Rock’N Fish

Rock’N Fish
120 Manhattan Beach Blvd
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
310-379-9900

Pretentious jerk people, but a beautiful location and views of the Pacific Ocean!  That describes Rock’N Fish.  I hate going to Manhattan Beach or Hermosa Beach because they are filled with pretentious assholes!  I went to Rock’N Fish a couple years ago and forgot to do a review.  I had to be in Manhattan Beach and had lunch at Rock’N Fish.  They opened another location in Downtown Live, near Staples Center.

It's a fairly big restaurant with a nice outdoor seating area.  Where I sat if you looked west you saw the beautiful ocean!  Inside there is a huge bar on the left and a large dining area on the right.

Seared Wild Ahi 23.95-red wine peppercorn - szechuan green beans - jasmine rice, spicy mac and cheese.  The menu says you can substitute sides, so I asked for the spicy mac and cheese.  When my order arrived, they had the jasmine rice on the plate.  The server came by and dropped off a side of mac and cheese.  A huge freshly baked bread is included with lunch.

The ahi was pretty good, but I'm pretty sure it was frozen.  It was well seared to rare, but a bit underseasoned.  A little more salt would be make this a very well cooked ahi.  The ahi was ok, but I didn't think it was worth the high price tag!  It a decent quality but nothing outstanding.

The missing salt from the ahi might have been put in the szechuan green beans-which were too salty, but well cooked.  The spicy mac and cheese was great!  Just a touch of heat, but creamy cheese and perfectly cooked macaroni.  The rice, which I only ate a little bit was good.

Service was ok.  While my server was nice, she never asked me how everything was.  She did come by often and even refilled my water, but again never asked how the food was.  She was nice enough to get my a third side for free.  But, she confirmed that I ordered mac and cheese instead of the rice.

Fusion Burgers-Closed

Fusion Burgers
5933 York Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90042
323-257-8705

Fusion Burgers is a small burger restaurant across the street from Maximiliano, which is still open.  There are about 10-12 tables and you get a view of the very busy York Blvd. 

Ahi Delight, $12.40.  Tuna patty, avocado spread, tartar sauce, ginger, carrot, pickles, and daikon sprouts.

This was a good burger, but the ginger doesn't work well with this burger.  The ahi was cooked to medium-rare and it was good, fresh tasting.  The avocado spread was nice and creamy.  The veggies were fresh.  But, the ginger just gave it a weird taste.  I would get this again, but without the ginger.

Service was good but off.  Our server was nice and friendly and we got our food quickly.  But, when we arrived there was nobody at the hostess stand and almost every table still had not been cleaned!  What was they doing?  It's a small enough restaurant that they couldn't be understaffed.  I went into the kitchen and a lady said she would be right there.  While we waited for somebody to help us, about 2-3 minutes, a lady having dinner with her kids told us, the service was very slow.  We didn't experience the slow service, but it didn't leave a good first impression when all the empty tables still hadn't been cleared and nobody was there to greet us.

I'm indifferent about going back to Fusion Burger.  The burgers are good, fairly priced, and we got good service.  But, we were the only ones in the restaurant.  If I went back during a busy time, service may not be as good. 

Monrovian Family Restaurant-Closed

Monrovian Family Restaurant
534 S Myrtle Ave
Monrovia, CA 91016
 626-359-8364

According to the sign, Monrovian Family Restaurant opened in 1979.  Located a few blocks north of Gene's Grinders and Jake's Roadhouse, and a few blocks south of Mikomi, in a huge two story building!  It seems as though the decor hasn't changed since the 1980's; it's a very dated decor but a clean restaurant.  The restaurant itself is huge, with plenty of booth seating.  The clientele is older people, many of them who are regulars.  I heard both the server and the manager, at least I think he is the manager, call people by name!

Salad was pretty standard with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons. Some of the lettuce was very bitter!  But, it was drowned in dressing!  Order your dressing on the side.

Seafood plate, $15.49 with soup or salad, fried cod, fried shrimp and fried scallops with fries or rice or cole slaw.

I can just tell by the price the seafood was going to be frozen.  It was.  The fried shrimp was very hard and too crunchy.  It also wasn't that hot, as if they were sitting under heat lamps.  The scallops were too mushy but had a good crunch.  The cod was too greasy and it surprised me that batter was thin!  It was mostly cod with a light coating of batter.  The fries were lukewarm and were clearly under heat lamps.

Service was good by the server.  She must have came around ten times during the time I was there.  She was nice and helpful.  After eating dinner, I went to the restaurant and there was the guy, who I believe is the manager, behind the counter on his phone.  He never acknowledge me!  Most people behind the counter would have said thank you, come again.  But, he was too busy on his phone!  Bad customer service, especially by a manager!!

Monrovian Family Restaurant is mediocre at best.  I won't go back.

Banzai Sushi-Closed

Banzai Sushi
23508 Calabasas Rd
Calabasas, CA 91302
818-222-5800

I know what you're saying; not another all you can eat sushi review!  Well I was in Calabasas and decided to revisit Banzai Sushi. I went there about a year ago and really enjoyed it.  But, if I recall correctly the bill for two people with a couple drinks was almost $100.  Today I noticed an all you can eat lunch special for $23.95 and I picked that option!  They do not offer an all you can eat option for dinner.

Banzai is small restaurant with a good sized patio with a lot of tables.  The inside portion has a sushi bar and about 8-10 tables.  It wasn't that crowded for lunch the day I went.


The most notable thing about Banzai is the portion size of the sushi!  They are huge rolls, not small rolls. Some of the sushi, specially the scallops, but others were very fresh and tasty,  like the nigiri!

Crab cake-while their menu says this is house made.  I really doubt this is house made.  Unless house made means straight from the freezer to the fryer.  This was clearly a frozen pre-made crab cake.  They used back fin crab and a lot of fillers.  Not impressive, but hey it's part of the all you can eat menu! The all you can eat menu says two pieces, when in reality it is a whole piece of crab cake cut in half.

Shrimp tempura- another frozen item.  Two large pieces of shrimp fried to perfection!  A very good item.

Tuna, yellowtail, and shrimp nigiri.

Lobster roll-steamed lobster, avocado, cucumber, asparagus.

Scallop Nigiri-The scallops aren't fresh and need improvement!

Scallop roll-again, the scallops weren't fresh and just too mushy.

Blue crab roll- this looks like tuna fish, but it is blue crab.  The major problem of this roll was way too many pieces of shells in the crab! 

Tiger roll-steamed shrimp and avocado outside with shrimp tempura and cucumber inside.  A very good dish.  Huge pieces of sushi and fresh!

Moonlight roll-salmon, shrimp, crab, avocado, and asparagus with a cucumber roll.  This was great and maybe my favorite roll!  Six huge pieces filled with fresh fish and veggies.  The wasabi sauce added some heat.

Service was good but a bit slow on bringing the sushi.  The restaurant wasn't that packed.  So, I expected the sushi to arrive much quicker.  There is a two hour time limit so maybe the slow service on the sushi is a stall tactic, but I finished well before that time limit.

I would go back to Banzai Sushi, but I would stay away from anything with scallops!

Fusion 2 Any 1 Sushi & Roll

Fusion 2 Any 1 Sushi & Roll
1261 S Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-396-1900

If Fusion 2 Any 1 Sushi & Roll looks familiar, it should!  It is the latest restaurant to go into this space.  It originally started as a Rudy's Pizza.  Then Rendino's opened and closed.  Yoko Yoko Sushi and Roll took over, and closed earlier in 2017.  Fusion 2 Any 1 Sushi & Roll took over, they just made a sign and kept the sushi & roll part for their outside sign!

It's still a large restaurant with booth around the walls and table in the middle on the left part of the building; with the sushi bar on the right.  It's dimly lit and there were about 12-14 tables the time we were there.

It's all you can eat for $24.95 for dinner.  Again, with all you can eat sushi, I'm not expecting top of the line sushi.  I expect fresh sushi.  Aside from the tuna nigri I got fresh sushi.  Some rolls I didn't care for and will go into more detail under their picture.

 Shrimp, tuna, and crab nigri. The tuna wasn't fresh, very mushy. 

Lobster and spicy tuna hand roll. The lobster hand roll maybe my favorite here. Very good with the imitation crab meat very good and the crawfish fresh.  They could have put a little less sauce on the roll, but overall very good roll.

 Baked lobster roll- inside-crab and avocado. outside-crawfish and crab.  I didn't care for this roll.  Too mushy and just too many flavors working against one another.

 Shrimp lovers roll-shrimp tempura, crab, and avocado. outside-avocado and shrimp.

 Shrimp tempura roll-inside-shrimp tempura and cucumber. outside-avocado

Aloha roll- inside-spicy tuna and cucumber. Outside yellowtail and jalapeno.  If you like it spicy, this is for you! 

Service was ok, but their policy is terrible.  They had two ladies working the night we went.  My friend hadn't decided what he wanted, so I put in my first order; the nigri.  Then my friend decided and placed his order.  While he was working on his rolls, I placed my order.  But, what the server didn't tell us was that even though it's all you can eat, you can only place orders three times!!  But, there is nothing on the menu saying that!  I mean, if we knew that, we would have combined the first two orders!  When she took the order, she should have told us about that stupid policy!  I mean six pieces of sushi counts as the first order??  I mean come on.  Plus, they make sure you're aware of the policy that any unfinished food will be an additional charge!  So, I'm not going to place an order for more rolls than I can eat.

Another policy is you have only one hour.  That's fine but when the servers take forever to pick up the order and the sushi chefs take forever to make the orders, that limits how much sushi you can eat! Again, there were only two servers for about 12-14 tables.  That shouldn't be too hard to get people's orders!  They did have a help wanted sign for servers.  But, good servers can easily handle 6-7 tables.

I won't return to  Fusion 2 Any 1 Sushi & Roll!

Show Sushi

Show Sushi
957 W Arrow Hwy
San Dimas, CA 91773
909-592-2911

A few doors east of Cafe Bagelry, is Show Sushi a very popular all you can eat sushi restaurant.  There are always people waiting outside and people keep coming into the restaurant!

As you walk in you notice two sushi bars and a huge middle area with tables.  There is a little notch with a few more tables.  It can get a bit loud inside, but it's a nice place for dinner.

They have the all you can eat dinner for $26.99.  They have a huge assortment of rolls and the nigri sushi. When going to an all you can eat sushi restaurant, you're not expecting top of the line quality sushi.  I do expect the sushi to be fresh.  That's what I got at Show Sushi.  All the nigiri and rolls were good.  Fresh fish, they could have put more fish on some of the rolls, but overall good. My only issue was that the rice was too loose, it wasn't sticky enough.  You could pick up the sushi and the rice fell apart.

Nigiri sushi- shrimp, yellowtail, and tuna.

Red snapper nigiri

Halibut nigiri.

 Popcorn scallop-deep fried baby scallops, inside crab and avocado.

 Shrimp lovers roll- shrimp and avocado.  Inside-shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, cucumber.

 Hawaiian Roll-tuna and avocado.  Inside-crab, avocado, cucumber.

 Tiger roll-shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, and cucumber.

 Baked scallops- baked baby scallops. Inside crab and avocado.

Cajun tuna hand roll.

I sat at the sushi bar.  Service from the server is good.  From the sushi chef is slow.  The server came around often, refilled drinks and asked if I needed anything.  When I put in my first order to the sushi chef, which included both nigiri and rolls, I got the nigiri very quickly.  But, it took forever to get the rolls!  I even ordered a second round of nigiri before I got my first order of rolls.  When I asked the sushi chef where my order was, he said it was coming!  A few seconds later he realized he placed the rolls on the counter for pickup.  Somehow, even though I was sitting at the sushi bar, he thought my order was for another table.  My later roll orders came out fairly quickly.  I understand the sushi chefs are very busy, but come on get organized!  But, this could be a tactic for all you can eat sushi restaurants who have a time limit, so people don't eat too much.  Now, I didn't see anything that said you had a time limit at Sushi Show.  But, while waiting, it did cross my mind.  I didn't keep track but I'm guessing I spent about an hour at Sushi Show, so it wasn't an issue.   

The hostess could stand to smile and be more friendly.  I walked inside and put my name down, while the hostess rang up some orders.  When she was done, she just asked how many. No, hi, welcome to Show Sushi.

I also think they should have a more detailed menu.  The menu made no mention of hand rolls.  I only knew about the hand rolls, when the couple next to me ordered some hand rolls.  They could also include the price of the dinner.  Nobody told me the price, but I knew the price because people I know recently at at Show Sushi.

I would go back to Show Sushi.  The sushi is good and I'll chalk up the slow service from the sushi chefs to just being off that night.

Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream

Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream
440 S Anaheim Blvd
Anaheim, CA 92805
714-520-0445

Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream near the South Coast Plaza has been on my bucketlist of places to try since 2011.  But, since it is in the disgusting Orange County and their pretentious jerk people, I wasn't in a rush to get there.  When, I found out that they opened a location in the Anaheim Packing House, I rushed down there, since it is close by and Anaheim isn't as bad as going near the South Coast Plaza.

Originally, I had planned just to go to Hans' for ice cream.  But, it was near dinner time and I saw The Chippy Fish & Grill, so I had dinner there first and then stopped in for dessert!  When I left to go to my car, I saw a sign that said no pictures are allowed inside the Packing House!!  Really?  In this day and age of social media, a popular place doesn't want people taking pictures?  Give me a break! Who the hell is managing this facility?  On Yelp, Hans has 22 PAGES of pictures!!

Double scoop with pistachio almond and rocky road, $5.75.  I like chocolate and ice cream with almonds and pistachio.  I liked the fact that this ice cream had a ton of nuts in both flavors.  Not skimping on the nuts.  But, overall the ice cream is good, not great, certainly not worth a drive to Santa Ana.  I think Fosselman's is better and I'm not a huge fan of Fosselman's.

Service is good.

I'm glad I finally checked off Hans' from my bucketlist!  I don't need to waste my money or driving into the deplorable Orange County for this ice cream.