7 Stars Pepper Restaurant

Today I revisited a Chinese/Szechuan restaurant in the International District called 7 Stars Pepper Restaurant. For all you local Seattle-ites that know of this place, it's located on the second floor of a small plaza near 12th and Jackson. Parking is minimal (at least on ground level), so I usually drive my "land yacht" underground in the dark, dirty, tight parking garage below the plaza. I'm really good with parking, so it's not that bad for me.

Anyway, the restaurant ambiance is typical Chinese (Chinatown-like) decor with Asian artwork and red lanterns and such. It's about a medium-sized restaurant, probably with about 15-20 tables or so. I've been there before when it's been packed, unlike today.

For those that are familiar with this place, it's the hand-shaven noodles that are worth trying. When they first seat you, they serve up the usual ice water, hot tea, and kimchee. Today's meal consisted of hand-shaven noodles with pork, kung pao chicken, beef with broccoli, and garlic eggplant.

The hand-shaven noodles and the garlic eggplant were delicious, especially the eggplant. When the dishes was served up hot, you could automatically see the red peppers that were sauteed in with the eggplant. Incidentally, and as the restaurant name implies, this restaurant likes to use a lot of peppers in their dishes. However, for those that aren't really into spicy foods (I for one am not into spicy foods.....I actually like to enjoy my food and not sweat up a storm while I eat), don't let this turn you away. The dishes aren't really spicy. The way they prepare the dishes with the peppers makes them rather mild to the palate, and the dishes come out tasting delicious.

Anyway, the kung pao chicken and the beef with broccoli were not very high on my list. The chicken wasn't all that tasty to me (didn't taste like chicken much), and the beef in the beef with broccoli dish was "funny" tasting. The beef was a little too undercooked and didn't have much of a meaty taste, like I had hoped. So, I just loaded up on the other dishes, for the most part. More rice, please!

I've only been at this restaurant a couple of times and now I know what to order and what not to order. So, let's rate this restaurant using my 5-doughnut rating system, shall we?:

• Service, 4 doughnuts= The waiters were attentive and frequently checked to see if water refills were necessary and if anything else was needed, without constantly being annoying.
• Atmosphere/Location, 2.5 doughnuts= The atmosphere had a typical "Chinatown" restaurant feeling. This one wasn't that spectacular with dull-colored vinyl seats. What was worse was the parking situation. The garage was pretty bad today with a slight water leak problem, resulting in huge puddles everywhere. It's just really tight driving/parking underground.
• Food Presentation, 4 doughnuts= When the dishes are served up, they actually look really nice, especially with the bright red peppers and the freshly chopped green scallions. Not bad.
• Cost/Value, 2.5 doughnuts= I thought the dishes really shouldn't cost that much. They were each running close to $10 a dish, which is a bit too much for what they offered. I'd say around $7.50 a dish would be more suitable.
• Taste, 3 doughnuts= The garlic eggplant and the hand-shaven noodles with pork really made up for the broccoli beef and kung pao dishes.
• Originality, 2 doughnuts= The only thing original with the restaurant was that they supposedly use a lot more peppers than other Chinese restaurants around. Other than that, the dishes were pretty universal around Chinatown.
• Overall, 2.5 doughnuts= As I said, I've been here before, and my previous experiences were a bit more enjoyable. Overall, it was alright....just alright. I'm right in the middle there and undecided. You do have to try the hand-shaven noodles and the garlic eggplant though. Superb!

Well, that's about all for that review. Let me know if any of you have tried this restaurant and what you think. Until next time......just eat!

NMOS

Welcome to "Om Nom Nom Nom!"

Hey everyone. Welcome to my newest blogspot where I focus primarily on how I rate local restaurants and eats in and around the Seattle area. My name is Nerick, and since I eat out frequently and after hearing my friends constantly mention that I should blog about my epicurean adventures, I finally gave in and created this blog.

I actually do have an entry for my first food blog today. For lunch I stopped by the "Marination Mobile". This mobile restaurant (like Skillet) serves up food with a Korean and Hawaiian flair. Luckily it stops near my work during the week, so I got to finally try it out (after hearing about it from friends).



I pulled up alongside it with one of my co-workers and took a couple of pics before ordering up. The front is very open, organized, and clean for a mobile kitchen. The staff was extremely nice and friendly, along with their two pugs roaming around.


I decided to try a little of everything (well, not everything). I got the kalbi soft taco, the miso ginger chicken taco, and the shredded pork slider. Damn! This food was crazy good! Each one was only $2 and they were well worth it. The different marinated meats were extremely tasty, and the sauces and slaw in each "dish" were a great accompaniment. I savored this newfound goodness and was actually content.


I have to say that I will definitely be back to visit this mobile restaurant. Although I do love Skillet (I'll have to do a separate blog on them), I think they're going to be pretty good competition. Today was their 1 month anniversary, so they were giving away free dessert. It was similar to baklava (they called it the "Hawaiian baklava"). Check out the website to view the menu at http://www.marinationmobile.com/.

At the beginning of each new entry, I will include a 5-doughnut rating system, with 5 being the best. Here is my rating for the Marination Mobile:

• Service= 4 doughnuts; The servers were very friendly and lively.
• Atmosphere/Location= 3 doughnuts; It's a restaurant on wheels, so what can you expect? However, it looked very clean and for the food they served it was aesthetically pleasing and appropriate. It's located on the canal, so there was nice scenery all around.
• Food Presentation, 3 doughnuts = Not too bad for this speedy, gourmet type of "hangover" food. The slaw and the sauces added some color.
• Cost/Value= 5 doughnuts; Very cheap food for delicious food.
• Taste= 4.5 doughnuts; Like I said....delicious! The marinated meats were savory.
• Originality= 4 doughnuts; I've never heard of a kalbi or miso ginger chicken soft taco. Check out their menu.
• Overall=4 doughnuts; I was very pleased with the Marination Mobile and I will definitely be back for more. I just wish they served the Spam musubi at my location. I hear those are only served in the Capitol Hill location. :(

Well, that's about all for that. Now I have to go run and workout a bit so I can eat more tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed the first entry! Visit often. Later.

NMOS