The Tofu House

Located by the indoor swap meet on bear valley in the same parking lot as the taco shop #1, this restaurant is one of the hidden gems of Victorville. They have lunch specials that are extremely tasty and reasonably priced. Dave had what you see pictured to your left. It's some sort of a Korean salad type dish that he liked quite a bit. I had a spicy pork platter that was simply outstanding. Just the right amount of heat, great flavor, and a nice sized lunch.

Lunch came with an appetizer of spiced cucumbers and bean sprouts, and on my plate I had salad, rice, and a few things I didn't recognize that were very good.

On the whole, one of the better lunches I've had in a while. We were looking for something outside of the usual suspects today, and we were delighted with what we found. Don't miss this place.

Joel

Los Robertos

This is a restaurant that is well liked by our staff, but I never seem to enjoy it. Today I think I figured out why. We went to Los Robertos for lunch. I had a Machaca Burrito, which is my very favorite thing to order from Albertos. It was ok, but it had no spice, no depth of flavor. All the ingredients were there, but it had to be slathered in hot sauce to make it taste even remotely decent. Otherwise it was just ... bland.

And suddenly it clicked. I don't eat at Taco Bell, but lots of people do. There are a few restaurants in town that are very popular with the taco bell crowd, but I don't care for them. What they are missing is flavor. The places that do it right have complex flavors and the right amount of heat to make for a great meal. Los Robertos isn't one of those places. It's ok, the food is decent, but it is nothing to write home about. Which is exactly why some people like it, but not me.

Joel

The Pita Stop

Located in Apple Valley, slightly off of Highway 18, is a little mediterranean grill called the Pita Stop. First off, the restaurant is immaculate. The bathroom is cleaner than most hospitals, and the place just has a very nice feel to it. This restaurant may be small, but it feels upscale.

The menu is simple if you are used to eating this kind of food. There are no surprises here. It costs between $5 and $6 for a pita with meat and vegetables. The price isn't bad, but it's not exactly a big lunch for that price. You really need to add hummus or one of the other appetizer type dishes unless you are eating light. My lunch came on a whole wheat pita (you have a choice) and I didn't care for the pita. The food itself was decent, but not as good as the other arabic restaurant in town.

On the whole, I like this restaurant but am not wild about it. There is better food to be had for less money around town. I like the atmosphere, I like the people, I like the vibe of the place, but it just doesn't quite measure up. Pity.

Joel

Emma Jean's Holland Burger Cafe

This blog is getting boring with one good review after another, but that's part of the fun of eating at non-generica restaurants. Sure, every once in a while you get places like the taco shop in the old A&W, but most of the time there is great stuff to be had by eating at the small places.

Yesterday we had lunch at the historic Holland Burger Cafe, located on old route 66. We had eaten there once before, years ago, and weren't enamored, but yesterday was a different story. I had a ham and egg sandwich with cheese. They served it with lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, the works! I had never even thought of eating that sandwich that way, but it was really tasty. I would order it again. Dave had the Brian Burger, which he quite liked, and Daniel had a turkey sandwich that was something like having a pound of sliced turkey on toast. All of us enjoyed our lunch quite a bit.

It's not a place I would eat at every day, but it was very good. Because it's old, it has charm, but it's also rather small. The place was full by the time we left, and our table was immediately occupied when we stood up. If you are looking for a good sandwich shop, you could do far worse than Holland Burger.

Joel

Maxwell's

Located in Apple Valley by Dinapoli's Firehouse, Maxwell's is a sandwich shop that is a bit hit and miss, but today it was a hit.

The Reuben. For some reason this is a really easy sandwich to botch. I have been served some very nasty things under the name Reuben, but not here. Maxwell's understands how to make a proper Reuben, and it is a thing of beauty.

Daniel got a BLT which was good with nice crispy bacon and he ordered some fries that were cooked properly as well as being hot and fresh. I'm not a big fan of sandwiches, but when a place gets it right, a sandwich can be a pretty good lunch. Maxwell's is one of those places. Not everything there is a hit, but there's enough good stuff here to recommend to anyone.

Joel

Guadalajara Market

Located in the back of this rather unassuming grocery store is a little restaurant that serves the best tacos in all of victorville. The grocery store always has a bit of a funky smell to it, not well masked by pine sol, but when you get past all of that, the food is simply outstanding.

Today I wasn't that hungry, due to having a rather large breakfast. As such, I went for a single, carne asada taco. The tortillas are made fresh on the grill, and everything is fresh and very tasty. I am not a huge fan of the standard taco, being just meat, cilantro and onions in a corn tortilla, but if everyone made them like Guadalajara, I would eat them all the time.

Dave had a carnitas quesadilla, and while it was rather greasy, it was quite good. We have eaten there before and it is always top notch. This is one of the "not to be missed" restaurants in victorville. It's not exactly a secret, there was a pretty good line while we ate.

Joel

Samurai Sushi

Located near costco, this small unassuming sushi restaurant packs one of the best lunch deals in town!

They have a five item lunch menu. Beef, Chicken or Salmon + vegetable tempura, rice, salad, soup, and a couple of pieces of california roll. Depending on the meat, $5.99 or $6.99. It's all very good, and the presentation is excellent. The other two items consist of Udon (a thick noodle soup, very good!) and either a california roll or a spicy tuna roll.

Samurai also sells rolls and nigiri sushi at a very reasonable price. This is one of the few places where you can just order off of the sushi menu and not get your wallet cleaned out. The sushi is exceptionally well prepared with good sized pieces of fish and the fish always tastes fresh. The rolls are works of art in themselves. I have eaten at virtually every sushi restaurant in the valley and there are only two worth returning to. This is one of them.

On the whole, an excellent place to eat lunch.

Joel

woof!

The blurry image you see used to be an A&W restaurant. The A&W went out of business and has been replaced by a mexican food restaurant. Sounds like a place we should try!

And so we did. We both ordered a #2, which was a taco, a tostada and two taquitos + guacamole. What we got was this: really bad meat type product in a deep fried hard shell with lettuce and beans in the shape of a taco, really bad meat type product in a deep fried hard shell in the shape of a taquito, and the same beans and lettuce dropped on top of a deep fried tortilla type product. In essence, the same ingredients, prepared the same way, in three different shapes.

I'm pretty sure the cafeteria at the local retirement home uses more spices than we encountered in the meal itself. Even liberal application of salsa couldn't overcome the bland factor, and the tortilla like product bore no resemblance in flavor or texture to any tortilla I've ever had. I ended up throwing most of lunch away and my stomach still feels upset.

If every single other restaurant in Victorville closed and this was the only place left ... I'd eat at home.

woof!

Joel

Family Pizza

Paul and I ate here for lunch today. I had tasted their pizza previously and it was quite good. We decided that pizza was the mood of the day and so we thought we would give these guys a chance.

Apparently we are the only ones. We were there during the lunch "rush" and we were the only ones there. Nobody came in or left while we were there, and they weren't taking phone orders. The decor was more suitable for a sandwich shop than a pizza place, and the staff was a little rude.

The pizza was reasonably priced, but bore no resemblance to the pizza I had eaten previously. The only thing I can guess is that business was slow, so they lowered their prices and dropped the quality of the pizza accordingly. At least on this Friday, the results weren't good. The staff was actually a little rude as well, which was a surprise. Perhaps they are bitter because nobody eats there...

Thin, bland pizza that left me with a touch of heartburn, topped off with a smattering of bad service. Pass on this one.

Joel

Welcome to Lunch in Paradise!

Victorville California.

Widely renowned as one of the great culinary cities of the world, it's astonishing that this town doesn't have an established source to go to for food reviews. When it comes to lunch all you really want to know is: can we eat cheap, and is it good. Everything else is secondary, for the most part. We won't be discussing the ingredients in a hollandaise sauce or a perfect pairing of truffles with exotic fish parts. We will be talking about cheap, good lunches available within driving distance of the office.

Enjoy!

Joel