I was looking for a place to eat in the area and happened to come across Easterly. I don't see many Hunan restaurants so wanted to give it a try. Ordered three dishes to share amongst three people: Stir Fried Smoked Beef with Garlic and Pepper, Steamed Pork Belly with Dried Pickles, Yunnan Mushroom Dish (don't recall the English translated name). The stir fried smoked beef with garlic and pepper was the best item we tried. The beef was smoky, and reasonably authentic for hunan cuisine. Okay amount of spice as well. Note - the beef is chewy and tough, but that is how it is. The steamed pork belly with dried pickles was different from what we were expecting since it usually has a salty preserved vegetable taste, and not spicy. In addition, some pieces of the pork belly were also dry. The Yunnan mushroom dish was a mix of mushrooms which wasn't really a stir fry but wasn't dry either. It was fine. Around our table - we saw that lots of folks were ordering a mushroom dry pot and the griddle fish. Will be back again to try those dishes. read more

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This was my first time trying Easterly and I had an overall good experience. I was here with a business partner and we were able to discuss work and enjoy our food. I would say the atmosphere is not the best place to discuss business, but personal conversations are fine. With several companies nearby, it does get busy and load during weekday lunch. We ordered through a QR code on the table and the food came quickly. The food itself is good; it's Hunan style so they got a strong spicy kick. From the taste it's very authentic. Service was good since we asked for extra bowls and other requests. read more

Easterly - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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The Good: Plenty seating Fast service The Bad: Every beef dish was rock hard. So chewy it felt like tooth cracked Some items had fantastic flavor and others tasted extremely bland. The shrimp tasted as if it was washed in soap Menu extensive....but when you goto order on the app, very limited selection. The ugly Dirty dishes everywhere Hot sauce container had mold read more

There is a big variety of food to choose from. There is a large parking structure in the back that was easy to find parking. There are 2 entrances so be sure to check both if you are meeting a friend. Food came out nice and hot and the staff kept our lemon water filled. They even offered to pack up the leftovers for us. Trust me, you will have leftovers as the portions are generous! read more

Easterly - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

The food was very good! We enjoyed everything we ate! The service was very fast. You have to order on your own and they just bring you the food, but the food came out very fast! The ordering platform was a little confusing because it was in another language, but after a little bit, we were able to figure out how to change it to English. The prices are more on the pricey side in my opinion for what we got. It didn't seem like a bang for our buck, especially because it was family style amongst 4 people. read more

Easterly - sesame chicken - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Ambience, location, and timing of the food preparations were great. But the food itself wasn't that good. The food we ordered barely had any chicken meat In it. It was mostly bones and not even that much chicken itself. The broth was delicious though. Maybe we'll come again for a different meal read more

Easterly - Some chicken soup - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

This is the first time I have come to this place in person. The space is big, nice, and clean. The food was okay overall. I ordered the same dish that I had previously ordered online for pickup. The pickled fish fillet was very delicious. It was served with a small stove to keep the food hot, which is nice. You can choose the spice level: less spicy, regular, or extra spicy. I chose regular, and it was actually quite spicy. People who cannot tolerate too much spice may want to choose the less spicy option. The sticky rice corn pork ribs were just okay. The corn on top tasted a bit sour. I am not sure if it is supposed to taste like that, but it made me feel like the dish might not have been freshly made. I also ordered the Youxian fried rice noodles with egg and pork. The rice noodles were too thin and were not the type of rice noodles we expected. The waiting time was also a little longer. We arrived at 12:33 and were seated at 12:40. Around 1:00, the fish was served. At 1:10, we received the sticky rice ribs, and about 10 minutes later, the rice noodles arrived. I understand that we came during a busy time, so the wait was still acceptable for me. read more

Easterly - Pickled fish fillet - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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I came here last week after picking up some books at the Northside Library. There was ample parking space during early Friday evening, although my sisters mentioned this plaza can get crowded. We were greeted by staff when we arrived and promptly seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant. There was a QR code to scan for ordering. My fiancé and I ended up ordering stir fried fish fillet and stir fried beef with pepper. The food came out piping hot! The beef was so nice and tender and the bell peppers gave the dish a nice freshness and color. The fish filet was served on a hot plate and the waiter kindly turned it off for us after he noticed the broth was boiling as he was passing by. The fish was delicious. The restaurant itself was nice and not too loud even though there were other patrons there. The staff took care in filling our glasses when they were half full and gave us takeout containers for the portion of our meal we were unable to finish. I'd definitely go back if I were in the area. read more

Easterly - Fish fillet - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Tucked in the corner of the Rivermark plaza it can be a bit hard to find parking here. I came here with a party of 4 and were seated right away. We ordered food off of an iPad and got fish, vegetables, pork and rice. All of the dishes were quite delicious but definitely more on the oily side. My favorite dish out of them all was the fish, the sauce on it was pretty light and the fish was very fresh. I really enjoyed it. read more

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The food here is expensive, but I recommend going for the specials. I ordered the beef noodle soup. It was excellent! Tender beef to go along with a flavorful broth. The broth has an enjoyable amount of spice: just the right amount to make your tastebuds tingle. Orders are through the store-provided iPad. The customer service is good overall. Good amount of dining, and the space is overall clean. read more

Easterly - Beef Noodle Soup - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Came here with my dad and I to grab something quick to eat for dinner before going up to SF. We ordered the stir fried fish (清炒鱼片) and the beef noodle stew. Really filling and hearty, family style dish but we did see lots of couples around us that ordered one to three dishes so YMMV (depends on your appetite!). I really enjoyed the broth in the beef noodle stew, it was not too salty and came with a good amount of vegetables. Noodles were QQ, the stir fried fish was delicious and aromatic. The tender texture paired with the crunchy leafy greens was well balanced! Overall, authentic Eastern Chinese fare in the Rivermark Plaza- a well maintained and nicely groomed area nestled in the middle of corporate Silicon Valley. No complaints about the surroundings, but when you go inside it's as real as you can get. Service is good and the interior is clean, lots of seating and the waiters are friendly! read more

Easterly - 清炒鱼片 - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Food is as authentic as you can get. We really enjoyed the pork belly, kung pao chicken, and tofu dish. Employees patiently helped us order, as we were not familiar with such authentic Chinese dishes. read more

Came here with a party of about 15 of us, and they were definitely not that prepared lol. The round tables seat about 10. We ended up connecting the long tables into a huge one for all of us. The long table design is nice - there's like a basket underneath to hold your stuff! Not for the round tables though. You order on an ipad. Our team ordered so much stuff. Quantity of the dishes were decent. What would I order again? I think: - the chicken soup - the spicy beef - sour cabbage fish fillet - vegetables were all yummy What would I not get again? - the shrimp with vermicelli noodles - clam dish (didn't have enough clams, just a ton of spices inside) Overall, customer service was great. Parking was also easy. And for my birthday... they gave me a complimentary birthday noodle dish! But they only gave it to me at the end when I'm stuffed LOL. read more

Easterly - Birthday noodle! - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Easterly in Santa Clara is a standout for anyone craving authentic Hunan cuisine. The menu is unique, offering house smoked meats and traditional dishes that you won't find at your typical Chinese restaurant. Every meal here is super flavorful and balanced - it can get really spicy but always well balanced. Our must-orders are the stir fried cauliflower, the Steamed Pork Rib in Sticky Rice with Corn, and the Poached Fish Fillets in Sour Soup. Easterly is our favorite local spot for properly executed, distinctive Chinese food. Highly recommended! read more

Located in the rivermark plaza, parking can be pretty hit or miss depending on the time of day. We got here when they were an hour off from closing. There were maybe 3 or 4 other parties here. We were seated pretty quickly. My bf has ordered their fried rice on a previous occasion and I was super impressed by the wok hei so we decided to come here for dinner. The waitress spoke to us in Mandarin and named their specials and instructed us to use the tablet to order. We're Cantonese speakers so we could only sort of understand but we appreciated the hospitality. We understood enough haha. We could have told them we didn't speak Mandarin, but we decided to just go with the flow, we were in too deep. We got the braised pork belly with tofu and plain noodles. The plain noodles were definitely a good deal. I wasn't expecting vegetables, which were a nice touch. Especially great for the cold rainy night we were having. The pork belly and tofu were very well done. Really appreciated that it came with a flame so we could have hot food. Would definitely come back and see what else they offer. read more

Easterly - Plain noodles - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Great authentic Chinese food. Ordered Togo from Uber eats and the prices/portions were really fair. Taste was on point. I liked all the dishes I ordered. I got the grilled tofu with minced pork, steamed egg with minced pork, smoked pork fried rice, and steamed braised pork with smashed peppers. Usually I critique each dish but tbh every dish was solid and what I expected if not a lil better. I had very low expectations of the smoked pork fried rice but the smoked pork added an interesting dimension to the fried rice. Overall, enjoyed my order from here and wouldn't hesitate to order from them again read more

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A friend and I thought we'd check this place out since we always pass by it in Rivermark but never go. At first we were drawn by their sign saying Hunan Cuisine and when we entered we were greeted and seated us right away. There are QR codes where the napkins are but those will make you download an app on your phone. They take your order by handing a tablet and noting your table number down. We weren't craving much so we only got 2 dishes and 2 bowls of rice. The first dish they brought out was braised boned chicken with taro root. My initial impression of this dish was there's a lot of chicken and the chicken was good but it starts to get salty really fast. I know the point of the dish is the chicken still has bone but it seemed like there was a lot of shattered bones throughout the flesh and so we were cracking a lot of those with almost every bite. The spice level was good and taro didn't seem to get spicy. Our next dish was sautéed egg with fermented soy which we were excited for. It was tasty but also really salty which made it hard for us to keep eating. The fermented soy was definitely a nice a touch to the dish. Overall, we felt the food is okay but not something we would crave for. We also thought the required tip amount was kind of silly because we felt ignored by our server the entire time we were here. They were good at taking our order and card (they took our card without showing us the receipt) but not so much answering/noticing you when you need help. Also, do not think you can get out of their required tip amount as they chased us to increase the tip. read more

Easterly - Braised Boned Chicken with Taro Root Special - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Yesterday I went to try Easterly because I thought this restaurant would be a good representation of Hunan food. I'm not sure if they have the same level of authenticity in China, but I might have to go somewhere else that serves Hunan cuisine because I had a bad experience here. Let's talk about service first. They never checked up on us to see if the food was okay or if we needed anything else. We had to wave down the server for the check because she couldn't take the hint we wanted to leave. I normally tip 15% whenever I eat out, but I didn't enjoy the service nor food and I'll explain why soon. I didn't leave a tip and as we got up to leave, she went to pick up the check quickly and she said we are required to tip. My friend and I looked at each other like... "Uhh? is this legal?" LOL. I left a dollar tip and heard our server running to see how much we tipped and she took a deep breath and huffed at us. The audacity to stop me and force me to tip for bad service was ridiculous. Now talking about the food, my friend and I ordered the braised boned chicken and as you eat the chicken, all the bones are mixed in and you have to pick out the bone with your finger. The chicken was also too salty and diluting it with rice doesn't help at all. I really got excited for the sautéed egg because you can't mess that up, but surprisingly they did lol. The egg was very salty and I still have to eat it with big scoops of rice. The atmosphere of the restaurant was pretty clean, including the restroom. The most enjoyable part of the dish was the kick of spice that leaves your mouth a little bit numb. The food would have been a lot better if it wasn't so salty or if the chicken didn't have so many tiny fragments of bones that makes your teeth hurt when you bite down on it. The only thing I loved about the food was the bowl of rice. read more

Easterly - Braised Boned Chicken with Red Pepper Special - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Quality of the food served here is next level. Good portions and plenty of the main items, like a chicken dish has a lot of chicken and not filled with veggies. Loved ordering on the IPads, so convenient with photos. read more

Easterly - Take out menu - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Walked by a few times and finally decided to try. Unexpected surprise. crazy balance of flavors, great service, and and super portions (dining in). would definitely recommend! read more

Pros: This restaurant is conveniently located in the river-mark plaza . The decor is spacious and clean. The food is tasty, and food comes out super fast. Cons: Be prepared , the food is very oily and salty. It's not for everyone. You can always ask for less salt, and oil. Also they charge mandatory 18% service fee. And service was a bit slow. read more

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My bf and I are frequent quests at the Hyatt House. We have eaten at Easterly a few times. I'm not a big fan, but I don't hate it either. The flavors do have a home cooked touch to it, but most of the time it's a little overly salty. We got a noodle dish today, I think it's the same one we usually get, as much as I like it, I also don't like how overly oily it is. We got the Mongolian beef which was mostly white and green onions, and some pork and cabbage steamed onion. The service was great, we sat outside because we had our dog with us. It was very sunny, the server opened the sun umbrella for us and brought out a bowl of water for our dog. The server was super attentive. read more

Easterly - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

This is my local spot. Dishes come to the table fast and the service is good; they have always been extremely accommodating to our young children. The food is fairly unique in the Bay Area and on the spicy side. It tastes great but for those that can't deal with heat, you can ask for adjustments to most dishes. read more

Amazing spot my family and I recently discovered! The food portions are great and the food itself is delightful! The ambiance here is usually lively and the staff tends to you quickly! Really amazing place to come grub if you are craving some Chinese food! read more

Really disappointed in this place. This is our third time coming for take out. We preordered, paid for a certain time to pick up. We got the text to pick it up at a certain time. Waited over an hour only to be told she just placed the order. I know we don't care about customer service but what a waste of our time. What is the POINT of preordering and prepaying if they literally don't prioritize the time. They took their phone offline but are still accepting online orders even though there's lots of people waiting to pick up currently. We had only one thing left and just wanted to leave after almost 2 hours of waiting. Asked for a refund for the one item at this point cause they're so behind. They won't even entertain the thought of refunding us. This feels like fraud at this point. We waited almost 2 hours to pick up a timed order. Spoke to them multiple times to make sure the order was still being done, was lied to and made to wait even longer. Really disappointed bc we did like this place. read more

This was my second time here and it was just as good as the previous time! Only thing bad was that there was some crumbs in my water.. we asked the waitress for a new one Food(5/5): We got octopus and fish soup it was spicy and flavorful. Definitely will come back for the octopus dish again. Service(4/5): Service was good, they just accidentally placed the wrong dish on the heater but someone else noticed and fixed it. Ambiance(5/5): The ambiance was good everyone in other tables were lively and seemed to be enjoying the restaurant. read more

Easterly - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Spicy, but still flavorful. It's authentic Chinese food, not the deep fried American junk in sticky sweet sauce. We were given an iPad with a photo menu to order on. The English names of some items were too long and cut off, so it's a little challenging to identify some dishes. However, we enjoyed everything we ordered. After ordering we noticed most people were getting dishes served over burners/flame. We'll have to try one of those next time. read more

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Ample prking in the front and back of the restaurant and asthetic indoor seating that "calls" u in! In $36, we got: - chicken kung pao 5/5 medium spicy super yummy - stir fry pork with peppers 4/5 slightly drier than kung pao but full of flavor n spice PS - You pay extra for rice. We placed a phone order and the staff was patient and helpful :) they do offer an option of "no MSG" so we opted for that and i couldnt tell the taste difference so it was perfect! Huge portions!! Best Hunan food near us :) #musttry #supportlocal read more

Easterly - D4 Stir-Fried Pork with Pepper 4/5 no msg yum - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Food is decent but take out service is highly disorganized. Waited almost 2 hours for an order placed the day before (prepaid as well). Received the text it was ready and they confirmed my order in person 3 times. On the 4th instance from me to have them confirm my order, they finally realized it was not in their system.....they refused to refund me and made me to continue to wait. No sense of customer service or prioritization of delayed orders. Many orders were fulfilled after their mistake was found, making me wait an additional 30 min. Been here a handful of times but this will be the last. read more

The boss is super friendly and helped recommend a few dishes specialty dishes. The fish stew with pickled chilies and the pepper with pork stir fry are delicious. Very fresh and not too overly salty. Definitely a must try. read more

Beautiful restaurant serving fantastic authentic Hunan Cuisine. The service was 5-star and the food unforgettable. 10/10 recommend for solo or family meal. read more

This is one of the best Chinese food spots that I have ever had. All the food we ordered was amazing. I don't understand the people complaining about the food being too greasy. Hello, you are at a Chinese restaurant, greasy food is to be expected. The service was top notch. They are very attentive and quick to your needs. I can't to comeback to this restaurant again. read more

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I strongly recommend that you do not order food from this restaurant because the ingredients are not fresh and the beef seems to be spoiled. The taste is very bad. read more

Easterly - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Over the phone I ordered kung pao chicken, and shrimp fried rice with a side of brown gravy. My husband picked up the food and brought it back to our room. They forgot the gravy, and my kung pao chicken did not have any rice. So my husband went back to get his gravy and my rice. He found that 1) white rice cost $8 more (even though the entree itself cost $22.99) and 2) they didn't have any gravy! They should've told him this when he initially went to pick up the food. By the way, the king pao chicken was bland and the peanuts were overcooked so as not to be crunchy. It was very disappointing! read more

Ordered 2 dishes for to go during Covid-19 1. E18Stir-Fried Fish Fillets with Chopped Pepper: Real large quantity for $24 (sufficient for 3+ people): great taste. Watch out the to go container could leak the gravy 2. Stir E1Stir-Fried Lamb with Pepper & Cilantro: Awesome. I and spouse loved it. Note that both items are spicy (we just got the default spice level ie we did not specify any). But that spice level was our South Indian palate wanted. Quick order pickup on New Year Eve. Will frequent this place. read more

Easterly - E18Stir-Fried Fish Fillets with Chopped Pepper: Real large quantity for $24 (sufficient for 3+ people): great taste - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Metal object found in food. Cut my mouth. Not sure what they're doing in the kitchen, but wouldn't recommend. read more

Easterly - Metal object found in food - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

4.5 STARS I like it hot. Like really HOT. Do you? Something about THAT pleasurable burn is so addicting.   Oh, I'm not talking about the burn down there because this is not a review for Dr. Bush, OB/GYN. If you're addicted to spicy foods like I am, Easterly is THE place to go.   Easterly is a small Bay Area chain of Hunan specialty restaurants. Their Santa Clara is the original location that opened in 2018 and they now have locations in Berkeley, Cupertino, and Millbrae.   When Easterly first opened, they had two menus: Chinese and American but they've since condensed everything to one menu on a tablet where you do all the ordering. The Yelp menu pics are no longer applicable as they've done away with some dishes. For example, there's no more cold apps like pig ears, pork tongue, beef tripe, etc. Since their specialty is authentic Hunan cuisine, it's highly recommended that you stick with the spicy dishes here. Save the fried rice and chow mein for PF Chang's and Panda Express. Unlike Sichuan food that has a mala numbing spice from sichuan peppercorns, Hunan food use lots of chopped chilies so it's straight up HOT.   Most dishes are $20+ so it's on the pricey side but worth it because it's hard to find solid and authentic Hunan food, at least in SF. We ordered the following (requested no msg): * A9 Braised Beef Tendon & Brisket ($24.99): https://bit.ly/2uTpZCS Served over gel chafing fuel to keep the dish bubbling hot, the beef tendon and brisket was braised with fiery chilies, garlic, and onions. The tendons were meltingly soft and the brisket was tender, though several pieces were fibrous. Great flavor and it was so spicy it cleared my stuffy nose. * A1 Steamed Catfish w/ chopped peppers ($35.99): https://bit.ly/3ap4yZi A small catfish is cut into steaks and simmered in pickled chili peppers, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. The catfish was fresh, incredibly moist, and flakey. It absorbed all that delicious fragrant chili and spices it was simmering in. Don't worry, it's not as spicy as it looks. I loved this dish so much, I could of eaten it all by myself. Make sure to order a bowl of steamed rice - pour the chili infused oil from the catfish all over the rice and enjoy! Service was cordial but sooooo slow for Chinese restaurant standards.   I dined when they opened at 5 pm so it was empty and it was still empty by the time we finished on a Friday night. It took 30 minutes for the first dish to arrive and 45 minutes for the second dish to arrive.   Why?   The restaurant was busy with DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats orders. I watched at least eight delivery peeps pick up orders while waiting for our food.   Aside from restaurants hustling to fulfill large volume delivery orders which negatively impact customer dine-in experiences (may deter return visits), restaurant owners have to pay up to 30% fees to third party delivery services...for your convenience.   This is why some restaurants are closing so please consider supporting your local restaurants in person. Large, spacious dining area great for groups. This is the only location with two outdoor patio areas so you can dine with your dog: https://bit.ly/32NKU6A. Easy parking in the Rivermark Village. Loved the food but not the wait for it so rounding down to 4 stars. When I visit again, it will probably be for lunch instead when there's a smaller volume of third party delivery orders. read more

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Ever since Easterly replaced Yan Can, I've always wanted to try it. My cousin actually recommended me this restaurant especially if you're a spicy food fanatic. Took his recommendation and took my dad out to lunch. We came here Sunday lunch and the restaurant was full. Not busy but full. We got seated right away. Tbh, don't come here expecting your basic Chinese/American food. Though, I understand they're trying to please everyone. Save your orange chicken fried rice somewhere else. I LOVE spicy food and this place DELIVERED spicy. Ordered the lamb stir fry with pepper and cilantro and the braised beef noodle soup w/ a side of white rice. Lamb Stir Fry- Spicy as hell and FLAVORFUL. nothing about this dish lacks anything. I would definitely order again. The side of rice paired nicely this dish. Braised Beef Noodle Soup: braised beef with perfectly cooked noodles. Non Spicy, which was a great balance. Check out this place in person or somewhere else online because they have a menu tablet that's different than the pictures of the menu on yelp. They have many more selections to choose from. We enjoyed the food and service here. Can't wait to explore the rest of the menu. read more

Easterly - E1Stir-Fried Lamb with Pepper & Cilantro - Chinese Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Kung Pao Flavor! Truth be told, I was a bit shocked that this place was actually tasty. I really had low expectations given it was a Tuesday night at 5:30 pm and there were only 3 parties eating inside. We ordered the Kung Pao Chicken and Lotus Root and Mushrooms. The Kung Pao chicken was tasty. It was probably the best Kung Pao that I've had in my life. I think the reason why is there was a hint of sweetness, plenty of chicken, lots of peanuts, big chunks of green and red bell peppers. The Lotus Root was good. There was a good amount and the vegetables in there were fresh. A good dish for those looking for veggies. Overall, I would go back. Prices are moderate to high depending on what you order ($13-20) but to be expected in the Rivermark Village. read more

Not bad place. I had dinner here with a couple of close friends of mine to catch up with. The place was decent but seriously overpriced and hecka spicy with just about all of the dish on their menu. Also, they had no dessert, which was disappointing. The food was delicious and the service was fast. I also liked how allow customers to order the food, by the use of a tablet. I could come by here again but not as regularly as I would since they are EXPENSIVE. Service: A Quality: A+ Price: $$$ read more