Top Pan Asian Restaurant in National City
Cho XO Asian Fusion
1420 E Plaza Blvd Suite D-05, National City, CA 91950, United States
I was so excited for the first Asian Latin Fusion restaurant in San Diego that serves dishes like Lomo saltado shaken fries, Tom Yum pasta, and birria. These dishes have been trendy for years in other parts of SoCal and Bay Area and I was looking forward to not having to travel hours for them.When I found out Chào XO was participating in SDRW, I immediately made plans with my SO to try their dinner menu. In my excitement, I invited some friends, but in the end Im glad they didnt come or else I wouldve felt bad for them spending so much time and money to trek to the other side of town for a lackluster meal.Restaurant decor: the design and decor of the restaurant is very modern and chic. Love the large modern art around, the furniture, and the grassy/leaves.Service: friendly and professional, a little bit slow for our food to come out on a Saturday night (25-30 min). One of our entrees came first before any of our appetizers did. Because we were starving, we dug in without waiting for the appetizers.Birria Truffle Fries:Surprisingly big serving size for an appetizer. The meat was so soft and perfectly seasoned (not too salty). The truffle flavor oil was nice and not overpowered.Unfortunately the tragic flaw of this dish was that the fries were so soggy from the sauce it was sitting in. The fries could use a little more cooking (current state like In-N-Outs fries).Another suggestion would be to have the birria consume sauce on the side, instead of all over the fries.Tom Yum Pasta: *allergen alert* it contains shrimp!I could not tell from the menu that it had any protein in it, but was pleasantly surprised that it came with large succulent shrimps. The shrimps were perfectly cooked--juicy with a nice chew. The linguine was Al dente and the sauce was delightfully cheesy. The presentation was fantastic as it came out sizzling on a hot plate.Where it fell short was there was 0 Tom Yum flavor. Not a hint of sour, tamarind, or herbs like galangal or kaffir like leaf. As a pasta dish, this was stellar, but dont expect Tom Yum.Lomo Saltado:Filet mignon Beef: delicious and tender, a little bit too salty.Rice: a little dry, but it was necessary to even out the saltiness of the beef. Big serving size.Fries: like in the birria truffle fries, undercooked and not crispy. Big serving size.Cilantro sauce: Tasty! My favorite part of this dish.Fresa con cream: this was a surprise that it came out purple/ube when the menu didnt indicate so. It came with sliced strawberry and plenty of cream. Sweet, but not too sweet and balanced from the tart strawberry. Presentation: beautiful color, in a margarita cup with a purple orchid.Overall the food concepts were good, presentation was fantastic, and ambience was pleasant, but executions fell short:Underdone soft/soggy fries, salty saltado meat and dry rice, and misleading menu.But a positive note was that the food wasnt too oily/heavy, which led to a light-feeling stomach despite the late night meal.
Bonchon National City
1420 E Plaza Blvd Suite D-04, National City, CA 91950, United States
Was super excited to find time to come here. They werent too busy and we were seated right away. Started off wth a 6 piece Takoyaki appetizer and they came out nice and hot. But after a few bites found that the fried octopus ball only contained a sliver of meat. I ended up eating a giant fried dough ball which was overwhelmingly covered in a sweet sauce over cabbage. Put more meat and less sauce and they would have had something Id come back for, but as it was, pretty disappointing.We also had the chicken sliders for an appetizer, honestly, all i can say was that it was very dry and lacked any flavor. We had chosen the soy garlic. The only flavor that peeked out was the cole slaw.Main entree was the Bulgogi dish and the Chicken Fried Rice. The Bulgogi was average. The Bulgogi was on a bed of onions that were freshly cut and provided a nice contrast to the Bulgogi. It werent for the super oiliness of the Bulgogi, I felt it could have tasted better. The Chicken Fried Rice felt like food you could get at a buffet, precooked rice sitting in a chafing dish, and a choice of meat mixed in when ordered. It did not come out hot, which was a bummer. Any fried rice, imo, taste better hot. Just underwhelming.We really came to try the chicken wings and ordered the small 50/50 boneless wings in sweet red chili and soy garlic. For a place proud of their chicken, I found it truly disappointing. The chicken may have been prefried and sitting in a chafing dish, because there was zero crunch, the texture was hard, and the chicken was not juicy or tender. The sweet red chili sauce felt like a last minute brush on, taste was bland, and the soy garlic flavor was practically missing.Overall, came in with high expectations and left wondering if Id ever come back. For the prices, I think Id be better off getting fried chicken anywhere else. The only real positive, if I can say it, is the food was definitely IG ready. Imo a solid 3 star eatery.
Top other services in National City:
Golden Chopsticks Restaurant
1430 E Plaza Blvd, National City, CA 91950, United States
I read a lot of good reviews about the chicken wings and I was in the mood so I drove down to Natl City. They are in a strip mall. The parking lot was CRAZY. It took me 15 minutes to get a parking spot. Thats not their fault--just part of the experience.So, I find the place and head up to the counter to order to-go. They handed me a menu and I ordered. The person who took my order was quite pleasant (kinda pretty too, which is a bonus). It took about 20 minutes to get my food which is fine considering they were crazy busy at 2:30pm. I was pleased to see them so busy because that is normally an indication of good food. I ordered too much food--egg rolls, shrimp fried rice, chicken foo young and, of course, the salt pepper chicken wings. So, all indications are that I am about to get stuffed with a belly full of yummy Chinese food at a new place that is only about 10 minutes from home. Life is GOOD!Not so quick! The egg rolls were okay but nothing special. The shrimp fried rice was totally tasteless. I ate the shrimp just because I didnt want to waste the money. I couldnt eat the rice which is REALLY unusual for me. The chicken foo young was also tasteless, although the sauce made it a tiny bit better--but still not good enough to eat. Alas, even the highly touted salt pepper chicken wings had very little flavor.I will admit that the portions are really big so, if you actually like tasteless food, this is the place to go for a bargain. DAMN, I wish that the food was good!I HATE writing bad reviews because everybody thinks that guy is just a jerk or he must work for the competition or whatever. Fair enough--I did that myself while reading these reviews but I took a chance anyway. I recommend trying somewhere else. If youre inclined to try it anyway then just order the supposedly fantastic chicken wings and see for yourself. Then dont go back and try another dish because they are all tasteless.Note to Golden Chopsticks: USE SOME DAMN SPICE!!!!!! Actually, you appear to have so much business that you could probably use no spice at all and your customers would keep coming back. I guess it is just me then :(
Bay Plaza
1886 E Plaza Blvd, National City, CA 91950, United States
For semi-fast food these guys really do a great job. They have a three to 10:00 p.m. I think it is $5 deal. Without question the best $5 hamburger and fries I have ever had in my entire life. Theyve got several other items available at that same price as well. Definitely a price leader theyre losing money on these deals. So order a couple other things be sure to tip the waitresses 40%, if you get that $5 meal. Thank you everybody great job
Panda Express
1115 Highland Ave, National City, CA 91950, United States
Worse Panda experience ever. Me and my fiancee had just got done with a very busy day and we didnt feel like cooking. We decided chinese food would be nice. Our usual place was closed already and I suggested panda express to which she was hesitant about going because she already didnt have a good opinion on it. I vouched and said its not too bad. We get there and ordered 3 plates. They were out of the shrimp and told us itd just be 6 minutes. Which isnt a big deal but while they were making our plates they were going back and forth with employees and asking us what we wanted while making another plate for who knows who because no one else was there. Overall the way they took the order was just all over the place and confusing. Then they rung us up and we still are waiting on the shrimp. So they told us to go wait outside because of their covid rules even though san diego is a red tier now and we were the only customers in the store. I never seen another restaurant have the only customers in the store wait outside. I told them I have my 2 year old daughter with me and I rather her stay inside because she can get sick outside at night in the cold. They said no you have to go outside. I told them ok well we will be in the red car (theres only like 2 cars in the parking lot) and then they said no we cant do that you have to wait outside by the tree. I couldnt believe it. I told my fiancee to take our little girl to the car and wait for me. This was ridiculous I use to work and manage fast food when I got out of high school and this was not how you treated customers. The employees were terrible but I think it falls on poor management too. It was also embarrassing when my fiancee already didnt have a good option on panda. Sadly we will no longer be eating here and probably at any panda express for that matter.
Gerrys Grill
3050 Plaza Bonita Rd Suite 2510, National City, CA 91950, United States
I had fun, and I want more Kare kare lol.Im a fan of Live Band Music. We need it sometimes!Just be prepared to wait on peak nights like Friday.First time coming here.1) The Wait is somewhat long (Friday night) but you can go to the bar area and have a cocktail, Steve was our server and served us pretty drinks like a mai tai and pina colada virgin.2) Strict rules on Friday nights when there is a band, you cannot reserve a table unless you have 3 or 4 Physically present with you.On Friday I believe it closes 11 p.m. instead of the regular 9. p.m.If you have a group of 4 or more you would probably get a table right away or wait just a few minutes the people have to be present.You cannot reserve if its just 2 people, while we were awaiting our friends who came from traffic. So no saving tables on Friday nights.We are a group of 5 but my friend and I arrived earlier but we were not able to get a table until the rest of our guest showed up. That was kind of a bummer because we arrived there 5:30 p.m. and waited for the rest of our party and we couldnt even get sitted till they arrived 6:30 almost. So We watch a bunch of people who we were ahead of go before us. Kahit maaga kami.There was a mix up in the rules. One server was giving us one answer the other a different answer. It was really crowded but I guess its a popular place on Friday nights with a live band!Band was fine. The decor of the restaurant was beautiful, lot of space! Love the floorplan and layout of the tables.We ordered Kare Kare I loved it. I usually just eat more of the sauce. Rice was great, the appetizers, calamari, good too it came in rings. Its great to have a place to go to with a live band and good food.Although the wait was long I guess its worth it and gives you a chance to chat up with your friends and socialize. My friend was craving the Crispy pata. She liked it.We took several photos and the band members were nice. I thought that one of the waitress forgot my drink but finally she did come over with the admf drink hehe. I dont know how it is on other days but that Friday had a lot of people who look excited on getting a table.It was certainly happening. I guess since weve been stuck sa pandemic that we needed to be out.All the servers were wearing their mask. Parking is at the Plaza bonita parking. I would have given 5 stars but only because the answer of the servers were inconsistent as to reservations etc.They did good job serving our food, asking if we needed more. There were time I needed to wave at the waitress but I figured they are so busy its normal for her to take time. FOOD WAS TASTY.(Kare kare) and the Calamari and Lumpia, as for the noodle I think they could have given more or done better.I am glad that I finally get to listen to LIVE MUSIC!!!! Thats worth it. Lot of fun.. I dont recommend ordering through doordash because the portions seem so small.I do think its nice for you to experience the lively place !