Triangle Trip

As a follow up to our previous Pasadena restaurant review post which ranked 15 restaurants, Statusmonger, Big A and Captain G have since visited a few more restaurants in Pasadena, CA. We found Pasadena restaurants are a bit overrated. Nonetheless, we feel obligated to share our experiences with our readers.

Below is a list of our experience and ranking.

1.  Langham Hotel Dining Room – The only restaurant inside a hotel in the greater LA area to have a Michelin star! Dining experience was worldclass and worth the price. Great wine selection and dessert. Located inside the Langham Hotel, the Dining Room is kind of hard to find as it’s in a residential neighborhood. There is another restaurant called “The Terrace” which does not have a Michelin star. Make sure you tell the reservation specialist that you want the “Dining Room” if you want to experience real fine dining.

2.  Sushi Roku – Japanese restaurant nested in between Colorado and Union (near the corner of Colorado & Fair Oaks) — near Crate and Barrel. Very trendy restaurant with lots of young people. Service was excellent. Great sake selection as well. It’s fusion Japanese so do not expect anything real authentic.

3.  Tani – Japanese restaurant on Colorado Blvd and Raymond. Tiny looking restaurant on the outside but Tani has a pretty sizeable patio area seating on the outside. Good food selection as restaurant offers both cooked and raw Japanese food. Poor sake selection.

4.  Malagueta – A Brazilian joint located on Colorado (down the block from 1812 but 20x better). Has wide selection of Latin American wines. Mostly meat dishes. Avoid if you want veggies.

5.  Trattoria Tre Venezie – Little snobby Italian restaurant with one Michelin star that opens Wednesday to Sunday. We do not think this restaurant is worthy of the Michelin star. Food was mediocre at best. We were there on a Wednesday and the restaurant was not crowded at all. Wine list were all from Italy. The bright spot is they have authentic Italian soda.

Trattoria Tre Venezie6.  Yard House – Usual chain, American beer place.  It is usually packed with younger college kids.

7.  City Thai – Typical Thai food, nothing special.

8.  Tokyo Wako – A pricey Teppanyaki steakhouse. The show was typical of a Teppanyaki place but the waiters/waitresses provided excellent service. Portions were huge. Sake was good. However you’re paying for $30+ for Teppanyaki.

9.  Cafe Santorini – Mediterranean food inside an alley near Colorado and Fairoaks (by Roku). This restaurant has great ambiance. The restaurant is actually located on the 2nd floor of a building with outside seating. Service was horrible. Waiter could not recommend any dish — all he said was “pick whatever you want.” Food was very salty. The bright spots are: large portions, good dessert and great fresh bread. Perhaps the portions and dessert is what drive people to come to this restaurant. We were at Cafe Santorini on a Monday night and it was packed.

10.  Mojito’s – Cuban place on Raymond. They served great Mojitos as the name suggested. Food was so so at best. It was not memorable so it’s at the bottom of our list. Menu items were not too expensive.

11.  Central Park – Located on South Fairoaks and across the street from Pasadena’s Central Park. It’s an American style restaurant with seafood and meat on the menu. Nothing special. Just an over-priced restaurant that serves typical diner food.

12.  JJ Steakhouse – Steakhouse on the 2nd floor of a shop on Colorado. JJ Steakhouse is probably the worst steakhouse in Pasadena. For the same price, you are better off at Arroyo’s or Ruth’s.

13.  Kansai – Small Japanese restaurant on Fairoaks near Colorado. Kansai has a huge variety of Japanese dishes on its menu – perhaps too much to choose from… Setting is kind of ghetto. Food is so so. We will probably not visit them again.

14.  Nepal Tibet House – Located on Holly Street which was kind of out of the way… The restaurant marketed itself as Himalayan food but it was actually more Indian food than anything. We were disappointed and the meal was pricey.

15.  Cafe Bizou – We attempted to go to this restaurant 3x but couldn’t experience it. The first time they were closed after 9PM. The second time we were seated by the host and sat for 15 minutes without service. Furthermore, the patrons that night were at least 65 and up – crowd was definitely not hip. We gave Cafe Bizou one more chance on a Monday evening and they were closed for Monday’s.

With this list and our previous post, we have evaluated 30 restaurants in Pasadena, California. I don’t think you will find a better place with a more candid review of each restaurant at a particular location.

Big A | Captain G | Statusmonger

I was recently redeemed my free SPG weekend nights (here’s the link to Big A‘s post on how to redeem your free SPG weekend nights) and want to let everyone know that the process was extremely smooth even thought I encountered a few hiccups along the way. Here’s my experience:

I rang Starwood’s customer service line to redeem my free weekend nights plus a five-night point redemption reservation, but found out that I was not properly enrolled. The customer service representative knew I was in a hurry and split my reservation into two reservations:  one for the free SPG weekend nights redemption and another for my SPG points redemption. The customer service representative also reassured me that he would make sure my free SPG weekend nights enrollment would be retroactive.

At the Sheraton front desk of my destination, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise:

1.  My SPG free weekend nights were made retroactive

2.  The Sheraton hotel (Category 6) I booked allowed me to redeem 4 nights using my SPG points, and gave me the 5th night for free

3.  I also got my Platinum choice award (I opted for the 500 bonus points of course)

In summary, Starwood’s worldclass service should be held as the standard for the travel industry. The US airline industry should look to Starwood for some guidance.

This is why hotel points are much better than airline miles — here’s a link to my previous post.

I have been flying in and out of SFO for several months but have not had to switch flights from the domestic terminals to the International Terminal. There used to be a bus located at the lower level near Gate 72 that takes you from SFO Terminal 3 to the International terminal. That bus is no longer available.

SFO has completed a connection bridge that takes you from Terminal 3 to the International Terminal. You will need to walk from the gates of Terminal 3 to the SFO International Terminal via this bridge. The walk way connecting SFO’s Terminal 3 and the International Terminal is near Gate 75 (shown in the map below). It would have been great if travelers received information information about the new bridge at SFO.

You can also view my other posts on: How to a quickly check into SFO Terminal 3 and a recently updated post on the time and schedule of when the gates are opened.

Safe travels.