Scottso I forgot to tell you that if you like chili, believe it or not, Quiznos has the best!

Welcome Scott!

I like the Thai Palms restaurant on South street, Domingo's and Village Grill.  If you don't and the occasionally artery clogger, frosty freeze has a pretty good pastrami sandwich (don't forget the peppers and pickles) but it's not for the faint of heart!

I am not really crazy about Jake's, It's overpriced and to me, the food is really mediocre, but most people just don't know better because this is a small town. The ambiance is classy but honestly the food is not anywhere near what it could be, and I found the service in general to be sloooow, and too pricey for the haute cuisine/ high price steakhouse it is trying to mimic.

We need  a good Northern Italian joint up here, with real  NY style Pizza. Old Town pizza is pretty horrible, but I go there cause my kid likes the video games. Has any body tried that Guido and the blonds place? I haven't and would like to hear some reviews.

After reading this blog my husband & I decided to go try out Don Juans today. It was great! The service was great, the food was excellent & was actually something different from the same old stuff, and the prices really weren't that bad. I was impressed.

Another suggestion of good restaurants for you is Hungry Hunter in Bakersfield. It's a little pricey but very worth the experience. They even make your salad at the table so you can choose what you want on it. Excellent food and atmosphere!

Don Juans is great! I've been their about six times. they recently got their liquor license. The drinks are great. The food is delicious!!! As for the service I try asking for those beautiful Spanish loking girls Lora and Flora. They are great and give excellent service. You should try the Chocolate chimiganga it's delicious!

I forgot to mention, that the manager might be a little lose in the head(she is the one sitting down with random cutomers with a wine glass). So don't mind her. Other than that it's GREAT!!!!!

I have been to Don Juan's on at least six occasions, the service is excellent and the food is even better. The resturant is owner operated By Juan (Chef) and Yolonda (General operations and wine and beverage) They do a wonderful job together and will occasionlly randomly mingle with the customers, I think it is a very charming atmostphere.  Try the bacon wrapped shrimp!  Happy Dining!!

I know this blog is like a year old now, but my wife and I finally got a chance to try Kasagiri and I felt the need to comment.  Our kids are up north visiting family, and its hard enough getting them to eat "regular" food never mind sushi, so after almost a whole year without a kid break, we jumped at the chance.

 In a nutshell the food is awesome.  I can't believe there is such a great sushi place hidden away here in the mountains!  It compares with any of the sushi places I've been to down in South Bay and LA proper.  Now I'm going to have to figure out how to sneak off there while the kids are around. ;)  I'm also going to have to practice my chopsticks skills again!

I highly recommend checking it out.  Even if you don't like sushi, they have plenty of cooked food on the menu!

Yay! So glad you finally got a chance to try Kasagiri, Scott. Yes, it's one of very few restaurants in our area that we find ourselves going to again & again.

They did a wonderful job for us recently when we had some visitors from Japan, and we wanted to take them to a very special meal. We had them order some special Kobe beef for us, and the ways they prepared it was delicious! We were the envy of the restaurant that night. They also order special bottles of sake for us, when we request them. We took some friends with kids there for dinner, who had never had Japanese food before. The kids actually had a blast, trying new food with the "special" chopsticks provided by the staff (rubber banded together so they were able to use them easily.)

I'd also like to write about the new Mediterranean place downtown, Petra. It's small, but the food was delicious & authentic. I had the lamb kebabs, and our friend tried the falafel. Hmmm, good! The side dishes (hummus, stuffed grape leaves, pita bread) were very good, too. The only drawback, for me, was the lack of wine & beer on the menu. I hope they can get a license to serve these soon.

At least it's not another Mexican place!

;-)

Yeah I'm a Kasagiri fan now. :)  I know there's a proclaimed japanese chef that used to post on the blogs here who says he left in the middle of a meal it was so terrible, but I certainly haven't had that experience.  Its like so many people here bashing Domingo's.  I don't get it.  I take the family there, literally, every single Friday.  If they had bad food I would have eaten it by now. ;)

I will add Petra to the list of places to try!  So far Domingo's, Kasagiri, Don Juan's and Taco Sammich (for lunch, not dinner) are the only places I have found locally worth revisiting.  I haven't tried Jakes or the Bear Valley restaurant yet so those are on the list too.