Ondal Restaurant

Ondal Restaurant
9240 Garden Grove Blvd
Garden Grove
714-636-7289

Ondal is known for their spicy crab soup. There are two location in LA, one in Koreatown and the other in the Palms area. I checked and this Ondal, in Garden Grove is part of that Ondal chain.

I was looking forward to try the spicy crab soup and it did not live up to my expectations.




Medium spicy crab stew, $55, blue crap, bean sprouts, and spicy broth. The medium comes with three blue crabs. The shells are only used as an eye catcher. They are quickly taken off and the server, finds the body of the crabs and cuts it up for you.

I took a crab and it was so mushy and overcooked. The crab was no fresh and tasted bad. The spicy broth was a bit too spicy for me but pretty good overall. But, I couldn't get over the fact the crab was so mushy.



I only had one piece of crab, so I was still hungry and ordered the spicy BBQ pork, $7.99. This was better than the crab, but not much better. They use such a poor quality pork-such much gristle and fat. The few good piece were very flavorful, a bit spicy, and tender. But there wasn't many good pieces.

Service was good. The lady, who I believe is the owner, was very nice and helpful.

Ondal and the spicy crab soup did not live up to expectations. I thought it was a waste of money, I much prefer to go to Boiling Crab.

Boiling Crab- Garden Grove

Boiling Crab- Garden Grove
13892 Brookhurst St.
Garden Grove
714-636-4885

I've been to the Boiling Crab in Alhambra and wanted to see if there is any difference with their location in Garden Grove. I got there at 5pm Sunday. The wait for my large group, was almost two hours!!!! You can see the huge line in the first picture. But some people didn't want to wait, so we got seated in a little over an hour.

I wanted some appetizers and got the fried shrimp basket, $8.99. The shrimp was nicely fried in corn meal and good sized shrimp. As good as the Alhambra location.

The day I went, they were out of blue and dungeness crabs!!! But I have never had the King Crab legs at The Boiling Crab, so I got an order of King Crab legs. The King Crab legs were priced at $14.99 per pound. My order was 1.3lbs. I got the mild lemon butter seasoning. The king crab legs were good but not as fresh as I thought they would be. They were a bit tough and chewy. The seasoning wasn't that good either. It seems as though the seasonings were just sitting around for too long in a pot. Something was missing with the seafood at this location.

Service was very good. They were nice and friendly and we got served quickly.

I'm not sure what the problem is with the Garden Grove location. They get a ton of turnover, so there is no reason for the seafood not to be fresh.

The prices for the seafood were a bit cheaper at the Garden Grove location, but that could be a matter of supply. I went to the Alhambra location back in June and the prices of seafood could have been higher back in June.

I would think twice about coming back to the Garden Grove location. It didn't live up to the high standards that I've come to expect from The Boiling Crab.

Artist Crawfish Express-Closed

Artist Crawfish Express
9041 Trask Ave
Ste A
Garden Grove
714-537-7260

What do you get when you combine good prices with good food? Of course the answer is, a good review from The New Diner.

Artist Crawfish serves crawfish and peel and eat shrimp. But I heard good things about their other seafood items, so I decide to try it. Located behind an car repair shop, parking can be tough to find before 6:30pm, since people are just picking up their cars after getting an oil change or service. But the food is worth the hassle.

I got the side order of butterfly shrimp, $4.50 and the Cajun Fish Fry, $6.95. I felt like I was stealing from them when the shrimp arrived. The menu says you get eight pieces and I got eight huge pieces of butterfly shrimp. OK they are frozen and then deep fried but that doesn't mean they can't taste good. Very crunchy and flavorful. How do they charge such low prices for this? I could order two of these and get make it a meal. The cocktail sauce is mainly ketchup but I liked the crunch so much, that I wasn't going to worry about a dipping sauce when the shrimp was this good and cheap.

Five minutes after the shrimp arrive, I get this huge piece of sole fish on top of Artist rice, which is fried rice with some mixed veggies. The fish was deep fried in a very nice crunchy, cornmeal batter. The inside was nice and flakey. One of the best fish I've had. The rice was ok, nothing really special about it.

Service was very good. The young girl was the only person working and she was nice and did a good job. We didn't lack for anything. And I'm not saying any of this because she was very easy on the eyes. If she was ugly I would still have said the samething.

I would go back to Artist Crawfish Express anytime. This isn't the fault of Artist Crawfish Express but there was a table of about eight people including a 4-5 year old kid who were so loud, they were almost shouting at each other across the table. Then this stupid kid is yelling and running around all over the restaurant, opening the door. Which isn't that bad but when it is windy and cold outside, it would be nice if the door was closed. It would have been better if the parents would watch their damn kid. Parents, a restaurant is NOT a babysitting service. If you want to go out for a nice dinner, hire a babysitter or make sure you are watching your damn kid while in the restaurant. People want to go to restaurants for a nice meal. They don't need a kid running around yelling his stupid head off. Take responsibility for your damn kid.

Update April 3, 2009.

I got a great question by a reader of The New Diner: Who do you think has better fried seafood -- Artist Crawfish or England Fish and Chips in Long Beach?

I think both are great and in most ways it is comparing apples to oranges. Artist Express has more items on their menu. English Fish and Chips is all about fried seafood. If I had to compare just the fried seafood, I think Englang Fish and Seafood is the best. The prices, $1.49 for a huge piece of cod, are better. I also like cod better than sole. The fried shrimp at Englad is better and they also have fried scallops.

Cham Soot Gol

Cham Soot Gol
9252 Garden Grove Blvd #10
Garden Grove, CA 92842
714-590-9292

Korean BBQ. I haven't reviewed that many Korean BBQ places, Ka-San BBQ being maybe the only one to date.

But I went to Cham Soot Gol and it was all you can eat for $16.99. You get sliced beef, pork belly, which is bacon, bulgogi, chicken, and spicy pork.

Before I continue, I thought about pictures for Korean BBQ. Since you are cooking the meats at the Korean BBQ's, I think I will post just the pics of the raw meat. Why? Because the pictures of the cooked meats will vary depending on how you cook them. I think it's better to see the raw meat to determine the quality.

The sliced beef was terrible. They were frozen and had lots of fat. They had no flavor at all and was tough. They reminded me of sliced beef I got from the Mongolian BBQ's.

The pork belly was terrible too. Ok, I know pork belly are mostly fat but this damn thing was almost all fat.

I did like the bulgogi. which is marinated beef. Lots of good flavor, though a bit fatty.

The chicken was bland and flavorless. They need to put some marinate on this. Mostly dark meat, pretty tender but who cares if it lacks flavor.

The spicy pork was too fatty and hot. They need to cut down on the hot sauce. I didn't like much.

The best part was the ice cream. It's Thirfty's ice cream and they had green tea, butter pecan,chocolate and later on strawberry. You scoop up the ice cream yourself on a cone. They could soften the ice cream a little or use the ice cream scoopers they use at Thrify's. But otherwise a nice treat.

Service was good. They kept bringing new meats, a grill, and all the sides. I only ate the rice.

I would not go back to Cham Soot Gol again. I only thought one of the five meats were good, the bulgogi. It was worth the price since I ate a lot of the bulgogi. But the other meats were not good quality at all.

I know there has to be a better Korean BBQ place. I didn't realize that this stretch of Garden Grove Blvd had turned into the Koreatown of Orange County. The street was filled with many Korean BBQ places. I may have to try them soon.

Los Sanchez

Los Sanchez
11906 Garden Grove Blvd.
Garden Grove
714-590-9300

Los Sanchez used to be on Harbor, near Orangewood for 27 years, until the city of Garbage Grove whored themselves and allowed a much needed hotel to be built when Los Sanchez used to be. If that sound like it's happened before, you're right. They torn down Belisle's, a great restaurant that used to have huge portions and is older than Mickey and Minnie's house so that Outback Steakhouse and a hotel could open up.

But unlike Belisle's, Los Sanchez has been able to reopen. Los Sanchez closed down in February but reopened at this new location about three weeks ago. They are known for good prices and huge portions.

I ordered a carnitas burrito with beans and cheese for about $5.00. The menu price is $4.50 and cheese is 35 cents extra. They are called super burritos because they are huge, as you can see in the picture. They are stuffed with carnitas, beans and cheese, wrapped in a flour tortilla. I didn't like the carnitas as much because they were boiled with little flavor or spices, just too bland for my tastes. I have had their carne asada taco and burrito before and it was very good, with good flavor and spices.

Service is good and fast. The people are very nice and great you warmly. They want to make sure your experience is a good one. Lines can by long but they move fast, as they will have 3-4 cashiers taking orders. The restaurant is very clean and there is somebody always walking around clearing off tables.

I would go back to Los Sanchez but I would not order a carnitas burrito.