Olive Branch

Olive Branch
3658 Foothill Blvd
La Crescenta
818-248-9876

Very good food and terrible service is the way to describe Olive Branch. I found Olive Branch online about four years ago and put it on my list of places to try. Well I finally went to Olive Branch and enjoyed the food but thought the service was terrible, one of the worst I've ever had.

I ordered the Tender Filet Kebab or Barg Kebab with rice, $15.95 with salad and your choice of rice, garden salad or bbq veggies. This is suppose to be filet mignon but it's either the lowest grade of filet or another cut of meat that they pound and make tender. But either way, it was fairly tender. Nothing like melt in your mouth tender. But you didn't need a knife to cut the meat. The seasonings were perfect and this is among the best barg kebab I've ever had. Almost as good as Shiraz.

What wasn't good was the service. I walk in and the hostess/server asks will there be five people? I was alone and wondered how she got that figure. I said, No just one, please. She then said another server will seat me. The other server put me at a table that was basically sectioned off, which was fine. But she just threw the menu down on the table and basically said sit there. Nice first impression. When the hostess/server came to take my order she never smiled and was just really unfriendly. After taking my order, they only came back to drop off my food and when I asked for the check. After dropping off the food, they never bothered to ask how the food was, never refilled drinks, and never smiled.

The only good thing the two server did was when taking my order, she said would you like soup or salad, which is included with your dinner!!! Not many places make it clear what is included and what costs extra.

Again, the food is great at Olive Branch. I loved the barg kebab, big portion, pretty tender and well seasoned. But the service is TERRIBLE. If I do go back to Olive Branch it will be for take out only.

Ka-San BBQ-Closed

Ka San BBQ
3115 Foothill Blvd
La Crescenta
818-249-5500

I haven't been to a Korean BBQ in at least seven years. At that time we went to an all you can eat, cook at your table type place and they charged us about $20 a person. Not bad considering it was all you can eat.

So we go to Ka San BBQ and I'm shocked at the prices. Bulgugi, a marinated beef dish, $17.95. When I came to our table I was impressed with the quanity of beef. The chicken, pictured next to it, was $14.95. Again I was impressed with the quanity of meat.

So we put the meat on the grill and wait. Since the meats are sliced very thin, it doesn't take long to cook. The wonderful smell of cooked meat was in the air. The meats are marinated with a sweet marinate. It wasn't too sweet and overpowering, just right.

The beef was very good. I just put the beef on top of the rice. I didn't tried some of the side dishes that came with it but I'm not a big fan of kim chee, too spicy, or cold sides with a hot meal. I tried the cold broccoli and bean sprouts but I didn't touch the other Korean side dishes.

Service was OK. The servers didn't speak English that well so they couldn't explain want some of the side dishes were. But we had to wait a little for refills on water and rice.

I would not go back to Ka San BBQ. While the beef dish was very good, I just don't feel the prices are worth it. $17.95 for about half a pound of beef, that you have to cook yourself? Not my idea of a good value.