martha

My recent humble opinion: I just went to the one in Richmond VA last week. Everyone I was with was very excited about it before we arrived but calmed considerably as soon as we sat down. (4 others) After all the "hype" it seemed pretty bad. Our servers were not knowledgeable or accomodating, and they try to steer you towards the "family-style" menu )which is unappealing and overly complicated with price additions) and the more expensive or more fussy dishes. I'm "doing Atkins" but I'm comfortable with the Italian places here in San Diego b/c they have strong meat entrees that I can enjoy. So I checked out the Maggiano's menu on line before i visited and every meat dish except the roast chicken was breaded, battered, or at least "dusted" with flour. I arrived, scanned the menu and noticed the descriptions were absent but the choices were the same. I ordered the roast chicken (1/2--$18 if I remember correctly). The rest of the group ordered--a pasta "special", a pasta with pesto, eggplant parmesan and another parmesan something. The two "parmesan" dishes looked like elementary school cafeteria food. I did not venture a bite. I had two bites of my friend's pesto. It was perfectly ok. decent quality pasta, fresh tasting sauce. The pasta special was pronounced not worth sampling. The roast chicken was huge, presented in large pices, a little "hacked-up" looking if you try to follow J. Pepin's chicken carving techniques at home. It seemed to be more than 1/2 a chicken. The dark meat was flavorful, breast not so much. The skin was well seasoned but not crispy at all. One of the joys of Atkins is that I can eat chicken skin, so i was disproportionately disappointed. I complained to my DC friends at dinner at a trendy mezze place the next night, and they opined that it's ok for lunch, decent sandwiches, a step up from Sbarro. We asked the Bucca di Beppo question, but none of our crowd had tried that one. Anyone else?

Those tortillas sound fantastic! Would you recommend any particular meat in addition to the rice and beans? (this is assuming they have meat).

Hi! another san diegan! Hope I'm not too late to chime in. Roppongi is related to Fresh. And to Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. I've noticed some of the menu items from Tamarindo, Fresh's predecessor, have made it onto the Sammy's menu. I noticed that Roppongi Happy Hour was mentioned on this thread and figured it was worth adding details from my limited experience. Last time I visited (about two months ago) the deal was: half-price tapas and sushi (normal prices are about $6 to $24) from 4-6 each day. It's perfect for post-shopping, post-sightseeing or pre-entertainment. You can arrive at 5:30 and get your order in and then take your time. It's also in my experience been less loud and crowded during happy hour than dinner. If you approach it as a fun bargain opportunity to sample a lot of dishes (it's nice to have 3 or 4 people to share with) rather than a special-occasion destination, it's really much better. NB--Happy hour has never seemed to mean inexpensive drinks, and in the 6 or so times I've visited, service is highly irregular--either very nice and accomodating or very slow and haughty. Also, the desert with the ice cream, bananas and nut brittle is worth the full price if you have any room left. For La Jolla, more special-occasion, I'd go with Tapenade any time. I agree that Cafe W is lovely but I can't seem to get in there for more than drinks b/c I'm hooked on Parallel 33 for dinner and Hash House a go-go for breakfast or lunch. Hope you have a great trip--i need to try 150 Grand!

Thank you Jaymes and FItz! Can't wait to check out the Hill Country thread.

HI! I'm new to this sectionof eGullet but I've been reading with great interest b/c I am traveling (with husband and friends from Dallas) to Austin for the Austin City Limits festival next week. Most of the travel/food advice I've found elsewhere focuses on the fancy and this won't be a fancy trip for us. Do you have any suggestions reasonably close to Congress (the hotel is at 701 I believe) and/or Zilker Park? We'd especillay love places that are open and serving late night or early lunch, or places we can escape to easily if the festival food is bad. We have a rental car lined up and intent to use it for a side trip to Boggy Creek Farms (which we learned about on eGullet) but won't be able to drive at dinnertime much b/c of festival parking restrictions. We're from Memphis and live in San Diego now; a BBQ suggestion (texas-style) would be fun. We're also all big beer fans and can't wait to try the Shiners we can't get here. Is the Alamo Drafthouse mentioned in the Chronicle poll good? I've been wearing my old Celis Tshirt in memoriam since I discovered sad news on the site a few days ago. Can't wait to hear from you. Thanks in advance!