Kaati Fresh

Location: San Jose, River Oaks Plaza
Cuisine Type: Indian fast food
Atmosphere: fast food restaurant
Meal: dinner
Overall grade: 6.9

Ben

This is an Indian fast food restaurant within walking distance of our place, so we went to check it out. The menu is pretty short but has about what one would expect, different marinations of meats in wraps. I had a spicy chicken wrap with yogurt, which was pretty decent and cheap (though not extremely fresh - it is a genuine "fast food"). I would recommend it as a good place to try out for a different takes on wraps, with decent ingredients and a good price. The server was friendly and the desert we got (a dessert crepe with cinnamon and cream cheese) was also pretty good. 

Food 7

Drinks 7

Atmosphere 7

Service 8

Value 8

Nina

For a quick weeknight dinner, it made sense to go close to home, to the River Oaks Plaza. The place that drew us this time was Kaati Fresh - the Indian cafe. Their menu was dominated by a large variation of rolls - essentially an Indian flavor burrito, in which the tortilla shell was replaced by a large, thin crepe crusted with a very thin layer of egg on the inside. It was a unique combination, but worked great in preventing the filling from soaking into the crepe shell, and at the same time lent a richness to the overall flavor of the roll. I ordered the ground beef roll, which surprised me a little since I had never really had either beef or meat in ground form combined with classic Indian flavors. The fresh bite in this dish came from a pretty standard combination of iceberg lettuce and sliced tomato, so not much surprise there.
Since I can rarely resist dessert, I also ordered the cinnamon cream cheese roll (saffron churri churri), which turned out to share the same crepe-like base with the entree, and was filled with a soft and sweet cream cheese mixture and topped with a powder of cinnamon.
With its modest, fast-food like setting (even heating was provided by these portable radiators), and fairly unsurprising menu, this place is a solid choice for a filling, tasty and quick dinner, but not exactly a date destination.

Food 7
Drinks 5
Atmosphere 6
Service 6
Value 8

Squat and Gobble

Location: San Francisco, CA (Marina)
Cuisine type: Crepes
Atmosphere: cafe seating
Meal: late dinner
Price range: $10-$15/crepe
Overall grade: 7

Ben

Located in the Marina district, we were called in by the large crepe selection and cheap beer specials. The atmosphere feels like a classic diner, with a large open room with lots of small table islands and everything wooden.  It has a lively feel and also offers outdoor seating. We enjoyed choosing from the simple selection of a few house wines and beers.  The atmosphere, drinks, and feel was all quite enjoyable, the only thing that fell a little short was the crepe itself. We ordered a salmon, cream cheese and sun-dried tomato crepe, and had high expectations as we love crepes. It was a little disappointing in flavor, being weighed down with a lot of mozzarella, with the salmon and tomato not coming out very strongly. Overall an enjoyable experience, and - as it is hard to mess up crepes -  I would recommend ordering stronger flavored ingredients.

Food           6

Drinks         8

Atmosphere  9

Service        8

Value          8

Nina

We made a late night stop at a crepe place to supplement the random snacking we'd been doing throughout the evening. I instantly gravitated towards the "marine" crepe, which contained a few ingredients which to me go together magically: salmon, cream cheese and capers. Add to that stringy mozzarella and a topping of sundried tomato pesto, and it sounds like this could be amazing. Unfortunately, it fell short in both flavor and texture, the salmon was in dry chunks and the cream cheese was lost in a greasy mess in the filling. Sadly enough, the best part of the dish were the crunchy french fries, which seemed to come from a store-bought frozen bag. The happy hour price for drinks was not bad, $4 per glass of wine, but I'm not sure that alone warrants going back to this place.

Food          5
Drinks        8
Atmosphere 7
Service       8
Value         6