Category: Restaurants

We had lunch today at Hurricane Grill in the Mission Bay Plaza on the northwest corner of Glades and 441. We eat here often.
The outdoor seating was very nice in today’s weather. Sometimes the inside seating can get loud.
The interior and the menu both have a tropical feel. The drink menu in particular is in that theme, though we did not imbibe on this occasion.
We had the pulled pork quesadilla and the teriyaki chicken plate. The latter came with pineapple, broccoli and a rice/bean mix. The quesadilla came with guacamole, sour cream, salsa and choice of an additional sauce.

The meal was good overall, with the chicken as the best part. The pineapple was somewhat disappointing but on the whole it was a good dish for a reasonable price.
Chicken might have been a better choice in the quesadilla but the pork worked well with the various toppings. Both were ample portion sizes for lunch though we did not have much left to take home.
Lunch for two was just under $20 before tip (we had water so expect more if you get soda or other drinks).
This was not the best meal we’ve had at Hurricane Grill. We will be back.

We had dinner last night at Puccini’s Pizza, in the HSBC Plaza on the southeast corner of Yamato and 441.
We did not have pizza on this visit. They have great pizza! We’ve seen plenty of strong reviews of it (see Google for example) and wanted to try some other dishes.
We had three dishes:
Tortellini Alfredo – This was pretty good. The pasta was very good but we’ve had better alfredo sauces.
Side of meatballs – Also pretty good. We’ve had better, but still okay. The meatballs had some flavor and the sauce was a little thin.
Broccoli rabe with sausage – Not bad. The plate was heavy on the sausage and a little light on the broccoli rabe. More important – the flavor was excellent. But it’s pricey – $12 for this item.
The service was excellent. There was an annoying table with screaming kids, but it’s hard to blame the restaurant for that.
Overall I’d say this is a great place for pizza, and okay for other dishes.
A couple of notes:
Smokehouse Grill and Wingery next door has apparently closed; and
The Puccini’s website may be having problems. When we searched for it on Google, clicking the link led us to some spammy websites. However, we still were able to get to the actual site sometimes. This is the link for the chain, but we can’t promise it’ll get you to the right place: Puccini’s Pizza.

Padrino’s Cuban restaurant in Mission Bay Plaza has a lunch buffet for $9.99 on weekdays. The price does not include drinks.
Today the buffet included picadillo (a ground beef dish), fried chicken, another beef dish (more like a stew with nice soft chunks of meat) and a roast pork item.
There are three choices of rice, two soups (the black bean was good), salad, fried plantains and fresh fruit. Also there is a potato stuffed with picadillo.
The customers all seemed to be speaking Spanish, which we consider a good sign. We really enjoyed our meal.

We’ve had lunch a few times at Tijuana Flats. It’s in a plaza on the south side of Hillsboro at 441, across from the Walmart.

The menu is somewhat typical for fast casual Mexican. There are tacos, burritos and so on. For most items there’s a choice of beef, chicken, steak or carnitas.
I’ve become a fan of the “No-rrito” which is pitched as a burrito without the tortilla. The steak Norrito is about $7.50 and comes with beans and rice, along with various fixings like guacamole.
We had a beef taco plate today that was also very good.
Tijuana Flats has a “sauce bar” where you can fill very small cups with a wide variety of sauces, labeled with smiley or frowny faces depending on how spicy they are.
Comparable places might include Moe’s Southwest Grill and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Tijuana Flats is a little better than both in food quality, variety and service. the interior design is also a little more interesting.
For the chain’s website: Tijuana Flats

We had a pizza tonight at Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza. It’s a small place in Boca Lyons Plaza on the southwest corner of Glades and Lyons.
The pizza was very good, with a thin but well textured crust, great sauce and cheese. Two kids who don’t always eat much ate their fill. We got half pepperoni for the old folks and the meat was just right.
We also had a sausage and peppers appetizer. The sausage was sweet as advertised and the blend was delicious.
We closed with zeppole, an Italian fried dough. They were fantastic, and particularly popular with the children.
One minor negative – the kitchen was slow but that was apparently due to a new employee learning the ropes.