Marie Callender's - San Ramon, CA

Marie Callender's
18070 San Ramon Valley Blvd.
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 355-0757
mcpies.com

I'm getting pretty good at finding ways to save money while supporting the local economy and feeding my family. For our four-legged kids, we buy 3 bags of dog food and get the 4th free. For hubby and I, we used a Valpak coupon for one free entree with the purchase of another entree and two beverages...and when we added on the soup and salad bar for $2.99 we actually got full from that and took the entrees home for dinner tomorrow night. Bottom line is that for $33.26 including tax and tip, we got a total of 4 meals! ;)

Marie Callender's cornbread is still as yummy as I remember from my first visits to the San Jose location years ago (I used to always get the chili and cornbread!) The creamy potato cheese soup from the salad bar was pretty good and I added some bacon bits and shredded cheese over the top because me like to haz sum extra cheeeeeese!

Although the salad bar in San Ramon is a lot smaller than the one in San Jose, it was decent and I liked having chilled salad plates filled with extra crisp lettuce and a variety of fresh ingredients (for the most part...but the croutons were disappointingly stale!) The chicken breast chunks were quite tasty and I always enjoy a couple of spoonfuls of cottage cheese in my salad, as well as mushrooms, peas and shredded cheese. I just wish they had sunflower seeds...

Braised and Slow-Roasted Pot Roast: "Tender chunks of chuck roast slow-simmered for full flavor and tenderness. Topped with a cabernet-beef reduction and served with caramelized vegetables and mashed potatoes." $13.99. I will have to update this review after tomorrow night's dinner because I took the entire pot roast entree "to go". :)

The service was good at first, but I just didn't appreciate the server delivering the bill right after the entrees were served. We just set the bill aside while we finished our salads and didn't plan on paying it until we finished, but the server came back and asked if he could close us out...so we did. Of course, we didn't get any further service after that, so it's a good thing we didn't need any drink refills.



Pies!






Creamy Potato Cheese Soup


Cornbread


Braised and Slow-Roasted Pot Roast


Guess what's for dinner tomorrow?

Campo di Bocce - Livermore, CA

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

So we've never been impressed with Campo di Bocce, but we couldn't pass up the Monday Special for $10 (all-you-can-eat spaghetti with meat sauce and Caesar salad) so this is where we ended up with the in-laws. As it turned out, it was actually a pleasant experience that bumped them up to a 3-star review! The only thing that didn't change was the bread they serve here...it still resembles a damp sponge. Yucky.

Surprisingly, we had better service tonight than we've ever had in the past. Our drinks were refilled promptly, food was delivered at the proper temperature and in a timely manner, the server and busboy appeared during the proper intervals and were pleasant and accommodating...wow! On top of all that, their Caesar salad was above average and even included Parmesan shavings. It was so good, I took advantage of the all-you-can-eat Caesar salad...not the spaghetti, which I thought was edible-but-not-memorable.

Actually, the portion of spaghetti they give you isn't skimpy at all. It would take a reeeeeeeeeeeally hungry person to finish two servings of spaghetti, so like most places, "all-you-can-eat" isn't exactly what it's made out to be. I have to admit, I did have three plates of Caesar salad...even though I only photographed two. :)



Bocce courts were pretty empty around 7:30pm


Campo di Bocce's Monday Special


My first plate of Caesar salad


My second plate of Caesar salad


Spaghetti with meat sauce


No room for anything on the dessert menu!


Bocce courts got busier by the time we left

IHOP - Livermore, CA

IHOP
4567 1st St
Livermore, CA 94551
(925) 606-8887
ihop.com

What do you do when it's 11:30pm on Easter Sunday in Livermore and you're hungry, but don't want to go through the drive-thru (because eating is not allowed in your brand new car) and In-N-Out Burger is closed and you don't want Donut Wheel? Well, in this case, IHOP saved the day because they're open till 1:00am...and that's exactly how we ended up here tonight!

We ordered the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Burger with seasoned fries ($8.99) and it was better than we expected, to tell you the truth. The place was empty as a couple was leaving just as we arrived, so the service was again...better than we expected.

I guess I've never really cared for IHOP, but I'll choose it over Jack-In-The-Box any day for those late night food emergencies!





Bacon, Egg and Cheese Burger $8.99

Ray's Sushi - Hayward, CA

Ray's Sushi
888 W A St
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 887-0701

The portions on the shiro maguro nigiri are still hugigantimongous. The double hamachi roll was still good...but for some reason, Ray's Sushi wasn't as awesome tonight as it was the last time we ate here. I even got a stringy chew in a couple of bites of the shiro maguro.

The service was blah, too. Hmmm...what do I do now...go back to Sozo Sushi or try yet another sushi restaurant in hopes that it will be the "the one"?



Double Hamachi Roll $8.95 (left), Shiro Maguro Nigiri (right)


Shiro Maguro Nigiri $3.75 for 2 pcs


Dinner for two including tax and tip: $43.63

Red Tractor Cafe - Dublin, CA

Red Tractor Cafe
4920 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 828-8300
redtractor.com

DH wanted comfort food tonight, so he took me back to Red Tractor...I've been wanting to try their sweet potato fries anyway! :)

Caesar Salad: 3.5 stars (wasn't as good as the last time, the lettuce seemed a little soggy...)

Pot Roast: 5 stars (he loved it and the piece I tried was as tender as medium rare prime rib!)

Roasted Carrots: 4.5 stars

Hamburger w/cheddar cheese and grilled onions: 1.5 stars (In-N-Out has better burgers...seriously...but I wanted those darn sweet potato fries, so what else could I have ordered?)

Sweet Potato Fries: 1 star (they were served cold...if they had been hot, I still think they would only have been 2 stars at the most.)



Soda $1.99


Caesar Salad add-on $1.00


Pot Roast $9.99


Cheeseburger $5.99 + Sweet Potato Fries $1.99


Dinner for two: $24.10

The Jeepney - Pleasanton, CA

The Jeepney
6654 Koll Center Pkwy
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 461-1115

The friendly staff and the cheerful decor are what really pushed this review up to 3 stars, as the food alone would have earned them only 2 stars. Since I'm not overly familiar with Filipino food, the man behind the counter was nice enough to offer me some samples of a few dishes before I ordered them. It's funny how some things taste pretty good on your first bite, but when they're on your plate, they don't really taste that great after all.

The Beef Mechado was pretty good, thanks to all the sauce that came with it! First of all, the plain white rice they serve here was pretty bad...it was hard and it very well may have been yesterday's rice? Anyway, I appreciated having all that sauce for the rice to soak in to be somewhat edible.

The Beefsteak was meh...yep, just meh. It was good in the little sample container, a little piece of meat drenched in all that sauce, but having a big piece on my plate was just too much and too tough for me. At least it's beef and my dogs will enjoy it way better than I did.

I wanted a seafood dish and all they had tonight was Tilapia, so I ordered it without asking how it was prepared. They brought out a dish with two whole fish on it...yes, the entire fish...head, tail and all! Gulp. I am the most un-Filipina person ever...so I sat there while everyone gawked at my Portuguese husband eating that fish like a Filipino would!

Seriously, I really came here because of the Restaurant.com $25 gift certificate and what I was most looking forward to was their Halo-Halo. Unfortunately, even that was a little disappointing due to the fact that they used "crushed" ice and not "shaved" ice. I'm from Hawaii and we know shaved ice...it's like the powder you appreciate when skiing instead of slush. I loved the Ube (purple yam) ice cream that topped the Halo-Halo and I loved the goodies at the bottom, it was just the crushed ice I really didn't enjoy crunching on.

I'm quite surprised at the pretty nice pics I took on my iPhone...guess I'm either getting pretty good at this or the lighting must have been just right!



Great pic for an iPhone, huh?






Beef Mechado $9.30


Beefsteak $9.30


Tilapia Escabeche $7.99


Halo-Halo with Ube ice cream $4.45

The Cheesecake Factory - Pleasanton, CA

The Cheesecake Factory
1350 Stoneridge Mall Rd
Pleasanton, CA 94588
(925) 463-1311
thecheesecakefactory.com

Update from my last review: the chocolate and peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too sweet...not only would I never order it again, I'm hesitant to even order any cheesecake from here. Dock 1/2 star for that.

Tonight we both tried some new dishes: he had the Chicken & Shrimp Jambalaya and I ordered the Roasted Vegetables & Goat Cheese Pizza. Both were AWESOME...the second time those dishes were brought out! The first time, his Jambalaya had a stuck-together wad of pasta about the size of an egg roll...shame on you, Cheesecake Factory cook! My pizza also didn't have the Kalamata olives or the yellow bell peppers the first time around. Oh and although I did ask our server if the pizza came with "fresh" tomatoes and she said yes...they weren't...there were stewed tomatoes on my pizza.

They got it right the second time around, but even though the manager came to our table to apologize, he didn't put his money where his mouth was...and not one cent was taken off our bill for the inconvenience of having both of our dinners re-done. Dock another 1/2 star for that.



We ate wheat bread while waiting for rounds 1 & 2 of our dinners!


Chicken & Shrimp Jambalaya $16.95


1st pizza, w/o yellow bell peppers & kalamata olives


Roasted Vegetables & Goat Cheese Pizza $11.95


Leftover pizza...guess I ate too much wheat bread while waiting.


Dinner for two including tax and tip: $36.72