Restaurant Review: HOME in Los Feliz. Could Have Been Better.

I hope this was just a one off experience. 

We went to Home for the first time on a Sunday evening to pick up my daughter from a play date in Los Feliz. Los Feliz is in a charming part of Los Angeles, but we don't usually go there only because living on the Westside, it's a bit hard to get to on a regular basis. Not knowing what to eat around there, I searched on Open Table for restaurants in Los Feliz, and Home was one of the choices. I checked out the website for the restaurant and it looked beautiful. There was an image of its Lemon Chicken Piccata that just looked mouth watering. I then booked through Open Table to get 100 dining points. 

Chicken Piccata Promo picture on Home Website.

 When we got there, the restaurant was expecting us. They have a nice corner table on the outdoor patio waiting for us. Beautiful lanterns hung from the arching trees in the patio. We were charmed. I ordered the chicken piccata from the photo. My husband ordered the chicken Tuscany.My daughter just wanted fried calamari. My chicken piccata tasted good, but a few pieces of the accompanying roasted vegetables were still frozen. That was a bit sloppy in execution, but I didn't ask them to take it back or anything. My husband's chicken Tuscany arrived with the bed of pasta and no chicken. When he asked the waitress if he was supposed to get chicken with his dish, she goes "whoops, looks like you got the Tuscany without the chicken!" That was kind of humorous, and we laughed. She apologized and had the kitchen later bring a side plate of the chopped chicken breast for my husband to toss into his by now cold bed of Tuscany penne pasta, and offered to give us a free dessert. That was nice. 

Well, when it was time to order the dessert, we ordered the cheesecake. Our waitress said it was her favorite. But when she came back, she informed us that they were out of the cheesecake. This was around 8:15 pm. Okay, so we ordered the flan. When the bill came, they charged us for the dessert anyway. Forget about the offer of complimentary dessert. Despite the chicken dishes mishap, my husband was too chicken to point this out and paid the bill in full. I didn't want to leave much of a tip, but he didn't like to make a point the way I felt he should, and decided to tip 12% as a compromise as opposed to his normal 20%. 

The location and ambience of Home with dining under the trees was really nice and magical. It's just that the shoddy execution of the chicken dishes left a fowl taste in my mouth.

Mien Nghia, a Great Noodle Restaurant

There was this place, Mien Nghia, in Chinatown, that served the best Southeast Asian/ Cantonese noodles. A friend of mine from Vietnam introduced me to it a few years back and I would go there every time I'm in Chinatown. However, a couple of years ago, much to my disappointment, when I went back to that hole in the wall, it was closed. I mentioned this to that friend of mine and was told that Mien Nghia actually has another restaurant in Rosemead, on Garvey. So I went there with my daughter last week.

Mien Nghia San Gabriel Valley is not a hole in the wall, but a full on restaurant with ample parking. There is no ambience to speak of, but the food still has the same deliciousness: Noodle in different broths with different kind of toppings. You can choose to have the egg noodles, or the rice noodles, thick noodles, or thin, or a combination. I chose a combo thin egg and rice noodles with fish slices and pork kidney. It was quite satisfying.

I found out from the manager there that Mien Nghia has been around for 30 years, first in Chinatown, and then they opened a second restaurant here in Rosemead around 15 years ago. The one in Chinatown closed due to increased rent there.

I like all kinds of soup noodles: Chinese style beef noodle soup, Japanese ramen, Vietnamese Pho or Hu Thieu, and Cambodian glass noodles. I'm not sure what  kind of cuisine Mien Nghia is, but probably something inspired by southern Asian cuisine. Another kind of taste, but delicious.

Try it!

Mien Nghia Noodle Express
7755 E. Garvey Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770