Torrance Restaurants

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This place has one of the best North Indian buffet spreads in the South Bay. The owner is very pleasant and interacts with the guests making sure everyone is happy. I liked the paintings and decoration in the dining area a lot. My friend says that this a great decently priced place to take someone you want to impress. The environment is quiet and relaxed.

Favorite Dish: All of the Buffet dishes are great. They have so much variety. There are plenty of vegetarian and meat dishes to choose from--many flavors for the tongue. They have some good butter-curries.

Don't forget to try the many creative naan creations they have. Make sure you order the garlic basil naan or the green "spin" naan. If you get those your mouth will be happy even if you don't order another dish.

The only thing I didn't get from this place is a spicy dish.

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Great naan, lots of rice, and spicy hot as hell-well, almost! Al Noor, in the city of Lawndale, is a popular Pakistani establishment but for those who crave the relatively less spicy Indian cuisine, there is much to choose from the menu.

I went here as part of a huge group. We invaded the small family run eaterie and delighted in trying several dishes. Popular dishes include various paneer dishes (cheese), Chicken Tikki Marsala, and kabobs. For those who love creamy and spicy sauces over meats and rice, you will love the slop up the plate here!

Note:

Their mild dishes are on the spicy side. Beware!

Lunch time tends to be very busy. Dinner may be a better option for impatient ones.

Open from 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. (closed on Monday)

Favorite Dish: palak paneer and garlic naan, rich and tasty

The Loft is a Super Popular local Hawaiian place in Torrance. It has a cute decor, hibiscus prints and rattan everywhere! They have really sweet staff and they try their best to get people seated quickly, but boy is it busy!! They are locally famous for having a pretty authentic taste!

Favorite Dish: They are famous for their bacon fried rice (haven't tried it, but the hubby loves it) but I like pretty mush most of their chicken dishes. They serve a lot of Spam-not my thing :)

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After reading a couple favorable reviews and seeing several recommendations to order the torpedo sandwich--my boyfriend and I decided to head to Giuliano's Delicatessen for some sandwiches. Upon arrival at the Gardena location (which people hail as the flagship location w/ much better sandwiches then all the other locations), we were actually quite pleased w/ what we saw upon first glance. We shopped around while waiting for our order and found what should have been the first indications of a serious deli failure. Expired goods (we noticed the sticker labels rubbed off on some of the truffle chocolates there), meats and cheeses in the deli section similar to the things you might find at the deli counter at Ralphs, canned sauces of which none were Italian imports, etc. It was surprising though, there were lots of people there--waiting in line--it took almost 20min for them to make our disgustingly simple and sad sandwiches. We decided to take our order to home and eat it there. After the first bite of my turkey sandwich I realized the mistake I had made. There wasn't any description as to what else was in it, but that was probably because it was literally turkey slices, chopped up lettuce and some tomato inside a heartless baguette. No mayo, no yummy garlic sauce, no mustard, no nothing. The quality of the turkey was average at best. OK, so I figured I had just ordered wrong, but then I saw the torpedo that my boyfriend was eating. It was pretty much the same as mine except that it had a few more different meats inside--all which were pretty blah and tasteless, still not as bad as my turkey sandwich though. At this point, I had already made up my mind that the soup would probably suck too. Well, it wasn't bland, just salty and gummy, half warm and nothing to celebrate about. Personally, I didn't see the difference between this place and subway except that the bread here was marginally better. Please skip Giuliano's Delicatessen, for the love of god!

Favorite Dish: Nothing!

I had all but given up having any sort of good Thai food here in the South Bay having gone to 4 or 5 consecutively bad Thai restaurants (fancy, to-go, Americanized, etc.) in a row over the past few years that I've lived here. Today, I had a serious craving (but didn't want to drive far) so my boyfriend and I decided to give it a go again w/ our hopes not too high given we've had so many bad experiences here. How could a place called "Thai Express" be any good? There were favorable reviews from various places online, but hey, Olive Garden has good reviews sometimes too. BLECK! Once we had gone to the tiny take out restaurant, I noticed the "No MSG" symbol on their menu. I have to admit I was a little distraught--I feel most Asian fast food places that decide to opt out of MSG in their foods fail to make up for it w/ whatever spices they decide to use in place. Oh god. I was so wrong.

To play it safe, we both ordered two pad thais (we asked them to make it spicy as it didn't have a chili pepper symbol next to it) and two thai iced teas. Simply put, this was the best pad thai I've ever had. The ingredients--everything from the shrimp, to the chicken to the bean sprouts on top--were incredibly fresh. I don't think I've ever had ingredients this fresh from a fast food place in my life. Not only that, it had all the right amount of spice--and their noodles are made to order. Next time I'm going back to try out their other dishes--we were way too full after our big lunch to go for much else. Their iced tea was not too bad either--it comes free if you order at least $12 in food.

I'm surprised I couldn't find any reviews for it here--but it was truly delicious and I hope other people go so they can share in the joy. =)

Attached is a picture of their pad thai (that I didn't take) that I found online that prompted me to check it out. So check it out! You won't be sorry.

Favorite Dish: Pad Thai so far--ask for it spicy!

Just a regular pizza place located at the mall (Del Amo, of course). Everytime I've come here, mamma-or whoever it may be behind the counter - always comes through with plain cheese slice done right-NY thin crust, with the right combination of cheese and sauce.

Favorite Dish: cheese slice

This place has great ambiance. Japanese bar food at it's finest (in Torrance, anyways)! It's got a lively atmosphere and a local place we're always up for when it's time for salty snacks and drinks!

Favorite Dish: Their salads are surprisingly good. I'm not normally a salad person, but for this place I just love their sauces and the seafood in it! Gotta love Japanese "salad!"

Very unassuming location, but, don't let that discourage you, you will not be dissapointed. The restaurant is brand new, and is extremely tidy. The sushi bar is very small, if you go with a large group, you will have to sit at a table. But, it will be the quality of the food that will keep you going back. For sake lovers, Hilo carries a wide variety of very tasty rice wines. My favorite is "Onigoroshi", but don't order a glass of it if you are on a tight dinner budget, a few glasses of this stuff will run you more than your fish. But in my opinion, is worth every penny!
A quick tip, that I have always found me well in suhi bars, is to always offer the sushi chef a drink of his/ her choice.
If you are bringing any non-sushi eaters with you, have them try the yellow- tail collar, with "Ponzu" sauce, anybody that likes fish will like this dish. Enjoy!

Favorite Dish: Hilo makes a sashimi roll, wrapped in soy wrap, by far, my favorite dish. It has 3 different kinds of fish, avocado, asparagus and crab, you must try this one. But the Sashimi in general is first rate. Hilo prides himself on originality, challege his talents with a creation of your own.