Okay, here's the situation: you're on a shop-until-you-drop spree at the Santa Rosa Plaza and when you drop you want it to be at a place where you can get a decent bite to eat.

Nervously eyeing the food court and wondering if you are really willing to eat a corn-battered wiener in public, you decide there has to be better food on the outside. So you trundle out from under the fluorescent lighting and find to your eager amazement Annapurna Restaurant where they serve the "cuisine of the Himalayas." That's got to be better than a corn dog, right?

The Menu

Annapurna offers a wide range of Nepalese dishes. This, however, is the restaurant's downfall. Instead of showcasing a few signature dishes, they merely tumble everything onto their menu and leave it to the diner to chance upon good dishes (or not so good dishes).

Such a hit-or-miss tendency becomes clear if you order one of the two "specialty combination meals"--one vegetarian ($13.95), one "meat-etarian" ($15.95). From the undistinguished soup du jour (suruwa in Nepalese), a tepid tomato-based soup with curry and cilantro, to the more than disappointingly over-cooked rice pudding, the meal began and ended on a low note.

Which is not to say that there were not a few tasty bits along the way. The mushroom and peas cooked in a cream sauce did wonders for my flagging morale. It would seem that you can order this dish as an entrée ($9.95) though the spelling is a little different--just look for the mushroom and peas dish.

The boneless chicken curry with garlic, ginger and onion sauce ($10.95) succeeds as well. The chicken is carefully prepared, neither over- or undercooked. I have no reason to doubt the menu, which touts this dish as a Nepalese household favorite.

The only other dish I can recommend is the mismas tarkari, which is mixed vegetables seasoned and cooked in the "gorkhali style." As far as I can tell, this simply means cooked in a cream sauce.

Among the less than stellar selections, Annapurna's samosa ($3.50)--deep-fried pastry stuffed with potatoes and peas--put in a decent but unremarkable appearance. I suggest washing them down with a surprisingly tasty lassi, sweet or mango ($2.50 and $3.00).

As for Annapurna's all-you-can-eat lunch special, the variety of dishes languishing in the heat table appeared to be (and tasted like) last night's leftovers.

Apart from the food on the menu, the descriptions of the food itself left me cold as well. The ubiquitous parenthetical translations of everything from "lentil" to "soup of the day" became rather tedious.

The Milieu

However, the printed menu's verbosity temporarily distracted me from Annapurna's carpeting--the cleanliness of which one of my dining companions likened to the carpeting in a bathhouse. While I cannot confirm this comparison from personal experience, I can tell you I was glad I wasn't wearing open-toed shoes.

In an attempt to find visual solace from Annapurna's filthy rug, I looked up only to find a drop ceiling (which would have been bad enough) with colonial-style ceiling fans. Both of these interior design choices failed to leave a favorable impression. Not even the cute lantern-like lights above the tables can save the interior from being anything more than a mishmash of poor décor decisions (and I won't even mention the cheesy neon "OPEN" sign in the front window).

The Men's Room

I must admit that given the lack of attention given to the main room, I found myself heading to the men's room with a certain amount of trepidation. Bracing myself, I boldly swung open the door, unsure of what I would find. To my relief it wasn't too bad by comparison to the room I had just exited. However, Annapurna's men's room is deserving of low marks as well. The handicap rails look suspiciously like towel racks. And while the restaurant cared enough to add some plastic lilies, they also used wood screws to mount the mirror over the sink, which is horribly off center.

And while there are small pleasantries like a can of Glade's Country Garden potpourri air freshener and a picture of Mount Kangchenjuga, I think the empty Protecto toilet seat cover dispenser pretty much sums up Annapurna's general attitude.

So to sum it up, you might want to think twice before dismissing out of hand the public, battered, wiener scenario.