Tucker Eats
Restaurant Reviews
by Luke Friedman and Sabrina Price
Pho Dai Lo
Pho Dai Lo #2 is a Vietnamese style restaurant located in Atlanta, on Buford Hwy. Luke ordered a
medium Pho #5, which is noodle soup with eye round steak, well-done flank, marble brisket, soft
tendon, and tripe. Sabrina ordered a medium Pho #9, which is noodle soup with eye round steak and
well-done flank.
*this conversation is edited and clipped from an original conversation between Sabrina and Luke*...by edited and
clipped I mean that most of the nonsensical banter was removed.
Sabrina : Luke, don't touch it yet!! I haven’t gotten my picture.
Luke : They look the same to me.
Sabrina : They do, which is like a problem...’cause I don’t want all that stuff that’s in yours.
Luke : Well, mine has more stuff in it...I think.
Sabrina : Oh god.
Luke : If they gave me your bowl and said it was mine, I would not be able to tell.
Sabrina : This is a lot of food...it came fast though.
Luke : I’m sure a lot of this is water, or soup I mean.
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Luke : Oh, so this is the tripe right here.
Sabrina : I thought tripe was fish??
Luke : I don’t know, let me google it.
Luke : It’s the edible linings from the stomachs of various farm animals. Interesting.
Sabrina : What.
Sabrina : I’m gonna bring like five of these(sets of chopsticks) home.
Luke : I’m gonna give it a try now. You want?
Sabrina : No, I'm quite okay Luke.
Luke : A little bit chewy. It’s kinda fuzzy, mhm. The taste is pretty neutral.
Luke : So this must be the uncooked steak? It’s very thin.
Sabrina : I can’t find my noodles.
Luke : Check all the way at the bottom.
Sabrina : Oh these(the noodles) are too good.
Luke : This(the meal) is so interesting.
Sabrina : The steak is good too hmm..maybe more seasoning.
Luke : These noodles are so white compared to the ramen I eat at home.
Sabrina : It’s ‘cause these noodles are in broth, and the ones we usually eat have a seasoning mixed in
them, which changes the color. I’m so smart.
Luke : Is this onion right here?
Luke : Oh that is not onion!
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Sabrina : Luke, ask him for extra utensils.
Luke : Huh?
Sabrina : I don’t wanna ask him, you do it.
Luke : Excuse me(to the waiter).
Sabrina : Luke don’t ask so loudly!
Luke : I don’t know, how do you want me to ask him? Sign language?
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Luke : The broth is nice, no idea how to describe it but it is pretty good. Have you tried your meat?
Sabrina : Mhm.
Luke : What do you think?
Sabrina : Both meats are nice, and not too chewy. I don’t like a lot of fat on my meat though, so that
knocks it down some. But the meal itself is so savory, and at the perfect temperature. These noodles are
literally so good, I should get a bowl of them to go home.
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Luke : You don’t like bacon..?
Sabrina : Not really, no.
Luke : Mm. Not very surprising.
Sabrina : What are you, inhaling your food? Not very surprising...
Luke : Well, it’s pretty good.
Luke : Look at these paintings, they’re so interesting.
Sabrina : I wonder if I could sneak a picture of them...
Luke : I could take them.
Sabrina : You are not going to take pictures of these folks’ place!
Luke : I can get the pictures without them knowing.
Sabrina : Good grief.
Luke : If you want me to.
Sabrina : Juvenile. How did you like your food?
Luke : This is a really good size for this price. The meat in mine is a little tough but it’s still good. The
noodles are good too, but this broth is great. The ___ is my favorite part.
Sabrina : I wonder if they have to-go boxes?
Luke : Maybe they have those, like, little plastic containers? (They did, in fact, have those.)
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Luke : There’s peppers in here.
Sabrina : You gonna eat them?
Luke : Yeah.
Luke : They’ve got a kick.
Luke : Ahem.
Sabrina : Mhm, just a kick?
Luke : The seeds probably make them spicier. Let me drink my water.
Sabrina : Can’t handle your spice?
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Sabrina : I can’t finish the rest. These are some large portions for a medium...
Luke : Ask them for a to-go box.
Sabrina : You ask for a to-go box.
Luke : You can’t do anything yourself. Ok.
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Luke : I have returned with the to-go container.
Sabrina : Yay!
Luke : How are we supposed to get this in here?
Sabrina : Uh..
Luke : What did they give us a bag for?
Sabrina : I think it goes in the container and then the container goes in the bag.
Luke : No, I have an idea. What if we pour it into the bag, and then stuff it in the container.
Sabrina : That’s a stupid idea.
Luke : No it’ll work, trust me.
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Sabrina : Luke, there’s broth everywhere!
Luke : It worked.
Sabrina : Look at the table.
Luke : We’ll wipe it.
Sabrina : It’s spilling out the container?!
Luke : Nah, it’ll be fine. (It was not fine, and we had to cover the container in twenty napkins to
prevent it from spilling all over the car.)
Yokohama Sushi
I (Sabrina) have always been an extremely picky eater. Not the average picky, but I don’t eat any
condiments and I hate strawberries picky. I eat everything in its plainest form, like tacos or burgers with
just meat and cheese. I often refuse to explore out of my rudimentary palette, which is the initial reason
we began this article. This month, we settled on sushi, which I was not very happy to try.
Yokohama Sushi is a Japanese restaurant located in Doraville, GA. They serve fresh sushi and Japanese
homestyle dishes. They are open twice a day, six days a week, for lunch and dinner. However,
Monday-Wednesday are lunch hours only. When walking into the restaurant, you are met with
beautiful wooden architecture. There is soft music playing in the background, and the lights are dim,
but not enough to the point where you struggle to see.
(Sabrina) : We ordered the Alaskan Roll ($12.00), the California Roll ($8.00), and two BBQ Eel Hand
Rolls ($6.00 each). An Alaskan Roll is made up of rice, seaweed, crab, avocado, and cucumber with a
slice of sushi-grade salmon on top. This roll was my least favorite, because there were too many
different textures. The salmon felt rubbery, the cucumber was crunchy, the rice was grainy, and the
avocado was creamy, which caused a sensory overload that I did not enjoy. I also have a specific distaste
for seafood that is not salmon or shrimp. A California Roll consists of the same ingredients as an
Alaskan Roll, minus the salmon. As I'm sure you can assume, I did not like the California Roll either,
for the same reasons. The BBQ Eel Hand Roll was a seaweed wrapped roll with cucumber, cooked
BBQ eel, and rice. I had never had eel before, but it was the roll that I disliked the least. For me, it was
the only roll out of the ones we had where the textures did not clash. Unfortunately, I did not actually
like any of the rolls we tried, but I believe that it was mainly because of the textures.
(Luke) : Yokohama Sushi is a high quality sushi restaurant. The ingredients are fresh and the food is
well priced. In total, we ordered three rolls and left spending about $40. The California Roll is one of
the more well known types of sushi. It pairs well with the soy sauce, and while it does have an unusual
mix of textures, it was very good. The next type of sushi we got was the Alaskan Roll. It is very similar
to the California Roll however, it has salmon on top. While it had a slightly different taste, it was
similar to the California Roll in both taste and texture. The final roll that we got was the BBQ Eel
Hand Roll, which was different from the other rolls because rather than being cut into smaller pieces,
it came as one large roll. In terms of taste, it was my favorite out of the three, but it was still not perfect.
The seaweed used to wrap around the roll in order to hold the roll together was tough, and made the
roll slightly annoying to eat. In all, I would recommend Yokohama sushi to anyone who either enjoys
sushi, or would like to try it.
Bombay Kitchen
Bombay Kitchen is an Indian restaurant located in Tucker, GA. They are known for modern
interpretations of classic dishes in the culture. When walking in, you are met with patterned walls, and
ruby red tables. The staff was welcoming and greeted everyone that came through the door. The tables
were neat, and the music playing was at just the right volume.
I, Sabrina, ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala ($13.99), which came with rice as well. Because I
don’t like mixing my foods, I ate everything separately first. The chicken was embedded in a tomato
and cream based sauce, which was rich in flavor and spices. The rice combined with the sauce and
chicken was a heavenly mix, and sent my taste buds into euphoria. I also had garlic naan ($2.50) and
vegetable samosas ($3.99). Contrary to thinking that I would enjoy it, the garlic naan was not my
favorite. I don’t like garlic bread much, so I thought that the garlic flavoring was overpowering. As for
the vegetable samosa, I paired it with green chutney, a mint cilantro condiment. The samosa was not
my favorite, because I thought the sauce did not pair well with the samosa, which I did not enjoy on its
own either.
I, Luke, ordered the Bombay Curry Chicken ($12.99), which is a dish made up of boneless chicken
and rice. The chicken is doused in a creamy curry sauce. I began by mixing both the chicken and rice
together, since they were served on separate plates. The meat combined with the sauce went very well
together, with just the perfect amount of spice. I had high expectations for the garlic naan and I was
not disappointed. I had a little suspicion when trying the vegetable samosas, and in the end, they were
definitely not my favorite component of the full meal.
All things considered, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. The service was nice, and the pricing was
nice in comparison to the amount of food that the customer receives. Although we enjoyed our meal,
we wish that there were more choices when it came to beverages. Besides that, we definitely
recommend having lunch from Bombay Kitchen. Sabrina approved.