Plaza Sorrento Food Court - Greek Bites and Amarin Thai

***** Both of these places have closed

I'm a true believer in Food Courts; not the cookie-cutter shopping mall type, mind you. But those found in areas of the San Gabriel Valley, with interesting variety and decent quality. You'll hardly ever find "great" food in a Food Court, but it's the "hunt" that counts. Two of my favorites are The Quincy Market in Boston and Union Station in Washington DC. The usual program would go like this; we'd each take $20, head off in opposite directions, with instructions to meet at a central location in 15 minutes to share our bounty. Honestly, there are more "clunkers" than winners, but it can be fun. So when we came across the Food Court in the Plaza Sorrento during our visit to the Sorrento European Bakery, we became very interested. And since we were starving, and one Banh Mi would not quench our hunger, the hunt was on.

In this food court is a Indian Tandoori place, a Vietnamese restaurant, and Japanese restaurant. I started noticing that many of the places in this "food court" had it's own dining area, making the description of food court into a misnomer, this collection of eating establishments was more of a "restaurant row". On this trip we decided on Greek and Thai.

From Greek Bites we got a combination platter ($8.65).

This pretty sizable platter was a big dissapointment, even at food court standards. The gyros meat was very dry, the chicken kabobs were dry and tasteless, and the chicken wings were - eh, ok. The salad was short on feta and the dressing tasted bottled. The rice pilaf was over-cooked. The tzatziki was good though, and we ended up slathering it over everything, and even bought another one ($.40). Seems like the name Greek "Bites" was somehow appropriate. At least we had leftovers for Sammy and Frankie.

Our other choice was Thai from Amarin Thai Restaurant.

I asked if this place was under the same ownership as Amarin Thai in Hillcrest and was given a positive nod. I ordered the Thai Sausage ($5.95) and Grilled Beef Salad ($7.25). One quick thing, unlike the speed of most food court type places, there was quite a wait here - even though it was sausage and a salad I ordered.

The Thai Sausage was nicely portioned with all the usual condiments, the sausage was alot milder than I'm used to (i.e. LOS in Vegas), not as salty, a bit more herbacious, and softer in texture. The sausage tasted fine with a squeeze of lime and wrapped in a cabbage leaf, but I could've used a bit more peanuts.

Yum Nuah (grilled beef salad), is one of my favorite dishes, especially on a hot summer day. This version had a generous amount of beef, lots of cilantro, cucumbers, lettuce, and tasty ripe tomatoes. The dressing was a bit one dimensional, I know that sounds strange, but it had too much fish sauce and not enough lime. I ended up squeezing the lime from sausage dish to balance the flavor out. We ordered this dish hot and the heat was excellent, though in spite of the amount of beef, the overall portion size was on the small side.

Best dish of the day - the Thai Sausage. We finished almost everything (Greek stuff leftover), and could have gone for more, but it was getting a little late, so we headed home.

So not quite a food court,  The Plaza Sorrento " International Food Court" features a great variety of restaurants, putting everything from Boba and Pho' to Tandoori Chicken within reach. Obviously your mileage may vary in these type of places, but it's fun to be able to grab a good variety of dishes. And besides, there's great sport in the hunt! Do you think there's a future for an organized food court eaters league?

6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92121

Comments

[Jo]

::stares goggle eyed:: yep, completely bumfuzzeled!

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - let's just call it conveyor belt sushi....

[Jo]

Does "Boat Sushi" fall into that category? Mike will be broken hearted if it does but then, he needs to know the awful truth if it does...

[Kirk]

Jo - As a whole I don't think conveyor belt sushi is bad - I've had pretty good conveyor belt sushi, along with terrible ones, and I'll still eat in a few of those places - so if you like it, than it must be ok? right? The "boat" is sort of like the conveyor belt, but I haven't been there, so I really don't know....

[milgwimper]

Jo,

the boat can go either way. I have been in places where the boat is good and fresh, and then others...I won't go there but it was BAD. So, boat sushi is alright, but like most restaurants you're still taking a gamble.

[Kirk]

Mills - In other words - "whatever floats your boat?"

[Jo]

oh gosh ::roaring:: You DIDN'T go there! ::covers Pepper's ears" ROTFLLC

[milgwimper]

Im sailing away
in circles I say
around and around
on a sushi boat!

Unagi, tomago
its not octopus
really just eat it
its all on a sushi BOAT...

Ummm... I think I need to sleep. *wink*I

[milgwimper]

hmmm thats interesting, it didn't print out the part about hearing the chrickets...*stompes her feet* I wonder if it's because I placed the wods between the <> brackets....Hmmm things to think about while I sleep.

[Kirk]

Ha, it's funny what sleep deprivation oes, huh?

[milgwimper]

Kirk,

Oh yeah...I was really up way past my bed time last night/early morning. It was too warm in the house to sleep, and what did I do, but post. There should have been a something set up that does not allow me to post that late at night!

[Jo]

wods in brackets huh? you need sleep for real girlfriend! ::wink::

[Kirk]

Ha, LOL!!!

[milgwimper]

I reread my post and cracked myself up, that is one crazy post! Yeah sleep is very good. LOL

[Kirk]

Hey Milly - It was fun to try and figure out what you're trying to say!!!! We all love a mystery after all....

[Joe]

In defense of Greek Bites, I think it's a great place! I love their Gryo Sandwiches at lunch time. It used to be much larger than average...definitely better in size and taste than Daphnes. A month or two ago I noticed the Gyro was smaller...but still better than average. I think a lot of places in the area have been serving less for the same $$$, or raising prices. It's the high cost of living in SD affecting everyone! Anyways I've noticed in the evenings...the Gyro meat is so so since they do most of their business at lunch and it hasn't been sitting around so long.