Mystery Critic
The Best Restaurants Out There - And Much More!
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Pacific Fish Center & Restaurant - Redondo Beach This is one of those uniquely strange LA creations. You wouldn't typically expect an Asian restaurant in this location - it's not exactly Chinatown there - and from their website you can't even tell that's it's Korean. Or is it Korean? They prepare the seafood rather generically so I'd say it's Californian, but its greatest selections are Korean.... And what about the Mexican crew cooking the food..... Help me out here..... So why am I writing about this place? Because you seldom find a decent seafood place on a pier in Californian, let alone a place that serves a great korean seafood soup!  It hard to describe its food. If your expectation is to have decent American seafood, then you won't be too disappointed. But given my Asian heritage, I think they've screwed up most of the seafood that we ordered. I was, however, not too disappointed because I didn't expect great seafood with great scenary anyways.
While most of the guests are, strangely enough, Chinese, this is NOT a Koreatown restaurant by any means, and therefore the service was a more courteous and professional than what you'd typically find in an average Korean place. I'd hate to stereotype any ethnic group, but man, I've had some real close calls at Korean joints in LA - it's either I apologize to the waitress or a beer bottle will land on my head.... Again, this place doesn't really caters towards Asians only so it's not too bad. So why am I writing about such a mediocre place?? Simple, it's like a real estate deal - LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. This is just the right place to have seafood: sitting on an old pier with a new expansion, i.e. plenty of room to take a sunset stroll or just checking out people, next to a decent beach (I mean, it's not waikiki, but it's a real beach), and it's within easy driving distance of other popular LA destinations. Trust me, you'll get the same ambience in Santa Cruz or Santa Monica but you will NOT get the same kind of food. Not even comparable. Just when you think you ought to bring that chic sitting next cubicle to this place to prove your romantic wiz on a test date, beware that you'll also be impressing her with your generosity. The combination of great ambience and decent Asian food doesn't come cheap. Seafood comes by pound but after cooking they tend to shrink - two lbs of crab is more like 0.5 lb of crab meat. One lb of shrimp won't give you the same satisfaction as a one-pounder porterhouse. We had four adults and after $100 we hardly ate anything. Too bad there are no noodle stands nearby. BOTTOMLINE I've only been there once and I think it'll be hard to convince me to go back again. I won't go back to Roy's in Pebble Beach for the same reason - I'm just too into food to sit in a restaurant and enjoy the sunset. Nevertheless, if you want a nice evening out package - sound of ocean, kidding running around on a pier, and spicy Korean seafood soup - this is your place! BTW It might be a good idea to go there as an afternoon get-away to Redondo Beach. If you go there just for the restaurant and food, you might be disappointed. I heard it fills up fast around 6-7pm so go early or late - but not too late because I'm not sure how safe the general area is.
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