Onyx Milk Tea

I have a personal story with how I came across Onyx. A couple years ago, I met a guy at my friend's birthday party. He was a student, like me, at the University of California, Berkeley in HAAS School of Business. At the time, he wasn't entirely sure what he had planned, but opening up a shop was one of his ideas. A year later, I receive a facebook invitation from him to the grand opening of his own tapioca place. To my surprise, it has been opened for at least a year and the business has been quite successful. I honestly didn't go during the shop's grand opening, for I was still around Berkeley and the tapioca place was in my hometown across the Bay Bridge, but I finally got to try it a few months ago while running errands at oriental market which is located in the same plaza as Onyx. As of now, I've been here a few times, getting standard milk tea and recently trying the lavender milk tea. From my experience, the quality of the drinks are good, filled with flavor. The only complaint I have is the sweetness of the milk tea can be overpowering. I have not tried anything else other than their milk teas, but they have a variety of Asian snacks such as popcorn chicken. Interestngly, they serve an item called fried oreos. The prices are around $2.50-$3.50 for drinks, and snacks can go well up to $5. It is also important to note that this place only accepts cash.

The decor has a nice, lively vibe, with great choice in colors. I adore the beanbag cushions and the soft red couch, which are obviously popular and usually the first taken seats. Independently, this place has charm, but with the market next door along with some other reputable restaurants, I wouldn't be surprised that this place has some good business. So to that guy I met a couple years ago, fantastic job and hope for continual success.

Yelp Review
950 King Dr
Ste 106
Daly City, CA 94015

Claim Jumper

For all of you who enjoy hardcore American cuisines, Claim Jumper will satisfy your rich needs. Claim Jumper is a American chain, like Chili's, TGIF, BJ's Brewery, except for the fact that the portions are extremely generous. One of the promising traits that we Americans have is plentiful food.


Claim Jumper has an eclectic menu, ranging from burgers, sandwiches, salads, soups, steaks, and other fusion entrees featuring chicken or fish. I was relatively content with my filet mignon, and the pricing is standard (about $30). In comparison to steakhouses, I think the quality isn't as great, but it's satisfying. Considering the fact that this place serves more than just steak (ribs, tri-tip, lobster tails, and more), I wouldn't give them a lower rate based on their steak. When I went with my family, we tried each others' entrees and thought overall the quality of the food was a little bit heavy, but enjoyable. The steak entrees come with two side choices that were also quite remarkable; I especially love the cheese potatocakes, which reminds me of cheesy mash potato nicely formed and shaped. If you come here with a big group, I recommend getting some appetizers, which alone can fill you up that you'll find trouble finishing your main entree. Some appetizer highlights include crispy shrimp taquitos, garlic cheese toast, chicken tenderloin, and parmesan zucchini spears. Since there are many choices, the appetizer combination features a majority of the popular dishes for $20. Although the price seems extremely expensive, you get a great amount of food to share and split with others. Because of this filling meal, I wasn't able to get dessert, but looking at the menu I could have gone for one. Besides steak, pricing for most entrees range between $9-$16.


The ambiance here is nice and the service is extremely friendly and enthusiastic. The wait was comparable to typical American family restaurants like Elephant Bar and BJ's Brewery (around half an hour). It helps that this place is huge, being able to accomodate a great number of parties at a time.

Yelp Review
43330 Pacific Commons Blvd
Fremont, CA 94536

Sprinkles

I love cupcakes. People who know me can easily vouch that statement. When I was little, I was never a huge fan of cupcakes until I tried what I'd like to distinguish as "gourmet cupcakes." My past experiences with cupcakes are the Safeway store-bought bakery ones, which tend to run dry, slabbed with thick icing/cream, and just wasn't appetizing all together. I was stuck eating such cupcakes as an elementary school kid since it was cheap, affordable and honestly, I didn't know any better. It wasn't until I became older and more mature, having adventures around San Francisco with family and friends that I discovered the true potential of cupcakes.

Sprinkles serves pretty little cupcakes at gourmet cupcake prices ($2.50-$3). I love the variety of cupcakes listed on their menu, interesting flavors both unique and traditional. Sprinkles, in my opinion, sells standard gourmet cupcakes compared to Love at First Bite and Cupkates

Perhaps it's the Northern California chain in Palo Alto, or the fact that I tried a simple chocolate cupcake, which wasn't anything spectacular. Perhaps, if I had tried one of their unique flavors, I would think more highly of Sprinkles. Based on what other people told me, Sprinkles has a high reputation, and many people love their cupcakes. Overall, decent cupcakes at reasonable prices for a good sweet treat.

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Gypsy's

Although Gypsy's isn't exactly a fine, elegant restaurant serving delectable Italian cuisine, it easily touches many hearts and satisfies customers' tongues. Gypsy's serves traditional, simple pastas as well as specialty pasta with names such as the Godfather's Favorite or the Bronx Tale. All pastas are served with garlic bread, which I adore since it's not simply a garlic spread but rather roasted garlic pieces on toasted bread. Besides their pastas, they serve satisfying sandwiches and pizza. Gypsy's is also popular for their huge, football-shaped calzones, well-stuffed and delicious. Prices are suited for college students with a minimum of $7 and no more than $15 a meal (unless one is extremely hungry). Situated in what was formerly known as Asian Ghetto, this area tends to get busy throughout the day, with many people crowding the cramped shop. Though seating is limited, to-go is always a viable option. All-in-all, it's one of the few hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Berkeley that I tend to take visiting friends and relatives mainly because it's good, cheap food and reflects the Berkeley community well.

2519 Durant Ave
Suite A
Berkeley, CA 94704
Yelp Review

Palace BBQ

Who can ever say no to All-You-Can-Eat Korean BBQ (besides vegetarians)? If you're a meat lover, this is the way to go. Along with grilling your own meat at a hot grill, there are a few trays of noodles, rice, vegetables, and meat dishes. They also feature a salad and fruit bar and serve three-four different kinds of soups. The choices are variable, but they normally have the general appetizers such as kimchi and pickled garlic. The meat, especially the kalbi and spicy pork, were superb and one of the finer qualities you can find in the Bay Area. The meats were well-tenderized and juicy (especially the pork belly bacon).

The rates for weekdays are $14.99 and$ 18.99 (lunch and dinner), and the weekend rates are $17.99 and $19.99). Depending on the amount of meat one intends on consuming, one can get a great deal when stocking up on plates and plates of meat. Like most grill-your-own BBQ places, this place will leave you with a strong odor of smoke and barbeque. So, I highly recommend you wear clothes you can easily wash or don't mind giving a faint odor.

1092 E El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Yelp Review

Tong Palace

Tong Palace sells acceptable dim sum, overfilled with meat and seafood. Most of their dim sum dishes are bigger than most other places. The quality is not comparable with Koi Palace, located in Daly City, but for the price it's definitely worth it. The dim sum is prepared well and tastes more or less authentic. The taste of the food, however, is quite bland. Normally, I'd like to reduce my intake of sodium because I'm sensitive to the taste of salt. The fact that I wasn't able to taste much flavor means there wasn't a fair amount of salt. They have a great M-F deal, where all dim sum plates of any size is $1.95, which is quite a bargain. Some dishes I specifically thought were notable include the shrimp-meat wrap with bean curd skin, rice roll wrap with beef (overstuffed), and the egg tarts, which I was surprised was pretty good. My family and I also ordered a regular dish, their seafood pan fried noodle (Hong Kong Style), which was bland but otherwise well-prepared. For a Chinese restaurant, the place is clean and adorn with many cultural designs. The service was fair and there are plenty of tables. I would expect the weekend to be a bit more busy and packed, but for a weekday it was fairly busy during the lunch hour. Parking around the neighborhood can be tough, as many other places in San Francisco. You could spend a good 15-30 minutes just trying to find parking. Overall, Tong Palace serves decent dim sum at fair prices.

933 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94118
Yelp Review

San Tung

I can't believe I never reviewed San Tung since I started the food blog, considering how long and how many times I've been here. San Tung is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants to go to in San Francisco. I've been rather fond of the food here and like everyone else who has tried this place, the dry fried chicken is absolutely delicious. I just went here a few days ago and my friend who sat next to me kept saying delicious and devouring the sweet, tangy sauce that was leftover when all the wings were gone. There are many entrees I enjoy that are spicy and others that are simply sweet.


Some recommendations include the dumplings, black bean noodles, three spicy noodles, and shredded pork with garlic. San Tung can get fairly busy on weekends, so expect to wait some days. Other times, it is easy to get a seat, which tends to be true when you're in smaller groups. San Tung has attracted a good number of loyal customers, which I am not at all surprised about. The staff is tolerable and friendly. Prices for the food are moderate and reasonable, not the cheapest around but definitely not expensive. I highly recommend this place if you want authentic, tasty Chinese food.


Yelp Review
1031 Irving St
San Francisco, CA 94122