Tlaquepaque Restaurant

Tlaquepaque Restaurant
101 W Santa Fe Ave
Placentia
714-528-0110
The last restaurant I ate at in Placentia, was atTaqueria De Anda. When I heard about Tlaquepaque Restaurant, have a 99 cents Taco Tuesday, I decided to see how Tlaquepaque compares to Taqueria De Anda.

I guess Tlaquepaque had been in Placentia for a long time but closed down about four years ago, but recently reopened.



I got the chicken and carnitas tacos. Tacos are filled with meat, cilantro, and onions.

Chicken taco: The chicken was a bit dry and you had to search for the chicken. There wasn't much flavor to the chicken either. They need to add some seasonings and spices!!

The carnitas was very good. Nice flavor, very tender, moist, exactly opposite of the chicken.



Carne asada and el pastor tacos. Again the tacos were topped with cilantro and onions.

Carne asada taco: Lots of carne asada, that was moist, tender, and flavorful. A good example of what carne asada should taste like.

El pastor taco: Not as impressed with the el pastor. Flavorful? Yes. Tender? Yes. But lots and lots of gristle and fat. If they used a better cut of pork, this could have been good.

Service was fast and friendly!! I was greeted as I walked into the restaurant. Then while waiting for the tacos, every server who walked by, asked if I was being helped!!! I have been to restaurants where the hostess didn't greet me, so it was so refreshing to be asked by 3-4 different servers if I had been helped.

So, which serves the better taco in Placentia? Taqueria De Anda or Tlaquepaque? I would have to say overall, the winner is Taqueria De Anda because I've never had a bad taco there. But the carne asada and carnitas tacos are about even at both places. Tlaquepaque comes up short because of the bland chicken and fatty el pastor tacos.

But for 99 cents, you can't really lose. So I would go back to Tlaquepaque anytime. I may give the el pastor another try but I would have to really think about the chicken.

Taqueria De Anda

Taqueria De Anda
602 W Chapman Ave,
Placentia, CA 92870
714-528-2671

Coming back from a friend's house I decide to have a late night snack at Taqueria De Anda. This is a medium sized taco place on Chapman. The menu is basic, tacos, burritos, menudo, and some combos with rice and beans.

The tacos are $1.07 each. So I ordered the carne asada, el pastor, and chicken tacos. The tacos all come with a red sauce and onions.

I tried the el pastor first. I normally ordered carnitas but I'm starting to like el pastor. The el pastor was nice and flavorful on it's own. But the red sauce really overpowers the taste of the meat. But if there is no red sauce it would be a very dry taco. Next time I may ask for the red sauce on the side and put it on to taste.

The same goes for the chicken taco. Too much red sauce, which starts easy and then the heat hits. But the chicken is nice and tender and all those Mexican spices make it damn good.

The carne asada taco was good too but the meat was a little tough. They need to marinate the meat a little more. But it also had nice flavor but was over powered by the red sauce.

I would go back here again. I think it's better than El Gallo Giro.

I'm going to email my fellow blogger at The Great Taco Hunt and see if he will review this.

Tony’s Little Italy Pizza

Tony’s Little Italy Pizza
1808 Placentia Ave. Unit B
Placentia, CA 92870
714-528-2159

Chicago style pizza!!! Just those three words make my mouth water. Chicago style pizza is just minutes away from me at Tony's, the best Chicago style pizza, west of Chicago.

Pictured is a stuffed medium Tony's Special which is sausage, mushrooms, green peppers and onions for $18.21 Chicago style pizza is a pan pizza and just layered with great toppings. Stuffed pizza just means they put a layer of dough on the top of the cheese, then a layer of toppings, then another layer of dough. Tony's piles the cheese, sausage, green peppers and onions. I didn't taste any mushrooms. But it didn't matter. This pizza is that good. The sausage was everywhere in the slice and with nice spice to it. The flavors all work together to make the best Chicago style pizza west of Chicago.

The only thing I don't like about Tony's is they have this huge mural of Chewing Gum Field. That POS, overrated dump of a ballpark that houses THAT OTHER baseball team in Chicago. All the other items of Chewing Gum Field make me sick; the drunken fans, the smell of urine, the loser snob people who live in the slums of the northside of Chicago!!

But the pizza quickly makes up for it. Service is good but remember a Chicago style pizza takes at least 30 minutes to bake, so don't be in a rush. The owners are good people, except for the fact they are fans of that OTHER baseball team in Chicago. GO WHITE SOX!!!!!!!!

The Wok Experience

The Wok Experience
194 Yorba Linda
Placentia
714-223-7388

The Wok Experience is a fast food type Chinese restaurant. I ordered the one item combo with teriyaki chicken for $4.08. The chow mein has huge pieces of celery and onions but is pretty bland, not flavor of any kind. The fried rice has some peas and pieces of eggs but otherwise is just rice with some soy sauce.

The teriyaki chicken is also pretty flavorless. I had to put some soy sauce just to get some taste.

The Wok Experience is an OK. They give you a good amount of food but the food isn't that good. I wouldn't go back since there are many other Chinese places that are much better.

Philly’s Best-Placentia

Philly’s Best
198 Yorba Linda Blvd.
Placentia CA
714-996-3278

Philly's Best has many locations in Orange County and have started to expand to LA County. At all locations the cheesesteaks and hoagies are very good.

Pictured is an American hoagie with ham, salami, bologna and cheese for $5.92. They put mayo, lettuce, tomato, onions and peppers. The onions and peppers, which I decide to try for the first time, really ruin the taste of the hoagie. The peppers have a nasty bitter taste. I took the onions and peppers off after the first bite. The other ingredients were fresh and the hoagie was good. But I think I think the prices are still on the high side and Philly's Best isn't a good value.

Service is OK. The lady who took my order was fine. But it took forever to get my order. The guy who ordered a cheesesteak after me got his order before I did. They didn't have to cook my order so I don't know what took so long!!!

Of the three Philly's Best locations I've been to, San Dimas and Walnut are the others, Placentia is the slowest location in terms of service and I believe they give you less meat on the sandwiches.

There is no reason for me to return to this Philly's Best location.

Tom's Place-Closed

Tom's Place
221 W Orangethrope
Placentia
714-528-1977

Tom's Place is just east of the Orangethorpe exit off the 57 freeway. The large dining area is very clean and well spread out.

I ordered the bacon cheeseburger $4.19, I asked what comes on the burger and the lady at the counter told me, lettuce, tomatoe, pickles, mayo and thousand island dressing. So as I normally do, I got no pickles.

First bite into the burger and the bacon was crisp, the lettuce was fresh, the meat was nice and flavorful but the taste of onions were all around!!! Well she forgot to tell me that onions come on the burger. Not a big deal but I figure they should know everything that comes on the burger. The burger isn't going to set the world on the fire but it's a good burger at a good price. I think comparing Tom's Place to Fuddruckers is like comparing apples to oranges. Tom's is a burger joint where Fuddruckers is more of a restaurant burger.

Service is OK. They took a little long to get my burger and there were only five people in the restaurant at the time. If I was in the area, I would go there again. I think the burgers are better than Angleno's but that's nothing to brag about. I think this is a good place to drop by before an Angels game.