O Sushi & Grill

 O Sushi & Grill
1126 Via Verde
San Dimas, CA 91773
909-592-7536

The only sushi restaurant I have been to in San Dimas is Show Sushi, which is an all you can eat sushi restaurant.  I wanted to try a regular sushi restaurant and found O Sushi & Grill.

It's in the Vons shopping center, which must have a 60% vacancy rate, and is in a residential neighborhood.  

Tuna and crab sushi.  Imitation crab but fresh and well done.  The tuna was a huge piece of tuna, fresh and good flavor.  The sushi rice is excellent!

Tiger roll-$11.50-shrimp tempura,crab meat, avocado, and steamed shrimp.  The shrimp tempura stood out and was very good.  Huge pieces of steam shrimp and good imitation crab meat.

Lettuce wrap-$9.50-crab meat, spicy tuna, avocado, shrimp tempura.  I like unique twists to sushi.  I love the Moonlight roll at Banzai, a salmon, shrimp, crab, avocado, and asparagus inside a cucumber roll!  So I was looking forward to this lettuce wrap. The soy paper was a bit unusual, but I guess it held the roll together.  But, with was a very light, refreshing roll!

Service is good.  I didn't lack for anything and the sushi came quickly!

I would go back to O Sushi & Grill.  I think this is a hidden gem in San Dimas!

Giordanos

Giordanos
3619 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-850-2420

When it comes to Chicago pizza you have Lou Malnati's-my personal favorite, Geno's East, Pizzeria Uno, and Giordanos.  Giordanos, opened a location in Las Vegas about a year ago.  There is a Lou Malnati's in Phoenix.

Giordanos is located near Bally's hotel in an area with other restaurants and bars, this is a huge Giordanos.  They have a patio area in the main level and upstairs is there bar and dining room. 

Medium with mushrooms and spinach, $23.45 plus $2.25 per topping.  The crust is light, buttery, flake and very good!  It's not doughy like many LA area deep dish restaurants.  The cheese was ok, but nothing to make a great cheese pull picture.  But the sauce was lacking, both in terms of quality and amount!  It was just too bland and just seemed like an after thought.

Service at the bar was good.  The bartenders were nice and helpful.  But, the hostess was terrible!  She was rude, unfriendly and not helpful.  They were busy but there were plenty of open seats and very few people in the lobby.  I prefer to sit at a table and not the bar, especially when I am not drinking alcohol.  The bar looked as though it was full, so I said I would wait for a table.  Then I saw a group leave, and took the bar.  The hostess was making it seem as though sitting at a table alone would be the worst thing.  No, honey, the worst thing is a hostess who is rude and unfriendly!

Giordanos was disappointing and would rank last in the Top 4 of Chicago deep dish pizza.

China a Go Go

China a Go Go
505 E Windmill Ln Ste D
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702-733-8887

Across the street from Fish King Grill is China a Go Go, in the Vons shopping center. A medium sized restaurant with tables and booths as you walk in, and the counter and kitchen in the back of the room.  It was surprisingly busy at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Shrimp chow mein-$8.17. snow peas, carrots, and broccoli.  This was a good dish, but I hate ginger and they put too much for my tastes.  I bit into piece after piece of ginger!  But, the noodles were cooked perfectly, the shrimp-small sized shrimp were well cooked and the small amount of veggies added some color to the dish.

Service is good. 

China a Go Go is a good option for Chinese food if you're in the area.

Fish King Grill

Fish King Grill
500 East Windmill Ln Ste 145
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702-844-1786

Fish King Grill is across the street from China A Go Go, and has been open for about 7 months. It's a good sized restaurant with about 20 tables as you walk in, and the kitchen and counter straight in front of you.  It's a nice clean restaurant.

Shrimp po boy, $10.99, fully dressed, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, tartar sauce, and cocktail sauce.  The shrimp was butterflied and the covered with a cornmeal batter.  I think it was frozen, but it was good and they it's a big portion of shrimp.  The bread had a nice texture and held up well for the sandwich.  Nothing worst than getting bread that just falls apart after one bite.  The fries were great, frozen, but crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.  The hush puppies were great too!  Maybe on the best I've had.  Guessing it was frozen, but light, airy, bold flavor!

Service was good.  Nice friendly people working there.

Whenever I go to a land lock state, I wonder how the seafood will be.  But, King Fish Grill was great.  I would go back any time!

Pick Up Stix

Pick Up Stix
1249 S Lone Hill Ave
Glendora, CA 91740
909-305-1552

I figured if I did a review of P.F. Chang's and Pei Wei, I should do a review of Pick Up Stix, another very Americanized version of Chinese food. This Glendora location opened about eight months ago in the Home Depot shopping center.  There are a ton of other fast food chain restaurants.

This Pick Up Stix is a good sized restaurant with lots of tables and booths in a very clean restaurant.

Shrimp and vegetables-$9.99, Shrimp, carrots, broccoli, snap peas, mushrooms, and zucchini.  Small sized shrimp well cooked and seasoned.  All the veggies were well cooked except for the snap peas.  They were too chewy and stringy.  Overall a good dish, nothing outstanding and you can find many other Chinese restaurants with better quality food and prices. 

Service was good.  The lady who helped me was nice and friendly.

If you take Pick Up Stix for what it is, Americanized Chinese food, it is fine. 

Chango Coffee-Closed

Chango Coffee
1559 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90026
213-977-9161

A hipster coffee shop in the ever changing Echo Park area of Los Angeles is my review today.  I was there around dinner time and instead of going somewhere nearby for dinner, I figured why not just have a meal at Chango!  They have sandwiches, including a number of vegan options.  Of course there are a ton of coffee options!

A galley style coffee shop with tables along the right side as you enter and the counter area on the left.  It's a nice stylish coffee shop.  That neon sign you see was recently restored.  The sign has not be lit up in the five or so years that I have been coming to the area.  The sign used to say delicatessen but now only uses part of the sign to say Del Mor the name of the building, which is a mixed use building.  If you know the name of the delicatessen or the market, please email me!

Breakfast burrito-$6.50, scrambled eggs, black beans, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, sebre sauce.  The breakfast burrito sounded good, because some of the vegan sandwiches did not sound appetizing.  The breakfast burritos are heated in the microwave and then put on the panni press to warm them up.  It says the burritos are made fresh, but I don't see where they would make the burritos in house.  There isn't a flat top stove inside Chango.  I'm betting they have another company make their burritos.

Anyways, this was a filling, good burrito.  Lots of scrambled eggs and black beans.  Not as much cheddar cheese, but overall a good burrito.

Service was good.  The guy was helpful and nice.

I don't drink coffee, so I have no idea how their coffee is.  But, Chango has some nice options for a quick meal. 

P.F. Chang’s

P.F. Chang’s
3445 Grand Ave
Chino Hills, CA 91709
909-590-8250

Hard to believe I never did a review of P.F. Chang’s, mostly because I don't like to review chains.  But, hell I did review Pei Wei, why not do P.F. Chang’s!  If you're looking for authentic Chinese food, you won't find it at PF Chang's!  But, they are what they are, Americanized Chinese food.  I've actually only been to Pasadena and this Chino Hills location.

The Chino Hills location is a huge stand alone restaurant.  There are booths along the left side the restaurant, benches and chair seating on the right side, and tables in the middle. It wasn't that busy the night we went.

Salt and pepper prawns-crispy pawns, chili peppers, aromatics, $19.99.  This was good, but too salty.  The prawns were well cooked, but too salty. This is overpriced for the quality of the food.  The shrimp chow mein at Chin Chin was less expensive, and was much better!  I would also bet, if you weighed the shrimp from both places, there were more shrimp by weight at Chin Chin, than here at P. F. Chang's!

Buddha feast-$9.99-broccoli, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, savory sauce. Well cooked, but again too salty.  All the veggies were well cooked, and the sauce would be good, if they put 25% less salt!

Service was good.  Our server was nice and friendly.  But, we got no silverware or the cloth napkins.  Not a big deal since they had chopsticks, and there were paper napkins.  But, P. F. Chang's isn't the type of place I expect to use paper napkins.

P.F. Chang's is fine for what it is.  But, I won't go back.