2008 Woodie Awards
Unlike an 'Elephant,' forget this Hayward 'Bar'
New restaurant is dwarfed by others
Jack Wu
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: The Scene
- Page 1 of 1
The new Elephant Bar in Hayward is your typical decadent American restaurant. If you want to be treated to strange images of elephants and giraffes, then the Elephant Bar is a place to start.
The interior is decorated as a jungle palace with leaf-shaped ceiling fans; it's a comfortable place for the self-indulgent. The Elephant Bar advertises itself as the place to "seek out the culinary pleasures of Asia, the Tropics and sensational regional favorites." However, these so-called pleasures will cost about $10 to $20 per entrée and about $7 per appetizer, sandwich or burger.
Not only that, but the food served at Elephant Bar is best described as mediocre. The attractively named Chicken Firepot was an utter disappointment. It was basically vegetable soup mixed with rice and chicken. There was some flavor and a little fire, but not enough to justify the $9.95 price.
Another lackluster dish is the Wok-Fired Sweet & Sour Chicken. The chicken was rather dry and the sweet & sour coating was too hard-fried on the meat. It tasted like something that came out of a cheap fast-food restaurant, and not even up to the quality of similar food from a Panda Express.
The worst disaster was the Fiery Kung Pao Chicken. This dish is drenched in the nastiest kind of soy sauce and tasted unbearably salty. Be prepared to drink lots of water if you dare to order this abomination.
One of the tolerable items at the new Hayward Elephant Bar is the Shanghai Cashew Chicken. It can be a sweet delight to the taste buds but here it's greasier than the same item offered at other Elephant Bar locations in the Bay Area.
The Hayward restaurant also seems to lack consistency in serving the same item. On one visit to Elephant Bar, the Kona BBQ Pork Ribs tasted excellent and looked fresh and well pleasing to the eye. But on the next, the ribs were too fatty and appeared to have come from a poor cut of pork.
In contrast to the generally poor quality of the food, the service was for the most part very good. A mishap did occur when a hostess directed our party to sit at a table that had not been properly cleared and cleaned.
But the servers are friendly and attentive. The wait time between ordering and receiving our order was not very long at all, and the servers promptly cleared plates off the table and refilled our cups at reasonable and appropriate times.
The Elephant Bar offers average food, good service, but a dangerous hedonistic environment. The restaurant would do well not to waste resources on ugly animal decorations and noxious alcohol beverages and instead focus on cooking up and serving quality meals. In its current state,
Elephant Bar simply leaves a bad taste in the mouth and fails to outperform the other restaurants in Hayward's Southland Mall vicinity, such as Marie Callendar's, Applebees, and Olive Garden.
Elephant Bar Restaurant
24177 Southland Dr Hayward, Calif. (510) 266-0400.
The interior is decorated as a jungle palace with leaf-shaped ceiling fans; it's a comfortable place for the self-indulgent. The Elephant Bar advertises itself as the place to "seek out the culinary pleasures of Asia, the Tropics and sensational regional favorites." However, these so-called pleasures will cost about $10 to $20 per entrée and about $7 per appetizer, sandwich or burger.
Not only that, but the food served at Elephant Bar is best described as mediocre. The attractively named Chicken Firepot was an utter disappointment. It was basically vegetable soup mixed with rice and chicken. There was some flavor and a little fire, but not enough to justify the $9.95 price.
Another lackluster dish is the Wok-Fired Sweet & Sour Chicken. The chicken was rather dry and the sweet & sour coating was too hard-fried on the meat. It tasted like something that came out of a cheap fast-food restaurant, and not even up to the quality of similar food from a Panda Express.
The worst disaster was the Fiery Kung Pao Chicken. This dish is drenched in the nastiest kind of soy sauce and tasted unbearably salty. Be prepared to drink lots of water if you dare to order this abomination.
One of the tolerable items at the new Hayward Elephant Bar is the Shanghai Cashew Chicken. It can be a sweet delight to the taste buds but here it's greasier than the same item offered at other Elephant Bar locations in the Bay Area.
The Hayward restaurant also seems to lack consistency in serving the same item. On one visit to Elephant Bar, the Kona BBQ Pork Ribs tasted excellent and looked fresh and well pleasing to the eye. But on the next, the ribs were too fatty and appeared to have come from a poor cut of pork.
In contrast to the generally poor quality of the food, the service was for the most part very good. A mishap did occur when a hostess directed our party to sit at a table that had not been properly cleared and cleaned.
But the servers are friendly and attentive. The wait time between ordering and receiving our order was not very long at all, and the servers promptly cleared plates off the table and refilled our cups at reasonable and appropriate times.
The Elephant Bar offers average food, good service, but a dangerous hedonistic environment. The restaurant would do well not to waste resources on ugly animal decorations and noxious alcohol beverages and instead focus on cooking up and serving quality meals. In its current state,
Elephant Bar simply leaves a bad taste in the mouth and fails to outperform the other restaurants in Hayward's Southland Mall vicinity, such as Marie Callendar's, Applebees, and Olive Garden.
Elephant Bar Restaurant
24177 Southland Dr Hayward, Calif. (510) 266-0400.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Joe
posted 8/14/07 @ 1:36 PM PST
Just had lunch there today. Couldn't disagree more with your evaluation...especially when compared to Marie Calander and Appleby's. We had the Tempura salmon roll with Terryaki chicken skewer and the Philly Cheesesteak. (Continued…)
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