Amazon BBQ in Fullerton: We tend to have our favorite OC restaurants, so to get out of the rut we ventured up westwards to Fullerton. Fullerton was founded in 1887 and, like the last place we lived, Glen Ellyn Illinois, exists in part because of the railroad. It has endless strip malls, like the rest of suburban America, but retains an old downtown area where restaurants and stores are always opening and closing and becoming as trendy as anyplace in the OC that's not near a beach can be. My husband had read about the Amazon BBQ restaurant, and since it was his birthday, he got to choose his spot for a celebratory dinner.

Now, I think you should be suspicious of certain kinds of restaurants. Places where people extoll the big portions, or places hailed by the critics for the beauty of their plates or the view, can be chancy in terms of getting good food. And an "all you can eat" place is almost inevitably a guarantee of mediocrity, at least in my experience. Amazon BBQ didn't do anything to change my opinion. You walk into the restaurant through two double doors that display a fountain and some tropical plants ... a sort of discount "Rainforest" cafe. It's a mishmash of styles ... the palm trees and lush plants are intended to evoke the Amazon, but the doric columns around the salad bar areas aren't quite authentic.

The deal there is this: $23.95 gets you all you can eat from the salad bar and from the skewers that are brought to the table. Sounds good ... but don't go expecting high quality preparations. There is plenty to choose from at the salad bar: mixed greens, tiny defrosted shrimp with cocktail sauce, some basic sushi preparations, sliced beets, cubed cheese and lunch meats. All fine, but nothing very exciting. There is a hot area too, with choices like fried onions (clearly frozen and made from diced onions, rather than real onion rings), fried bananas, rice, bread, and so on. Bland, and intended to fill you up.

The Amazon BBQ part is supposed to give you a taste of many kinds of meat - quail, chicken, beef tenderloin, skirt steak, lamb, chicken hearts, alligator, etc. -- which seems to be a good deal. And you DO get the range of choices, but they come pretty slowly and there is NO spicing to speak of. The meat is average quality - some of it rather fatty and gristly. The shish kebab was ok ... it was a meal to fill you up, but not one to remember. The crowd was made up of some couples out on the town and lots of families, looking to fill up on the food. Don't go for the wine - we didn't have any, but it's not the sort of restaurant that lists vintages on its menu. My "star" rating - 2 stars.