Capital Seafood Restaurant

Capital Seafood Restaurant
755 W Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
626-282-3318

Capital Seafood Restaurant is the sit down restaurant that also owns Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express, which is a few doors south.

While the outside of Capital Seafood Restaurant doesn't look great, inside it's a very nice place.  They put some time and money into the decor.  It's a big room with tables all over and a back room that had karaoke.

Spinach-$11.95. This was a good dish with a good amount of garlic and well cooked spinach.

House special lobster-$15.95 per pound- This was about a 5 pound lobster.  They cut up the lobster, add some seasonings and the put it all in a wok!  This was good, with tender pieces of lobster that were well seasoned and flavorful.

E-Fu noodles with shrimp-$15.99.  This was very bland, lacked flavor and there weren't that many shrimps in the dish.  This was basically all noddles, with a little mushrooms and a little veggies.  It also must have been loaded with MSG!  Not worth the price!

House special shrimp-$16.99.  I wasn't expecting the shrimp to be deep fried! What we got was a soggy outside but a good tender shrimp.  If they had fried this better or just sauteed the shrimp in the house special sauce it would have been a good dish.  This was below average, because the outside was too soggy and not crispy.  But, this would be worth the price, since the shrimp are huge and they give you a good portion.

Service was good, but they way they brought the dishes were screwed up!  They brought the spinach first, then the lobster, then the noddles, then the shrimp!  How about the lobster and spinach at the same time?

Overall I thought Capital Seafood was good, but some dishes I wouldn't order again.

Jay’s Pizza

Jay’s Pizza
2412 S Garfield Ave Ste A
Monterey Park
323-724-4324

Happy New Year!  2015 is the year Dr. Brown and Marty McFly visited in Back to the Future 2.  No, you drunk idiot cub fans, their prediction of the cubs winning the World Series will NOT come true this year.  The only Cubs fan who deserves to see the Cubs win the World Series, is Steve Bartman.  He did NOTHING wrong, it was the loser cubs who blew the lead in Game 6 AND Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS!  I would love to see either the Chicago White Sox or the Miami Marlins win the 2015 World Series, it would be the ultimate insult to those drunk idiot cub fans!

So, I decided to get into a flying DeLorean, or is it a hoverboard, and go back to the future, when I found about about Jay's Pizza in Monterey Park.  Jay's Pizza used to be Joe's Pizza, a restaurant I reviewed back in 2007.  I don't know if Jay's and Joe's are owned by the same owners, I honestly can't remember how their pizza tasted, so I can't compare the two.

Jay's is a small restaurant with about four tables and a huge TV on the north wall.  They have a great special every Wednesday and Sunday, a jumbo, 18 in. pizza with one topping for $12 tax included. 

Jumbo, 18 in, with mushrooms.  The crust is crisp at the bottom and soft and chewy in the middle.  The sauce was a slightly sweet, mild spiced sauce. There is a very healthy amount of cheese on the pizza, that made for a gooey mess-which I love on a pizza.  The amount of fresh mushrooms were a bit lacking, but for $12, I can understand why.   I liked the pizza and would certainly order it again.

Service was below average.  They had two kids working, who were more concerned about the Cowboys-Lions playoff game, than helping customers.  The guy who took my order never bothered to say thank you after I paid for my pizza.

I would come back to Jay's Pizza, but service does need to improve!

Ocean Star Restaurant-Closed

Ocean Star Restaurant
145 N Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
626-308-2128

After getting some dim sum to go from Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express,  I went across Atlantic Blvd and went to Ocean Star.  A huge restaurant on the second floor, I can imagine how busy they are on the weekends.

The weekday dim sum had the ladies with the carts full of dim sum walking around.  You pick what items you want and they will stamp your ticket. 

All these items are $1.68, expect the lobster e-mein, which was $12.

Shrimp har gow.  The inside was very flavorful.  But, eating the inside was like eating gummy bears.  Very gummy and chewy.

Baked BBQ pork bun.  Most people are used to the steamed BBQ pork buns, but I've started ordering the baked BBQ pork buns.  This was just ok, the outside is sticky, maybe made with honey, and had a tough chewy texture.  The pork was ok, not a lot of pork, and lacked flavor.

Steamed BBQ pork bun.  The pork is the same as the baked BBQ buns, but the the outside was good, with a firm texture.

Pork siu mai.  I wasn't too impressed with this.  The pork was ok, it could have used some more seasoning, but the portion size was good.

Lobster e-mein, $12.  The lobster was steamed perfectly.  But, the gravy lacked seasoning and was pretty bland.  The noodles were cooked perfectly too, but the lack of seasoning made this a mediocre dish.  But, the amount of lobster made this a great value, really, it's a steal!

Service was good, but the sui mai cart only came around once during my visit!  Not sure why, because sui mai is one of the most popular dim sum dishes.

I wasn't that impressed with the dim at Ocean Star.  But, the lobster e-mien is a steal, and a bit more seasoning would have made it a very good dish. 

Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express

Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express
727 W Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
626-289-6338

In the same shopping center as NYC Seafood, is Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express.  The to go store for Capital BBQ & Dim Sum, which is about five stores down.  I had only planned to get dim sum at Capital BBQ & Dim Sum, but afterwards we went to Ocean Star and even more dim sum!

Like other fast service dim sum places, like Four Seasons or Seafood Village, there is a large steam table stacked with dim sum. 

All items are $2.08.  I'm not sure if Capital BBQ charges more for dim sum on the weekends.

Pork siu mai, four in an order.  This was well steamed, had pretty good flavor and I like the portion size. 

BBQ pork bun, three to an order.  The portion size of BBQ pork buns have decreased as prices increase.  Not a good sign.  The bun was soft and moist, but the filling lacked flavor and the small amount of BBQ pork was tough.

Service is pretty good.  The lady is nice, but you do get the idea she wants you to order and get out as quickly as possible.

Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express isn't some fancy dim sum.  But, if you need a quick dim sum fix, this is a good place to get it. 

Dorados Ceviche Bar-Closed

Dorados Ceviche Bar
440 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
626-282-8784

After my visit to Guisados I knew I wanted to try Dorados Ceviche Bar as soon as I can.  Well, I was driving back from LA, and saw the exit for Atlantic Blvd. and decided why not go to Dorados Ceviche Bar.

Dorados Ceviche Bar is a good sized place, but their signage is pretty small!  They only sign that mentions Dorados is on the window just to the left of the front door.  It would be tough to see if you're driving on Atlantic.  But, it reminded me of Cooks Torta, with it's small signage. Yes, Cooks Tortas, Guisados, and Dorados are owned by the same owners.

Ecuadorian Ceviche tostada, $4; fish-talilpia, shrimp, and imitation crab with corn and cummin.  There wasn't that much imitation crab meat or corn but overall this was good.  All the flavors blended well together.  The ingredients were all fresh.  This was sweet and less tangy than other ceviche but I liked it. 

Shrimp Ceviche tostada, $4.  This had shrimp, tomatoes, cilantro, red onions, and lime juice.  This was good, but nothing outstanding or great.  Maybe I was expecting too much, but I wasn't overwhelmed.  I could have gone to many other places and gotten the same quality of ceviche.

Service was good.  The young lady who took my order was nice, friendly, and helpful.  She knew the menu-knew what was in each ceviche and took the time to answer all my questions in a friendly manner.

I enjoyed Ecuadorian Ceviche tostada, but the shrimp ceviche tostada left me underwhelmed.  I wouldn't have any real problems going back, but I wouldn't rush back.