Happy Hour Eats - Food Blog

I just started another food blog.  This one's gonna be a list of restaurants with happy hour food menus and specials.  Don't know how far I'll get into, but hopefully I can stay consistent and update it frequently.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  If you know any places with happy hour food deals, it would be a big help if you left me a comment there.  Thanks.

Happy Hour Eats

Your House Sushi Fusion, Long Beach

Your House Sushi Fusion
2838 E Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804
(562) 498-4949
Type: Japanese food / Thai food / Sushi
Map



Your House is another restaurant like Baiplu-- thai and japanese fusion. They serve Thai dishes as well as Japanese dishes (mostly sushi). I don't know if they're the same owners, but they have somewhat different menus and happy hours. Your House has their happy hour from like 3pm-7pm or 4pm-7pm. They have a select number of rolls for $6.

I've been here twice and I know that I didn't like too many of their happy hour rolls. The one we liked was the.... I forgot what it was called. I know I'm useless, but it's been a while. I'll take notes next time.

The one on top is the one we liked. The colorful one below is the rainbow roll which we didn't like too much.


Again... the one with green is the good one, the other one was whatever.


Catfish w/ chili sauce


So would I go here again? Yeah, sure. Why not. Would I be excited to go? If I hadn't eaten all day, maybe. I guess cuz I was being cheap and only tried the happy hour rolls that I'm not too excited about the place. Let me know if their other stuff is good!

Sushi Studio, Long Beach

Sushi Studio
4917 E Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804
Phone: (562) 498-9008
Type: Japanese food / Sushi
Map

(Jim) Dam. Another post in Long Beach?!! My bad. But once you hear about Sushi Studio, you might thank me later. I've been to this place a few times-- but only on certain days of the week, and a specific time period. No, I'm not waiting for the right time to catch a glimpse of majestic blue whales. I'm just trying to get a seat during their Happy Hours. Sushi Studio has pretty good sushi and rolls already. The regular prices are about average for a sushi joint. But Happy Hour is when you get the homie discount. You see, from Monday to Thursday between the hours of 3pm-6pm, they offer a select few items for just $6 each. For some items, that's almost half off! It's only like 3 or 4 items a day, but some days, I'm willing to eat just Happy Hour dishes. The Happy Hour Rolls are different everyday and I'll have to post up what they offer for each day when I remember to write it down.
I know on Wednesdays, they have the Rainbow Roll, Xtreme Crunch Roll, and Monkey Roll for just $6. The Rainbow Roll is pretty much a California Roll with raw salmon, tuna, and shrimp on top. That was really good. The Xtreme Crunch Roll is a spicy tuna roll with crunchy flakes on the outside served with some kind of sauce/oil. That one's pretty good. The Monkey Roll is a Cali Roll with slices of bananas inside and other stuff which I forgot. That one's also good, but Mi didn't really like it too much.

I eat alot, so those 3 rolls didn't do it for me. I ordered another rainbow roll and we got the stuffed mushrooms which were pretty bomb. I think the bill came out to like $32 plus tip. Whenever you're in Long Beach near the Cal State in between the hours of 3pm-6pm, and you feel like some sushi or Japanese food, and it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and if it's gonna be a full moon out, and they're showing an episode of Seinfeld in it's 5th season, and the geese are flying back north, and.... you get the point. Try this place.

Sushi Studio, Happy Hour

(Jim) Went to Sushi Studio today. Here's the Happy Hour rolls I mentioned in the last post. Each roll is $6 on those specific days if you order them between 3pm and 6pm:

Monday:
Sumo Roll
Crunchy Roll
In n Out Roll

Tuesday:
S.O.S. Roll
Las Vegas Roll
911 Roll

Wednesday:
Rainbow Roll
Monkey Roll
X-treme Crunchy Roll

Thursday:
Sexy Girl Roll
B.S.C. (baked scallop) Roll
Fantastic Roll

...sorry. There's no Happy Hour on Fridays

click on the image below to try and read the ingredients for the rolls:

Koji's - Hollywood / Los Angeles

Koji's
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 871-0200
Type: Japanese / sushi / shabu shabu
Website
Map



I think we went to Koji's the same day we went to Galanga. We didn't eat much here. We didn't even plan on coming here. We were just hanging out at Hollywood and Highland to kill time. That same day, they were having a big premier for Iron Man (part one. yes this is very old). Anyways, we saw Robert Downey Jr. but from far away. We were actually on the 3rd floor or something at the Highland Center. That's the same floor where Koji's is at, and also the Highlands club.

can you spot Robert Downey Jr? Look hard.

just kidding. he's not in the picture!

So after getting a taste of the tourist-y stuff, we went inside Koji's and sat at the bar. Whaddaya know? It's Happy Hour!

Happy Hour is from 5-8pm Mon. - Fri.
-$3 draft beers
-$6 crunch rolls
-$9 sake
-$3 california rolls

Guess what. That's all we ordered from there. Hey, gas costs a lot to drive all the way to Hollywood. Don't judge. Anyways, I'll make it quick. The crunch rolls were cool. The california roll was a california roll. The beers were beers. The sake was sake. I don't mean to take away from what this restaurant really offers. I still don't know. I know their main thing from the looks of the place is they have shabu shabu where you cook your own food at your table. I think they have a few special rolls up their sleeves. The place is pretty big and a lot of people go there, so I don't really know.

Look at their menu if you really want to know.



crunch roll


cali roll


some sake


I guess if you want the chance to see some stars, this might be the place to be. Afterall, we saw Robert Downey Jr. who's a pretty big star IMO. The highlight of the night came as a surprise. We were sitting at the bar area looking out of the window for a while. After some drinks, I started noticing women walking by. These women were special. They weren't wearing much. And whatever it is they were wearing, was maybe a size or two too tight. They kept passing by. They were walking with guido-like dudes and men in suits (bodyguards?). I see camera flashes going off to the side. What's going on? Then I see a face that solved the whole equation:

scantily clad women + guidos + bodyguards + n = x
if n= Ron Jeremy
then x = porno event/convention!



Ron Jeremy as some of you may know is a well-known porn star back in the day. I don't know if he still "performs" for the camera. Anyways, he came by with a little posse, and he came in the restaurant and schmoozed with some people. Then he went to the bathroom where my girlfriend waited outside to get a picture with him. Great night. The End.

....oh yeah Koji's is cool. I'd possibly go back for the Happy Hour. Maybe for another "event."

Sushi On Fire - Huntington Beach

Sushi On Fire
301 Main St # 103
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
(714) 374-8885
Type: Japanese food / sushi restaurant
Get directions





I've been to Sushi On Fire twice already. Both times were during their afternoon sushi Happy Hour. You'll get 20% off sushi and rolls if you come here between 3pm and 5pm. It's not a super bargain but I think it's worth it. If you're a baked/special roll kind of person like me, this is a great spot for you. They have so many rolls to choose from that it might take long to decide which one you want. The regular prices are a little bit higher than many places, but Happy Hour evens things out a bit.

The prices I state here are before the 20% discount.

To start off, we got the spicy scallop hand roll ($5.50). It's just a regular hand roll with raw scallops. I don't usually like scallops that much, but this roll wasn't bad at all.

spicy scallop hand roll


I'm always ordering some sushi nowadays. For me, it helps neutralize all the different tastes from the baked rolls. It's a tasty way to reset your palette. We ordered just the basics: salmon suushi, albacore sushi, and yellowtail sushi--all $4.95. I had no complaints about the sushi.

salmon, albacore, and yellowtail sushi


Luckily we knew one of the waiters there. He told us try some sauce which really went well with the sushis. It's some green sauce that's a little spicy and sour. I don't know what it's called.

The Green Sauce


I ordered the Main St. roll ($12.75). I forgot what was in it, but I remember it was just okay. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't get that again with all the other options Sushi On Fire offers.

Main St. Roll


The White Roll on the other hand was really good. The name makes it sound pretty plain, but I assure you, you won't regret trying this. The rolls are baked with a batter on the outside, and there's two different sauces on top. In the middle there's a pile of spicy tuna that you can eat with it. To top everything off it the whole dish comes with 10 individual rolls.



Like I said before... If you like specialty rolls, you'll love Sushi On Fire. I can't really vouch for the sushi even though I thought it was good, but I don't think you'll be disappointed either way.

Happy Hours

I'm gonna start keeping track of Happy Hours I find out about to remind myself and inform you guys of some potentially good deals for food and drinks. Cheapskates!!!!

I started a website recently for happy hour foods.

Banana Bay, Rowland Heights

Banana Bay
18230 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
Phone: (626) 839-5511
Type: Thai food

Hours: Sun-Thurs 11am-1am

Fri-Sat 11am-2am

Happy Hour: 10pm - close
many drink specials

Map





What can I say about this place? Oh, it's just the place I go to at least once a week! Banana Bay has been around for a few years. It used to be an Asian buffet called Paradise Buffet (for those who haven't been here in the area for a bit). It's located on the corner of Fullerton and Colima in the Yes Plaza.

This review is way overdue because I've been going here for years. Banana Bay is under new ownership, and it's even better than before. I know the new owners of this place, so you may think this is a biased review, but I've liked this place before they owned it. Before, the service could get really, really bad. I once had to wait for my food for about an hour! If you look at some of the old reviews about this place, they'll all say the service was slow. The new owners knew that was probably the biggest complaint about the place, and they've done a lot to fix the problem. Main thing was getting more staff out on the floor. At their busiest times now, I never had to wait for my food for more than 10 minutes. And it gets really busy here. If you're really hungry you should go during the lunch or late night hours so you'll get your food right away.

While you're waiting for your food, on most nights there's a live band playing good music. Even when there's no band, the music they play has vastly improved. I remember going there a few years ago, and I'd always hear that Nora Jones song playing every single time. It's a nice song, but c'mon. Play something else. Now, there's a wide selection of good, classy R&B jams. There's also TVs where sports are usually playing.

The main reason why people come here is the food and its prices. I'll put a menu up when I get a chance so you can see for yourself why people keep coming back. The prices average about 6-7 dollars for a meal. Not only are the prices cheap, but the food is bomb. The pad see ew is bomb for sure. I always order the crab fried rice. Almost everything I ordered is good here. As of this writing, I'm usually ordering the King Noodle. Bomb! Trust.

Crab Fried Rice (eat it with the fish sauce)


Crispy Trout Fillet (gotta try it at least once)


Shrimp cake


Catfish w/ Chili Sauce


Another reason why I love this place is that they're open past midnight 7 days a week. I wish they were open til like 4am, but that's being greedy on my part.

That's all I got for now. If this review doesn't make you wanna try it, maybe knowing they were nominated as one of AOL Citysearch's best might do the trick.

Aki Sushi Bar & Baiplu Thai Restaurant, Long Beach

Aki Sushi Bar/Baiplu Thai Restaurant
1626 E 7th St
Long Beach, CA90813
(562) 436-3123
Type: Japanese food / Thai food / Sushi
Map

(Jim) There's probably one thing I don't like about eating sushi... and that-- it's pretty expensive. Even at the cheapest sushi places you'll end up spending probably over $10 for your meal. Assuming that you order just rolls and sushi, $10-$15 worth probably won't get you full. And that's probably for the cheaper stuff. If you want the specialty rolls, those go for about $8-$12 each. So you have to kind of balance out the quality with the quantity (if you're on a budget).

And then I stumble upon Aki Sushi/Baiplu in Long Beach. What's interesting about this place is that it's a combination of a sushi bar and a thai restaurant. You can order Japanese food and/or Thai food. I love that concept because you can still order the special rolls and you know you'll be full because you can order just one dish from the thai menu to keep your stomach happy.

When I went, we ordered:
Hula Hula roll
Baked Lobster roll
Volcano Roll
crab fried rice

The rolls we ordered were pretty good except I wouldn't order the baked lobster roll again. It's a little sweet or something, and I didn't reallly taste the lobster. The total bill came out to about $30 something plus tip. The service was great and they were very friendly. I would definitely go here again.

Update: 12-5-07

I recently went here and found out that they have a happy hour on Sunday-Thursday at 3pm-5pm. I don't know if they change the items, but their bulletin board said the Popcorn Lobster roll, Albacore roll, Sweet Girl roll, and Rocky Roll are $5 per order. I'm gonna check it out soon.

The Baked Lobster Roll


crab fried rice and Hula Hula Roll


Volcano Roll

Mosun (Club M) - Laguna Beach

Mosun / Club M
680 S Pacific Coast Hwy
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Phone: (949) 497-5646
Type: Japanese food / sushi / restaurant / club
Website
Map



This particular night was kind of my last night for a while in the land of Botox and Breast augmentations (I saw a lot of ads in the local papers). So I wanted to eat something pretty darn good. We researched some possible spots for some good sushi-- preferably with a happy hour or specials. The two we decided between was Mosun in Laguna Beach, and Mahe in Sunset Beach (or Seal Beach). Mosun had a deal where on Wednesdays O.C. locals get 50% off all menu items. Mahe on the other hand has something on Wednesdays where it's all you can eat for $25. Hmmm... Those are some pretty damn good deals. I think Mosun was closer, so we decided on that.

Mosun is on PCH, and it's very easy to miss if you don't know what it looks like. It looks just like a regular place with no fancy decorations outside. Parking is a mother too. They don't have their own parking lot that I know of. Make sure you come kind of early if you don't wanna search for a spot.

Inside is like a night club/lounge. It's dark with nice decorations. They had some house-type clubbing music playing. We got seated quickly. The place isn't that intimate cuz there's a lot of people and there's a bar where a lot of people just hang out.

The prices of the items aren't cheap, but it's not that expensive for a sushi place either. I would've probably gone to a place like this even without the deal, but the half off thing really helps. By the way, you O.C. locals gotta show your driver's license to get the deal-- and the person paying is the only one that has to be from O.C.

Note: The prices I mention here are before the 50% discount.

So we started with some appetizers. The crispy lobster wonton ($11.75) sounded good. When it came, it looked nice, but the taste was whatevers. Only 5 pieces?! When something is $12 and it comes with only 5 pieces, it better be pretty bomb. Not this one. It was just okay.

crispy lobster wonton for about $2.40 each.


Next up was the Albacore Special with crispy onions and ponzu sauce ($12.50). In my relatively short endeavor into the sushi/rolls world, I've become a little wary of ponzu sauce. I don't like the tanginess. This one was a breath of fresh air. I was expecting the sauce to make my taste buds cringe once it touched my tongue, but they became instant friends. I would definitely order that again.

Albacore Special with (thank god) not too tangy ponzu sauce


For the neutralizers, we got the salmon sashimi ($9) and the yellowtail sashimi ($10). Bomb. The taste was fresh and the pieces were thinly sliced.

salmon & yellowtail sashimi


Hand rolls (HR) are a beautiful thing (when they taste good) cuz you're not stuck with 6-8 pieces of a roll. If it doesn't taste good, oh well, it was only a few bucks. To me, they're like samplers. If you like them and you're still hungry, get the cut roll version, or another hand roll. We decided to try the Crunchy HR($4), Spicy Scallop HR ($5), and Soft Shell Crab HR ($6). Those are relatively expensive for hand rolls, but not in actuality on Wednesdays! All of them were good. No complaints about any of em. They were good enough that we ordered two more. I think it was the... I forgot.

Crunchy HR, Spicy Scallop HR, and Soft Shell Crab HR


Then came our special cut rolls. First thing was the Kamikaze Roll ($11.75). It has crab meat and spicy tuna topped with seared salmon and limes. *sigh* I was hoping it was gonna be good, but I wasn't feeling it at all. My first bite, I ate it with the lime (even the skin) and I knew we made a mistake in ordering it. It reminded me of Mexican food. I love Mexican food, but this thing just wasn't right. There was too much rice and stuff, and I just wasn't having it. We barely finished it.

Kamikaze Roll. I'll pass next time.


Last up was the Hurricane Roll ($11.75). It was good. It had some raw salmon on top with crunchy flakes and some sweet sauce.

Hurricane Roll. cool


I think the best thing that night was the Albacore Special. Mostly everything was good. There's other things I wanna try next time. I would definitely come back here-- on a Wednesday. The service was cool. Best part: Total bill $103.65; bill after discount: $51.81. Cha-ching!!!

Happy Hour - Yard House

Monday - Friday: 3pm - 6pm

-half off select appetizers
-all pints $3.25
-well drink $4.25
-house martinis $5.25
-wine by the glass $2.00 off

(at participating locations)

Happy Hour - Banana Bay

Everyday: 10pm - close

-2 for 1 on select cocktails (20%off on all other drinks)
-$2.00 Thai and Domestic Beer
-$2.50 imported beer
-$2.00 off all wine

Misora Sushi - Diamond Bar

Misora Sushi
2040 S Brea Canyon Rd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
(909) 860-27

Decent sushi rolls in the Diamond Bar area. It's in the same plaza as Chuck E. Cheese's. They have Happy Hour Monday-Thursday 3pm-5pm (20% off your meal).

Happy Hour - Black Angus

Mon - Fri: 3pm - 7pm

-half off all appetizers
-half off well drinks
-half off the Classic Martini
-half off wines by the glass
-half off 16 oz. draft beer
-half off Classic Margarita

Cheesecake Factory - Brea

Cheesecake Factory
120 Brea Mall
Brea, CA 92821
(714) 255-0115
Type: Italian food / restaurant / Other
Website
Get directions

Hours:
Mon - Thurs: 11am - 11:30pm
Fri - Sat: 11am - 12:30am
Sun: 10am - 11pm



Another chain restaurant? So what?! If something's good, then why hate? Although I'm not exactly saying that Cheesecake Factory is good, you shouldn't stay away from chains just cuz they're chains. Many times places become chains because... get this-- they're actually pretty good *gasp*. Nobody is gonna open the same restaurant somewhere else if people think the original place sucks. It just doesn't make business sense

So on that note, back to the review.

I've been to Cheesecake Factory a few times. Maybe like 5-7 times overall. Many times it was for a birthday or special occasion. Other times we just felt like eating there. My last time was because I got a $50 gift certificate from my bosses.

Great thing about this place: free bread. Load up on these if you're trying to save money and just get an appetizer or something.

Free brizzead


Another reason I like this place: the calamari ($8.95). The squid's not too thick, and the tartar sauce or whatever it is is great.

calamari


One thing I don't like about some Cheesecake Factorys are there aren't that many booth seats. I like eating and taking my pictures in private. I don't like sitting almost elbow to elbow with strangers when I eat. I know. I should be more social and open. Whatever. This place also can get packed during peak hours, so if you don't have a reservation, expect to wait maybe 15-30 minutes for a seat.

They have a happy hour for the bar menus on weekdays, from maybe 4-6pm.

The crabcake sandwich ($12.95) that I ordered was okay. It was big, but I for surely wouldn't get that again. It tasted better as a leftover when I had nothing else to eat at home.

Crapcake Sandwich... just kidding. It wasn't that bad but not great.


The bistro shrimp pasta ($16.95) was real good the first time I tried it. The two times after that were let-downs. I tried them at different places, and they were not good in their own ways.

Bistro Shrimp Pasta


So, was this chain restaurant worthy of my defense? Maybe for you. I myself wouldn't go back unless I got another GC or it was F-R-E-E. Pricey place. I'll hit up a sushi joint if I feel like spending that much again. Bye bye.

Las Marias - La Puente

Las Marias
1445 N Hacienda Blvd
La Puente, CA 91744
(626) 918-6861
Type: Mexican food / restaurant

Map



Oh man. Another undiscovered gem... til now. Las Marias is on the northern part of Hacienda Blvd. It's in the same plaza as Auto Zone. I think it's been around for a while cuz the sign looks a little old school-ish. The main thing I like about this place is that it's open 24 hours a day. Another reason why I like it is that it's close by to my house. I don't need to drive to Molca Salsa if I'm craving Mexican food in the middle of the night anymore. The last reason why I like the place is that the food's not bad. I can easily say it's the best 24 hour or late night Mexican food place I've been to. They have breakfast dishes, burritos, tacos, meat, and seafood. I've been here twice already and I'm happy to be finally sharing this place with everybody.

So anyways, like many Mexican restaurants, they give you free chips and salsa while you're ordering.

free


The first time I went here I got some kind of fish fillet thing (not the garlic). It was okay. I think that cost about $10 - $12. This time, I decided to get the shrimp burrito (around $8.99). As you can see in the picture, it's pretty big-- although I finished it in one sitting. I wouldn't mind getting it again, but I'll try other things over there first.

Shrimp Burrito


The first time we went here, my girl got the fish fillets with garlic sauce. That was bomb. That also was around $10 or $12. This time she decided to get the garlic fish whole. That was also real good, but I prefer the fillets because it's easier to eat, and there's no bones. I also really liked the taste of it better than the whole fish.

Garlic Fish (whole)


If you're ever in the area of La Puente, West Covina, or Baldwin Park, and you're craving some late night quality-Mexican food, Las Marias is the spot... for now. I'm open to suggestions.