If you don't know about the thousands of wild parakeets living in the downtown area of Bakersfield,…read morethen you're in for a treat. Living in Oleander for much of my life I was exposed to these beautiful creatures on many occasions. It became a natural part of my childhood to see these brightly colored birds hanging in the palm trees and eating seeds and berries off the local foliage. It never occurred to me that they weren't just a natural part of the environment. These aren't your normal pet store parakeets. These are rather large and can be over a foot in length, so they aren't too difficult to spot. They often travel in groups as well, so if you see one you'll likely see quite a few. The story goes, back in the 70's there was a giant wind storm that blew off an aviary's roof leaving many birds to escape. These parakeets were one of the more successful to bread and adapt to the area. They're lively and enjoyable creatures to watch. They aren't invasive or harmful to pets, plants or people. You'll likely find them in the evenings coming back to their roosts in places with large tall trees like Oleander (Beale Park) or the large trees on California/Union near Food Maxx. It's definitely a sight to see, and something unique to Bakersfield!

My favorite local spot to eat. Everything on the menu is worth trying. The servers are great, the…read moredeli staff is awesome too.

Luigi's is a landmark restaurant in Bakersfield. It's a place where people come to eat, drink, and…read morecelebrate. It's always busy, and always bustling with people having a good time. What can I say that hasn't already been said? If you've never been there, then just go! You might have to wait to get in, but it's worth it. One of my favorites on their menu is The Luigi's Wedge Salad. A small one is a great bargain, and it's not exactly small. It's the perfect combination of lettuce, Prosciutto, onions, avocado, and cherry tomatoes in a delicious creamy basil salad dressing. Make sure and ask to have it chopped, and get a side order of pickled tongue to top it all off. It's a combination made in heaven. The Luigi sandwich is also another real favorite. Match it with a Peroni on tap, and just sit back and enjoy life. The patio out back is a great place to dine too. Every single person who works there is as nice as can be, and the deli next door is stocked with lots of fine foods and wine, and they have an excellent selection of various types of bleu cheese. Needless to say, Luigi's is a real fave.

We spent several days in Bakersfield and loved it. We wanted to have one last meal there so this…read moretime we went with Italian at Uricchio's Trattoria. We loved it so much, not only did we dine there, we ordered a bunch of food to go and drove it home to heat up and eat the next day. The next day food was just as great as when we ate there. It just has wonderful dishes. Founder by Nick Uricchio, and his son Steve they opened Uricchio's Trattoria, clearly a family affair. Sadly, Nick died some time ago. He was the nicest guy and always had a smile on his face. His nick name was Papa Nick. He always said hello to the customers and was just a doll. Go in his honor. It is just as great as when Nick was there. Steve is usually there to greet you and he is wonderful. Uricchio's Trattoria offers a great selection of appetizers, soups (a must) and entrees to satisfy anyone. They have fresh seasonal dishes prepared with care from Executive Chef Raphael Hernandez who has been there forever I think. Parking is easy. Make a reservation, you want to do that. It gets crowded. We have been there without one before and loved sitting at the bar and eating. Anything with shrimp is great. All of their pastas are great. We loved their spaghetti and meat balls. Their vegetables are made right. They don't consider it something just to toss on your plate. They are al dente and so great. Their Linguini pasta with shrimp, scallops, clams and mussels in a tomato basil marinara sauce is my favorite and they have the best salads and desserts. It is a must stop in Bakersfield. The place is beautiful.

This review actually breaks my heart to write this. I LOVED…read moreuricchios. I owned a downtown salon and would recommend my clients and friends to go there for dinner. My husband and I did date night there often when we were dating. The owners were so sweet and knew of Me. I moved out of Bakersfield 6 years ago. I was visiting my parents in Bakersfield two weeks ago who had never been to uricchios and I couldn't wait to take them to dinner there! I called ahead the day before and made reservations for myself, my mom and dad, and my husband. We sat down and the place was empty on a Saturday, just a couple tables occupied. My mom ordered a Cesar salad and it was warm! We waited an hour and 15 minutes and our food never came out. No one came and gave us an update but we kept getting sent numerous appetizers "on the house". Sodas were watered down. Bread was mediocre. Finally after an hour and 15 minutes we got up and left. Whatever was happening in the kitchen was not a good sign! They appeared to be struggling despite being not busy at all. I have never been more disappointed in a restaurant, my husband and I had to get in n out on the grapevine for dinner. I was so embarrassed that I even recommended for my family and my husband to do a dinner at uricchios, much less RAVED about it. I'm so sad what has happened to my favorite bakersfield restaurant, but all good things come to an end. I won't ever be back

Bakersfield is located just off Highway 99. The drive from the San Fernando Valley takes you…read morethrough the mountains and the infamous Grape Vine. I actually enjoy this scenic drive which takes me past Magic Mountain, Santa Clarita, Lake Castaic, Gorman then to the California State Route 99. As long as there is no snow it is a smooth ride. Once you exit there are several restaurants with LA prices. Don't think because you are our of LA things are cheaper...they are not. Bakersfield is quite large ranking #9 in the sate of CA. It is on the Kern River. Not far from the Sequoia National Forest. This is the midway point where I tend to meet one of my dear friends. It's easy for both of us to get here. They also have some great farms & fresh produce available. Worth taking a day trip here...

A LITTLE LATE but COMING ALONG! Bakersfield is late to the party when it comes to education,…read moregrowth, and social development. However, I have hope for Bakersfield as it's got a lot of history and has endured difficult years. I'm surprised with how big this city is! I can officially say that Bako is my introduction to Kern County and I found it delightful. It's got a community that is proud of its oil industry and civic expansion. My favorite places to visit are the Kern County Museum and Dignity Health Arena. I'm a sucker for historical sites and hockey. Further, you'll find a Cal State University and many great hotels. Bakersfield has a variety of activities on Yelp too! There's a bunch of highly recommended restaurants, eateries, and coffee houses all over town. There's a large Hispanic community, I'm hopeful Bakersfield will become more diverse as more families move in. Traffic is manageable but ever growing. There's a couple of highways and a freeway passing through the city which is key to navigating around. Parking around Bakersfield is affordable and easy to find. Lots of lots are free to use!

This was the 4th annual Bakersfield Wing Festival and our first time going. The event was worth it,…read morethe downside is the long lines, but they have plenty of wing stands, so choose your line wisely. This year there was approximately 15-16 wing vendors and I didn't get to try them all, but of all the wing vendors my favorite was Bucky's. Bucky's chicken wing was crunchy, moist, and had good flavor. They had their levels of heat in "Mild-Smooth Smiling", "Medium-Heating Up", "Hot-Loco Loco" & "X-Hot-Get Buck". A lot of the other vendors had 1 or 2 flavors, and even Costco made it out there to give wings out. Winner of this years best wings went to Hooters. I think they were 2nd place in my books, but there was more votes for Hooters. I honestly feel that Bucky's was the best, but people didn't vote (Rolling my eyes). I don't want to say which vendor, but I waited in line for chicken which is fine, but when I got the wings they were chewy and then when we reached the center it was bloody, hope that was just because they were under pressure because the line was long at the time. I would definitely like to try it again next time. The atmosphere is pretty casual and we brought our folding chairs, I also saw some people bring their canopies and tents. What started off at 91 degrees changed in a matter of 2hrs. It got really cloudy, windy and even sprinkled a little down to high 70s, but it's Bakersfield so you never know what kind of weather it's gonna be like. They played good music on stage with live singers and live bands. They even had contests so you can win tickets to go to Vegas and they had that wing contest so you can get your Wingfest entry free next year. I happened to be in line during the contest, so I missed out on that cool contest. I would definitely like to come again, I think if I went alone then it wouldn't be worth it for me because I don't drink beer, but going with my husband he gets to get two beers at a time, so it evens out for us. The downside for the beers is that they fill it up half way. I'm not a beer drinker so I don't care, but the lines are already long, so drinking your beer then having to refill it takes some time. Waters are free so that's cool and I liked that. I brought my water bottle with ice in it and my ice lasted the whole day with the free waters because they were cold.

It's hot dog!!!!! Alright, Buffalo Wild Wings bomb!! I had…read morethe blazing and it's delicious and definitely not for the fate of heart. Next was Denweed's Heart and Soul had amazing real fresh meat the wing full of buffalo sauce. Then came KVS southern style was so worth the long line. I had a BBQ that was absolutely amazing their meat was grilled and tender and so juicy. At BLVD we had garlic wings absolutely delectable a must try. Next stop I had Dickey's BBQ , I had two BBQ wings that were pretty good. Lastly, we had the Barrington's Jamaican Kitchen had mild and spicy very juicy wings with lots of flavor. All the drinks were standard and hit the spot in the heat, I recommend the experience!!

This was our first time eating at Mamma Mia and it will not be our last! We met another couple who…read morehad arrived before us (they called and rsvp'd same day) and we didn't see them inside. We were so wrong - this place looks quaint and cozy at first glance but it opens up! After getting sat down with our party, the server took our drink orders and we ordered a mushroom satchel plate for the table. We ended up ordering another plate for the table. Plates were gone before I could get a drool worthy photo. Our drinks came and they were delicious. Like seriously, I'd like to take a moment to remember our drinks. Okay back to it. The entrees came and everything was so good. It was such a nice time to talk and eat and talk and eat. Such a pleasant place!

My permanent date and I showed up with a reservation for my mother's birthday, and one of my brood…read morecame along. Despite a largely empty dining room, we were seated at a table which was in the flow of traffic, so not a great first impression. Next, the menu is fairly limited. My permanent date had a hankering for fettuccine Alfredo, and there's no Alfredo sauce on the menu. To be fair, there are also no baked items on the menu, so good luck getting a lasagna or a pizza, and with the Budweiser lights on the walls, the place looks like it used to be a sports bar that's trying for upscale Italian. Staying with the food, the dishes were okay, not great, and for the cost of a main, it seems that restaurants are doing away with complimentary soup and salad to go with the main. My osso bucco ravioli was pretty mediocre. The filling was a paste with no actual texture, but the pasta was al dente. The marinara sauce was bright and tomato forward, but osso bucco really needs a gremolata butter sauce, and with six ravioli, a soup or a salad is really necessary for a satisfying meal. Mom's porcini sachetti were tasty, but the filling was a paste, so the texture of the mushrooms was lost. My permanent date had something called pasta brase, which features the kind of ubiquitous Bolognese sauce the restaurant seems to have pride in, but it comes with sliced sausage and bell peppers. The Bolognese wasn't bad, and neither was the sausage, but it was cut in a way that made it difficult to eat with the toppings. Finally, my offspring had the grilled chicken pasta, and penne wasn't the best choice. Overall, I got bumped a lot, the food was mediocre, the service was lackadaisical, and I don't think I'll be coming back.

Centennial Corridor is that final section that will link Highway 58 to the Westside Parkway -…read moreHooray! A little research tells me that this is Phase 1 of the Kern River Bridge Improvement Project totaling over $41 million. Wowzers! But hey - as one of the fastest growing communities in California we definitely need it. Sadly over 180 structures were demolished starting in 2016. There's always a sense of sadness, but I suppose that's the cost of progression.