In-N-Out Burger - San Ramon, CA

In-N-Out Burger
2270 San Ramon Valley Blvd.
San Ramon, CA 94583
(800) 786-1000
in-n-out.com



This is one of the busiest In-N-Out Burger locations within a 30-mile radius. It's located right off I-680 and Crow Canyon Road at San Ramon Valley Boulevard in San Ramon. Even during a mid-afternoon weekday around 3pm, the drive-thru line was 8+ cars deep and the dining room was 75% full. Apparently, there are more "off hour" In-N-Out Burger lovers in San Ramon than I thought!



The good thing about In-N-Out Burger is they have the highest level of consistency out of any fast food burger chain I've ever experienced. Really...I've been to In-N-Out Burger locations in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Gilroy, Livermore, Pleasanton and even a couple in Southern California...and I've NEVER had a bad burger or experienced poor service anywhere! Always friendly, always fresh, always hot, always delicious. :)

The bad thing about In-N-Out Burger is that sometimes it's "not-so-fast" food. The lines in the drive-thru can be quite daunting, although when you walk inside to order, the food seems to take just as long because I have a feeling they expedite the drive-thru orders faster than walk-in orders.

My "usual" is the Double Double with cheese and grilled onions. I have tried their "Animal Style" burgers, which are fried with mustard and include pickles and grilled onions...but I prefer the regular ol' Double Double with cheese!

Max's Diner - San Ramon, CA

Max's Diner
2015 Crow Canyon Place
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 277-9300
maxsworld.com

Since this was our first visit to Max's Diner in San Ramon, we asked our server for her menu recommendation. She suggested an entree that wasn't on the menu, which she called "shrimp over sweet potato" and since we like shrimp and sweet potato, we decided to order it.

Unfortunately, we should have asked how this meal was prepared, as we were expecting shrimp over a bed of mashed sweet potatoes and it turned out to be fried shrimp on top of sweet potato fries! Oh well...at least the shrimp was lightly breaded and really very delicious. The sweet potato fries were hard and tasteless, but not eating them left room for dessert. :)

Max's Fantasy Torte was 2/3 very, very sweet...too sweet, in fact. It was even too sweet for him, and he's a chocoholic! The torte is comprised of a layer of cheesecake (which was the 1/3 that I DID like), a layer of chocolate mousse and a layer of chocolate cake...all encapsulated with bittersweet chocolate. Sweet, sweet, sweet...sickly, sickly sweet.

A side note to Max's: Would you please have someone maintain your ladies' restroom? It's about time someone cleans it and having more than one roll of toilet paper between the 3 stalls would be great.







Shrimp & Sweet Potato Fries $14.99


Max's Fantasy Torte $6.99

Pasta Primavera Cafe - San Ramon, CA

Pasta Primavera Cafe
3124 Crow Canyon Pl, Ste C
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 830-9500
pastaprimaveracafe.com

Pasta Primavera is located right off Crow Canyon Road at I-680 just a couple minutes off the freeway. They close at 9:30pm on Saturdays, just so you know that their hours are not the norm. We've eated here once before and noticed a couple of improvements from our last visit - our male server tonight was wonderful (unlike our female server last time) and the minestrone was delightful (unlike the tasteless house salad we ordered last time.)

They have awesome bread and the most delicious roasted red pepper tapenade dip. He had the Veal Saltimbocca and I had the Veal Piccata, both of which were pretty good. The presentation was a bit sloppy with bits of veal peeking through a top layer of pasta, but at least the entrees tasted good. Good food, good service and good company...isn't that what dining out is all about?





Awesome bread and roasted red pepper tapenade!


MMM...Minestrone!


Veal Saltimbocca $17.95


Veal Piccata $17.95

Sergio's Trattoria - San Ramon, CA

Sergio's Trattoria
500 Bollinger Canyon Way
San Ramon, CA 94582
(925) 968-1658
sergiostrattoria.com

Sergio's Trattoria is tucked in Canyon Lakes, but only a minute from Bollinger Canyon Road. We had a wonderful first time experience here tonight, from our excellent Greek server to our entrees to the surprise Cioccolato Arancio dolce shots that came with our bill.

The Pescatore was amazing and filled with fresh shellfish...there must have been at least two dozen mussels on the plate! Their Gnocchi alla Bolognese was also one of the best I've had, a top contender with Matteo's Amarone in downtown Pleasanton.









Pescatore - $36.95


Gnocchi alla Bolognese - $16.95


Cioccolato Arancio

Stephen's Pasta Cafe - San Ramon, CA

Stephen's Pasta Cafe
192 Market Place
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 275-1266
stephenspastacafe.com

Tonight's visit would have been rated 5 stars based on the service provided by our tall, young male server and the entrees (Fettucine Abruzzi and the Salmon), but I docked a star because the female server who cashed us out told us we had to order something else because the $35 Restaurant.com minimum purchase did not include soft drinks...which was not the case the last time we dined there, nor has it ever been the case at any Restaurant.com restaurant.

She went on to say: "Things have changed because we're struggling now," and it wasn't worth my time arguing over a few dollars, so I ordered a $5.95 slice of cheesecake to go. I peeked inside the little styrofoam container and I have never seen such a tiny piece of cheesecake in my life (check out the photo below)! :)



Caesar side salad $2.50


Fettuccine Abruzzi $12.95


Salmon on a bed of pureed squash $13.95


Stephen's slice of cheesecake $5.95 - OVERPRICED!

Top This! Yogurt - San Ramon, CA

Top This! Yogurt
11020 Bollinger Canyon Rd.
San Ramon, CA 94582
(925) 736-2230

Top This! Yogurt just opened and is located in the shopping center at the corner of Bollinger Canyon and Dougherty. It's an okay place, I guess...none of the flavors really thrilled me and I didn't like how their dry topping dispensers are rigged so that you can't get a "small" amount. Their staff is friendly, though, and they keep the place pretty clean.

Although I wouldn't go out of my way to get a Top This! Yogurt, I wouldn't mind stopping by if I was in the area and was craving some fro-yo.

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?

Stephen's Pasta Cafe - San Ramon, CA

Stephen's Pasta Cafe
192 Market Place
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 275-1266
stephenspastacafe.com

On our latest quest of trying out the bundle of Restaurant.com $25 gift certificates we purchased earlier this month, tonight's venture was to Stephen's Pasta Cafe in San Ramon. It's located in The Marketplace at San Ramon at Bollinger Canyon Road and Alcosta Boulevard, near Coldstone Creamery.

This would have been a 5-star experience had the Calamari Fritti appetizer passed our taste test. Although the calamari itself was tender, the breading they used was so coarse and soggy it made the entire dish fail. The French bread they brought out in a basket was deceiving...it didn't look like it would be good at all, but it was warm and heavenly! Lightly extra crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and deliciously paired with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar dipping sauce we concocted ourselves at the table.

DH thoroughly enjoyed his Caesar Side Salad and my cup of Potato Leek soup was fabulous. Both entrees we ordered were excellent, the Fettuccine Abruzzi (prawns, chicken and sausage in a garlic and white wine sauce) and the Italian Sausage (Fettuccine with sun-dried tomatoes and a creamy meat sauce). We would definitely order both of these dishes again and appreciated the fact that all pasta is homemade at Stephen's except for the Penne and gnocchi. Next time, we're skipping the appetizer...I couldn't even finish half my meal! Well, at least I know I have a delicious leftover for lunch tomorrow. :)



Calamari $8.95


Caesar Salad $2.50, Potato Leek Soup $2.50


Fettucine Abruzzi $12.95


Italian Sausage Fettucine $9.95


Dinner for two including tax and tip: $23.88
(courtesy of a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate)