Kat's 9 Lives

I don't know if this should even be considered an age-old question : Where's my order?  After a laborious day at work, I wanted to stop of at Stonefire Grill to grab a quick take out and head home to enjoy my dinner.  Okay, it was a Friday and they were very busy for dine-in.  I strolled up to the take out counter and the guy was super nice who took my order.  After he put it in, I felt pretty happy and even signed the slip with a tip on it.  All happy thoughts right?  I sat down and started playing Draw Something on my iPad.  People around me probably thought I was very funny because I couldn't stop laughing.  That was the first time I ever played the game and I was just chuckling away as I continued to draw.  I must have played 30-40 games and I was wondering when my order would be done because I kept seeing people who came after me leave.  At first I just thought that my order took longer so I ignored it.
Recently I had been craving some tasty salmon and after I asked the guy who took my order, he convinced me to try the Fresh Salmon 1lb Filet with Lemon Garlic.  I asked for extra garlic and for the salmon to not be fully cooked.  Simple, right?  Well you would think so and for $17.99 plus tax, it should be a tasty piece of fish! So after a long long wait, I decided to go up to the counter and check on the status.  Here is the kicker, if they said it wasn't ready I would have completely understood BUT... I asked the staff and the girl told me to hold on.  After a few minutes she came back because she couldn't find my order and then she turned around and found it sitting behind her! Somehow they put my order in as a "phone-in" so basically if I did NOT go up and sat there like an idiot, then I would never get my food and it would sit there until it would be inedible.  This just blew a fuse! I was stern and asked her that if I had NOT come up then no one would have called me for my order?  She said yes and asked if I wanted to speak with the manager.  I told her, "Yes, please."  My mood turned very sour quickly because it was already late and I wanted to go home to unwind.  The manager was friendly and apologized.  I confronted him about the situation and told him that I already didn't want a cooked fish yet it had been sitting there.  Of course he tried to assure me that it hadn't been out too long.  He was nice enough to offer making another order but I did not want to spend another 1/2 hour sitting there and he offered to refund my money on the order.  I sort of felt a little bad but I was upset at how they handled a simple order.  Even though I was feeling guilty since I got my meal for free, minus the tip **didn't bother to ask for that back**, I reasoned with myself that it wasn't my fault that my meal ended up to be comped because I was wronged.
While I was driving, I thought about what I would rate them or what I'd write about.  In the end, I want to be fair and tell the whole story.  Despite what happened, I cannot fault them because they did try to make up for it and that is all they can do.  So I will be fair and rate their food based on the taste.  I thought the fish was tender and it was a nice cut.  It might seem a little pricey for some people but it really hits the spot to chomp down a pound of salmon filet! There was plenty of garlic and it was flavorful.  At times it was a little bit sour for my taste.  Don't get me wrong, I ADORE lemon, but it was a different kind of sour seasoning.  I asked for a side of their BBQ sauce because I had seen a co-worker dip her salmon that way and it offered a great contrast.  Be sure to ask for it just in case you don't like the lemon garlic taste.  I thought the dish was good and I often think about going back for another go, but what happened does stop me from ordering take out every day now.  Still trying to forgive but I have not forgotten.  O=) I am a complicated gal! lol

Stonefire Grill
3966 Barranca Parkway
Irvine, CA 92606
(949) 777-1177

Mango, Coconut, and Banana Split were back for more Mexican food! Aren't we a fruity bunch! I also have to pay homage to Tofu for the name Banana Split. So after the fiasco with Taléo Grill, we decided to get Mexican food again. This time we ventured over to the Kaleidoscope for some El Torito Grill. Their decor was very festive and colorful. As you will see the dishes were plated on very colorful plates. The ambiance was very similar to a family restaurant, down to earth. Service was friendly and pretty prompt.
A great thing about this place would be the free delicious fresh flour tortillas with sweet butter and fresh salsas! There's no limit to how much you can get too. They really do a great job with the tortillas. It's soft, chewy, and flavorful! I love buttering the tortilla and dabbling some salsa then wrap it up to eat it like a taquito. Watch out for drippage!
Mango had to have her favorite dish the Lobster Quesadilla. Tender lobster, jack & cotija cheeses, pastilla chiles, mango salsa and chipotle sauce in a flour tortilla served with fresh guacamole. It's an appetizer but the size was tremendous. You can definitely make a meal out of it and more! Mango was in heaven and wants everybody to know that the dish was superb. I have had this dish before a long time ago and I can't really recall much about this dish except that it was huge. If you don't share it with a big group, then it's really a meal in itself.
Coconut ordered Carnitas Soft Tacos. Two flour tortillas tacos with carnitas inside served with homemade beans, avocado relish, and sweet corn cake. She opted to substitute the beans for rice, which they made a mistake of the corn cake and took a while to get the rice. I guess the good thing was she got more of the corn cake!
I ordered the Carnitas Yucatán to see how they measure up here at El Torito Grill. Tender pork with garlic, achiote, fresh lime, orange juice, and spices that's slow roasted and later topped with citrus-habañero marinated red onions served with red & black beans, rice, avocado relish, and sweet corn cake. If you don't all know yet, I HATE BEANS of any sort. So I definitely had to substitute and what better place than here! I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE their sweet corn cake! It's almost like a sweet corn tamale, which is one of my favorite things. I just love the sweetness that the corn has and the soft texture of the cake. It's a blissful blend of flavors. Man I want to go back again soon and just eat plates & plates of the sweet corn cake for a meal! For people who know me, it must be good for me to forgo meat and want to eat this!
The carnitas were decent, definitely better than the ones at Taléo Grill. At least the carnitas here looked like carnitas, the other place just looked like a big drumstick de-boned. The meat was a little bit saltier but blended well with the compliments. I didn't really like the sauce at the bottom because it was heavy and smokey. This was almost the exact same dish as Coconut except that I had to wrap my own tacos/burritos. The dish was good enough that I'd get it again, but I think I would substitute the rice for more YUMMY sweet corn cake!
All in all this place was good and reliable, consistent. I haven't really found a dish that is to die for in my opinion, except the awesome tortillas and sweet corn cake! Who can say no to free delicious tortillas? What really sells me is the fabulous sweet corn cake! Overall it's a good place for group gatherings, a quick bite, or just 'cause you crave the sweet corn cake. Can you tell I love the sweet corn cake yet? O=9

As you can see on the past posts that I went to Garden Grove. You must have guessed that I went to Korean BBQ! What else would you eat in Garden Grove, lol. I let my Mom choose this time and she chose to go to New Seoul BBQ Buffet. This used to be the place that we always went to before we started to explore around. At first I thought their lunches were on the pricier side, but to my surprise their all you can eat lunch was only $10.99 per person. Definitely not a bad deal.
My Mom chose this place because they have more choices and you serve yourself. Personally I like Cham Sut Gol because of the simplicity in just delicious meat and they bring it to you, although I'd rather get the dishes myself at times. At New Seoul, they have a lot of different choices in meat. They have all the marinated meats but no Kalbi at lunch, non-marinated meats, tons of spicy meats & fishes, and more.
I usually like the small dishes that they bring to your table, but here they don't do that. There's a full bar of side dishes and more, mostly vegetables. They use to have a lot more choices and my favorite was the raw spicy crab. Sadly, I haven't seen it there in a while. It was soooo good too!
There's some cooked food around as well. I like to get some Chap Chae with my meal and some fried chicken wings. The best thing near the hot dishes is the rice or barley dessert soup. For me it's like a drink. I love the simplistic flavor, sweetness, and cool sensation that you get as you drink it.
The ventilation system there wasn't the greatest, so there was a lot of smoke. I liked their marinated meats more than the non-marinated meats. My most recent craze was about the non-marinated meats, but I think Cham Sut Gol does that best. The rice paper at New Seoul was cut way too tiny to wrap the meat and that bothered me somewhat. Don't get me wrong it was still good. I also really like this place for the frozen yogurt. It's really good! Tastes sort of like the ones at McDonald's but less creamy, sweeter, and more flavor.
At first I was hesitant in coming here because I thought it would be more expensive. After I saw the bill was $10.99 per person, everything suddenly tasted much better in my mind. Pricing does make a difference in judging the quality of the restaurant. All in all the food was good and service was mediocre, but I will probably be back for lunch after I go to Cham Sut Gol again! Although now that I know New Seoul is $3 cheaper than CSG... I will have to re-evaluate everything! I know it sounds silly, but I know there are people out there who feel me! ^_-

Who's got coupons again? MBA and I decided to go to the New Shogun on Alicia Parkway. I have been there thousands of times. They use to have an awesome dinner deal of all you can eat, but now they only offer half off selected sushi and rolls every night. I normally eat sushi but MBA likes the show. This was our second time here for the Teppan side and we had a buy one get one free coupon, so I said why not. MBA better feel the love I have for her for eating teppan since it's really all show and the food isn't that good! When you have to dress the meal up so much, you shouldn't expect much for taste. I spent most of the meal taking pictures so I can do an awesome blog, but let me just tell you that my pictures are deceiving because I try to make always make food look delicious!
We decided to get the Special Shogun Dinner that included Shrimp Appetizer, Soup, Salad, Vegetables, Seasoned Rice, and Ice Cream. The soup was a light mushroom broth with subtle flavor. It was light and simple. They give you their normal salad of fresh vegetables and sauce, which was decent. I have had much better dressing on my salad.
So began our journey of teppan for dinner. We opted out of the fried rice, but the lady next to us did. First the chef lit the grill on fire and began to make the eggs for the fried rice. It looked nice, but I wouldn't pay $3 more just so I can get regular fried rice. He also tossed on the assorted vegetables and began cutting them into small pieces.
After he finished the fried rice, he started grilling the meat. The steak was not put on the grill yet because it would get over cooked. First he prepared the shrimp appetizer with butter and lemon. There were two dipping sauces. A wasabi based soy sauce for the meats and a tangy daikon sauce for the seafood. They should have used the daikon sauce on their salad, because it would have tasted much better than the heavy dressing they used. The shrimp was lightly flavored with lemon and a good size.
MBA really wanted to see the Onion Volcano. I tried my best to capture the moment, so bare with me. You will see the volcano as he poured oil into it and lit it on fire. It's cool, but I'd rather have yummy food versus a show.
The lady next to us ordered the scallops and they looked like a generous amount. Everything was very lightly flavored, I guess you really need the dipping sauce to bring out the taste .
Every course was prepared separately and he gave us the mixed vegetables first. Even though they were on the grill since the beginning, they were still crisp. There was really no flavor on them.
Next came the steak. I asked for medium rare to rare so he barely cooked it and put it on my plate. They were lightly flavored with butter and soy sauce. Luckily I like the flavor of steak by itself, so I was fine with the lack of flavor. The meat was tender.
Afterwards he began flavoring the chicken. He added the teriyaki sauce and butter. As he was waiting for the chicken to cook, he also worked on the bean sprouts. It was lightly flavored with butter and stir fried along with the chicken. The chicken had flavor but was very tough.
In order to get a nice picture, I barely picked at the food so that I can take nice pictures at the end. From start to finish it's a long wait since everything was prepared one at a time. I am not a big fan of Teppan preparation where you can't eat all the food at once. With vegetables being one of the first thing plated, I wouldn't eat it unless the meat was there and you would have to wait until the chef gets to it. So my plate was full of white rice, New York steak, teriyaki chicken, bean sprouts, and mixed vegetables.
Our meal came with ice cream and we chose Green Tea. If our meal didn't come with ice cream I would have ordered their Tempura Ice Cream with Green Tea. OH MY GOODNESS! That is one of my favorite desserts. My sister and I often come here just to get dessert! Now we don't even share anymore because we each have to have our own! If you ever go there, try it! MBA has had it too and she loved it! Like I have said many times, anything fried can't go wrong!
All in all the meal was decent. I would NEVER go there for Teppan if I didn't have a coupon and MBA didn't make me. If you want good food, then Teppan is never the way to go. I am devout foodie so I don't need a show, just show me the delicious food! Another reason why I'd never go to Teppan is because it's expensive for what you get. If we didn't have the coupon, our meal would've been almost $60 with tip. I also have a complaint on how stupid they were. Luckily I am not aloof and don't look at my bills. My bill was $30.80 and they ended up charging me $76.77! I was like the WTF You have got to be kidding me. That was more than the original bill! It took us forever to flag down the server and tell her, she was just like whoops. She didn't really apologize or anything and took it away. I am still waiting to check my credit card to make sure they voided that transaction. Can we say lower tip? I will probably be back again for sushi, but definitely not Teppan and service.