Grand Lux Cafe (New York/New Jersey)

Rating: 

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: Original and delicious baked to order desserts.

Negative: Very busy at lunch/dinner times and desserts take 30 minutes to be made.

Overall: Great place for baked to order dessert in a grand setting that must be tried if you come within 15 miles of any of the locations!

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craving donuts?  molten chocolate? strawberries?  pineapple?

Grand Lux Cafe is my go to restaurant for desserts whenever I am in Long Island, Paramus, or even Las Vegas. They have baked to order desserts which take half an hour to make so you have to order them when you order your entrees.

Let me start with the Molten Chocolate Cake. This is one of the best lava cakes i’ve ever had. It is served very hot with vanilla ice cream. What makes it really good is the quality of the chocolate that they use and the hotness of the chocolate liquid inside. Another one of my favorite is the beignets that they sell with 3 dipping sauces. Please be aware that one of their dipping sauces has alcohol in it so make sure to tell the waiter before hand!  These are also made fresh and are very warm. The only way I can describe them is that they are in between zeppoles and donuts. I recommend them highly if you are in a group of 4. For 2 people, these are a bit too much because I believe you get 6 for one order.

I have also tried the pineapple upside down cake which is not bad either and only recommend it if you are craving a pineapple dessert. The strawberry shortcake is also delicious for all you strawberry lovers. The ambiance of the restaurant is great as well. The decorations are very grand just like they say it in their name “Grand Lux.”  If you want delicious, baked to order desserts and live close by definitely try this place out!

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    Grand Lux Cafe Website

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Matchbox 369 (Washington DC)

Rating: 

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

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Positive: Nice location and atmosphere with good desserts and brunch items.

Negative: The Pizza can’t compare to NY Pizza.

Overall: I wouldn’t come back to this place unless if I wanted to try their brunch menu or have some dessert with friends.  Beware of long lines!

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LOOKING FOR high quality pizza in dc?   try this place first.

I went to the crowded Matchbox restaurant located in a busy area of downtown Washington DC, Chinatown.  I had to wait 45 minutes to get parking and another 45 minutes for seating on a Sunday afternoon!  By the time I finally got seating I was thinking to myself that this pizza place better be worth the time and effort.  So now you may be wondering… was it worth it? Well it wasn’t! It was neither amazing nor bad though.

I will admit that the pizza was unique in that the one that we ordered had a spicy sauce but I didn’t think the quality of the cheese was that great. It also wasn’t warm when it arrived probably because the waitress was so busy that she forgot to check on the pizza.  Everyone knows the best pizza is hot with cheese dripping all over the place. Well that wasn’t happening. Another pizza we had ordered had potato chips on it and was pretty unique and decent tasting.  I, however, wouldn’t go back for the pizza. 

They did have a large non-pizza menu as well and maybe if you are in the mood to try something else there and you can withstand the wait then go for it.   The dessert was good but not great.  They had fresh cinnamon donuts which were great.  They came with a Cholula dipping sauce which may contain alcohol so be careful!  The molten chocolate cake was dry and cold – not something I expected or liked.  We did see that someone had ordered fresh cinnamon rolls from the brunch menu which both smelled greatly appealing and looked delicous.   On the bright side the atmosphere was nice so its possible to go there with friends.  Hey, after NY style pizza I dont think you can get anything better, except for chicago deep dish pizza or Papa Tomato’s in NJ.

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Matchbox Website

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Buddakan (Philadelphia, New York City, & Atlantic City)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: Delicious Non-Alcoholic Drinks with Extraordinary dessert in a fine dining restaurant.

Negative: Small, expensive portion sizes without the quality expected in a high end restaurant

Overall: Good place for a fine dining experience if you only want to have their non-alcoholic drinks with dessert.

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Update (10/9/2011):

Upon visiting Buddakan again for dessert and non-alcoholic drinks I realized that they do not always keep the same drinks as they had changed them.  The two non-alcoholic drinks they had were Pink Lemonade and Ginger Soda.  I tried the ginger soda which was definitely a little too weird for me (I miss the Spirit and Passion Juice from my last trip).  However, the five spice cinnamon donuts and the soft, warm chocolate cake hit the spot!

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A Uniquely expensive Pan Asian Chain restaurant in New york, southern nj, and philly.

Buddakan is a high-end, Pan Asian restaurant situated in New York, Philadelphia, and Atlantic City.   I had the chance to visit the Philadelphia location in Olde City on Chestnut Street. I would definitely recommend having a reservation before coming here as it was very busy when we came. The service was exceptional and the server was also kind and tried her best in helping us pick the drinks and dishes.  The ambiance was extraordinary. The restaurant has two floors with various types of seating areas and booths to satisfy everyone. The upstairs portion seems more secluded and quiet, although there is a bar there as well.  The downstairs portion has a huge buddha statue.

This restaurant has various nonalcoholic drinks, including “spirit” consisting of thyme and a carbonated beverage, and “passion juice” (made of

pomegranate juice, cherries, blueberries, etc).  The drinks were a delightful addition to the restaurant and reminded me of Sushi Samba.

Reluctantly, the food here was ordinary and not excellent. The portion
sizes were pretty small and although the shrimp toast was unique, the
main shrimp entrée did not have enough seasoning to the core of the
shrimp and the Pad Thai was too rubbery for my taste. I didn’t try
their wide fish selection however.  Despite the main course not being that good, the desserts truly made up for it.  The five spice cinnamon donuts with various dipping sauces (chocolate, blackberry jam, and ginger cream cheese) and the warm chocolate cake were delicious.

Overall I would say that Buddakan is a great place to go if you are looking for a fine dining experience  and want to have some non-alcoholic drinks with

appetizers and dessert (I would probably leave out the appetizers
too).   The main entree are just not worth it.

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Buddakan’s Philadelphia Website

Buddakan’s NYC Website

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