Nature Pagoda — Restaurant in San Gabriel

Canto Clay Pot, Herbal Medicinal Soups, and drinks. I think the quality has decreased over time. Maybe not enough eaters know how to eat for healthy anymore like back in the days? I visited this restaurant a very very long time ago for turtle soup. Supposedly the best turtle soup back back back in the day. So wished I could like this place for it's herbal and medicinal dishes.

The SO came back from a hardcore camping trip with some wheezing, snoring, etc. It's not covid. I wanted replenishing, anti inflammatory ingredients that could help cool down, heal but still nourish the body. Prices for medicinal type of food and drinks cost more due to many times prices of ingredients to how long it takes to cook a soup.

S2. Ginseng with Black Chicken Soups for Health (花旗參炖烏雞 Sam Hoa Ky ham gaac Canh Duong Sinh) $15.99. :( Pretty small in size and looks like leftovers of black chicken. But guess I can't be picky since it's a pretty expensive dish normally, and not made at menu places? Or maybe it's better to dine-in for some of these dishes? I was stuck picking between ginseng or cordyceps flower. A quick google search showed ginseng replenishes (immunity, memory, support stress response) and cordyceps being increased stamina/boosting (lungs, kidneys, liver, intestinal). Easy choice for me to pick ginseng just as an overall booster. Dessert could help with the lungs instead. We also don't have any blood thinning issues so either would be fine for us.

Clay Pots -- Add $3.25 for Egg, Sausage, Taro, or bamboo. H 17. COMBO CLAYPOT RICE (beef, chicken, Chinese sausage, vegetables). $15.99 I chose the above vs H4. Chicken with Lily Flower & Fungus Clay Pot Rice, comes spicy $14.99. I'll have to try this next time.

D10. Steamed Pear with White Fungus Dessert (川貝銀耳炖雪梨 Xuyen boi chung le) $7.50 Can be drank hot or cold. I like it cold. My mom would not approve that though. This came in a pretty small half or 1/4 size styrofoam bowl. This was okay. I'm glad it wasn't overly sweet but it was still sweeter than what I expected for an herbal medicinal place.

T7. Cough Drink Tra xuyen boi lo. $7.50 Can be drank cold or hot. It's bitter. I've drank it before. It tastes a bit like water down...

Not a bad spot for clay rice pot. I've driven by this restaurant for so many years without realizing what they served here. I came to know the name thanks to the sisters from HangryDiary when they mentioned this restaurant is their favorite for rice pot. Hailing from Hong Kong, I love all types of clay rice pots, especially the crispy rice on the bottom. So going into Nature Pagoda, I had high expectations as to their taste.

I came here alone on a Monday afternoon and it was very quiet. There were only 2 other tables occupied by groups but the workers had a lot of time on their hands. I ordered their lunch portion preserved meat rice pot, which also came with a small soup. I don't know the exact name but it tasted a lot like chicken soup with winter melon but I could be wrong. Once the pot came out, I waited a couple minutes before digging in because I wanted the rice at the bottom to get even crisipier so that I can struggle and dig for it at the end of the meal.

Overall taste was just okay; the soy sauce they provided was more on the salty side and not sweet enough. Soy sauce for this dish needs to be dark and sweet in order to fully enjoy it. The amount of meat was less than abundant but then again, it was a lunch portion. The part I was longing for was a disappointment though. Not enough crispy rice at the end but there still was some so enjoy at least, which is why I gave this place a four. I honestly believe I would come back and try other dishes in the future but I'll just stick to a different restaurant for my clay rice pots because I get a lot more...

Highlights: Really great food, servers are nice and respectful, good price for the amount of food, cool dishes and cool green chopsticks

Detailed review: Never been here until last week and what a great food find the place looked like a restaurant in NYC or somewhere else that didn't have that LA look which in my opinion was refreshing

Food: I got the rice and pork ribs with sausage in a cool clay pot that Ive never seen before. The rice was really flavorful and fluffy and soft . The ribs were nice a tender with some mildy sweet sauce. And the best part was the sliced sausage it was delicious and savory I wish it came with a little bit more but the amount of food was enough for me to be satisfied and full. They also give you some herbal tea instead of water which I liked cause it was different then having soda or plain water, the water was well purified and didn't taste like LA tap water.

Service: Servers were nice and friendly my order did take a bit to arrive but I don't mind because it's not a common dish to make and the business looks like a mom and pop restaurant so please be patient with food and the employees don't expect fast food time at a sit down restaurant.

Price: I think the price for the meal and the service is within its price and not a wallet breaker unless you get more than one dish. One dish of the order I got can probably feed two average people I'm a big dude and it satisfied me

Thank you for reading my review I hope you get to read...