San Jose, California Restaurants

We went to a number of restaurants and I wish I kept better track of them! Unfortunately we were running around like crazy and I have waited almost a month to post this- sorry!

Gumbo Jumbo, 80 North Market Street: cute, small Cajun restaurant... food was good as was the service... some days they have live music [not when we went :( ] 4/5

El Grullense, 400 W. San Carlos: Dive burrito drive through... food was good, and the place is open LATE! Great for a 1AM Burrito! 3/5

El Saboroso, 17 S. 4th St.: Burrito dive... food was good... nice size burrito! 3.5/5

Sonoma Chicken Coop, 31 N. Market Street: Chain restaurant with very good food and fantastic outdoor dinning! Everyone was satisfied! Good news, the website says that they will be in NY soon... wonder where in NY?? 4.5/5

Original Joe's: 301 South First Street: We had heard this was a great Italian restaurant. At best it was good. The sandwiches are HUGE and the typical Italian dishes are alright... It's no NY Italian restaurant! Pricey for what you get in terms of quality. 3.5/5

Gordon Biersch: 33 East San Fernando: Fun brewery. Good food and very good beer! 4/5

Bijan Bakery and Cafe: 170 S. Market St.: I had high hopes for this bakery... Everything LOOKED great... the coffee, cappuccino, napolian and tiramisu were ok at best! Am I spoiled by living in NY?? 3/5

Specialty's Cafe and Bakery: 115 S. Market St.: Delicious cookies! Try them. Muffin and cakes were ok. 4/5

Crowne Plaza San Jose, California

I spent a week at the Crowne Plaza in San Jose, California and was very pleased with my stay. The staff was friendly, helpful, and attentive! My only issue with the hotel is that it has no pool! Oh well, I was so busy there I didn't even "need" the pool. One example of the helpfulness of the staff was gatting me free wifi in my room. Generally you need to pay $10 per day (terrible! Most places have free wifi- what are they thinking??), but they gave me a form to fill out for a free rewards program and I got free wifi for the week.
Always talk to the front desk if there is a charge for wifi... they will usually find a way to comp or discount it!