Taco Adobe-Closed

Taco Adobe
121 N Lemon St
Orange, CA 92866
714-628-0633

Located just west of the Orange Circle is Taco Adobe.  It's a small space with table spread all over inside and tables outside.  I've review a few restaurants in/near the Orange Circle- Burger Parlor, Byblos Cafe, Watson Drug and Soda Fountain- which was renovated and has new owners since I reviewed it, Felix Cafe, and the now closed Beach Pit BBQ.

Blacken calamari taco- $3.75 and blacken shrimp taco- $4.50.  All tacos come with chipotle, blend of cheese, citrus cabbage, fresh cotija cheese, and special sauce.

I have never seen calamari in a taco, and I was excited to try it. The calamari was chewy and tough.  The toppings really do overwhelm the calamari.

The blacken shrimp was better, but again the toppings overwhelmed the shrimp.

Service is OK.

I won't go back to Taco Adobe.

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.

Rancho To Go BBQ-Closed

Rancho To Go BBQ
665 N Tustin St
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 502-4053

Just a little north of Arthur's Resturant, is Rancho To Go BBQ.  The owner won some BBQ competitions and has two trucks and also runs this restaurant.  The restaurant is located in a medium sized strip mall, and is set off the street so, it is easy to miss.  They are only opened Wed-Sat and ribs are not served until about 4pm.

Half rack of St. Louis spare ribs, $11.95.  The first thing I noticed was the very salty rub, maybe the most salty ribs I've ever had.  There was good smoke flavor, but I can tell these ribs were "leftover" from the day before.  It wasn't "fresh," smoked ribs from that day.  The ribs were also too tender,  there needs to be some chewiness and this was just way too tender.  Maybe he has to cater to the idiots who live in OC, who wouldn't know real BBQ if it hit them in the face.  But, fall off the bone is not a good thing when it comes to real BBQ ribs.  The ribs were smoked with white oak and should have been taken off the BBQ about 30 minutes earlier.

Service is good.  The owner is nice and friendly. 

I was looking forward to trying the BBQ at Rancho To Go, but I was disappointed in the BBQ.  The owner is very friendly and I wish him well.  While I haven't been there in a long time, the two best places for real BBQ ribs in Orange County is Blake's Place in Anaheim and BBQ Bistro in Huntington Beach.

Arthur's Restaurant

Arthur's Restaurant
240 N Tustin St
Orange
714-997-1850

Arthur's Restaurant is an old school coffee shop.  But, I found out they served broasted chicken, so I stopped in.  Arthur's is located on very busy Tustin St., which has more thrift shops per mile than almost any street in California.    The unique exterior, 3 different colors and styles, welcomes visitors inside a large dining area.

2 pieces chicken with waffles, $13.15.  The regular price is $10.69 with a $1.49 extra for two breasts. The first piece I bit into was a bit dry and the skin was bland and flavorless.  The skin wasn't crispy or crunchy either.  I'm not sure if it was really broasted chicken, where they use a special broaster.  But, the second piece of chicken was everything the first piece wasn't.  Moist, juicy, crispy skin and full of flavor.

The waffle was very good.  Lightly dusted with powdered sugar, there waffle was sweet and tasty.  Thicker than I'm used to, but still good.  

Service is very good.  The hostess greeted me when I walked in.  The server who took my order was nice and friendly.  I walked outside and came back in and another hostess or server asked if I had been helped.   There are times when I go to a restaurant and not be greeted but I'm greeted twice in the 10-15 minutes I'm there. 

I learned that you can order chicken ala carte, so the next time I'm just ordering the broasted chicken.

Avila's El Ranchito

Avila's El Ranchito
182 S Orange St
Orange
714-516-1000

Avila's El Ranchito is an Orange County chain with about 12 locations.  Their Orange location, just east of the famous Orange Circle, is housed in an old Victorian Baptist Church, which was built in 1888.  The church closed in 1992 and a couple years later PJ Abbey's restaurant opened up.  About two years ago PJ Abbey's closed and Avila's El Ranchito opened.   If you believe in ghosts, there is suppose to be a ghost that haunts the restaurant. 

Avila's El Ranchito is a good sized restaurant.  There are two entrances; one of the restaurant and the other for the bar.  Being an old church the restaurant has high ceilings, wood floors, and stain glass windows.  The stain glass on the east side of the resturant still has PJ's on top. 

Grilled fiesta platter, $12.95, with chicken, black beans, red onions, green onions, tomatoes, zucchini, and mushrooms.

Normally when I go to a Mexican restaurant and it's filled with white people it's not a good sign.  I might as well go to the white washed Mexican chain restaurants like El Torito, or Don Jose, or Acapulco.  But, I know the Orange Circle isn't a place that many Latinos frequent.  You're more likely to see a flying Delorean than a large number of Latinos. But,  Avila's El Ranchito is a fairly authentic Mexican restaurant.  The flavors of the grilled fiesta platter were well balanced.  The chicken breast was well seasoned and grilled just right, not dry at all.  The veggies were grilled perfectly, though since I hate zucchini, I wish there wasn't any zucchini.  The black beans were money, perfectly cooked and seasoned.  Well seasoned and a huge portion made this a very good entree. 

Service was good.  The hostess and server were both very nice and friendly.

The setting is nice and makes for a nice quiet dining experience.  The food is good and reasonably price.  So, of course I would go back to Avila's El Ranchito anytime.

The Tulsa Rib Company

The Tulsa Rib Company
220 E Katella Ave
Orange
714- 633-3760

I went to the old The Tulsa Rib Company back in 2006. In March of 2013, Tulsa Rib moved to a new location on Katella Ave. The interesting part about this location is that Scottie's Smokehouse moved here a few years ago, but for whatever reasons, Scottie's didn't last too long at this address.

The new location gives the impression it is bigger but the parking lot in back is too small for the number of people the restaurant can hold. The interior has a western decor and was packed for a Saturday night.  The interesting thing I found was that all the TV's had the Dodger game on instead of the Angels game!  They did switch the TV's to the Angels' game after the Dodger game was over.

Spicy Baby back ribs with creamed corn and Tulsa potatoes, $17.50.  While Tulsa Ribs say they are a gourmet BBQ restaurant, they do NOT BBQ their ribs.  The ribs are boiled and them cooked in an oven and then BBQ sauce is poured on.  If you want or expect real BBQ, this isn't the place.  If you think Tulsa Ribs is an example of real BBQ, get a damn clue.

But, with that being said the ribs are well cooked, tender, meaty,  not much fat or gristle, and pretty damn good for what they are!  The portions are huge and you get your money's worth with each order.

The creamed corn is sweet and has more cream sauce than corn, but I like them  I wish they gave you a bigger portion.

The Tulsa potatoes are always good.  I forget to order them well done, which makes them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Service is was lacking.  They have what I call a community server system, where any server is helping you.  But, after being seated it took forever for somebody to come by and take our drink order.  They seated a couple a few tables away and while being seated they were asked what they would like to drink.  They were also got their food before us, both tables had ribs orders.  The people are nice, but service was off.

I haven't been to Tulsa Ribs in a long time and only found out about their new location when somebody told me they were moving.  The food is the same but the service wasn't as good as the old location.