Magic Lamp

Magic Lamp
5020 E. 2nd St.
Long Beach
562-987-3080

I had been to Magic Lamp during Stroll and Savor Belmont Shore. But even though the person serving food at Stroll and Savor was a bitch, I wanted to try Magic Lamp and see how it compares to Open Sesame.

I ordered the Fillet Mignon Kabob Plate, $13.99. The plate includes, rice, hummus, fattoush salad, and pita. The fattoush has lettuce, mint, radish, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and pita chips. This was an interesting combination of flavors. Not my ideal salad but the items were fresh but they need to take out the mint, the mint just overpowered all the other flavors.

The rice was a bit hard, also like they didn't add enough water or the rice had been standing around too long. The hummus was good but hummus isn't something you can really screw up.

But the fillet mignon was not good at all. Very tough, not tender at all. I think this was from the top round/london broil cut. This wasn't anything close to filet. I asked for the beef to be cooked medium rare and it was cooked correctly. Now I know how to spell filet. But they have two LL in their spelling.

Service is below average. It took awhile for the server to refill drinks. She was pretty friendly at first, helpful, answering questions. But what got me was in a not so subtle way, she came to the table and took the bill. Well I hadn't even bothered paying yet. I was busy talking and really hadn't bothered paying. Now there was nobody waiting for a table. Hell it's a Tuesday night. So it's not like she was "losing" any money. So just to be a jerk, I continued to talk and make the server wait. But she got her revenge by taking a long time to pick up the bill, when we finally paid. That's ok we just took it out of her tip.

I would not go back to Magic Lamp again. The food is below average and this is the second time I've experienced bad service. Open Sesame is much better food and any place is going to have better service.

Petrillo's-San Gabriel

Petrillo's Pizza
833 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel
626-280-7332

I love Petrillo's pizza. It's the best pizza in the San Gabriel Valley and one of the best pizza in LA. I already reviewed Petrillo's in Glendora, but I wanted to try the original in San Gabriel.

So I got a medium half pepperoni and half pineapple and Canadian Bacon, $19.50. I didn't have the pineapple and canadian bacon, but I loved the pepperoni!!! The crust is so different. The bottom part is a harder crust, I believe they use some corn meal. But the "upper crust" is soft, watered down by the cheese and pepperoni. They put a ton of cheese and pepperoni!!! The pepperoni is much more spicy than any other pepperoni than I've ever had. But it is so good.

Service is pretty good. We got our pizza in good time. But at times, drinks were slow to be refilled.

I would go back to Petrillo's anytime. There is no difference between the Glendora and San Gabriel locations. Parking can be difficult at the San Gabriel location. I did find parking right in front but Valley is a very busy street.

Bertha's-Closed

Bertha's
1714 W Century Blvd
LA
323-777-3373

The sign and menu says Soul Food since 1965. Bertha's has been on my list of places to try but I've just haven't been able to get down there. But finally I went and I was sorry I took so long to go.

I got the half dinner of the smothered steak with rice and gravy, mac and cheese, and cream corn, $7. The rice and gravy was pretty standard fare. The cream corn was very sweet and tender, among the best I've had. The mac and cheese could have used more cheese but the macaroni was tender and the cheese nicely melted.

The best part though was the smothered steak. This is really pot roast covered with gravy. The pot roast was very well done. But was full of flavor. The also gave you a huge piece of steak for a half order. The gravy was simple brown gravy, maybe even from a mix, but added flavor to the steak. For $7 this is a steal!!! A full order is $13.50.

Service is great. People are friendly, respectful and helpful. A very enjoyable experience.

I would go back to Bertha's anytime. I'm just sorry I took a long time to try it. Good food, good prices and good service.

Uoko

Uoko
17582 E. 17th St
Tustin
714-838-2300

I don't expect Tustin to have any good sushi restaurants. But much to my surprise, I found Uoko. A very good sushi place just east of the 55 freeway.

I got the yellowtail, $3.75, halibut, $3.75, and salmon sushi, $3.75. All the fish were fresh and flavorful. They use good quality fish here.

I got the crunchy roll, $8.50, shrimp tempura, special crab, veggies and a sweet eel sauce. This was very good, with a large shrimp tempura and fresh imitation crab and veggies.

The spider roll, $9.50, with softshell crab, special crab and veggies was awesome. The softshell crab was tasty and fresh. A wonderful combination of textures and flavors.

We sat at the sushi bar and service was very good. Nice friendly sushi chef and server.

I would go back to Uoko. Good quality sushi at good prices. A very nice combination.

Gyu-Kaku-Huntington Beach

Gyu-Kaku
7862 Warner Ave
Huntington Beach
714-842-8333

Japanese BBQ. Much like Korean BBQ, Japanese BBQ is where you cook the meat yourself. Gyu-Kaku has seven locations in the LA/OC area. I went to the Huntington Beach location and came away impressed.

The meats are served al carte and they are a bit pricey. I got the half order of the Kalbi Short rib, $7.95, aburi style ahi tuna, $7.95, and the Yuzu pepper chicken breast, $5.50. They come marinated in a light soy sauce and after you cook them on the grill you can drip them into the sauces they provide. I didn't put any other sauce on the meat.

I posted pictures with how each meat was raw, on the grill, and finally done. The first was the short rib. The ribs are boneless, sliced thin, and cook up really fast. They are marinated in a light soy sauce and topped with green onions. I thought the ribs were nice and tender but even with the marinate, lacked flavor. If I went back I would order another beef item.

I loved the aburi style ahi tuna. This was so nice and flavorful. I cooked the first batch a little too well done but the second batch was perfect. The tuna had a wonderful texture and flavor. This is a good quality ahi tuna they use.

I also loved the yuzu pepper chicken. The yuku pepper is a spicy marinate and wow does this taste great. The chicken is cut basically into cubes, they are thicker than the short ribs and ahi tuna, so they take a little longer on the grill. The spiciness wasn't from the pepper but the yuku which I have no idea what it is, but I really like.

Service is good. The people are nice and friendly and take the time to explain their menu and how Japanese BBQ works.

I would go back to Gyu-Kaku. But I do think they are pricey and the portions can be bigger. If you go with a large group, consider ordering the Prix Fix combos that include rice, salad, and veggies.

Bake N Broil

Bake N Broil
3697 Atlantic Blvd
Long Beach
562-595-0396

I have heard so many good things about Bake and Broil that I finally had to go and try it.

Bake and Broil is down home, comfort food. I got the chicken fried steak, $10.25, with fries and peas. All dinners come with salad. The salad is just standard salad, iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, and tomato. Nice and fresh.

I was looking forward to the chicken fried steak but after the first bite I had wished I ordered something else. Chicken fried steak is suppose to be crunchy, even with country gravy on top. But there was no crunch at all to this. What's worse is that the seasoning of this tasted like shake and bake!!!! The cube steak had the texture of ground beef. On I could have stayed home and made this myself.

No, I didn't eat the entire red velvet cake pictured. But this is a wonderful example of red velvet cake. The entire cake is $23.95 and well worth it. The cake is so moist. The cream cheese frosting is rich but not overpowering. One thing I'm not used to is the walnuts in the cake but they were a nice touch. Save room for this red velvet cake. Believe me you'll love it.

Service was below average. The server was a bit slow in refilling drinks and the silverware didn't come until we asked for it, after she dropped off the salad.

I'm kinda of torn about going back to Bake N Broil. Some of the other items looked great, burgers, salads, breakfast items, that are served all day, and some of the sandwiches. But the chicken fried steak was just plain bad. If I go back I will give a review.

Double O

Double O
20627 Golden Springs Dr
Diamond Bar
909-595-0990

I'm not a big fan of Korean food. The food is ok but the prices are very high and I don't think they food is the worth price. I couldn't decide where to go for lunch and I picked Double O, a Korean restaurant.

I got the marinated Korean BBQ, $14.99. This is bulgugi or marinated beef. But instead of me cooking the beef at my table, they cook it for me. The first thing I noticed is that the beef is not hot. It's warm but not hot and after waiting a long time after ordering I figure the beef would come out pippin hot. The beef was pretty tough and not tender, even if it was sliced very thinly. Koreans use a sweet marinate with soy sauce, seasame oil, and honey. The marinate isn't overwhelming but it doesn't stand out either.

Service is poor. The lady who I think is the owner didn't even walk me to the table. She said just pointed to a table in the back. I realize she was busy serving everybody but come on. Then she didn't bring water after I asked for water. She never came back to ask how the food was. I had to ring the bell on the wall to ask for service. Which she never mentioned. I just happened to turn and get some chop sticks and saw the Ring for Service Bell.

I would not go back to Double O again. What a rip off. $14.99 for a pile of second rate beef? It was a decent sized portion but I could get two beef dishes at a Chinese restaurant for that price. I should just save my money and time and not go to any Korean restaurants.

Hokkiado

Hokkiado
3030 Cherry Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90807
562-989-1898

I had some high hopes for Hokkiado Seafood Buffet. But from the moment I walked into the place, I knew my hopes were going to be dashed. There was just this weird smell. I can't really discribe it but it wasn't want I expected.

Hokkiado charges $14.99 for their dinner buffet. Again the key for buffets is for a high turnover in food and for the food to be replaced quickly.

The first picture has beef from the teppanyaki grill and sliced roast beef. The best part of meal for me was the teppanyaki grill . The beef was marinated in soy sauce and some spices. The beef is about the size of your palm and is in half inch thick portions. The best part is, you can take as much as you like. The grillmasters did a great job cooking the beef. The beef was tender and juicy. Again the best part of the meal. They also have pork and shrimp at the teppanyaki grill.

What was not good was the sliced roast beef. First of all, it's orange!!! WTF?? I took one bite and didn't touch the rest. This was so tough and chewy, I thought I was eating beef jerky. They need to slow cook that roast beef. I did notice some people asking the teppanyaki grillmasters to cook the roast beef a little more. But I wouldn't go anywhere near the roast beef again.

The teppanyaki grill also serves as a Mongolian BBQ. I got noodles with broccoli, onions, mushrooms and snap peas. The grillmasters will put soy sauce onto the noodles for you. The noodles were great, especially when topped with the beef.

Now the hot food. When I went, there were a lot of people having dinner. But for whatever reason there was a very slow turnover rate on the hot food. Some of the food on the steamtable looked disgusting. There were a few I wanted to try but they looked so bad on the tray, I didn't touch them.

So I took three hot food items that looked half way decent. Spicy shrimp, black pepper chicken and fried coconut shrimp. The spicy shrimp was OK. Nothing great about it. They were fairly big pieces of shrimp and about as hot as a medium salsa.

The black pepper chicken had a lot of flavor. But the chicken itself was too chewy, full of fat and just bad. The tender piece was full of black pepper flavor. If I could have gotten piece of good quality chicken this would have been a good dish.

The coconut fried shrimp was ok. The coconut really overpowers the taste. The shrimp is butterflied but is small, lot of batter and fillers.

The shrimp cocktail is OK. The shrimp wasn't all that fresh. The cocktail sauce was basically ketchup.

The second best part of the meal was the crab legs. They are snow crab legs but they are meaty and not salty at all. Many places that server snow crab use such a salty brine to steam the crab it ruins the taste. But these crab legs were not salty at all. They were great. What I didn't like about the crab legs was the loooooooooooooong wait for them. I stood in front of the crab legs at the steam table and the lady filled FOUR, FOUR other trays before she refilled the crab. This while the line for crab legs was five deep. Nice.

Table service was good. Though at times she was a bit slow refilling drinks. But the plates were cleared quickly. The teppanyaki grillmasters were great. They put on a show and it's fun to see without having to pay the high prices.

But the steam table service was bad. Again they can't help the slow turnover rate of the food. But they can refill the food much faster. There is no excuse for waiting in line for crab legs.

Also for a buffet billed as a seafood buffet, I didn't see a lot of seafood. Some shrimp, some scallops, crab legs, but nothing overwhelming, about the same as any other regular Chinese buffet.

I would not go back to Hookiado again. There are many other seafood buffets that serve better seaffood and offer more variety of seafood, including West Coast Seafood Buffet.

Yoko Yoko Sushi & Roll-Closed

Yoko Yoko
1261 S Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
(909) 860-4000

If the building, address, and phone number are familiar they are. What used to be Rendino's is now Yoko Yoko Sushi. Opened for about a month this place had a steady flow of people coming in for dinner.

Pictured is the cut yellowtail roll, $5.75. I had ordered the sushi, not the cut roll but I was ok with the roll. I prefer the sushi, because they are smaller and have less rice. This roll was pretty good. The yellowtail was fresh and I did like the texture combination of the rice, seaweed wrap and yellowtail.

The cut tuna roll, $3.80. I thought this was very small and would have much preferred the tuna sushi. I didn't think the tuna was all that fresh and very mushy. Not good.

The halibut sushi, $4.95. I thought this was great. Very fresh, very tasty and well made.

Service was below average. After I was seated she came by and asked "What would you like to order?" Don't all servers ask "What would you like to drink?" first? I said I would like "Ice tea, please." She then said "Oh, what would you like to drink?" Maybe she's hasn't been trained well. Maybe they are going through growing pains. Maybe she just doesn't have a clue. But this has to improve.

She screwed up the sushi order, giving me cut rolls instead of regular sushi. I had to wait a long time for refills, the server was rarely came around to the table. I was waiting to place another order for sushi. She was nice and pleasant but she isn't well trained or just doesn't care.

I don't think I would go back to Yoko Yoko again. The sushi is pretty good. But a bit on the pricey side. The server is lacking and needs much improvement.

Red Robin- Chino Hills

Red Robin-Chino Hills
3903 Grand Ave
Chino
909-591-7909

I got an email after reviewing The Counter saying that Red Robin has just as good burgers. I haven't been to Red Robin in a very long time and I wanted to see if it was true.

So I head over to the Chino Hills' Red Robin. I get a seat in the bar and then try the burger.

I ordered the Red Robin Bacon Cheeseburger, $8.99, with jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. This was an very good tasting, juicy burger. I was very impressed. There were three big pieces of great tasting smoked bacon. The veggies were fresh. The bun was perfectly toasted. What a surprise and what a treat. I very good burger. One of the best burgers I've had. Better than The Counter? Yes. If you made a similiar burger at The Counter, the Red Robin burger is better because they use a better quality beef and they actually cook it right.

I forgot to mention that the burgers come with all you can eat steak fries. The fries are cut thick and are cooked all the way through. This doesn't happen all the time with steak fries. I only had the helping for fries with the burgers. But I was impressed. Thanks to oski from making that comment.


Service was pretty good. As mentioned earlier, I sat at the bar. The bartender was the jack of all trades. She served as hostess, server and busboy. But other than waiting awhile for a refill on drinks, I thought she was good. Nice, friendly and helpful.

I would go back to Red Robin again. As most readers of The New Diner know I'm not a big fan of chain restaurants. But Red Robin makes a great burger, not only for a chain but for any restaurant.

Gin Sushi

Gin Sushi
3589 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena
626-440-9611

For some reason Gin Sushi is very popular. When I got there, about 6:30pm on a Friday, it was about 75% full. By the end of dinner, 8:30pm, there was a line going out the door. Maybe it's the cheap prices but with sushi, and most other things, you get what you pay for.

I ordered the Yellow tail, $2.95, Crab, $2.95, and tuna, $3.25, sushi. All the fish were mushy and not all that fresh. The fish didn't smell but it wasn't fresh either. I wasn't impressed at all. The crab sushi was imitation crab, not real crab and that wasn't fresh. All the sushi was below average and even though the prices were good, not worth the price.

I decide to try the crunchy roll, $7.95, shrimp tempura, crab meat and avocado. This was ok with huge pieces of shrimp tempura. The shrimp tempura was crunchy and tasty. The crab meat was fresh, maybe the only thing that was fresh. Well worth the price.

Service was also below average. I waited a long time for refills. The server wasn't around and/or didn't come by the table for long periods of time. While it was busy, it wasn't that busy.

I would not go back to Gin Sushi again. Yes, the prices are good. But the quality of the sushi is below average. I'd much rather go to a chain like Kabuki, down the street, than go back to Gin Sushi.