Lemon Grove, CA 91945
(619) 465-7060
Angela: Right after I completed my finals last quarter, I decided to stay in San Diego for a few days to relax and relish in my independence. I slept in, I stayed out, and my boyfriend came to visit. For some reason, we had the biggest craving for fish and chips. We had gone to the all-American "The Studio Diner," located next to an actual filming studio, but found that its beer batter fish&chips was way too heavy and greasy. So we were largely unsatisfied and continued our search for the best fish&chips in So.Cal (because SanFran was too far for immediate satisfaction). We found our way through Yelp recommendations and ended up at Chef John's Fish & Chips.The Korean-family owned restaurant was .. well not spectacular in its image. Being Asian, however, I've never found the look of a place to be very important to the quality of the food. As you can see from the pictures, the portions are fairly large. The price is OK -- not too expensive, but definitely not cheap (its seafood!). As pictured, the condiments they offer are tartar, ketchup, and cocktail sauce. These are kept refrigerated and served with the food. Not pictured, but located on the table, were salt&pepper and malt vinegar. I particularly enjoyed using the malt vinegar and cocktail sauce. The tartar sauce was a bit strong and grainy and gets to be a little too much and over powering. Which leads me to the actual food itself.
This was a pretty untraditional fish&chips. It's not beer battered, but its still deep fried. I think, however, they use a very light batter or coating because it resembles a thick tempura texture. From the menu, I ordered the combo of fish, oysters, and chips (fries). The white fish was fresh and did not taste frozen at all, which I particularly liked because frozen seafood is NOT tasty at all. Although the portion was not as large the The Studio Diner's, it was definitely better in quality and satisfaction. The oysters were GOOD. I usually prefer oysters on the half-shell (which is raw), but the fried oysters were surprisingly .. tasty! It reminded me very much of a Jalapeno Popper: soft and melty on the inside, light and flaky on the outside. The oysters were definitely savory. Yum~! Like I said, I would not recommend the tartar sauce with these because the thickness and creaminess overpowers the light and flaky fish&chips that they serve here. Go with cocktail sauce, or salt/malt vinegar. Without sauce, the fish&chips already carried its own flavor. It was not fishy, but it was definitely seafood. It was not greasy, and it didn't leave my mouth with that filmy feeling I usually get with battered fried foods. I left full and satisfied (warm fuzzy feeling)which was nice on (what I remember to be) a rainy day.
Rating: 7/10
Chris:Right off the bat. I think that this is one of the best fish and chips I have had THUS FAR. seeing as I've only eaten at about three different places total (one being that Diner place Angela mentioned. which IMO tasted horrible). But lets start off with the experience. As you may have heard, Angela and I had this HUGE craving for fish and chips. We tried the diner, but seeing as how it wasn't any good, our cravings weren't fulfilled. We searched on yelp and had found Chef John's Fish and Chips, and we decided that this was the best option, since it had said Fish and Chips right on their name so they must specialize in it.We traveled a good twenty minutes I believe, to get into Lemon Grove which, in my honest opinion, looked like an inexpensive version of Rodeo Drive/Old Town Pasadena. No offense to the locals, just a feeling I got from driving to Chef John's for the first time. Once we got to Chef John's it had looked pretty empty, and I thought to myself, "this place must not be that good," but seeing as how we got this far, might as well give it a shot.
Inside, it looked just like a McDonald's or any fast food joint, with its white walls, colorful plastic chairs, random pictures of random things, soda fountain, and a menu that hangs above the cashier. I glanced over at the menu, and was kind of suprised as to the variety of choices they had. I was only expecting, fish and chips, and maybe like fish burgers, or any other alternatives with fish in it. But these guys were fully loaded! They had clams, oysters, shrimps, scallops and a few other menu items i didnt even know what they were. and their appetizers weren't just fries or cole slaw either (trying hard to remember what they had, but this was a long while back.. so, sorry xp). I decided, why not try a little bit of whatever I can grab without going broke. So I got the Seafood Combination, consisting of Fish, Scallops, Oysters and Fries. They brought it out in little red baskets with paper on top. My guess is they don't want to clean too much and seeing as how it's a small business, I can understand BUT it clumped everything together and was kind of hard to just eat one thing without having to move things around. We also received 3 squirt bottles with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and ketchup. Friendly service as well, even if the cashier's english wasn't so good. But hey, as long as they know what I wanted and was nice about it, that's all that matters. ONWARD TO THE FOOD
By the way, my scale works as a scale from 1-10, 1 being WTF DID I JUST PUT IN MY MOUTH DX, 5 being Decent, not too good, not too bad and 10 being OMFG I WOULD HAVE IT AGAIN RIGHT NOW.
The fish was decent, I mean I wasn't expecting it to be full of flavor and spices, but it wasn't as good as McDonald's Filet o Fish. Tartar Sauce does taste best with it in comparison to the other sauces. Biting into the fried fish was like biting into a tempura. It had a soft flaky but crunchy texture to it with a slight hint of fish flavor. While the fish was kind of bland, it was a lot better than the Diner that's for sure. Oerall for the fish. 6/10
The shrimp was pretty good. Kind of like something you'd find at a Red Lobster, except bigger and with an asian feel to it. I was given three. Biting into it was kind like biting into the fish, except tasting like shrimp. Its not as hard and crunchy like the fried shrimp from Red Lobster and it wasnt as thin crusted as a shrimp tempura. I think it was just right. tasted best with the cocktail sauce, although ketchup worked as well. overall for the shrimp. 7/10 (what can i say.. its shrimp)
Seeing as they only gave me two scallops, and I gave one to Angela, I can't remember too well as to how it tasted. My best guess as of now.. like fried scallop. Overall for the scallops 4/10 just for the amount.
I have saved the best for last, OYSTERS! Now yes I am biased towards oysters, because it is one of my most favorite seafood, but the oysters here were pretty darn good. from the looks of it, it looked like a fried piece of oyster, with a thin crust of batter. but biting into it was a whole different story. It was like someone pulled the pin to a water balloon bomb and shoved it into your mouth. My eyes actually watered, not because it was THAT good (but it was pretty darn good), but because all the juices flowing out of the oyster was pretty hot and unexpected, so warning there. Flavor wise, if you dont like the flavor of oysters, this isn't for you. But if you love it, like me, this was absolutely delicious. it tasted fresh and just like how an oyster should taste, not like they marinated it in salt water. How they kept the moisture inside, is beyond me. But it was so good! I had to refrain from just eating it all right there before finishing the rest of my food. best without any sauce. Overall for the oysters 8.5/10
Overall, Chef John's fish and chips was pretty good. I would go back, if I didn't live in Pasadena and had to drive about two hours just to eat it. But if i was around the area, and craving decently priced fried seafood (which i crave seafood a LOT) I would definitely stop by again.
Rating: 7.5/10
