Yu's Garden

Yang Chou fried rice -- not exciting but pleasant.

Beef fried noodles -- I usually don't like this dish 
because it's gummy and bland, but this one had a nice flavor. 
The beef was kind of weird, though.

I don't think these are supposed to be so doughy, 
but we like doughy things and the filling was tasty.

Rating: One thumb up (Miko), one sideways (Jenne)
Date: 5/9/14

Time in: 7:15 PM
Time out: 8:14 PM
Servers' recommendations: Pineapple seafood fried rice, Yang Chou fried rice, beef fried noodles
What we ordered: Yang Chou fried rice, beef fried noodles, Shengjian bao
Number in our party: 3 (with Laura as a guest judge)
Final check amount: $23.65
Price per person: $7.88
  
Notes: 

• We had very low expectations because they had a gigantic menu, and we were grateful that it did not suck.
• The server totally gaijined us!  To gaijin (verb, from the Japanese word for foreigner) is to assume that customers can't handle interesting dishes because they are not of the restaurant's cuisine's ethnicity.  We asked her what her favorite dish was on the menu, and she answered the chow mein and fried rice.  Yeah right!
• The fried rice was nicely seasoned and simple.  It could have used more pepper, though.
• The beef tasted like it often does at Chinese restaurants -- strangely tender and gelatinous.  We both find that a bit too creepy to eat. 
• We thought the noodle dish tasted like pretty good yakisoba, minus the worcestershire-ish flavor of yakisoba sauce.
• They don't have any condiments on the table, not even soy sauce.  The server looked a little taken aback when I (Miko) asked for it.
• I  had never had this type of bao before, and I liked them!  But not as much as I like good xiaolongbao.
• In the end, we thought it was pleasant, but not remarkable.  Jenne commented that, while it tasted fine, we did not have the satisfied, happy-feeling in our stomachs afterward that Dumpling Inn gives us.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION  
Address: 4646 Convoy St Ste 110
Phone number: 858.560.1888
Noise level: 2 (no music, which we enjoyed)
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: It's the hideous Crab Hut parking lot.
Ideal group size: Any

Voltero's Pizza

Very tasty cheesesteak!  I wanted the fries to be a little crisper, but Miko likes them soft.

Good LORD this slice of pizza was giant!  We were totally surprised by how good it was.  Miko's hand is there to show the scale.

Rating: Two thumbs up

Date: 5/4/14

Time in: 8:20 PM
Time out: 9:00 PM
Servers' recommendations: Philly chicken and vegetarian pizza
What we ordered: Server's recommendations
Number in our party: 2
Final check amount: $8.63 for the chicken sandwich, around $5 for the pizza
Price per person: $6.82
  
Notes: 

• We liked the cashier a lot -- he was very nice and pleasant, and confident in his recommendations.
• We were surprised by how good everything tasted!
• We thought we were ordering small, since we only got a sandwich and a slice to share.  We did not know that the slice would be ENORMOUS -- like 4 slices of pizza in one!  We were both full, and I had quite a bit of leftover pizza afterward.
• The pizza dough was crispy on the outside, just the right level between doughy and fluffy in between.  It didn't have too much sauce on it, either.
• Between this and Rosa's, we have been pleasantly surprised by the pizza on Convoy!  If we wanted to eat pizza, which we rarely do, we would totally come up here rather than eat the Uptown hipster pizza in our neighborhoods.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION  
Address: 4344 Convoy St
Phone number: 858.571.1550
Noise level: 3, just from the music (they were playing two different songs at once, which was pretty disastrous for ambience) but no one else was there.
Accepts credit cards? Yes, and they didn't seem to have a minimum.
Parking: Shared lot -- one of the best on Convoy.
Ideal group size: Any
Available vegetarian options: Many!