Category Archives: Forking Restaurant Reviews

Honest unbiased reviews based on actual experiences

Harbor Seafood Buffet Phoenix AZ – Worth a try!

The Harbor Seafood Buffet is located in Phoenix Arizona. They are located in the Metro Center Parking lot by where the Metro Center Mall used to be. They offer over a hundred different food items for you to try. Prices are reasonable.

Why go to a buffet?

It’s kind of nice to stroll around picking up food to graze on just like you are at a food festival.

It’s nice that you pay a set price and all that food is ready waiting for you.

Sometimes you just need something different. Sometimes you just need that element of surprise.

Sometimes you just don’t want to spend much….You can get a few appetizers, a salad, some hot foods and dessert and then some for a low set price.

It’s squeaky shiny clean when you walk in. You almost need sunglasses.

I came in just as they opened to get the freshest experience possible.

They have lots of seating. Pictured above is only a fraction of all the seating they have.

Now lets walk around and see only some of the offerings.

On my visit I thought the best chicken dish that I tried was the teriyaki chicken. It was moist, flavorful and nicely charred. (no guarantees it’s the same three hours later or tomorrow) To the left is a ham and to the right are mussels.

I picked up the bun marked Zhong zi…..Inside was rice mixed with sweet tasting squash. I like the texture of the steamed buns. It seemed almost like meringue mixed with pizza dough but I know it isn’t. Oh and they did have pizza on the buffet too!

My husband was very brave and tried an oyster and a shrimp. He said that the oyster didn’t taste fresh and I didn’t ask about the shrimp????

Neither of us felt like pigging out on the Pig Feet.

The green beans were very fresh and tender crisp with some mild garlic. We both really liked the bok choy too. Next to the bok choy were mushrooms. These three pans were good. It’s always nice to get nicely prepared fresh vegetables with your meal.

They had corn on the cob and beef ribs. Neither of us tried but they look ok.

They brought back the typical salad bar with puddings, jello, grapes, canned and fresh fruits, mayo based salads………..

The other end of the salad bar with many sauces and dressings.

Forgot to photo the sushi and sashimi. I tried a salmon sushi, a tuna sushi and a fried sushi and a salmon sashimi. On my visit everything except the tuna was much better than I expected. The salmon was actually good and better than from some sushi restaurants. Only the tuna tasted like buffet sushi tuna…(like not good to me)….. Some of the sushi didn’t have signs naming what it was….

Off the buffet I tried some flounder with scallions that could have used some sauce or flavor but the fish seemed freshly prepared and was moist and tender. Another highlight were the chicken meatballs. They are pictured below in the upper middle pan. They were moist and flavorful today….Further down it seemed they they had a million fried offerings like onion rings, fries, chicken nuggets, fried fish, and many other things.

Thee chicken (lower left on skewers) was a little dry today. Apple pie (lower middle) had raw dough on the bottoms.

Finished up with fresh sweet strawberries. They did have some baked goods but I passed on them. Oddly next to the baked goods they had a steak to carve. I think I saw a stir fry station or Mongolian grill there too! But gosh how much food can a person eat?

That was my trip to the Harbor Seafood Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ.

I would say Harbor Seafood Super Buffet is …….

Worth a Try! *******I wouldn’t drive across town for this but on the other hand it is a good value if you pick the right pans to try.

www.HarborSeafoodSuperBuffet.Kwickmenu.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Just a little taste of The Italian Daughter in Scottsdale AZ – Worth a Fork**With Re-visits

The Italian Daughter Restaurant is an Italian restaurant by the daughter (Melissa) of award winning and well known restauranteur Tomaso Maggiore. This restaurant is a tribute to her father. This Italian Restaurant offers a varied menu for what you are in the mood for. They offer chicken, short ribs, veal, sausage, fish, Italian burgers, weekend veal osso buco, hand made pastas, sharing boards and nightly live piano music.

bar area

They have a bar area.

part of dining area with mostly high tops

Part of the dining room near the piano is mostly high tops. They also have a lovely father and daughter photo on the wall.

patio

They do offer some patio seating.

part of dining room

The wall reads, “Whatever is happening in your life, always remember to enjoy the table….be it yours or ours.”

part of dining room

They started us off with a basket of bread with herbed butter.

We shared the caesar salad served in a crispy parmigiana basket.

The romaine was fresh and crisp. The dressing tasted house made but was on the milder side of caesar. The fresh made buttery croutons were especially good and the parmigiano basket was a unique extra special touch. Fresh crushed black pepper is on every table for seasoning.

Today I tried the pan seared salmon with bourbon mustard glaze and whipped potatoes.

The potatoes are so smooth and buttery. The broccolini is a perfect tender crisp. under the broccolini is very nice extra fancy carrots of three different colors. The fish is moist and is a large portion. The sauce is unique but tasty. It does have sweetness to it.

My husband had the weekend veal osso buco.

He said it was tender and infused with delicious flavors. He also said that the saffron risotto was better than most risotto that you get out. He said that this was really GREAT!

We tried dessert. Our server highly recommended the cannoli pizza cioccolato so we went with that.

This is a made to order chocolate dough with lots of cannoli cream, berries and Nutella. This dessert is much larger than it looks. This can feed a family.

I noticed that with one dish on the menu is to honor the owners late father….. They donate 100% to the Tomaso Maggiore Culinary Education Scholarship. (since my visit the has had added shrimp to it)

The Italian Daughter Restaurant in Scottsdale is Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.TheItalianDaughter.com

Everything is subject to change. We visited a couple of times since and the menu differed some on each visit but everything was very good.

We enjoyed our first visit so we went back for a second visit. There were slight changes to the menu on our second visit. Another change was that the bread came with regular butter and herbed oil this time instead of just herbed butter.

On our third visit we received tapenade instead of oil and butter with the bread.

This time we tried the Sicilian Trio. It was an arancini (short rib stuffed saffron laced rice crochet), caponata, and stuffed squash blossoms. ( a tasty start).

On another visit we tried the Italian sharing board with brie and apple, fig and prosciutto, pepper, goat cheese, and pine nuts, and wild mushroom, taleggio, and fontina.

My dinner was the fish of the day….barramundi.

WOW! This was MUCH BETTER than the salmon I had last time….don’t get me wrong…that salmon was good but this barramundi was masterfully prepared with a shattering crisp skin that stayed crisp and very tender mild, moist fish flesh. My waiter didn’t know that this special came with shrimp so I removed them and my husband ate one and my dogs latter ate the other one. My husband said that the shrimp was prepared perfect….I’m generally not a pasta person but this spaghetti was particularly great tasting with the perfect amount of crushed red pepper white wine lemon fish sauce. For me it was really great.

My husband had the chicken and sausage scarpariecco this time.

He said that this was unusually moist flavorful chicken and the sausage was good but slightly overcooked today.

On another visit I had the fish of the day halibut in a lemon caper sauce with Israeli couscous and fresh vegetables.

It was perfect!

My husband had the osso buco again.

He really enjoyed it. He said it is one of the best osso buco that he has ever had.

I took home a slice of lemoncello cake. It was really great I think anyone would like it. It seemed light and was lemony and was very moist. A little white chocolate shaving and some berries accented the cake.

On another visit we got what they called the secret dessert of the day….a spumoni.

A perfect sweet ending.

The Forking Truth

The FANTABULOUS Dish – The Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Confluence in Carefree AZ – Worth a Fork!

The Fantabulous Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.

There are several restaurants that serve amazing fried chicken out there in metro Phoenix but the buttermilk fried chicken from Confluence is FANTABULOUS!

Confluence is a small modern upscale American restaurant in Carefree Arizona.

The buttermilk fried chicken is usually on the lunch menu. I’ve had this dish a number of times and it’s FANTABULOUS every time. They do change up the sides now and then but the chicken is special. It’s a high quality from a local farm.

It’s tender as can be and is very juicy and flavorful. It has this shattering thin crisp coating. Then there is this BOMB delicious sauce on it. It’s called chili tepin honey mustard…..DANG it’s FANTABULOUS! It’s a little spicy, a little sweet and that just right YUM! Oh and did I mention that this is a large portion? I eat the vegetable (it’s often broccolini) and one of the pieces of the FANTABULOUS chicken and I am left with a FANTABULOUS meal for another time.

YUM! It’s so FORKING Delicious!

This gotta be one of the BEST boneless fried chicken dishes in metro Phoenix.

The Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.RestaurantConfluence.com

The Forking Truth

A Taste of Leo’s Island BBQ Peoria AZ – Hawaiian Plate Lunch – Worth a Fork!

Leo’s Island BBQ is a Hawaiian Plate Lunch (including dinner) casual restaurant located near Arrowhead Town Center (mall) in Peoria Arizona. Leo’s Island BBQ is one of the few independently owned restaurants in this area. They offer around THIRTY varieties of the Hawaiian Plate Lunch. The Hawaiian Plate Lunch is a large styrofoam container filled with around eight ounces of one or two proteins, a bed of steamed cabbage, maybe some other steamed vegetables, a double scoop of white rice (or up-charge to brown rice) and a big scoop of Hawaiian style macaroni salad. They also offer appetizers, soups. salads, mini meals, burgers, Hawaiian bowls, family meal deals and catering. The food is never from frozen and is fresh made and even the sauces are made in house. Not all but many of the Hawaiian Plates are priced under $10.00 before tax. It’s not fancy food but it is superior to anything fast food and isn’t priced much different than fast food.

Inside is casual and you order and pay at the counter.

During normal times you. can seat yourself in the dining room (currently closed during covid.) Or you can seat yourself at one of the few tables on the patio or just do take out.

Today I got the maui maui grilled fish.

It’s a lot of food…I get 2-3 servings out of this. The fish is always prepared to perfection with a nice slightly crisp exterior and is always moist inside. I get LOTS of steamed cabbage and a few pieces of broccoli that seem healthy….There is a very generous serving of rice that can feed a small family and a good sized scoop of creamy macaroni salad that always get tastier if you hit it with a little sriracha.

My husband got the chicken kalua pork combo.

It’s a good amount of grilled marinated chicken thigh with grilled smoked pulled pork and a lot of rice, cabbage vegetables and macaroni salad.

Below are some of the other. plates we tried.

combo with bbq chicken and crispy shrimp (shrimps are shaped like onion rings)

island curry chicken (white meat)

lemon pepper chicken

garlic shrimp

loco moco (burger patty, fried egg, gravy.( added Spam)

curry bbq chicken MINI MEAL (………not so mini)

bbq chicken salad

chicken and rib combo

That was a taste of Leo’s Island BBQ in Peoria AZ.

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.LeosIslandBBQ.com

Everything is subject to change these days.

The Forking Truth

Mediterranean Restaurant Casa De Falafel The #5 TOP Restaurant in greater Phoenix AZ – according to Yelp

According to Yelp a small casual Mediterranean Restaurant located in a gas station called Casa De Falafel is the #5 TOP restaurant in greater Phoenix Arizona. *****UPDATE no longer located in gas station moved to own spot in Glendale AZ.

Also according to Yelp Casa De Falafel is the number 2 falafel restaurant in the United States.

Lets see what Casa De Falafel is like.

We order at a counter and pay here.

The menu is limited.

I noticed that they sell their very own packaged lentil soup.

We ordered 2 falafels and a beef and chicken shawarma plates. While we wait we look around a little.

Here is the dining room. It’s currently not in use during the pandemic.

Here is the view if you were seated.

We start with falafels.

They look like small donuts. One is with a little hummus and the other is with a little tahini sauce that are very similar today and are very delicate tasting.

They are fried nicely and do have a crisp exterior and a moist fluffy interior and are lightly herbed and seasoned. It’s good……to some this falafel might be under seasoned.

Now we are digging into the shawarma plates with garlic sauce, tahini and extra HOT green sauce.

There is a lot packed into this plate. I got a serving of lentil soup, chicken shawarma that is moist, flavorful and nicely caramelized. there’s Mediterranean pickle slices, olives, chickpeas, salad, red onions dusted with sumac and what might? be?

Mexican style rice? Perhaps a nod to part of the name of the restaurant?

The beef shawarma plate is the same but made with beef.

I preferred the chicken over the beef shawarma because the chicken was moist and I think flavored better. For me the beef wasn’t tender enough but my husband said it was good to him. He doesn’t mind a little chew. I also thought the food was tasty and a good value. My chicken shawarma plate was only $9.50 before tax and tip.

That was my trip to Casa De Falafel in Peoria AZ. According to Yelp they are the #5 TOP Restaurant in Greater Phoenix and the #2 Falafel Restaurant in the country.

Casa De Falafel does not have a website but you can find them on Facebook.

Address and phone number is below.

Everything IS subject to change.******UPDATE They’ve moved. to Glendale.

The Forking Truth

The Fantabulous Dish – The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire Peoria AZ – Worth a Fork!

The Fantabulous Dish means……top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.

There are many fantabulous pizza restaurants out there in metro Phoenix. But each one is unique and many of them do a particular pizza better than from other restaurants.

Burrata or bufala cheese is the most exquisite mozzarella cheese that you can imagine. It’s the top of the line of mozzarella.

Most bufalina pizzas (margherita pizzas but made with Italian Buffalo milk cheese) look something like this……and this is GOOD but …….

Fabio On Fire elevates the bufalina pizza. His Bufalina Pizza is special.

Fabio On Fire in Peoria AZ makes his Bufalina Pizzas like this one below.

This Bufalina Pizza starts with San Marzano Tomato sauce, Imported bufalina cheese, oregano, garlic, arugula, reduced balsamic vinegar, farm fresh sweet tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil.

Sometimes they spread out the cheese.

The heat of the pizza warms the creamy imported bufala cheese without cooking it. You get the most exquisite mozzarella the way it was meant to be.

It’s FORKING DELICIOUS! It got all kinds of flavors going on. The BEST bufala cheese, San Marzano tomato sauce (the BEST), farm fresh sweet tomatoes (the BEST), peppery arugula, sweet but tang from the balsamic, flavors from the garlic and oregano….It’s going on here.

The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire is an official Fantabulous Dish!

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.FabioOnFire.com

The Forking Truth

A Little TASTE of the Golden Pineapple in Tempe AZ

The Golden Pineapple is a bar and restaurant located in Tempe Arizona. They offer craft beers, cocktails and a limited chef crafted menu that includes a few children’s dishes. The foods offered are casual like tacos, burgers and hot dogs but are high quality that have ingredients like Chula Seafood and Noble Bread in them. Much of the foods offered have a southwest accent. You can sit inside at a table or the bar.

There is also another big area inside for seating but the lights were out so I didn’t photo it. It was a nice day today so almost everyone was seated outdoors. There is also a patio with a veery old very large tree. Something that you don’t see very often in metro Phoenix.

Parking is easy because they have their own parking lot with plenty of bike racks.

They offered an interesting brunch special today but I went with the AZ hot fried chicken sandwich with seasonal greens.

I go and take a bite. WOW the exterior of the chicken is shattering crisp with lots of paprika, a little sweetness and other spices and the white meat chicken is incredibly juicy. This is a very flavorful detailed sandwich that is also very delicious but it isn’t spicy (I wonder if they forgot the cayenne or other hot pepper that it should have?). The Noble Bread Bun is nicely toasted. It’s spread with avocado aioli and adorned with house made crisp pickles. The slaw is fresh made and crunchy. It’s really good but isn’t spicy….I am very picky….too picky……… for me this would be a perfect sandwich if the bun was a little smaller and the sandwich was made with some heat……….but…….Can’t be mad…It’s darn good and better than most chicken sandwiches so I am very happy with it. I think anyone would enjoy this sandwich. The greens are great too. Lightly dressed with pickled onions that just brighten it up.

My husband got the green chile burger with egg with hand cut fries as his side.

It’s a brisket patty with chilis, colby jack cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, pickled tomatillos, avocado aioli and hand cut fried that were nicely stacked. It was prepared to a perfect medium rare. He said it was one of the best burgers that he has had.

Both sandwiches were very good.

That was a little taste of the Golden Pineapple in Tempe AZ.

Worth a Fork.

Worth A Fork!

www.TheGoldenPineappleAZ.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The FANTABULOUS Dish – Salmon Salad from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale AZ – Worth a Fork!

The FANTABULOUS Dish means top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and Dynamite!

For lunch and sometimes for dinner I enjoy ordering salads at restaurants even if I’m at a restaurant that is well known for making great pizzas. I do love pizzas too but sometimes I feel like I need a salad. I like to save a little stomach room for that dessert that I go for sometimes. We found ourselves at Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale and I ordered the Salmon Salad. I did not expect to receive something even better than fish house worthy but I did! I noticed that the salmon came from Chula Seafood so I knew that it would be better salmon and probably very fresh but I didn’t expect that I would be receiving perfection and a really great salad to boot.

This salmon is as perfect as perfect gets. It has a crisp skin and the flesh just melts in the mouth. It seemed like it was slow cooked because of how moist and succulent it was. It was also finished with tasty grill marks. My salad was adorned with this grilled juicy lemon. WOW the taste of the sweet lemon and pink peppercorns on the fish sort of popped. WOW! What a great combination. Under the fish was a bed of spring mix, gold beets, fennel and grape tomatoes. And did I mention how great the salmon really was?

It was a pleasure to eat.

P.S.

I was able to save some room for their amazing house made Luna Gelato.

Fish House Quality Fresh Salmon Salad and Delicious Gelato from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale AZ.

Worth a Fork!

An unexpected FANTABULOUS dish.

Worth A Fork!

www.PomoPizzeria.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of Athens On Easy Street Carefree AZ

Athens on Easy Street is a Greek Restaurant located in Carefree Arizona. At this time they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have indoor dining.

They also offer a dog friendly patio.

We decided to try a few things and I noticed that they offer many different dips that you don’t come across very often at most Greek Restaurants. We wanted to try the lentil dip but they were out of that so we went with the eggplant dip.

Our eggplant dip was extremely delicate with the seasonings. It tasted like just eggplant to me. The pita bread was very average. It taste like they buy the bread.

We had to try the saganak (flaming kasseri cheese).

Opa!

I don’t know why but our cheese taste burnt.

Now our dinners arrive.

I got the Athenian pressed herbed chicken. WOW! The chicken is really great! It’s very moist and very flavorful. This plate also came with really nice spinach and nicely flavored orzo topped with some feta cheese. I thought that the orzo was a nice touch since most Greek Restaurants just serve rice with platters.

My husband got the pork kabob platter.

The pork had great flavors in it but was slightly dry today. It came with Greek salad, orzo and tzatziki.

That was a little taste of Athens On Easy Street in Carefree AZ

www.AthensOnEasy.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Barrio Queen Glendale AZ**With Surprising UPDATE****

Barrio Queen is an Arizona Chain of around a half dozen Southern Mexican Restaurants. The website list only Gilbert, Scottsdale and Phoenix but I also noticed locations in Queen Creek, Tempe, Glendale and possibly one coming soon to Avondale? James Beard Nominated Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza is no longer working for this group of restaurants but she did work for them until some time in 2014 and added her famous guacamole, cohinita pibil, chile en nogada and possibly other items to the menu. She also started up Barrio Queen with some of her closest employees.

I went to the Glendale location that is located in Arrowhead Town Center around 75th Avenue and Bell Road. This location is very busy. I arrived around four o’clock and was hoping to beat the crowd but didn’t. The whole front patio at the moment is being used for a waiting area for waiting for your table. At 4 o’clock they were on a twenty five minute wait so we grabbed some margaritas to pass the time.

front bar (currently the seating here is closed due to covid)

I have to say that the El Don Margarita with Don Julio Anejo Tequila, lime, agave and Grand Mariner is really great and very strong….I tried my husbands house margarita and it seems very flat after the El Don I’m enjoying.

Twenty five minutes goes by and we walk threw the restaurant on the way to get seated on the patio.

We walk by a gift shop.

Here’s part of one of the dining rooms.

Here’s another dining room.

Here is a second bar that is also an indoor/outdoor bar.

Here is half of the patio.

I noticed someone nearby getting the table side guacamole.

The first thing they do is start you off with complimentary chips and salsa.

Our chips arrived fresh and hot. We also got fresh lime and a crock of extra mild but flavorful salsa.

I order the pescado del Barrio (Mexican sea bass)

One side of my fish is over cooked and dry but the other side is good. My fish was topped with chopped onions some garlic and cilantro….It all kind of dry and I squirt it with lemon. The grilled zucchini is good. The Mexican style rice is very plain.. I notice that I didn’t get my hand made corn tortillas that I was looking forward to trying. Someone walks by who might be a manager and ask how things are? My husband quickly tells him that I didn’t get my tortillas. I guess before the man can say anything I say that I have enough food and don’t need the tortillas and then he leaves. It isn’t until I start getting into the plate that the dryness of the fish bothers me. I’m half crocked from the strong margarita and I forgot that the fish is suppose to be in a garlic cilantro white wine butter sauce. That means my server didn’t know (or maybe care?) that she served me a plate missing the tortillas and my fish missing the sauce. I guess that it isn’t her fault if she wasn’t trained to learn the menu on the food that she serves.

My husband was much luckier than me and got the Sonoran Style Carne Asada Entree.

His plate was much better. He got medium rare, tender and tasty arrachera (marinated and grilled skirt steak) onions, Oaxaca cheese stuffed Anaheim chile, a chorizo quesadilla, chorizo refried beans, Mexican style rice and flour tortillas.

And I got a dry fish.

That was my trip to Barrio Queen at Glendale AZ.

As a slight update someone from Barrio Queen contacted me and said that this isn’t how Barrio Queen does things…They also apologized for…(their words) “Dropping the ball a few times on my visit and not taking my concerns seriously when I was there when my concerns could have been fixed immediately. The General Manager said that he would like to email me a gift card so I would come back. He said that he was emailing me the gift card March 8th 2021 and wanted me to let him know when I was coming. As of yet I haven’t received the gift card.

He sounded very sincere…? Did he forget? Or was this just talk?

www.BarrioQueen.com

Your experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth