thesebs's Profile
Anything to eat in Visalia?
Visalia Eats Downtown
Acequia on Main - Good when open, many times few people are there.
Cafe 225 - Average at best, but nice atmosphere, food and service just ok
Little Italy - Good service, quirky ambiance, excellent Italian food. Sometimes you will get Opera from the waitresses always busy.
Fugazzi - All about the Decor, food doesn't live up to the appearance
Alejandra's - Good, reasonably priced Mexican, Cheap abundant Nachos
El Tarasco - Mexican, I'll pass.
Henry Salazar's - Mexican with Flair, best of the bunch, decent price.
Tommy's - Nice decor, good food, overpriced.
Depot - Professional staff, old style steak house. Owner died what does that mean?
Jack and Charlie's - Off the beaten path downstairs in old Jail. Speakeasy style, excellent menu, best place in town BY FAR!!!!
Brewbaker's - Brew Pub, nered I say more.
Crawdaddy's - I keep trying them and they keep disappointing.
L & L - Steak that is disappointing, stay away from Bar, unless you want to feel like you are at the place on Earl.
Lum Lum's - old style pick up joint.
Canton - Best Chinese in town, valley. I don't go elsewhere since going there.
Colima's - Lot's of people swear by them, not me.
Rosa's - Been around forever, my first trip a few months ago didn't impress.
Taylor's Hot Dogs - Cheap, fast, old style hot dog stand. Just don't nring in car or you will never get smell out.
Main Street Cafe - Good food, good prices, good service, if you are looking for diner food, this is the only place in town to get it.
Vintage Press - Anniversaries, Birthdays, need to impress. Food generally good, but no Ruth's Chris or Morton's if you want to talk about the food.
Want good street food? You have to head north around the "Oval", but don't go after dark. Truly like being in Tijuana, lots of taco trucks, Houston Ave has lots of little stands.
Thai - Try Sai Sala Thai.
Good dinner at Grace
Went to Grace last night, 7360 Beverly. Reservation at 7:15 seated right away. A little quite at that time, but by 8:00 most tables full. Nice atmosphere. NIce bar area if you need to wait before or after. Had to call our own cab to get picked up so bring the number if you are cabbing.
My wife had the cooked beet salad which she liked very much, I tried it and it was good. I had the black chick pea with anchovies which I also liked very much. For dinner she had Salmon and I had Fijian Grouper, very mild firm fish. Both were excellent, hot and nice sized portions. Didn't have room for desert, though. Offerings looked excellent though.
Total for two salads, two entrees a Cosmo and three beers was around $135.00
Restaurant Suggestion - LA
Manhattan Beach Brewing Company. Lots of items on menu for kids. Right off the pier so you can walk there if there is a wait. Lots of TV's with sports on. Lots of cute girls. Fish tacos are good, so are the burgers. Haven't been for a year or so, but went many times prior to that and it never changed much in the three years I lived down there. http://www.manhattanbeachbrewingcompany.com/map.html
http://www.manhattanbeachbrewingcompany.com/map.html
Breakfast near LAX?
Jerry's Famous Deli - Marina Del Rey
13181 Mindanao Way
Marina Del Rey 90292
(310) 821-6626
Huge portions, great LOX. Need to take a cab. A couple minutes from LAX.
Visalia - Crawdaddy's
We finally went to Crawdaddy's on Thursday, Nov 30. Figured we would give them time to get over the newness and lose the crowds. I will say that overall the experience was pleasant, the service good, the food acceptable.
We sat on the first floor which seemed like a sports bar. The decor and tables not much to crow about and I didn't like the napkins which are a harsh paper type. Looking around it looks like a fun place to be when the weather is nice as they can open the windows/doors to the sidewalk and make it more like a sidewalk cafe.
My son had the pulled pork pasta which he really liked and said he hadn't had anything like in Visalia and would go back for. My wife had the cobb salad and said the meat wasn't good, but it was very substantial and had a large assortment of items so she felt it was okay, but wouldn't order again. I had the italian salad which was substantial, had a large assortment of meats and was good.
The one disappointment was the boudin balls which the waiter recommended over the fired oysters, which I asked about simply because of the prior reviews. He didn't like the oysters so that was good enough to confirm they aren't good. The boudin balls are a fried risotto ball with some cheese in the middle. For $7 you get four balls. The outside was hot and the inside cheese was cold. Not a lot of flavor and seemed pretty meager for $7. For $4 I wouldn't have felt as negative.
I will probably go back at some point in the future, but my problem is that it didn't seem much like a cajun restaurant to me. The offerings weren't really exciting, there were no raw oysters on the menu, which I would have expected since they are prevalent in any seaport town in the south so that would seem to be a natural item to have. Spent over $70 for three people but felt like I should have spent around $30 for what we had.
I would say give it a try, the more people trying new things, the better chance we have of getting some innovative things happening in Visalia.
Acequia in Visalia - Go there immediately
Always a good choice when in Visalia. If you only have one chance while in town this would be an excellent choice. Not the old school favorite like the Vintage Press or trying to be hip like Fugazzi's, (they do a good job), just good food and wine pairings you won't see anywhere else on Main Street.
Having patrolled the non-chain food offerings in town for 13 years it often gets thin on choices, but this one reminds me of the small places I go to when I stay in the Marina in SF, or Manhattan Beach in LA. I was recently at Lucques in Hollywood and this restaurant would compare well.
I have turned my brother on to a few local wines I have had here and it has resulted in them being carried by his wine source in SF.
Have a good time.
