Mostly very over cooked, and over sauced and small skewers.
Limp over dressed salads that were clearly sitting around fro a while before serving.
Everything felt rushed and uncared for - like drinking was the main point.
Yakitori - ya is so much better for chicken and numerous izakayas for other dishes.
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Ouch sorry to hear!
I haven’t had the experience with overcooking or skewer size. That said, if I have one quibble with Tori-hei, it is (as you noted) the oversaucing. I do find that the skewers tend to be heavily sauced and detract a bit from the meat. And while I love the components of the cabbage salad, the past couple times, it was so heavily dressed that it was barely edible. To be fair, the cabbage was nicely fresh and crisp, but it was a total salt bomb.
Lunch time Nozomi omakase. Fish quality was high although disappointingly even sitting at sushi bar omakase was served platter style. Also had overtime dishes of nodoguro, makogarei, and another fish that I forgot.
Highlights were the mirugai,nodoguro, crab, hobo, and uni. Only piece was slightly under par was the churros but still pretty damn good.
For 80 dollars the service left something to be desired and I would rather go to a sushi ya that serves each piece separately.
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Joeys bbq spot. Had no idea it was popular just happened to do a regular drive by and saw a guy with a smoker so decided to stop. Turns out he has a decent following online. https://instagram.com/joeysbbqspot?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Super nice guy and bbq was very well cooked. Both brisket and rib tips were tender and juicy. But I would say the brisket was lacking in bark and smoke. Beans with meat drippings were 
and mac and cheese was solid. I enjoyed that neither the brisket nor rib tips were overly seasoned and the bbq sauce had a little inflection of Mexican salsa?
I should asked for his burnt ends that’s what I’d get next time. He also smokes turkeys if you want one for tgiving.
Worth a stop if you ever see him around.
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Have your tried Kantaro Sushi? They have one of my favorite Omakases in the South Bay. Here are some pictures from my last visit.
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I have not but I will bookmark!
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Sushi Chitose for a quality, affordable omakase.
Izakaya Hachi for everything on their menu, but especially their mackerel.
Phanny’s for a breakfast burrito.
Ko Ryo Jung for AYCE KBBQ.
MB Post for brunch and their biscuits.
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+1 on MB Post and the biscuits!
Still haven’t made it to Lunasia sitdown but did a quick lunch takeout the other day.
- Pork and preserved egg congee - probably the best thing I had. Congee was nicely flavored. Egg had the right texture (others have complained about the egg at other places being too rubbery, which I agree with). The pork was clearly a higher quality level than used by A1 and Szechwan.
- Turnip cake - I actually think Szechwan’s version is better. This one had less turnip chunks and no meat. Texture was fine but not something I’d get again here… It depends on the style you like though. I prefer the heartier versions whereas this is more of the “cake” part than the meat / turnip chunks
- Har Gao - I hope this was a function of takeout and not what you get in store. The shrimp filling was excellent. Fresh, savory and simple. But the wrapper was a disaster. Thick and loose, and half of the skins broke part. But, IMO, the best examples of shrimp dumpling have thin, taut skins that are tightly wrapped around the filling. This was most definitely not that.
I supposed I’ll have to go in person again to try it out. The line, around noon on a Wednesday, was non-existent and I could have gotten a table for 2 - 4 immediately, which is a big change from even a couple weeks ago.
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The weekday line is hit or miss. I’ve been there in the past two weeks where there was a huge wait and I’ve been there and there’s plenty of seating. Just seems to be which day aunties want to go out and drink tea.
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Guisados is opening up a location in Hermosa Beach Guisados on Instagram: "Couldn’t keep it a secret much longer. Guisados Hermosa Beach, opening soon! Hiring at all positions. Apply today at guisados.la Thank you to everyone who has supported our journey. We’ve come a long way from a small shop on the corner of St. Louis and Cesar Chavez and we can’t wait to continue to share our menu and our love across the city. Stay tuned for more info and details."
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Continue to be unimpressed by Lunasia. Super disappointed…
- Rice noodle w/ spare ribs. The spare ribs were the big hunks of meat. Nothing delicate about it. Flavor was ok. Couldn’t quite place it but just felt really heavy. Maybe I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but the rice noodle was at the bottom, sitting in a pile of the spare rib “juice” except it was mostly oil.
- Macau egg tarts. Terrible, imo. Super greasy shell and the tart itself had an entirely off-putting taste.
- Turnip pancake. We got this for takeout and they jammed three pieces into a round carton. So they all just sat on top of each other and steamed the crap out of it. Not surprisingly, when we tried to take it out, all three pieces disintegrated.
- Wonton soup. This was fine. Broth was good. The wontons were decent but don’t expect hunks of shrimp. More of a meat paste with shrimp ground in. Nice size serving though.
- Corn egg drop soup. Best thing we got. Good broth, full of corn, egg and ground chicken. And very reasonably priced.
Overall, this place is just really disappointing. Granted, coming from the Bay Area, I was spoiled by Koi Palace and Yank Sing, but you can’t even mention Lunasia in the same breath as the aforementioned. To me, it’s just mediocre dimsum but gussied up and priced accordingly.
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Trying eating it at the restaurant next time! We haven’t had a bad meal there so far been there 5 times since they opened.
I should… But, it’s worth noting that even in Yelp pics, the har gow look poorly constructed with most broken open. The XLB look like a hot mess - and I know it’s not traditional dim sum, but if you’re going to serve it, you should get it right. Which a place like Yank Sing in SF does. And nothing can save too large hunks of pork pork or overly greasy egg tarts.
In fairness, I think I set my expectations too high. I thought they were going to be on par with the top-tier dim sum joints in LA. Maybe I’ll be happily proven wrong when I go in-person (god knows we can use more top quality Chinese food in South bay), but I’m not holding my breath.
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General question for the group… how come there isn’t more high quality Chinese food in South Bay? Oddly, when I speak to the owner at A1 BBQ, she says there used to be more Taiwanese and broadly Chinese cuisine years ago but most eventually left the area. What happened? I know the Asian population here seems to skew much more heavily towards Korean / Japanese, but would have thought there would be enough interest to support more Chinese restaurants. Would love to know the history here, if anyone has been around long enough!
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No but they are definitely the best option in Pasadena and Torrance.
Haha. Yeah. But in Torrance, it’s an N of 2! And there are, crazily enough, things that Szechwan Dim Sum does equally well or better.
Sea empress and top bbq in Gardena also do dim sum. But yeah it’s the South Bay can’t compare it to SF that has better dim sum than all of LA including sgv.
Curry ramen and tempura from kotohira so good on a cold day. A great old school Japanese joint that mostly revolves around udon combos. Not sure if they make their udon in house but the udon noodles are chewy and springy.
Crab meat rangoons from chubby rice. Delish but also over 7 dollars which is kind of insane. I used work at a Chinese restaurant as a kid and would have these for dinner all the time.
A slice from ESBC nothing out of this world but good enough if you’re in a pinch in el segundo. Can’t wait for prime to open.
Not pictured lamb biryani form zam zam. Haven’t had it in so long but so good. Lamb amazingly tender with all the juices being sopped into the rice. If there is a minor quibble the rice isn’t as seasoned or as fragrant with spices as I remember in the past.
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