The New Diner blog will review restaurants, mainly in the LA area. I got a lot of attitude and very straight forward in my reviews, if you can't handle that, find another blog to read. Be sure to check out my other blog Only BBQ Ribs
Comment and suggestions are welcomed, just Email me!
Tomato Pie Pizza Joint 2457 Hyperion Ave Los Angeles 323-661-6474
A friend raved about the pizza at Tomato Pie. I was in the area for a wine tasting and thought about going back to Garage Pizza, but instead I decided to have a couple slices at Tomato Pie. The location is really in the back part of the building. The front part is a beauty salon. Tomato Pie is mainly a take out place but there are some picnic tables outside.
I really didn't want a whole pie so I got a slice of cheese, $2.25, and a meat lover's slice, $3.00. The young lady said for 50 cents more I could get a soda, so for $5.75, two slices of pizza and a soda; not a bad deal.
The cheese slice wasn't good because there wasn't enough cheese on the slice. The crust, which was reheated, was crispy yet chewy on the inside. The cheese slice maybe good if they put more cheese on the slice and it was right out of the oven.
The meat lovers has pepperoni, American bacon, sausage, and ham. I only got maybe a piece or two of ham. But there were plenty of pepperoni, sausage and bacon. I was pretty impressed with this slice, not salty at all, flavorful, good quality toppings, though they could have put more ham on there, nice crust.
Service was very good. The young lady who took my order was nice, helpful, and friendly, even if she is a Mets fan. She did tell me they are going to expand into that beauty salon, soon.
For pizza in the Silverlake area, I still prefer Garage Pizza but I wouldn't have any issues going back to Tomato Pie, though I wouldn't have another slice of cheese pizza.
Country Kwik 3024 W Temple Ave Pomona 909-865-7377
Country Kwik is really a convenience market that serves sandwiches. Think 7-11 combined with a deli. The sandwiches are made fresh to order, you go to the counter, fill out the paper with the sandwich you want and what you want on the sandwich.
I got a turkey and roast beef sandwich on squaw bread, $5.15, with mayo, lettuce, and tomato. The meats were piled high on the sandwich, which is always good, but the meats are low quality meats. The meats are the same meats as the meats in the Albertson's deli. So why should I pay more for a sandwich, that I could make myself? Anyways the turkey and roast beef was pretty good and fresh. The squaw bread was soft and fresh.
Service is pretty good. The owner who took my order, was nice and helpful. But the guys making the sandwiches need to get a clue. No they didn't screw up my order. But there was this lady, who came after me, and she stood at the counter and nobody greeted her. The guy who took my order is also the cashier, so he was at the register helping other people. So he is almost blameless. But the two guys making the sandwiches never bothered greeting the lady. They could have said "Have you been helped?"
I wouldn't go back to Country Kwik for a sandwich again. The sandwiches are just average, nothing special about them. As for that stupid truck in front of the store, where is the PPA and that hottie, Gina, when you need them!!! Watch Parking Wars, it is a great show.
This bring the total to 51 restaurant that I have reviewed but are now closed. If any restaurants that I reviewed are now closed, please let me know. I won't write an update about closures unless it reaches a milestone number.
I have decided to create a new category- Closed-Reviewed and the date I reviewed a restaurant, for closed restaurants. Closed-Reviewed 2006, for example.
Nov. 4, 2009
I wanted to mention the TV show, Top Chef, so I went back to Jaybee's BBQ with the hottie!!
You can now search reviews by cuisines. I have added labels to my reviews and will add labels to all reviews soon.
Some tips on searching.
I have labeled most restaurants by their broader cuisines and the item I ordered. Example: Mexican, tacos.
If you click BBQ, you will only find places REAL BBQ places that smoke their meats, or at least attempts to smoke their meats. For other places, they are under Oven BBQ.
If you are looking for ribs, they are labeled spare ribs, beef ribs, or baby backs ribs.
Closed means the restaurant that I went to, at the address listed, is not the same restaurant or has closed down. Some restaurants may have moved to another location, I'm not taking the time to find out.
Comments are now moderated. So nothing will be posted until I approve it.
I went back to Ribs USA and they now have spare ribs.
I went back to Master Chef to try a deep fried sole, pan fried scallops, and kung pao chicken.
July 12, 2009
I went back to Hong Kong Palace and tried a different crab dish, fried squid, and sweet and sour Chinese BBQ pork ribs.
July 1, 2009
I finally went back to Skooby's for their great hot dogs and added better pictures.
Jan 25, 2009- Profile Name Change.
In case anybody is wondering, I decided that The New Diner should be my profile/user name for The New Diner blog. So all comments will be by The New Diner. This is my food blog. Unitas We Stand is my tribute to Johnny Unitas and the expression of my love for my BALTIMORE COLTS.
I still have my Unitas We Stand blog. I still love the BALTIMORE COLTS. If I get married, I still will have my fiance take and pass a test about the BALTIMORE COLTS. And yes, if she flunks, I will not marry her. Though I may give her a make up test.
Red Devil Pizza 1465 Foothill Blvd La Verne 909-593-1313
After reading the archives for David Allen's Blog, I decided to go to Red Devil Pizza!!
When I got to Red Devil, I didn't realize I had already been to two restaurants in the same shopping center, Mr. Fish & Chips and Tasty Goody, both of which are still open!!
Anyways I got the small pizza with half pepperoni and half meatball, $13.50. The small was a 12" medium crust pizza. I thought the taste of the pizza was OK. It was cooked a little well done but not burnt, nice firm crisp crust, good amount of cheese, and toppings. The pepperoni side was pretty good, but the pepperoni was a bit on the salty side. They could also put a few more slices of pepperoni on the pizza.
The meatball had an overwhelming garlic flavor. They need to cut down on the amount of garlic in the meatballs.
Service was pretty good. Most of the people working behind the counter were high school kids. They were pretty nice and hard working.
I wouldn't say Red Devil Pizza is the best pizza in the area but it is a couple notches above the chain pizza places. I wouldn't go out of my way for Red Devil but I wouldn't mind going back there.
Floyd's BBQ 501 W Duarte Rd. Monrovia 626-616-7121
I was driving to Taco Lita and saw a sign that said BBQ. I was very curious so I stopped in. Floyd's is actually inside a liquor store called House of Spirits.
The meats are smoked, over smoked in those 55 gallon drums. If the pitmaster is good, they can make that work. The pitmaster at Floyd's needs to work on his BBQ!!
I got a pound of pork spare ribs, $8. The ribs were so dry!!! They must have been leftover from Wednesday. They were chewy and tough and just plain bad!!! I also got a bunch of crappy pieces that barely had any meat on them. They did have a smoke flavor, but it was very overpowering.
Service was OK. The people are nice.
I would never go back to Flody's again. This is among the worst BBQ I have ever had.
Four Seasons Steak House 18457 E Colima Rd Ste H Rowland Heights 626-964-5115
WOW, what a surprise. I heard about Four Seasons Steak House from a friend who said they have good steaks at good prices. I was a bit surprised it was in the same plaza as Newport Seafood. Four Seasons is in the food court area of this Pacific Plaza. The steaks are a Taiwanese style steak, where they come out sizzling on a cast iron plate. This reminds me of the Romantic Steakhouse in San Gabriel.
I got the sauteed rib eye steak, $11.95, topped with a mushroom sauce and served with your choice of rice or spaghetti and an egg. Yes, that is the correct price and yes there is an egg. I was surprised when I got a salad and corn soup. The salad was just iceberg lettuce topped with thousand island. The lettuce was fresh and the thousand island dressing comes cloest to McDonald's Big Mac sauce. The corn soup was a corn starch thicken broth with some corn. Nothing great but hot, which is always good for soup.
The rib eye came out on a cast iron skillet, sizzling like crazy!!! I turned over the egg quickly since I hate sunny side up eggs. The egg was an interesting addition to the steak. I didn't eat much of the egg but then again I was there for the steak. The steak was pretty good, great if you consider the low price. Hey look it is not dry aged prime beef. It is select, which mean it will be less tender and flavorful. But it was still a well cooked piece of meat. I asked for and got medium rare. The mushroom sauce had a tomato taste to it. I wasn't that impressed with the sauce, next time I will ask for black pepper. But the steak had good flavor was pretty tender and moist. I may try their filet or the New York steak next time.
Service is pretty good. This is a family run restaurant and the owner and her son were nice. The food came out quickly.
I was impressive with the quality and prices of the steaks at Four Seasons Steakhouse. I would go back!!
Update Nov 13, 2009.
I was so impressed with Four Seasons Steak House that I went back there the next day. I went for lunch and at lunch all the steaks are about a $1 off but you do not get a salad. I got a medium rare, New York steak for $10.70 with the pepper sauce.
The pepper sauce was better than the mushroom sauce. But I think next time, I'm just going to get no sauce.
The steak was a bit undercooked, too much redness for medium rare, it was closer to rare. But a flavorful and pretty tender steak. Again for the price you can't beat this.
Service again was good. I did find out they are closed on Tuesday and on weekends they serve their dinner menu the entire day.
Art's Delicatessen & Restaurant 12224 Ventura Blvd Studio City 818-762-1221
I was in the mood for a deli sandwich. Recently, I heard about Art's Deli for the first time, even though the sign in Art's window says they are 52 years old!!! Meaning that they opened up one year before that drunk Mick, stole the Brooklyn Dodgers from their rightful place. Yes, in all the time I have been doing The New Diner, I have not heard about Art's at all! Sure I heard and reviewed Brent's Deli and I did enjoy the sandwiches. But once somebody told me about Art's I decided to go on Veterans Day.
It should be clear, to readers of The New Diner, that I have the utmost respect for the men and women in our military. Personally I could care less what anybody's opinion about the War on Terror maybe, you have that right to disagree with the war. But what you gutless cowards forget is that you have that right, that freedom because of all the brave men and women in the military. So because of what they do, nobody should ever say anything bad about the brave men and women who are in our military. There is a very special person, who I went to high school with, who has been in the Army since a year after we graduated from high school. So this is personal, when somebody says anything bad about the people in the military, they are saying something bad about her and I will not put up with it.
But it does seem to me that for everything the men and women in the military do and have done for us, having one day to honor them, just doesn't seem to be enough!!
I got half a pastrami and corned beef sandwich, $12.50. I asked the server what is the difference between a half and whole sandwich, she said there is 5oz of meat on the half sandwich and 8oz of meat on the whole sandwich!! I wasn't too hungry and thought $15.50, was a bit pricey for a whole sandwich.
When the sandwich arrived, I was very impressed!!! It was very much like a lot of New York deli's I have been to, Katz's Deli where they stack the meat high on the plate. The quality of meat was very good, even better than Brent's Deli. The corned beef was moist, tender, and full of flavor. The pastrami was awesome, better than the pastrami at Langers. The pastrami was moist, tender, very little fat, well cured, and just so good. The difference is that Langers cuts their pastrami much thicker than other delis. But Art's pastrami is much better. The rye bread was good. Soft and chewy and tough, crunchy crust. The crust wasn't hard as a rock like Langers.
Service was below average. The server was OK but I noticed I didn't get something that other tables got. Other tables got a plate of pickles, I didn't get any pickles. Another server asked me if I wanted a refill on my water, my server. The place wasn't crowded at all. About 10 tables and three servers. So what the hell the server was doing, I have no idea. I will say she was nice.
What was bad was the host. I walked into Art's and there were three young, teenagers at the registers. None of them even said HI, they were too busy talking to each other. I wait there hoping somebody says something to me until I finally said should I seat myself or what? The young girl said "No, I'll seat you." Then get to work stupid. This is just terrible. All three have to be blind or just stupid not to see me. I shouldn't have to ask if I should seat myself. When I got up to pay my bill, the young guy didn't say anything. Even at Denny's they ask "How was everything?" Not here at Art's!!! Terrible.
Overall, I thought the food at Art's was pretty good. But the sandwiches, while they were piled high with good quality meats, were pricey!!! So when you combine high prices with the terrible service, I see no reason to come back.
A friend told me that El Rey has the best tacos and burritos in Chino. She was bragging about how great and cheap everything is at El Rey. So I decided to see for myself. Now I compare all tacos places to Taqueria De Anda because they have great tacos at great prices.
Well first thing I noticed was El Rey's tacos were $2.09. A bit pricey I thought. Ok I haven't been to Taqueria De Anda in over three years and I understand prices have gone up everywhere. But tacos for $2.09? And these tacos weren't that good. The tacos just come with meat, there is a large table of salsa and a few other veggies to top your tacos.
I got the chicken and carnitas tacos. The chicken was very interesting because the were onions and peppers in the chicken, like a fajita. But the chicken was dry, lacked flavor and just not good.
The carnitas tacos was the same; bland and flavorless.
I got a carne asada burrito, $5.99, with beans, rice, clinatro, and a good amount of tough, chewy, carne asada. The carne asada was so tough and chewy, it might as well have been beef jerky. It may have been good when it first came off the grill but it had been sitting on the steam tray for way too long. This burrito was just OK, nothing great and pricey!!
Service was OK. The girl was pretty nice when I got there and looked a the menu. But when I took my order she was a bit standoffish and really a bitch. But then when I was waiting for my food, I asked the cook what meats were on the steam table and he called that young woman over. When I asked what meats were what, she was nice and friendly.
I would not go back to El Rey again. The food is below average and a bit pricey. Give me Taqueria De Anda anytime!!
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Tomato Pie Pizza Joint
