Try new restaurants

We met some friends at Malee’s over the weekend. It is located in Desert Ridge so we didn’t have high expectations. Desert Ridge is a open-air, strip mall/marketplace. They have a lot of chain restaurants and stores. We ordered an avocado roll and a vegetarian Arizona Heat curry. The food was actually pretty good. Nothing too exciting, but good. The service was really awful, though. There was something seriously wrong with the hostess and the waitress said it was her first night so I won’t be too hard on her, but it was pretty excrutiating.

We went to Four Peaks in Tempe last night for dinner. My husband’s brother and dad are in town along with our 2 year old niece. They are here for spring training games. Fun!!

We were looking for a laid back place to eat dinner and thought a brewery would be a good choice. Bad decision. The place was really fun, but totally inappropriate for kids. We probably should’ve just left, but we were hungry and decided to just go for it. The atmosphere was very loud and it seemed to be a college-aged crowd. Again…totally fun if we were alone, but not with a toddler.

I thought the food was really good surprisingly. I had the garden burger and we got some fries and thai hummus for the table. It was tasty. I would definitely go back again under different circumstances.

We were in Fresno over the weekend (ew!) visiting my husband’s brother and his new baby. We drove out so we could bring our dogs and passed through LA on the way home for lunch. We ate pizza at George’s pizza in La Canada. It was decent. The reason for the stop was to have Pinkberry. I have been hearing about Pinkberry for a few months now and have been really wanting to try it. It is supposed to be a really light and healthy frozen yogurt. I got the original flavor yogurt with mangos and raspberries. My husband got coffee yogurt with strawberries and chocolate chips. I loved it. There is a similar place in Scottsdale called Ice Tango. I love it there too. They have mango and pomegranate flavored yogurt. YUM!!!

We have been to Yasu a few times now. It is walking distance from our apartment so it is very convenient. It was named one of the 20 best new restaurants in the Phoenix area this year. We think the food is fantastic. They have a decent amount of vegetarian rolls and they make a awesome hand roll. I also love the atmosphere and obviously the proximity to home. We will definitely go back often.

We went here a couple of weeks ago. My husband and I were so excited to go out to eat because we are on a new schedule of only going out once a week and eating healthy the rest of the week. We were satisfied with Pure, but would probably not go back since we have found better sushi at other places. It was fun to go out, though, and the restaurant was very pretty. I had a fantastic lychee martini.

My husband and I checked out this place over the weekend. We had been wanting to try it for a while and were both in the mood for italian food. We ordered an eggplant and cheese appetizer, pasta fagiole, and ravioli. Everything was excellent and the bread and butter were really great. There weren’t too many vegetarian options, but everything we had was very good. We would definitely go back!

Wow, it really looks like we eat at nothing but crap places lately. That is really not the case, but we have been really poor lately and have been eating at less expensive places.

I love Islands. My husband and I always share a veggie burger and fries. It is bad for us, but very delicious!

I had been to the Scottsdale location once with some friends for lunch and wasn’t impressed, but I think I was feeling sick that day so wanted to give it another chance. My husband and I went on Thursday night and were not impressed. We had guacamole, which was ok and the macaroni and cheese. Neither was great and I didn’t like their margaritas. The only part of the meal I really liked was the cornbread. I won’t go back again.

I went to lunch with my boss here the other day. I had heard that the food was really good and the atmosphere is really nice. I thought it was a great place. I ordered a salad and wasn’t too impressed with it, but I don’t think I ordered right. There were several sandwiches and other entree’s that looked better than what I got. The decor was very modern and artsy. I liked it. I would definitely go back…probably at night for dinner.

We went to Carolina’s for some quick Mexican food on Saturday night. We were so unimpressed. The restaurant was very dirty, which was gross, the chips were caked in salt and the salsa was just bad.

My husband got a potato and bean burrito and I got a bean and cheese burrito. They both tasted exactly the same. I’m not sure if the meat is why people frequent this restaurant. That is the only reason I can think that people would like it. Maybe the vegetarian options we had were just not their specialty. Regardless, how hard is it to make a tasty bean burrito? I wouldn’t go back to Carolina’s.