Chào XO Kitchen — Restaurant in National City

I was so excited for the first Asian Latin Fusion restaurant in San Diego that serves dishes like Lomo saltado shaken fries, Tom Yum pasta, and birria. These dishes have been trendy for years in other parts of SoCal and Bay Area and I was looking forward to not having to travel hours for them.

When I found out Chào XO was participating in SDRW, I immediately made plans with my SO to try their dinner menu. In my excitement, I invited some friends, but in the end I'm glad they didn't come or else I would've felt bad for them spending so much time and money to trek to the other side of town for a lackluster meal.

Restaurant decor: the design and decor of the restaurant is very modern and chic. Love the large modern art around, the furniture, and the grassy/leaves.

Service: friendly and professional, a little bit slow for our food to come out on a Saturday night (25-30 min). One of our entrees came first before any of our appetizers did. Because we were starving, we dug in without waiting for the appetizers.

Birria Truffle Fries: Surprisingly big serving size for an appetizer. The meat was so soft and perfectly seasoned (not too salty). The truffle flavor oil was nice and not overpowered. Unfortunately the tragic flaw of this dish was that the fries were so soggy from the sauce it was sitting in. The fries could use a little more cooking (current state like In-N-Out's fries). Another suggestion would be to have the birria consume sauce on the side, instead of all over the fries.

Tom Yum Pasta: allergen alert it contains shrimp! I could not tell from the menu that it had any protein in it, but was pleasantly surprised that it came with large succulent shrimps. The shrimps were perfectly cooked--juicy with a nice chew. The linguine was Al dente and the sauce was delightfully cheesy. The presentation was fantastic as it came out sizzling on a hot plate. Where it fell short was there was 0 Tom Yum flavor. Not a hint of sour, tamarind, or herbs like galangal or kaffir like leaf. As a pasta dish, this was stellar, but don't expect Tom Yum.

Lomo Saltado: Filet mignon Beef: delicious and tender, a little bit too salty. Rice: a little dry, but it was necessary to even out the saltiness of the beef. Big serving size. Fries: like in the birria truffle fries, undercooked and not crispy. Big serving size. Cilantro sauce: Tasty! My favorite part of this dish.

Fresa con cream: this was a surprise that it came out purple/ube when the menu didn't indicate so. It came with sliced strawberry and plenty of cream. Sweet, but not too sweet and balanced from the tart strawberry. Presentation: beautiful color, in a margarita cup with a purple orchid.

Overall the food concepts were good, presentation was fantastic, and ambience was pleasant, but executions fell short: Underdone soft/soggy fries, salty saltado meat and dry rice, and misleading menu.

But a positive note was that the food wasn't too oily/heavy, which led to a light-feeling stomach despite the...

This hot & new restaurant was highly recommended by fellow foodie friends of ours. We decided to try it based on their suggestion, and coincidentally discovered that it was their Grand Opening (they were open shortly before preparing for their big opening). They had many of their appetizers & entrees available to sample for free and we got to try a good portion of their menu. We were so full after sampling their featured items that we only ordered their Kare Curry (their version of a popular Filipino peanut butter flavored dish) and one Golden Fried Bao (a deep friend Cha Siu Bao). We had previously sampled the Kare Curry (vegetarian version) and thought it was their best item by far! It was delicious, but the chuck roast isn't as tender and fall-off-the-bone as oxtail (how it's served in its traditional Filipino style cuisine). I also prefer my Kare Curry more soup-like than thicker & pasty (only so the flavor can seep through the rice than stay atop my rice. This doesn't discount the dish at all, the flavor is still AMAZING. I'd probably order the vegetarian version at my next visit. Next is the Golden Fried Bao and it was also delicious! The chef who thought to fry a Siu Bao that's already tasty is a genius! We loved it! Would've ordered 4 if we were hungry enough. Service was to be expected for a new restaurant trying to get all their things together. Our server was very nice and pleasant, the owner who initially greeted us and thanked us for dining at her restaurant was super friendly and hospitable. You definitely get the feeling of "family" at her restaurant. Restrooms were spotless. Dining room was spacious & open for the square footage of the area.

Other items we sampled which we would highly recommend are: Coconut Ceviche, Garlic Noodles, Spicy Birria Wonton, Spring Rolls, Egg Rolls, Sriracha Elote, and the Pandan Halo (dessert). Favs were the Kate Curry, Golden Fried Bao, Garlic Noodles, & Pandan Halo. We'll try their BeefPho, Birria Ramen, and Tumeric Fish Taco the next time we dine here. Chào XO Asian Fusion is an Asian woman owned small business. Everyone knows how hard it is to start up a small business, especially in a highly competitive food industry. Seriously, this spot is one of the best new restaurants to open. I guarantee you'll love the food served here! Give them a try, you'll be hooked as...

Chao XO is Latin Asian fusion. This place did not meet my expectations at all. We came on a Saturday within the first hour of opening and they already ran out of crab congee. Also, the kitchen failed to make rice early because our 2 entrees came out without rice. After 20 mins without rice, we packed up the remaining food and asked them to box the rice to-go when it’s ready.

The only items I can vouch for are the drinks. We got pandan horchata and egg coffee. Both really good. The egg coffee was strong and even after mixing the egg custard, it was still strong.

We ordered:

-Lomo saltado ($19+$5) 5/5: We added filet mignon which was tender. This was the only dish that I would recommend. The fries and meat had great bold flavor.

-Kare curry ($22) 1/5: A Filipino beef stew dish and it was poorly executed. The thick peanut sauce tasted like the peanut dipping sauce for spring rolls. It was overly sweet and too much peanut butter. The green beans were old because the texture was chewy and exterior wrinkly. It was not fresh and didn’t have that crips snap when you bite into it. The egg plant was the only thing I ate.

-Garlic noodles ($17+$3) 2/5:This was so bland and needed salt. We added salmon as the protein and asked for lemon. The salmon was perfectly cooked but noodles needed seasoning.

-Sweet Chili Wings ($16) 3/5:Not bad, decent size. It had cojita cheese which I’m not a fan but I wasn’t able to taste it.

-Birria pho ($18) 4/5:I had home made birria the night before at a Mexican bday party and I have to say, the broth tasted the same and it was high in flavors. It’s basically birria with pho noodles. Almost like Vietnamese bò kho beef stew dish. I wouldn’t order this again because it’s really fatty. It was worth a try.

Had some failed dishes and some decent dishes. Portion size is more like tapas so best to order family style to share.

The ambiance and decor has that indoor outdoor feel. They have a beer license but not liquor. All the drinks are mocktails. Feels like they are missing a tv for sports but that would change the atmosphere.

Overall, presentation of each dish was outstanding and beautifully plated and garnished. But don’t judge a book by its cover because it was lacking flavors. 2.5 stars, rounding to 3 with room for growth if they can be consistent with flavors and prep...