Osaka, Brea CA

Author: Chris Weaver
More Info: Yelp.com

Osaka is a new restaurant that took over what used to be Bobby McGee’s right across the street from the Brea mall. It is a Japanese buffet and it reasonably priced at only around ten dollars for lunch. I personally did not really care for much of the food because it is buffet style, and it did not taste the best at all. However like I said it is a good price for a buffet and if you are really hungry you are going to be able to fill up on a lot of food. They have everything from chicken, duck, rice, noodles, spicy food, bland food, desserts and much much more. I think they need to work on using some quality food instead of what they are using now though just so that the food tastes a little bit better.

At lunch there is no waiting and you can be seated right away because the place is huge. I have not been for dinner so I do not know what its like, but I have driven by and I can see that the parking lot is full. I guess it could be a potentially good place to have a party or to take a large group of people just because of the room. I do not really have a lot to say about it because I wasn’t to impressed.

I give it a 2 out of 5.

Open Sesame, Long Beach CA

Author: Chris Weaver
More Info: www.opensesamegrill.com

I went down to the beach with a friend one night just to enjoy the night. We didn’t pick a place to eat because we figured we would just walk the street and see what looked interesting. We noticed that Open Sesame has two restaurants on the same street within a block of each other, so we figured that because there are two different locations, it must be good and popular.


We were so right, it was around 7 p.m. and it was packed, we had to wait around 30 minutes for a table. While we were waiting we noticed that all of the food was Mediterranean! I had never really eaten anything Mediterranean before so I decided to pick something unique. We ordered there fried potatoes covered in cilantro and vinegar for an appetizer, it is so good it makes your mouth water. They also bring out pita bread with your choice of sun dried tomato, garlic, or pesto hummus! For my main course I ordered a really well seasoned chicken and rice plate, with a fresh green salad. You are supposed to eat your meal with just the pita bread they give you and it Is pretty fun trying it out.

I recommend Open Sesame to anyone who wants some really tasty food and a good price. I have been back many times and I can honestly say you could order anything on the plate and be satisfied. Remember though that there is a wait for a table, and it is a small location so it is a bit cramped.

I give Open Sesame a 4 out of 5!

YUMMY!

Guppy's Tea House, Anaheim CA

Author: Kristine Santa Maria
More Info: http://www.myguppyteahouse.com/

I’ve heard about this place, Guppy’s Tea House, (or just Guppy’s) about three years ago, but I never got the chance to experience it until just recently. And anything can be said about this restaurant, everything will be biased.

Guppy’s has a jungle atmosphere. But the overall feel of dining here can truly be experienced late at night because Guppy’s is popular among “younger” crowd—which can make it quite intimidating for the “older” crowd. It’s dominated by the younger generation and the servers are a part of the younger generation. So attitude and delay will be experience during your meal.

Overall, the food is decent. Since it’s popular among the younger crowd they’re satisfied and go head over heels for the Hawaiian Fried Rice, Shaved Ice, and Butter Coconut Brick Toast (see image). I must agree that even I enjoy these top three favorites but it’s the simplicity of it that makes it so appealing. Hawaiian Fried Rice is pretty much fried rice with pineapples stuffed into a hollowed out pineapple; shaved iced is fruits with condense milk and shaved ice (go figure); but Butter Coconut Brick Toast is a bit different. It is a slice of bread that is about 2 inches thick with I guess you can say condensed milk, then drizzled with chocolate and caramel syrup—my opinion is that its even better with vanilla ice cream on top.

Guppy’s comes to life late at night on the weekends. It’s packed even when you’re arriving at midnight. Therefore, it’s a dining experience that you have to experience for yourself. The area is small and overcrowded with just decent food. It’s a hang out place for the younger generation. So don’t be surprised if you’re waiting for about 30 minutes for a table and you see people just sitting down laughing and having a good time with only a bowl of shaved ice in front of them.

VERDICT
Food 4.5/5
Service 4/5
Décor 3.5/5
Overall 4.5/5

Bai Plu, Long Beach CA

Author: Kristine Santa Maria
More Info: www.baipluthaiandsushi.com

Last Friday I went out with some friends for lunch in Long Beach and we decided to eat at Bai Plu, a Thai restaurant and sushi bar.

I went in for lunch around 1pm, and since it was a week day it wasn’t that busy. The ambiance of the cultural interior design was very nice and calming. The tables were spaced out nicely making it quite “room-y.” Our party was originally suppose to be six, but we managed to squeeze in about 3 more. Our table was a rounded-ish booth with two chairs on the out side.

The servers were kind. What was nice about it was that, it wasn’t just one server who came to check on us if we needed anything. The servers gave the impression that it was a team effort to accommodate the guests. They didn’t let us know that the tables were “assigned” a server, like in many other restaurants. But they didn’t make too much of a conversation. Not sure if it was the language barrier, or if they just wanted to do their job and get it over with.

Now the food was delicious. I chose to just have a crunchy roll thinking it would be like every other crunchy roll I’ve tasted, but this one was different. The taste was unique, but still familiar. My friends shared their entrée with me as well so that I’d be able to try something else, and everything had a unique taste. The way they made their food set their restaurant aside. It was yummy. The way they prepare your food sets your standards higher than before.

But overall, this was a great restaurant. Just do some searching to see if you can top it.

VERDICT
Food 4/5
Service 4/5
Décor 3.5/5
Overall 4/5

El Galleon, Avalon CA

Author: Jonathan Gray
More info: Catalina Hotspots

Visited Catalina Island with my girlfriend a couple years ago, and stopped by El Galleon for dinner by recommendation of our cabbie. Locals know best, right?

Hah... So my lady and I made reservations for the Valentine's Day night, and waltzed in just on time. Dropped our name confident that wouldn't have to wait in the cold with the rest of the riff raff that just walked in.. but what do you know, the young buck that we spoke to earlier that day didn't put down my name on the reservations list! We even spelled out our name to the 'tard! Whipped out our phone and showed the hostess their phone number on our contact list to show that we called earlier that day.

So what do they do? Drop us in a crowded shoulder to shoulder seating; they have Viking-style long tables where they pack total strangers right next to each other (see image below). There goes any note of privacy or romanticism that we could possibly hope for from the place. What's worse? I saw an open booth directly next to us that looked like it should have been reserved for a party of 6-10, but they seated a couple there just a few moments after they seated us. What. The. Bleep.

Don't get me started on hygiene... oh what the hell; your eating utensils are sorted in these cups, eating-end face-up, so the dirty people before you get their grubby sticky fingers all over it. These are the tools you'll be using to pick/chop up your food and put it in your mouth. Blech! If you're OCD about cleanliness, El Galleon is not for you.

So at this point, if you start at a baseline of 3/5 and move up or down from there, like I do, then El Galleon is well below a negative. Then their service just goes further South as I hear a waiter talk to the group next to us telling them to either buy more food or move to the bar. I've never seen/heard anyone get rushed out of their dinner. Unacceptable..

So how about the food, the entire reason you go to restaurants, right? Well, they redeem themselves a bit here. I had the Catalina Swordfish which came with some veggies and mashed potato pancakes and my lady had cioppino, a seafood tomato based stew. Her plate was verrrrrrry delicious, kept eating off her plate. My swordfish was alright, not entirely flavorful but it was juicy. Relied somewhat on the tartar sauce for satisfaction. Their long island iced tea was potent, so another thumbs up for them.

So granted their hygiene, piss awful service, and pretty yummy food/drinks, El Galleon scores:

VERDICT
Food 4/5
Service 1/5
Décor 3.5/5
Overall 2/5

Sweet Lady Jane Bakery, Los Angeles CA

Author: Jonathan Gray
More Info: SweetLadyJane.com

Sweet Lady Jane regard themselves as world renown and have been in the bakery business for over 20 years. They're located on 8360 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

Been to Sweet Lady Jane a few times now and they're consistently "good." So far I've tried their berry triffle, lemon white chocolate cake, oreo cheesecake, red velvet cake, and carrot cake. Lemon cheesecake is excellent and their berry triffle is very delicious yet guiltless. Their Oreo cheesecake was pretty good, but I've had better elsewhere. I had their red velvet cake on my last to visits.. yummo. Cannot recommend their carrot cake, very dry, very tough, almost had the consistency of a fruit cake.

Their sandwiches too are immediately lowered to good/alright once you see the bill. My turkey roast sandwich was yummy but expensive. "Value" is a word that SLJ should look into, $4 lemonades, $7.50 for a slice of cake, and $9 for a sandwich.. It's just not that good folks.

On the other hand, I found they have nice staff. I haven't met the "cake Nazi" that the other bloggers have mentioned... or perhaps I met him, but he wasn't feeling like a fascist that day?

Lastly, it's awfully cramped in there. They need to figure out a way to fulfill in-and-out customer orders and sit-down customers without amassing a sea of bodies in their store. We often had to get out of our seats and hunt down someone to fulfill our orders.


VERDICT
Food 3.5/5
Service 3/5
Décor 3/5
Overall 3.5/5