Monday, February 15, 2010

Nappoli's Pizza

Nappoli's Pizza has been located in the Rose Hall Shoppes at 3101 Virginia Beach Blvd, VA Beach, VA. 23452 757-486-5001 for several years, and I have eaten there a couple of times a few years ago with out regard to the food, service, or anything else about the restaurant for that matter. However on a recent outing for lunch in which I was paying attention, I was pretty disappointed. Before ordering my lunch I decided to take a look at their website to see if there was any kind of lunch specials or a featured dish of the day. No featured dish but there was several daily special priced combos. I will say that with the website testimonials/reviews and pictures I thought I would be in for a real treat,not so much. On top of that when I went to pick up my order the lady that helped wasn't the friendliest person I have ever encountered when dining out.
I decided to take part in their daily special of any stromboli( I went for the meat stromboli) & a drink for $7.95 and since it is a pizza spot I grabbed a slice of NY style pie with sausage, just to see what they were working with. I know I am going to catch some shizz for this since I have yet to check out some pizza spots that have been recommended by friends that know their pizza, but to all of you I swear I will check them out soon. To start off with the pie was mediocre at best, it did have foldability like a good NY pie should have and it had the thin crisp dough with a crispy and chewy crust, but that's about where the good things end. The pie was bland, hardly any sauce at all, and some how they managed to make a dry pizza and it wasn't just from the lack of sauce. I can say that when I folded the slice to eat, there was no grease pouring off the back of the crust like with most NY style pie and that is a plus to me. Then there was the stromboli, I ordered the meat stromboli and though there was pepperoni, sausage, and I think salami too there was an over abundance of undercooked, basically raw peppers and onions. Not that I mind raw peppers and onions, but when it comes to my stromboli they kinda need to be cooked. It was served with a runny, oily marinara that had not only too much oil in it but too much oregano & thyme. To be perfectly honest the marinara was disgusting. AS with the slice of pie the stromboli was very dry and with the exception of the meats, there was no flavor. All in all the best part of the meal was the Pepsi that was part of the stromboli combo. I'm not sure if this is how the food and service normally are at Nappoli's now a days, but if it's how they've been doing things for all these years I'm not sure how they have made it so long. If it was just a one time thing then someone please let me know, so maybe I can try it again, but at this point you won't catch me back in that spot.

Kid friendly in the sense that they have high chairs and pizza, but I wouldn't take my nephew there to eat.

No Smoking as is the case with every spot in VA now.

It is definitely a Ramen Noodle.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

China Wok

As with most Americans I have a very big spot in my heart and even bigger spot in my stomach for Chinese food. Even though I have not had the privilege of going to Asia to experience the different styles of authentic Asian cuisine, American-Chinese food is okay by me till I actually get to Asia. When it comes to the delivery/carry out or dine-in/#1 China spots, I am a fan, along with many Americans I have my favorite spots, but for the most part it is hard to find a bad one, until now. With all the #1 China type spots in the area it is for sure a cut throat business and every little thing to make the meal better from being faster than the next guy to having better togo containers than the next guy. But most importantly your food needs to be better than the next guy especially since all of the spots pretty much have the same menu.
I have had more than a handful of people recommend China Wok(729 First Colonial Rd. VA . Beach, VA. 23454 757-422-8207) as a place to check out when it comes to good Chinese food. During one of our recent "winter storms" when most of VA Beach including my wife and I were stuck in our homes I had the craving for Chinese food and our regular spot was closed as was the case with most restaurants in the area that weekend. Then my wife reminded me that her cousin recommended China Wok as a good spot, so I called and to my surprise they were open and delivering (bonus since it was during the "winter storm"). Usually it was a $10 minimum for delivery but due to the weather it was upped to $20, no biggie to me as that meant left overs. So after deciding what we wanted, Sesame chicken, Hunan chicken, egg roll, and lumpia. I made the call and was greeted by a very happy-go-lucky guy that was super eager to take my order and advised me that due to the weather it was an hour wait and since i was tuck in the house and not going any where for a while decided 1 hour wasn't a big deal. After a couple more beers and about a half hour later there was a knock at the door. Now if the food was as tasty as the delivery guys attire was fashionable then I wouldn't be talking so badly about this place. I answered the door to a mid20's guy with old school thick rim glasses, rocking pajama pants with sweat shorts over top and white patten leather dress shoes. I will say the food looked excellent, but once I took the first bite of the Hunan chicken my wife ordered it was over. It tasted like it had been boiled for days, it was very slimy, and lacked the flavor and heat you look for in Hunan chicken. The lumpia poured grease out once bitten into as did my egg roll, there was no flavor in either the lumpia or egg roll either. My sesame chicken wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either, it had a slight crispness to it and just a little bit of flavor. The fried rice that accompanied our food was even worse than the Hunan Chicken, one of my more important rules to live by is if a Chinese restaurant can't make rice properly then they shouldn't be in business. Needless to say with all the #1 China type spots in the area & my already well established favorite spots usually open we won't be going back to this one.

Kid friendly, if you want to expose your kids to food as bad as this

I would rather eat ramen noodles than this garbage

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

D.W.'s Grill & Mongolian BBQ

Everyone's been to a Chinese buffet and seen and/or eaten the Mongolian BBQ, whether you know what it is or not you've probably eaten it. You the gig where you fill a bowl or plate with noodles, raw veggies, and a variety of raw meats, you give it to the cook he seasons it some way or another and gives back to you cooked up and ready to eat. Some are better than others, but none are as good as D.W.'s Grill & Mongolian BBQ (1932 Laskin Rd. VA Beach, VA. 23454 757-428-8891). D.W.'s is located on Laskin Rd. in building that use to be a record store and the name has slipped my mind,(if any one knows the name of that former record store please let me know cause it bugs the shizz out of me that I can't remember it)and is a large wide open dining area several tables with both seats and booths, and a bar area that seats about 5 or 6. I have known about this taste bud goldmine for a long time, but it took a while for me to get around to trying it, but once I did it was on like Donkey Kong. I usually like to check it out on Sunday's after a long nite of drinking, it is not only extremely tasty, but it is the super hangover helper. Baller on a budget secret, on Sunday's its a little cheaper than during the week and they include shrimp and bay scallops. Another cool thing about DW's is during lunch you can order unlimited trips or order just one trip(its a few buck cheaper), so you don't leave overly stuffed and you can save a couple bucks too.
To start off with the veggies are always super fresh and never look like they've been sitting around all day. They also have a large selection of meats including beef, pork, chicken (both white and dark meat), lamb, shrimp, scallops, and imitation crab. There is also a variety of sauces for you to season your ingredients with, so if you like it spicy add extra chili oil, heat not your thing there is ginger and sugar waters, minced garlic and many others. I recommend letting them sauce it up for you, I also recommend you shuck and jive yo arse over to the fresh salad bar & grab a few pineapple pieces to get in the mix. Speaking of salad bar it is fully stocked with the usual suspects as well as fruit, they also have selection of sushi (very good for buffet style sushi) and a dessert section to include a variety of PET ice cream cups.
Once the food hits the grill it's on, you catch the smells of goodness and in some cases can catch a pyro show or two. The real deal Asian cooks (not saying they are Mongolian, but at least they Asian unlike most spots where they are Hispanic or Ecuadorian)are their thing while you watch with delight. There is a bottle of god's nectar a.k.a. Sriracha and a can of salted peanuts you can throw on it when the nice chef hands you back your steaming hot plate of deliciousness, this is also a good time to show your appreciation for the chef doing his thing and leave a tip. When you get back to the table you will be greeted with a tasty bowl of egg drop or sweet and sour soup as well as steamed or fried rice and a basket of delicious sesame flatbread. Once you have finished your plate of tasty goodness rip a piece of that flatbread and sop up the sauce like a biscuit to gravy. Then make sure you go back for seconds (not more than you can eat though, remember there are starving kids in China) to try your food with a different variation on the sauce so you can see exactly what level of sauciness you can reach. If your like a friend of mine it's okay to admit that your lazy and just go thru the line once but get enough for 2 trips, that way you don't have to get up and go back thru the line again. Haha gotta love Rock. So make sure you get to DW's for a tasty Mongolian BBQ meal and super friendly staff.

This shizz was definitely the cats pajamas mickey fickey, and I will pass the word about this spot like the collection plate at a Sunday service, and I'll be back like the Terminator.

For sure it is kid friendly

No smoking