Jul 03

Donburi Cafe – Long Beach, CA

245 Pine Ave #120

Long Beach, CA 90802

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

In search of a tasty rice dish in Long Beach, I stumbled into Donburi Cafe for some teriyaki. As you enter the small restaurant, you place your order in the front counter and then locate a table. The tables are placed pretty close together, so it can be tough to get to an empty spot.

Today, I decided to order the Chicken Teriyaki Don. The meal came with a bowl of piping hot miso soup, watermelon slice, cherry, and the chicken teriyaki over rice with vegetables. The soup was very hot but did not have much flavor unless you stirred the bowl all the time. The fruit was fresh and delicious. The vegetables were also fresh and went well with teriyaki sauce. The chicken was cooked fresh and tender. The meat stayed juicy. The provided teriyaki sauce had strong flavors, but was overly salty. The rice was cooked properly and the teriyaki sauce added a delicious savory flavor to the rice.

Overall, Donburi Cafe serves up delicious teriyaki at reasonable prices. Service was excellent and the restaurant was clean. I wish that I did receive more rice and meat, but the additional soup and fruit rounded up the meal just fine. If I wanted rice for lunch within walking distance of work, then I would definitely give Donburi Cafe a try again.

 

Jun 29

Hiccups – Long Beach, CA

1946 N Lakewood Blvd

Long Beach, CA 90815

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Located in a busy shopping plaza near Long Beach’s traffic circle, Hiccups serves up various boba drinks in addition to their vast Vietnamese-inspired food menu. On this trip, I decided to only get a drink as I have already eaten dinner. After reviewing the menu, I decided to order a large Jasmine Milk Tea with no boba. The drink was sweeter than many other milk teas I have tasted. I like how they did not go overboard on the milk and how you can definitely taste the tea. Overall, the drink was tasty and the price reasonable. I would come back if I was in the area, and I might even give the food a try.

 

Jun 26

Panorama Grill and Lounge – Long Beach, CA

Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport

2640 N Lakewood Blvd

Long Beach, CA 90815

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located on the penthouse floor of the Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, the Panorama Grill and Lounge serves up various American dishes with a view across Long Beach. As you exit the elevator on the penthouse floor, you will find a bar to the door on the right and the restaurant to the door on the left. As you enter the dark restaurant, you can look out onto horizon. A hostess quickly escorted me to a table next to the window where I could look down onto the view of a gas station and shoe store. The menu is fairly simple and fits onto a page. A server took my drink order as I reviewed the menu.

Today, I decided to order the crab cakes and the pan seared Atlantic salmon. Before my dishes came, I was offered hot steaming bread with dollops of butter. The bread was very fresh and tasty. The crab cakes came first piping hot with the mango slaw to the side. The crab cakes were fairly flavorless unless you ate it with the slaw. I did not like how there were so many onions in the slaw. The cakes themselves held together well, but I would have liked more crab. The pan seared Atlantic salmon came next atop a bed of greens and sauce. A few delicious potatoes also came on the plate. The salmon itself was not seasoned well and tasted plain. The greens did add some texture and complexity to the dish, but I was not a fan of the tart sauce underneath.

The next morning, I came back to the restaurant to enjoy breakfast with a daytime view of Long Beach. The restaurant was very bright and there were only a few people there. I opted for the Traditional American breakfast with eggs, potatoes, and sausage. The eggs over hard tasted fresh. The potatoes were OK and hot, but did not taste very fresh. The sausages were very dense and steaming hot, but were not very flavorful. The provided orange juice tasted good, but it’s just Minute Maid.

Overall, Panorama Grill serves up decent tasting American food with a great view of the city of Long Beach. Service is pretty good here, but prices are a bit high for the quality of food received. If you are staying at the hotel, then this restaurant is nice and convenient, but I would not make a special trip to eat here.

Jun 22

Dumpling King – Las Vegas, NV

5740 W Spring Mountain Rd

Las Vegas, NV 89146

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located in Las Vegas’ Chinatown, Dumpling King supposedly serves up some great tasting soup dumplings. When we arrived on an early weekday afternoon, we were the only customers there. A Mandarin-speaking server brought us to a table and provided menus. She did not know much English at all either, so communication became a challenge. The restaurant is heavily decorated in red floral, so do not be surprised if you come here. There are plenty of Shanghainese items on the menu that I am not familiar with, but we managed to find a few things to try.

Today, we decided to order the soybean paste noodles, juicy beef steamed dumplings, and beef pot stickers. The soybean paste noodles were similar to ji jiang mien, but was not as saucy. The noodle dish was also plated differently with the noodles and veggies on a plate and the sauce with pork on the side. We basically poured the sauce and meat over the plate and mixed everything together. The noodles were chewy, the vegetables were fresh, but the sauce tasted watery. After mixing everything together, we found that we did not have enough sauce to really mix into the noodles. The juicy beef steamed dumplings were interesting because it was basically a beef xiaolongbao. I would say around half of the dumplings were already busted and juice depleted. The remaining dumplings remained juicy and tasted delicious when dipped in the soy-vinegar mixture. The beef actually provides a different, yet softer texture than pork xiaolongbaos and has a different flavor to the broth due to the dumpling being made of beef. The beef pot stickers tasted OK, but did not have much filling, and the filling contained celery. The taste of the small pot stickers just tasted odd to me even when dipped in the sauce.

Overall, Dumpling King does serve up a great tasting beef xiaolongbao. Unfortunately, everything else we ordered was a disappointment. If you want to try a xiaolongbao made of beef, then you should give Dumpling King a try, just don’t expect them to have many good tasting dumplings.

Jun 19

America – Las Vegas, NV

New York New York Hotel Casino

3790 S Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Located inside New York New York Hotel Casino, America serves up traditional American Fare to hotel guests and visitors. As we arrived for late breakfast, plenty of seating was available. A hostess promptly brought us to a table and provided menus. While reviewing the menu, we noticed the restaurant decorated with various items representing various states in America. Most noticeably, there is a large 3-D map of the United States that spans from the floor to the ceiling and reaches across the restaurant.

Today, we decided to order a fresh orange juice; build your own omelet with sausage, cheese, and spinach; and a breakfast burrito. The orange juice did not actually arrive until after we reminded the server after the food arrived, which was quite unprofessional considering we waited around 15 minutes for the food with no orange juice to drink. The omelet was cooked fresh and served with a side of hash browns. The hash browns were tasty and fresh, which went well with an adequate amount of ketchup. The omelet tasted good, but there seemed to be a grainy aftertaste after taking a few bites, which lingered throughout the meal. There was a good amount of spinach and sausage in the omelet. The omelet also came with a side of toast, which tasted OK. The breakfast burrito came with ham, bacon, and chorizo along with the eggs and cheese. The burrito was a decent size, but smaller than many other Mexican restaurants. The burrito was full of flavor, especially when you run into the chorizo. The provided salsa added a much-needed freshness to the burrito, which ended up tasting fairly bland. The provided side of hash browns were just as tasty as the other plate.

Overall, America serves up traditional American food at reasonable prices. You are able to use your MGM express comps at this location. Service could have been a lot better if the server were to check on us more often and provided the orange juice when requested the first time. Food is in the “nothing special” category, and you should definitely not go out of your way to come eat here.

Load more