Wolfe’s Kitchen & Deli

Wolfe’s Market
160 W Foothill Blvd
Claremont, CA 91711
909-626-8508

Wolfe's Market used to be popular Claremont market.  But, the big box markets came in and basically put the market part of Wolfe out of business.  But, in a very wise move, Wolfe's added a deli and catering in the back of the store, and now it's a very popular deli place.  The front of the store will soon become Meat Cellar,  which is moving a few blocks west of their old location!  The signs in the windows say late 2017, but they are still working on moving Meat Cellar.

Cheese sandwich, $7.39.  I asked for cheddar and havarti cheese with only mayo, lettuce and tomatoes on squaw bread.  I got havarti cheese with mayo, lettuce, tomatoes AND red onions, cucumbers, sprouts,  and bell peppers.  The menu says veggie or cheese.  When I placed my order the lady didn't have a clue.  I asked I want a cheese sandwich.  She never asked until later what kind of bread.  Then she wasn't sure how much cheese I could get.  Another guy said four slices of cheese and I could choose the cheese, so I picked havarti and cheddar.  Well I only got one slice of cheese in the sandwich and it was only havarti.  The items were all fresh.  The quality of the sandwich is good.  But, how do you screw up the order?  I didn't have time for them to make a new sandwich. 

Service needs improvement!  The people are nice but need to be trained better.  I'm not sure if the lady making the order or management is to blame for this.  I mean it should be simple training.  Or simply reading the ticket that she wrote.

For a long time sandwich place, I'm shocked at the bad service of Wolfe's.  I won't go back! 

Grizzly’s Biscuits & Donuts-Closed

Grizzly’s Biscuits & Donuts
353 W Bonita Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
909-399-0991

David Allen recently reviewed Grizzly’s Biscuits & Donuts, so I decided to give them a try.  Grizzly's is an upscale fresh donuts place in the Claremont Village.  They have all different types of donuts, which start at $2 and I saw a couple at $4.  Now some people may gasp at paying $2 for a regular donut, but remember Donut Man charges $4 for their fresh strawberry and peach donuts!

Tangerine, ginger fritter, $4.- This was a terrible donut and a waste of $4.  The donut was hard and chewy and had only a hit of tangerine and ginger flavor.  You're better off going to Donut Man and getting their apple fritters for $2, about twice the size and half the price!

S'mores donut- marshmallow, chocolate, over a cinnamon donut, $3.50.  This was a good but overpriced donut.  It's a neat thing to try once, but not so outstanding that I would order again. 

Service was OK. Nothing outstanding and nothing bad.  But, they did charge tax on the donuts.  Now, every donut store I've been to, there hasn't been tax.  Maybe the tax laws changed?

Hipsters, douchebags, and pretentious jerk people make like Grizzly's, but I wouldn't go back to Grizzly's again!  The donuts are overpriced and average at best!  Make the drive to Donut Man!

The Upper House

The Upper House
352 S Indian Hill Blvd
Claremont, CA 91711
909-621-1855

The Upper House was reviewed by David Allen last week.  About five stores down from Pollos Kikiryki, is The Upper House-a sit down Chinese restaurant that took over a fast casual Chinese restaurant called Royal Panda.

Lunch special shrimp with broccoli and snow peas, $9.95. with soup-hot and sour and white rice.  The hot and sour soup was served warm and wasn't that spicy.  It did have a nice tangy flavor.  The shrimp was plentiful-about a dozen medium sized shrimp cooked perfectly.  The broccoli could have been cooked a little longer.  It was practically raw.  The snow peas were cooked perfectly.  The sauce was a bit bland, a little more seasoning this would have been very good.

Vegetable lo-mein, $8.95. Snow peas, green onions, cabbage, bean sprouts.  A very good dish, well seasoned and cooked.  A lot of food for the price.

Service was good but they are suppose to open at 11am.  I got there at 11:20 and the server was knocking on the door!!  What was weird was she had to knock a couple times before they opened the door for her!  Come on be professional!  If your sign says open at 11am, open at 11am.  While eating she was very nice, came by the table often, and took care of the other 2-3 tables.  So, no complaints about the service while dining.

I would go back to The Upper House, but their prices on the regular menu seem a bit high.  The vegetable lo-mein is the regular menu price, but the shrimp with broccoli and snow peas is $13.95!! They better give you a ton of shrimp for that price!

Sanamluang Cafe

Sanamluang Cafe
710 S Indian Hill Blvd
Claremont, CA 91711
909-621-0904


I visited the very popular Sanamluang Cafe in Pomona back in 2009.  In December of 2014 they opened a second, bigger location about half a mile north on Indian Hill, into the snotty city of Claremont.  The Pomona location stayed open for awhile, then closed.

Now located in a building that once housed a Baker's Square, Sanamluang Cafe is now a huge location with modern decor.  Gone are the old, worn out peeling decor that highlighted the Pomona location.  It was very busy on a Friday night and the hostess told me it would be about a 20 minute wait for a table.  Not a problem because my friend had not arrived yet.  About ten minutes later my table is ready and I told the hostess my friend hadn't arrived yet.  She said no problem and allowed me to take the table for two.  While waiting for my friend there was a steady stream of people coming in.  But, all parties of two were seated quickly.  So, I didn't feel bad that I was taking a table while waiting for my friend.

 Shrimp pad thai-$7.95.  The shrimp was slightly overcooked, tough and chewy.  There were about 8 small sized shrimp in the dish.  But the flavors all mixed well together.  I enjoyed this dish, but it would have been better if the shrimp wasn't overcooked.

Shrimp fried rice- $7.95.  Slightly bigger shrimp, but these were well cooked.   People ask what is the difference between Chinese fried rice and Thai fried rice.  I think Chinese fried rice has more soy sauce, thus a more salty taste.  While Thai fried rice has a slight sweet taste.

Service was very good, from the hostess to the servers.

Sometimes when restaurants move something suffers and it's not the same experience.  But, gladly Sanamluang hasn't changed and is still very good. 

The Meat Cellar-Moved

The Meat Cellar
665 E. Foothill Blvd Unit C
Claremont, CA 91711
213-999-9011

David Allen reviewed The Meat Cellar a few weeks ago, and I put  them on my list of restaurants to try!  After going though a very hot weekend, I decided to head out to The Meat Cellar and give them a try.

Located just north of Pitzer College and their McConnell Bistro Dining Hall, The Meat Cellar is a combination butcher shop, wine store, and restaurant.  There are good quality meats in the display cases and some wines on the wall to your right as you enter the restaurant.  They have about 15 or so tables set up all over the restaurant and there are even tables outside.  Meat Cellar is next to a Starbucks and there is a huge outdoor seating area.

You order at the counter and they bring your food to you.  Since I don't eat meat-beef, pork, poultry anymore, I knew my options maybe limited.  In worst case, I would order the fries!  But, they had two fish option, halibut and salmon.  But, they were out of salmon-guess they didn't get their shipment of salmon.  So that made my decision much easier.

 Halibut fillet with mixed green salad- $18.  The top picture is what was delivered to my table.  My first thought was I paid $18 for this?  But, the guy- who I think is the owner, said "I know the halibut is kind of small, so we have another piece already on the grill."  If they added about half the size of halibut I would have been happy.

Because the first piece was very thin, it was overcooked. It would have been better on a sandwich or as a taco.

About ten minutes later I got the second piece and it was huge!  I was more than happy and satisfied with the quantity.  Now the big question was quality!  The second piece was well cooked, moist throughout and something I really enjoyed!

The mixed green salad was fresh and had a light vinaigrette dressing.

 Fries- $5. Twice fried kennebec potatoes.

We waited a long time for the fries.  The table next to us, who came in after us, got their poutine-fries with gravy and topped with short ribs before we got our fries!  But, the fries came out lukewarm and there were too many small pieces!  They were well seasoned and tasted good, but would have been better served hot, right out of the fryer!

Service was good.  I liked how they noticed the small size of the halibut and on their own, more than made up for it with a huge second piece.  If you're a meat eater the tomahawk rib eye, even at $37/lb is the way to go for presentation.  Or you can get the ribeye for about $24/lb, you just wouldn't get that huge piece of rib bone.

I would go back to Meat Cellar, to try their salmon, and would take my meat eating friends here anytime.  But, I would ask them to make sure the fries are right out of the fryer.

Pollos Kikiryki

Pollos Kikiryki
344 S Indian Hill Blvd
Claremont
909-624-1114

My exposure to Peruvian food is limited to a visit to Choza Mama in Pasadena. I really enjoyed the food, though not the slow service, and wanted to try more Peruvian restaurants. Well, I haven't been to another Peruvian restaurant until I went to Pollos Kikiryki today.

While Choza Mama was a sit down restaurant, Pollos Kikiryki is more a counter service, casual restaurant in an old shopping center in Claremont. It's hard to see from either of the two busy streets, Indian Hill and Arrow Highway, that border the shopping center. But during a late lunch, almost everyone of the eight booths was filled with hungry customers.


I got the tallarin saltado with chicken, $9.99, which is really chow mein with red onions and tomatoes. When I first had Peruvian food, I was very surprised at the Asian influence on the Peruvian cuisine. I understand the owners of Pollos Kikiryki are Asian.

The noodles in the tallarin saltado were undercooked and chewy, they needed about another 3-4 minutes in the boiling water. The small amount of chicken, was overcooked, tough pieces of white meat chicken, that was well seasoned. The onions and tomatoes were fresh. The dish could be good since it was well seasoned, but since the noodles were undercooked and chicken overcooked, it made for a bad dish.

Service was good. The lady who took my order was nice and friendly.

I would not go back to Pollos Kikiryki, again. The prices are a bit high and the food just wasn't good.

Fattoush Mediterranean Cuisine-Closed

Fattoush Mediterranean Cuisine
428 Auto Center Dr
Claremont
909-625-1800

About two months ago I read David Allen's review of Fattoush, and I quickly put them on my list of places to try.

Fattoush is located in what once used to be a car dealership, but has now turned into shopping center that is anchored by a very busy market called Super King. I'm not sure if Super King is a Mexican or Middle Eastern market, they carry everything from Mexican sweet bread to hummus and pita bread.



Chicken kebob entree, $12.59, rice, garlic sauce, and fattoush salad-romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, parlsey, sumac, and pita chips croutons with lemon olive oil dressing.

I really liked the chicken kebob, all white meat, it was well seasoned with Middle Eastern spices and a hint of lemon juice. They were well cooked, moist and tender. I thought the portion size was a bit small for the prize, but otherwise a good chicken kebob. The rice was cooked perfectly!!

The salad was very fresh and tasty. I did enjoy the the lemon olive oil dressing.

Service is good and friendly, but the set up is confusing. You're not sure if it's table service or order at the counter and you find a table. When I walked in, the owner was behind the counter and taking orders and there were two servers also behind the counter, doing some prep work. I ordered at the counter because that's what people were doing. They need to hire a hostess or make sure the servers greet customers when they walk inside. That way there is no confusion.

While I enjoyed the food and the service, I didn't think Fattoush was a good deal. The prices are high for the amount of food you get and the quality of the food, while very good, didn't justify the high prices. I'm not opposed to going back, but I'm not going to rush back either.