Little London Fish & Chips-Closed

Little London Fish & Chips
19 S Garfield Ave Ste A
Alhambra
626-282-4477

In my quest to find good fish and chips, I have searched far and wide. I found my favorite at England Fish and Chips in Long Beach. I passed by Little London Fish & Chips recently and thought I would give it a try. New London isn't too far from, New England Fish & Chips.

It's funny but I must have passed by New London so many times, since I've gone to Cuban Bistro, 38 Degree Ale House, and Tony Roma's, but I've never noticed it until last weekend.




I don't need the fries so I ordered two pieces of fish, $1.01 each, and two pieces of shrimp, .65 cents each. The fish are pollock, not as good as cod but it can be good if done right. Little London isn't good. The fish is just frozen pieces of fish. Nothing is fresh. There is so much batter on the fish, you need a microscope to find the fish. I would bet the ratio was 70% batter to 30% fish, unreal!!! The batter was thick, heavy, crunchy and greasy. They need to turn up the temp on that fryer.

The shrimp was butterflied and had a nice batter. But the shrimp didn't taste fresh, as if had been in the freezer too long. I wasn't impressed at all.

Service was good. Nice and friendly people.

To call Little London, a fish and chips place, would be a mistake. It is more of a general restaurant. They have a ton of sandwiches and even an "Oriental" menu that includes teriyaki. The owners are Koreans and are planning some new changes. They need to change the name because their fish and chips just aren't cutting it.

There is no reason for me to go back to Little London Fish & Chips, again.

Dumpling Master-Closed

Dumpling Master
2124 S Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights
626-369-3788

When searching for the best Battle Xiao Long Bao in LA, Dumpling Master came highly recommended. I did a little research and found one in Hacienda Heights. They have another location in Monterey Park.

As readers of The New Diner know, Mei Long Village is my standard bearer. But a recent trip back to Jin Jian improved their ranking. Din Tai Fung is the restaurant that is known for their XLB's but I'm not a big fan.



Scallion pie, $2.95. This was thin pieces of dough that had about two scallions per piece. A little greasy, though nicely fried. I wasn't impressed.




The xiao long bao are listed as mini steamed pork buns, $5.75. This was wonderful. Very good but not as good as Mei Long Village. A thin skin, hot flavorful juice and nicely seasoned pork. A very good example of XLB.




Pork pan fried dumplings, $5.75, pot stickers. This had no flavor at all. The skin was overcooked as you can see, very tough, chewy and so bland. I would not order this again.

Service was much like the taste of difference between the XLB and pot stickers. The lady was pretty rude and unfriendly. The man was nice and friendly. The lady never brought the water we asked for. The man was quick to please and got us anything we needed. The lady was too busy talking to a family she knew to bother helping us.

I would go back to Dumpling Master because the XLB were very good. But the other two items I got weren't good at all. I saw some regular Chinese dishes that looked pretty good and I may go back to try those. I guess you gotta take the lady with a grain of salt.

Zucca Ristorante-Closed

Zucca Ristorante
801 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles
213-614-7800

I went to Zucca in October of 2006. But I didn't have my camera at the time. I thought Zucca was overpriced and I didn't want to go back. In October 2006, I didn't know that Zucca is part of the overrated, overpriced Patina Group, that includes two restaurants that I have already reviewed; Pinot Grill, and Kendall's Brasserie. By 2007 I knew all about the overpriced, very average food of all Patina Group restaurants.

So with the help of a very nice Yelper, Edna T, who allowed me to use her photo, I am now doing a review of Zucca. In case you're wondering, no, I didn't go off of memory; I saved a review about the food and service, though I didn't write down the price of the food. Also, a note to assholes on Yelp, who steal pictures that are copyright, I asked Edna T., and she granted me permission to use the picture. I just didn't steal the picture and use them. You can learn from me, you assholes.

So here is my review of Zucca based on a visit in October of 2006.

Photo Courtesy of Edna T, a good Yelper.

I got the lasagna, I believe it was $17 in 2006, it was at least $15, for sure. The lasagna was very average, they say they use three kinds of cheese and ground beef and pork. The pasta was cooked to just right, the cheese was melted a golden brown, and the sauce was a bit sweet. The portion size is good, not huge but then again not small. The lasagna pictured is about the portion size I got.

Again this is something I could get for about half the price, at any local pizza place.

Service was good back in October of 2006. The servers were friendly and attentive. But I actually tried taking pictures at Zucca's before a game at Staples Center back in Feb. 2009. I walked into the restaurant and sat a the bar, but wasn't greeted at all. Nobody said anything to me. I would have bought a drink but nobody greeted me. Very rude service by the host and female bartender. I asked the servers if I could take a picture and they were nice but nobody ordered the damn lasagna.

There is no reason for me to go back to any Patina Group restaurants. When you hear Patina Group, you know it will be very average, overpriced food. Plus by not being greeted or even approached, why put up with terrible service.

Frisella's Roastery-Closed

Frisella's Roastery
1351 Foothill Blvd
La Verne
909-593-1137

I must have driven past Frisella's Roastery a million times. Frisella's is just across the street from Tasty Goody, Mr. Fish & Chips, and Red Devil Pizza.

I thought it would be an oven cooked, fake BBQ place. But I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and taste of the ribs.




Frisella's had a pork rib dinner special, with two sides for $9.99. I got a side salad, which they count as two sides. When I looked at the size of the side salad, I was more than happy with it.

The ribs are grilled smoked over red oak and mesquite wood. The oak wood isn't overpowering, which is good. There was a light smoke flavor, nothing overpowering. There wasn't any rub except for a ton of black pepper. A nice smoke ring, not much fat and pretty tender ribs. Not the best but good, solid ribs.

I barely touched the side salad, filled with romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded cheese, onions and crutons, but it was fresh and tasty.

Service was below average. The server was the only server working, there were about ten people total in the entire restaurant. He wasn't friendly, he didn't come around too often, he never bothered asking how the food was, he needs to be retrained on how to be a server.

I wouldn't go back to Frisella's because of the poor service. I can't believe Frisella's has been in business for 16 years, with such poor service.

Chef Tim's with Spices-Closed

Chef Tim's with Spices
10431 Lemon Ave
Suite H
Rancho Cucamonga
909-466-8211

Anybody remember The New Diner's review of Gerald Willhite's Spices BBQ? About two years later Willhite's Spices was bought out and replaced with Chef Tim's with Spices. So I figured I would Chef Tim's a try. Chef Tim's is more a soul food restaurant than BBQ.



I wanted to get an order of pork spare ribs but they ran out. I later found out that the day's batch of pork spare ribs were overcooked and the owner didn't want serve customers bad ribs. I can understand that. I wasn't happy because, I drove out there just for pork ribs and it was late enough in the day that he could have smoked another batch of ribs.

So I did the next best thing, get an order of rib tips, $8.56, with hush puppies and steak fries. Rib tips come from spare ribs. The "tips" are cut off, usually after being smoked, and the long bones are then called St. Louis ribs.

The rib tips had a very heavy oak smoke flavor. Now, as a general rule, I don't like oak wood to be used for BBQ. Why? Oak can be overpowering and had an earthy flavor to the meat. The rib tips are going to be fatty, that's just the nature of the rips. But I wasn't impressed with the rib tips and I really doubt if I would like the ribs.

The hush puppies were great!!! Nice and crispy on the outside and warm, and flavorful on the inside. The steak fries were great too. Crispy on the outside, nice and soft on the inside!!

Service is very good. The people are friendly and helpful.

I wouldn't go back to Chef Tim's for the BBQ. Is Chef Time's better than Willhite's? Yes, but Willhite's is hardly a standard bearer. Would I go to Chef Tim's for soul food? Maybe. But, for me, unless the BBQ is done right, I just don't like BBQ smoked with oak wood.

Mikey's Sports Bar-Closed

Mikey's Sports Bar
3159 Yorba Linda Blvd
Fullerton
714-528-9150

Mikey's Sports Bar. If I'm not mistaken Mikey's used to be a pizza place and they expanded and became a sports bar. I went to Mikey's awhile ago and had a sandwich and I thought it was pretty good. I saw they had a special on their NY pizza, 2 for $14.95, so I decided to give Mikey's another try. As you walk into Mikey's, you are greeted with a "What do you want?" sign in the window.



I got the sausage pizza. This isn't true NY pizza. The dough is much thicker than good NY pizza. The dough was more bread like than the crispy NY pizza. But it comes close enough and the price is right. The sauce was just a mild flavor sauce, there was nothing special about the sauce at all. The sausage was ok but the certainly could have put more on the pizza. The pizza is 18 inches and I doubt there were more than 8oz of sausage on the pizza, some slices only had two or three pieces of sausage.



The second pizza was topped with mushrooms. This pizza was very wattery. Which gives me the idea that the mushrooms were frozen!! In contrast to the sausage pizza, there was a ton of mushrooms on this pizza. The same crust and sauce. But I'm not a fan of the mushrooms. Too salty, too mushy and just plain bad.

Service was below average. There are actually two entrances for Mikey's, one a sports bar at the corner, and the regular restaurant a few doors down. I went into the restaurant part and the lady there told me, I could order a pizza on the other sports bar side. I go the sports bar side and the bartender is busy and I didn't get help until I was standing there for five minutes. There was somebody who worked in the kitchen and he just ignored me. The bartender was nice and everything but I shouldn't have had to wait that long for service.

The pizza at Mikey's is better than any chain pizza place, but that isn't saying it a great pizza. I think Mikey's pizza are a good value, two large, 18in pizzas for about $16, you can't beat that. I think the pizza are between 6-7 on a scale of 1-10.

Happy Wok

Happy Wok
3160 North Garey Ave
Pomona
909-593-8810

The New Diner has visited many fast food style Chinese restaurants. Sure they aren't "real" Chinese food but many do offer good solid Americanized Chinese food. I have noticed that areas with a large Latino population have a lot of the fast food style Chinese restaurants.

I found Happy Wok while driving north on Garey Ave. I was hungry and wanted something fast.



I got the two item combo, with all chow mein and teriyaki chicken and Chinese BBQ pork, $6.20. I got the chow mein because the fried rice, looked as if it had been on the steam table for ten hours; dry, burnt, and just nasty looking.

The chow mein was barely acceptable. It was greasy, not that flavorful and hardly had anything in there, other than noodles. There were some cabbage and that's it. The noodles were cooked perfectly but just needed some flavor.

The Chinese BBQ pork was OK. Some pieces were a bit dry, since they were sitting on the steam table for too long and other pieces had a little too much fat on them.

The teriyaki chicken was a joke. They cooked up thin pieces of chicken, with half the chicken being skin, and then cooked and left on the steam table. The chicken was so bland and flavorless.

Service was good. The lady taking the order was nice and friendly.

I would not go to Happy Wok again.

Ragin Cajun Cafe-Closed

Ragin Cajun Cafe
422 Pier Ave
Hermosa Beach
310-376-7878

I had high hopes for Ragin Cajun Cafe. I heard they had some of the best Cajun food around. But I should have known that any place in snobby pretentious Hermosa Beach would be overrated. Bland isn't a word for Cajun food. Cajun food means lots of spices and flavors. I got nothing but bland food at Ragin Cajun.



Half and half shrimp: half fried shrimp and half shrimp etouffee, $14. The shrimp was very good. A light batter, which was crispy not crunchy covering a tender flavorful shrimp. I liked this and would have enjoyed this in a po boy but they do not server po boys during dinner time.

I didn't like the etouffee at all. So bland, I reached for the salt shaker and I never touch the salt shaker. The shrimp was nice and tender but everything else lacked flavor. Ok I've never had etouffee before but I've had Cajun and Cajun food is full of flavor. This etouffee had no flavor at all.

Service was below average. Yes it was a busy Saturday night but the service was slow; we didn't get refills for a long time, the server never bothered to come over and ask how everything was. Then my pet peeve the server asked "Do you need change?" Servers!!! Stop being lazy and the next time you take the cash for the bill, say "I will be right back with your change."

Average food and below average service means, I wouldn't bother going back to Ragin Cajun Cafe again.

Zuzu Chicken-Closed

Zuzu Chicken 1808 E Rt 66 Glendora 626-335-4555 The New Diner hasn't had much luck with the city of Glendora, most of the restaurants I've tried in Glendora, have closed!! I found Zuzu Chicken while looking for a Hungry Howie's Pizza location in Glendora. Zuzu Chicken is in the same plaza as China King Buffet, which has closed!! Chicken kebob plate, $7.49, with rice pilaf, salad, and hummus. The chicken, all dark meat, was nice and flavorful and well cooked. The spices were a mild flavor, nothing overpowering. I thought for the price, you got a good amount of chicken. But what I didn't like was the small portion of the rice. It mean a few ounces of rice for all that chicken, come on now. What little rice was there, was good and flavorful. The salad was fresh, with tomatoes and lettuce. The dressing was a combination of olive oil and blasamic vinegar, very tangy. Chicken kebob wrap, $4.99, with tomatoes, lettuce, on Greek bread. This was pretty small too. The chicken was dark meat, just like the chicken from the chiken plate. The lettuce and tomatoes were fresh. The garlic sauce was right on, just the right amount of garlic and not too spicy. Service is good. A family run restaurant, the owners are nice friendly people. I think the food is good at Zuzu but I think the prices are a bit high for the portions. What I thought was worse, they wanted $1 extra for white meat chicken. I wouldn't rush back to Zuzu.

Willy's Smokehouse BBQ & Grill-Closed

Willy's Smokehouse BBQ & Grill
28434 Roadside Dr
Agoura Hills
818-991-7227

Willy's is right next to the 101 freeway, you can see cars speeding by while you park. Honestly I didn't have high hopes for Willy's, I figured a Chili's type experience. But I was surprised, all the white people in Agoura Hills have a great BBQ restaurant.




I got a whole rack of baby back ribs, $17. I thought these baby backs were one of the best baby back ribs I've had!!! Nice smoke flavor, well cooked, a light sweet sauce, no fat, and a ton of meat. These ribs are smoked over real charcoal and smoked a long time. The use a good quality ribs.

I didn't care for their four bbq sauce. The regular BBQ sauce was too thick and had a sour taste. The sweet BBQ sauce was too sweet, not enough kick. The spicy and the real spicy BBQ sauces were just the regular sauce with a ton of chili mixed in.

Service was very good. The server, who had the entire restaurant was very friendly, attentive, and worked her butt off. I went to the restroom and they were out of handsoap. I told the server and they quickly refilled the handsoap and even checked to make sure there were enough paper towels! I know some idiots would rip a restaurant for not having hand soap, but what is the big deal about informing the restaurant? Should a restaurant check the restroom to make sure it is well stocked? Yes. But so what if they missed something. I have no issues if somebody ripped a restaurant, after telling the restaurant something was missing, and they still didn't take care of the issue.

I would go back to Willy's anytime.

JV's BBQ & Grill-Closed

JV's BBQ & Grill
5659 Las Virgenes Rd
Calabasas
818-878-9512

Calabasas, the land of lily white people. So of course the will think JV's is good BBQ. When really JV's is nothing but a fake BBQ place, just like Chili's.



I got the spare rib lunch, $9.25, with mac salad and fries. When the best thing about a BBQ restuarant is the fries, you know the BBQ sucks. The ribs were cooked in a oven and the finished on a grill. You see the results of oven cooking of ribs, the white meat!! Ribs should be pink, if you call it BBQ.

Service was bad. The guy taking my order is the owner's son. He was too busy with his Ipod to be helping people. He wasn't friendly, he was going through the motions and gave the impression he wanted to be somewhere else. He answered all questions in one word, if he could help it. Terrible.

I'll let the lily white people of Calabasas have JV's. There are much better real BBQ and oven cooked BBQ places in the area.

Hungry Howie's Pizza-Closed

Hungry Howie's Pizza 

1100 East Huntington Blvd 

Duarte 

626-599-9991 

 I heard that there was another Sonic, besides the Anaheim location, in the area and wanted to go there to try it. But next door to Sonic, I found Hungry Howie's Pizza. I first had Howie's Pizza at a party and I thought it was pretty good pizza. I thought it was a mom and pop type pizza place but it is a national chain, with over 500 restaurants.

  They have a special, $6.99, for a large one topping pizza with any flavored crust. SO I got a ham pizza with ranch flavor crust. The ham was sliced into very small pieces, I like that better than the bigger pieces of ham that other pizza places use. But Howie's could have put more ham on the pizza. They did use a good amount of cheese. I like cheese to be cooked until you see a little brown on them. Howie's cooked the cheese just right. The sauce was a mild, sweet flavored sauce. The crust was a medium crust. The flavored is just seasoning sprinkled onto the crust. The ranch was OK, I don't think I would order ranch again. But I do like the flavored crust idea. Service was very good. The kid, he must be a HS kid, was nice and helpful. I think Hungry Howie's is much better than the more well known pizza chains. If there was a Howie's closer to me, I would order from Howie's before ordering from those chains. I would have no problems going back to Hungry Howie's.

Original Buffalo Wings-Closed

Original Buffalo Wings
2750 Alton Parkway, Suite 131
Irvine
949-660-8989

A loyal The New Diner reader, is a Yelper. Now I normally think of Yelpers as idiots. Most are punk kids who have no clue the meaning of good food. But I know how popular Yelp is. Even some of my favorite bloggers have gone to the dark side and became Yelpers!!! Come back to the good side, people!!!

But this certain Yelper was very nice and helpful in regards to Korean BBQ. Telling me more about and how to eat Korean BBQ. I looked at her Yelp reviews and I found her glowing reviews of Original Buffalo Wings and since I love chicken wings, figured I would go try it. The only problem with her is that she is from Northern California and cheered for that cheater, Barry Bonds.

Original Buffalo Wings is located in a corner shopping center and there must be another 30 restaurants in the same complex.

I got the 13 wings, $8.95 and split them with lemon pepper and original spicy. There was no charge for a split flavors and 13 is the least amount of wings you can order to split flavors.



Honestly I thought these wings were very small. These wings need to be like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire and take some steroids. Man were they small. But they were very flavorful and hot as hell since they came right out of the fryer. Crispy, a bit spicy but could have used more seasoning.



As with the lemon pepper wings, I didn't like the size of the wings. But I loved the sauce. Tangy, flavorful, just the right spice. Awesome. I dipped the lemon pepper wings in the leftover buffalo sauce!! This is among the best buffalo wing's sauce I've ever had. If you combined the size of the wings from Guppy House with the wings sauce here, you would have a great chicken wing. Interesting that there is another location of Guppy House right across the parking lot.

Service was very good. The young lady who took my order was nice and friendly. And man, was she hot!! The best thing is, she doesn't realize just how hot she is!! No attitude, just a real down to earth young woman, who is a very nice person and hot as hell.

I wouldn't rush back to Original Buffalo Wings but I would rush back to see that hottie, who took my order. No, just kidding.

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour-Closed

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour
799A The Shops at Mission Viejo
Mission Viejo
949-364-5411

When I was a kid, Farrell's was the place we went to for birthdays and special occasions. But in the 1980's Farrell's was sold to the Moroniott Corporation and they ruin everything they touched. So by 1990 most Farrell's had closed down. But now the Farrell's is making a comeback.



I got the banana royale, $6.79, two scoops of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, almonds, banana, and real whipped cream. The ice cream is good, about the quality of Thrifty or Carnation. It is good solid ice cream. Is this the best ice cream ever? No and it's not meant to be.

They even have the Green River fountain drink, which tastes like a lemon lime soda but is green.

But all the fun that goes with being at Farrell's, makes up for anything that maybe lacking with the food. A couple ordered the pig's trough, which is basically a double banana split and they made them stand up and wear pig's noses. It was fun. I can see how much fun kids would have coming here. I remember how much fun it was going to Farrell's.

Service was OK. The lady was nice and friendly but a bit slow. I didn't have any napkins, she didn't come around often, to refill drinks.

If Farrell's wasn't so far from me, I would go back more often, more the nostalgia than the quality of food or service.

Bad to the Bone BBQ

Bad to the Bone BBQ
31738 Rancho Veijo Road #E
San Juan Capistrano
949-218-0227

BBQ in Orange County, especially in South County, is oven cooked, drowned in sauce crap!!! But the jerk, pretentious people of OC think that's what BBQ is.

Bad to the Bone BBQ is a good, not great example of real BBQ. They smoke their meats with oak wood for long periods of time. It is a legit BBQ restaurant. Not the greatest I've had, but very solid.



Side salad. This was a small bowl of cut up romaine lettuce, a slice of cucumber, and a cherry tomato, topped with cheese. It was your regular standard salad. Chilled and fresh.



St. Louis spare ribs lunch, $12.95, with side salad and cole slaw. The ribs were a bit dry but had a nice smoke flavor. The was very little to no fat on these ribs, which means they were smoked for a long time and the fat melted away. Again a good example of real BBQ.

The cole slaw was a bit dry, they could have used more mayo, but tasty and fresh.

Service was OK. The major issue is the guy taking the order didn't understand English that well. I don't like baby back ribs and wanted the St. Louis ribs and it took forever to get that point across. But he did get my order correct.

I'm rarely down in San Juan Capistrano, after all I can't stand the pretentious jerk people of the OC, but if I was slumming in the area, I would go back to Bad to the Bone BBQ.

Pei Wei-Closed

Pei Wei
4517 Chino Hills Parkway
Chino Hills
909-393-7472

Ok, I know what people are going to say. Why go to Pei Wei, the fast food restaurant owned by PF Chang's. But too many people judge restaurants for what they aren't, instead of judging a restaurant for what it is. I'm as guilty as anybody but I do try to judge a restaurant for what it is, now.

Pei Wei has signature dishes and you choose what meat you want. Since I gave up red meat during Lent, I just got chicken dishes.



Ginger broccoli with chicken-Sweet ginger soy sauce, oyster sauce, scallions, and broccoli, $7.95. This was pretty good, if you like ginger. I like ginger but there was a ton of ginger on there. This was a flavorful dish and you won't go home hungry. The broccoli was fresh and crispy but could have been cooked a little bit longer. Overall a good dish but this would be great with beef.



Dan Dan noodles with chicken, chile seared garlic soy sauce, minced chicken, scallion, bean sprouts, cucumber and egg noodles, $6.95. This was spicy!!! All the flavors worked well but it was too spicy for me. I thought there could be more meat or bigger pieces of meat, why mince the meat? I also thought it was a bit soupy, I'm used to a drier form of noodles. I did like this dish but I wouldn't order this again.

Service was good. I was greeted when I walked in and they were very friendly.

Pei Wei wouldn't be my first choice but I wouldn't have any issues going back to Pei Wei.