Holy Smokes Bar-B-Que-Closed

Holy Smokes Bar-B-Que
116 N Vincent Ave
West Covina
626-339-6787

I went to Hungry Al's Bar-B-Que in 2005, when I first started The New Diner. I wasn't impressed and never went back. A few months ago, I drove past Hungry Al's and noticed, what I thought was a new sign. But, a closer look showed a new BBQ place that replaced Hungry Al's.

Holy Smokes Bar-B-Que opened in August, 2011. The owner of Hungry Al's retired and closed the restaurant in April 2011. Today, I finally got a chance to try the BBQ at Holy Smokes.

I got the lunch rib plate, $7.88, with macaroni salad. The lunch portion is served all day and has three spare ribs. The ribs include the tips, so they aren't St. Louis ribs, making them huge, these three ribs filled me up. The ribs had a decent bark, I tasted cumin and a nice smoke ring. But, when I bite into the ribs, they had a weird texture. I thought they may have been boiled before they were smoked, but the more I ate the ribs, I'm thinking they are grilled at high heat, which isn't BBQ, it's grilling!! For what they are, grilled, the ribs were pretty good. But, it's not the BBQ I was expecting. The BBQ sauce is a tomato based sauce with a strong cumin flavor. The macaroni salad tasted like it came out of a can.

Service is pretty good. The lady taking orders, who I believe is the owner or related to the owner, isn't really a people person, she is more reserved and not the friendly out going personality that is more suited for customer service. She is friendly, just not out going. It may bother people that the food was service to to go containers and utensils were plastic, but it's BBQ-which isn't gourmet.

While the ribs were huge and the prices very reasonable, I personally wouldn't go back. The ribs aren't smoked or the very least, they didn't do a good job of smoking the ribs.

Bob's Big Boy- West Covina-Closed

Bob's Big Boy
100 S. California Ave
West Covina
626-851-2627

Maybe it's just that old time feeling but I do love Bob's. I remember Bob's used to be everywhere when I was growing up. But slowly many of their restaurants closed down. But I was happy to go to the Bob's in Burbank, that opened in 1949. What history in that building!!!

I also went to the Bob's in Diamond Bar, which has a sign that says they are one of only seven Bob's Big Boy in the nation that follow the recipe by Bob Wian, for the Big Boy double decker burger.

So when I heard that the a new Bob's Big Boy is opening in West Covina, I was happy. In what used to be the Chevy's restaurant, Bob's has opened to a welcoming crowd. When I arrived there was about ten people waiting for a table.

I sat at the counter and ordered the Super Big Boy with fries, $7.99. This Big Boy was ok. After what seemed like a long wait, the Big Boy wasn't hot or even warm. As you can see some of the cheese hasn't even melted. But otherwise, it's the same as all other Big Boy.

Service was below average. The hostess was great. I was greeted and seated quickly. She was nice and friendly. The guy who showed me to the counter was nice and friendly. The nice and friendly ended there. I was sitting at the counter and at least eight servers passed me but said nothing. Finally this young girl came up and asked what do I want. No greeting, no watch would I like to drink, nothing. Where is the training for these people? There was another server who could tell I was upset at the service and she said Sorry the person at the counter was sent home. But I waited longer than usual for the Big Boy and when it arrived it wasn't even warm. She never asked how the food was, if I needed anything, nothing. How can they hire these people?

I understand this Bob's has been opened for a week and need to get something worked out. But they need to hire people older than 19, who actually care about their jobs. How can at least eight people pass me, at the counter, without saying ANYTHING? They need to teach their servers how to greet customers and how to provide better service.

I do like Bob's enough that I would go back. But at all three locations I've been to, I've had bad service. What the hell is going on?

If you're a fan of Bob's Big Boy, the city of Downey has or will start construction on a New Bob's. Also from an LA Times Blog, this is about Bob's Big Boy making a comeback, with 40-50 restaurants opening within the next few years.

Hooters-Closed

Hooters 3041 E Garvey Ave N West Covina 626-974-4668 Ok, people don't go to Hooters for the food. It's to see the women who work there, in their orange shorts and white tank tops. So I had to force myself to forget about the girls and review the food. The West Covina Hooters, used to be a Charlie Brown's, and is located in Restaurant Row, just off the 10 freeway. I ordered the 10 piece wings, all drummettes, $9.79. Medium on the spicy meter. All drummettes cost $1 extra. Hooters wings aren't buffalo wings, they are breaded and then fried, then topped with hot sauce. The wings I got were huge, among the biggest I've ever had. They were also very moist and tender. They were not that spicy, maybe I'll get hot next time. I also ordered the grilled chicken salad, $8.89. This salad was no different then the ready made salads you get at the store. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and cucumber topped with grilled chicken. This salad was fresh and the chicken was tender and flavorful. Service was good. I did get greeted when I walked in. But either she can't hear or she is dumb, because I asked to see the baseball game and she put me in front of a TV that had the football game!!! Now I like football but I don't watch the NFL during preseason. I wanted to watch the Brewers vs Astros. I did ask her to switch the channel and she did. But there were plenty of seats open where I could have watched the baseball game. The server was very nice and friendly. I wasn't lacking for anything. I don't make Hooters a regular stop. But every once in a while I crave their wings. So I go. I get good service almost every time I go there and I'm always greeted when I walk in. So I would go back.

Old World Delicatessen- West Covina-Moved

Old World Delicatessens
2648 W Workman Ave
West Covina
626-967-6307

As the sign says Old World Deli has been family owned and operated since 1969. I'm surprised I haven't tried this place sooner.

I was very surprised with the variety of items they had. Pizza, broasted chicken, hot dogs, soups, and of course sandwiches.

Since I haven't been to a hot dog place in a long time, I got the NY style hot dog, $3.50 with mustard, kraut and raw onions. The hot dog was all beef, Boar's Head hot dog. A good quality hot dog but they do not have a natural casing around the hot dog, so no snap. But this is a good quality hot dog, even if it's steamed.

I also got the hot corned beef, $6.85, on grilled rye, mustard lettuce, tomato and swiss cheese. They piled high the Boar's head corned beef and topped with the fresh lettuce and tomatoes. The grilled rye added a nice touch. A very good sandwich. Maybe a little high on the price but good quality and quanity.

Service is good. The young lady taking the order was nice and friendly. But it did seem to take a long time to get my order ready. Maybe they were waiting for the sandwich to be grilled. But overall a nice place to go for lunch. I will go back to try their pizza and broasted chicken soon.


Update 4-22




I went back to Old World to try a slice of their Silician pizza with pepperoni, $3.30. This is not a good example of Silician pizza. Yes the crust was thicker and soft. But there was barely any sauce and the cheese and pepperoni weren't anything to write home about. I think Old World should stick to sandwiches.

Update 4-23




Every Wednesday Old World Deli has $2 off on their broasted chicken family dinners. So I got the eight piece family dinner, $15.10, and decided to see how Old World Deli's broasted chicken compared to the Chicken Box, Pittsburgh Chicken and Taters, and Broasters Kitchen. The family dinners, includes broasted potatoes, salad, I got half mac and half potato salad, and 4 rolls. The chicken at Old World is cooked to order, just like the other three places.

Well Old World beats the hell out of it's West Covina competior, Chicken Box. The chicken at Old World is so moist, juicy and tender. After biting into the crunchy skin, the juicies are just flowing out. The chicken is hot, fresh and so good.

For me, I like Pittsburgh chicken the best with Broasters coming in a close second. But I think Old World is now tied for second. Who would have thought that a deli would make such great broasted chicken. I would go back to Old World for their sandwiches and their broasted chicken.

MJ Ranch-Closed

MJ Ranch
3101 E. Garvey Ave
West Covina
626-331-7371

Everybody knows my love for BBQ ribs. So whenever I see a BBQ place I just have to. Sometimes a place will surprise me. But most of the time, it was a waste of money and time.

The second sentence describes MJ Ranch. Housed in what used to be a Love's Restaurant, MJ Ranch is your standard suburban BBQ restaurant, which means oven cooked meats, drowned in BBQ sauce.

I ordered the pork spare ribs, $14.89 with corn on the cob. The ribs came out very hot to the touch. That means they must have microwaved the ribs before serving them. Why do I say this? Because ribs take a while to cook in an oven. So what some restaurants do is cook them throughout the day and to serve them hot, they will microwave or grill them. There were no grill marks on the ribs, so it must mean they nuked them.

Anyways, the ribs lacked any smoked flavor. They were fairly tender and it was a huge portion. But they just didn't taste good. They were dry, further proof it was nuked. And just plain bad. I didn't even finish them at the restaurant.

Service was good. The lady was very nice and friendly and we didn't lack for anything.

I would not go back to MJ Ranch again. The BBQ ribs are among the worst I ever had. Among the other dishonorable mention. Ribs USA, Beach Pitt BBQ,Bam Bam. and Country Chicken & Ribs.

Green Field- West Covina-Closed

Green Field
281 N. Azusa
West Covina, CA 91790
626-966-2300

I used to like Green Field a lot. I went to the Green Field in Long Beach earlier this year.  But after my experience at their West Covina location, I will not go back again. I went on a Sunday night. I was hungry and ready for some meat.

Pictured first is the beef rib. Very salty and lots of fat. I didn't even finish it.

Next came the pork chop. Very dry and salty. Not tender at all. What a waste.

Bacon wrapped turkey. The bacon was cooked unevenly, parts were burnt, others were cooked just right. The turkey was processed turkey which made it very salty. The turkey would have been dry if not for the bacon.

Sausage. Nothing special about this sausage. Wasn't too flavorful.

Beef Shish kebob. They needed to be on the fire a few more minutes. The onions were barely cooked, the meat was dry and salty.

Sirloin was so red, I thought they just killed the cow. This was also salty and very chewy.

The last picture was either the skirt steak or roast beef. Either way it was salty, tough and just plain bad.

The meat was terrible. But what was worse was the service. I waited at least ten minutes from the time the pork chop was served until the next meat came by. This happened all night. It took forever for the meat to arrive. And they lack any kind of variety in the meat. Where was the tri tip? The pork loin? I think they just use the leftover meats on Sunday. That maybe fine, if they lowered the price. But it was still, $25.95. What a damn ripoff.

Again the meats at Green Field was very salty and lacked flavor. I would not go back there again. What a waste of time and money!!!!

Haru Sushi-Closed

Haru Sushi
1032 West Covina Parkway
West Covina
626-962-7888

While searching for a place to eat, I found Haru Sushi across from the West Covina Fashion Plaza. So I decided to give it a try. I had a very interesting experience here.

Pictured is the tiger roll, $9.95, and the shrimp crunch roll, $7.95. The Tiger roll had imitation crab meat, spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado and cucumber. All these flavors came together very well. I was impressed with the quality and freshness of the ingredients.

The shrimp crunch roll had imitation crab meat, shrimp tempura, acovado and cucumber with tempura flakes on the outside. Again all the ingredients were fresh and tasty. But both rolls are basically the same, the only major difference is that the tiger roll had spicy tuna. I should have ordered another roll with different items.

Service was bad. The server was new and didn't know how anything about being a server at a sushi restaurant. She wasn't familiar with many of the items on the menu and kept having to ask the sushi chefs for answers. It took forever to get refills on drinks. Then took forever to get change. I mean the bill was $21 even. I put $30. Just count nine, one dollar bills and you're done. The worst thing happened when I asked for the sushi menu. I got the menu and looked it over and about three minutes after giving me the sushi menu, she asked if she could take it back!!! I was like fine, if you don't want me to order more food, I won't. I have never had that happen to me before. What the hell is that???

The quality of the sushi is very good. But I wouldn't go back there with such poor service. Or maybe I would just go sit at the sushi bar.

Chevy's-West Covina-Closed

Chevy's
100 S. California Avenue
West Covina CA 91790
626-851-9400

Chevy's is a chain Fresh-Mex restaurant. I have been to their location in West Covina and Anaheim Hills. Just like at most chains, the quality of food and service is pretty much the same.

I went to Chevy's for lunch and ordered a two item combination, with a salsa chicken taco and crispy flautas for $8.29. The salsa chicken taco was served with a crispy white corn taco shell. The shell was very light and crispy. The salsa chicken was mild in terms of spiciness. The chicken itself was a bit dry, even when I added more salsa. The taco wasn't great, but it wasn't bad.

The crispy flautas is basically like a Mexican egg roll. The flautas had salsa chicken, roasted red peppers, grilled corn and a trio of cheeses. It was fusion at it's best or worst depending on how you look at things.

Service was OK. I was seated at the tables near the bar area. It's lunch so there wasn't a bunch of drunks in the bar area. But I was served by the bartender. He had a couple people at the bar and other duties. So he wasn't always there. I was dying of thrist at times because he wasn't around to refill my drink.

Chevy's isn't the best Mexican, or even real Mexican food. But it's decent chain food. I wouldn't go back.

I'm not going to start reviewing a ton of chain restaurants. But I figured I would review some smaller chains.

Claro's Italian Market-Closed

Claro's Italian Market
322 Glendora Ave.
West Covina
626-918-8818

Italian Deli, sandwich.

Claro's has six locations throughout LA and OC. In the back they have a deli and you can order a small sandwich with up to 3 meats and one cheese for $4.49. I ordered a roast beef and turkey with provolone cheese with mayo, lettuce and tomato.

The Italian bread was nice and soft. That was the best part. The server put the meat and cheese on the scale and it came to .31 of a lb. which I don't think is enough. The meat and cheese wasn't good either. It was better than ToGos but which place isn't? I also thought the sandwich was dry as he didn't put enough mayo on the sandwich.

Service was poor. There were five people behind the counter all doing a lot of nothing. Even with that it took a couple minutes for somebody to say Can I help you?

I wouldn't go back, even if I was in the area. There are much better sandwiches places, including Von's.

Chicken Box- West Covina-Closed

Chicken Box
202 Glendora Ave.
West Covina, CA
626-919-3513

The sign on the window says serving West Covina for 32 years. I went there for the first time last year and have been going back ever since.

I love their broasted chicken. Monday nights they have a special 10 pieces and a choice of fries or broasted potatoes for $10.99. The chicken has a very nice crunch and is very juicy and moist. Not a big fan of their broasted potatoes. But their fries are good.

Pictured is a three piece chicken (breast, leg, and thigh) special with fries and onion rings for $6.05.

I've also had their seafood plate. 2 jumbo shrimp, 2 fried fish, and 3 scallops. All deep fried to a nice brown. Very good stuff. $8.99

Shrimp basket, about 20 pieces of crunchy shrimp for $4.59.

I think one of their best deals is the Sampler Plate. 2 pieces of chicken, 1 rib, 1 jumbo shrimp and 1 piece of fish. $8.99. The ribs are baby backs and have a nice flavor. Not smoked but some of the better ribs around. The shrimp is crunchy a good size. The fish can get soggy so eat it quickly.

The only thing that I didn't like was their chicken strips. Very thin and not cruch at all.

Update. I went back in September and they screwed up my Sampler Platter order. What was suppose to be all white meat and they charged about 60 cents extra, was one leg and one thigh. I called over and they said they would fix it. So I go back the next day and order a seafood plate. I mentioned the order screw up and they said they would give me a breast and a wing to make up for the mix up. I go to pay and they want to charge me for the breast and wing. I said you forgot to take off the chicken. They made things right. But I'm not happy about the screw up.

The service is good but the weekday hours are terrible, they only open at 3pm. Mostly take out though there are two tables.

The Chicken Box has another location in La Habra though the prices in La Habra are about 5% higher.

Hungry Al's Bar B Que-Closed

Hungry Al's Bar B Que
116 N Vincent Ave,
West Covina, CA 91790
626- 967-6998

I went to Hungry Al's today, August 20th. I got the three piece pork rib lunch with their mixed BBQ sauce and potatoe salad for $6.50. The ribs were fairly large and the sauce was pretty good. It had a nice kick but still a little on the sweet side. But the meat wasn't impressive. They use oak wood and while oak makes great furniture, it's not a good wood to use to smoke ribs. The meat was kind of dry and while there was a smoke flavor, it would have been better if they used another type of wood to smoke the meat.

Even though it's the only real BBQ place in the area I wouldn't go back to Hungry Al's.