Falafel House Santa Cruz

Lunch in Downtown Santa Cruz is always a hard decision. So many good places! My buddy Seth from work listed a few of his favorites and one stuck me as perfect - The Falafel House. Located on Walnut Ave., across from 99 Bottles, we drove over on a beautiful summer day.

Falafel House website

There were only a few others inside when we got there at noon, but I hear at dinner it can get crowded. There's a huge menu over the counter and specials listed on the side. I like how you can see back into the kitchen area.

Not many decorations in this place besides some travel posters on the Middle East and some plants. The front windows bring in all the sunshine you will ever need. And the tip jar was clever.

We ordered our food and both elected for water to drink, which was provided for free. They give you a number and you pick it up when it's called.

Seth went with the Veggie Combo ($7.99) and requested the yogurt-free tahini sauce. It's great they offer that he was happy with the generous portions on his plate. Falafels over a salad, tabbuli and hummus with lots of vegetables.

I went with the Shawerma Combo ($9.99), which had grilled chicken shawerma over salad, hummus and babbaganough (which is fun to eat and say!). Both plates included pita bread. Babbaganough is made with cooked eggplant, tahini and spices and this version was good. Not spectacular, but good. The hummus was better than what I get from the store, so I rate it better than average. The chicken was plentiful and cooked well. No grizzle or hard parts.

We were satisfied with our lunch, so we didn't consider any dessert, but they offer Baklava. I've had better Middle Eastern food elsewhere (like Laili's also downtown), but the Falafel House offers a quick, adequate meal.

Score out of 10:
Food: 6
Service: n/a
Atmosphere: 7
Value form price: 7
Overall: 6.75

Sushi Garden SV

Guess who's back? Back again. The blog is back. Tell a friend. This time we are trying the new sushi place in Scotts Valley that replaced Yamamori. That was one of our favorites (see its review here from last Spring), so how does it compare?

Sushi Garden SV

Around the corner from Starbucks at the north end of SV, Sushi Garden just opened a few weeks ago. It was sad to see the former sushi place replaced, but we were willing to give this new one a try. We being my teenage, sushi-obsessed daughter and me.

Inside, they kept mostly the same layout for booths and tables, but brightened the area with lighter colors, tablecloths and walls. It was a nice contrast with the new darker chairs. Our friendly server asked where we wanted to sit. Coming from a long line of booth people, our choice was easy.

What to get? I enjoy the salads that Japanese places serve with its Miso dressing, so we started on that. I didn't even look up the price, since how much could a small salad cost? If you guessed $4.50, you'd be right. It was way too much for wet lettuce, cucumbers and carrots served with a scant amount of dressing. Off to a bad start!

The sushi, however, was much better. First up was the Golden California Roll ($7.50), served deep-fried with sweet sauce. This was a great value and the crab and avocado tasted spot on. I liked the purple flower too (didn't check to see if it was edible).

Next up were two rolls: one with pork Gyoza ($6.50) and one with Yam Tempura ($5.90). Both were tasty, but my daughter preferred the Yam one. It had a nice fresh flavor and a small crunch.

One more deep fried roll to try: the Regulator ($12.50), which came with Unagi, spicy Tuna, cream cheese and a sweet sauce. It was another winner that we both very much enjoyed.

It looked like all the guests were given a free dish, probably since they had just opened. Ours was some deep-fried Hamachi (Yellowtail), but it didn't have a strong taste. Just a mild fish flavor covered in crunchy tempura. Free is free.

I'm sorry to say that overall they didn't measure up to the previous restaurant. Maybe they are still working out the kinks? I think it is good enough for your "go-to" north-end sushi place. Hopefully, they can improve on a few things.

Scores out of 10:

Food: 7 (knocked down by the salad)

Service: 7

Atmosphere: 7

Value for price: 6

Overall: 6.75

Aroma Indian Bistro

Hey people! I'm back with a couple new reviews. This one is for the new Aroma Indian Bistro that moved into where the Kyber Pass and Himalayan Kitchen used to be on Pacific.

Aroma Indian Bistro (Yelp)

I met my brother for the lunch buffet last week and it was a reasonable $9.99. Does anyone else get excited by the term "all you can eat". My older self realizes now that this is not a challenge, but a value-driven marketing term.

The interior has stayed mostly the same with the big front windows letting in plenty of sunlight and tables in the middle and the open kitchen along the left side.

Look at all the silver domes of Indian food goodness! Some of them were tricky to open and close with one hand since you balance your plate in the other. I got better during my second trip.

There's a mini-salad bar as well with veggies, mixed greens and watermelon as well as several tasty sauces and dressings. The bro especially liked putting the mint sauce on cucumber slices. Crunch!

Slightly charred, but fluffy naan bread came with the buffet. The lemon in the ice water was a nice touch. Both were refilled many times during our meal.

How can you go wrong? Butter Chicken, two kinds of Masala (Chicken and Chana), Dal (lentils), Chicken Tandoori and steamed rice filled my plate. The Masala was a bit heavy on the tomato flavor, but still very good. My bro liked the garlic in the Chana one; it was chickpea-abundant.

My second trip was for the salad, Zucchini Pakora and more Butter Chicken on rice. The yougurt dressing was kind of bland and the sliced tomatoes had no flavor. This is the only bad thing I can say about the buffet. Otherwise, it was all thumbs up. I wish I could have taken a nap afterwards - always a good sign. We will be returning.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 6
Value for price: 8
Overall: 7.50