Yard House--San Jose

My boyfriend has spent time in Los Angeles. He has lived there and he has friends there. Every time he would go to L.A. to visit, he would go to the Yard House in that area and for months and months I've had to listen to him talk about how phenomenal the place is. San Jose finally has a location at 300 Santana Row, and I have finally been able to experience it for myself. I was not disappointed.

They don't brew their own beer, but they have over 100 beers on tap and you can get them in half-yard sized glasses. They also have beer blends and floats (yes, they actually put ice cream in the beer). I did not have this, but their selection of beers is quite something to choose from. I ended up with the Kilt Lifter, which was a delicious American Strong Ale (good thing I wasn't wearing a kilt).

For food I selected a weakness of mine: Mac and Cheese. This one was made with campanelle pasta, chicken breast, bacon (!!), wild mushrooms and truffle oil. This was one of the heartiest, well-balanced mac and cheese dishes I've had. The bacon was crispy, the mushrooms were not mushy and the chicken wasn't overcooked. The cheeses stretched with each pull of my fork and I didn't feel heavy or weighed down after I ate it. It was heaven on a plate.

My boyfriend selected the Spicy Jambalaya and had it with linguine pasta (you can also get this with brown or jasmine rice). An excellent choice as it was super flavorful and had two giant shrimps on top of it all. Everything in it was cooked perfectly. My only complaint is that it wasn't spicy enough.

Yard House is a great place for lunch, dinner, or just to go have a beer after work and hang out with a few friends. The only down side is, everyone else feels this way too and the place gets ridiculously packed before 5pm. If you get there after 5pm, you may be waiting up to 2 hours for a table. I'd say take your chances at the bar, hover over people who look like they're almost done and snatch up that seat as soon as they leave. This only works well for parties of 2 or less, so otherwise, get there early.