Rising Loafer Cafe & Bakery - Danville, CA

Rising Loafer Cafe & Bakery
340 Hartz Ave.
Danville, CA 94526
(925) 838-8800
danvillerisingloafer.com



Rising Loafer Cafe & Bakery is located on Hartz Avenue in downtown Danville, just south of Diablo Road and north of Starbucks Coffee. It's a nice spot to have breakfast, lunch or dinner (Fri-Sat only) and dine al fresco in the heart of downtown Danville. Service is wonderful and the food (lunch) is just slightly above average...I honestly expected better from Rising Loafer Cafe & Bakery. The dishes themselves were creative and they have a great menu, but execution is what they lacked.



My Chicken Salad Half Sandwich ($4.95) had only two bites with apple and the soggy croissant had such a strong butter flavor that it overpowered the bland chicken salad. My Napa Valley "Mini" Spinach Salad ($6.95) was better, after I asked for the red seedless grapes that were missing. The Chicken Tortilla Soup ($4.95) was tasty (with a broth similar to menudo) and the Grilled Chicken Diablo ($8.95) was good, but the fries had a baked potato-like consistency on the inside, which was a bit odd.

If I were to visit Rising Loafer Cafe & Bakery in the future, I would most likely try their breakfast instead of having lunch again. Even their bread basket (which smelled really good) wasn't as great as anticipated...but if you're in downtown Danville, there's not a lot of selection of restaurants that serve breakfast.

Sharis Restaurant & Pies - Livermore, CA

Sharis Restaurant & Pies
1116 E. Stanley Blvd.
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 449-4245
sharis.com



Sharis Restaurant & Pies is a restaurant chain from Sherwood, Oregon known simply as "Sharis" with most locations in Oregon and Washington. They have a new location in Livermore, which was the previous location for Bakers Square Restaurant on East Stanley Boulevard in the Trader Joe's shopping center next to Burger King.



We came here to Sharis for the first time tonight and decided to order breakfast for dinner. He had the Cinnama-sation Platter with eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns ($9.49) and I had the Eggs Benedict ($9.49) which came with hash browns. Both of us thought that our breakfasts were pretty good...definitely better than Denny's or IHOP!

The nice thing we learned about Sharis is that they are open 24/7, so in Livermore they will give the Donut Wheel some competition as an all-night joint. They also offer free wi-fi, so that's a plus for a lot of people as it's not a common thing at Livermore restaurants. We had good service tonight as well, so Sharis is a place we would come back to again!

Update 10/15/09 - We came back for dinner...and for their "Free Pie Wednesday" special! He ordered the Chicken 'N Dumplings Skillet ($9.99) which was pretty good...but my Savory Lemon & Dill Salmon ($10.49) was overcooked & dry, the red skinned mashed potatoes were cold and the veggies were an inedible mush. On a better note, his S'mores Pie and my Peanut Butter & Chocolate Silk Pie were both delicious!

Update 10/17/09 - Back at Sharis in Livermore for a Charbroiled Burger with Cheddar Cheese ($8.29) and another Cinnama-sation Breakfast ($8.49). The burger was cooked very well overdone (even though I ordered it "medium") and after I told our server it wasn't cooked right, he told me that they only cook burgers that way. I wish he would have said something when I ordered it because I would have just ordered something else...

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.

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.