Gordon Biersch

Name: Gordon Biersch
Address: 640 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, California 94301
Phone: 650.323.7723
Web site: www.gordonbiersch.com/restaurants
Date & Time visited: Friday, February 4, 10:45 PM
Guests: Jennifer and me
What we had: Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries, Grilled Chicken Skewers marinated in Tamarind and Garlic with Sesame Vinaigrette, Classic Cobb Salad

Service: Very good. We started with two Bloody Marys, which were rich and spicy and had olives and celery. Yum. We weren't really hungry enough to each have an entree, so we decided to share two starters and a salad. Our server didn't bat an eye and offered to split the Cobb salad at no extra charge.

GB's garlic fries are the same ones sold at the Oakland Coliseum--where the Oakland Athletics play--and after several months without baseball I felt like having some. They needed a touch of salt and Tabasco, but were very tasty. The chicken skewers were excellent; tender and very well seasoned. They were served with a "cake" of sesame-coated sushi rice and fried potato strings in a sesame sauce. One order had four skewers, so we each had two.

When we finished our drinks, our server brought water and kept the glasses filled while we were there. Always an important point for me.

The Cobb salad was okay. The current trend for salads is to use "field greens"; essentially weeds. Jen doesn't like it at all and I'm getting pretty tired of it. Romaine or Iceberg would be just fine, and either would be more traditional in a Cobb. We couldn't or didn't finish the split salad, and our server boxed it for us. We'll see if we want to have some tomorrow before it goes off. Too bad, really. We probably would have been fine with just the two starters, or maybe one starter and one of their excellent pizzas.

Would we go back: Yes. This is one of three Palo Alto restaurants we've found that are open for dinner after 10:30/11:00 PM on Friday nights, and due to work schedules we usually eat late on Fridays.