Restaurant Review: Nauna's Bella Casa (Montclair, NJ)

Nauna's Bella Casa
148 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ‎
(973) 744-3232‎

Nauna's is a Italian restaurant located in suburban upscale neighborhood of Montclair, NJ.  It has been highly rated by local newspapers and I've been dying to try it out.  I'm somebody who's been to good Italian spots in Little Italy as well as Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Howard Beach, Queens.  My favorites are Vincent's and Umberto's.  I was curious as to how Nauna's stood up.
 

We pulled up around 5:30pm to the restaurant, located in a plaza with a Quick Chek convenient store.  The establishment was divided into two sections, a pizzeria type area as soon as you walk in and a middle end Italian restaurant located in the back.  The pizzeria was a cafeteria type service while the restaurant had waiter service. 

 

Bread was served and it was nice, hot and crusty and served with butter, olive oil, and basamic vinegar. 

I ordered a small "Nauna's Salad" ($6.49) which consisted of mixed greens, roma tomatoes, onions, gorgonzola cheese and & pignoli  nuts.  Hating onions, I requested they be left out and it was served as such.  The salad was nice, although the Italian style dressing was a bit too salty.

For the main course I ordered "Fusilli e Pollo" ($12.99) which consisted of spiral pasta with grilled chicken and spinach in a fresh plum tomato sauce.  The light sauce was delicious and the pasta, while not tasting fresh, was cooked perfectly al dente.  There was a liberal amount of spinach mixed in, almost too much and not enough chicken.  The issue I had with this dish, and it was an important one, was that the chicken tasted terrible.  It obviously wasn't fresh, it was incredibly overcooked to the point it was chewy and just tasted subpar.  For a pasta dish with chicken as one of it's main ingredients, the slices of white meat just killed an otherwise excellent dish.

Nauna's is an okay Italian restaurant, typical of North Jersey....meaning better than most of the country but not as good as a NYC establishment.  The service was quick and prompt and the place was very clean and comfortable.  It was an all chairs and tables, no booths, type place.  Would I go again?  Not likely as I like trying new places usually, unless it's an excellent place in which I'd rate this as average.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate it a

Service - 7

Decor - 6

Food - 6

Restaurant Review: Jiko (Orlando, FL)

Jiko - The Cooking Place
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida

Jiko - The Cooking Place was the best restaurant experience I've ever encountered.  This restaurant is considered by many to be among Disney's best if not one of the best restaurants in the country. 

We had dinner reservations for 8pm and when we arrived at the magnificent Animal Kingdom Lodge we had little doubt this would be a night to remember.  We were seated in the bar area for about a 15 minute wait for our table.  We were then seated and our waitress Shelly came over to say hello.  The restaurant was dimly lit with an African feel to it.  There were birds flying overhead and a leapord spotted cloth to our seats.

I will spend the next paragraph speaking purely about Shelly, our waitress.  She was incredible.  She made suggestions for us, knew the ingredients inside and out including their source.  She had us laughing, asking questions, and made for a memorable time.  At one point we asked about the butter served with our bread and how it was made.  Her answer..."I'll be right back".  She came back a minute later with the head chef from the kitchen who was answering all outrquestions tableside.  Bravo to Shelly!

I ordered an appetizer but before it came out, Shelly brought us, complements of the chef, a couliflower curry soup.  It was to die for.  It had a creamy texture with a hint of curry and had a spicy aftertaste that worked perfectly.  Great Start.

We then ordered the "Kalamata Olive flatbread with Four Cheeses and Laura Chenel Soft Goat Cheese" ($9.00).  This was an excuisite combination of flavors from the bread being grilled in the enormous double ceramic ovens in the center of the restaurant, to the creaminess of the fresh goat cheese, ending with the tartness of the olives.  Just fantastic. 

Then we ordered the "Crispy Savanna Rolls with Sweet Corn, Bitter Greens, Goat Cheese and Curry Vinaigrette" ($8.00).  Shelly told us the corn was so fresh it was picked that morning at a local farm and my god, it tasted like it.  Normally corn in an egg roll type dish disappears and can get mushy.  These tiny morsels of corn burst in your mouth like candy and worked effortlessly with the goat cheese and greens to create an experience that I'd rank as the best dish I've ever encountered.  The phylo dough was perfectly cooked and the curry vinaigrette accompanied the rolls with a definitie "African" taste.

Then came the salad course.  Shelly brought over the "Braised Beet Salad with Smoked Bacon, Goat Cheese, Shallot Marmalade and Sherry Vinaigrette" ($11.00).  As I'm sure the readers can tell, I have a thing for goat cheese.  This salad was no different from every other dish I ordered and it was excellent.  The bacon was unlike anything I've ever tasted before.  It was a small thick cut slab and Shelly told me it took hours to cook every day and was injected with brown sugar and maple.  Every 20 minutes the chef would rub the seasonings in and then place it back in those giants ceramic ovens.  The rest of the salad was fresh and the beets were pleasantly sweet.  I wish I took pictures of this dish and I've yet to see bacon like I saw here.

Finally we get to the main course.  After reading countless reviews online of the small selection of all positively rated options, I went with the "Oak Grilled Filet Mignon with Macaroni and Cheese and Red Wine Sauce" ($41.00).  I ordered the steak medium-rare and it was cooked to perfection.  The steak quality was up there with some of the best steakhouses in the NYC area which says alot.  It was interesting as the steak had a really nice "Crust" to it and you could taste the flavor of it being oak grilled.  Underneath the filet sat a macaroni and cheese base that was bar none the best mac and cheese I've ever tasted.  When mixed with the red wine sauce it was orgasmic, yes orgasmic. 

Shelly shared with us an interesting fact.  Humans have two stomachs when they eat.  One for the food, and a seperate one for dessert.  We had to take her up on this and we ordered the "Lemon-White Chocolate Mousse with Spiced Blueberry Coulis and Vanilla Tuile" ($8.00).  This had a sour cream based ice cream which while it sounded interesting, tasted phenomenal.  Ordered with the dessert was a tea that was made from steeping in water, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries.  It was delicious and served with a honey imported straight from Africa.

This concluded dinner but definitely not our experience with Jiko or Shelly.  We got our check and Shelly told us a little secret about what Animal Kingdom Lodge offers. While we weren't guests at the hotel she asked us to follow her out a back door, through some gardens and down a path through the thick darkness of the Florida night.  We finally got to an overlook and Shelly said her goodbye's and we thanked her and she handed us over to two guides.  What did we get ourselves into?  It turned out she brought us to an overlook and peered into the "African Plains" of Animal Kingdom, but we couldn't see anything due to the darkness.  At that point the really nice guides gave myself and my girlfriend a pair of night vision goggles to look through and the darkness turned to day as we saw vultures, girraffes, zebras, antelope, and all kinds of Aftrican animals.  It was sensational and we stood there in awe for some time gazing into the darkness before us at the wildlife.  This concluded an absolutely magical dining experience which lasted over 3 hours and one that will never be forgotten, mostly due to Shelly and the excellent Jiko and Disney people.

Ratings for this restaurant are 10's across the board and I whole heartedly recommend this to anyone visiting Walt Disney World!

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Manhattan View (Long Island City-Queens, NY)

Holiday Inn

29-05 39th Ave

Long Island City, Queens, NY 11101

(718) 707-3700

I booked this hotel through Priceline for $70 and was fairly pleased I did. I pulled up to a brand new hotel that had an excellent view of the city. This was in a part of Queens is being built up and renewed. The area has it's rough parts but it's mostly a good working class area very convenient to NYC.

Parking at this hotel consisted of a small lot fitting about 10 cars. The hotel wanted $20+ a night for parking so I found street parking which was extremely easy, just watch the signs. The walk in the few blocks surrounding the hotel was safe, day or night. When checking in I inquired about possibly getting a room with one of the balconies over looking the city and they wanted to charge me $40 for the upgrade and I said sure.

I went up to the top floor to open my door to a room that was not the norm for Holiday Inn. It was brand spanking new, clean, modern, and perfect. The view from the balcony was breathtaking. In front of me was the 59th St Bridge and all of Manhattan all lit up. Back in the room, the bed had a "Pillow Menu". You can chose from all different pillows from soft to firm. The bed was super comfortable and I had a 37" LG HDTV as well. The bathroom had a large glass shower and a marble countertop. Again, everything was spotless. Internet was free and the wireless provided solid coverage.

The only downside to the hotel was the so called restaurant and pool. The hours for the restaurant were listed from 5-10 which included room service. At 5:30pm I called for food and they said the restaurant was closed and will open at 6pm. I called back shortly after 6pm and again they said give them another half hour. At 6:30pm I called back and they said the restaurant was closed for the night. This is inexcusable. I complained to the manager who waived the $40 upgrade for the nicer room. The pool was never opened since the hotel grand opened 3 months prior and they had no ETA of when it would open.

Overall the hotel was very nice, the service was solid, and my value was great, again with Priceline helping. Regular rates go for about $130-$180 which isn't bad for a hotel this close to the city. They need to fix the restaurant or close it, and there are multiple solid restaurants in the vicinity that deliver good, fast, food, especially Court Square Diner. I had an excellent Chicken Souvlaki that I'll review in a later post.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate it a

Room - 9

Value - 7

Service - 6

Restaurant Review: John's Pizzeria (NY, NY)

John's Pizzeria

260 West 44th Street

New York, NY 10036

(212) 391-7560

After reading countless reviews stating that John's Pizzeria is the best in NYC I figured I'd need to try it out. Already in the city to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, I found no better time than this to try this Times Square area pizza joint. Located in an old church this restaurant is very nicely set up with both booths and tables. In this review, I'll compare the pizza to my current favorite, and still current favorite pizza place in the world which is Bella Via in Long Island City, Queens, NY.

I like my pizza different than some other folks. I love good sauce, not too much cheese, and a thin crust. The cheese should be fresh mozzerella unless otherwise requested and the sauce needs to be a good mix between sweet and savory. The crust should have some burn marks on the bottom, telling of the type of pizza oven it was cooked in.

We went in and ordered an appetizer of mixed grilled vegetables and a large cheese pie with eggplant and riccota to top it off. We also had a pitcher of club soda at the table which at $7.95 wasn't bad considering it filled about 6 glasses worth when a glass normally goes for $2.75. One huge negative in my mind is regarding drinks specifically in this restaurant. They clearly say on the menu, no refills, on anything, even iced tea. This is a huge turn off in my eyes as I'm someone who normally drinks 2-3 glasses of iced tea or soda with my meal. Anyway, thus we ordered the pitcher.

The appetizer came out and consisted of nicely grilled vegetables. On the plate was squash, sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, and some fresh mozzerella. They were seasoned fairly well but needed a little salt. It was a very good appetizer, not too filling and somewhat healthy.

The pizza took a while to make which is fine since it was clearly fresh. The pie was nicely cooked and had a good crispy crust which oh by the way, we ordered a whole wheat crust and it tasted just fine. My issue with the pie was both the sauce and the cheese was subpar. The sauce lacked any flavor whatsoever which was a shame considering they were very liberal with it. The mozzerella was clearly not fresh and was your normal shredded cheese. The ricotta and eggplant , which was lightly fried, was good and helped the pie redeem itself.

Overall Bella Via in Queens is still my favorite pizza joint and this doesn't even make it in my top 5.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate it a

Service - 7

Decor - 7

Food - 5

Hotel Review: Wynn Resort (Las Vegas, NV)

Wynn Las Vegas Resort

3131 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

(877) 321-9966

Traveling to Vegas for a night in March I decided to book the hotel through Priceline. Using the fantastic forums at betterbidding.com in conjunction with Priceline I managed to score a room at the Wynn for $90 a night. The going rate was $199. Reading up on how Vegas hotels work I decided to try the $20 trick. This is when you slip a $20 in between your ID and credit card at check in and hope for an upgrade. Pulling up the hotel at the North end of the strip was awe inspiring. I've been to Vegas before but this new hotel was incredible. The valet quickly took our car and we proceeded to check in.

Check in was a mess and completely unorganized. There was no one telling anyone where to go and there were no lines so it was somewhat of a shoving match in a supposed 5-star hotel. Once we reached a check in agent we used the $20 trick and we were upgraded to a top floor room overlooking the strip. Checking at www.wynnlasvegas.com this room went for $349 so I was more than pleased. We followed the maze through the vast casino and made the trip up to the 52nd floor. The room was absolutely incredible and completely automated through a touch screen remote. It was very cool to open and close the blinds from the bed. We had floor to ceiling windows with a beautiful view over the strip looking straight at the Venetian and Treasure Island. There was a desk, sofa, table and chairs, and a beautiful bathroom that had a TV in the mirror.

I absolutely love bathrooms that have a separate room for the toilet. It makes things much easier. We had double sinks, a huge soaking tub, and a glass enclosed marble shower big enough for 4. Trust me, I didn't experience the 4 in the shower but whatever, what happens in Vegas, stays in...well whatever.

Overall I would absolutely stay at the Wynn again. We didn't experience any of the restaurants or shows at this hotel as we checked out others for this. The only real negatives are the lack of check in lines and that this hotel is located at the North end of the strip. The Bellagio, Paris, Mirage, and more are much more centrally located. Luckily enough the weather was perfect and made walking a breeze.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate it a

Room - 9

Value - 10 (purely due to Priceline, for $349 I wouldn't stay here)

Service - 6 (while the room feels like a 5 star hotel, the service is lacking and you feel like there are thousands of other rooms when you really shouldn't)

Restaurant Review: Marrakesh (Orlando, FL)

Restaurant Marrakesh

Epcot Center - Walt Disney World

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/dining/restaurant-marrakesh/

I made reservations for dinner for this Moroccan restaurant 3 days before my trip to Epcot. I arrived and was promptly seated in a seat against a wall with a booth type seat on one side and a chair on the other. The restaurant was quite empty, this being around 4pm so still early. The location was very cool. It was located in the Morocco section of Epcot and was themed perfectly. Never been to Morocco so I'm not the one to make a perfect opinion but standing outside the restaurant in the market area I could swear I was in Morocco, if not for the kids screaming about their now popped balloon that was previously shaped like Mickey, or the vendors selling sodas for unreal prices, or the huge golfball shaped Spaceship Earth sitting across the lake, but I digress....

We walked into the restaurant which was quite nicely decorated. Being on the website prior to my visit I was promised a belly dance every hour...this was a huge selling point as I love my belly dancing, although I'm not one to belly dance myself...if I owned a restaurant and belly danced I'd either have no customers or many sick ones. There wasn't a belly dancer to be found here. Still, the ambiance was nice, loud, but still nice.

We first ordered "Goat Cheese with Crispy Bread for Two" - Mixture of Cheese and Kalamata Olives served with tabouleh, red pepper sauce, and balsamic vinegar reduction for $13.95. This was absolutely delicious. I love goat cheese and while it was a very small portion and was gone before I knew it, it was fantastic. Next I ordered the "Beef Couscous" for $27.95!!!!.

This was served with chickpeas, squash, carrots, and stew type beef. To say it needed salt was an understatement. It was extremely bland and didn't really taste like much. If it wasn't for the appetizer the entire meal would have been "eh". The service was okay as my girlfriend ordered the vegetable couscous and was first brought the chicken couscous by mistake and it was promptly replaced without an apology. Overall compared with another Disney restaurant, "Jiko" that I will review in the coming days, this was not up to par, or even close. The prices were way too much for what we received. I do not recommend "Marrakesh" as a restaurant of choice for Epcot visitors.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate it a
Service - 4
Decor - 8
Food - 4

Restaurant Review: Thai Pavilion (Astoria, NY)

Thai Pavilion

37-10 30th Ave

Astoria, NY

(718) 777-5546

http://www.thaipavilionny.com

I had dinner here the other night after reading excellent reviews on Yelp.com. I absolutely love Thai food and have had good Thai in Vegas, Philadelphia, NYC, and other places and this one was the best I've had. As the reviews continue, this is my first, I will begin to post pictures but this one will be without. We walked into the restaurant at about 8pm to find it about 1/3 full. The restaurant had a slight feel of a Thai restaurant without going over the top. The seats were comfortable, no booths, just chairs. Bathrooms were very clean and consisted of 2 separate restrooms, one for men and one for women. We were quickly sat and orders were taken by a very prompt and courteous server apparently from Taiwan. I ordered the "Thai Salad" which was consisted of regular greens, Tofu, carrots, mushrooms, hard boiled egg, various Chinese vegetables, and an incredible coconut milk and peanut dressing. The dressing made the salad and was quite spicy which was great. Shortly after the salad was finished my main course arrived.

I ordered the "Masaman Chicken". The description read "Chicken with coconut milk, peanuts, avocado, and masaman curry". The dish was covered in a red brown sauce and contained chicken, green peppers, onions and avocado with peanuts in the sauce. It was served with white rice. This was a spicy dish, on a scale from 1-10 it was about a 6. Absolutely fantastic! At the price of $5 for the salad and $14 for the main course I'd say the prices are about average. The salad was priced correctly while I must say as good as the chicken was, it should've been about $10-$12.

Thai Pavilion will be a place I will frequent regularly as the food is fantastic, spicy, and just a change of the norm.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate it a

Service - 8

Decor - 6

Food - 8