Pomona Valley Mining Co

Pomona Valley Mining Co
1777 Gillette Rd
Pomona, CA 91768
909-623-3515

The Pomona Valley Mining Co has been around since at least the 1970's, overlooking Pomona and the 10 freeway.  It's outlasted it's other hill top restaurant, Castaways, which is now Coco Palm.  There may have been another restaurant between Castaways and Coco Palm.  If you remember the name, email me.

David Allen wrote about Cask N Cleaver's 50th anniversary, and mentioned they still have a self service salad bar; something which gained popularity in the 1970's, but that fad slowly went out with bell bottoms and shag carpets!!  I got to wondering what restaurants still have a self service salad bar and remembered the Pomona Valley Mining Co.  I was surprised David hasn't written about it in his blog.  Then I checked the Dining in Pomona blog, and since he expanded his dining adventures from Garey Ave, he may have reviewed Pomona Valley Mining Co.  But, to my surprise also didn't have a review.  Dining in Pomona's review has been posted!

I decided to invite both David and Dining in Pomona for a dinner at Pomona Valley Mining Co.  We agreed on a day, and luckily David drove his own car and not his rental truck!

The decor of Pomona Valley Mining Co hasn't changed since the 1970's.  It's suppose to look like a mining shaft, and the mining equipment is suppose to be from the actual nearby mines.  The dining area is mostly along the top to bottom glass wall, that gives you a great view of Pomona, the 10 freeway and elephant hill!  Above the dining area is the salad bar, sorry I forgot to take a picture.  

Shrimp and scallop scampi, $26, with salad bar and rice pilaf.  The salad bar comes with all entrees ordered.  The salad bar itself is $18.  The salad bar is fresh, with lettuce and other veggies, but nothing outstanding and not many choices.  They did have three different soups available too.  I got the corn chowder, which was too sweet for my tastes.

The rice pilaf was ok, a bit bland, needed more seasoning.  What they call scampi, I call a cream sauce.  I have never seen such a white cream sauce on seafood.  The shrimp were pretty good, medium size, and well cooked.  The scallops, I bet are frozen and were too chewy and mushy for my tastes.  Overall this dish was ok.

Service was good.  Our server came around often, she could have refilled drinks both water and other drinks, more often, but I thought she was good overall.

I should add one thing.  I always find it weird when a hostess of an nearly empty restaurant asks if I made reservations!  I mean, the night we were there if you added up all the people that were there for the 2 hours or so we were there, only about 70% of the dining area would be filled.  

Pomona Valley Mining Co is a place you have to try at least once, even if the food is just average.

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.

Ranch House Cafe and Grill-Closed

Ranch House Cafe and Grill
21130 E Golden Springs
Diamond Bar
909-598-5359

Ranch House Cafe and Grill is owned by the same company that owns Carrows and Coco's. They are a steakhouse that follows the Sizzler way of ordering at the counter. All entrees and burgers include unlimited trips to the salad bar.

The salad bar is your standard salad bar; iceberg or romaine lettuce, spinach, and lots of other fresh veggies. They also have a pasta, potato and macaroni salad. The items are all fresh and they are restocked quickly.

The most interesting part of Ranch House is that the servers are NOT allowed to accept tips! It says so on your receipt. They are paid differently than a regular server, but I can't believe that makes up for the lost tips. But, who knows?

Rib eye with mashed potatoes and crispy onion strings, $18.99. I asked for my steak medium, it was more medium rare, which is fine, but a steakhouse should cook a steak perfectly every time! Anyways I'm not expecting this steak to be prime and it wasn't. But, it was pretty good and tender. It could have been seasoned a little better, but otherwise it was fine. It was worth the $18.99 especially considering the unlimited trips to the salad bar.

The onion straws were clearly sitting under heat lamps, because they had lost their crispiness. The mashed potatoes could have been good if they were hot, you can see the unmelted cheese on top.

Service, when ordering was fine. The guy was nice and friendly. The steaks were brought out quickly by a friendly server.

I wanted to try out Ranch House and I came away fairly impressed. Their sides need to improve but their steaks are worth the price. I would come back again.

Colicchio & Sons

Colicchio & Sons
85 10th Ave
New York
212-400-6699

Colicchio & Sons is owned by Tom Colicchio, who is a judge on Top Chef. If you watch Top Chef, he is all about SEASONING!! If a contestant doesn't season his or her dish, he will rip them to shreds at judge's table. He can be tough on contestants but if a contestant earns Tom's respect, he isn't that tough of a judge. For example in the last season, he actually asked Paul-who won Top Chef, if his fish was undercooked!! WTF was that? Though Paul didn't win the challenge, it was clear Paul had earned Tom's respect and Tom was going easy on Paul.

Anyways, I was invited to a private dinner at Colicchio & Sons. The three course dinner gave us two choices for an appetizer, entree, and dessert. I didn't have to pay so I didn't know the price of the dinner. But from looking at the menu, the sirlion was $46 but for some reason the seared tuna wasn't on the menu.


Seared tuna, yukon gold potatoes, and a leek vinaigrette. This was very fresh, but the tuna could have been seared a little longer. There is a difference between seared tuna and sashimi. The menu said seared tuna. I don't expect seared tuna to be like sashimi, I want the tuna to be seared and provide some texture. The potatoes were small potato chips, where were crunchy and pretty good. The vinaigrette added a nice balance to the dish.

30 day, dry-aged sirloin, butterball potatoes, spring onion and roasted mushrooms. I asked for this steak to be medium rare but this steak was rare. I expect a restaurant that is owned by Tom Colicchio to be able to cook a steak to the customer's desired doneness. Now, maybe I got the wrong plate, most people at this dinner ordered the steak. But, that doesn't get the restaurant off the hook. They screwed up, somewhere. The steak was good, but not great and not worth the menu price of $46. If I had paid for this steak, I would have been very unhappy!!

Service was very good. The servers were nice and friendly. But, the fact that my steak was either undercooked or I was given the wrong steak didn't sit well with me.

I'm not big on celebrity chefs and I rarely go to their restaurants, I had no choice for this dinner. I didn't get a good impression of Colicchio & Sons and if I was a judge on Top Chef, this restaurant would have been eliminated.

Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca

Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca
221 W Broadway
New York
212-925-6969

So, I'm in New York City and dinner is being taken care of for me. I have no idea how much the meat at this all you can eat Brazilian Churrascaria maybe. But, I've enjoyed my limited experiences at Brazilian Churrascaria in LA. My favorite churrascaria in LA has to be Fogo De Chao, with it's prime cuts of meats. So I'm looking forward to see how this Brazilian Churrascaria in the Tribeca area of New York City stacks up to Fogo De Chao.

A restaurant is huge and can get very busy, very quickly. The set up is the same as other churrascarias, they have a salad bar set up, then they have carvers coming around with all sorts of meats.

I like Brazilian Churrascaria, but after awhile the meats all taste the same and most of the meats can be very salty.

The salad bar was filled with fresh veggies, shrimp and seafood cocktails, and other Brazilian dishes. The salad I made was very good, with huge fresh tomatoes that were great, very juicy and sweet. The salad bar was well stocked, clean and refilled quickly.


Bacon wrapped filet and sirloin steak. The bacon wrapped filet was very good, but the bacon wasn't fully cooked. The filet was well seasoned, not salty, tender and flavorful.

The sirloin was a bit too rare for me, but still tender and flavorful.


Bacon wrapped turkey. The turkey was dry and the bacon was undercooked. This was too salty for me tastes.


Sausage-The outside of the sausage was overcooked, almost charred. The inside had a nice flavor and spice combination. This could have been a good sausage if the outside wasn't overcooked.


Prime rib-a bit too rare for my tastes, but a fantastic cut of meat. Well seasoned, moist, tender and flavorful!!


Egg plant wrapped chicken. An interesting combination, that I've never seen before. But, the chicken was breast meat and a bit dry, not as dry as the turkey but still dry.


Parmesan breaded pork loin. Another meat I've haven't seen before. I didn't care for this, it was a bit too salty and the breading didn't work well with pork. Parmesan shouldn't be used as a breading.


Flank steak- This was a bit overcooked for me, but for a very tough cut of meat, this was tender and flavorful. Maybe my second favorite meat, after the filet.


Spare ribs-the ribs were so dry and very very salty. I didn't like these ribs at all.


Mango mousse: I normally don't get dessert but it was included and I picked the mango mousse, and what a treat. A very light, smooth mousse that was bursting with mango flavor.

Service was good. The carvers came around very quickly and were helpful. We had a large group and it seemed like every time the guy with the flank steak came by, he would be out of flank steak. So I asked one of the carvers I wanted flank steak and within 30 seconds the flank steak arrives. The servers were very good; they were attentive, drinks were refilled, and friendly.

Overall I was impressed with the beef at Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca. While some of the meats were a bit too rare for my tastes, they were well seasoned, not salty, moist and tender. But, the other meats- spare ribs, turkey, and chicken were too dry. Though not as good as Fogo De Chao, I would go back to Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca again.