Category Archives: Forking Restaurant Reviews

Honest unbiased reviews based on actual experiences

A Little Taste of Fratelli La Bufala – Scottsdale AZ

Leave a reply

Fratelli La Bufala is an Italian Based Group of Restaurants with over seventy locations in Europe and the Middle East. This new Scottsdale location is the second location in the United States. For the most part they offer Naples style pizzas and house made pastas. They also offer appetizers, salads, two burgers, two entrees, a kids menu, desserts, and bar and cocktail drinks.

It looks like this when you walk in. It mostly traditional tables with a high top community table accented with their namesake…..the bufala cheese. The other logo that you can see all over the restaurant is the buffalo horn. You can’t tell by my photo but the pizza oven looks like a big red buffalo horn.

To the right is an indoor-outdoor bar and patio.

We start out by sharing a Cesare salad even though we were warned that the dressing contained anchovies. We ordered it because we are GLAD the dressing contains anchovies like it is suppose to.

1/2 Caesar

The salad is crisp and fresh and ever so lightly dressed. Almost undressed. The croutons were house made and do taste like good bread. The cheese is good. It’s good but at the table you should add some black pepper to it. (I do know because I used to prepare Caesar Salads table side at a high end restaurant)

For my main I have to try the Margherita Di Bufala DOP.

This is described as Buffalo Mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, DOP Parmesan, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. The stand out best thing to me is the fresh basil. This basil has a nice very strong sweet basil taste. This is unusually great basil. The pizza is good. I can’t say that it isn’t……….It has a nice rich tomato sauce. The cheese seems good but would be better cooked less so you can taste that very special milky Buffalo cheese more…..The crust is extra thin and extra light almost like a flour tortilla.

The crust is just cooked with some char. It’s very fresh tasting. It’s very neutral so you can taste the toppings more.

That pizza was good but maybe the real treat are the meat pizzas.

This one has the same light crust, rich sauce, and exceptional basil. But the hot soppressata really is hot and is different than from what some of the other pizza restaurants serve.

This was a little taste of Fratelli La Bufala-Scottsdale in Scottsdale AZ

7300 N Via Paseo Del Sur Ste

480-687-7784

www.FLBOFArizona.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Cafe Hollywood at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas NV

Leave a reply

Cafe Hollywood is a casual full service restaurant located in Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. They feature all day breakfast but also offer lunch and dinner. Inside you can sit at the counter or a table and marvel at all the Hollywood stars that grace the walls.

inside
inside

I tried the smoked salmon and avocado toast.

It’s a slice of wheat toast topped with smoked salmon, mashed avocado, poached egg, sour cream, pickled red onions and capers. It was mostly good but I asked for a medium poached egg and they just poached it soft and it was a little underdone. The waiter did offer to get me another egg but I declined.

My husband tried the breakfast burrito.

The burrito is stuffed with scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese, green bell peppers, refried beans, bacon, sausage, and ranchero sauce. The burrito comes with breakfast potatoes. This platter was A-OK.

An overall A-OK so …….Worth a Try!

That was my trip to Cafe Hollywood at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino

3667 Las Vegas BLVD S Las Vegas NV

702-732-1222

www.TheCafeHollywood.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

KP Mediterranean Restaurant – Sun City AZ – Worth A Fork!

Leave a reply

KP Mediterranean Restaurant is located in the strip mall at 99TH Avenue and Bell Road in Sun City Arizona. The KP stands for………

Kahramana Palace.

Kahramana happens to be a fountain that is one of Bagdad’s most iconic artworks. Inside and outside I didn’t notice a fountain but it is casual inside with a mix of traditional tables and booths.

They have a small stage in the front of the restaurant set up with a drum set. Perhaps they have live music at certain times?

They offer most of your Mediterranean favorites but maybe with a slightly different style.

We ordered and my husband got a complimentary vegetable plate. It was a surprise since there is no mention of this on their menu.

complimentary vegetable plate

The complimentary plate came with pickled vegetables, lettuce, crispy jajeek salad (creamy cucumber salad), and this really amazing eggplant salad that had these magically crisp cucumbers in it.

Then our appetizer veggie plates arrives topped with a thin flat bread.

Veggie Plate

It’s a little different. It came with garlic sauce, Arabic salad, tabouli (spelled tabboula), very minty stuffed grape leaves, cole slaw, hummus, a less creamy baba ghannouj, and very different falafels. These were shattering crisp and also a bit spicy.

For dinner I tried the Pompano Fish. It came out covered with a thin flatbread.

Pompano fish

It came out opened up in half. It was nicely seasoned, fried golden to perfection. It came with pickled vegetables, lettuce, sumac onions, and vegetable studded yellow rice. You can eat some of it fajita style with the thin flat bread. It also is a very generous portion….

My husband got the Adana Kebab also covered with a flatbread.

The Adana Kebab is a Turkish Kebab that is traditionally made from ground lamb but here it is made with ground beef. It is also is spicy from red pepper.They are set up the same as the fish with pickled vegetables, lettuce, sumac onions, and vegetable studded rice.

KP Mediterranean Restaurant is Worth a Fork! Everything Delicious! Large Portions, Low Pricing!

Worth a Fork!

KP Cuisine Mediterranean Restaurant

10050 W Bell Rd Sun City AZ

623-259-9692

www.KPCuisine.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The Vic Bar + Kitchen in Verrado Buckeye AZ – Stunning Atmosphere

Leave a reply

The Vic Bar + Kitchen is located in the FAR West Valley in a community called Verrado that is in Buckeye Arizona. he Vic Bar + Kitchen is an American Restaurant that offers an all day menu. They have a completely different menu from their opening. It’s a lot more casual comfort food now. They offer appetizers like sausage nachos (my husband was thinking about trying them), soft pretzels with green chili cheese sauce, and wings. They also offer salads, sandwiches, a few burgers, mahi tacos, and flat breads. They also offer entrees like half roasted chicken, steak frites, and grilled cauliflower and more!

Inside is a very large bar and it’s surrounded by a mix of tables and booths.

inside

Today I went with the plum salad and added salmon to it.

For my taste the salmon is over seasoned but is flaky and moist inside. They were very generous with walnuts that would be tastier toasted. The salad also is embellished with slices of strawberry, chunks of blue cheese, and slices of plum that taste like they have something on them that shouldn’t be there. I thought my salad was better than what my husband ordered.

green chili mac ‘n’ cheese

Here’s the green chili macaroni and cheese that comes with avocado and a boneless chicken thigh. The chicken thigh is good, tender, and tasty. The cheese sauce is very loose and has a processed taste. It’s better when you get a little green chili with it so you don’t taste the cheese as much.

Previously The Vic Bar + Kitchen used to have these items on the menu.

Deviled local duck egg

Shishitos with soy sauce and blueberry sugar

Melon salad

Smokie sandwich with fries

Strawberry-lemon icebox cake with an added surprise that I had to spit out.

The Vic Bar and Kitchen in Buckeye AZ

Stunning atmosphere

The Vic Bar + Kitchen

5325 N Verrado Way Verrado Buckeye AZ

623-533-4722

www.Verrado.com

www.VicBarandKitchen.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of Dominique Ansel Patisserie – Las Vegas NV

2 Replies

Dominique Ansel is a multi award wining pastry chef. He also is the inventor of the Cronut that is a cross between a croissant and a doughnut.

Up above to the left is the famous cronut and to the right are pain au chocolat.

Cookies shaped like cups filled with vanilla milk.

Spinach and cheese quiche, croque monsieur sandwich, and fluffy egg sandwiches are available.

Assorted cakes

pumpkin pie

bourbon pecan pie

novelty desserts

novelty desserts

desserts

Three days in a row we tried something.

My first try was this amazing looking fortune cookie.

The limited seating is all filled up so I take our dessert to a slot machine with a tray to enjoy. It’s softer than it looks. My husband takes a bite and says, “YUK.”……… Well it’s not a yuk ……but it is different from what I was expecting. The thin tender fortune cookie is filled with slightly lemon laced cream. It’s richer than frosting but taste exactly like a lemon laced frosting from a bakery. The baked goodie on the bottom taste buttery and the Lucky Me fortune is white chocolate.

The next day we tried a pain au chocolat.

They look amazing but maybe I was unlucky and the one we got had very little chocolate in it. My half didn’t have any. My husband dug out a small piece for me to try. It was very good. Obviously high quality chocolate but ours had very little in it. The croissant also doesn’t have many layers in it. The croissant part looks amazing but wasn’t nearly as many layers or that from French butter taste as the croissant from L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon.

I had to try a cronut. I didn’t know that it was filled with mocha cream. Mocha is my least favorite flavor so it wasn’t for me.

Dominique Ansel Las Vegas

3570 Las Vegas BLVD S Las Vegas NV

www.Caesars.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Famous Foods Street Eats – Streetbird, Blood Bros BBQ – Resorts World Las Vegas NV

Leave a reply

Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada offers 40 choices of food and beverage restaurants. They have a large food court called Famous Foods Street Eats. A little taste of Famous Restaurants from all over the world might be found there. Not all but many of the foods swing Asian. I was all set to try dumplings from one place but then I found something that I haven’t seen offered anywhere else.

I see Blood Bros BBQ offers shichimi togarashi BBQ turkey breast. I want that! Why shouldn’t I want to try a multi award wining 2021 TOP 50 NY Times listed restaurant.

No order at the counter here. It’s modern and cashless so you have to order like this.

We ordered and soon we got this.

The flavors are really great together and the sauce is delicious too but unfortunately the turkey is mighty dry and the white bread is stale. (BAH!) We didn’t eat much………Maybe you might hit them on a better day?

I saw Streetbird by multi award winning chef Marcus Samuelson so I wanted to go there.

We tried M’s Fried Chicken Thigh and the Buffalo Cauliflower.

It was larger portions than we were expecting. The cauliflower is tasty, fried nice and not too spicy. It came with a ranch type of dressing on the side. The chicken was cooked to perfection and is tasty and mildly spicy. It’s almost like Nashville style but it is different….It seems like we got the same exact stale white bread with it that we got from the Blood Bros BBQ? This also came with house made pickles.

This was a little taste of Blood Bros BBQ and Streetbird from Famous Foods Street Eats at Resorts World

Resorts World 3000 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV

www.RWLasVegas.com

They only list a phone number for room reservations.

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill – Las Vegas NV at Caesars

Leave a reply

Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill is an English Style Pub located in Caesars Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Gordon Ramsay is an award wining famous celebrity chef with several restaurants in Las Vegas. Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill is a beer place and has 36 taps and offers 63 different bottled beers.

inside
inside
inside

They offer a variety of different tables, booths, and a bar to sit at.

I ordered the famous fish and chips that come with mushy peas. I’ve had his fish and chips from his more casual restaurant called Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips and it was very good from there. Here’s the fish & chips from Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill.

fish & chips with mushy peas

This is all falling apart. When you stick a knife into it the fish flakes just crumble…….It doesn’t taste bad but seems off today. No crunch………Chips are kinda soggy but don’t taste bad. They have a nice potato flavor. I never had real mushy peas before…..It’s almost like minty pea soup. It’s really hard to eat with a fork. Below are the fish and chips that I had from Gordon Ramsay’s more casual restaurant Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips at the LINQ. These were much better and came with more sauces (and cost far less…….almost half).

Fish & Chips from Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips

Anyways-

My husband tried the short rib grilled cheese with fries.

short rib grilled cheese sandwich

My husband is slightly upset with this sandwich because it cost almost $30. and is overly scant with cheese. (most of the white in the sandwich is pickled onions)

inside the short rib grilled cheese

Much of the grilled cheese sandwich is free of cheese. All you can see is the short rib & pickled onions.

My husband complains about cheese not in a grilled cheese sandwich. They bring him a new one quickly that was burnt on one side but did have cheese on the bread this time. The beef was slightly dry and the fries were ok but didn’t have much of a potato taste.

Might have been an off day?

That was my trip to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill

3570 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV

702-731-7410

www.Caesars.com

Every thing is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Sushi Plus – Glendale AZ

Leave a reply

Sushi Plus is located in Glendale Arizona. They are named for what they serve. They serve a variety of sushi, sushi combination plates and lots of rolls. Many but not all of the sushi items are cooked.

As for the “Plus” they also offer appetizers like gyoza, soft shell crabs, and tempura. They offer noodle dishes – several ramen dishes, yakisoba, and seafood noodle soup. They offer a few salads, a kids menu, and entrees like teriyaki, sesame chicken, fish and chips, and bibimbap. They offer soft beverages, sake, and wine.

They happen to have an impressive 4.5 average out of 5 stars on Yelp so I thought this restaurant should be pretty darn good.

We thought we’d start out by sharing a combination sushi plate. We waited a while. But for some reason our server serves us our entrees first.

Japanese Curry Rice

I got the Japanese Curry Rice with Vegetables with chicken. I guess it was sitting a while because the sauce has grown it’s own skin. The vegetables in this dish are microscopic. It is suppose to be with vegetables…… I think this bowl was microwaved because parts of the bowl are steaming hot. Some of the chicken is ok but about half the chicken has a very strange texture. Like biting threw an over cooked chicken gizzard….The sauce is thick and very gingery. It is torture eating this dish. Our server only has one other table but didn’t ask how it was.

My husband tried the spicy chicken.

It is better than the curry rice. The chicken seems fresh prepared and is reasonably tender. The thin flat sauce taste taste laced with gochujang. This came with one piece of broccoli, some cabbage, and a generous portion of rice.

When we pushed the plates to the side our combination sushi plate arrived. We got a variety plate of sushi and a spicy tuna roll.

I started with a salmon nigiri. (look at the bottom end of the fish)

It’s leathery and warm. It’s also unseasoned under the fish. It isn’t spoiled but isn’t the freshest.

Then I try some spicy tuna roll. It is actually spicy. It seems ok. The white fish nigiri is a little warm but seems ok.

I try the tuna nigiri. I take a very small bite.

I can’t eat it. It’s way too fishy tasting for me. My husband tries it and can’t eat it either.

The server here didn’t ask how anything was, didn’t clear plates, didn’t even ask if we wanted to bring leftovers home. Didn’t question the tuna we left behind.

That was my trip to Sushi Plus in Glendale.

Sushi Plus

5830 W Thunderbird Rd Glendale AZ

602-595-9891

They are on Facebook and UberEats.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Buddy V’s Ristorante – Las Vegas NV 2022 Venetian – Still Worth a Fork!

1 Reply

Buddy V’s Ristorante is an East Coast Style American Italian Restaurant located in the Venetian Hotel Casino in the Grand Canal Shops that is on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Celebrity Chef Buddy Valastro’s is well known for his TV roll playing the Cake Boss.

Carlo’s Bake Shop across from Buddy V’s

Buddy V grew up working in his father’s bakery called Carlo’s Bake Shop. The business grew. Buddy became the Cake Boss and opened his American Italian Restaurant based on food recipes his grandmother and mother made for him.

Inside is casual.

inside

They start you off with light fermented focaccia bread and olive oil splashed with balsamic.

We shared the Tuscano Salad as an appetizer. I don’t know but I think they accidentally gave us full size portions because these are enormous even for full size portions.

Toscano salad

This is an arugula based salad. The arugula is small and tender and sweet for arugula. This salad contains crispy artichokes, a good amount of pecorino, marinated tomatoes, prosciutto and lemon vinaigrette.

Today I tried the Sicilian Style Fish & Chips.

Sicilian Fish & Chips

This is parmesan crusted Atlantic cod, Tuscan Fries, fresh, crispy well seasoned but drippy slaw, ketchup, and unusually really great tartar sauce. The tartar sauce has chunky pickled pieces in it that taste extra good. This is very good. Everything is nicely made and seasoned nicely. This is better and almost half the price of fish & chips I had somewhere else in Vegas. I did use my lemon from my iced tea to squirt on the fish. Maybe you should ask for a wedge of lemon when you get this dish? I do warn you that this is a very big lunch….I could only eat almost half and I am a good eater but I did notice that someone at the next table had this and ate the whole thing.

My husband had the Nonna’s Lasagna al Forno.

Nonna’s Lasagna Al Forno

This is made with Italian sausage, beef, pork, ricotta, mozzerella, and provolone cheeses. My husband thought that it was very good. He was going to try to eat the whole thing but stopped around half. This is a really crazy large portion for lunch. But sometimes when you see a show it’s good to have a big lunch so you can skip dinner.

A lighter lunch is the salmon that I had last time.

Salmon with chickpea salad

Behind the salmon is the orecchiette plate but sadly it wasn’t on the current menu. My husband said it was his favorite plate of orecchiette that he has ever had.

DAM it! ………….. We saw everyone getting these amazing looking cakes so we had to order one.

This is called the Italian Birthday Cake. It’s a sponge cake soaked with rosolio liquor. It has cannoli filling, really chocolatey pastry cream and toasted almonds.

Italian Birthday Cake

Yes it’s worth the calories. It’s rich and very delicious! You can Taste why Buddy V is the Cake Boss.

Buddy V’s Ristorante is still Worth a Fork! It’s also a very good value.

Worth A Fork!

Buddy V’s Ristorante 3327 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV

702-607-2355

www.BuddyVsRestaurants.com

www.VenetianLasVegas.com

Grand Canal Shoppes Shopping Mall – Venetian

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Food Truck Friday West – Que Chevere, Fogo & Soul, Fippin Rice – at Glendale AZ

2 Replies

Food Trucks show up from all over the valley for Food Truck Friday West. It is held in Glendale at 18551 83rd Ave between Sam’s Club & Walmart 5pm-9pm most Friday nights. See www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com for schedule and food truck line ups.

One of the food trucks we tried tonight was Flippin Rice. They are an Asian Fusion and Filipino Food Truck that came here all the way from Gilbert.

We tried them a few weeks back and had the Bulgogi that was pretty good.

bulgogi

So tonight I wanted to try the orange chicken with crispy kale & fennel because that sounded interesting to me.

orange chicken with crispy kale & fennel

Sad to report that this wasn’t as exciting as it sounds. The chicken does have a nice crispy exterior and is very tender inside but lacks a nice flavors. The kale was cut into very small pieces and is almost not there and the fennel was just shaved…..Maybe this is their least interesting dish? The bulgogi from here was much better. We didn’t eat much of this dish so we had some room.

Flippin Rice 480 – 244 – 6102

www.FlippinRice.com

Our next food truck does have a brick and mortar restaurant in Mesa called Que Chevere. They serve Venezuelan Cuisine. The food truck offered empanadas, arepas, plates and more.

Tonight we shared a white corn arepa stuffed with chicken salad with plantain chips on the side.

arepa reina pepiada

WOW! What a game changer! This is unusually delicious! The chicken is moist and developed with flavors. It has a cilantro sauce threw it and avocado but what makes it special is the fresh made white corn arepa. On the side are plantain chips and a dip that seems like ranch dressing to snack on. What a great stop this was!

Que Chevere

480 – 474 – 4954

www.QueChevereAZ.com

Restaurant – 142 W Main St Mesa AZ

Our last stop was Fogo & Soul. They are a Southern Brazilian BBQ Soul Food Fusion Food Truck. We’ve tried them before and it was very good…..Will they be that great again?

They do a nice set up with lights, tables, chairs and a portable heater. We tried their mixed grill trio again but with different sides.

mixed grill trio linguica sausage, chicken, sirloin, potato salad and almost famous cornbread

SCORE! *********** Everything is delicious! The meats are all tender, delicious, and seasoned nicely. The potato salad is seasoned nicely and is laced with dill. The cornbread is buttery, moist and a little sweet. Two times in a row Fogo & Soul was very good!

www.FogoandSoul.com

480 – 849 – 7685

That was a taste of Food Truck Friday West in Glendale AZ

www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com

Every thing is subject to change.

The Forking Truth