich chocolate frosting carpet, that covered the top of the cheesecake slice. There was also melted marshmallow dip covering the rest of the plate to eat with the rich chocolate cake. Kiran had the Chocolate Hershey bar Cheesecake and loved it. It was a very rich chocolate cake with huge chocolate chips in the cake itself, and a squirt of whip cream in one corner of the plate. It also had thick, creamy, chocolate sauce dribbled in a zigzag pattern all across the plate. All three of us enjoyed trying out each others choices of cheesecake. For dessert at the Cheesecake factory, you don’t have to have cheesecake. Although they are famous for their cheesecake they also have ice cream on their menu.

I certainly loved our visit to The Cheesecake Factory and will not forget it for a long time.

EscoGelato – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

Eating Yummy Gelato. (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

Have you ever slurped Pumpkin Spice Gelato on a blazing hot day? That’s exactly what I did a couple of weeks ago at EscoGelato . EscoGelato is a small dessert shop that is on the corner of Kalmia Street and Grand Avenue in downtown Escondido. It is open from 8am-9pm 7 days a week. The restaurant serves about eighteen different types of Gelato. They make their Gelato fresh daily using fresh fruits that come from local farms. EscoGelato changes their flavors of gelato from time to time so there may be new flavors to try each time you visit! They have baked goods and cookies made from scratch every day! We will have to try those next time. They also have Gelato Cakes, Coffee, Salads and Panini. The sizes of Gelato offered are: Kids, Small, Medium, Large, or Pint.

Gelato oozing onto the table. (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

My family all got Small orders. My sister Kiran got Salted Caramel. Svara, my little sister, got Chocolate. My mother got half hazelnut and half strawberry. My father got strawberry, and I of course had to try pumpkin Spice! My sisters and I ate our Gelato so fast you wouldn’t believe it! If we hadn’t the gelato would’ve been Salted Caramel and Chocolate milk even before we got halfway through! It was such a hot day! The Gelato was delicious although it was a bit messy. I think the cups that they served the Gelato in were too small for the amount of Gelato that was put in. The Gelato started oozing out and dripping onto the counter before we even paid for it!

That Gelato was so delicious and apparently it is also healthier than ice cream! There is a big poster on their wall listing all the differences between ice cream and gelato. Did you know that gelato has less 10% fat than ice cream?

It was a bit expensive, a small cup cost $ 3.50, but the Gelato was so delicious that I think it made up for the cost. It is a bit cramped in the shop, they only have 3-4 small tables and one long table inside, they also have 2 tables on the outside, but don’t let that hold you back from getting delectable Gelato at EscoGelato!

For more information, go to their website.

The Grand Tea Room – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

Tea at the English Countryside (image by Jayasinghe family).

The “Grand Tea Room” located on Grand Avenue in downtown Escondido, is a unique eatery. The “Grand Tea Room” serves traditional English teas. This means that they serve many different types of teas, as well as tea sandwiches, salads, and scones in the tradition of a meal known as English tea.
When you enter “The Grand Tea Room”, you find yourself in a little gift shop that has little mini handbags, small jewelry boxes, teapots, china tea sets, tablecloths, and many different kinds of teas (43 different kinds according to their website). The seating area of the tea room is behind the gift shop. All of us admired the ambiance of the tea room. The walls had beautifully framed pictures, and one of the walls was decorated in the scene of a English countryside. Each table had a beautiful tablecloth, ours was made of white lace. The table was also set with two charming white teapots, cups and saucers with pink flowers on them. The side plates were shaped like a flower and were made of glass.
The website suggests that you dress up in appropriate attire, and you should check the website before you visit. If you want to wear a hat you can, but if you don’t have a hat of your own, you can borrow one of the hats they have. Reservations are needed.

On our best behavior (image by the Jayasinghe family).

We ordered a pot of Ceylon tea with five orders of the “Assorted Tea Sandwiches and Savory” menu item, one for each of us in the family. In one “Assorted Tea Sandwiches and Savory” order, we were served a chicken tea sandwich, a cucumber tea sandwich, an egg tea sandwich, and a Shepherds Pie. The sandwiches were not like a usual dinner, or lunch restaurant sandwich, they were much smaller.The sandwiches and the Shepherds Pie were delicious! We also had four orders of scones to share. Each order comes with two scones, one blueberry, and one plain. The scones came with cream, preserves, and a lemon curd which was delicious! We liked the Ceylon tea so much that we ordered two more pots of tea! My sisters and I drank six cups of tea each!
We were on our best behavior, and exercising our British accents! The visit to the tea room was the highlight of our week, which I will never forget. Although the price was a little expensive, I am most definitely going there again. You must try the “Grand Tea Room”, I am sure it will be a memorable experience.

For more information visit the Grand Tea Room Website.

Extraordinary Desserts- A Restaurant Review

By Kiran Jayasinghe

IMG_1853_2 — Three delectable cakes and a scrumptious cookie! (image by the Jayasinghe family).

“Extraordinary Desserts” is a restaurant that serves delicious and truly beautiful desserts. You might be thinking, “The word ‘Extraordinary’ is probably just to attract attention.” The name does attract attention, but the desserts ARE truly extraordinary! The “Extraordinary Desserts” my family visited is located in downtown San Diego, near Balboa Park. There is also a location in San Diego’s Little Italy.

We had read online that the restaurant tends to be crowded, and it certainly was very crowded when we visited. When you enter the restaurant, there is a display of assorted cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pastries, and other baked goods. You make your selections as you stand in line and walk along the display, then you order your food from the cashier. We ordered four slices from different cakes for all of us to share. For a party, you can order whole cakes, or a batch of cupcakes. After ordering, you take a seat inside or outside, and, after a few minutes, a server will bring your food to the table.

Image of cake — So delicious! Too good to eat! (image by the Jayasinghe family).

My sisters choice. (image by the Jayasinghe family.)

When the food was brought to our table, at first, nobody ate. We just admired the cakes and took pictures. The cakes looked so beautiful! Some of the cakes even had real flower petals adorning them. But eventually we gave in and tasted a bit of each cake. My sisters and I had milk to go with our cake. The milk toned down the richness of the cake.
One slice of cake was sitting in a pool of chocolate and raspberry syrup, with red flower petals and raspberries on top of the cake. Also on top of the cake was some sort of chocolate frosting, made to look like a flower. It was my little sister’s choice. We also tasted a cake that was sitting in a pool of red, green, and orange syrup, all cleanly separated but joined together, as if there was an invisible, thin, separator in between the three colors. It was indescribably delicious! The name of the cake was so fancy, I unfortunately don’t remember it, but the photo on this post will show you exactly how it looked. The prices are expensive, but the taste and look of whatever you order will be worth your money. “Extraordinary Desserts” is a restaurant you will likely never forget!

For more information, go to the Extraordinary Desserts website.

Souplantation- A Restaurant Review

By Kiran Jayasinghe

The Souplantation is my favorite restaurant. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, you’re probably thinking, “Okay, she loves a place that sells soup.” True, it has some great-tasting soups, but it also has other food, from many different salads and pastas, to fruit. They also sell ice cream, my favorite part!

There are quite a few salads that you can choose from. They have permanent salads and seasonal salads. The Chinese Chicken Salad, and the Caesar Salad are two of the permeant salads I have seen. The seasonal salads change, and you may have to check out the menu online to see what they have. If you aren’t satisfied with these choices, you can make your own salad. The salad bar provides you with lettuce, spinach, shredded carrots, tomatoes, croutons, dressings, cranberries, and other salad items to make any kind of salad you wish.

When you walk in, you will see trays and dishes on either side of the entryway. Once you have taken a plate (or two) and tray, you can slide your tray down the counter along the salad bar and help yourself to anything you want. Other than salad items, there is Tuna Terragon, (My favorite!) which is a pasta, beans, cucumber, and broccoli salad that is quite famous. But the best part is…Souplantation is a buffet! Which means you can always go back for more.

There is also a small dessert bar, which includes chocolate muffins, chocolate mouse, fruit, and three different kinds of ice cream. To go with the ice cream, there is chocolate sauce, caramel syrup, chocolate and white chocolate chips, and sprinkles. And again, you can always go back for more!

On Sundays, between 9 a.m. and 12 noon, the Souplantation serves breakfast. In addition to the regular eatables, it includes scrambled eggs, French toast, waffles, oatmeal, cereal, blueberry muffins, apples, oranges, and much more. To drink, there is water, orange juice, milk, and coffee.

My family usually goes to the Souplantation in Vista. The restaurant has undergone a recent remodeling and it looks great! It’s clean, and the staff members are very helpful.

For more information visit the Souplantation website.

Vista Souplantation.

North County Square Shopping Center, 1860 University Dr., Vista, CA 92083-7700.

Boudin S.F. – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

We have passed Boudin S.F. in San Marcos so many times in the past few years, and never even thought to try it! Last week we just decided to go and check it out. The restaurant is located in the Grand Plaza shopping center in San Marcos, which is on the corner of Las Posas Road and Grand Avenue.
Boudin S.F. has been around for 156 years! The restaurant is originally from San Fransisco. They sell sourdough in all types of shapes. Boudin S.F. bakes their bread daily. They had bread shaped like lobsters,crabs, fishes and even turtles! At Boudin S.F. you walk in the door and you order your food. Then you go and sit down and they bring the food out to your table. Our family ordered a turkey avocado sandwich, a Chicken Basil Bisque soup, a cob salad, and three grilled cheese sandwiches. My dad had the turkey avocado sandwich, and the chicken basil Bisque which he claimed to be very delicious! My mother had a Cobb salad which she said was great. My two sisters, and I ate the three kids grilled cheese sandwiches. The sandwiches came with applesauce, and apple juice. Kiran (my twin sister) and I thought the kids grilled cheese sandwich was a little too small for a hungry 9 (almost 10) year old! But that may be because we are swimmers, and we tend to eat a lot of food!
The Boudin S.F restaurant in San Marcos was clean and had a good atmosphere. The servers, and staff were very nice and friendly. I enjoyed eating at this restaurant and recommend it.

For more information about the restaurant visit the Boudin S.F. website.

San Marcos
Boudin SF
113 S. Las Posas, Suite 112
San Marcos, CA 92078.

760-761-1150

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