Well first off I am so glad they opened a nice sit down enjoy each other's company style Filipino restaurant near us. (Kusina ni Lorraine is good but the whole mixed with a market just kills it for me). we only ate the Filipino side not the Vietnamese side. I'll l be reviewing all the things we ate. I had brought my family of 4 here. And let me tell you, plenty of food to bring for baon.
Item #1 Binagoonan Fried Rice - I wish I had a picture! The taste was just amazing and with bits and pieces of really crispy lechon running around the rice was a song in my mouth! Definitely a must try! The waitress said its about 3 scoops of rice. NO, it's a lot more! Enough to feed all 4 of us AND have left overs.
Item #2 Bulalo soup - It was almost as good as my dads and grandpas. But it definitely was neck and neck. The meat was so tender melt in your mouth! The vegetables were soft but still had their bite. Not to salty but the broth definitely had that good flavor. It was just really good.
Item #3 Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa -This is my moms specialty! She makes it all the time and is definitely proud of her Ginataang. But a few bites into this and even my mom said it was better than hers! The Squash was just nice soft, the shrimp was cooked perfectly, the coconut sauce was just creamy, the green string beans were still crisp and not soggy which was a huge plus. It was very yummy!
Item #4 Bistek Tagalog - I'm not a big fan of Bistek but my brother is and he hate half of the portion that was given to us. His only complaint was that the onions were just placed on the plate not necessarily grilled or cooked like he is usually used to. And the onions are his favorite part because that sweet bite of onion plus that savory from the melt in your mouth beef would've just gone all together.
Item #5 Kare Kareng Oxtail (My FAVORITE & my moms #1 specialty) - the oxtail fell right of the bone! I love to just eat the bone clean off the meat! You were able to use your fork to pick the meat off. But because I am so filipino I ate with my hands and cleaned the meat till that bone was naked. The peanut buttery sauce was good but wasn't as peanut buttery as I would like. My he tripe was my favorite part. The eggplants were nice and soft and yummy! The only part I would've liked if they added some crushed up peanuts to add some texture to it and that's how my mom does it. But no complaints we all devoured it!
Overall I gave LJ's a 4/5 because of the small complaints that my brother had about the Bistek and I had of the Kare Kareng Oxtail.
This is a great place to bring your family. And it is definitely family friendly. They have TVs around no sound which is fine because you're their to eat not stare at a TV. And if you can't read the scores or headlines then you need to go back to school.
Our total bill was $70! And we had so much food to take home! I think what really impressed me about this place is that my parents said they have a new go to place when they don't want to cook because they really enjoyed the food. They could taste how it was well seasoned and fresh and fast! Me and my brother love food so it was soooooo good to us.
SHOUT OUT TO MY NAIL LADY KATIE AT NAIL TECH LV FOR TELLING ME ABOUT THIS PLACE! It didn't disappoint at all!!!
*** Every main dish you order you get 1 scoop of rice!