COFFEE BREAK

COFFEE BREAK - Walnut


Location:

1217 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789
(909) 595-0094


This is a small teahouse/taiwanese cafe located on the corner of Grand Ave. and Amar Rd., across the street from Mt. SAC. We came here due to the recommendation of our friend Jackie who said she had been coming here for years. So we thought we'd give it a try and headed down over there pretty excited to try the place out since we considered our friend a reliable source. UNFORTUNATELY, things didn't work out as expected. We step into this place and stand at the front waiting for a server to seat us or at the very least acknowledge that we exist, but that didn't happen. We stood there for 5 minutes and no one talked to us. I mean its hard to miss us! This place is small! In fact, they walked around us! We were standing face to face with the girl working behind the counter and she looked at us so we know she knew we were there. She wasn't even just looking at us, she was downright glaring. Either way, she didn't offer any help so we walked out.

A few months later we did return mainly because a few other people said some good things about this place. So we decided to give this place one last try and this time we were actually seated!


The Ambience:

Its decor is a mix between country kitchen and asian teahouse which is a little odd. From the outside you don't really know what to expect because the windows are tinted or blocked. It's basically small, quiet place to have a meal.


The Food:

Typical teahouse food. We ordered:


Pork Cutlet




Popcorn Chicken




The food here is pretty standard, but I suppose we weren't too adventurous with our selections. I don't really know what to say about this place. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. Overall it did not really make much of an impression on my on either side of the spectrum.


The Price: $

It should cost about $10 per person to dine here.


The Conclusion:

I don't have much to say about this place because I think it's mediocre although if you go on YELP the reviewers there are pretty high on this place. However, I doubt we're coming back to this place again.

TAMAYA

TAMAYA, Hacienda Heights
Japanese- Rice Dishes - Ramen


Location:

17142 Colima Rd Ste E
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 581-3223


Tamaya is located on the corner of Azusa/Colima in the same plaza as Albertsons and WAMU across from Puente Hills Mall. It is one of the few ramen places in the surrounding area. Since Tampopo closed down, this has been our spot to fix Jim's occasional ramen cravings.


The Ambience:

Tamaya is a small, homey, authentic looking Japanese restaurant which seems to be family owned and ran. When you walk in, a nice Japanese lady greets you with a smile and seats you. Because it is a tiny place there may sometimes be a bit of a wait to get seated. This is a no frills type of eatery, but something about it just gives off this feeling like you could find a place exactly like this in Japan. It's small, intimate and frequented by long time loyal customers.



The Food:

Their menu selection consists of different types of ramen, some curry, teriyaki rice bowls, katsu and a variety of other side dishes/appetizers. They also offer combination meals where you get to choose the type of ramen you want, a small sized rice dish and/or an appetizer. We usually start things off with an order of gyoza.



The gyoza is pan fried and we consider it an "okay" dish. Nothing really special about it. It kinda tastes like the frozen ones you can buy at the grocery store. Jim's usual order at Tamaya is the combo meal: his choice of ramen and usually a small rice bowl of beef teriyaki and it also comes with a side salad. (FYI- The small rice bowl isn't really all that small in my opinion and its very difficult to finish the whole meal if you opt for a combination dinner.) I'm not really big on ramen but I do consider the ramen at Tamaya as about average tasting though very much above many of the other surrounding ramen places in our nearby area. I have also heard some really good things about Foo Foo Tei in Hacienda Heights. I personally have not been there but Jim has so maybe he can write an addendum to this review. I don't often order ramen at Tamaya but there are a few dishes here that I LOVE. The beef teriyaki is one of them! It's delicious and sure beats the beef bowl at Yoshinoya in my opinion. It also costs less than $4 for a small bowl which in actuality is actually a good portion. Another favorite of mine at Tamaya is the spicy beef side dish. It's like a really tender stewed beef. I don't really know how to describe it, just that it's good! Trust me.

Jim's Ramen:



This particular visit to Tamaya I ordered a rice dish + appetizer combination. I got the Katsu-don rice dish which is rice topped with a pork cutlet and scrambled eggs. I've had katsu at other places before but this was a little different because the scrambled egg tasted a little sweet. With my first bite I just thought to myself, "Well. . .hmmm. . . that's a little different." I'm actually not sure if I like it or not. It's just . . . different.


Katsu-Don





Price: $

Including drinks, tax and tip, the cost of dining here per person should be around $10 -$15. It's not as cheap as going to a drive through or Yoshinoya but still very manageable.


Conclusion:

We come here mainly because Jim likes ramen and it is the closest one to us ( although Ajisen Ramen has recently opened nearby though we have not yet had the opportunity to check it out). However, we come back for the small, authentic Japanese restaurant feel, the nice Japanese lady who takes our order and the spicy beef. We definitely recommend anyone who likes ramen or Japanese food (not sushi) to give this place a try. We may have rated their ramen a little higher, but WE have tasted the BEST of the BEST ramen around. And I'm almost positive it's the BEST in all of Southern California. Shin-Sen-Gumi Ramen in Rosemead. I'm not a big fan of noodle soups, they're "okay" in my book, but if it's ramen from Shin-Sen-Gumi I'd eat it ALL day EVERY day!!! Their broth is to die for!! More on this place in a different review.

KADO

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KADO - Los Angeles
Sushi, Teppan, Lounge

website

Location:
6333 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Hours:
Sun. - Thurs. : 11:30 am - 10 pm
Fri. - Sat. : 11:30 am - 11 pm

This is yet another sushi/teppan grill place and will be the last place of this kind we will review in a while. Kado features Teppan style dining, a revolving sushi bar and a full service lounge.

Food:

We ordered grilled salmon, with a wasabi and herb rub, served with chinese broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes.




We also ordered the roasted half chicken served with roasted herb potatos, japanese mushroom/basil sauce and asparagus.



The roasted half chicken was really delicious. It was moist and flavorful and probably the best part of our whole dining experience. The grilled salmon was "alright" but it didn't really have much flavor and I didn't really like the balsamic vinigar sauce underneath. We had also ordered salmon sashimi which was mediocre. For the price, I would expect the cut to be better and the fish more fresh. On a positive note we did get free dessert and we chose the creme brulee.

Ambience:

It has an Asian-Fusion trendy upscale decor. They have a revolving sushi bar which would be more interesting if it had interesting items placed on it, but it had you're normal spicy tuna roll, california roll, etc. type of sushi. For a Thursday night this place was very quiet and only a few customers. On weekdays they have all you can eat sushi lunch for I think around $20 per person.

Service:

It was okay...our waitress was courteous and helpful, but considering they had verrry few customers it's hard to judge the service.

Price: $$-$$$

Expensive for what it is. We don't mind spending a bit if the food is worth it, but this place unlike Tuna Town is one of those trendy, expensive Japanese restaurants with mediocre food. The only memorable thing about it is that I thought the roasted chicken was really delicious.

Recommended?

Well, the place was not bad in itself but there really wasn't anything to set this place apart from other Japanese restaurants. As much as I liked the chicken, I don't think it's enough to warrant driving all the way out to L.A. and facing that traffic so that I can eat here. It was also expensive which the food does not justify enough for us to eat there again. So next time we'll pass on KADO and spend our money elsewhere.

Tuna Town, Huntington Beach

Tuna Town, Huntington Beach

website

Location:
221 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA

Hours:

Sunday - Thursday: 5pm -10pm
Friday - Saturday : 5pm -11pm
Closed on Mondays

Sorry I don't have pictures for this but here are some links.

360 degree view of restaurant

restaurant pictures, movies and menu items

This is a sushi bar/teppan yaki grill type restaurant. It is owned by a member of the band KORN so it has a rock theme to it. We came here for a friend's birthday a few months ago. Anyways here is our review.

FOOD:

When we first came here, we did not really have high expectations considering its a sushi place with a ROCK theme to it. The first thing we thought was this place is trendy, and that the food will be "alright"-not great but not bad either and really expensive! We were thus pleasantly surprised. We ordered the Blackened Ahi Steak ($20)and Japanese Boneless Short Ribs ($18) for our entrees. We also ordered a crunchy roll and salmon sashimi. The entrees were not only delicious but was also plated beautifully and the portions generous.

Here's a pick of the Ahi Steak! Yummm...



Ambience:

We went on a Saturday night so we can't see how it will be on a regular weekday, but weekends are busy and the place is packed. It's a nice place to go to with a group of people. They have a number of televisions around the restaurant to watch whatever sporting event is going on. The particular night we were there we watched a UFC fight. The place is busy and the crowd is lively, all-in-all a great place to go to celebrate or just to hang out.

Service:

The service was really great. Our server was friendly, prompt and competent. We had a somewhat large table and ordered numerous times for more sushi rolls or sake, on top of that like I mentioned earlier the place was packed so all things considered service was excellent in that we did not wait too long for our food and our server was always gracious.

Price: $$-$$$

It really depends on what you order and how much you order, but generally at least $25 per person or what you would normally expect to spend at a Mid to mid-high Japanese restaurant. We ordered two entrees, a crunch roll, an order of salmon sashimi, 2 beers, a soda and ice tea and our bill with tax and tip was around $90. It's not cheap but not too expensive either considering how much food we got.

Recommended?

Yes. It was a great experience and a great surprise because we were epecting mediocre food at a high price. I think we'll definitely go there again the next time we find ourselves out in Huntington Beach.

GYU-KAKU

GYU-KAKU, Pasadena





website

Location:

70 W. Green St.
Pasadena, CA

Hours:
Mon.-Thurs. : 5pm - 10:30pm Dinner only
Fri.-Sun. : 11:30am - 3:30pm (Lunch)
Fri. & Sat. : 5pm - 11:30pm
Sundays : 5pm - 10pm






This is a Japanese Grill type restaurant that I ate at with my family and we had a really good experience here :) If you've ever been to a Korean BBQ place where you get to cook your own food this place is similar to that. However, unlike those places you won't end up smelling like BBQ and smoke. Why??? Because the special Japanese style grill that they use sucks down the smoke rather than have it moving up and blowing towards you. So here is my take on the following subjects:

Food:
Really High quality meats, seafood and vegetables! You basically order this stuff raw and cook it on the grill. They offer combinations that range in price starting from about $20. While they don't serve sushi or sashimi there are some items that use tuna sashimi. Definitely try some of the appetizers. My favorite is the Hawaiian poke (marinated tuna sashimi) and the crispy seaweed with cream cheese. Also, the spicy tuna avocado salad is a good way to go if you're trying to eat light.
I had my first taste of Kobe beef here. So for meat eaters this is something you should definitely try once. But because it is KOBE beef which is like the most expensive beef it is not cheap and don't expect huge portions. 8 oz. of kobe beef is roughly about $40 for the prime cut. You can also get rib eye kobe beef for about $20. I also recommend getting the pork toro ($6 for 4oz.) , rib eye (regular beef) ($10 for 4 oz.), garlic butter lobster
Though I didn't try it, this place also serves a few Japanese rice dishes and noodles of bibimba (in hot stone pot), udon, and ramen. These are pretty affordable about $7 to $8.

Drinks:
They serve a variety of Japanese beers and sake so it's an ideal place to go with a group of friends to drink and celebrate a special day. They also serve shochu which is a japanese alcoholic drink similar to korean soju. The place also has a nice wine list comprised of mostly northern California wines. Free refills on soda and tea.


Ambiance:
Since this branch I went to is in Old Town it tends to be very busy on weekends. However, if you go during weekdays that won't be much of a problem. It's typically a good place to go with a group of people. Seating is comfortable and the decor is nice without being too trendy. It's a pretty relaxed setting.

Service:
Service was very, very good. The wait staff was very attentive what you would expect from a nice Japanese restaurant. Our waitress checked on us often and was very polite.


Price: $$ - $$$

Depending on what you order, how much you eat and what you drink, typically you should expect to spend at least $20 per person and up. They have happy hour where meats, vegetables are about 20% -50% off excluding Kobe beef and a few others. They also have All-You-Can-Eat available during certain days. This is about $35 / person.
All in all, I think it would be a good idea to hit up the place during happy hour.

Recommended ?

Yup! I'd definitely go back again. It's definitely not a place I can go to everyday but a nice place every now and then and if you go during happy hour it is quite affordable.