245 W. Valley Blvd., Alhambra 626-293-3300
Type: Hong Kong Cafe
Quality: !!! Price: $-$$ Ambience: **
This is a very popular restaurant. It opened another one across the street. Their signature entree, Baccali chicken, is very good. It's open until 2 AM in Friday and Saturday.
100 N. Garfield Ave., Monterey Park 626-573-0718
Type: Hong Kong Cafe
Quality: !! Price: $ Ambience: **
This is a decent place. I don't think it's as good as Regent Cafe or Baccali Rotisserie, but it's quite decent. It is a bit cheaper though, and the menu is a bit more limited. For the life of me, I cannot understand why they (or any other Hong Kong cafe) offer tuna fish sandwiches on their menu. Ovaltine, I can understand. But not a tuna fish sandwich.
512 W. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel 626-457-8898
Type: Hong Kong Cafe
Quality: !! Price: $-$$ Ambience: **
This is where JR Ewing was shot. If you don't understand this reference, then you will never understand Chinese food. Just kidding. The portions here are generous. Food is good. I went there with a couple of guys, and we ordered the combination chicken and pork cutlet and some other dishes. We had plenty left to take home.
150 E. Garvey Ave., Monterey Park 626-288-7299
Type: Hong Kong/Cantonese
Quality: !!! Price: $-$$ Ambience: **
If Jackie Chan wants to film a restaurant fight scene, he should do it here. Most of the seats here are actually single-person benches--the kind they use in a pickup-fight scene in a Chinese Kung Fu movie. This is a bit of an unusual restaurant. It's a Hong Kong-style Cantonese restaurant, but it isn't a cafe. They have a more of traditional Cantonese food and much less of traditional Hong Kong cafe-style dishes here. My sister-in-law, who was born and raised in Hong Kong, was absolutely delighted by the Fish Ball and Squid w/ Spicy Sauce from the Snack section of the menu. She said that it was an authentic redition of the street cart food she used to eat while growing up. All my relatives loved a soup noodle dish whose name is literally translated as "A Big Bowl of Noodles", which was about $7. I'm not really sure what this is on the menu, but I think it's the Hong Kong Style Mixed Meat Noodles with extra items, such as stewed beef, fish balls, dumplings, and some other stuff that I can't remember. If you want soup noodles, this is a great one. I've been told that the dumplings with noodles are better than the wonton with noodles. Parking is in the back--enter the lot from Garfield Ave. You'll enjoy the food here, assuming that Jackie Chan doesn't have lunch here, gets into a pickup-fight, and uses the "Kung Fu" benches.
218 S San Gabriel Blvd., San Gabriel 626-286-8148
Type: Hong Kong Restaurant/Cafe
Quality: !!! Price: $-$$$ Ambience: ***
The menu is a bit strange. While it has a distinct Hong Kong influence, its menu is more traditional Cantonese. But I'm putting it here because it serves Ovaltine. Lunch specials are the cheapest. You can also order seafod at seasonal (i.e. expensive) prices. Try the Singapore Style Fried Rice Vermicelli with Mild Curry. The other items I tried were qiute good, but not spectacular enough to warrant their own descriptions. That's due to the overall high quality of the restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley: it's really hard to stand out.
850 s. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia 626-446-0688
Type: Hong Kong Restaurant/Cafe
Quality: !!! Price: $-$$ Ambience: ***
The food is very decent but nothing spectacular. I've been here a few times. The food has been a bit uneven, although it has been trending positive. Just for fun, I decided to speak only English while in the restaurant. Service was no different from when I spoke Chinese. In other words, geeks get no respect in any language. Just kidding. Service was solid. After you've finished eating here, you can indulge your sweet tooth with Beard Papa just to the south, or you can visit the fortune teller/psychic just north of this place. The note on the door reads something like, "Please call XXX-XXXX for a consultation, and I'll be here in five minutes." I would think that a psychic should know beforehand that you were coming....