Koji Ramen

Koji Ramen
3520 W Temple Ave
Pomona, CA 91768
714-713-7825

This space used to be Cantina Express, among many other restaurants-I recall a Chinese buffet in the earl 1990's being in that space.  Two other Japanese restaurants came before Koji Ramen!  The location, near many warehouses and on the way for Cal Poly Pomona students going back home, would seem to make this an ideal spot. So, I'm not sure why this space has so much turnover.  This shopping center is also where JoJo Pizza used to be!

A large restaurant in an irregular shaped room.  The small sushi bar is along the back wall, with tables and chairs spread throughout the restaurant. 

Shrimp tempura- 5 pieces- $6.99.  Frozen, but well cooked and crunchy!  Worth the price. 

 Crunch roll-$7.99-Too much sauce on top is my only complain.  Otherwise a good fresh roll!

Beach roll- $7.99- Avocado, crabmeat, cucumber and red snapper on the outside.  This could have been outstanding except for a tangy sauce on this.  The red snapper was very fresh and the California roll inside was good  But, the tangy sauce, just isn't for me!

Service-Good service.

I would go back to Koji Ramen for the sushi!  Good quality sushi, at very good prices!

Kaori

Kaori
133 W Chapman Ave
Ste 103
Fullerton, CA 92832
714-871-9395

Kaori is located in a one story building that has a Mexican, a Philly Cheesesteak, and some kind of Asian fusion restaurant.  Right in front of the building is a dirty and gravel parking, and just behind that is a paved parking lot.

Kaori is a dark restaurant with a Japanese motif.  It was pretty busy during lunch.

Shrimp $5 and tuna sushi $5.50.  The shrimp was along the biggest and freshest, I've had!!  Very good quality and well worth the price.  The tuna was fine.  Nothing outstanding or bad about it.

Crunch roll- $10.  A good sized roll, with fresh ingredients! 

Service was pretty good, expect water was slow to be refilled.

I would go back to Kaori, just for the shrimp sushi.  Next time I go, I'll try the other rolls.

Little Belize Restaurant

Little Belize Restaurant
217 E Nutwood St
Inglewood, CA 90301
310-674-0696

When I found out about Little Belize Restaurant, I was excited to try it, because I've never had Belizean food before.  Located in what looks like an old Roscoe's building, it's a small restaurant with booths and tables, and a counter-where I placed my order to go.

I would looking forward to trying their red snapper, but they only make that on weekends-though they didn't mention that on their website.

Panades - freshly seasoned masa stuffed with our delicious hash fish, and deep fried to perfection – served with our spicy habanero sauce. $3.95

This was an interest dish.  The masa wasn't fried to perfection- the oil temp was too low, and thus the panades were soggy and not crispy!. They also forgot the habenero sauce.  But, the fish was nice and flavorful.  This could have been a very good dish, if they were fried right!

Panades- Freshly seasoned masa stuffed with bean and cheese. – served with our house special tomato and onion sauce. $4.95.  As with the fish panades, the masa wasn't fried at the right temps, making it soggy, and not crispy.  But, the bean and cheese was very good.  This would hold up to any Mexican restaurant bean and cheese burrito! 

Service was very good.  Nice people.  But, I do wish they would indicate on their website, the red snapper dish is only available on weekends.

I may give Little Belize Restaurant, if I'm in the area.  But, I'm not rushing back!

JAMZ Creamery

JAMZ Creamery
231 E Manchester Blvd
Inglewood, CA 90301
424-351-8217

JAMZ Creamery is a small,  take out ice cream store in Inglewood.  Located across Manchester Blvd, from Dulan's Soul Food Kitchen!  It's a bright building with ice cream displayed in an L-shaped room. 

Double scoop of ice cream-$3.85.  While their website says $3.75.   I got rocky road and chocolate malted crunch.  I forgot to take a picture before diving into the rocky road.  But, the rocky road was nice and creamy, with lots of almonds and marshmallows.  But, the chocolate malted crunch tasted way too much like Thrifty's Ice Cream!  If I wanted Thrifty's ice cream, I would have gone to Rite Aid!

Service is good.  Very friendly people.

I would go back to Jamz for the rocky road ice cream.  But, I when I go out I don't want something I can get at the store!

Yeast N’ Flour Pizza-Closed

Yeast N’ Flour Pizza
231 N Euclid Ave
Ontario, CA 91762
909-391-6525

David Allen reviewed Yeast N’ Flour Pizza back in 2016.  I didn't realize Ontario had an interesting downtown, with historic buildings, so I decided to go and get some pizza!! 

Yeast N’ Flour Pizza is on Euclid right in the heart of downtown Ontario.  It's a huge building with high ceilings and TV's all over.  There are tables in the front, and the back wall is the counter and kitchen.  This is fast casual pizza, where you order at the counter and the pizza is taken to your table.

12in build your own pizza, $8.45, with spinach, mushrooms, red onions, and half the pizza with jalapenos.

The crust is outstanding!  Firm and crispy but yet very good texture!  The toppings were fresh and they piled on the cheese!!  An outstanding pizza and better than the other fast casual pizza I've had at Pizza Rev, Blaze, Pieology and Project Pie.

I would go back to  Yeast N’ Flour Pizza, anytime!  They even have a 16in., 12 slices pizza!  Maybe the next time I go here!!

Kiku Sushi-Chino Hills

Kiku Sushi
3090 Chino Ave
Chino Hills, CA 91709
909-591-1291

Kiku Sushi is located in Chino Hills, in the same shopping center as Buffalo Wild Wings, and the space that housed three now closed restaurants- Bad Bob's BBQ,  Villaggio Pizzeria, and  Lobster Grill.  This is not affiliated with the KiKu Sushi in Monrovia that I reviewed back in 2007.

KiKu is a large restaurant with the sushi bar along the back wall and tables and booths throughout the restaurant.   It was busy on a Wednesday night.  They have an  all you can eat option for $25.95.  If you're going to buy two rolls, you basically paid for the all you can eat.

I know that at all you can eat sushi restaurants, the sushi isn't the best quality.  I'm not expecting that.  I know I'm getting quantity over quality.

Halibut, shrimp, yellowtail, tuna nigri sushi.  The halibut was limited to one order per person.  All the fish was good, fresh.  For all you can eat, a good sized portion.

Spicy tuna roll and California roll.  Both good, and comparable to other sushi restaurants I've been to and ordered off the menu.

Veggie roll- this had a variety of veggies.  A bit bland.

Tiger roll-California with shrimp and avocado outside.  This was a good roll!  Tasty and fresh!

Baked lobster roll- California roll with baked crawfish and crabmeat on top.  The crawfish didn't taste fresh and I took off most of it, and just ate the California roll.  Too much mayo in this roll.

Ultimate Shrimp Tempura roll- shrimp tempura, avocado roll wrapped in shrimp.  Loved this roll!  Fresh, and well put together!

Tempura calamari- the tempura was very good.  Well cooked, crunchy.  But the calamari was terrible!  Frozen, chewy, horrible calamari!  I wouldn't order this again.

Cucumber handroll- long cuts of fresh cucumber.  A good roll!

Service was good.  The sushi came out quickly.  I didn't lack for anything.

I would go back to KiKu if I was in the area again.  I do think food wise, Show Sushi in San Dimas is better.

Winco Pizza

Winco Pizza
90 Rio Rancho Rd.,
Pomona, CA 91766
909-623-7460

Winco, the grocery store, sells their own pizza, like Costco and Sam's Club.  But, Winco you don't need a membership.  Though at any Costco with an outdoor food court, you don't really need a membership either!

Anyways, there is an interesting store with Winco's pizza.  Their history is printed on top of their box.  Winco first started selling pizza in 1993 under the Figaro's Pizza, which was a franchise that made take and bake pizzas.  Ten years later in 2003, Winco took over and called it Leonardi's Pizza.  If you look at the picture above, you will still see the Leonardi's Pizza sign in the background.

Winco still has the same set up.  They offer both unbaked and baked pizza.  The prices listed for unbaked pizza.  For a baked pizza it's $1 extra.

Large, 14 in, build your own with up to 5 toppings.  I got spinach, jalapeno, red onions, mushrooms, and extra cheese!  The was a terrible pizza.  The cheese was a weird unmelted slop.  The toppings were fresh, but the crust was too sweet, and a bit undercooked.  The sauce was barely there and just bland.

Service was good.

I didn't have great expectations for Winco Pizza, and they even failed to live up to that.  One of the worst pizzas I've ever had.  Save your money, and just go buy a Costco pizza, not only is the pizza bigger, it is also so much better.  Even Sam's Club-where the pizza is mediocre, at best, is better than the pizza at Winco!

Burger Parlor-Closed

Burger Parlor
149 N Glassell St
Orange, CA 92866
714-602-8220

Burger Parlor in just north of the Orange Circle, across the street from, the now closed-Beach Pitt BBQ, which is now another BBQ restaurant.  Burger Parlor started in Fullerton, a fast casual style restaurant.  The Orange location has a patio, as shown in the picture above.  The counter is in the middle part of the restaurant with the kitchen on the north side of the building.  It's a bright, open space with music blasting away.  Turn down the volume.

Old Fashioned-Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese / Roma Tomato / Lettuce / Red Onion / Pickles / House-made Ketchup & Mustard $9.39 with portobello mushroom instead of the beef pattie.  As you can see they didn't put the cheddar cheese.  This was a very salty burger, just a ton of salt on the portobello mushroom.  The bun didn't hold up well to all the toppings, everything sorta fell apart.  Not impressed at all.  I also ordered half onion rings and half fries, which I didn't take a picture.  The fries were so damn salty too!  The beer battered onion rings were soggy.  The oil wasn't hot enough when the onion rings were put into the fryer!

Service was good.  The people there, are nice and friendly.

I was disappointed in the burger at Burger Parlor!  I won't go back.

House of Fortune Vegetarian

House of Fortune Vegetarian
13788 Roswell Ave Ste 101
Chino, CA 91710
909-517-2988

Having gone to Happy Family, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Rowland Heights, earlier this week, I found out about House of Fortune, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Chino!   It's a smallish restaurant with benches along the right wall, and tables in the rest of the space.  It's a nice clean restaurant.

Their signs says there are vegan friendly, but most items are vegetarian.

Fried noodles, $7.25.  Cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, and veggie ham.  This was an excellent dish.  The veggie ham, which can be ordered as a fried rice dish, was great.  It tasted very much like regular ham.  The noodles were well cooked and seasoned.  A good sized portion, it's a steal for the price!

Sauteed green beans, $8.95. Very well cooked green beans, with some type of veggie meat crumble.  Well seasoned, flavorful, and a huge portion.

Veggie beef and broccoli with some carrots.  $10.95.  The broccoli was cooked perfectly!  Not too mushy, and not too raw.  The beef was good, with a nice savory sauce.  I think I prefer the Happy Family veggie beef and broccoli better, but this is a very good dish.

Service is good.

I would go back to either House of Fortune or Happy Family anytime.  If I had to choose, I would go to House of Fortune.  But, you can't go wrong picking either one!

Mako Sushi-Closed

Mako Sushi
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St Ste 307
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-613-0083

Mako Sushi is in the same Weller Court shopping center as Orochon Ramen, which I reviewed back in 2010.   When you see the Challenger Space Shuttle and the Ellison Onizuka Memorial, it's the three story white building to the west. 

It's a small restaurant with the sushi bar and about four tables on the left, as you enter.  There seems to be private rooms on the right.

Cucumber roll-$7.50.  While very fresh, there was just too much wasbi!  The cucumber was also cut bigger than most cucumber rolls.

Shrimp $6, and blue fin tuna sushi-$7.50.  Shrimp was very good !  Good sized pieces.  The blue fin tuna was silky smooth!  I really liked it.  A good sized portion too.

Shrimp tempura-$9.50.  Frozen shrimp tempura, that was placed in oil that wasn't hot enough.  That made for a very chewy, weird textured tempura.  Three pieces of shrimp along with some vegetable tempura.  Not worth the price.

Service is good.  I was surprised there weren't many people dining on a Friday night.

Overall, I think Mako is fine, but overpriced.  $7:50 for a small cucumber roll?  I won't go back!
I would rate the quality of fish at 8, on a scale of 10.  But, at Kura Revolving Sushi, the fish is a 7, and the prices are much better!