Lunch in Walnut Creek on a Thursday - Need advice

[takuhead]

I am meeting up with two dear out of town friends in Walnut Creek - I'm taking my two foodie kids who love great food but one friend loves fish, sushi, etc and the other is very meat/potatoes kinda of gal - where to eat - don't want to go to a chain - Mexican is a possibility - meat/potatoes gal says she loves Mexican but i am not sure if she is thinking Chevy's Mexican or real Mexican lol

any suggestions? I was wondering about Lark Creek - is that any good?

[hungryman0930]

havana on locust they got great cuban food and not too pricey

[jaxnaz]

El Charro on Mt Diablo Blvd in Lafayette is good...

[frangelica]

El Jarro is much better than El Charro! El Charro is one step above Taco Bell, save for that blue cheese dip. Lark Creek is fine, safe nothing exciting. What about Va De Vi ?

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El Jarro
3563 Mt Diablo Blvd, Lafayette, CA 94549

Va de Vi
1511 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Walnut Creek, CA 94596

[macadam]

Chow in Lafayette. Something for everyone, good prices and food, and a nice atmosphere.

[adrienne156]

I don't get out to Walnut Creek much these days, but was treated to a very nice group lunch at Va de Vi a few months ago and have actually been looking for an excuse to return. I'd say we managed to eat our way through 3/4 of the meat & poultry section (!) and sampled a fair share of their seafood offerings for that day. Judging by that meal alone, the food at Va de Vi has a very distinct [Asian] slant, but a quick peek at the current menu online has a couple of latin-inspired dishes (the achiote-marinated chicken quesadilla, a chili relleno) as well as several other options that would be meat-and-potato friendly (burgers, fries, pastas, grilled meats, nice salads...). The only thing to remember is that it is a small plates place.

I also really enjoyed their very thoughtful wine flights.

[takuhead]

here's my report - we spent a lot of time and money at Va de Vi and were still hungry

Plates are really small - service was poor to fair - we were there for about 2 hours last Thurs - place was maybe a quarter full.

We tried (3 adults and two kids)

the tortellini with proscuitto and tomato cream sauce for $12 - you get 4
this was really good - so had to order another
bruschetta with tomatoes, basil - again 4 small little slices with teeny tiny diced teaspoon of tomato with teeny tiny shreds of basil - ok - but ordered another ($8)

soup of the day was a summer squash blend with cream - menu had a shot glass as $3 but was able to ask for a cup for $6

pommes frites $7 cold thin fries - no bad but certainly not $7 good

rigatoni with shredded pork - $12 - I didnt't try it - looked ok nothing special

over $90 total - 2 rounds of ice tea for two - no other drinks

wouldn't go back unless i was being treated and was feeling very very patient with lots of time to hang out - nice location with outdoor shady tables

[frangelica]

Thanks for the report back. I have not been there in a few months, sorry to hear things are falling apart. I seem to be spending most of my dining out funds over the hill and I live in the Creek. I just do not understand the dining scene in CoCoCounty...this place is so ripe for some GOOD food at value prices!

FWIW, Stanford's (across from Macys) has a great Happy Hour from 3-6pm and after 9...Some pretty decent apps at recession pricing. 3 drinks and 4 apps and the bill came to $40 wilth tip and even took home a doggie bag. This is good on weekends too.

[adrienne156]

Wow, I'm sorry you had such a poor experience Takuhead. I wonder if I had just caught them on a good day or if things really have gone as far downhill as you report. After such a negative report, maybe I won't go back, but out of curiousity, did you happen to take a look at the menu and pricing after reading the CH recommendations? Most small plates places that I frequent - Cesar, Fonda, A Cote - have similar pricing and portions.

[Robert Lauriston]

$90 for five people seems cheap to me. I wouldn't expect to fill up on $18 a head at an upscale small-plates place. We typically spend more than twice that at À Côté.

I think À Côté and Cesar charge more (e.g. gazpacho $7.75 / $8, gnocchi $15), and I imagine their portions are larger, since we're big eaters but even with a party of three we never end up ordering two of anything.

[takuhead]

$90 was enough to serve as an appetizer maybe - we were all still really hungry and decided to eat elsewhere on the way home - kids were starving but didn't want to shell out another $90 to get satiated - and we are not huge eaters - really :)

[3ringcircus]

If you're looking for good Mexican food, you're not going to find it in Walnut Creek.

There's a pretty good little sushi place on North Main and Sunnyvale Avenue (off of Treat), called Nama Sushi.

[Robert Lauriston]

There's good Mexican food nearby in Concord, mostly along Monument Blvd.:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/429729

Some other relevant discussions:

http://search.chow.com/search?query=w...

[3ringcircus]

Yeah... I go to Concord for good Mexican food, but Concord is NOT Walnut Creek. LOL.