We’ve done Sea Empress in Gardena and Pollo a la Brasa on Vermont. Need a place that has comfortable seating, relatively easy parking, and is conducive to conversation. Not so close we’d encounter a lot of attorneys or jurors. Does Hawkins or Mom’s burgers have seating? (Bludso’s BBQ or Jim Dandy’s fried chicken do not.) I’m not a huge fan of Eatalian, which is a favored group spot. Fried fish or chicken, tacos, burgers – all possible as long as it is good.
Thanks for the suggestion, ipse. Sorry, not at all into sushi. But doing the follow-up indicates that Tasty Kitchen is right nearby. Any good? (I’m thinking lunch specials and perhaps appetizers; nothing exotic or special.)
Tasty Kitchen is pretty good for Gardena (you’d expect any Chinese restaurant attached to a 99 Ranch Market to be authentically decent, except for the predecessor Chinese restaurant (Peacock Express) that happened to be there when 99 Ranch first took that space). But I might be more inclined to go to El Rocoto in the same shopping center for their Peruvian and Chinese Peruvian food.
Thanks. I looked into El Rocoto but neither their website menu nor even menupages has prices. When will restaurants realize what a turn-off that can be?
Your driving radius is actually pretty big. So I have to zoom out of my map to find my markers.
bowl thai - tom yum noodle is legit. rest are good too. western and Redondo beach blvd.
otafuku - soba (think you know about this place already)
Spoon House - Japanese Italian. RB. sitting may be a problem.
el rocoto - your better than average Peruvian restaurant and Peruvians like to go there. what else do you need to know?
Tacos DF - Tortas
Tacos El Negro - better than average tacos and popular. South Gate.
The Nest - Soulful breakfast? Paramount.
Thai Noodle King - TonyC rec. good. Paramount
Cancoon Thai - TonyC rec. a miss for me. Paramount
On my List but haven’t tried yet.
Robert Earl’s BBQ - like to hear someone to give me an impression of this place.
Sal’s Gumbo Shack
had decent tips at Robert Earl’s. The brisket was more pastrami than bbq brisket.
Sal’s gumbo is far better than crazy creole, but the po boys were very ho-hum. I’d do … gumbo, greens, and the peach cobbler, which was bang on.
Thai Noodle King and Cancoon are both in Bellflower. After the move, Cancoon has been hit n miss. I need to revisit and re-try more of the Issan dishes.
Bludso’s had an outside table at the back of the parking lot. May not be there any more but if you are willing to trade a rustic setting for comfortable seats, I would check it out.
Last time I was there a poor girl had to get a refund because she was on her lunch break and had already waited 45 mins for food with no relief in sight.
2 tables on the left, a few straggling chairs all around. It’s “seating” enough for the purpose for downing burgers. Skip the fries, get the punch. Much like Bludso’s, call it in first.
Ended up at Tasty Kitchen. Food was what I expected – fairly pedestrian but tasty. But the restaurant served our purposes very well: easy parking, small table at front window private enough for conversation, quick but not hurried, good service, inexpensive for a sit-down lunch.
