Capri Deli & Kitchen

Capri Deli & Kitchen
713 E San Bernardino Rd
Covina
626-331-0233

As you can tell by the picture, Capri has been around since 1954. I've been craving a good sandwich and I decided to go to Capri.




I got a large (12") cold cut combo sandwich, $7.39, ham, mortadella, salami, coppocollo, prosciuttini, and provolone cheese. Yes, that's right five meats and cheese on a sandwich. The sandwiches come with lettuce, tomato and oil, but I had them replace the oil, with mayo. This was a great sandwich with tons of good quality cold cuts and fresh lettuce and tomatoes. The bread is an Italian roll, that was soft and chewy, with good texture.

The only thing I found interesting is, the way they put the sandwich into two different bags. I thought they would wrap the entire sandwich in butcher paper, but it was split in half and put into two different bags.

But, that wasn't that big of a deal, the sandwich was great.



I wanted a hot sandwich, so I ordered the chicken parmesan sandwich, $6.45, breaded chicken patty, marinara sauce, and provolone cheese. I wasn't impressed with this at all. The chicken was tough, chewy and seemed as they had been in the oven for too long. There wasn't a lot of marinara sauce on the sandwich, but they give you a portion, on the side. The marinara sauce was ok, though a bit bland.

Service was OK. The line during lunch is long, but moves quickly. They have a lot of people making sandwiches. The young girl, who made my sandwich is ok, not overly friendly, just kinda of going through the motions. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't great, either.

I would go back to Capri again, but I wouldn't order the chicken parmesan sandwich again.

Green's BBQ & Soul Food-Closed

Green's BBQ & Soul Food
468 W Arrow Hwy
Covina
626-332-3936

Green's BBQ & Soul Food is a small restaurant in a strip mall. This strip mall has a Chinese, Mexican, and seafood restaurant nearby. So lots of choices. Green's reminds me of Big Mamas Rib Shack

I got the spare ribs, tri tip, and links combo, $16.24 which includes double mac and cheese, a salad, and corn bread. The price would have been $15.24 but they add a $1 fee to any debit or credit card transaction.

None of the meats were smoked. They were all cooked in an oven or on a grill and then drowned in a sweet bbq sauce.

The ribs were good for what they are. Tender, fairly meaty and the BBQ sauce assured it wasn't going to be dry.

The tri tip was a bit tough, it shouldn't be this tough, and but was flavorful with the sauce.

I liked the link. A sweet sausage with a nice snap. The BBQ sauce was a bit too much since the link was sweet not hot. But overall a good link.

The mac and cheese was terrible, just terrible. They didn't make a rue to combine the mac and cheese but topped the macaroni with cheese. The macaroni was also very watery and flavorless. The top part of the macaroni, was hard, there was a crunch when I took a bite.

The corn bread was very good. Right out of the oven, hot, fresh, warm, moist. Very good.

Service is friendly but lacking. I had planned to go to Green's but when I saw the seafood place, I decided to go there. But I looked at the menu for Green's in the window and as I was walking to the seafood place, the young lady came out with a menu and said, come back soon because we have good BBQ. I went to the seafood place but they were out of cod, so I went back to Green's.

Like I said the young lady was nice. But she kept asking the same questions twice and messed up my order. I said I wanted ranch for my salad but she asked again. I said no butter for the cornbread but she asked again. I asked for sauce on the side but I got sauce on the meat. Again she was friendly but she should write things down instead of having to asking the same question over and over.

I would not go back to Green's BBQ & Soul Food. I didn't notice many soul food items. No smothered pork chops, no chicken and dumplings. And any soul food restaurant that makes a bad mac and cheese, isn't much of a soul food place.

Furious BBQ-Grand Inn-Closed

Furious BBQ-Grand Inn
4538 N Grand Ave
Covina
626-331-9852

What is a BBQ restaurant doing at a dive bar? Serving damn good BBQ ribs, that's what.

First one of the few times, Yelp actually was worth a damn and I found out that a dive bar, Grand Inn is home to Furious BBQ. Thank you Donna S for the Yelp Review.

I ordered the ribs dinner, $10 with double mac and cheese. A couple minutes later is in front of me is four well smoked ribs and a huge portion of gooey, good mac and cheese.

The ribs had a very nice smoke ring and bark. This means the ribs were smoked, which means it's REAL BBQ. Not ribs cooked on a grill or an oven. I took a bite and oh so good. Nice, smoke flavor and tender with little fat or grizzle. A wonderful example of pork spare ribs. This is a stronger smoke flavor than other BBQ, they use oak to smoke the rib. But still good.

The mac and cheese was among the best I've ever had. Tender macaroni and gooey, melted cheese that actually coats and covers the macaroni. Soooo good. When I go to a restaurant, I don't want to mac and cheese from a box. This is home made, damn good mac and cheese.

I walked into this bar, knowing it's a dive bar. I walked in and a guy with tats all over and a beard longer than Santa, greets me and says HI. Always a good sign. I ask where is the BBQ and he directs me to the pitmaster who was sitting down at a table. I place my order with the pitmaster. The pitmaster is a very nice man. He talked to me about the history of him serving his BBQ at the Grand Inn. He took my order and served me the food in the timely manner.

The Grand Inn allows smoking inside the bar, not good. When I come here next time, I will order my ribs to go. I can't stand being in a smoked filled room. This is one of the better BBQ places around. Not exactly where I expect a BBQ restaurant but who cares when the BBQ is so good.

Buffet China-Closed

Buffet China
870 Arrow Hwy.
Covina, CA 91724
626-331-0699

Buffet China is one of many Chinese buffet restaurants that are out there. I find Buffet China to be good but nothing overwhelming or outstanding. They best thing about them is the price, $9.30 for an adult. But with the price the selection of food is limited.

While the picture was taken late at night, I went to Buffet China at 6:30pm and there was a steady but certainly not packed crowd. This can and does have an impact on the food turnover. There were some items that spent too much time on the steam table.

The first picture has BBQ chicken, Chinese BBQ pork, and fried scallops, and fried crab claw. The BBQ chicken was on the dry side and had a hint of sweet BBQ sauce. There were some white meat chicken which is surprising since most places will only have dark meat, but with the chicken being dry, I didn't have more than one serving. The Chinese BBQ pork had been on the steam table for too long. They were dry, hard, and tough to chew on. I ate two pieces and left the rest. I went back for some more later and they were still hard and tough. The lack of turnover really hurts Buffet China. The fried scallops were kinda of chewy but had a nice crunch. The fried crab claw also had a nice crunch but the fish ball was flavorless.

The second picture of food includes, beef and broccoli, pepper check, and what they called a seafood combination. The beef and broccoli spent too much time on the steam table. The broccoli was mushy and the beef was tough. I did go back the second time and the broccoli was crispy and tender but the beef was still on the tough side. The gravy added some nice flavor but it would have been better if the beef and broccoli was better. The seafood combo had lots and lots of shrimp and some imitation crab and some squid. The shrimp was nice and tender and the gravy/sauce added a nice flavor. But for something called seafood combination there wasn't much combining of different seafoods.

The third picture of food has fried rice, orange chicken, and spicy chicken. The fried rice had onions, peas and carrots but it was mostly rice. It was passable but nothing great. The orange chicken and spicy chicken were terrible. They were fried pieces of chicken that were so dry and had been sitting on the steam table for way too long. I wasn't willing to give either one of them a second chance.

The fourth picture has chow mein and BBQ beef rib. The chow mein was very greasy and had some onions, cabbage and garlic. It was pretty flavorless except for the grease. The beef rib was nice and sweet, almost too sweet, and was pretty tender.

The last picture had watermelon, strawberries, and honey dew melon. The watermelon was very good, served chilled with no seeds and very sweet. The strawberries were hit and miss. Some were sweet but others were bitter. The honey dew was pretty flavorless.

Buffet China is OK. Nothing great or outstanding and they lack the selection of many other Chinese buffets. No Mongolian BBQ, very limited seafood items, low turnover rate and some food which was just plain bad. I would not go back to Buffet China, even though the price is good, I would pay a couple bucks more for better selection and better food.

Nick's Taste of Texas-Closed

Nick's Taste of Texas
545 N Citrus Ave
Covina, CA 91723-1508
(626) 331-2824

A Tex-Mex place near the Covina stop of the the Metrolink. Nick's Taste of Texas is ok. The ribs are slow roasted in an oven and then finished on the grill. Nothing great about the ribs. They have a combo that gets you four beef and four pork ribs for about $16. The ribs are very chewy and tough. The BBQ sauce is along the lines of a sloppy joe.

Monday Night Football special gets you a $4.25 One Pound Hamburger. The burger is pretty dry.

Service can be slow. I wouldn't go back here for the BBQ.

I may try some of their Tex Mex items. The tacos look good.