We went last weekend and had the General Tso, Sweet and Sour pork, Salt and Pepper porkchops, Pork chop sandwich and the Chow Mein. For the combo sides, we had egg rolls, noodles and the pork fried rice.
Overall we really liked how well prepared everything was, not heavy, greasy or salt bombs. Even though many of the items were fried, the fry job was light and crisp. I was also pleasantly surprised that the pork in the pork fried rice was the chinese sausage, lap cheong.
The quality to price to quantity ratio is outstanding. The combos are mostly $10 with the squid being $11. Generous portions of rice and noodles for the sides.
My wife loved the pork chop sandwich. But I can see why some people might find it a little too bready. For $9, it’s an incredible value. Huge portion, the fried porkchop was juicy and big mound of fries. For many, it can be a hearty lunch to be split between two people.
My one minor complaint would be is that most items are battered and fried. They won’t hold up at all for leftovers, I usually like to over order to have work lunches. But overall, it’s a very good take on Americanized Chinese food.
Nice report! I recently ran into an old friend. He’s been in the restaurant industry for decades and has a pretty strong sense of the goings-on and what to get where.
The one category that has evaded him is the style of (old school “kinda”) Chinese dishes that one was able to find at the cafes attached to the bowling alleys (Jefferson Bowl, Crenshaw Bowl, Gardena Bowl). Not sure if you’re familiar with this style of food (I’m not so much), but if so, would Chubby Rice be a decent rendition/substitution? Thanks
I’m not very familiar with that kind of old school Chinese (although I do love Gardena Bowl). If I had to make a comparison, I’d say Chubby Rice is more akin to a healthier, tastier and better version of the steam table combo joints that are ubiquitous in none asian areas.
A straight comparison would leave Chubby Rice suffering from a pricing standpoint. But it’s roughly the same idea as having a huge portion of a fried protein with a mound of rice and noodles on the side.
In my mind, I keep going back to how well fried all the items were and the meat quality was solid. Extra bonus they use dark meat for all their chicken dishes which means much juicer and tastier.
One thing to note about Chubby Rice, they will basically make anything you want as long as they have the ingredients on-hand.
So, for example, you can have crab fried rice or even kung pao beef, and they will make any of their dishes vegetarian upon request (such as a vegetarian mapo tofu).
Thanks for that! I wonder if they’ll make a chicken dish without the batter. I’ll have to ask. They are super friendly and nice folks.
Oh and it hasn’t come up yet about their five homemade sauces. If I recall correctly, aji, yellow mustard, sriracha, chili oil and coca cola sauce. The coca cola sauce is like a sweet teriyaki like dipping sauce. They’re not revelatory or anything like that, but they are tasty and I think most importantly it shows how much they care about the quality of their food. Instead of just putting out a bottle of sriracha, they make their own.
I don’t think Chubby Rice would be a substitute because that Chinese food was really just a variation of the old time Toishanese/Cantonese food of the era. The closest surviving cousin of those bowling alley diners is Tak’s in Crenshaw Square, which is a descendent of the Sakiba in the Holiday Bowl on Crenshaw Blvd. But it’s the Hawaiian/Japanese portion of the menu that survives.
usually I find them to be heavy and not good, but these were a bit lighter and tasty. (I don’t want to over state it). Also had the General Tso, eggroll, which I liked but for me the highlight was the CR. The only real miss was the Hot and Sour soup.
Good ones are fried properly and have that guilty pleasure goey cream cheese filling thing going for it. When I have the gumption, I make up a batch of several dozen. Heavy on the k-rab and garlic powder. Fry it fresh, along with shrimp chips, they are usually a hit even with people who don’t care for that kind of stuff.
But yeah, getting a good one in a restaurant is tough. Usually even if they’re fried right, they skimp on the cheese and fillings.
great experience at Chubby Rice…very nice couple who run the place…Americanized Chinese food based on their family’s 30 year experience in Idaho with their restaurant…General Tso’s chicken superb…juicy, spicy nothing gloppy or too sweet…tasty home made sauces, an excellent egg roll, close to a NY style in the wrapper but not on the stuffing…believe it or not, Id never had crab rangoon but this was excellent, nicely fried, not greasy and a warm creamy filling…And yes, they said they would make anything off menu if they have the ingredients…wouldve liked to try the dumplings but no room…i’ll be back!
A big ol’ echo of positivity for Chubby Rice. We went this weekend and had a grand time.
Everything that others in this thread have mentioned are still true - extremely friendly owner/operators / great tasting Chinese-American food / willingness to make dishes not on the menu / etc etc.
As a bonus, there were two big tables of families from China who were jubilantly ooing and ahhhing when each of their dishes came out. A young girl went up to the counter and asked for a Chinese menu, to which the owner told her that he only had English but that he was confident that her English was good enough to be able to read it. It was all really endearing and made for a great environment. By the time we left around 7:30pm, the place was full up.
GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN (WITH FRIED RICE & EGG ROLL)