Newport Seafood

Newport has to be my favorite Cantonese style restaurant in San Gabriel. It never gets old.

It's got fried tofu, clams, lobster, crab, mongolian beef, peppered pork, you name it they got it.  Service is fast and friendly...

We came here for dad's 67th birthday and it was about 9pm when we arrived.  It was a good time, as it is usually packed during lunch with a long wait and no parking.

You are given fresh oranges after your meal.  The tea is hot and fresh.

I don't know what else to say about this place other than it is good and it can't be beat!

Hop Li

This Cantonese style restaurant also calls itself a seafood restaurant. It has a generous selection from scallops to lobsters. They are very good for special meal events such as Thanksgiving lunch and the like with good service at a reasonable price.

Tonight I called to order their fried rice (they have quite a selection).I asked for the Fried Rice with Diced Taro, Chicken, & Dry Scallop.

I added that it was #163 on the takeout menu but it confused him even more. He said that it doesnt go up that high. Eventually I got the order in.

This dish is on the pricey side, over $17 with tax! The portion is very large though, could definitely split it with several buddies or have it for 2 days worth of meals.

The reason I am attracted to this dish is that there are very few places where you can get taro in your meal. It has a homey feel to it I guess, like reminding me of childhood. There is no egg in this dish though, which is a small disappointment, and it would have been nice with green onions and some other spices added. Otherwise it is quite a hearty dish, though could use some improvement on the taste.

This is the review for just the one dish. The place is accommodating to many, and great for hungry night owls, usually open til 2am.

The disadvantage is that it is on a very busy street, and next to KFC.

I do recommend this place and encourage you to explore their many dishes.

Big Fish Shrimps Fish Grill

My coworkers and I have been talking about going to this place for a while but have been delaying it thinking it was going to be a big fancy sitdown sea food restaurant.

Well it turns out it is actually more of a fast food place. Most of the platters are about $10, either fried or grilled. I ended up getting the grilled cat fish. It was OK. It's nothing to rave home about but I think that if you like fish and want it fast, this place might be for you.

I don't have anything bad to say about it, but I wasn't terribly impressed either.

My coworker ended up paying for me since I was going on leave for 17 days. She also had a Groupon which helped.

K'ya Lounge II

Since I enjoyed the food the first time, I thought it would be fun to have a post-Christmas dinner here before venturing to see the Newport Beach boat parade.

I made reservations in advance. Happy hour starts when it opens at 4:30pm. However, when we got there at 4:30pm, there was a group of people already and when we asked the hostess for help, she said she had to help those other people get seated first and she would get back to me.

Well, once those people got seated, I had to get her attention again by standing really close to her and making eye contact. She finally asked "do you need help?" like we never spoke before. I said that I made reservations and she asked if I wanted to make reservations. I said no, I made reservations today at 4:30pm. She finally led us to a very small table next to the kitchen. We had to ask for a better seat.

It was my fault for mistaking K'ya for the Rooftop Lounge because when you go to their site, it also advertises the Rooftop Lounge with the beach view. It is kinda confusing.

Well the service was pretty good despite the initial mixup; I don't like the waitresses too much though it is understandable they get busy and confused themselves with the large crowds and people that stay at the hotel. Perhaps they get priority.

I got the mushroom ravioli and the pomegrante martini. It was a bit strong.

My sis got the Shrimp Fra Divolo. When it came out, my ravioli was piping hot but her dish was luke warm. So she got it remade and it was fresh and hot. All appeared well until the waiter asked my sis if I was her daughter. LoL.

I really liked my ravioli but I think they only gave like 6 pieces. The cream sauce was good and it was not too cheesy so that you could really enjoy and appreciate the mixture of the ingredients. The Shrimp pasta was pretty good too once they provided a fresh hot one. It was not too shrimpy, which meant that the shrimp musta been fresh; you know when you can tell when certain seafood's been lying around because it stinks! On the other hand, I am not a huge shrimp fan and it was kinda just like an ordinary penne pasta with tomato sauce and shrimp to me.

I don't think I would want to come here again. The food is good, but the servers (and waiters) can make you feel a bit uncomfortable with their uncouthness. For me, it was the difficulty in getting seated (twice) by the hostess and for my sis, prob the unwanted assumption by the waiter. I do want to try the Rooftop Lounge though for the view.

Market Broiler

Last night, I had dinner at the Market Broiler at the Block in Orange.

The person I was meeting was already sitting inside and I thought if I gave them the name they could lead me to the table, but they don't take reservations.

It looks like a semi fancy place, but I wasn't all that impressed. It has a bit of a fishy smell, but I suppose that's only expected, being known for fish.

Well I ordered a Mac and Cheese by itself. You have the option of having it with shrimp for double the price.

It's too cheezy! It didn't say in the menu, but I could definitely taste and feel all 3 different cheeses- Cheddar, Parmesan, and Mozarella, I think. It was almost as goopy as the broccoli and cheddar chowder I had the night before. Just awful! I told a manager looking guy and he said most people say that aren't enough cheese.

I prefer Yard House's mac and cheese with bacon bits and bread crumbs. BJ's is so plain. But I suppose you get what you pay for. The Mac and Cheese was only $7.95.

The bread is ok; this bread had more garlic and butter than the corn/ garlic pizza I had at BJs.

Service was a bit off as in the waitress came with the bill about halfway through eating without asking if we wanted desserts or anything. I was really curious about the creme brulee, but oh well. And the crazy thing was after it was paid for, she asked if I wanted a box and I said no, I didn't like my meal enough to want to take it home to eat and she apologized and asked why I didn't say something before she ran the card. But why was she in a hurry to give us the bill? Aside from that, she was nice and friendly.

I don't think I'd come back to this place. It's good if one likes seafood and fish. They don't have a good selection of much of anything else. And it's definitely not the bother to have to drive to a mall like place. It must have been prom night last night because some teenagers all dressed up walked right in front of me in the parking lot and they weren't walking like they were crossing the street, but walking like they were one of the cars...so annoying!! They would have had to see me with my lights flashing at them and everything. Ugh! Malls, hate them.

One plus for the restaurant is that they do serve bread before the meal, nice piping hot bread with butter!