This place gets busy sometimes - mostly when the Redwood next door is closed on wed/thurs! We all decided we would try this asian eatery at The Cal casino.
We decided to do family style so we could all taste the dishes:
Kal bi: not like home in Hawaii, sorta dry and missing garlic overtones
Vermicelli salad Vietnamese style: nice blend of flavors with moist chicken morsels and a variety of greens
Pad Thai: Very similar to Honolulu style, not too saucy with tight noodles. If Pad Thai is soggy, it is the worse. This one hit it.
Ban Chan: three sides - watercress, bean sprouts and a RED Kim Chee! All ok, but kind of skimpy. Maybe it just came with the Kal Bi plate?
Pork Ribs: Yummy Ono. Very meaty. Maybe too meaty? Gotta have some fat on the ends of the ribs!
Chinese Chicken Salad: Very weird. It was like what you normally expect from CCS but the chicken was katsu style. I prefer shredded moist chicken in my CCS!
Hamachi Kama: The winnah. We fought over this one and would have ordered another except that it came out last so we were full. Big Hamachi collar with crunchy skin and moist inside - just how grandma would make. Ponzu sauce added just the right amount of spice to the collar.
Staff was super friendly and helped each other out with our table. Half of them seemed like they are local Hawaii transplants from the look and the rhythmic overtones and pidgin inflections. And they responded to "all Pau"!
The only factor that made this a four star was that a couple of us got MSG twinges a few hours later. Asian food does tend to have MSG, but maybe it was a little heavy here, since it was more than just one person.
Next time more Hamachi - less Kal Bi!