`
Travelin' Cousins
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Media Kit
    • Write for Us
    • Press >
      • October 2018 Press
    • Contact
  • The Daily Scoop
  • Travel Articles
    • Travel Adventures Articles
    • Throwback Thursdays >
      • Elisa's Throwback China Trip Adventure
    • Foodie Fridays
    • Travelin' The NYC Outer Boroughs with Elisa
    • Walt Disney World Wednesdays
  • Things To Do
    • Entertainment Reviews
    • New York Area
    • Southern California Area
  • Where to Stay and Things to Do
  • Where to Dine Vegan
  • Fun Fact & Travel Trivia Articles
    • Fun Facts List Directory
  • Tanya's Photo Gallery
    • Pictures from Auschwitz/Birkenau - WARNING: Mature Content/Depressing Images
  • Elisa's Photo Gallery
  • Travel Tips
    • Know Before ya Go

Foodie 
​Fridays

Read all about our favorite places to eat and favorite meals around the globe!

Good EATs

My Luck at Au Lac

3/20/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
After a long day of running around it was finally time for our reservations at Au Lac. 
While not your typical reservations required type of dining establishment, but since they do tend to have a wait on weekend evenings, I chose to be safe rather than to go and have a wait. (I hate waiting.)

It so happens that I've actually been to this Fountain Valley restaurant twice before and between each visit there has been a decent sized gap of time. Not at all based on the food being bad, but other various odd experiences...
The very first time I visited was 15+ years ago, and I had ordered "beef" with broccoli which was in my opinion "too realistic" and it kinda freaked me out! 
So I didn't come back for a few years until we had a family dinner planned there. 
On this visit our group had arrived semi close to closing time. 
The restaurant was lively and packed full of diners. We placed our orders and the food started being delivered to our table. 
Have you know I was beyond starving upon arriving for dinner, and once my entree was served I was so happy and began munching away my meal. 
Well, I'm a slow eater. Like a really slow eater. And only after getting through a few bites, the server approached our table to inform us that the restaurant was closing and that they were going to pack up our food to take with us! 
Not offering us to close out the bill and stay until we were finished. 
This upset me to no measure because I HATE being rushed when I'm eating! 

So although I had only visited twice prior to last weekend, I did have the opportunity to try several of their dishes, because my sister Jet would go all the time - she really went there a whole lot! It was her place!
The staff and her were friendly and on a first name basis. 
*After my sister got divorced it just so happened that she stopped visiting.

Picture
Picture
Fast forward to last weekend and my most recent experience.
With a small line out the door we approached the hostess desk, gave our names and were almost immediately taken to our table that happened to have a reserved placard on it. 
Picture
The room was lively and tables were all full. I definitely noticed a change in the decor and the removal of what was once booths in the room. 
We were served water by the hostess and handed are menus. After browsing the menu for a few minutes we had all decided on what to order. 
At this point we were looking around as to where our server might be. The servers were very busy running around and we had not been acknowledged by them for a lengthy amount of time. 
Finally a server approached the table, ready to take our order. He was jovial, friendly and obviously busy. 

We ordered "Eggrolls" and BBQ "Pork" Rolls as appetizers. Dave ordered a Macademia hemp milk drink and I ordered a spicy tomato drink 
Sidenote: Upon ordering this drink I had assumed it was going to be similar to a Bloody Mary. Which I love and haven't been able to order anywhere recently. It seems the restaurants that I frequent only serve Bloody Marys for brunch, and the last time I went for brunch when they were serving Bloody Marys they couldn't make me a virgin Bloody Mary! So hence my excitement for this spicy tomato juice drink!

Cosette and Dave both ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice. Dominic ordered a "Seafood" Noodle dish and I went in looking forward to having soup and went with the Tomato Dill soup. 
After our order was placed, the food came out fairly quickly. 
Picture
Picture
The "Eggrolls" were fresh and piping hot. Crispy and very tasty as well! 
Picture
Picture
Picture
The BBQ "Pork" rolls which is wrapped in soft rice paper were good...but not as good as other "local" places that I have ordered this same type of roll. 
Picture
The Fried Rice dishes were both very fresh and flavorful. 
Picture
Picture
Dominic had no problem cleaning his plate full of noodles, and I thoroughly enjoyed my soup which was very aromatic and fragrant. It had a lovely broth and it also had a number of interesting vegetables in it that I was not at all familiar with. One being Taro Stem, which is a very porous and spongy vegetable, and one that I won't purposely seek out. 
Picture
Overall the food was all very good. And after the initial slow service, the service was also very good and attentive. But somehow it just lacked the "wow" factor. 

And let's not forget about the drinks...
Well if I ever do go back let's just say that I will skip the drink menu and stick with water. Dave's drink was just incredibly weird and bizarre. And my drink was really very bland and kinda icky. Dominic hot the nail on the head when he tasted like and said it tasted like the liquid that sits at the bottom of fresh salsa! 
Picture
After dinner we all decided to decline dessert and just called it a night. 
At least this time I wasn't weirded out by the food being too "realistic" to animal flesh, and even though we were there around closing time once again I wasn't at all rushed through our meal!


-T
0 Comments
    Picture

    Elisa

    Elisa is co-founder of Travelin' Cousins travel blog along with her cousin "Travelin' Tanya." She lives on Long Island, New York with her two daughters and her dog Punkin. An entrepreneur whose professional career has included a variety of businesses in the toy, licensing and direct marketing businesses, she is now a blogger and freelance writer. Since her teen years, she has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia and continues to travel these days throughout the world with her daughters and cousin Tanya. Her other passions include cooking, dining, the theatre and shopping.

    Picture

    Tanya

    Tanya is a free sprit who resides in Southern California with the only family that she has outside of NY (you can take a girl out of the city, but you’ll never take the city out of this girl). Her housemates include her mom, her 2 sisters, her brother, her sister’s boyfriend, her niece, her 2 kids and her ex! Yup...all under one roof! Her professional career and background was in film (writing, production and acting). Currently she is a stay at home mom - who is hardly ever at home, and who’s passions are: everything travel related, food (both cooking and eating), photography, skiing and of course, shopping! 
    As Featured On EzineArticles
    Picture

    Archives

    November 2019
    March 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    A.N.D. Cafe
    Arthur Avenue
    Au Lac
    AZ
    Azores
    Back To Eden Bakery
    Bakery
    Belgium
    Berkeley
    Bethlehem PA
    Blossom
    Brick Oven Pizza
    Brooklyn
    Brugge
    Bulan Thai
    CA
    Cafe Berlin
    Cafe Mambo
    Calogeros
    Cinnaholic
    City O City
    Civico1845
    Colorado
    Cornbread Cafe
    Costa Mesa
    Crossroads
    Cruise Ships
    Czech Republic
    Denver
    Desserts
    Dominicks Restaurant
    Donut Friend
    Donuts
    Doomie's Home Cookin'
    Double Wide Grill
    Dun-Well
    Edinburgh
    Elovate
    Eugene
    Europe
    Fountain Valley
    Freesoul Caffe
    Fullerton CA
    Garden City
    Gluten Free
    Gluten Free Dining
    Green Bliss Cafe
    Guest Feature
    Hawaii
    Hearty Soups
    Hot Dogs
    Hula Dogs
    Iceland
    Italian
    Kauai
    Kido
    Krakow
    Las Vegas
    Little Italy Bronx
    London
    Long Island
    Los Angeles
    Lovin' Spoonfuls
    Luxembourg
    Margarita Grille
    Mendocino
    New Mexico
    New York
    NY
    NYC
    Oregon
    Outer Hebrides
    PA
    Pan E Wien
    Paradox Cafe
    Paris
    Philadelphia
    Pittsburgh
    Ponta Delgada
    Portland
    Portobello Vegan Tratroria
    Portugal
    Prague
    Puerto Rico
    Puka Dogs
    Raven Restaurant
    Red Orchid
    Reliva
    Reykjavik
    Road Trip
    Rome
    Salads
    Salt Lake City
    San Diego
    San Juan
    Santa Monica
    Sao Miguel
    Seabirds Kitchen
    Soft Serve
    Studio City
    Sun Cafe
    Sushi Love
    Sweetpea Bakery
    SW Steakhouse
    Thai Food
    The Stanford Inn By The Sea
    Toronto
    Tucson
    Tustin CA
    VEDGE
    Vegan
    Vegan On A Cruise
    Vegan Treats
    Vienna
    VooDoo Doughnuts
    Vromage
    Vytopna Railway Restaurant
    Westhampton Beach
    Wynn

    RSS Feed

The Scoop Blog
Travel Adventure Articles
Travelin' the NYC Outer Boroughs with Elisa
Walt Disney World Wednesdays
Travel Resource Guide
Vegan Dining Guide

​


   
                                                      
Fun Fact and Travel Trivia Articles
Elisa and Tanya's Favorites
Travel Tips - Know Before You Go
​
About
​Contact Us 
​Media Kit 
​
(c) Travelin' Cousins 2020 All Rights Reserved