House of Pong — Restaurant in Claremont

As an Asian, the food in this store is not up to my standards.

Walking in, there is a fat dog sleeping near the door. The inside of the shop is much darker than photos make it seem. There was a bar that takes up like half the store.

We were served water when we came in. We ordered pork gyoza, shrimp yakisoba, chicken wings, mapo tofu, and a salmon rice bowl.

First off, gyoza. It was the worst of all of them. The bottom was burnt to a crisp. It didn't taste that burnt but it was FULLY BLACK. the taste and the texture of the inside was exactly like frozen pre packaged gyoza I can grab from a grocery store. Maybe not even as good. Not made by the store definitely. It was 8$ for 8 small gyoza.

Next, the yakisoba. My dad ordered it and I didn't taste it. The presentation looked great, fancy. It was served in this cast iron plate on top of a wooden plate. It was very audibly sizzling for many minutes before we started eating it. The bottom of the noodles were burnt to a crisp by the time we got to it, which was maybe 3 minutes after it was served. Taste wise my family said it was very mid too, not the kind of flavor from a restaurant that you can't easily make at home.

Chicken wings - the lemon pepper sauce was a little artificial but it wasn't too bad. They are just plain fried wings, no breading, covered in sauce. The serving was very small for 1/2 pound and like 10 dollars.

My mom ordered the mapo tofu. If you are Chinese and want the taste you're used to, DONT GET IT. it's very far from authentic. My mom described it as sour tasting. The rice was a little overcooked so it was too soft and kind of soggy.

The salmon bowl was mine. It came in a massive salad bowl, but there's actually not THAT much food in it. There's lots of that same kind of soggy rice. I had a small strip of grilled salmon. Crispy but bland. It was just salty with some soy sauce on it. No other flavor. Sauce was good but not great. Overall very bland. Literally not restaurant quality considering the price I paid for that tiny bit of salmon and lots of cheap rice and veggies.

I must add, our server was very nice. She came and checked on us like 5 times during our stay. I must give some kudos to her memory! She memorized our entire order and didn't need to...

Food is not bad, but small portion.

Wished we got better service though. We requested non-breakable plates for our baby twice, but twice the server did not give an update. It’s understandable if they don’t carry non-breakable dinnerware, but we’re puzzled why the server would not let us know either way and left us hanging. Mind you, we were one of the three tables at the time. The restaurant was not busy at all. Maybe the server was simply forgetful. (The server was not Carmen FYI).

The lunch menu could use better descriptions. We ordered wonton noodles, thinking it is a dry dish, but it came with soup. When verified with the server, the server said to look at the picture. But the picture showed a dark bowl and it’s impossible to see if there’s soup — the dark picture also misled me into thinking the noodles were mixed in dark sauce. The menu should just update the wording to clarify soup or dry noodles for all noodle options.

Lastly, we had to leave soon after the food arrived because our baby was fussy, and asked to take out instead. The redeeming factor up to this point was the server offered to pack them for us. However, the packing simply did not consider the quality of food when eating at home. The wonton noodles and soup were packaged in one bowl; by the time we reached home 15 mins later, the noodles were soggy. We also ordered the crispy pepper fish on the Special menu, but it was packed without any holes poked in the to-go box. Again, by the time we ate at home, the breading is the dish already became soggy as well. Because of this, I wouldn’t trust them to pack take-outs well.

All in all, food taste was not bad. However would not return due to food portion and...

First off let me say that I wish I would have asked the name of the woman who served me because she was on the ball! She checked on me attentively and sincerely, and was quick to refill my drinks without me asking. I appreciate the decor and ambiance of the place its cozy yet sophisticated on top of having a bar and patio makes for a really nice touch and good look especially for a date. Wink, wink! There's some interesting food options to choose from being that it's Asian Fusion, although, I went for something a bit more on the healthier side, a chicken bowl. The veggies weren't soggy and had the right amount of crisp, but something about the chicken was a let down; I just can't put my finger on why - maybe overcooked, not juicy enough, or lacked seasoning, regardless I still enjoyed it and would probably order it again. I do look forward to trying other items or even stopping in to get a drink while reading a book off my phone or watch whatever they have playing on the tube. The bathroom is a bit cramped, but whaddya gonna do, it's an older building and room is limited, however it was spectacularly clean so that made up for the lack of space. Next time I visit I hope I'm served by the same woman; I'll be sure to get her name become she was...