Essex House Restaurant

Essex House Restaurant is a place to come to back over and over again. This restaurant has been on our favorites list for many reasons. It has something to offer whatever the occasion is:

Weekend Brunch: nice menu selection. Almost all the items are $20, which comes with includes 3 bloody marys, screwdrivers or mimosas. The waiters are very generous with the drinks. You'll inevitably have more than 3 drinks. The menu changes from time to time, but we've liked all the dishes we've had so far (and that's a lot of them!)

Happy Hours: The sangrias are our favorites! Try the red pitcher. Happy hour is 6-9 Sunday - Thursday. The drinks are half price during Essex House's happy hour and there are $1 Oysters all night. The Oysters were not really worth it, they are really tiny. We always come for the drinks and the nice atmosphere. The place plays great music, but not so loud that you can't chat with friends or have to scream on the top your lungs.

Dinners: We love the regular menu items for dinner. The two items pictured here are the filet mignon with sweet potato fries, mixed greens & shallot red wine reduction ($25) and firecracker bbq short rib with cheese grits, collard greens & jalapeño hush puppies ($22). Both dishes were delicious! The filet mignon melts in your mouth and the short ribs come right off the bone. On certain nights, there are also dinner specials. For example, Wednesday nights is their Lobster Special - where you get a whole lobster with several sides for only $18. This is not worth it. When we tried it, the lobster was not fresh and it seemed like it has been cooked and left out for hours before it was served. We always enjoyed the regular menu items, but the lobster dinner special was a huge disappointment.

We would always come back here for the drinks, for brunch and for their regular dinner items! Go check out Essex House Restaurant!

http://www.essexnyc.com/index.html

120 Essex Street (@ Rivington Street) New York, NY 10002

Total Yummy Points: 8.5/10

Olivia Tapas

A group of friends and I went out for Tapas recently at Olivia Bar and Restaurant. We tried almost EVERY SINGLE item on their tapas menu. The verdict (from all of us) - "bland and nothing special." The only items we liked were the cheeses they recommended and the warm bread that it came with . The only other memorable item we ate were the dates wrapped in bacon. Literally, it was just dates wrapped in bacon...nothing more (you can do this yourself without the high price tag). However, we did liked the contrasting taste of the sweet dates and the slightly salty bacon.
Don't let the pictures fool you, they look tasty..but really, its just bland.























If you want to check it out:
161 East Houston Street, New York NY, 10002

Total Yummy Points: 4/10

Pinang Malaysian Thai Restaurant

We recently had dinner at Pinang Malaysian Thai in Forest Hills, NY. We read reviews by other diners on websites such as Yelp and decided to try this out. Many Yelpers raved about the rotti, some even said it was "the best they've ever had." So, that's was the first thing we ordered....2 of them! The waiter told us 1 rotti appetizer was not enough got 2 people. I thought that was strange, but we listened to his advice and ordered 2.Here was the rotti. One was enough! It's no larger or smaller than roti you order anywhere else and its NOT the best we've had. It's not bad, nor good -- really nothing special.

Our entrees were nothing special either. I am not sure all the praise this place gets on reviews sites are well deserved. We ordered the pineapple chicken and sizzling beef entrees -- there was absolutely nothing to rave about. The food was average. It was not what I expected at all from all the reviews. I wouldn't come here again.

If you want to check it out for yourself, here is the address:
111-10 Queens Blvd Forest Hills, NY 11375

Total Yummy Points: 4.5/10