Features Overview

Nami Japanese Cuisine

by Chia Na Vang

For my restaurant review, I visited Nami Japanese Cuisine with my two older sisters, Yenne and Aileen. Yenne works at the restaurant as a server, but regardless, the host and servers were friendly and quick to get drinks after momentarily forgetting them. I think for sushi, which is expensive, the prices for the rolls were reasonable. The prices for rolls ranged from $9 to $24. The teppanyaki combos ranged from $20 to $40. The restaurant also has a variety of other dishes and appetizers, such as sea salt edamame, Ahi tower, and baked mussels.

We each ordered our own dish and rolls. Yenne got steak and chicken teppanyaki that came with onion soup and the house salad for $28. Aileen ordered the Rock N’ Roll sushi roll and Crunch Roll. The first roll was $14 and the second was $9 and both were 8 pieces. I had the King Spider Roll which was $18 and 10 pieces. We also got two Pepsis and one lemonade.

The food was amazing and at perfect temperatures depending on what it was. The presentation of the food was excellent. I enjoyed my King Spider Roll because there wasn’t too much sauce, and the eel was delicious!!! The Rock N’ Roll sushi roll that was baked was great too. I thought it was very simple and fresh even with sauce. The teppanyaki noodles had a nice crispy taste and enjoyable chewy texture. The meat was also tasty, especially with the sauce that came with the teppanyaki dish.

It was Yenne’s birthday recently, so she got a birthday cake with free mochi ice cream on the side. (I should note that mochi ice cream doesn’t come with the birthday cake. It was a staff only special.) There was another birthday celebration at the teppanyaki side of the restaurant (we were seated at the dine-in side), and the tables over there seemed to have a lot of fun. When we arrived, the restaurant was at mid capacity, and the longer we were there the more people arrived and it became busier.

Olive Garden

By Bella Garcia

After weeks of craving pasta, I went to Olive Garden in the Marketplace El Paseo shopping center, after school with my friend Patty. The restaurant is known for its great Italian dishes and delicious breadsticks. Once entering Olive Garden, I was greeted by a nonchalant hostess. She did not welcome my guest and me, and she simply asked for my name for the 25-minute waitlist. I waited for a little longer than 25 minutes. The lobby seemed too close to the dining area, and it felt uncomfortable and unwelcoming. There is no outside dining at this location. To add on, Patty and I sat in a booth meant for 8 people, so the meal didn’t feel comforting or personal.

Once seated, it took our waiter a while to greet us and take our order. The service felt very rushed after that. I would rate it as a 4/10.

Aside from customer service, I would rate the meal a 7/10. The famous breadsticks were too salty in my opinion although they were warm and fluffy. My guest and I both ordered the chicken fettuccine alfredo and a side salad. Our salad came first. The romaine looked fresh, there were no discolored pieces or stems. It was served with whole black olives, pepperoncini, croutons, and carrots and was tossed in dressing. The dressing was incredibly sour, so sour that I could not enjoy the salad.  The pasta entrée was delicious. The alfredo sauce was warm, cheesy, and perfectly seasoned. I could tell that the sauce was made correctly because I could taste the parmesan. The chicken served was grilled. It was tender, moist, and well-seasoned as well. The noodles were perfect, with no hard pieces. Sometimes at restaurants, you can tell and taste that the food was brought out a while after it was done being prepared, however, this was not the case with Olive Garden.

Pricing at this establishment can be considered as expensive starting at $12+ for an appetizer and $20+ for dinner entrees. However, an order of their lemonade is bottomless for the rest of the meal and their breadsticks are bottomless as well. Luckily my guest and I arrived before 3 so we qualified for the lunch special where plates were just $10.99. To my surprise, it was an extra charge of $5 for about 3 slices of grilled chicken. My total came out to around $35, for two people, not including the tip.

Don Pepe’s

By Jeremiah Gomez

For my restaurant review, I went to Don Pepes. Don Pepes is a Mexican restaurant on Blackstone and Gettysburg that has a variety of foods. They have options like tacos, burritos, tortas, seafood, and quesadillas. The prices were pretty cheap. Nothing they were selling was over 10 dollars, which works out for me because I don’t like spending a lot of money on food. I went by myself, which in a way that’s good because there is more food for me. Don Pepes allows you to eat inside the restaurant or outside of it. You can even just order it to go. I ate outside because I had my bike parked outside.

When I walked in there were a lot of people. When it was my turn to order, I ordered four asada tacos and a drink(soda). The tacos were hot and fresh the way I like it. The aroma there was fine. I didn’t notice anything bad. The service was really quick to be honest. I was pretty amazed at how packed the restaurant was, but how quick the service was.

After I ordered, I got my tacos in like a minute which is really good. They were really polite as well. I was satisfied and they succeeded in helping my hunger problems. There weren’t any mistakes with my order, they delivered it to me just the way I ordered it.

I rate my experience 1 million out of 10. My favorite was obviously the tacos I ordered, and they know me so well that they put Tapatio on all the tables. That’s my favorite sauce for everything. The restaurant was perfect, and I will definitely come back.