Murrieta's Well - Livermore, CA

Murrieta's Well
3005 Mines Rd
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 456-2390
murrietaswell.com

This was the only winery during Livermore's First Barrel Tasting Weekend that in hindsight, I wish we had skipped. They offered only one wine for barrel tasting (a Petit Verdot) and it was, ahem...well let's just say I won't be returning to Murrieta's Well.

Here's a story on Day 2 of Livermore's First Barrel Tasting Weekend:

http://whrrl.com/story/show/764

Amakara - Dublin, CA

Amakara
7222 Regional St
Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 803-8485
amakaraco.com

Short version:

They should change their name to "The Fish Bone" because this was the first time we've ever had a bone in sushi.

Long version:

Tonight was our first visit to Amakara and after reading positive reviews on yelp, we were looking forward to possibly discovering a new favorite restaurant for sushi. We decided to try out their hamachi and shiro maguro; you can judge the quality of a sushi restaurant by ordering the classic nigiri instead of the specialty rolls drenched in sauces and sprinkled with nuts.

The hamachi nigiri was mediocre and looked more like a slice of sashimi plopped on the rice. I guess we're used to generous portions of fish that completely cover the rice and too large to fit in one mouthful.

The shiro maguro nigiri was the same quality as the hamachi. The shocker was that DH found a thick, sharp bone in the shiro maguro as he was chewing it and it poked his gums, causing a little bleeding. Wow. In all the years we've been eating sushi (me much longer than him, being from Hawaii and raised on sushi), this experience was a first for us.

We decided to get out of there without ordering anything else, so we asked for the bill. The manager offered us a dessert on the house (which we refused because we still wanted dinner) so she took off the shiro maguro nigiri from our bill. We left our server a nice tip (it wasn't his fault the bone was in the sushi) and left. Between the mediocrity and the not-so-generous portions of sushi, I don't think we'll be back. They do get 1 star because of the good service and the fact that the manager did take something off the bill for our troubles.

Rock House Sports Pub & Grill - Livermore, CA

Rock House Sports Pub & Grill
1840 Portola Ave
Livermore, CA 94551
(925) 960-9110

We ate dinner here for the first time tonight and arrived starving, so the food should have tasted really good based on the hungry factor, right? Negative.

Our server Brittani was no help in adding any stars to this rating, she even brought out the tab midway through my dinner and came back a minute later to try to collect it. Call us old-fashioned, but we typically don't pay until we're finished eating...!!!

The mixed green salad was delicious for what it is (note: they didn't bring out any bread, so either they don't offer it or they forgot.) The veggies were also delicious and the fries were pretty awesome, too. Unfortunately, we were paying $20 for a New York Steak and $17 for Baby Back Ribs and neither one of them were very good.

DH ordered the steak "medium" and they brought it out cold the first time, then well-done and warm the second time. He told the server it was well-done and he had asked for it to be medium and all she said was, "Oh, sorry" and walked away. Out of my half-rack, there were only two ribs that were decent; the others were dry and tough. Good thing I asked for fries because that was mostly my dinner. Poor DH, he ordered mashed potatoes and they were pretty bland.

If it wasn't for the fact that we used a Restaurant.com $25 gift certificate that we bought for $2, I seriously would have had diner's remorse...I would have much rather spent the money just about anywhere else. But since our total only came to $20.16 (including the 18% gratuity they tack on as a part of the gift certificate terms) I guess I'm not complaining...so DH just ate his well-done New York Steak and I settled for a couple of good ribs and we'll call it our last meal there.

One star for the salad and fries. This experience wasn't terrible enough to be a zero star rating, but not good enough to make us repeat customers. Well, they do have 1/2 off appetizers on Tuesday...maybe we'll be back for that one day, but definitely not for a meal.



Dinner for two including tax and tip: $20.16
(courtesy of a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate)

Demitri's Taverna - Livermore, CA

Demitri's Taverna
2235 1st St
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 373-0306

Sadly, this was another yelp disappointment...so many good reviews on yelp and yet...food = fail. Service was great, the entire staff was friendly, but unfortunately, I won't be back because of the food.

My "regular" Greek restaurant closes early (8pm) so we came here to satisfy my Greek food craving last night. We shared a dolmades appetizer and avgolemono soup; I had the gyros and DH had the seafood pasta. The dolmades was "okay" but a little on the dry side (even with the avgolemono sauce.) At ~$9 for 4 pieces I expected a lot better. The avgolemono, one of my favorite soups, how can you go wrong? Well, I think this one needed a squeeze of fresh lemon...in my opinion it was a little on the blah side, but not bad.

I ordered the gyros platter and it was the worst I've ever had...and I've eaten many, many, many gyros in my lifetime! The pita bread was hard and dense; it was so tough on one end that I didn't even finish it. The gyros was dry and I tried to make it taste better by drenching it in tzatziki sauce. It might have worked, but their tzatziki was not authentic at all...it had no mint and/or dill and the consistency was similar to whipped cream cheese. It should have been called "spread" not "sauce"! Where's the YOGURT??? Oh, and don't even get me started on the fries...I ate about 5-6 of them and left the rest. Cold, hard, yuck.

I'm giving them 1 star for great service...plus I typically only give zero stars for an entire experience being terrible. Sorry, Demitri's, I really wanted to like you but I'm going to be faithful to my "regular" Greek restaurant from now on...I'll just have to eat earlier on Greek food nights.



Dinner for two including tax and tip: $21.24
(courtesy of a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate)

Weatherford BMW - Berkeley, CA

Weatherford BMW
750 Potter Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 654-8280
weatherfordbmw.com

It has been over a month since I asked Jenn Bishop to REMOVE me from her e-mail list...and I just received another SPAM e-mail message from her today! The other BMW dealers do not continue to e-mail me...why can't Jenn at Weatherford get her sh*t together?

I ALREADY TOLD YOU I BOUGHT A BMW, JENN, SO REMOVE ME FROM YOUR DATABASE!!!

I have no love for Weatherford BMW.

Railroad Cafe - Livermore, CA

Railroad Cafe
833 E. Stanley Blvd.
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 447-0235

Friendly service, but their Corned Beef Hash breakfast is mediocre at best. Unfortunately, I think Mimis Cafe's Corned Beef Hash breakfast has me spoiled...it's a much better deal with FRESH, not canned, corned beef and a yummy muffin and juice (orange is freshly-squeezed!) for less money than Railroad Cafe charges.

Simply Fondue - Livermore, CA

Simply Fondue
2300 1st St
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 443-6638
simplyfonduelivermore.com

Tried their Reese's Peanut Butter and Chocolate fondue (my absolute FAVE sweets combination!) and was a bit disappointed. Maybe my hopes were too high, but I was expecting maybe a 50/50 peanut butter to chocolate ratio. Sadly, I think it was more like 25/75 - I could hardly taste the peanut butter!

Our server was also giving me a facial with all the steam coming from the pot; luckily another server walked by and turned the heat down.

I really wanted to love this place, so I don't have to make the trip to Saratoga for fondue nights...oh well.

East Bay BMW - Pleasanton, CA

East Bay BMW
4350 Rosewood Dr
Pleasanton, CA 94588
(888) 812-8602
eastbaybmw.com

I tried to like East Bay BMW (since they are my local dealer) and even gave them three chances to be the dealership I would buy my new BMW from. However, neither the salesperson Said nor the internet salesperson James were capable of gaining my business. Said only seemed interested in buyers who wanted to "buy a car on the lot today" instead of matching a buyer to a car that fit their needs. James only kept sending me generic e-mails until I requested twice to be removed from their e-mail list, after I had already purchased my new BMW from another dealer.

Hopefully their service department does not disappoint, if I decide to give them a try when the time comes...

Weatherford BMW - Berkeley, CA

Weatherford BMW
750 Potter Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 654-8280
weatherfordbmw.com

Wow, I have different feedback after reading other yelp reviews about Weatherford's internet manager, Jennifer Bishop. She's the only one I had any dealings with and I wasn't too impressed at all.

First and foremost, when it comes to internet communication, time is of the essence. Jennifer replied to my internet request TWO DAYS LATER...and I mentioned that I was looking to buy a car ASAP. You snooze, you lose.

Second, I described the car I was looking for and was specific about the color being red, cashmere or black ONLY. She replied saying she had the car for me, a silver one...WTF??? Sure, she wanted to sell a car that was on their lot, but apparently she didn't care much about finding a car that fit MY needs.

Campo di Bocce - Livermore, CA

Campo di Bocce
175 E Vineyard Ave
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 249-9800
campodibocce.com

Campo di Bocce is a great place to go if you're interested in playing bocce ball, but you'd be better off stopping somewhere else to eat. If you're absolutely starving, you won't mind the food...but the service was disappointing the three times I've eaten there this past year.

Too bad, because this is the nearest restaurant to me and I'd probably eat here a lot out of convenience if it was good. It does have a beautiful location, among the vineyards in Livermore Wine Country.

One star for the location and the ambiance. Pass on the food, pass on the service. Maybe on the bocce ball.

Venita Rhea's - Rocklin, CA

Venita Rhea's
4415 Granite Dr #1500
Rocklin, CA 95677
(916) 624-2697
venitarheas.com

As an eggs benedict lover, I was disappointed in Venita Rhea's version which they call the "Bobby Earl". I was even more disappointed because I had heard many good things about this restaurant, which were true (good service, friendly staff, nice atmosphere).

The only things "right" about the eggs benedict were that the eggs were properly poached and the dish was served warm. The hollandaise sauce was watery and bland, the canadian bacon was tough and the country potatoes were burnt...not slightly burnt, but inedible charcoal-briquet-like burnt.