Ani's Chicken

Ani's Chicken
528 Montebello Blvd.
Montebello
323-888-0750

Kebobs in Montebello. As I've said in other reviews, I was surprised to see so many kebob places in Montebello, a mostly Hispanic area. Ani's is one of the better kebob places. If only their service was better.

I ordered the chicken breast kebob, $7.39 and the combo kebob with beef and chicken kebobs. All plates included rice and salad and hummus. The hummus is great.

The chicken breast was awesome. Full of flavor and tender and juicy. Some chicken kebobs can be dry but Ani's did this chicken breast right. Oh so good.

The beef kebob was also good. The beef was pretty tender and it was also full of flavor. I did take off the onions, I think they would have overwhelmed the flavor of the beef.

The only thing about Ani's is the service. The punk kid who took my order was rude and just a plain jerk. I asked him how many skewers come with each kebob plate. He said like it shows in the picture. Well I didn't see the damn picture. Plus a picture doesn't tell me much. Why he couldn't say two skewers come with each plate, is beyond me. Many the punk kid is too stupid? When my to go, order was ready he just handed the bag to me. There were no, thank you or anything. This punk kid needs to learn customer service.

I'm not sure if I would go back to Ani's. Yes the food is great. But the service just sucks. They need to learn how to treat customers.

Robin's BBQ-Closed

Robin's BBQ
395 Rosemead
Pasadena
626-351-8885

Robin's BBQ. There are many differing opinions about Robin's. Some people think it's among the best BBQ places in LA. Others feel it's bad BBQ. I am with the bad BBQ crowd.

I ordered the spareribs, (Big shock, I know) for $17.95. The ribs had some smoke flavor but nothing great. The ribs had way too much fat. I don't think they were smoked but grilled over hickory wood. The BBQ sauce was about as good as KC Masterpiece from the bottle.

Service is good. Our server greeted us promptly. He took our order and was friendly. After our meals arrived he made sure we had anything we needed. He also came back and asked how our meal was going. Our drinks were always filled.

But even with good service, the food just isn't that good and on the pricey side.

Update April 20, 2009.




I went back to Robin's and got the hot wings, $7.95 and the Garbage Can Combo, $29.95. The combo includes beef ribs, spare ribs, and baby back ribs, hot link, chicken and tri tip.

The wings are pretty good. Meaty, fried well. But I thought they just topped the hot sauce on top of the wings, instead of blending the sauce together. There were some wings that did not have sauce and others that had a ton of sauce.

Now the garbage can combo was great. I shared with a friend and we still had leftovers!!!

(2) Spare ribs. I was really impressed with the spare ribs. Lots of smoke flavor, meaty, not much fat. A much better example of BBQ ribs this time.

(2) Beef ribs. These beef ribs had the most amount of meat I have ever had. The meat was tender, well smoked, and not fatty at all. Maybe one of the best examples of BBQ beef ribs, I have ever had.

(4) Baby back ribs. Nice and meaty, not fat, good smoke flavor. They are babybacks after all.

We got four slices of tri tip, which very tender and with little fat. I really liked the tri tip here.

I didn't touch the chicken, I was so full after this meal.

Again a much better experience here at Robin's. This garbage can combo is the best value at Robin's.

Now would I come back? Maybe. Why? When a restaurant is inconsistent with their BBQ, I am not sure if I will go back. But I did enjoy this visit to Robins.

Village Pizzeria

Village Pizzeria
131 Larchmont
LA
323-465-5566

One of the best things about LA is that you can find almost any kind of food, from any part of the world. I used to be a big fan of Chicago style pizza. But while I still like a good Chicago style pizza, I think my favorite style of pizza is the New York style. This has nothing to do with my girlfriend being from New York. It's just a matter of enjoy the simpliest form of food.

I have found the best NY style pizza place, west of New York. It's in Larchmont Village section of LA. Village Pizzeria is the best. The pizza is just soo damn good. You can order pizza by the slice or an entire pie. Plain slices are $$1.75 and with one topping is $2.25. I got one plain slice and one with pepperoni.

The first thing you will notice about the pizza is the size. It's huge. Bigger than Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner's egos combined. The two slices are about as big as some places medium and large pizza. I folded the plain slice and took a bite into heaven. What a great pizza. The cheese was so gooey, the crust was crispy yet chewy, a perfect combination. The sauce was tangy and added great flavor to the pizza.

The pepperoni slice was filled with pepperoni that was spicy and flavorful. They improved heaven when they added the pepperoni.

Service is very good. You get greeted right as you enter the restaurant. The people are friendly and attentive. They come around and make sure you have everything you want.

I would and have gone back to Village Pizzeria. It is by far the best NY style pizza place west of NYC. Of course the only thing about going to a NY style pizza place is that you maybe surrounded by Yankee and Met fans. Booooooooooooo.


Update Nov 19, 2008.



I went back to Village Pizzeria and ordered a large pepperoni, $18. Awesome just awesome. I took the picture of the pizza after about a 45 drive home from Village Pizzeria. They opened a new location in Hollywood, I may have to give that location a try!! This is the best NY style pizza in LA. Don't waste your time anywhere else.

Grand Central Market Mongolian BBQ-Closed

Mongolian BBQ at Grand Central Market
317 Broadway
LA
213-687-3988

Grand Central Market offers a wide variety of choices for your dining pleasure. I think of the best deals at the Grand Central Market is the Mongilian BBQ.

Pictured is the BBQ mix for $5. All that food for $5!!! You can't beat it. The BBQ mix has shrimp sticks, chicken sticks, bbq short ribs, and Hong Kong chicken, with white rice and veggies. They cook all the meats when you order them on a grill. The shrimp were a bit overcooked. The chicken sticks were tender and flavorful. The short ribs were great. Tender, with little fat and flavored with some kind of soy sauce mix and grilled just right. The Hong Kong chicken is also flavorful. The chicken was white meat chicken.

Service is pretty good but business like.

I would go back to the Mongolian BBQ anytime. Good food at a great price set in a historic location, can't be beat.

J & S

J&S
887 Garfield
Montebello
323-725-8106

Driving on the 60 freeway going to LA, I've must have passed by J & S tons of times. I finally decided to give them a try. J & S was probably started as a burger stand and as the area and ownership changed, they added Mexican items.

I got the meat burrito for $3.25 and the cheeseburger for $2.70. The beef burrito was filled with shredded beef. It reminded me of sloppy joe's with shredded instead of grounded beef. The burrito had just the right spices and was very good. Better than some Mexican restaurants I've been to.

The cheeseburger was pretty average. Nothing outstanding about it. The burger was dry and lacked any flavor. The burger patty was also very thin and considering the price, not worth it.

Service is slow. The people are nice and take your order quickly. But they don't speak much English and it would help if you knew Spanish. But it takes forever to get your food after placing your order. You could go get gas at the corner and come back and still have time to call listen to the over the hill Vin Scully making one of his hundreds of errors while calling a Dodger game.

I would go back to J & S but I would stick to the Mexican fare. The burrito are great. The burgers leave a lot to be desired.

Hong Kong Palace-Closed

Hong Kong Palace
19101 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights
626-854-9829

My mom and my girlfriend. The two women I love the most, finally meet. Since both of them know me, it wasn't awkward for them to see me take pictures during our meal.

My mom will order more than enough food when going to dinner and this was no exception. We ordered six items for three people!!

Dry scallop with mushroom soup is the first picture. If you have been in any Chinese grocery store you have seen dried scallops. Well Hong Kong Palace put them in a soup. Very good and tasty.

Shrimp with spicy salt is the second picture. Now some people may not like getting their hands dirty peeling the shrimp but this shrimp is worth it. Very good, with this spicy salt adding a lot of flavor to the shrimp. Some people will eat the head. I don't.

Baked crab with ginger and green onion is the next picture. WOW just a great dish. They cut up the crab and put a ginger sauce and green onion. The crab is so good. Of course this is a messy dish but worth the time.

Pan fried string beans with minced meat is next up. The meat is chicken and the string beans are cooked until they are nice and crispy. A nice flavorful dish.

Chicken szechuan style was great. A nice, spicy chicken. I find it like a combination of orange chicken and kung pao chicken.

The last dish was seafood combination over pan fried noodles. Most of the seafood was shrimp and the noodles were very crispy. This dish would have been great with soft, chow mein noodles.

The entire meal was about $80.

Service was good. Though you do get the feel, as in many Chinese restaurants, of being rushed after you finished eating.

I would go back to Hong Kong Palace anytime. Good food and good prices. They also have lunch specials during the week that would be worth checking out.

Update July 12, 2009




Hong Kong Special Crab, $27. This is different than the baked crab with ginger and green onion. The Hong Kong special crab has a lot more seasonings like red pepper, ginger, garlic, and onions. This was more spicy and flavorful than the ginger and green onion. But it was still good with the crab being nice and sweet.

Sweet and Sour Chinese BBQ ribs, $8.99. The server said this was the way to go. This was OK, a bit too sweet for my tastes. The spare ribs were a bit tough but had nice flavor. I don't think I would order this again.

Fried squid, $7.95. This is basically Chinese style calamari. A bit salty but otherwise nice and crunchy and fresh calamari, which means it wasn't chewy at all.

The one thing I noticed about Hong Kong Palace was the dinner portions are smaller than other Chinese restaurants. But the prices are reasonable and the food is good.

Lawry's

Lawry's
100 N. La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
310-652-2827

Lawry's!!! I've lived in LA since 1978 and I have never been to Lawry's. I finally go to Lawry's and I would gladly return. Lawry's is famous for their prime rib and if you go to Lawry's you have to order the prime rib. The prime rib dinner includes their salad, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, and whipped horseradish.

The first picture is of Lawry's famous original spinning bowl salad. The salad has mixed greens, shredded beets, chopped egg, croutons and our exclusive Vintage Dressing. Now I hate beets but you can't have the salad any other way. But I was very surprised at how great this salad was. Though the dressing was a bit overwhelming, they could cut back on the amount of dressing on the salad. All ingredients were fresh.

The next picture is the famous stainless steel carts they serve the prime rib in. I ordered the "Beef Bowl" cut of prime rib with their creamed corn. The "Beef Bowl" cut is given to the two teams that play in the Rose Bowl. The "Beef Bowl" is a contest to see which team eats the most prime rib. When Wisconsin came to the Rose Bowl a few years back, Aaron Gibson, an offensive lineman, who was about 340lbs. ate 13, beef bowl cuts!!!! 13!!!!!!!

The prime rib was tender and juicy but there was a lot of fat on the rib. I was surprised at the amount of fat on the rib. I would think Lawry's would have more lean prime rib. But I wouldn't let the fat get in my way of enjoying the prime rib. One of the better prime rib I've had.

The creamed corn is so sweet and tasty. A perfect addition to the prime rib.

My girlfriend ordered the broiled lobster tail. I had a couple bites of the lobster tail and they were tender and flavorful.

Service was very good. But one thing they do not tell you, is that the corn is $5 extra. It does not come with the prime rib dinner. But our server was very nice and helpful. The man who cut the prime rib was also nice, he allowed me to take a picture of the cart.

I would go back to Lawry's. Though I thought the prime rib wasn't the leanest, I've had, it was among the best I've had. I talked to other people who had been to Lawry's and they have gotten lean cuts of prime rib. I'm glad I finally got a chance to go to Lawry's.

Natas

Natas
13317 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks
818-788-8050

I found out about Natas from The Pleasure Palate. Natas is a Portuguese bakery. They have some great pastries, cakes, and cookies.

The first picture is a Folhado de Salscha - puff pastry filled chicken sausage. Awesome. Very flakey and tasty.

The second picture has Pasteis de Bacalhau, $2.00, which is cod cakes, rissois, creamy shrimp and crab, $2.00. Both are breaded and fried and damn tasty.

Service was good. They are helpful, they answered all my questions and friendly.

I was very impressed with the freshness and taste of the Portuguese pastries. I would go back anytime.

Heroes-Claremont

Heroes
131 Yale Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
909-621-6712

If I lived in Claremont, I would have to pay rent to Hero's since I would be there so much. They serve good quality food in large portions at good prices.

Pictured is the shrimp cesar salad. First and foremost, they give you a ton of shrimp, romaine lettuce and dressing. I couldn't finish this meal. The shrimp served cold, is tender and flavorful. The romaine lettuce is fresh and crisp. I love the dressing, not as overpowering as some other cesar dressing.

Service is very good. They come around so often, you almost want to tell them leave me alone. Hero's has what I call a community server. All servers can and will help you. I had one server take my drink order, another take my order for the salad, and yet another server give me the bill. All were nice, friendly and helpful. I was never lacking for anything.

Hero's is one of the best restaurants around. Good quality food, great service and just a great place to have dinner or have a drink. I would go back anytime.

Joe Peeps

Joe Peeps
14450 Whittier Blvd
Whittier
562-945-9691

WOW, WOW, WOW. I eat so much pizza and I love pizza, that it takes a great pizza to WOW me. Well Joe Peeps pizza did just that.

Pictured is a large pepperoni pizza for $16.33. The pizza at Joe Peeps has tons and tons of cheese and pepperoni. That pizza was heavy when I got it. It must have been five pounds. The cheese was melted and gooie. The pepperoni was nice and spicy. You could not take a bite and not get a large piece of pepperoni.

Service is good. The people are nice and friendly when taking your order. I heard they original location is in the Valley. If I'm out that way I would gladly give that location a try.

I would go back to Joe Peeps at anytime. I loved their pizza and was very impressed with the amount of cheese and toppings they put on their pizza.

NYC Seafood

NYC Seafood
715 Garvey Ave
Monterey Park
626-289-9898

My girlfriend loves lobster and I wanted her to try lobster from a Chinese restaurant. I've heard good things about NYC Seafood and nice my girlfriend is from New York City, I thought it would make a good dining experience.

We ordered the hot and sour soup, $8.45. Very good stuff with lots of tofu and mushrooms. I think this was the perfect combination of hot, about medium, and sour.

Next came the lobster. We just had the lobster steamed and dipped it in drawn butter. The lobster was tender and flavorful. I enjoyed every bite. But one thing, they bring a live lobster to your table and tell you how many pounds it weighs. Our lobster was about 3 pounds, which looked huge live. But when they brought it to our table it was less than impressive. I'm all about the food. I don't care that much about presentation. But this time the presentation of the lobster was terrible. It would have looked much better if they gave us the entire lobster. Lobster is basically $13 a pound.

The last picture is shrimp fried rice, $7.95. The shrimp were big but there weren't that many in the rice. The rice was basically mixed with some green onions and cooked in oil. There wasn't much to the fried rice. The shrimp is just folded into the rice. Nothing special.

Service was good. They were attentive and provided us quick service.

I would not go back to NYC Seafood, since in Monterey Park there are many other Chinese seafood restaurants to try. The food isn't bad but there's nothing really that outstanding about it.

Wok Express

Wok Express
15330 Amar Rd
La Puente
626-937-6578

Wok Express is a Panda Express type Chinese restaurant. I wanted to try something new in the area and so I decided to go to Wok Express. I ordered the two item combo, teriyaki chicken and chicken and broccoli with fried rice and chow mein, for $4.75.

Both the rice and chow mein was standard fare you get from any Chinese fast food places. Nothing special about them. The teriyaki chicken was very dry and even the teri yaki sauce didn't help either the dryness or the flavor.

The chicken and broccoli was the best item but that's not saying much consider the other three items weren't anything great. The chicken was tender and flavorful and the gravy was very tasty.

Service was OK. It was very business like.

I would not go back to Wok Express. Nothing outstanding about the food.

Buffet Dynasty-Closed

Buffet Dynasty
10877 Foothill Blvd,
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
909-945-5748

After shopping at the Ontario Mills Mall one day I drove down Foothill Blvd and found Buffet Dynasty. I figured I would try it and see what they had to offer. I went for lunch, $7.99. I waited longer than it should take to be seated. Not sure why the hold up, there were tons of tables open but I was seated and ready to eat. The one thing I noticed about Buffet Dynasty was that it didn't have much variety. A lot of chicken dishes, one or two beef and pork dishes, and one seafood dish. So the $7.99 maybe a little higher than other Chinese buffets that offer a wider menu.

Picture is the fried rice, teriyaki chicken and black pepper chicken. The fried rice was standard, with peas and carrots. Nothing special but not bad either. Both the teriyaki and black pepper chicken were left on the steam table for way too long. They are hard and crusty. Not a good way to start off. I left most of the first batch on the plate and waited until they put in a new batch. The new batch took awhile, the turnover rate is very slow here, but it wasn't worth the wait. The teriyaki chicken was dry and flavorless. The sauce added a little flavor but nothing much. The black pepper chicken had lots of flavor but the chicken was just too dry and overcooked.

Mongolian BBQ with chicken. The

Sushi, California roll, spicy California roll topped with salmon, and crab salad.

Beef and broccoli.

Seasame chicken and tangerine chicken and shrimp roll with sweet rice.