Lunch #50: A & B Cafe

Once more the MSG150 crew headed up Weller to find our next spot. This is a dense part of the ID and there are three other restaurants on the half a block between J Sushi on the corner and the alley to the west. The first is A & B Cafe, formerly known as J & L Cafe.

A & B Cafe, Seattle
Address: 670 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Cantonese
Average rating: 2 chopsticks
Lunch date: 5/2/2008 @ 12:15:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 35 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 75 minutes
Chopstix quality: Cheap Plastic
Do they use MSG?: They say "No." We're skeptical.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Taicheng, Guangdong (Canton region)
Number of tables: 10
Number of occupied tables: 7 (70%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (14%)
Number of "local" tables: 7 (100%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: #62 - Assorted Meats Rice Noodles - $6.25
Rating:

Adam's Review

I was in the mood for food-venture... so I went with a slightly vague option: Assorted Meats Rice Noodles. That was definitely a mistake. There were a couple pieces of BBQ Pork that were good. Then there was really chewy chicken (at least I think it was chicken). Then there was some decent squid. But the kicker were the meats that I had no idea what they were. They were also disgusting. There were no less than 3 unidentifiable food-stuffs.

Yes, I know that its my fault for ordering something that I had an inkling would be disgusting. But, not only was my food bad... it took forever. We waited for over half-an-hour for our food, which is unacceptable for lunch food... especially as we watched other patrons enter, order, eat, and leave before us.

The wait for our food was ridiculous. I'm not going to be headed back to this place again.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: #71 - Satay Beef with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

We were seated quickly by a very friendly server. The restaurant was sparely decorated but clean and had a good sized lunch crowd of predominantly young Chinese folks. The menu is huge. There are over a hundred and fifty options on the English menu and then another menu under the glass of the table top with hundreds more items in both English and Chinese. The waiter came by and suggested some "Baked Rice Bowls" off of the in-table menu as she delivered forks. I suspected profiling. Doug and Emmett were suckered in. Adam apparently hasn't learned anything in our visit to the 50 previous restaurants and ordered an item with "Assorted" meats. I went with #55, Satay Beef with Rice Noodles.

The meal started with a bowl of cabbage tomato soup. It was very basic, just cabbage in a light, slightly tomatoy, clear broth, but it was good. This was immediately followed by nothing. Then a long wait and more nothing. After about 30 minutes the food finally started to arrive. My #55 somehow got turned into a #71, which is the same Satay Beef, but on rice instead of noodles. The Satay Beef is beef with onions and green peppers in a brown sauce. It had a nice, simple taste, but nothing grand. I can see how this might remind someone of their home and be a nice comfort food, but for me it was just boring. Looking around the table, however, I felt like I really lucked out. My three chopstick yawner was the the best thing going. I had the best dud at the table. If A & B has any winners in it, none of them showed up for us today.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Baked Seafood Rice Bowl - $7.50
Rating:

Emmett's Review

This place started off normal enough - another ordinary restaurant among many - plain interiors and a sizeable lunch crowd. This could be great. It wasn't.

Perhaps the first sign was that they changed the name of the restaurant. Yelp still reports it as being J & L Cafe. Maybe they wanted to start fresh? Cover something up? Who knows.

At the waitress's urging I ordered the Baked Seafood Rice Bowl. Forty-five minutes later the food came. The dish was steaming, large, loaded with fish and rice. It looked good. I dug in. Basically, it is some fried rice, topped with some seafood, coated with some creamy gravy, and then baked. It wasn't bad, just a little odd. The gravy is what got to me. The dish kind of tasted like Fish Pot Pie, though I've never had Fish Pot Pie, but hopefully you get the idea. Michael commented that you could easily pass this off as Midwestern food to a farmer and they would enjoy it. True enough.

All in all, not the worst dish, but I wasn't overly impressed. I sampled some of the other cuisine and nothing stood out as being particulary good. The service was slow. I'll probably never come back.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: #81 - Black Bean Fish Fillet with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Rob's Review

Soon after we arrived, the A&B was packed, and I felt like we'd just discovered another little gem. When I asked the waitress what sort of fish was in the black bean fish fillet, she shook her head and said, "Don't know." Smiling, she continued, "Good fish." So I ordered it, and she repeated back to me, "Black bean fish fillet with rice." What I received, over a half hour later (don't order the baked rice bowls if you're in a hurry), was just fish fillet and vegetables with rice. Not sure what happened to the black bean part of the meal. The first two pieces of fish I tried weren't even Good Fish, and I was tempted to give up. Everyone else was just beginning to eat, however, so I soldiered on, and fortunately, the rest of the fish was okay. The size of the portion left something to be desired, as well, although there was certainly plenty of rice. In the end, I considered the whole thing to be an oddly entertaining experience, but one that left me unsatisfied.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: #52 - Fried Rice Noodles with Beef & Scrambled Eggs - $6.25
Rating:

Michael's Review

Don't waste your time. Lunch took a long time to arrive, our tea was never refilled, and our waitress seemed to push us into ordering what turned out to be bland americanized casserole dishes. There was some amusement to be had in Doug's obviously ketchup based 'tomato' sauce, and Emmett's casserole was actually very good. That corn syrup in the ketchup gave an otherwise boring dish some appeal, but this just isn't what we are looking for in a Chinese restaurant. The casserole that Emmett got wouldn't have been out of place in a midwest family diner. And my dish? Good but forgettable.

Skip this one.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: #72 - Beef & Scrambled Eggs with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Joey's Review

A&B Café formerly known as J&L Café is part of a growing trend in Chinatown... HK style cuisine restaurants. Going back only 5 or so years ago the only HK style restaurant I knew of in Chinatown was ABC Garden, which is no more. Now there's LA Café, HK Cuisine, Purple Dot, A&B Café, etc (I’m probably missing one). HK style restaurants have been in Vancouver, BC, for a while and have finally made their way to Seattle. If you’re used to traditional Cantonese/Mandarin cooking then you may be caught off guard with the ingredients and preparation of the food. Many rice dishes for example are baked with creamy sauces on top. Other dishes will have corn and peas, which you won’t usually find in other Chinese food. I think about half of us opted for a baked rice dish. I got rice with beef and scrambled eggs. The scrambled eggs were thin and mixed into a creamy sauce. I suspect they mixed it with water and corn starch. The best way I can describe this dish would be to call it comfort food. The combination of the creamy sauce, rice, and beef was satisfying and made me feel at home. I could’ve gone without the corn mixed into the sauce, but I didn’t mind too much. I give A&B Cafe a 3. I would go back just for the reason that they have a huge menu and I want to see what else they have.

Luncher: Doug

Lunch: Baked Beef Rice Bowl - $6.50
Rating:

Doug's Review

1 chopstick FAILFAILFAIL. I wish Chinese restaurants wouldn't assume white people only like bland gross food. I ordered some vague "Baked beef" pot pie monstrosity that looked like a Chinese interpretation of American food. Waitress recommended it. They used ketchup! Blech. Run away. It makes me ill just thinking about it. I couldn't believe it took 30 minutes. I had to leave my half eaten ketchup beef dish to be finished off by Adam and Michael. If we were running an A/B test of the A&B café... never mind.

A & B Cafe Photos

A & B Cafe


Huge Menu


English Menu Details


Tomato Cabbage Soup


Soup


#71 - Satay Beef with Rice


Baked Seafood Rice Bowl


#81 - Black Bean Fish Fillet with Rice


#62 - Assorted Meats Rice Noodles


#72 - Beef & Scrambled Eggs with Rice


#52 - Fried Rice Noodles with Beef & Scrambled Eggs


Baked Beef Rice Bowl

Lunch #37: Noodle Zen

We headed out to UFC again today with the MSG150 crew back at full fighting strength. Today's conquest: Noodle Zen. Noodle Zen is a relative new comer to the food court and is apparently a local chain. We were excited to see how it stacks up.

Noodle Zen, Seattle
Address: 600 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Japanese, Thai, Noodles
Average rating: 2.4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 3/12/2008 @ 12:05:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 1 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 5 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 31 minutes
Chopstix quality: Cheap Wood
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: ?
Number of tables: 0
Number of occupied tables: 0
Number of business lunch tables: 0
Number of "local" tables: 0
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Yakisoba Noodles + Pepper Sauce + Chicken - $6.50
Rating:

Adam's Review

Disappointing. Thats the best word I can use to describe this place.

The chicken wasn't bad. The noodles and the sauce weren't good though. The sauce was too sweet, and I was disappointed in the amount of pepper involved in their Pepper Sauce. The noodles were bland.

When in the UFC don't feel bad to skip this place. I rank it only slightly above Uwajimaya's chef Kenzo.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Yakisoba Noodles + Ginger Sauce + Beef - $6.75
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Garbage. Noodle Zen looks good on the outside - you pick your noodle, your sauce, and your meat. Then they ladle a spoonful of butter all over it. A little hot sauce - gonna be good right? It's NOT. The noodles weren't good, the sauce wasn't good, the meat wasn't good.

At least I had something good to drink. This time I got a Kirin Gogo-no-kocha Tea. It makes me want to stand on the beach and yell "HA" for no reason. Or, with a great power, float up to the sky and scream "Lu la la, We'll ride on the winds of the universe!" It was good, I recommend it.

For dessert I got Dark Choco French Cookies. These little suckers were tasty. Unlike Oreos, they were thin, and big like a coaster.

Back to Noodle Zen: There is no reason to ever come to this restaurant.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Thai Beef Noodle Soup - $6.50
Rating:

Geary's Review

Noodle Zen takes a building-block approach to lunch. Build your own lunch by picking from three noodles, three sauces, and five "meats". This gives something like 750 lunch options. My math may be off, but it's way too many to comprehend, so I went with one of the 4 fixed options, Thai Beef Noodle. As it turns out it was essentially Pho.

The receipt declares that Noodle Zen is "The exiting (sic) world of noodles." Clearly a typo, but I'm not sure it would make any more sense if they had gotten it right. Exciting world of noodles? Really? Is there any world in which noodles could be called exciting? Yummy maybe, but exciting seems like a stretch.

As for the food, the broth was nice and sweet and beef was reasonably tender. I have had much better Pho, but it was certainly a passable lunch.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Yakisoba Noodles + Ginger and Pepper Sauce + Chicken - $6.50
Rating:

Joey's Review

Their sauce just plain sucks. I don’t really want to spend the time describing why I don’t like it. Just trust me. :)

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Veggie Soba Noodles + Ginger Sauce + Beef - $6.75
Rating:

Michael's Review

Noodle Zen is one of my reuglar lunch spots at the Court. I'm a big fan of the big green vegie noodles all fried up with ginger sauce. They prepare it right in front of you on a big flat grill. It takes about 3 minutes and there will be no question of freshness. There are no heat lamps here. Sizzling hot beef or chicken. Some vegies and the fresh fat green noodles.

I see that my fellow lunchers are not as big a fan of the NZ as I am. They are but n00bs. You can tell because not one of them ordered the juicy green noodles. Typical N00b mistake. Ignore their low ratings and go to the Noodle Zen and have good a good lunch of warmth and freshness. Share your lunch with a friend for it is big and of great value.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Yakisoba + Pepper Sauce + Tofu - $6.50
Rating:

Rob's Review

In theory, Noodle Zen seems pretty good: you get your choice of noodles, you add your choice of sauce, and you add your choice of meat (or tofu, in my case). Every time I hear someone mention this place, I think of this theoretical noodle dish and nod appreciatively, but the few times I've been there (today included), the whole ends up being less than the sum of the parts. Today's dish was a bit better than other days because I added a good helping of hot sauce, but the noodles had a sweet tang to them (was the pepper sauce made from sweet peppers?), which I didn't really like. The veggies were mostly flavorless. The thin wedges of tofu with mushrooms were pretty good. Unfortunately, there's no attempt made at meshing these three main ingredients together -- they're just heaped one atop the other. So, if you're in the mood for some assembly line noodles, head to Noodle Zen. If you're in the mood for good noodles, head somewhere else.

Luncher: Erin

Lunch: Wonton Noodle Soup - $6.50
Rating:

Erin's Review

Noodle Zen has some potentially interesting food. You can pick your noodle, sauce and meat/not-meat. They also have a few noodle soups. I picked a Won-ton Soup (6.50), with noodles. They had some examples of the dishes by the cash register in those weird plasticy mockups. The won-tons were stuffed with shrimp & meat (chicken, I think) and it also came with thin wheat noodles and a peppery broth. There were also a couple stalks of over-cooked bok choy. The broth, other than being a little heavy on the black pepper, was thin and flavorless. The won-tons were over cooked - the noodle covering was mushy. While I liked the type of noodles used, overall the dish was bland and dull. I would not return to the food court for this. The good news is, I bought some Pocky to share with my office, and I didn’t have a heart attack walking back up the hill.

Luncher: Doug

Lunch: Udon Noodles + Black Bean Sauce + Beef - $6.75
Rating:

Doug's Review

Tasteless noodles, gristly meat.

Luncher: Brandi

Lunch: Veggie Soba Noodles + Pepper Sauce + Tofu - $6.50
Rating:

Noodle Zen Photos

Noodle Zen


Noodle Zen counter


Noodle Zen menu


Udon & Beef


Veggie Soba & Beef


Yakisoba & Chicken


Wonton Soup


Yakisoba & Tofu


Veggie Soba & Beef in action


Thai Beef Noodle Soup (Pho?)


Al's Yakisoba & Beef


Yakisoba & Beef


Yakisoba & Chicken


Veggie Soba & Tofu


Emmett's Drink


Yakisoba & Beef


Noodle Zen - The exiting world of noodles.


Noodle Zen street-side window


DARK Choco French Cookies


Sour Flush

03/25/08 - Fixed Unbanspoon links

Lunch #31: Uwajimaya - Chef Kenzo

The MSG150 troops headed out in full force today to commence a frontal assault on Seattle's Uwajimaya food court. We had a little skirmish back in early January with a glancing blow off of their western flank. Today we returned to begin what will be a long, hard fight. We are optimistic, however, that we will make a clean sweep of the food court before the end of March. It will not be easy, but we have a dedicated force that will see it through.There will be bad days. In the end the good days will prevail and we will walk away with stories of heroism and bravery that will be passed on to generations to come. Or we may just be happy to be moving on.

We counted nine distinct lunch options in that Uwajimaya food court. Three appear to be part of the Uwajimaya Deli and the other six are independent restaurants. We have already eaten at Herfy's and so thankfully don't have to do that again. We assessed the options as we entered today and quickly came up with a plan. We would start with the Uwajimaya Deli, working east to west and then move to the northern edge of the food court and work down the line again from east to west. This put us today in a line at Chef Kenzo's Japanese food counter.

Uwajimaya - Chef Kenzo, Seattle
Address: 600 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Japanese
Average rating: 2.1 chopsticks
Lunch date: 2/26/2005 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 5 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 30 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: ?
Where is the owner/chef from?: Japan
Number of tables: 0
Number of occupied tables: 0
Number of business lunch tables: 0
Number of "local" tables: 0
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Large Bento + Stuffed Squid Torso - $17.49
Rating:

Geary's Review

Most of the food under Chef Kenzo's heat lamps is sold by the pound or a la carte. The large and small bentos are the only meals offered. The large bento appeared to contain small tastes of everything, so I grabbed one of the pre-made boxes. Michael convinced me to add on the stuffed squid at the end. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it before being sliced.

All of the food smelled good and had the appearance of being carefully prepared, but as we dove in, it became clear that if it had been carefully prepared, it hadn't been done recently. Everything was cold and a bit dried out. The flavors of most of the items in the bento were good, but I think it all passed its prime sometime the day before. The rice in the bento was cold and hard like leftover white rice gets in the fridge. The cold tempura bits were horrible. Anything breaded and fried needs to be eaten hot. A couple of the included fish dishes were still tasty, but for $10, I don't expect leftovers.

Emmett suggested that everyday we are in Uwajimaya we head into the store and each purchase something to mention in our review. Today I chose Kukagumi, Super Fish Cracker (Ikan Super). Strike one. Even though the woman on the package gave it the thumbs up, I can not do the same. They tasted like fish sauce flavored styrofoam. Not my thing.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Salmon + Tempura - $8.60
Rating:

Emmett's Review

We've arrived. The Uwajimaya food court is NOT my favorite place for lunch. Yet here we are, in Asian Food Heaven. There are literally a dozen options for lunch here. We start at Chef Kenzo.

Our large group quickly made a thick queue at the tiny buffet stand that is Chef Kenzo. Some big fella behind me rolled up and was like 'hmph', as if our venerable group is preventing him from getting his quick fix of Kenzo. I gave him a look that said 'fuck off dude - we're here on a mission.' The polite man behind the counter was friendly, welcomed us, and moved the line along quickly.

The salmon under the heat lamp looked good. They let me pick out my slice. I wanted some veggies to go with it, and all they had was Tempura - not the healthiest of options but looked tasty. For $8.60, I was on my way.

I put my food down on the table and ventured into the heart of the store. I wanted something unique to go with my greaseball lunch. Something I couldn't get at your average American 7-11. I saw it - Calpico - tangy and sweet, with a little bit of Hello Kitty for flavor. For $1.99, I was on my Calpico high.

The salmon itself was alright - flavorful, with a nice seasoning and a little bit of char that gave it a crispy flavor. It was, however, cold. The Tempura came with sauce, and while average in taste, it was cold. For $8.60, I would expect hot food.

The Calpico, aka Calpis, on the other hand, had an interesting zing to it, like yogurt. Otherwise it was kind of like milky gatorade.

So Chef Kenzo didn't impress. For Japanese food, I'd totally head back to Kaname over this place. We'll see if Uwajimaya improves in the coming days.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Eggplant with Miso Sauce + Curry Croquette + Peking Pork Chop - $4.80
Rating:

Adam's Review

This is going to be short and sweet. The eggplant was oily and not that tasty. The croquette was flavorless. The Peking Porkchop was meat-candy-esque, which isn't my favorite thing.

When in the Uwajimaya food court... don't visit Chef Kenzo

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Salmon + Vegetable Tempura - $9.62
Rating:

Rob's Review

The Uwajimaya food court onslaught has started. There had been far too much debate about how the MSG150 would tackle the UFC, and it was still a little up in the air as we walked in, but eventually we settled into line for the culinary expressions of Chef Kenzo. The two fish options, black cod and salmon, both looked interesting. The salmon was a couple dollars less per pound, so I went with that, and a selection of the veggie tempura. Chef Kenzo printed out some stickers, slapped them on the styrofoam containers, and handed them to the cashier who rang me up for a total of $10.48 (with tax). Whoa. Not the most I've paid for lunch, but definitely up there.

The salmon wasn't bad. It had a nice sweet edge to it. It was warm but not hot. The various veggie tempura also wasn't bad, except for one piece, which may have been the sweet potato, but I'm not sure. The tempura was barely warm. So, while it wasn't bad, it very well might have tasted better if I'd taken it back to the office and microwaved it for a bit. You'd think, though, at the start of lunch hour that the food under the heat lamps would or should have been warmer.

In conclusion, I spent over $10 for a moderately warm lunch that didn't fill me up, and actually left my stomach feeling a little off.

Luncher: Yvonne

Lunch: Large Bento + Eggplant with Miso Sauce + 2 Tempura Shrimp - $15.52
Rating:

Yvonne's Review

Presentation was beautiful. However, in the end the food was cold and not as tasty as the presentation led me to believe. The squid rings were very good but the rest was lackluster at best. For the price, $16, this was not the finest Japanese culinary moment.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Tempura Shrimp + Some other Shrimp + Vegetable Tempura - $10.92
Rating:

Jared's Review

Food was cold and expensive.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Assorted Tempura + Tofu with Unagi + A bit of everything else I could sample - $14.00
Rating:

Michael's Review

The Uwajimaya Food Court is a fantastic place to have lunch. There are at least 8 different cuisines to choose from. It's fast, and relatively cheap. You and your lunch posse don't have to agree ahead of time on what you want to eat. Everyone can get their own thing and meet back up for a fine multicultural shared table food court dining experience. You will end up sharing your table with someone. Maybe a homeless guy, maybe an 80 year old man who was born in china, or maybe a bunch of bored software industry people with too much time on their hands. Suck it up and enjoy your pacific-rim food court melting pot. This is why you moved to Seattle. Oh, and if you do end up at a table with a homeless guy it is polite to offer him the other half of your lunch as you leave.

Within the food court there are some great places and some not so great places. Today we ended up at a not exactly awesome place. Chef Kenzo and his amazing ala carte Japanese cuisine!!!!

This is my second trip to Chef Kenzo so I had an idea what to expect. Hint: this is not cheap lunch food. You order a few pieces of this and a few pieces of that and suddenly you are out twenty bucks. So go easy on what you order.

The neat thing about Chef Kenzo is the wide array of very tasty looking items he has on display. The layout of various Japanese dishes is much more appealing to the eye than the Chinese counter down the way. This is also the down side, some of the dishes have sat too long.

Let's take a minute to talk about general rules for food court dinning. If the tempura or any fried object is sitting under a heat lamp *don't* order it. Tempura should be very hot and very fresh. If your food came from under a heat lamp you are wrong.

My bad. I ordered the tempura. It wasn't hot, fresh, or particularly tasty. I won't make this mistake again.

I did order the tofu with unagi. This was really great. I traded some to Rob for a bite of his salmon. It was also a happy thing. There are dishes here that rock but you need to choose wisely.

Food court dining rule #2: pre-packaged equals bad. Several of my fellow dinners purchased pre-made bento boxes. You can tell who they are cause they are giving Chef K bad reviews. Don't order pre-packaged food unless you are heading for LEO or some god forsaken BFE spot in the GWOT.

What else? oh the squid. Thank you Geary for getting the stuffed squid! This is a great big freakin purple squid stuffed to the gladius with a mushroom and rice filling. Sliced up into bite size morsels this was the high point of lunch.

I'm giving this lunch spot high marks for visual appeal, and uniqueness of food. Some of the seafood dishes are great. But sadly several items suffered the slow death of the heat lamp. Although there are better and cheaper places to eat at the food court I will go back someday for more stuffed squid.

Luncher: Wayne

Lunch: Small Bento Box - $6.00
Rating:

Wayne's Review

I had high hopes for this lunch. I’d heard good things about the food here, I have great fondness for bento lunches, and I haven’t eaten Japanese food in way too long. Unfortunately, the loftier the expectations, the farther you fall in disappointment.

There was a great variety of items in my bento lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bento with such a variety of dishes. I’m not sure of what most of the items were , but two that were particularly tasty were the egg plant and chicken skewer. They were both probably great when they were freshly made. The cold, soggy tempura offered no appeal. I wish I could have tried it when it was still warm. It’s too bad really. I think most of the food in front of me had been good or great when it had been prepared. Unfortunately, everything that should have been warm had long since cooled off.

This meal left me sad. I could taste a hint of what the meal had offered when it was freshly prepared. I wish I could have had that lunch instead.

Uwajimaya - Chef Kenzo Photos

Uwajimaya - Chef Kenzo


Heat Lamp Fish and Tempura


More Heat Lamp Offerings


Stuffed Squid


Large Bento


Michael's Lunch


Yvonne's Lunch


Small Bento


Tempura


Tempura and Salmon


Adam's Lunch


Hello Kitty Calpico


Emmett's Lunch


Gindaco Savory Puff Balls


Kukagumi


Oishi Ribbed Cracklings


Notime Toothbrush Gum


Japanese Pop Rocks

Lunch #21: Ga Ga Loc

The MSG150 crew headed out into the cold, sunny winter's day for Mike's Noodle House. A few of us had been before a couple of years ago, and we knew it was small, but we thought that maybe we'd have luck finding room for our large group on this holiday Monday. We showed up with ten hungry lunchers at about 12:15 and there were already two other parties waiting, so it was on to plan two, Ga Ga Loc. We will circle back to Mike's the next trip out.

Ga Ga Loc, Seattle
Address: 424 Maynard Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Cantonese
Average rating: 2.2 chopsticks
Lunch date: 1/21/2008 @ 12:30:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 15 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 49 minutes
Chopstix quality: Cheap plastic
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Canton
Number of tables: 12
Number of occupied tables: 3 (25%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (33%)
Number of "local" tables: 0 (0%)
Healthcode Score: 15
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Szechuan Beef - $4.25
Fortune: You will hear from an old friend.
Rating:

Emmett's Review

My first trip to Ga Ga Loc was over six months ago. After a long night at Seattle's Best Karaoke, we found ourselves craving some late night deep fried chinese. It was about 3:30 AM and we headed to our usual crappy Chinese spot - Purple Dot. Though the sign clearly indicated that they were 'open', we were refused service. An argument ensued. How could they refuse us service when we were so chipper and rational at that hour? Anyhow, they kindly directed us to Honey Court. Honey Court was clearly closing, but they redirected us to Ga Ga Loc. It was surprisingly crowded. I can't remember the food. The service was poor. Hell it may not have even been Ga Ga Loc. Or Seattle for that matter.

I walked in biased. This was the place all right. But where were the people? Maybe they do 90%+ of their business between 2 and 4 am. We were seated quickly; the table was clean and the menus had nice new covers. They have great bargains for lunch where everything seems to be less than $5.

I ordered the Szechuan Beef. The soup was average, the tea was good, and the beef wasn't bad. It was hot and fresh, had a nice flavor, and filled me up. It wasn't the best Szechuan Beef I've ever had, but it certainly wasn't bad. For $5, I get soup, a lunch, and some tea. This must be one of the better bargains in the international district.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Chicken with Assorted Vegetables - $4.25
Fortune: You have an active mind and a keen imagination
Rating:

Geary's Review

Ga Ga Loc (no relation to Tone) is a fairly typical looking small ID Chinese Restaurant. They have a large menu with a fancy faux suede cover that includes the standard crappy American-Chinese lunch dishes. Being bound by rule #2, I scanned the lunch menu and went with what I figured was least likely to suck, the Chicken with Assorted Vegetables. Our waitress was very friendly and took our order in a timely manner and didn't seem too put off by our occasional indecisiveness or custom requests.

The $4.25 lunch special comes with only one soup option (no luck for the egg flower people) and our waitress brought out a large serving bowl and ladled out theH&SS right on our lazy susan. Nice show, but the soup sucked. I mean it sucked more than any H&SS has ever sucked before. No tang. No spice. Funky after taste. It could only be up hill from here. We'll maybe, but at an almost imperceptible grade. The lunch special came with white rice (no fried rice), which was probably lucky, since it didn't suck, and I'm pretty sure the fried rice would have. The gooey chicken-like lunch special with soggy veggies was not quite horrible. In fact, I'd call it just mediocre. Unfortunately, the sucky soup brings down the whole experience to a solid two chopstics.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: General Tsao's Chicken - $4.25
Fortune: You luck has been completely chanted today.
Rating:

Adam's Review

Geary, Al and I had been to Ga Ga Loc before, and... lets just say that I wasn't excited to come back here.

I ordered a standard chinese dish: General Tsao's. It was disappointing. The chicken was over breaded. The sauce was bland. The rice was difficult to eat with chopsticks. My Hot & Sour Soup was neither hot nor sour. The soup was watery and the contents were mostly flavorless.

Don't feel bad about walking by this place on your way to something deliciouser

Luncher: Al

Lunch: General Tsao's Chicken - $4.25
Fortune: You will be invited to a social gathering.
Rating:

Al's Review

Food was only o.k., but price was excellent.

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: Szechuan Beef - $4.25
Fortune: You will be invited to a social gathering.
Rating:

Jeff's Review

Ga Ga Loc is a big loss of real estate for the ID community. As an Asian food provider I rank it only slightly above China Express that I can get at Safeway. I am glad that it appears to be a family run business rather than some chain. And, the restaurant itself was clean, comfortable, well maintained and capable of accommodating quite a crowd. Now, if only I could find as much good to say about the food… Not bad – just not memorable.

To be fair – the food is fresh and edible. It’s also a good value for a $5 lunch. At that price I had tea, soup and a meat / rice dish which I didn’t finish. The flavor simply lacks any inspiration or individuality. My dish was exactly as you’d expect for mainstream Chinese food in the US. The ingredients were fresh enough. The meat quality was fine. The rice was good. It just didn’t do anything other than meet the bar. In middle America, this place may be “great” ethnic cuisine. In the ID… it just doesn’t stand against the rest of the neighborhood.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Kung Pao Tofu - $4.25
Fortune: Look in the right places, you can find some good offerings.
Rating:

Rob's Review

Ah yes, the unfortunately named Ga Ga Loc. I hadn't been here before, but the decor was so standard that I kind of felt like I had. I decided to try the tofu-cation thing again and ordered the Kung Pao Tofu, to which the waitress happily obliged. It's been years since I've had a Kung Pao dish, and I was actually looking forward to it. The hot and sour soup arrived, and it was really bad. You tilt the cup of soup and you can watch it unevenly ooze to the new level. Ugh. I was only able to choke it down by adding some hot sauce, and because everyone else seemed to be finishing theirs -- peer pressure made me eat it. The initial pot of tea was tepid. At this point I was thinking this was the worst Chinese restaurant I've been to in a long time, but then the Kung Pao arrived, and it wasn't terrible. It was a bit bland, and it was missing all those little red peppers I'm used to seeing in Kung Pao, but it wasn't terrible. I was able to eat most of it by adding some hot sauce, but the overly large baby corns tasted a little off, and the full pieces of bok choy were a little hard to manage. The main dish made me think about giving Ga Ga Loc a three, but then I remembered that I gave KC Kitchen a two. The main dishes were fairly similar in quality, and KC Kitchen's hot and sour soup was much better. So there you go. It was too bad that our original destination, Mike's Noodle House, was way too full when the MSG150 mob came a-calling.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Broccoli Beef - $4.25
Fortune: You will visit a faraway land that has been in your thoughts.
Rating:

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: General Tsao's Chicken - $4.25
Fortune: Your life will be happy and peaceful.
Rating:

Luncher: Wayne

Lunch: Mongolian Beef - $4.25
Fortune: You will be successful in love.
Rating:

VIP Luncher: Erin from Harborview Medical Center

Lunch: Mongolian Beef - $4.25
Fortune: A career change may be in your future.
Rating:

Erin's Review

When we walked in and found the restaurant half empty, I knew this was not a good sign. They had an array of standard Chinese-American lunch specials, a dish with rice and soup for $4.25. I had the Mongonlian Beef, and since is was a day off of school for my kids, I ordered Sweet & Sour Pork and Chicken to take home for Max and Jake. The beef dish was standard stirfried beef with onions and green onions, in a brown sauce. The soup was a hot and sour soup, which had too much corn starch in it, so it was sort of stiff. The beef was fine, but nothing special, and I have had it prepared more interestingly elsewhere. the Sweet and Sour Chicken and Pork (two dishes) was pronounce "lame" by the boys. I think that better prepared and better tasting lunch specials can be had elsewhere, even at that price.

Since I start a new job this week, I thought my fortune was pretty funny.

Ga Ga Loc Photos

Ga Ga Loc


Ga Ga Loc


Lunch Menu in Window


H&SS


Mongolian Beef


General Tsao's Chicken


Kung Pao Tofu


Szechuan Beef


Broccoli Beef


Chicken-like meat with Assorted Vegetables

Lunch #17: Herfy's Burgers, #9

Another big group today: 8 lunchers strong. We fought a small battle against the Uwajimaya Food Court; the remainder of the war will be bravely completed later. Burgers aren't the normal fare on our magical journey, so we were looking forward to this departure from the norm.

Herfy's Burgers, #9, Seattle
Address: 604 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: American: Burgers
Average rating: 2 chopsticks
Lunch date: 1/8/2008 @ 12:25:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 5 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 24 minutes
Chopstix quality: N/A
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Unknown
Number of tables: 0
Number of occupied tables: 0
Number of business lunch tables: 0
Number of "local" tables: 0
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Spicy Chicken Breast Meal - $7.85
Rating:

Adam's Review

This is another one of those unfortunate restaurants that we're required to go to. Its a hamburger joint in a sea of delicious asian food. I'm going to be brief with this.

Since it's the new year, I decided that it might be a good idea to order something at least a little bit more healthy than normal, so I ordered the chicken sandwich. This was the least flavorful food I've ever had. AND it was way more expensive than it should be.

Bad food. High prices. Don't feel guilty to walk by this place

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Spicy Chicken Breast Meal - $7.80
Rating:

Emmett's Review

After the artery clogging of Samurai Noodle, I decided to go for something a little healthy - chicken. Herfy's is an interesting chain since they sell more than just burgers. They have this gnarly looking Kielbasa on their menu, fried Oysters, and their Fremont branch says they have Teriyaki. As much as I wanted a burger (there aren't many in Chinatown) I settled on the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Fries, and a Diet Pepsi.

The spicy chicken sandwich was pretty basic, but tasty. It had a spicy sauce on it like Tabasco that had a little zip to it. The fries were fresh and hot, and reminded me of High School. The most horrendous aspect of it was the price - practically eight dollars for what I could get at McD's for $5-6.

If I'm craving a burger or chicken sandwich in the ID, I'd probably head up to Collins Pub instead. For a few bucks more, you get a real burger, and a nice beer selection. But in a hurry, I'd do Herfy's again.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Cheeseburger Meal - $4.99
Rating:

Geary's Review

The menu is large for a small hamburger stand with everything from the standards to Salmon Burgers and Kielbasa Sausage Sandwiches. I figured I'd throw them a low ball and go with the classic Cheeseburger Meal.

On the first bite I was not entirely dissatisfied, but it went downhill from there. After the initial mouthsplosion of soft bun, tangy mustard, and crispy lettuce the reality of the chewy, bland Costco burger patty sunk in pretty quickly. If I were buying a burger from the stand next to the little league field to support the equipment fund, I'd tolerate a crappy burger, primarily because the only other option would be a crappier hot dog. But that's not the case here. There are lots of better options.

Luncher: Doug

Lunch: Bacon Sour Dough - $5.99 + $1.97
Rating:

Doug's Review

Sourdough bacon chzburger + paper thin Costco-style burger patty was disappointing. Medium vanilla shake was average, similar to a McDonalds’ shake.

Luncher: Erica

Lunch: Grilled Chicken Sandwich + Criss-Cut Fries - $8.60
Rating:

Erica's Review

When I heard that Herfy’s was today’s lunch destination, I hesitated. I had made a prior visit, during which I consumed about one-eighth of a banana milkshake before discarding of it. Given my enormous love of milkshakes coupled with my inability to stop consuming any partially eaten food, this fact is notable. However, I didn’t recall any other objectionable selections, and there was a large crowd, so I opted for the social interaction. Besides, it is pretty hard to get a Banana milkshake right (if you aren’t actually using bananas).

While on the line, I contemplated my order. I was excited about the wide variety of French Fry selections features on the menu, even if I didn’t really know how to distinguish one option from the other. I took a wild shot that “Criss-cut” might refer to a waffle fry. I attempted to confirm this with the cashier, but she looked at me in total confusion and gave me some sort of reflexive answer that the “criss-cut” fry was “criss-cut.”

I wanted to eat something that I wouldn’t cause me to immediately gain an entire pound, but that also wasn’t completely devoid of fast-food fun. To this end, my meal was a good choice. I removed half of my bun as well as the cheese – which always created a delightful sight for your coworkers to enjoy. Was the chicken on my sandwich processed and reconstituted with food additives? Perhaps. Did my fountain soda have a slight funny flavor to it? Most certainly. But the “Criss-cut” fries were delicious, and the rest of my meal felt like it met Erica’s healthiness criteria (which are not in conjunction with any real health criteria, mind you, and which is rarely met by myself) of a high protein count with a low calorie count.

Hence, I am torn. Most of the food was just okay, and it was expensive. Herfy’s doesn’t really offer any charm to offset the high price. However, I do feel like the passable chicken sandwich sans half the bun and cheese is a sort of fun option for someone like me who is 5’1” and wants to avoid consumer her daily caloric intake at lunch every day.

Luncher: Erin

Lunch: Mushroom Burger + Root Beer Float - $4.29 + $2.19
Rating:

Erin's Review

I had a mushroom burger ($4.29) and a root beer float ($2.19). The burger was a mediocre frozen patty, with some canned mushrooms and a slice of over-processed white cheese. All condiments, lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard were included. The burger was below average quality and overcooked, especially for the price. I’ve had better burgers for half that. The root beer float had a little bit of mushy ice cream in it, again, hardly enough to justify the price. I like Dick’s root beer floats better because the ice cream is generous and frozen hard. I’ll avoid this place in the future, unless I was desperate for a burger and happened to be shopping at Uwajimya. Overall the quality of the food did not justify the prices charged.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Salmon Burger + Fries - $4.99 + $1.49
Rating:

Rob's Review

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh with the 1 chopstick rating (I was debating 1 v. 2 for a while), but, frankly, anyone who likes Herfy's won't bother with reviews, and anyone who enjoys reviews won't be eating at Herfy's. So I went with the 1. Upon perusing their menu, at first I was a bit optimistic -- plenty of options for me: garden burger, boca burger, four different fish burgers, various fish 'n chips. I decided to try and avoid the big bowl of grease and ordered the salmon burger. Garden and boca burgers are pretty much the same everywhere, unless the garden burger is made in-house, which I highly doubted was the case here. So, the salmon burger basically ended up being a salmon 'n chips but without the chips. Two relatively small deep-fried pieces of salmon stuck between a bun and slathered with mayo, boring lettuce, filler tomato slice, and a slice of melted american cheese. It didn't taste horrible, I'll admit, but I felt kind of queasy for an hour or so afterwards. In fact, writing this little review a day later is making my stomach feel funny. The fries were sub-par, as well. I would've thought the least they could do would be produce good fries, but they weren't nearly as crisp as I like and had no attempt at flavor. Maybe their fancier curly and criss-cut fries are better, but I'll never know because I'll never go back.

Luncher: Al

Lunch: Double Bacon Sour Dough + Curly Fries - $5.99 + $1.99
Rating:

Al's Review

If it were cheaper, it'd be a three

Herfy's Burgers, #9 Photos

Herfy's Burgers #9


Herfy's from the Food Court


Menu - Right Side


Menu - Left Side


BTW, no Refill


Spicy Chicken Burger


Bacon Sour Dough


Double Sour Dough + Curly Fries


A look inside the Spicy Chicken Burger


Cheeseburger Meal (lemonade)


"Enjoying" a Cheeseburger


Criss-Cut Fries


Inside a Cheeseburger


Salmon Burger


Root Beer Float remnants


This will be good to know


It's OK to not wear pants in the food court!

Lunch #10: Maxang Deli & Cafe

MSG150 pressed on again today after a week of conflicting schedules and close calls. However, no one was looking forward to the next spot on the list, Maxang. We have passed by this place countless times before on the way to our favorite ID spots. It's just off of the corner of 5th and Jackson, next door to the corner scary-mart and seems to share the same clientele. Regardless, we were all excited to hit another spot and keep the MSG150 mo going.

Program note: Pescatarian Rob was with us at the start having heard rumor of whole fried Tilapia but, upon arrival and suspicion that the lone fish in the hot case was the same one spotted there last week, he bailed.

Maxang Deli & Cafe, Seattle
Address: 507 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Cantonese
Average rating: 2 chopsticks
Lunch date: 12/10/2007 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 19 minutes
Chopstix quality: Plastic Fork
Do they use MSG?: Yes, we didn't even have to ask.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Canton
Number of tables: 4
Number of occupied tables: 4 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 0 (0%)
Number of "local" tables: 0 (0%)
Healthcode Score: 30
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Fried Rice, Fried Chicken Wing - $4.81
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Hoh yes, Maxang Deli. I've wondered, nay DREAMT of this place. Merely mentioning their name invokes peoples deepest hopes, and fears.

Their sign is enticing. We bravely walked in -- to a different world. If someone were to ask me -- "hey emmett, let's open a ghetto deli, help me design it" -- I couldn't have done a better job. The clientele eyed us curiously, but welcomingly. The hot case showcases their fried options: the fried rice and chow mein simmering under the heat lamps, the glistening fried chicken. Nearby are the baked goods, along with rows of packaged ramen. I opted for a chicken wing and some rice - typical lunch fare here no doubt.

The chicken wing: FANTASTIC. Nicely breaded, deep fried, tasty, delicious. The also offer chicken breasts and thighs I believe, for a little more money. If I wanted a couple of chicken wings as a snack, it's hard to beat the convenience and deliciousness or Maxang wings. The rice: below average. It wasn't so bad that I'd send it back, but nothing really great about it. On the other hand, I've had similar fried rice at sit down chinese restaurants. For flavor, this rice beats what you'd find at Panda Express (especially that Panda Express at the Atlanta airport).

Verdict: I'll remember this place the next time I'm drunk at 2 in the afternoon in Pioneer Square, but for lunch, you can find better food elsewhere.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Chow Mein, BBQ Pork Stick - $5.70
Rating:

Geary's Review

Nature or Nurture? To what extent is a restaurant a product of its environment or its upbringing? Did Mr. Maxang decide to open a restaurant with the purpose of serving the downtrodden and derelict or was he driven by market forces at work on the SE corner of 5th and Jackson to adapt to his customers at hand? Whatever the reason, he's filling a niche that seems to be sustaining him enough to have kept him in business for at least the last couple of years. However, it is somewhat in conflict with also serving the local business folks looking for a tasty lunch in a place that doesn't smell of urine.

The place is a mess and the food looks scorched and greasy in the hot case. It wasn't even clear if they make any of the food there. We were there Monday at noon and there was nothing cooking in the kitchen. The baked goods are clearly brought in, not sure about the rest. The Chow Mein was tolerable but greasy. The pork was flavorful but dry.

Yay, we made it past Maxang! We are unstoppable now. Bring it on!

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Chow Mein, BBQ Pork Stick - $5.70
Rating:

Adam's Review

This is the type of restaurant that scares me about our little adventure. It's got tables and chairs. Its primary source of income is food. But it's pretty damn gross. It has a very basic menu:

• Fried Rice and Chow Mein
• Fried Chicken (just a wing, or a quarter)
• BBQ Pork stick
• A whole deep-fried Tilapia
• And an assortment of cups-o-noodles

What does it have that isn't on the menu?:

• Sticky floors
• Dirty walls
• Filthy mirrors covering the walls
• Smelly but nice clientele

This place seems to cater to a fairly low-income bracket, so nobody seems to mind these things.

I had a greasy pile of chow mein and a BBQ Pork Stick (it was basically a kebab). The chow mein was pretty standard and quite palatable. It was much greasier than I would like, but that might have been a function of the BBQ Pork chunks that definitely had some fat on them. The BBQ Pork was pretty good in there.

The BBQ Pork Stick seemed like it had actually been homemade. It was darker and was shaped differently than the BBQ Pork you get at Costco. Unforunately, I think it had been sitting under a heat lamp for too long, so it was chewier than I would like. I put a lot of Sriracha on it to try to "amp" the flavor a little bit, and that seemed to make it a little bit better.

Overall: Not clean. Small. Not many choices. Smelled bad. Mediocre food.

Maxang Deli & Cafe Photos

Maxang Deli & Cafe


Showcase


Our Lunch


No Loitering


Fried Tilapia


Menu


In case you don't like the cooking