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Food Porn Friday

Food Porn Friday | Oc and Lau | Garden Grove

 It’s been mighty chilly with the cold front creepin’ up on SoCal so we’re warming you up with some hotpot and Vietnamese pub food today!

Oc and Lau

10130 Garden Grove Blvd | Ste 111-113 | Garden Grove, CA 92844 | (714) 636-2000
Brought to you by Oc and Lau, the latest installment of the nhau joints that’s poppin’ up everywhere in Bolsa lately.  Except they don’t serve alcohol (no beer/no wine/ NO fun) but nothing a little brown bag can’t alleviate (sshhhhh you didn’t hear that from me hehe). Aside from the super long wait, the Paris by Night videos playing in the background (cải lương all night long baby), and the hoard of customers table-gawking your meal while they watch and wait, I’d say Oc and Lau is HIGH up there on my foodie hitlist and here’s why:

On the Menu

 

The HITS

(From top to bottom: Butter garlic spotted escargot on a sizzling platter, sautéed razor clams, Cold Gizzard salad, Spicy chili chicken wings, Mango salad with squid, Sizzling steak, French style steak with macaroni side, and namesake Spicy Thai Seafood Hotpot).

The MISSES

Crunchy skillet rice with Chinese sausage- wayyyy too burnt on the bottom, the shredded pork is of poor quality (akin to cheapy store-bought brands instead of homemade versions), and the sausage was cold which coagulated all the fat. Sooooo bad and it’s one of my faves to order at these type of restaurants too.

Fried eggful fish (with smelt roe)- sooooo dang fishy you’d have thought they just plucked this sucker from the sea. My #1 pet peeve at any Asian restaurant is when I can taste the old (often rancid) oil that they’ve used to deep fry these dishes. That foul taste can linger from plate to plate so thank god we ordered this last or else it would have ruined my entire palate.

Know Before You Go

They don’t accept reservations after 6pm so plan accordingly if you’re going with a large group. With long lines and an average wait time of 1hr regardless of your party size, it helps to have someone arrive ahead of time to put your name down. There’s Volcano tea and a cute little café next door so you can relax and grab some boba while waiting for your friends. This is definitely NOT a place to just hang and chill while you’re dining since the food comes out at a lightning quick pace and they tend to bum rush you outta there for a quicker turnaround. Did I also mention the service friggin’ SUCKS!?!! Such a travesty when the food is so bomb.*

If the service is horrible, but the food is incredible, would it be worth the visit?
Comment below!

Bon appétit mes amis!

 

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11 Comments

  3. Sharlynn Ng Reply

    Those salads above look damn delicious, I can't resist anything with a sweet and sour sauce. It's too bad the rice was so burnt and you could smell the old oil! that's a huge thing, everything that goes through that fryer is going to end up with that horrid smell!

  11. Linh Vo Reply

    Hey Julie! Thanks for visiting my blog. This place looks delicious! I gotta give it to you guys in CA, you have amazing Vietnamese food. I was there a few months ago but didn't get to try too many places. Will need to check this place out when I go back to visit. 🙂
    Linh
    http://abeautifulrawr.com

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