Juanita’s Mexican Food-Updated Review

Juanita’s Mexican Food
1735 Indian Hill Blvd
Pomona, CA 91767
909-624-1272

Juanita’s is a Pomona institution, having been in business since 1976.  This location replaced an old  Tastee Freez, which opened around 1956.  Thanks to David Allen for the history of the location!

Juanita's isn't authentic Mexican food, but it's been around and loved forever.  Besides their food, Juanita's was known for the old menu board that listed all possible combinations of filling for their burritos.  Now they have a much more streamlined menu board.

Beans, rice, and cheese, burrito, $3.81 with tax.  The burrito was huge and worth the price.  But, the burrito was very bland.  No flavor and just boring.  Even their hot sauce didn't add much flavor.  The freshly made tortilla was the best part of the burrito!

Service was great!  There was a couple who ordered before me, that I later learned were regular customers.  I was treated just as well as they were, me a first time customer!  I hate giving bad reviews on the food, when the service and people are so nice.  But, the food just didn't do it for me.  But, the service was top notch!

I will go back to Juanita's to try their veggie and potato tacos, but I'll pass on the burrito!

Update July 21, 2017

So, I went back to Juanita's to try the veggie taco and potato taco! 

 Veggie Taco, $2.10, with beans, rice, onions, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and cilantro.  This was very good, a bit surprising because everything in the taco was in the burrito.  But, this taco had better flavor and I would order it again.  A bit heavy on the cilantro, but other wise very good.

Potato taco, $2.10, fried taco with potato, lettuce, and cheese.  This had a very thin coat of potato and then stuffed with lettuce and cheese.  It was ok, but the veggie burrito was much better!

Service again was very good. 

If you're a vegetarian, the veggie taco is the way to go at Juanita's. 

The Capri-Updated Review

The Capri
4604 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323-257-3225

The Capri was featured on the TV show Kitchen Nightmares.  A friend who watched that show wanted to to give The Capri a try.  I didn't search for the episode on You Tube until after I went and tried Capri.  The story goes twin brothers loved eating at The Capri, which opened in 1963, that they bough the restaurant about 20 years ago.  About six years ago, they were struggling and turned to Kitchen Nightmares for help.  They must be doing something right, because they are still in business six years after their episode aired.

The Capri has a lot of competition in Eagle Rock, the 800lb gorilla- Casa Bianca, the now closed Brownstone, and the made famous by Ellen, Big Mama and Papa's are all within two miles of The Capri and that's just in Eagle Rock.  A nice, narrow restaurant with wood accents, and concrete floor, but it was a bit dirty.  This place needed a good cleaning, from the condiment containers to the tablecloth  to the chairs and benches.

Tomato and basil spaghetti $9. The sauce was fine, good flavor, fresh ingredients, but the pasta was undercooked!  A few more minutes in the boiling water would have done wonders.  Not an outstanding dish, even if the pasta was cooked perfectly, but not bad and a good price.

Service is friendly but slow! You walk in and don't know if it is counter service or table service.  We walked to the counter and one of the twins told us to sit anywhere, even he saw us walking in!  Later during dinner, a couple walked in and he told them to sit anywhere!  Not a major deal, but come on, be consistent!  After we got seated it must have been five minutes before he came to our table and there were only four other people in the restaurant. The food came out quickly, but refills were slow.  The twins were really friendly and would talk about the restaurant.  But one of the twins was sitting down at a computer and surfing the net.  The other was always talking to customers, which is nice, but other customers need attention too.  He talked to us for about five minutes.  He thought it was slow because of the Thanksgiving weekend.  But, when we drove by Casa Bianca, there were ten people waiting outside!  There were about ten people in The Capri, including my friend and I, the entire time we were there!! 

After eating at The Capri, I found their episode of Kitchen Nightmares on You Tube.  In the show the twins are portrayed as lazy, that's true evidenced by the dirty, dingy restaurant, even after the show, and lacked cooking skills.  I can't compare how the food tasted before the episode, but the food was ok, except for the undercooked pasta, which happens but really shouldn't at an Italian restaurant.

Update November 16, 2016

Large cheese pizza.


I went back to Capri to try their happy hour pizza.  Menu price is $8 and while there is nothing on the menu that says the happy hour price is for dine in only, you can only get the price if you dine in!

This pizza was one of the most disgusting pizza I have ever had.  Give me pizza from a national chain anytime over this garbage!  This pizza is basically flat bread crust, some nasty tasting sauce and a good amount of cheese.  This pizza was bland, no flavor and just disgusting!

Service was lazy but friendly.  One of the twins was there and most of the time he was sitting at his table and surfing the net!  This guy is so damn lazy that after giving me the bill, he just stood there about 2 feet from my table and waited until I paid.  He couldn't walk back to his computer, about 5 feet away and come back!

While I say I would never go back to a restaurant because the food was mediocre or bad, I am willing to give them another try.  Usually I regret it and that holds true for Capri.  No way I'm going back to this terrible restaurant again!  

Clifton's Cafeteria

Clifton's Cafeteria
648 South Broadway
LA
213-627-1673

I reviewed Clifton's Cafeteria back in 2007.  It was simple comfort food at good prices.  It wasn't gourmet, far from it, but it was a good value.  Later Clifton's started to use canned foods and the quality went down.  So, the Clinton family sold the restaurant to Andrew Meieran, who has renovated other buildings in downtown Los Angeles and turned them into nightclubs like The Edison.  Meieran planned a major renovation starting in 2011.

The orginal plan was to keep the restaurant open during the first phrase of renovations, but when you're renovating a building that first opened in 1935, there are many surprises.  So he soon closed down the restaurant and went full steam ahead for the renovation.  While renovations continued you never heard a word from the new owner.  It was always the standard response, the restaurant is going through renovations.  With the explosion of social media, not a good way to do business.

Finally in October 2015, they opened.  Long lines on the weekend, up to 2 hours, during the first two weeks of reopening awaited long time customers.  The best thing the new owner did was tear down the ugly aluminum facade that ruined the original front of the building. 

I went on a very warm Sunday, and the wait to get inside was about 15-20 minutes.  Once inside you get a tray and then the cluster of food stations are in front of you.  The first station is salad, followed by the "grill" breakfast items, a burger and fries station, then the pizza station.  Right after the grill section is the sandwich sectin, followed by the dessert section.  Behind you is the carvery- sliced roast beef, ham and turkey along with mac and cheese and stuffing is served at this station.  Then you go pay.  Then you find a table on any of the three levels of the restaurant that are currently open. 

Mac and cheese, $4.95.  This was disgusting!  First it was cold, not because it took a long time to pay and find a table, that actually went pretty quickly.  It was also very dry, very little cheese and it was bland as hell.  A rip off at that price!

Tuna salad, $2.50.  This was good, well seasoned, not drowned in mayo, but the portion size was very small and the value is debatable.

Jello, 35 cents.  It's blueberry jello with rapsberry inside.  It was fine.

Brownie bites, $3.  Pretty damn good and the best value of the items I ordered.  Flavorful, moist, and not too sweet.

Service is good overall.  But, the busboys are very slow to clear tables and offer refills.

Clifton's was not worth the long wait!  The food is overpriced, lacks flavor and portions are small.  The food line would move faster if they boards actually listed what items were being served.  For example, the signs above the grill section didn't list fries.  I only saw the fries because a person at the table next to me had ordered a burger and fries.  I skipped the burger section because I didn't want a burger.  Also, prices aren't listed for some items.  There was no price listed for the stuffing which was next to the $6 list price for the mac and cheese.  Why they charged me $4.95, I'm not sure.

To be fair, there is somebody at the front of the carvery telling people both sides serve the samething, but there as you walk out, people in the grill section can enter the carvery.  They need to either put an exit only sign or have somebody there to direct people!

As for seating some tables, especially near the second floor bar area are too small for dining.  The busboys need to come by more often to take the trays, which take up too much room on the small tables!  There were trays on the floor and chairs!  The third floor has seating for larger parties.

The basement, which will become a bar, and the fourth and fifth floors-will eventually become a steakhouse and another bar, are still being renovated.

The interior is filled with glass displays of wild animals that seem real.  Not sure how well this goes over with animal rights activists!!

I won't go back to Clifton's for the food.  I did like how they restored the building, but the food just plain sucks!

Update January 21, 2016

Two friends wanted to go and try Clifton's.  So, being the great guy I am, I said we'll go.  This time we went for dinner on a weeknight.   There was a much smaller crowd than before.  But, same confusing food sections.  My friend made a great point, even though she had never been to Clifton's, they do not serve any hot vegetables!  The old Clifton's had a wide variety of hot veggies.  So, they were from a can, but at least you had a choice. 

One change for the better is that they put the mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and stuffing in a chafing dish to keep them warm.  Before they were just on the counter!!

 Cheese pizza slice, $2.75.  Pretty good crust, but the sauce is way too tangy for my tastes.  They need to add some sweetness to the sauce.  Also, there was a wait for the slices because either there was a run on pizza slices-very unlikely, or the pizza chef was behind-I think that's the most likely reason.

 I had to try the mac and cheese again.  Same price, $4.95.  Same crappy no cheese sauce mac and cheese.  Terrible!  What a damn joke!

Small salad, $5, half romaine lettuce and half spinach.  They couldn't screw this up!  The lettuce and spinach were very fresh.  I got a citrus dressing that was pretty good.  Maybe a bit overpriced for what you get.

I'm not a fan of the new Clifton's and don't expect to return anytime soon!

My Vegan Gold-Updated Review-Closed

My Vegan Gold
4319 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
323-522-6500

My Vegan Gold is in the same shopping center as Agra Cafe and Garage Pizza, at the very busy corner of Fountain and Sunset.  The shopping center once housed the now closed, Tang's Donuts and Sandwiches, that served up a good sandwich for $5.  Much better than the crap at Subway.  In this shopping center there are Saito Sushi and Jay's Bar-which is suppose to have good food, that I could still try.

There is another vegan restaurant a few miles away, Sage, where the food is overpriced and the service is terrible. I went there once and will never go back!

Nacho cheese bomb fries, $4.95.  I'm guessing these are frozen fries, but they were cooked perfectly!!  Very crispy on the outside and soft inside.  The nacho cheese was pretty good, a thick sauce, not sure how it's made, but came close to nacho cheese.  I would order both the nacho cheese bomb fries or the regular fries again!!

Chow mein, $9.95, wheat yellow noodles, organic tofu, assorted veggies-cabbage, snap peas, carrots, onions, bean sprouts, and zucchini, in a garlic sauce.  This was outstanding!!  You won't miss the meat, because there is so much flavor in this dish.  The noodles were cooked perfectly, the veggies fresh and crisp, the tofu-fried perfectly.  Though the garlic sauce was a bit too sweet, it wasn't overpowering.

Service was ok.  Though when I first got there, I waited at the counter and saw a man, who I believe is the owner, look at a lady and asked her what she wanted to order.  Even though there were three other ladies in line ahead of her.  It turned out two of three ladies were together, but the third lady, who was in line ahead of the lady that owner helped, got screwed.  The owner should have asked who is next?  But, the young lady who took my order and brought my food was good.  Not overly friendly, but did her job.

I would go back to My Vegan Gold again.  I like their food and the prices are reasonable, which is something that you can't say about all vegan or vegetarian places.

Updated Review October 5, 2016

I went back to My Vegan Gold to try one of their burgers.  They have a portobello mushroom burger along with a plant based chicken burger.  

My Vegan Gold Burger, $8.95 with side salad.  If you're expecting a protein pattie, you'll be surprised.  This is more like 3-4 pieces of protein that is topped with their great cashew nacho cheese sauce!  There is lettuce, tomato, and a thousand island type dressing.  The burger is good but the texture is a bit weird.  The salad was mixed greens with a vinaigrette dressing.

Service was pretty good this time.

I like My Vegan Gold and will go back when I'm in the area.

Lobster Grill-Updated Review-Closed

Lobster Grill
3210 Chino Ave Ste A
Chino Hills
909-628-6580

Things do change quickly in Chino Hills!   Lobster Grill is the same space that housed Villaggio Pizzeria then Bad Bob's BBQ.  Too bad that chain Buffalo Wild Wings, in the same center, is still open!  Lobster Grill is a combination of Boiling Crab and a Cape Cod seaside lobster restaurant.  They have the bags of seafood with the spicy sauces and the lobster rolls, along with whole lobsters, oysters, and shrimp.

Lobster Grill really brightened up the place.  The walls are white with shades of orange, a dramatic contrast to the dark wood of Villaggio Pizzeria.  A very welcoming place.  It's order at the counter and they will bring your food to your table.

There is a very good happy hour, Tues-Fri from 3:30 to 5:30pm, they are closed Mondays.  The lobster roll, regular price, $10.95 are $8.95.   So I stopped in for happy hour.

 Clam chowder, cup. $2.95 happy hour price.  This was very good.  Came pipping hot and full of flavor.  A rich, thick, hearty broth with bigs chucks of clams and potatoes.  Hit the spot on a raining day in May!  This clam chowder is pescetarian, as there is no bacon.   

 Calamari, $4.95 happy hour price.  Regular price, $7.95.  This was served lukewarm.  This a just frozen calamari fried up.  Very rubbery and soggy.  This could be good, if served right out of the fryer. 

Lobster roll, with fries, $8.95, happy hour price.  Regular price, $10.95.  Lobster roll was great.  Lots of lobster mixed with celery and some herbs,  in a ketchup and mayo sauce.  The lobster is served cold but the roll is nicely toasted and holds up to the large amount of lobster. 

Fries were served lukewarm, but could be good if served hot!  

Service is good.  The guy who took my order was nice and helpful.  When he brought out the clam chowder, he went and got a spoon for me.  Food came out quickly. 

The idiots on Yelp give Lobster Grill three stars, mostly because they got butt hurt their groupon wasn't accepted.  One stupid yelper got mad because they wouldn't allow her to use her groupon, which included alcohol, because she didn't have her ID.  No wonder yelp is a damn joke!

They do need to work on getting out fried items while they are hot.  But, overall I like Lobster Grill, especially for their lobster roll.  I would go back and would gladly pay the full price for the lobster roll.  It's a steal at their happy hour price!

Updated June 24, 2015

So I went back to Lobster Grill and tried the Crab Melt sandwich, $8.95, during Happy Hour.  $10.95 regular price, which comes with fries.  The sandwich has cheese, provolone or white cheddar and a ton of dungeness crab!  A bit salty and there were three small pieces of shell in the crab.  Despite that, it's a good sandwich and worth the price, a good deal at the Happy Hour price.  Fries were barely warm and a bit salty.

Service was terrible!  The lady was nice but my order took about 40 minutes and it wasn't busy at all!!!!  Not sure why it took so long.  Did they forget my order?  Is the kitchen and the front, not communicating with each other? Whatever it is, they need to improve.  No way a sandwich takes 40 minutes to make.  TERRIBLE!!

My second time at Lobster Grill wasn't as good as my first time. Not sure if I would return!

Town Pizza-Closed

Town Pizza
5101 York Blvd
Los Angeles
323-344-8696

Town Pizza is a very popular pizza restaurant in Highland Park, that has been open for about a year now.  It's mainly a take-out location, though there are a few tables outside and a counter inside.  Soon, they will open their dining area.  When they first opened they only served slices.  Recently, they added whole pies, medium and large sizes, to their menu.  They do not have air conditioning, so during the summer it is hot in there!

As you can see from the above photo, it used to be Italiano's Pizza, a long time Highland Park pizza restaurant, they still have their other restaurant on Figueroa.  Town took over and painted the building red, but left the Italiano sign!  Maybe when the dining area opens, they will change the sign?

I ordered two cheese slices, $2.75 each.  The crust is usually very good, light and flaky, but anytime you order slices, you're at the mercy of how they the pie has been sitting on the counter.  The slices pictured above, I can tell that pie had been there for a long time.  The crust was too crispy.  But, the sauce is very good-light and balanced; no flavor overpowers one another, and there is a good amount of cheese.  Now, I've only had cheese slices here, but I noticed they used canned tomatoes and corn.  You can see their stockroom and they have their cans stored on a special rack.  That may bother some people.  Overall, these two slices weren't as good as other slices I've had before.  But, I like Town Pizza and now that they serve whole pies, I'll order a fresh baked pie and give an updated review.

Service is good.  I was greeted when I walked in, they were nice and friendly, and I got my slices quickly.

I'm a Town Pizza fan and I think it's much better than Maximiliano and Folliero Pizza & Italian Food, the other two Highland Park pizza restaurants I've reviewed.

Update July 11, 2016

Large fresh jalapeno and fresh mushroom, $17 plus $2 per topping.

So finally, Town Pizza has started serving whole pies!  They also opened their dining area.  I was looking forward to getting a whole pie, so on a very hot and humid summer night, I went back to Town Pizza.

If you noticed I put fresh jalapeno and fresh mushrooms.  Town Pizza has pickled jalapeno and a garlic sauteed mushroom.  The pizza is very good- good crust, good cheese, fresh topping-though they could put a bit more on the pizza.  But, something was missing.  It wasn't as great as their slices.  Maybe I've had such good pizza in the past few months because of the five places I tried on  LA Eater's 16 places to get a killer slice of pizza in Los Angele, Pie Life Pizza in Pasadena, Pizzanista, Pellicola, Joe's Pizza and Prime Pizza, that I'm judging pizza differently.

 Service was good.

I will give Town Pizza another chance. But, I was disappointed with their pizza, the first time I ordered a whole pie.  

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria-Closed

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria
2 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA
626-993-6455

Updated Review- June 28, 2017.  I went back to 800 Degrees a few times, sometimes for their daily Instagram special.  While the pizza was fine, the service went way down hill and the lack of dinners when I went, even during what should be a busy time, proved how terrible the service has become!  One time I went there and once I got to the cashier, she was texting on her phone while I was standing right in front of her!  If that isn't the worst service!  I realize people love their phones, I don't care if servers/workers in restaurants use their phone AS ALONG there isn't a customer right in front of them!  Another time, nobody was behind the counter.  I have no idea where everybody was.  But, ONE person can't be behind the counter to take the orders?  I found out this week that this location closed early in 2017.  The reason given was bad plumbing.  I'm guessing the real reason-TERRIBLE service and the owners just didn't give a damn!

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria opened their first location in Westwood.  Then they opened up other locations in Santa Monica and LAX.  They moved away from the snotty westside and opened their Pasadena location, in Old Town Pasadena.  This is another addition to the wood fire pizza places in Pasadena, that includes the already reviewed the chain- Blaze Pizza, Luggage Room and Settebello.

800 Degrees took the place of Louise's Trattoria.  This is a design your own pizza or order one of their own designer pizza.  The narrow dining room is separated from the kitchen area, but the wall makes it hard to hear them calling your number when your pizza is ready.

800 Degree has a daily special on Instagram.  The Pizza of the Day for 50% off.  There are no substitutions or deletions for the Pizza of the Day, you must get it as prepared.   The day I went it was a marinara pizza, crushed tomatoes, garlic, oregano, olive oil, with shrimp and capers, $4.05.  Listed price for the marinara is $5.55, rock shrimp-$3, and capers $1.25. 

This combo didn't would have been better with cheese.  But, the major thing is that the sauce is lacking in flavor and depth.  They could make this bolder.  The shrimp was cooked very nicely and there was a good amount.  The capers added a very nice flavor.  

But, the best part is the nice, soft, chewy dough.  Now, some parts of the pizza are burnt or chard, which I don't like and doesn't need to be there if the pizzas are rotated. 

I also designed my own pizza.  I got the margherita, $6.95, crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, olive oil, and basil, with mushrooms-$1.25.  Again the sauce lacks flavor and the crust is great-though this pizza had a few more burned parts.  The toppings were fresh and flavor and the fresh mozzarella made this a very good pizza.

The main difference between 800 Degrees and Blaze is that 800 Degrees charges you for every topping, including cheese.  They do use slightly higher quality ingredients. 

Service was very good.  The people are all helpful and friendly. 

I had heard many good things about 800 Degrees.  It was good, but it wasn't the best pizza I've ever had.  I would go back, if I'm in the area but won't rush back.

Giamela's-Updated Review

Giamela's Submarine Sandwiches
3178 Los Feliz Blvd
Los Angeles
323-661-9444

Located just down the road from Griffith Park, Giamela's starts what I call Atwater Village's Bar Row.  Starting at Giamela's and going east on Los Feliz, you have Big Foot Lodge, The Roost-a dive bar, and The Griffin all within about a quarter mile.

I was meeting friends for a drink at Big Foot Lodge and didn't want to drink on an empty stomach.  I asked the bartender at Big Foot Lodge if they served food.  He said no, but I was welcomed to bring in any food I wanted.  Since Giamela's is a couple stores down, I went for it.

Giamela's is a small restaurant with seating for about 12 people.  But, it was very uncomfortable inside because there is no air conditioning inside the restaurant and on a hot day it is hot as hell inside, especially in the afternoon when the sun is blazing down onto the restaurant.  

Small Italian cold cut sandwich, $6.54, salami and mortadella, provolone cheese, mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes.  The best part of this sandwich was the sesame seed roll, which was soft and chewy and a good texture.  The meats were very generic and plain.  If people want to call Boar's Head the Oscar Meyer of cold cuts, fine, but Giamela's doesn't even use Boar's House but some off brand cold cuts.

Service was good.  The lady was nice and helpful. 

I would not go back to Giamela's again.  Somebody in our group ordered a slice of pizza and while I didn't taste the pizza, it didn't look appetizing at all.

Update October 31, 2016

I was at a get together in Atwater Village and they had pizza for everybody.  I tried it and thought the pizza was very good.  I asked the host where they got the pizza and they told me Giamela's.  So, I figured I should go back to Giamela's and give them a try.

Large vegetarian, $12.45.  Normally with mushrooms, onions, olives, bell peppers, I asked for no olives or bell peppers and jalapenos.

The crust is very good-firm holding the toppings well, sauce has a mild flavor, and toppings were plentiful, especially the cheese.  Pizza was pretty good but not as good as the pizza I had at the get together. Not sure why the inconsistency.

Service was TERRIBLE!  The young girl with major attitude should not be working in customer service.  Most pizza places I have been to are more than willing to substitute items on their vegetarian pizza.  Not Giamela's and girl with the attitude.  I was originally charge the price for three toppings, even though I deleted a topping from the regular vegetarian pizza.  When I brought it to her attention she said there are not substitutions.  I told her there is nothing on the menu that says no substitutions.  She cooped her attitude and said here's your dollar.  She should have told me that there are no substitutions when I placed my order, or she could have given good customer service and not worry about the money, especially when they are saving money by not including a topping!  Again I have substituted jalapenos for olives on a vegetarian pizza at many other places and got the vegetarian pizza price.  Now here is the kicker!!  Giamela's has three other locations and I called one of their Burbank locations and asked about substitutions on the vegetarian pizza.  She said it would be the same price as the vegetarian pizza!!

I would like the owner of a pizza place to answer this question; why not just say up to 4 veggie toppings for a vegetarian pizza?  Especially if the price of the toppings are the same!  Why not let the customer decide what kind of veggie pizza they want?

I will not go back to Giamela's again.  What terrible service!