China Wok-Scottsdale, AZ

China Wok
2334 N Scottsdale Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85257
480-970-6199

So I'm back in Scottsdale, AZ and before heading home I figured I should get some Chinese food.  A quick search and I found China Wok.  Located in a fairly large shopping center, China Wok was empty when we arrived.  About 2-3 people came to pick up orders during our time at China Wok.

It's a fairly standard Chinese restaurant.  You order at the counter and then they bring your food to your table.  

Shrimp chow mein,$8.25, for the large order.  Very well cooked noodles and veggies-green onions, onions, broccoli and celery.  Well seasoned, flavorful.  The shrimp were small but well cooked and plentiful-about a dozen in this dish. 

Service was good. 

I would go back to China Wok.

The Side Door Corner Store

The Side Door Corner Store
3370 N Hayden Rd Ste 126
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
480-947-4484

Sorry, for not including a picture of the store front.  But, The Side Door is basically a bar that serves food.  It caters to an older clientele, most of the people in there were in their 60's.  A good size room that filled up pretty quickly right after we got there about 6pm.  

 Fish sandwich- $8.  They use a thin piece of cod, which was fairly greasy, and the tartar sauce lacked flavor.  The bun was the only good part of this sandwich.

Four cheese mac and cheese-$5.  This wasn't really mac and cheese, but penne pasta just drowned in butter!  I love mac and cheese and even bad mac and cheese I'll eat, but I couldn't finish this dish!  The cheese sauce needs more cheese and much less butter!

Service was good.  Even after it got busy, we weren't lacking for anything.

The Side Door maybe a good place to have a drink, but I'll pass on their food!

Barro's Pizza- Arizona

Barro's Pizza
8940 E Indian Bend
Scottsdale, AZ 85256
480-302-6555

What a surprise to see a Barro's Pizza in Scottsdale, Arizona!!  From the Barro's Pizza in Arizona website, the family opened pizza restaurants, with her sons, in California in 1968, then moved to Arizona in 1980!  They now have 38 locations in the Metro Phoenix area!

Barro's Pizza used to be a very popular chain in the Los Angeles area!  I've been to the Diamond Bar Barro's, their official name is Barro Brothers Pizza, (maybe the brothers broke away from the family and opened their own restaurant?) and the Whittier Barro's.

This Barro's is huge, with one dining room filled with long tables and bench seating, another smaller room with about ten tables, a front room with even more tables, and tables outside.  The day I went a youth baseball team came in and basically took over the place!

Large mushrooms and jalapenos, $14.75.  This was a good pizza, reminded me of the old Barro's, but they were just off.  The pizza was a bit well done, if they had taken out the pizza 3-4 minutes earlier, it would have been a just right.  But, towards the outer crust, the crust was break apart, like the dough was stretched too thin in that area.  The ratio of mushroom to jalapeno was off.  The pizza was covered with about 60% mushrooms and 40% jalapenos.  Some slices had all or mostly mushrooms. The sauce was flavorful, with a good mixture of herbs and spices.

Service was very good.  The young lady who helped me was nice and friendly.  Luckily, I came in about 5 minutes before the youth baseball team and my order came out quickly.

When I go back to Scottsdale, I will give Barro's another chance. 

Sakana Sushi & Grill

Sakana Sushi & Grill
6989 N Hayden Rd Ste A12
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
480-609-3850

I was in the mood for some sushi in Scottsdale, AZ, and a search lead me to Sakana.  I'm leery of sushi place in landlocked states.  I know that Arizona isn't that far from the West Coast and they can easily get fresh fish shipped in daily.

Sakana is a fairly small, but popular restaurant.  We went for an early dinner on Satuday and about 90% of the tables were filled.  By the time we left, all the tables were taken. 

Tuna sushi, $4.75.

Cucumber roll, $2.99.

Ahi Ahi roll, $12.99. Ahi tuna on the outside, spicy tuna, ceviche salsa, wasabi mayo.

All the sushi was very fresh, well made and tasty. 

Service is very good.  The sushi came out quickly, the servers were always refilling drinks and we didn't lack for anything.

I would go back to Sakana again.  Sakana would rank right up there with the best sushi restaurants I've been to in the LA area. 

Tottie’s Asian Fusion

Tottie’s Asian Fusion
7901 E Thomas Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
480-970-0633

So, I'm out in Arizona and a friend suggests we should go to Tottie's for dinner.  As you can see Tottie's is an Asian Fusion restaurant.  They have a large menu with Thai dishes and sushi.

It's a huge restaurant with booth seating on the sides and a bar in the middle. 

Crunch roll, $5 happy hour price, $8, regular price.  This was pretty good.  But, the shrimp tempura wasn't that crunchy and the pieces were a bit small.

Shrimp chow mein, $11, carrots, green onions, bean sprouts and of course shrimp.  They use a thinner noodles than I'm used to.  But this was a very good dish.  The noodles were well cooked and lots of flavor.

Service is very good.  Our server was very friendly and came to our table often!  Drinks were refilled quickly and food arrived quickly too.

If I'm in Scottsdale again, I would go back to Tottie's.