Houston's (Fancy/sit-down)

Houston's Steakhouse
(Multiple Locations)
Irvine: 2991 Michaelson Dr.
Irvine, CA 92612
(909) 833-0997
http://www.hillstone.com/#/restaurants/houstons/

Just writing the name of the restaurant is making our mouths water. This is one of those restaurants that you treat yourself to for something special. Anniversaries, birthday's, getting into your dream school, etc. I was introduced to this restaurant by a coworker when I was attending UC-Irvine. I walked in and the first thing that popped into my head was "geez - here we go with all the howty-towty people". I mean hello!! there was valet outside for godsake! The restaurant had beautiful decor and warm ambiance. So, I go to open the menu and it's one of those menu's where there's aren't even any cents written. In small writing all you see is 29, 35, 38, market price, etc. At this point I was already nervous because I was thinking what I got my self into. I didn't want to spend 40 dollars on lunch.

My friend told me to order the Hawaiian Ribeye Steak and I like my steak well-done (because I don't like a bloody steak). So this steak arrives and it came with 2 sides (yummy vegies and mashed potatoes), I go to cut the steak and I put the first bite into my mouth......MY GOODNESS!! It was like a little piece of heaven in my mouth. It was the most amazing and tender steak I have ever had in my life. It was so succulent and flavorful. I never finish a whole dinner, however I did not leave any piece of that steak on the plate. I was hooked after this visit to the place. Now I make every excuse to go back there. Me and the hubby went back for my birthday one time (again I had the Hawaiian Ribeye) the hubby ordered a cheeseburger and mind you, this was no ordinary cheeseburger. The burger patty was tender, flavorful, succulent and was accented beautifully with their yummy, yummy shoestring fries. We also started the meal off with their chilli, which was also served nice and hot. Basically, anything that we say about Houston's is not enough. This is one of those restaurants that is just such a yummy place to treat yourself and a loved one.

The service is also so wonderful at this place (and you would hope so right? after paying 40 bucks for lunch). I remember, when the hubby took me for my birthday, they were nice enough to come out with a candle in my dessert.

The Lowdown:
Cost: $ $ $ $
Atmosphere: * * * *
Service: * * * *
Food: * * * * *

Overall: * * * *1/2

Final Words: This is an amazing restaurant, but not one to make a habit out of if you're on a budget.

Zankou Chicken (Budget)

Multiple Locations
http://www.zankouchicken.com/
(We go to the one on Ball rd., Anaheim, CA)

Craving great shawerma? This place is a middle eastern fast food restaurant. As far as the restaurant itself goes it's a very simple restaurant. You have your basic yellow booths and bolted down tables; nothing out of the ordinary.

However, when it comes to the food, you will become a regular. Their shawerma sandwiches are so wonderful. That one is my personal favorite. It has the perfect amount of onions and this wonderful garlic sauce. This is the best tasting shawerma sandwich that I have ever had. My husband on the other hand likes to eat the shawerma plate. This comes with a hefty amount of shawerma meat, lettuce, hummus, onions and tomatoes. Their hummus is really tasty as well. It has this wonderful texture to it and it tastes great by itself or on a sandwich. You know, we've noticed that a lot of places have falafel, but they tend to be too dry or just don't have the taste. However, Zankou's falafel sandwich is really tasty. We swear it has to do with that amazing garlic sauce. They just started serving kabob plates, however we haven't had a chance to eat one of those, so if you try it let us know if we should go try it. This restaurant is another one that we go to regularly. The only problem for us is that they close early (10 p.m.) This is definitely a restaurant to go try, you'll be hooked!

Lowdown:
Cost: $$
Atmosphere: *
Service: * *1/2
Food: * * * *

Overall: * * *1/2

Final Words: This is a great restaurant to get good, cheap food!

Guppy's Teahouse (Budget/Chill)

11803 South St
Cerritos, CA 90703

(562) 865-7288

www.myguppyteachouse.com

• Hours:
  Mon-Thu 9:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m.
  Fri-Sat 9:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.
  Sun 9:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m.

This is one of our personal favorites. We tend to come back to Guppy's again and again and it never seems to get old. During the day this can pass as a family restaurant, but at night beware of the long waits. At night it becomes a hang out for teenagers/young adults (i.e. age range 18-25). The decor is "tropical", there are umbrellas inside the restaurant and random fish tanks all around. The inside of the restaurant can get kind of claustrophobic, the outside isn't any better, but at least you're in the open. The restaurant has very "cozy" seating; you're basically sitting elbow to elbow. Overall it has a fun atmosphere, it's a good place for a first date or a good hang out with your friends.

This place is known for their shaved ice. Now, this is not the shaved ice that you get at a carnival in a cone with colored syrup. This is special. This shaved ice consists of lots of ice with fresh fruit on top and condensed milk to give it a wonderful sweetness (be careful! the super shaved ice can feed up to 10-12 people). Guppy's is known for it's desserts. Aside from their shaved ice, they have this concoction called "brick toast". Brick toast is a piece of bread in the shape of a cube, which comes in different flavors (peanut butter, strawberry, coconut, etc). This may not sound like something out of the ordinary, but you should definitely try it because it's not like your average piece of bread. All their slushes and smoothies are really good as well. My husband's personal favorite is strawberry-mango smoothie with boba. However, I have must say that their tea's are wonderful. Their tea's have a way of making you feel so wonderful inside. If you get a chance, you should try the "almond-rose-milk tea". It has the perfect amount of sweetness to it.

Their dessert is amazing, however their food isn't that bad either. Their are many wonderful dishes to choose from. Their popcorn chicken is really tasty, depending on how spicy you like things (low, medium, high) and it comes with a yummy sweet/sour sauce. Another thing that we would recommend would be the appetizer sampler. It consists of popcorn chicken, fries, chicken cutlets, and a salad. This gives you a chance to try everything (which we must say is all really good). If you don't feel like appetizer, then you can get these as an entree. The entree comes with rice (FYI: the meat sauce on the entree is pork), potato salad (with raisins...it's kind of sweet, so you may or may not like it), cucumbers, and corn. Also, another thing that we always tend to get is the "Just fried rice". This is a mountain high plate of rice! This is not something that only one person can finish. Since we don't eat pork, we haven't tried the other fried rice, but their "Hawaiian fried rice" comes in a pineapple. Their other items sound and look pretty tasty as well, however the hubby and I tend to get stuck in ruts so we eat the same thing over and over again. If you try something else, please let us know if you think we should try it ;)


Lowdown:

Cost: $ $
Atmosphere:* * * *
Service: * * *
Food: * * * *

Overall:* * *1/2

Final Words: This is a great place trendy hang out spot. Good place to go with your friends or with a date!

Crave Restuarant (Halal/Chill)

Crave The Restaurant

730 North Brookhurst, Anaheim, CA 92801
714-687-1888

This is a halal restaurant down on Brookhurst and Crescent (In the Home Depot/Staples plaza). This was a snazzy restaurant, especially being a halal restaurant. (no offense but most halal restaurants I've seen tend to have the plastic lawn chairs for their decor). This little restaurant actually had nice decor and nice booths, which gave it a really nice atmosphere.

As far as the food is concerned, they had a wide variety of choices ranging from Mexican, fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches, and breakfast, yes I repeat they had breakfast!! Anyone craving halal bacon and eggs? (ooohhh they also had paazokie!) This is a completely halal restaurant, the nice part is they have food that young people would actually enjoy! Such as philly cheese steak, fried chicken, buffalo wings, tacos, pazookies, etc.

Our experience:
We went in on a random Friday night (oh, by the way they are open way late, which is an amazing plus!) When we walked in, we were impressed by the atmosphere, it was welcoming and trendy. The host was really nice and so were the cooks.

I ordered the "Rayflex grilled chicken burger" and my husband ordered the "Sam Friday burger". We also ordered the "Roaring wings". The grilled chicken burger was relatively healthy, lettuce, onions, tomato, and pickles on the side. However, the chicken was quite bland, which was disappointing because I was expecting something "chat-pata" (spicy) since it was a "desi" restaurant. For a grilled chicken burger, it wasn't the best we've had, but neither the worst, so we are rating it mediocre.

As far as the "Sam Friday Burger" it contained onions, jalepenos, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, and cheese. It was like easting a burger from "Carl's Jr" but it wasn't so messy, since it was quite saucy. The meat wasn't overly done either which was surprising since "desi's" like to overkill on meat when cooking it, so it was cooked just enough. I would rate the burger a rating of mediocre.

The wings were spicy but kind of soggy, which made them not so enjoyable, also they were served kinda of cold, so you lost some of the taste of the wings, however their potatoes wedges were tasty crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside those were served hot.

Lowdown: (out of 5 stars)

Cost: $$
Atmosphere: * * * *
Service: * * * *
Food: * *1/2

Overall Rating: * * *

Final Words:
Good place to eat for a quick bite especially if you're looking for a Halal fast food.

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