JJ Noodle House-Closed

JJ Noodle House
18303 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights
626-839-9269

I make it a point on every June 5th, to go to a Chinese restaurant, to honor Tank Man. For weeks in late May-early June, pro democracy students protested in Tiananmen Square against the communist Chinese government. Then on June 4, 1989, the Chinese government sent in troops who murdered thousands of those students. On June 5, 1989, Tank Man stopped a column of tanks, that were going to Tiananmen Square. And become a hero to many. The pictures and video have become iconic in the 22 years since Tank Man, stopped those tanks.



The northeast corner of Colima Rd and Fullerton Rd., in Rowland Heights, has a ton of restaurants. The New Diner has already reviewed two restaurants, Feedable BBQ Buffet and Pizza & Chicken Love Letter.




I wanted to try their xio long bao, XLB, $5.95, and got an order. The first thing I noticed about the XLB, was the thicker skin. I like the thicker skin, because it holds the inside contents, much better. The inside contents were, great. The soup was full of flavor, well seasoned, hearty. And the pork was great, well seasoned, cooked perfectly and great. The XLB here rank as one of my favorite XLB.

Service is good. The ladies are friendly and the food arrives quickly and hot. But, they only speak Chinese, and when I tried to call to get directions, they weren't very helpful. This is a cash only restaurant.

I would come back to JJ Noodle House for the XLB, anytime. The next time I come, I'm going to order the scallion pancakes, which looked great.

Sam Han Korean BBQ-Closed

Sam Han Korean BBQ
1725 Nogales St
Rowland Heights
626-964-3389

Sam Han is the third Korean BBQ I have been to in Rowland Heights; after Feedable BBQ and Korea House.

Sam Han has recently been remodeled and while I haven't been there before, the remodel version looks very nice, with it's open concept.

All you can eat for $19.99 on weekends. So a little high but a friend was paying so I didn't care!!



In the back there was the buffet, filled with meats and sides dish and desserts. All the dishes were refilled quickly and they had people cleaning the area. Very good compared to Feedable, where the buffet line was mess at times.



As most readers of The New Diner know, I'm no a fan of the sides of Korean BBQ. But Julie, a very nice Yelper, (Yes, I know an oxymoron, since most Yelpers are punk kids who steal copyrighted photos.) called me out about Korean BBQ. So went to Sam Han with the intent of trying all the sides. But when I saw some of the items on the buffet table, I said forget those sides.

Since I found something great; a chowmein dish that was just awesome. Tender soft noodles lightly fried in a wok, some cabbage and soy sauce. The perfect compliment to grilled meat!! Hey Chinese-Korean fusion!!

I also liked the large amounts of fresh iceberg lettuce. I would top the grilled meats and make a protein style taco!!!




Beef short ribs and bugolgi. The best part of all you can eat Korean BBQ, is the all you can eat part. The worst part? Poor quality meat!! The bugolgi was one of the fattiest, toughest, chewiest pieces of beef I have ever eaten. Though there was pretty good seasonings and flavor.

The short ribs were full of fat and also chewing.






This was just labeled beef. This was the best example of beef at Sam Han. Not much fat, tender, flavorful.




If you like pork, Sam Han has some great pork. The reddish colored item is spicy pork chop. The other is just a seasoned pork chop.

The spicy pork chop wasn't too spicy but wasn't mild either. The seasoned pork chop just had salt and pepper.I loved both. They were good quality- tender, flavorful.




Bacon and brisket. These were like any other Korean BBQ, bacon-not seasoned or smoked. When cooked, very fatty, not flavorful.

Brisket, sliced thin but tough and chewy. Does this ring a bell?




Chicken and spicy chicken. The chicken was frozen!!! But it just meant, it would sit on the grill a bit longer. It was OK, kind of bland, lacking seasoning. Fairly tender.

The spicy chicken was marinated with the same spices as the spicy pork chop. I thought the spicy chicken was tender and flavorful.

Service was pretty good but a bit slow about refilling drinks. I was impressed with how quickly the meats were restocked on the buffet table and how clean they kept the buffet table.

I wouldn't rush back to Sam Han because of the poor quality of the beef. But I do like the sides they offer-loved the chow mein, and the pork chops.

President Thai-Closed

President Thai 1390 Fullerton Rd Ste 105 Rowland Heights 626-839-3340 President Thai is in the same shopping center as New Capitol Seafood. They had a $6.99 special that is valid all day. The special includes choice or salad or Tom Yum soup, rice, and fried wontons. So I decided to give one of their specials a try, along with an order of chicken satay and calamari. Tom Yum soup: This is the Thai version of hot and sour soup. This was pretty good. Not too spicy but you can taste some heat. A nice sour finish. Very pretty hot, not pippin hot but good starter. 3 Flavor shrimp and scallops, $6.99. I was very impressed with this dish. The shrimp and scallops are lightly breaded, then fried, placed on top of a bed of cabbage. Then a sweat and sour type sauce is poured over them. The scallops, which out numbered the shrimp, was cook perfectly, fresh, not chewy, and worked well with the sweet and sour sauce. The outside of the shrimp was cooked perfectly but the inside was a bit mushy. This was a wide assortment of textures and flavors. I did like the dish. If the shrimp wasn't mushy, I would have really liked the dish. Chicken satay, $8.95. They were grilled nicely but the actual chicken was very dry and rubbery. I wasn't impressed. I wouldn't order these again. Calamari: The calamari wasn't fresh, must have been frozen, because this was very chewy and rubbery. I have never had calamari topped with seasame seeds. Interesting. But not impressed with this dish. Service was pretty good, even though they were pretty busy. I do think the daily specials, there must be over 25 dishes, are a good deal. I did like my dish and I would go back to try other dishes. But I would stay away from the appetizers.

Pizza & Chicken Love Letter

Pizza & Chicken Love Letter
18333B Colima Road
Rowland Heights
626-839-1235

My first experience with Korean fried chicken, was at Chicken Day. I wasn't really impressed so I haven't been back to any Korean fried chicken locations. But when I went to Feedable BBQ Buffet, I noticed Pizza & Chicken Love Letter. Love Letter is a well known Korean fried chicken place. Actually a The New Diner reader, told me about it. So it was late, I was hungry and I wanted something fast. So I decided to go to Love Letter.

Love Letter has five different flavors of wings, I split the 12 piece wings, with lemon pepper and buffalo flavors, $8.99. The wings are fried to order, which is always great. But the wings are a bit small.



The lemon pepper is very good. A more subtle lemon pepper than I'm used to, most lemon pepper wings are very powerful. The wings were fried just right, well fried, crispy and the inside was moist. I liked the subtle lemon pepper flavor.



The buffalo was OK, very mild. If you're expecting spicy, this isn't it. But again it was well fried, crispy and the inside was moist. The wings were also bigger than the lemon pepper wings.

Service was good. But for some reason, you can't split some flavors of wings, which is there way of making more money!!! I mean if you ordered a 6 piece wings of one flavor and another 6 piece of another flavor, they should as hell would serve that, right? But, of course you would pay more when ordering six pieces.

The chicken wings at Love Letter are pretty good. But there aren't anything great and could be bigger. I wouldn't go back to Love Letter.

Q Noodle House-Closed

Q Noodle House 18930 Gale Ave Rowland Heights 626-810-5108 I found a contender in Battle Xiao Long Bao (XLB), Q Noodle House, in Rowland Heights is better known for their noodles (duh) but they have some great dumplings and Xiao Long Bao (XLB). My standard bearer for xiao long bao is Mei Long Village. I know Din Tai Fung is more well known but Mei Long Village is so much better. Green onion pancake, $2.50. Service hot, with a crispy outside and soft chewing inside. Nice texture, nice flavor with lots of green onions inside, and just a great dish. Well worth the $2.50 price. Potstickers, listed at, $4.95. These pork potstickers were shaped a bit different than other potstickers but these were great. The pork inside is so well seasoned, lots of flavor, and the pork is grounded into a finer, smaller pieces it has a different texture. I really like this, though they could have been a bit larger. Xiao Long Bao, listed at $4.50. WOW this was very good. These xiao long bao were about the same size as Din Tai Fung but had better flavor. The pork was the same as the pork inside the potstickers. The skin was a bit thicker than I'm used to be but a good chewy texture. There wasn't much soup in there but the soup was well seasoned and hot. Service is OK. After writing this review, I think they overcharged us for the meal. The menu price has potstickers and xiao long bao at $4.95. The price listed on the bill was $5.50. That's ok because I didn't tip as much because the server was rude, short and not friendly at all. I would go back to Q Noodle House and get dumplings to go. I don't need or want the bad attitude of the servers. Mei Long Village is still my favorite for xiao long bao, but Q Noodle House is solidily in second.

Feedable B-B-Q Buffet-Closed

Feedable B-B-Q Buffet
18311 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights
626-964-9595

I'm going to do Korean BBQ reviews a bit differently. I will post a before and after picture of the meat and then a review of the meat. Too many pictures can make things confusing some people. My old policy of just taking picture of the raw meat, isn't a good idea.

I was on a Korean BBQ kick this week, mostly because I was planning a dinner for a few friends who wanted to go to a Korean BBQ restaurant, so I scouted a few restaurants. One of the first restaurants I went to, was Feedable B-B-Q Buffet and as I was looking at their restaurant, I realized this was the first Korean BBQ restaurant I ever went to, back in the mid 90's. I remember a friend and I were looking for another Korean BBQ restaurant that we saw advertised, but we couldn't find it and saw Feedable and went in. I thought it was good but I didn't have anything to compare it to.

Feedable is unique for a Korean BBQ restaurant, instead of the servers getting your meats, there are bowls of meats on top of ice and you can get as much as you want. One thing I hate about other Korean BBQ restaurants, they may bring you a ton of meat and if the meat isn't that good, you have to finish it. At Feedable you can take as much or as little meat as you want. The buffet is $18.99 and there is a wide variety of meats. They have all the other side dishes but I never get those.





Marinated beef ribs- A nice sweet, soy sauce based marinate. Lots of fat, not tender meat. I wasn't impressed.



Bulgogi- Very sweet, among the sweetest bulgogi I've ever had. But a lot of fat and not that tender.




Pork belly- I picked these slices because they wasn't that much fat on them. But there was also no flavor, pretty bland and tough.




Brisket point. This was terrible. Very tough, chewy, lots of fat and no flavor. I almost choked on a few pieces. Ok I know brisket is a tough cut of meat but I've had other brisket at Korean BBQ restaurants and they weren't as tough and chewy.





Chicken and spicy chicken. The regular chicken was marinated in a sweet sauce. The chicken was mostly dark meat, lean, tender and flavorful. I was impressed with the chicken.

The spicy chicken wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be. I was rated it about a 5. Tender and flavorful, just not spicy.




Short ribs. I loved the marinate short ribs. The marinate was the same as the pork ribs. But these ribs were much more flavorful and tender. A good cut of meat. My second favorite meat at Feedable.




Boneless short ribs- My favorite meat at Feedable, because there were no bones, just grill and enjoy!! The same marinate but the meats were cut into thin pieces and just melt in your mouth. A great great meat.

Service is a bit lacking. As you first walk in, there isn't a hostess. You walk to the back and the servers will ask how many. Ok they are friendly but they didn't provide good service. Ok they don't bring you meat. But they should clear plates and the grill when needed. Well I had plates piled high at my table, I never had the grill changed. Why? Because the servers were eating dinner!!! Yes they sat down and were grilling meat!!

The meats at Feedable are overall among the worst I've had at Korean BBQ restaurants; even tough, fatty and lacking flavor. They got a B rating from the Health Department. I also think the $18.99 is too much for the lack of quality meat. I would not go back to Feedable again. Korea House is a much better Korean BBQ in Rowland Heights.

Four Seasons Steak House-Closed

Four Seasons Steak House
18457 E Colima Rd
Ste H
Rowland Heights
626-964-5115

WOW, what a surprise. I heard about Four Seasons Steak House from a friend who said they have good steaks at good prices. I was a bit surprised it was in the same plaza as Newport Seafood. Four Seasons is in the food court area of this Pacific Plaza. The steaks are a Taiwanese style steak, where they come out sizzling on a cast iron plate. This reminds me of the Romantic Steakhouse in San Gabriel.

I got the sauteed rib eye steak, $11.95, topped with a mushroom sauce and served with your choice of rice or spaghetti and an egg. Yes, that is the correct price and yes there is an egg. I was surprised when I got a salad and corn soup. The salad was just iceberg lettuce topped with thousand island. The lettuce was fresh and the thousand island dressing comes cloest to McDonald's Big Mac sauce. The corn soup was a corn starch thicken broth with some corn. Nothing great but hot, which is always good for soup.

The rib eye came out on a cast iron skillet, sizzling like crazy!!! I turned over the egg quickly since I hate sunny side up eggs. The egg was an interesting addition to the steak. I didn't eat much of the egg but then again I was there for the steak. The steak was pretty good, great if you consider the low price. Hey look it is not dry aged prime beef. It is select, which mean it will be less tender and flavorful. But it was still a well cooked piece of meat. I asked for and got medium rare. The mushroom sauce had a tomato taste to it. I wasn't that impressed with the sauce, next time I will ask for black pepper. But the steak had good flavor was pretty tender and moist. I may try their filet or the New York steak next time.

Service is pretty good. This is a family run restaurant and the owner and her son were nice. The food came out quickly.

I was impressive with the quality and prices of the steaks at Four Seasons Steakhouse. I would go back!!

Update Nov 13, 2009.




I was so impressed with Four Seasons Steak House that I went back there the next day. I went for lunch and at lunch all the steaks are about a $1 off but you do not get a salad. I got a medium rare, New York steak for $10.70 with the pepper sauce.

The pepper sauce was better than the mushroom sauce. But I think next time, I'm just going to get no sauce.

The steak was a bit undercooked, too much redness for medium rare, it was closer to rare. But a flavorful and pretty tender steak. Again for the price you can't beat this.

Service again was good. I did find out they are closed on Tuesday and on weekends they serve their dinner menu the entire day.