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This place was a pleasant surprise. It’s your good ol’ hole-in-the-wall family owned restaurant. I normally don’t write reviews for well known places b/c they are already established. I only write for relatively unknown places, where my experiences are either great or horrible. This place was great. Food – Just like my grandma’s cooking, which is without saying homemade and delicious. I got the cm tm (came with bì, thit nuong, nem, hot gà, etc.) However, the star of the show was the grilled pork. It was clearly grilled before serving and had a nice char on it. The array of meats on the dish was fun to eat. Broken rice was cooked properly. Veggies were crisp. +2 stars Service: We were greeted and offered drinks. The waiter filled our waters when needed, and gave us to-go boxes at the end. Casual convo. +1 star Cleanliness: From the outside, the place is in sort of an old plaza, but the inside is clean and bright. Saw the waiter cleaning down other tables as we were eating. I did not need to use the restroom, so I can’t attest. +1 star Value: The rice dish I got was about 9 bucks. Plus tip, you’ll spend about 10 bucks for lunch. I even had to take home left overs. My parents, who are traditional, loved the bun bo hue (and the price). +1 star This fairly new and unknown place earned 5 stars from me.

Panka Peruvian Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 2708 Ingersoll Ave suite 200, Des Moines

I honestly hesitated to write a review for this place. The service was very nice and the place is trying hard. But the food is just that bad. My coworker and I decided to come here for dinner one night and was excited to try some Peruvian food. The waiter came over and greeted us, showed us to a table. He was very enthusiastic and went on to tell us how many great reviews they have on yelp. Which honestly turned me off a little. It was a little much at that point. Coworker got a pisco sour while I got a pineapple one. It was good, but mainly just tasted like juice. I normally get red after a quarter of a drink, and I didn’t get red at all. He brought out some plantain chips for us to munch on. Immediately we could tell they were stale. They didn’t crunch and were very soft. Then he went on about how great the dipping sauce was. Which kind of just tasted like some sort of chili spiced aioli. It wasn’t great. The food took a long time to get to us, and we were starving at that point. Stale chips or not, we resorted to eating then till our food finally came. Coworker got some sort of pork and ginger Peruvian style fried rice while I got the stew. The fried rice…. was just that. As my coworker said “this is something you can get at a take out restaurant at an airport for 8 bucks”. The Aji de Gallina was the literally the worst. It said it was a creole like stew. It was basically just a heavy cream coating chicken and potatoes with rice. I tried to stomach it, but it was the blandest thing I ever had. No flavor or not whatsoever. It felt like I was eating chicken with heavy cream. The chilies they said were also in it? I didn’t see a single one. There was absolutely no spice, and they didn’t have any salt or pepper out on the tables…. the waiter came over a couple times to ask us how everything was and told me how my dish was the most authentic dish they had on the menu, and how everybody loved it. That made me not say anything as well damn, who am I to insult an authentic dish? Maybe I just didn’t know how it was suppose to taste like. I then let me coworker try it who told me that it was terrible, and I should stop eating just heavy cream and chicken. I finally flagged over the waiter and told him how bad the dish was. And how much I actually hated it. He brought it back and offered to get me something else. Which of course I turned down, because… well nothing else really seemed that good. The food here is also pretty pricey for the area. I would never come back here. My coworker and I actually joke about it back at the office. The service is SUPER nice and friendly, maybe comes on a little too strong. Also never got any feedback about the dish from the cooks that night… so eh.

La Michoacana Ice Cream – Menu with Prices – 1845 E 4th St, Ontario

Just came back from eating here and I can’t wait to go back! They have so many flavors in both ice cream and popsicles! Also fresh juices, corn on the cob, fruit bowls, shaved ice, and more! Ice cream Coconut (5 stars): One of the best coconut ice creams I’ve had! Caramel (4 stars) Tequila (4 stars) Strawberry cheesecake (4 stars) Cookies and Cream (4 stars) Vanilla (5 stars): One of the best vanillas I’ve had! Popsicles Strawberry with cream at the bottom (5 stars) Coconut (5 stars) SERVICE (5 star) Everyone was so nice here! The owner came out and let us try as many ice cream flavors as we liked. The woman working there was really nice too! Very welcoming. ATMOSPHERE The plaza isn’t the most fanciest place but when you go in here it’s nice and clean. They have tables inside and outside. PARKING In a plaza so parking is easy. Usually when I go to homemade ice cream places I only find one or two flavors I like but I liked everything I tried! Can’t wait to go back. My entire family loved it. I’m probably going to be addicted to this place.

Pho Binh Minh Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 819 Sargent Ave, Winnipeg

Lovely new Vietnamese restaurant on Sargent! It’s a rather large restaurant that’s has a very bright, simple yet pretty decor in a very clean space. This place is where the former “Martini’s” Italian restaurant use to be (years ago) which has it’s own little parking space. P2 – rare beef pho (large $8.50) – there could have been more slices of beef but overall it was a good pho. The broth was lighter and leaned to a slight sweetness with a tinge bit more oil than I normally like but it was still good. The noodles were cooked perfectly and tasted great with the small dish of bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime and real bird’s eye chili. The ice coffee here is super strong and delicious – I highly recommend if you like stronger coffee! The best dishes here has to be their vermicelli bowl or “bun” and the “banh xeo”. V27 deluxe vermicelli bowl ($9.75) has grilled pork, spring rolls, grilled pork meatballs with veggies/herbs and vermicelli noodles. The vermicelli is served warm (which is a subtle thing many Viet places don’t do) which really adds to all the flavour once you pour on the fish sauce. The grilled pork is nicely seasoned and everything mixes really well in this dish. The banh xeo sort of looks like an omlette but it’s really more like a crispy savoury crepe/pancake. It’s made of rice flour, water, turmeric (which gives it that yellow colour) and it’s filled with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts. You eat it with lettuce and dip it into the fish sauce. I don’t normally order banh xeo as they always taste soggy but this one is super crispy and has lots of great flavour! Definitely give this one a try. Good as a shared appy or a light meal. Overall, great place with good prices and the service is very friendly!

Sakura Asian Fusion – Menu with Prices – 7618 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, Kissimmee

UPDATE: Back in town for a convention and could not pass on the opportunity to eat the Singapore Mei Fun noodles @ Sakura Asian Fusion. Since first visiting here back in 2017 I’ve tried Mei Fun noodles at two other restaurants and I was highly disappointed. None matched the deliciousness of the noodles I found here! They were my first, so I was excited to return and discover they are just as satisfying as I remembered! If you are unfamiliar with Mei Fun, it is a rice noodle curry flavored dish with vegetables such as onions, red peppers, green peppers, carrots & cabbage mixed with grilled shrimp, chicken & a fried egg. Some recipes also call for roasted pork, but I’m not so sure that is an ingredient in this particular version. Still, SO GOOD!!! The rest of my family were satisfied as well, particularly my pho-loving youngest son. He’s grown obnoxiously picky about his pho, but was extremely please with Sakura’s version of pho. I tried a sample and indeed the broth was flavorful. OUR MEAL INCLUDED: Singapore Mei Fun Noodles – 5 stars Shrimp Fried Rice – 4.5 stars Veggie Fried Rice – 4 stars Omelette Rice – 4.5 stars Beef Pho – 4.5 stars Crab Rangoon – 4 stars Sushi – 4 stars SERVICE on both visits has been delightful as the older servers are both playful and respectful. It feels to me like they are happy to have us as guests, unlike some places that make me slightly uncomfortable. FINAL THOUGHTS Sakura Asian Fusion is a must stop sort of place for me. If I’m in Orlando, chances are I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to eat here! I truly adore the Singapore Mei Fun noodles and will be thinking about them until I next return. 2019/105

Plaza Azteca Express – Menu with Prices – 4820 Hampton Blvd Suite A, Norfolk

Went to this place because we were craving Mexican and it was a choice between this or La H. I was surprised at first because it didn’t really have any of the same menu items as Plaza Azteca but I figured it was because it was the “Chipotle” style version. They had some good deals but I wanted the same thing I always get at Plaza Azteca – arroz con pollo. The lady was very nice and described exactly what I wanted – chicken and rice covered in queso. We got home and discovered what we had really ordered was plain boiled rice with pico, green peppers, and a grilled chicken breast on top. The rice was flavorless and there was absolutely no queso in the meal (maybe she forgot??) I ended up adding cheese and valentina sauce just to give it some sort of flavor but still ended up just throwing the $15 meal away. One redeeming thing was the queso that came with our chips and queso! The chips, unfortunately, tasted like they had been soaked in a vat of oil for a day too long. We also tried one of their $1 tacos and the meat had good flavor. I’ve been to Plaza Azteca’s across the state and their “chef special” arroz con pollo is ALWAYS the same. If you can’t make a certain special, don’t say that you can and just make up a meal as it goes…or if you do at least warn the customer it’s actually going to be a flavorless fajita minus the tortillas.

Hungry Belly – Menu with Prices – 2818 N Fitzhugh Ave, Dallas

This is really hard to write. Really, it’s 2 stars for the food and one extra star for the good service they provided. I really appreciate that the staff tried to remedy the issue, but I can’t give more than 3 stars due to the food. I ordered the chicken teriyaki bowl, and my boyfriend ordered the miso ramen. The bowl is served with a side of steamed vegetables, which I felt should be something more..exciting like grilled asparagus or cauliflower. Essentially I’m paying $10 for the meat. Upon my first bite of the chicken, something just felt off…it was crunchy? It didn’t quite have the texture of chicken but it was chicken. I had my boyfriend try it too to make sure I wasn’t the only one, and he agreed it tasted like freezer burn chicken. I notified the waiter, and they offered to make me a new dish, which was very nice of them. I ended up trying their shrimp tempura roll which was good. My boyfriend’s ramen was..subpar. As soon as it was delivered all we could smell was bamboo. The smell of bamboo was overpowering everything in that ramen. We’re Asian so we are used to eating bamboo, but that was too much–almost like it came from sitting in a can for too long? The broth was okay, meat was okay, egg was a regular hard-boiled egg. If you order the ramen, just don’t expect super authentic Japanese ramen, but we also felt it wasn’t worth the price. Hungry Belly has a pretty large menu: ramen, bentos, rice bowls, Korean specialty dishes, sushi. I think that’s where the problem lies because there’s so much to choose from (and so much the restaurant needs to excel in). Maybe the thing to get is sushi? But I do not recommend the teriyaki chicken or their ramen. I do want to thank Hungry Belly for having good customer service by offering to make me another dish!

Astro Karaoke – Menu with Prices – 2212 Artesia Blvd, Torrance

– Locale Destination – It’s on Artesia Blvd and Van Ness Ave in Torrance. It’s in the quiet shopping plaza. They got a karaoke bar right next to it. It used to be called something different, I forgot. Maybe the change of ownership? It seemed reopened, but inside decor and setting are pretty much the same as before. It’s just too bright! Ambiance: casual, more like family dining atmosphere than gastro pub. The too bright lighting should be toned down. Menu: snacks for booze to pasta. Very Japanese homie “Yoshoku” items like “Bistro Beaux” in Torrance. Good quality for gastro pub. Wine menu: Cheap and very genetic ones only. They don’t put much efforts on wine. Price: reasonable Service: very friendly Parking: plenty – Gluttony Expedition – French fries: very good. Steak cut and seasoned. Grilled scallop: 1 scallop (4 of 1/4 cut) was on the little grill. They stuck to the grill and over cooked. Mmm. Meh. Namero: basically “aji tataki” with miso, which is called “Namero” in Japanese. A bit salty for me, but good for beer. Not bad. French onion gratin soup: all the necessities were in it: cheese, onions and bread. A bit salty for me but decent dish. – Conqueror’s Deduction – 3.5 Stars. Nothing stands out, but decent quality. If you drink one here, your karaoke for one hour ($5/person on weekdays) is free! If you drink 2 here, your karaoke for one hour (for 2 people) is free! You can even bring the drink to the next door. The more you drink, the more you get discounts at next door karaoke! I think it’s a good deal if you loved karaoke unlike me.

Yummy Express – Menu with Prices – 6441 Yadkin Rd #2166, Fayetteville

I’ll start off with saying I spent a year and a half in Korea eating out almost every day and always trying somewhere new.. so with that said my expectation might be higher because I’ve been searching for that same taste I enjoyed while in Korea. I think I’ve been here twice but I can’t remember the first time and it felt like I had been there before which automatically made me want to leave.. the staff was nice I can say that but my issue comes from the disconnect between food and cost… I spent $40 that day and what I got was Samgyeopsal-gui , and a bowl of ramen… This entailed about 8 small blan pieces of grilled pork belly a bowl of over cooked rice that had a weird taste (I love almost all kinds of rice) a bowl of ramen which was under cooked and poorly flavored.. (anything noodles are my favorite) there was Romain for the grilled pork belly but it was poorly prepared. It was just 5 pieces of extremely long leafs that looked like they were just ripped off and neatly stacked on a plate. The traditional way of eating the grilled pork belly is the leaf with one or two pieces of meat some rice and kimchi and pretty much whatever on the table that you would like to add put on top of this palm sized leaf. The leaf I got from here was so large in comparison that using 1 piece of meat some rice kimchi and sprouts I used two leafs that I had to tear apart multiple times and couldn’t even use half of the leaf. And the bowl of ramen wasn’t a lot at all like one bag of the Nissan ramen at Walmart you get for 50 cents, no it wasn’t those noodles they tasted like they had potential they were just handled with out care to how much they charge customers for the disappointment.. Now compare that to when I was in Korea, I would have spent $10 for all you can eat grilled pork belly that I cook, and a bowl of ramen at that size cooked wonderfully would have been about 4 bucks maybe cheaper depending on where I went. Who ever owns this store, I’m sorry for the bad review, please get back to the roots of taking pride in what you are selling.. when I was in Korea I got a huge bowl of Jjajangmyeon for 8 bucks by a man who spent $20,000 at a school just to learn the art behind the dish. Literally it was only for that dish now he runs a Jjajangmyeon shop. It was the best I’ve ever had

Matty G?s Steakburgers & Spirits – Menu with Prices – 18425 N 51st Ave, Glendale

Matty G’s is a casual family restaurant with a sports theme atmosphere. The menu is mostly burgers. They use grass fed beef and serve the burgers in mostly two 4oz patties that are nicely caramelized. They offer cocktails and beer on tap and milkshakes made with frozen custard. This is a casual restaurant. You get full service at the bar but if you want to sit at a table you order and pay at the bar like any other fast casual restaurant. I went with a non-burger option and got a “birdie” platter combo. I had my choice of fried or grilled and went with grilled. The chicken was caramelized and served on a soft toasted bun. The chicken was ever so slightly over cooked but still good and was a tasty sandwich. For my side I got the onion rings. The onion rings were very hardy and very bread-ee. My husband got the “All Star” burger platter combo. His burger(s) was nicely caramelized. He received a MOUNTAIN of garlic parm fries that came with fry sauce. His only complaint is that he thought each burger patty should have a slice of cheese instead of just one slice of cheese between the patties. I think the food overall was A-OK and an A-ok is three stars. This is a neighborhood restaurant so that means that you aren’t going to travel across town to eat here. You come here if you live nearby and want something casual and not too fancy. The help were especially helpful and friendly.

Lazeez Shawarma – Menu with Prices – 6085 Creditview Rd #2B, Mississauga

Came here for some last minute take out dinner. Located in a plaza that’s easy to find but a little bit quiet and dinghy. I usually go to the Eglinton/Mavis location and almost didn’t even notice this Lazeez when leaving the Nofrills in the same plaza. I bought the Lazeez on the rocks ($12-ish), no spice, extra sauce (extra $0.50). The portion size was average or a tiny bit above average compared to the other location, but since shawarma is a heavy meal, this one portion was enough for my mom and me. There was a decent amount of chicken and rice. Everything was seasoned really well and the sauce was great. All of it was solid but it didn’t knock my socks off and wasn’t that different from Osmow’s or other shawarma places. The place was pretty full for a weekday night but they made the shawarma really quickly. This location doesn’t feel as modern and bright as the Eglinton/Mavis one I’m usually at since the decor is newer there, but the shawarma here is always solid, always the same every time I go. Pricing wise, it’s about the same as other places.

Bodacious BBQ – Menu with Prices – 4030 Frankston Hwy, Tyler

Nothing outrageously amazing, but good food and a bright clean restaurant with cool decor, including a range of old western photos and 3 large model planes suspended from the ceiling. I was surprised that this place wasn’t packed at lunchtime on a Saturday but there was a steady stream of customers while I was there. I’d give them 4 stars just for the restaurant itself—great a/c, music, cleanliness, overall experience. The 3 star rating is probably mostly because their bbq sauce wasn’t my fave, but hey, I came here for bbq and I wanted to see what they offered. Also, in fairness I only had a turkey sandwich and side of slaw, which was served to my table with a warm(!) bottle of bbq sauce. The turkey was moist and plentiful and with the slaw it hit the spot. They have a large menu and had I been hungrier I probably would have gone with a 2 meat plate or stuffed potato. Also, as the locals probably already know, they have a drive through window for orders to go. Come check these guys out!

H??ng Bình Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 1207 S Jackson St #104, Seattle

Came here for lunch on a weekday with my parents. For point of reference, we’re all Vietnamese. Sadly, this did not impress us. My mom got the bun thap cam, which is a noodle dish with a variety of grilled meats, included grill pork and grilled shrimp cake with sugar cane. The portions of protein were very generous, but not very visually appealing. The ground meat was just in a big lumpy sausage, and the grilled shrimp cake was wrapped around a single long sugar cane stick the way it normally is; instead they had three little chopped pieces of sugar cane in the middle. They did give a lot of herbs though, and they looked very fresh and clean. My dad got their bun bo hue, which was fine. Nothing amazing, but a good portion. The piece of “meat” in his bowl was mostly bone though, with little meat about it and no bone marrow to suck out either. A little disappointing. My hu tieu was also just fine. The broth was not quite as flavorful as I’m used to it being, and not as sweet… like they don’t use any vegetables in the base? I’m not sure. They are generous with the protein, but the quail eggs are unseasoned. The bathroom was not very clean, and the women’s side was out of soap. It was also pretty chilly inside for a wintery day. I really wanted to like this place, but given the inconvenient parking (the lot in front is TINY) and far location from where I live, I probably won’t be returning. I’ve found really good Viet places in Renton which rival this in taste and cleanliness.