Cocina Poblana, Emeryville

Cocina Poblana is a relatively new restaurant in Emeryville, on the corner of 65th and Hollis. I had passed it a bunch of times while driving from Nolo to the Women's Community Clinic. When they started advertising a happy hour, my friends Anna, Heather, and I decided we'd continue on with my unemployment celebration.

We were seated almost immediately, but it took about fifteen minutes for us to be able to order our food. To add to the wait, the hostess was unable to tell us anything about the drink selection, and when my margarita came it had a hair in it!

When we finally were able to order, Heather got the Ensalada Poblana ($7), with Romaine lettuce, a full serving of grilled chicken, avocado, Mexican cheese and black beans. Not the most exciting order ever, but Heather seemed to really like it. Plus, the portion was huge. I wasn't totally in wannabe food critic mode, so no, I did not try it. Sorry.

I ordered two appetizers, the ceviche ($8) and taquitos poblanos with beef ($6). The ceviche was made with shrimp, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and cilantro. This wasn't my favorite dish because it lacked a ton of flavor. Plus, the veggies were kind of overwhelming; when I get ceviche I want there to be a ton of seafood in it.

The taquitos, however, were out of this world. I ordered them "crispy with beef" and got three mini corn tortillas filled with stewed beef, Mexican cheese, cabbage, and salsa. The beef practically melted in my mouth and had amazing flavor. While not enough food for an entire meal, I was totally full after eating about half of the ceviche and my taquitos.

Anna also had trouble finishing her food--she got a gigantic serving of steak fajitas ($12); enough for two meals. The steak was seasoned with garlic, and garnished with all of the regular fajita fixings.

All in all, I want to go back to this place just to have that stewed beef again. The service and the ceviche leave something to be desired, but the prices and the food, overall, were great. Cocina Poblana has only been open for about a year, so I want to give them the benefit of a doubt.

Do give it a try and let me know what you think!

Cocina Poblana is conveniently located at 1320 65th Street in Emeryville. They even have breakfast, and are open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and until 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Happy hour is from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

They also have a website: http://www.cocinapoblana.com/.

Bucci's, Emeryville

One of the great things about working at Nolo is that they constantly feed us. Once a month, there is a randomly selected group called "The Lunch Bunch" that goes out to eat on Nolo's dollar. I was one of the lucky selectees this month. I voted that we go to Cafe Rouge or Eccolo, two restaurants that I have always wanted to try, but unfortunately was out-voted by the group. We went to Bucci's in Emeryville instead.

The place came highly recommended by everyone who was going, so I had some hope that it would be good. The decor was really nice, so that got my hopes even higher. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there.

First of all, they served us a plate of bread and olives, but didn't even give us bread plates. I wanted to eat the bread with what the Yelpers say is the best olive oil in town, but there was no way to really do so. Everyone at our table basically just stared at the bread until our food came. To add to the madness, the CEO of our company came. He's a really great guy and very laid-back, but the fact that he's the CEO made it kind of difficult, as we all had to play the food ordering game (figuring out how he's ordering so we can figure out how much we can all get).

The service was okay. They were good at remembering to refill my water glass, but our waitress was very short and abrupt, as if she just wanted to turn over the table. When David (the CEO) started going over a practice presentation, she kept staring at us as if we were over staying our welcome. As if? We were, I guess.

I took the queue from everyone else and just ordered a main course. The menu itself is really simple, and not in a good way. I was very unimpressed. They had basic Italian style food that you can get at any run of the mill restaurant (i.e. spaghetti with sausage, linguini with clams, etc.), but in tiny portions, for no less than $15 a plate. Supposedly they did fish well, so I ordered the Alaskan halibut with aioli.

The fish itself was okay, but everything else around it was a nightmare. The fish was put on a bed of sliced mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes, spinach, and sliced red potatoes. The combination of all of them together was okay, but nothing new or exciting. Plus, the potatoes were raw! I ate all of them because I was starving and the servings were so small, but never have I been to an upscale restaurant where they didn't know how to cook a potato. Since they were sliced pretty thinly, I almost feel like they didn't cook them at all, because it doesn't take much to cook a potato slice that is only 1/4 inch thick. The aioli was also terrible--too thick and too much mayo. It also didn't have any flavor aside from the mayo. The great aiolis that I have had have some sort of flavor infused, such as lemon or garlic, but this had nothing to it.

I looked around at everyone else's food, and they ate everything on their plate, but no one was raving about how good it was, which usually happens at these things when no one knows what to say to one another. Two of the women in the group ordered the linguini with clams, and the linguini looked almost mushy it was so overcooked (it fell apart on their forks). Plus, it looked like it was cooked in a simple tomato sauce, so nothing too exciting. If they can't even cook pasta and potatoes properly, I don't even want to know what happens when they try to cook something unique.

Our waitress was also very good at snatching our plates away when we were finished, even interrupting one of our lunch bunch members as she was talking to see if she could take her plate. Needless to say, I would not recommend this place to anyone. I still love the company that I work for, but I would have been annoyed if I had had to pay for this meal. If you feel like defying my anti-recommendation, here is the information for Bucci's:

6121 Hollis Street, Emeryville 94608
(510) 547-4725

http://www.buccis.com