Review: Pho Banh Mi Che Cali ★★ 2/3

Thai Tea with Jelly

Chicken Pho

This is basically the McDonald's version of Banh Mi Che Cali, but still miles better than eating most fast food near Pasadena City College, there's no premade packaged food here.  All the items are higher priced here probably due to its location.  Parking here can be a real pain during school hours.  This is formerly a Thai Restaurant.

The Chicken Pho was half off as part of their Opening Special. The broth on this soup was boiling hot and the chicken was all White Meat with no skin or bones.  I didn't care for the rice noodles finding them to be of  low quality.  Despite all this, this is like the 5th Pho Restaurant in Pasadena. If you happen to work nearby then this is not a bad choice; just expect to pay because of the location and not for the quality of the food.

Review: Costa Mesa Santouka Ramen ★★★

Miso Large Ramen

Chewy Noodle

I was a big fan of Santouka Ramen in Santa Monica. They offer boiled hot Ramen with nice chewy noodles!

On my way to San diego I stopped by here to try this legendary Ramen chain.  I ordered the Large size Miso Ramen.  The broth wasn't anywhere as hot (temperature or spicy?) as the Santa Monica location and the the noodle portion appeared to be smaller despite the large size which cost just about $10 after the sales tax.

This one doesn't appear to have large crowds like the other locations and is similar in size to a Food Court.

Keep your receipt since you need that to verity your order!

Review: 626 Night Market ★★★ 2/3

Some booth like Hotato expect long line.

Lots of Skewers !

Vikon Farms Chicken great deal $6 for 2 of this big pieces 

For those who crave Asian food and want to try a large variety in one place then the 626 Night Market is probably your best bet. Admission is $2 from 4 to 6pm and $3 after with parking.  That is a lot cheaper than the Asian America Expo which can cost almost $20 with parking and admission; the main difference is that there are very few booths that give out freebies and performance here.

The Good - Some new and rare food are the Vietnamese Crepes, Hotato, Okonomiyaki and Free Range Grilled Chicken.  For a peaceful option you could sit inside the park which has a lot of seating.

The Bad - Kogi's food prices have gone up a lot since last time I visited it, but most of the food trucks don't seem to belong here.  3 Tacos for $10 and Burritos cost $9 which is way too high in my opinion. I Sweet Snow Ice gave you small portions and toppings are not even included for $3. Nobody selling any Mochi is a bit surprising!

There are just too many vendors out there selling Milk Tea, Snow Ice, and Skewers. There are hardly any Korean and too few Japanese vendors, so this place feels more like a place that has Taiwanese Street Food. The addition of Indonesian and Burmese food is nice.  

This is a great place to try new food that is sometimes rare or one of kind, but don't expect the quality to be top notch despite the fact that you are paying for food where the prices are closer to or even higher than a restaurant.  Hopefully they will keeping improving by adding more entertainment in the future and a better layout of the vendors.   Expect to spend $10-20 to make your stomach happy :-p

Review: Cyber Yogurt ★★★ 2/3

$.35 per oz.

6 Different Flavors Popping Boba !

Cyber Yogurt is one of those hidden gems in El Monte, and this is the only frozen yogurt in town. I was surprised to find only a few dozen reviews here despite this place having been open for over three years.  

They've got a limited selection of yogurt flavors. What shines here are the 6 flavors of popping boba, the most I've seen from any frozen yogurt place. I am not a big fan  but they are many people that love popping boba. Price is 35 cents per oz which is on par with Yogurtland. This place also got computers for web surfing.

Review Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar ★★★★ 1/2

PRIME BONE-IN RIBEYE $50.50 (Not as good as some other steakhouse)

FLEMING'S SALAD 9.95 - Fresh !

CHILLED SEAFOOD TOWER - $24.50 was the best non happy hour menu, 2 pieces of Alaska King Crab.

Large collection of wines 

Fleming is the newest steakhouse in the block, just steps away from Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

[Parking] - $7 valet or $2 street meter parking There's no structure parking nearby.

[Déco] - Similar to Roy's, but what stands out is their huge collection of wines. They've got over 100 different brands to choose from! Each table has an Ipad displaying the wine menu.

[Service] - The servers in the bars are very slow. The stand-alone tables are provided much better service. Avoid the bar area, unless you really want to watch the game.  

[Food] 
Prime Bone-In Ribeye $50.50 - Humongous at 20 oz, juicy, but also very fatty. Their in-house bbq sauce is basically just mixed with tomato sauce - not suitable for the steak.

Chilled Seafood Tower $24.50 -You are getting 2 Alaskan King Crab legs, half a mini lobster, a small portion of crab meat and ceviche, and 2 pieces of jumbo shrimp.   Easily the best bang for your buck for a non-happy hour menu item!

Fleming Salad $9.95 - Everything in the salad was fresh from the walnuts to the tomatoes. The dressing is basically lime juice, which is a good choice.

Tenderloin Carpaccio $6 - Raw and tasty tenderloin beef. Thin cuts with nice, soft crunchy bread. Almost a perfect match. One heck of a deal for happy hour!

Flat Bread with Artichoke and Mushroom $6 - Big portion. More like a pizza, as there's a good amount of cheese and other ingredients. Good for sharing, although the prime burger and fries are probably a better choice.

Despite this being a steakhouse, I enjoyed their non-steak dishes more. If you like Roy's fusion restaurant, this place is worth a try since it is very similar and probably Roy's closest rival. Same $6 happy hour that offers great food for value in a fine dining  setting. The price range listed on the page is incorrect. It is more like $$$ than $$$$.

Review: OO-KOOK Korean BBQ ★★★★

Boness Short Ribs - Excellent and look fresh 

Impressive Salad Bar

Bulgogi 

Beef Tongue - Frozen no good.

One of better Kimchi

Baby Octupus for the hardcore.

Kook is the latest KBBQ restaurant open in the San Gabriel Valley which is a sister brand of Kook in Korean town.  Since I haven't been to the other location but I goes here can't really compare it to that one.  I can say that this is easily the top 3 KBBQ in the SGV!

KBBQ from the chain is no joke when it comes to décor; they know how to make the décor stand out and add a flat screen TV that shows sports which targets young Asian adults. 

The most unique feature is the salad bar; they have stuff that you won't find in most KBBQ like oranges, lettuce wraps, beef bones, cold Tofu, and Soybean paste on top like your usual Bachan item.  In other words; this place is the best AYCE KBBQ when comes to your non meat options.

They offer a large selection of meats, but the most popular meat which is Brisket was no good and was frozen which is a shocker! The Short Ribs and Bulgogi was very tasty and seemed fresh. Unlike most KBBQ AYCE there's only one selection of meats which costs $20 for weekday lunch; dinner and weekends cost $25.  Not cheap, but you're getting your money's worth.  Sure you could get the slightly better value in K-Town, but the gap between K-town and SGV is much closer now.  The only thing the SGV doesn't get from K-Town is the famous $10 dirt cheap AYCE option.  I wish they offered the lower price option.  Gen House is the closest rival to this place, is slight cheaper, but you are getting slower service and less options plus no Salad Bar or TV.

Review: Ichiban Buffet and Grill ★1/2

Mongoria BBQ 

Dessert 

BBQ Spare Ribs 

Sushi is terrible, the seaweed salad is not good. 

Price is slight higher than Great China Buffet but cheaper than Zen Buffet.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a Japanese Buffet. It's truly a Chinese Buffet place with a Japanese name.  This is one of the nicer Chinese Buffets in the area with updated modern décor and some big flat screen TVs showing sports channels.  The plate is big and is square shape, which is a good idea for buffet as it makes plating items easier.  

I actually got food poisoning from eating here because each plate that had a water base could cause contamination.  Food is pretty mediocre; the service is as slow as a snail.  They never actually come to refill your drink.

Food is similar to the Great China Buffet, but with nicer décor. The negatives far outweigh the positives. They have extremely poor service and not to mention you might sick while eating here!