A-1 Chinese BBQ

Back again almost after a year. After having tried so many restaurants I have to say it’s easier to pick the best since they are not common.
The best dish here is not the peking duck. The house special crispy noodle and basil lamb hotpot are two solid favorites of mine. With that said I will be back to sample more dishes, hopefully with a bigger crowd.

To those of you understand TAIWANESE FOOD, this place has the most authentic flavor in the Southbay. Yes, there are other competitors via 60 E or 10E the silk routes to Monterrey Park or Alhambra.
However, where we live by the BAY AREA, here in the Southbay in particular, A1 is second to none.
Please understand, TAIWANESE FOOD has a particular flavor that you have to acquire a taste for them, unlike the more popular mainland dishes and Cantonese dishes.
One thing I am disappointed is that they stop serving SMELLY TOFU. It is my favor dish from Taiwanese cuisines. A1 establishment decided to remove it from their menu after public complain of the smell. Again, it is an acquired taste, kind of like your blue cheese.
Enjoy
Emerson Lee

Being here for lunch a few times. The owner is very nice and service is good. The flavors of the dishes are similar to those of Guangdong or Taiwan styles. It’s much better than American Chinese restaurants (Mongolia beef, Orange chicken etc…) but I sometimes felt bland (need salt maybe)

Another hole in the wall that turns out good and pretty authentic food. Most are Chinese and some are Taiwanese specific. Apparently if you call ahead (like a day or two), you can order some specialties as well. Reasonable price. Will go back.

Good Chinese food is hard to find in the South Bay. The food here is authentic and not overly greasy. They have a large variety of types of Chinese food and even have roast and Peking duck. The servers here are very friendly and not afraid to give suggestions.
Reservations are recommended because it’s small inside.

Food is Delicious & reasonably priced.
Soup bowls are large, generous, & tasty.
Entrees are excellent; not excessively greasy; or over spiced with salt or MSG.
This is a favorite secret spot for Chinese food!
*Owner’s are also very friendly!

Very decent authentic Chinese foods, good service. The foods were more on Sichuan style than Cantonese. One of the better Chinese foods in South Bay area.

I stumbled upon this hole-​in-​the-​wall joint which is a lot better find than any combo Chinese fast food takeouts located in strip malls. They have more parking with their own parking lot. And when you read through their menu, it’s quite extensive comparable to any of my favorites in Chinatown or the San Gabriel Valley. Did I mention that they have some Taiwanese favorites as well? They have about 10 tables and around 30 – 40 person capacity. Most of the tables were occupied by one person each table for four eating a bowl of noodles soup. I was excited that a deli was available. Although no hanging peking duck or steamed chicken complete with their heads intact were in sight. I ordered roast pork, they said they have none, congee they said they were out, then fried rice with dried fish, the waitress said that they were out of dried fish. The one who waited on me could be the owner and there was another one who could be her husband. I finally asked if they had wonton noodle soup. Yes they have it. It came out after a few minutes. Savory broth, fresh green vegetables, moist barbequed pork, fresh button mushroom. Definitely a notch better than most of the average spots in Chinatown. I highly recommend and will be back in Lomita once my company send me in these part of the Southland to meet my clients.

Since the restaurant was changed hands, we have visited it 5 times and enjoyed the foods tremendously. At the most recent visit, we noted that the menu has been redesigned in a better way. We loved their specials like House Specialty Fish (招牌魚塊), Meat Dumpling in Chili oil (紅油炒手), Braised Pork Ball in Brown Sauce (or in Soup) (獅子頭), Spicy Stewed Pork (五更腸旺, $ 12.95), Stirred Fried Lamb with Basil (三杯羊肉, $ 14.95). We have not yet tried their famous Peking Duck. Some of their Taiwanese Special like Tainan Dantze Noodle Soup (台南担仔麵), was a total failure (We have suggested they took it out of the menu, they will). The small restaurant seating in the corner of Pacific Coast HWY and Eshelman Ave, but only can be reached through PCH, very easy to be missed. We had no complaint about their service. They were so busy, acceptable. You have to visit it.

I am almost reluctant to write this review because this place is so small, and already very popular, but it is a gem. The food is outstanding, even if the restaurant looks like a dive! Just finished another excellent meal here — Peking duck, A1 special crispy noodles and seafood stone pot are delicious. Two other noteworthy things about this restaurant. They don’t serve alcohol but let you BYO. A year ago, we called in advance and asked them to buy two Dungeness crabs for a New Year meal. Crabs can be hard to find on Jan 1, but they found them and prepared them perfectly (sautéed with garlic and other seasonings). Like I said, truly a gem.

Little hole in the wall that has become my go to for Chinese food cravings. The food ranges from authentic to Americanized from Peking duck to general tao’s chicken. The Peking duck is fatty and delicious with served with sauce and buns. The mapo tofu is seasoned well but lacking meat in the sauce that I’m used to. Grabbed a lunch special beef and broccoli to go and it was good portioned, hot and tasty.

My mom recommended me this place saying it was pretty authentic Chinese food. I admit I was a little skeptical… as I’m not the biggest fan of Chinese food. But I was not disappointed at all! It’s a small hole in the wall type of restaurant. Nothing fancy or outstanding to draw in customers. There was limited seating as the place is really small. But you could tell the regulars were here quite often. We came right when it opened and pretty soon by noon it was a full house.
I didn’t feel like traveling all the way to Chinatown for Peking Duck and Honey Walnut Shrimp as I’ve been craving it forever. To my surprise they had both items on the menu! We ordered those two dishes, in addition to the orange peel chicken and sautéed string bean. All in all, it was a really delicious meal. Our waitress was super nice as well. Overall a cute Mom and Pop place. I definitely will be back to try their other dishes!

A-​1 Chinese BBQ changed owner a while back. So after my horrible experience with the previous owner, I felt it was time to update my review. Great news, the place is still a homey little place but with way more friendly service and a much cleaner dining room.
I came here expecting some good old fashion homestyle Cantonese cooking but alas the new owners are not Cantonese. The good news is they have a more diverse menu, with some Cantonese dishes. The food is not bad and definitely worth another try.
Next time? Will have to give a number of their non-​Cantonese dishes a try. Stay tune.

Quaint «mom and pop» shop with authentic quality Chinese food.
Ordered: Beef chow fun, salt and pepper fish, steamed pork dumplings (made fresh in house with great chew on the dumpling skin), and chilled jellyfish – Everything we ordered hit the spot.
The boss (sweet olé’ lady) was very friendly and will definitely be going back!

The staff here are very nice and the food came out fast. There is a $ 20 minimum for credit card.
1. House special pan fried noodles: the noodles were nice and crispy. The sauce was okay. I have tried other places in the area for this same dish and the sauce seems to be the same as well.
2. Beef with broccoli: For some reason I didn’t get any rice. This is my first time here so maybe I need to order the rice separately? Or they just forgot it. Not sure…
3. Minced beef soup: good as expected

Excellent !!!
Everyone always say’s «I know a good Chinese spot» and they take you to that place with the fish tank somewhere near Montebello, Monterey park, or Alhambra.
Well this place is a small hole in the wall in Harbor city area and with no fish tank, (to be dead honest this place LOOKS like a S#!T hole) but…
The food tastes AMAAAZIIIIIIIIING!!! I’m not a writer so I can’t really tell you the details how it tastes but the flavor is great here. GREAT!
Here is a list of my AMAZING favorites there. (Cant go wrong ordering these …)
Water chest w/​garlic stir fry: so good! Vegetables never tasted so good, I can make a meal out of just this and rice.(ok maybe a plate with meat is needed) but i end up doing more veggies than meat when I order this plate.
Sautéed string beans: Crisp!!! and full of flavor!!!
Hot braised shrimp: ALLOT of shrimp, sweet and garlicky.
A1 house special fish fillet: AMAZING! (Wife says it’s amazing also) Some sort of white cod deep fried and sauced up to PERFECTION with tiny bits of jalapeño. one of their signature items!!! a MUST GET!!! Not my style to order fish at a restaurant BUT Im so glad I did, from now on, this is a must get item for me and my family.
Preserved pork with leek:(wife’s favorite also) bit on the salty side, but of course it is, its thick cuts of cured bacon stirfried with leek (big green onions)
Beef with flat noodle:(wife isn’t too excited about this dish) big tender pieces of beef and tons everywhere. I’m a big fan of flat noodle but maybe next time I’ll drop this plate and try the Taiwanese sausage. (But wife agrees, this plate isn’t bad!) I just happen to love flat noodle and this one is good!
After eating the food here, I dont think I want to eat Chinese anywhere else.
If this place did DIMSUM? I would never have to go to the Alhambra area ever again.
The service here is FAST but great! They’re fast because they have to be, it’s a small place, they have other people waiting.(deal with it, don’t be a B! TC#) But I love the service here!!! Thank you for always taking care of us.

This place is a little hole in the wall restaurant on PCH. It can accommodate about thirty people which shows how tiny the place is. It can be very easy to miss so pay attention!
The Peking Duck was delicious! It was juicy, tender and flavorful. AND the skin was perfectly crispy. The Salt and Pepper Shrimp is really good too!
This place is the perfect spot for a quick Chinese meal!

Haven’t been to this place in 15(?) yrs. since moving to Orange Co. Happy to say the food is still phenomenal !! Asked whether they were the same owners. Changing hands in 2013. DON’T LET THE OUTSIDE FOOL YOU! It’s still VERY small (8 tables). The food is GREAT!
Ages ago they sold cha shu, roast duck, etc. which is gone now.
I ordered salt & pepper squid (crispy not greasy), clams with basil (tried something different than my usual black bean sauce), & seafood tofu hot pot (clay pot yumminess). Really terrific food. So happy I stopped in. Will surely come again when I’m in the area.

Great little Chinese restaurant off of PCH. Be careful, it can be hard to miss on the busy street. There are not many tables in the restaurant, and during lunch hours there are always people waiting outside. We came on a Sunday night for dinner to order the Peking Duck. $ 26 for a whole Peking duck. what a steal! The second the waitress heard us speak about Peking duck, she walked over to confirm that we wanted it and immediately placed the order. apparently the duck takes additional prep time. The Peking duck dish itself was great. It was a good sized portion with plenty of meat and not too much fat. The skin was perfectly crisp and was accompanied with buns, not pancakes.
We already tried the soy sauce chicken, which was not so great. The service was received was very good. All of the staff was very polite and attentive. Overall, our experience was great and I will definitely be back to get the Peking Duck.

New ownership, but it might just be the best Chinese food around the South Bay.
Ownership constantly change for Chinese food in this area, and with the latest change, A-​1 has been renovated, just slightly, and menu gone through quite a change.
Lots of Taiwanese food on the menu now, like three cups chicken and spicy wonton. They still have the Cantonese BBQ and the rice plate combos, although I didn’t get to try it on the most recent visit. There’s also the Cantonese dishes, and your typical Szechwan style dishes.
The dishes we ordered were Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice, Salted Fish with Gai-​lan, Stir-​Fry Stink Tofu, Spicy Fish, and String Beans. The most interesting was definitely the stinky tofu. They cut the sthinky tofu into strips, fried, then stir fried really quick with jalapenos, pickled daikon, garlic and shrimp flakes. Sorta similar to your salt & pepper dishes, except with a Taiwanese flair.
All the other dishes were actually quite tasty, although a bit salty and greasy. The string bean is probably the best around here, and the fried rice was good compared to other spots. Again, greasy, but at least it is not greasy and bland!
The meal ended with a sweet red bean soup, which was nice.
Portions were adequate. Price is somewhat average for this area too.
The place is still super small and it seems to be doing quite well in the 3 months since it has changed owners. Will be exploring more of the menu!