Man, has Facing East been open almost 6 months now? They created a bit of a buzz when they first opened with Mary, Jinxi (BTW, hope all works out for you Jinxi!), Faye, and Kirbie making their way to the site that used to be Dede's for over a decade. I actually made 3 visits in the first 4 months and each time left shaking my head…..not quite sure what was going on here. Granted, these were lunch visits, but each was uniquely odd….and each was made with friends; the first two with "C" and "YZ" who both have Shanghai connections, both were really interested in the somewhat faddish version and conventional versions Xiao Long Bao, the last with "W and A", whom I ran into in the parking lot….we ended up sharing a not so good lunch together.
Each took over an hour for lunch. The first time we went we got there at 1145, the open sign was on, but he place was completely dark. We waited a bit and walked in….turns out the front of house staff hadn't shown up yet and we were shown to a table, where we cooled our heels sitting in the dark, until staff showed up at noon.
By my second visit, word had gotten out and the place filled up really quickly. Lunch took about an hour and a half and of course the staff could feel the pressure. We saw several of our dishes head to wrong tables before making its way to us and we had one dish delivered that we hadn't ordered. The saddest thing was this dude who I could see was getting agitated waiting for his XLB. But this….well, let's be polite…guy….well two of his servers were guys and he held his tongue. Then the young lady went over to bring him his XLB and he totally unloaded on her, screaming and swearing. Of course, he wouldn't do that to any of the guys; he waited until the tiny young lady came along. 
The third visit….lunch took two hours and I realized that I was done with the place for a while. In current state this means the difference between a ten hour day and a possible twelve hour day. Still, for some reason I decided not to do a post. I held my tongue until a few weeks ago; a fourth visit, which will be at the end of the post.
Facing East has an interesting "fusiony" and somewhat ambitious menu with everything from Tacos Al Pastor (on our first visit, we found that the family has a Chinese Restaurant in Ensenada), which I think is now off the menu, to Chicken Karaage, to a somewhat "Bo Luc Lac-ish" Filet Mignon with Rice, and Kimchi (and cheese!) Fried Rice.
Anyway, I'm sure you're most interested in the food. Here's a summary of what I had during my first three visits, first to worse.
Interestingly, the best dish I had…even "YZ" enjoyed it was a version of Mei Cai Kou Rou.
The pork belly was just tender enough, the soy-sugar ratio was good in the sauce; the preserved vegetable was tender and not too salty. The rice was a bit on the dry side but this wasn't bad at all.
The Chicken Karaage was interesting. As the batter was more of a lacquer – crunchy, "toriten" style and the chicken was served in a sweet-vinegar style sauce which went well with the fried chicken.
The chicken was moist, the flavors, while teetering on salty, was balanced out by that dressing.
The best XLB I've had here…..I've had it twice, is the (almost) Foie Gras, basically a goose liver version of the bao. Another thing of note; I've had 6 orders of the XLB here……in each order there was at least one XLB that had leaked.
Also of note; several times, the top knot of the XLB was hard. Also, and I find the XLB here lacking in soup and the pork versions are rather tough. I think the foie gras adds enough of that slightly livery-rich flavor to offset some of the shortcomings.
The chicken wings could have been a winner; it was crunchy and moist.
But on both occasions I've had this; they were way too salty. You basically couldn't taste anything else in spite of the five spice sprinkled on the wings.
Taking a totally different road from the fried chicken; the Cured Meat Rice Kettle was really bland, the gailan under cooked, there was not enough sauce, and the rice at the bottom of the kettle was rock hard.
There is of course, the Squid Ink – Black Truffle XLB.
Which does make quite an impression visually. The skins on these had a bit of a strange texture to both "C" and I. There was also not enough "soup" in these. Yes, truffle oil flavor, but not much else…oh, and I tried eating these in the traditional style with ginger and black vinegar…man, that was a mistake. 2 of the 10 XLB had also leaked out.
Of the two more conventional XLB…..the Pork and Crab is better.
The straight pork filling is on the tough side….and this'll be strange coming from me if you know me…the broth wasn't sweet enough and was in short supply. The wrappers, while not terrible, doesn't allow for what I call the "XLB Hang".
When visiting with "W and A" we ordered two rice plates; the first (both W and A are ethnically Vietnamese, so I knew they'd go for this) was the Filet Mignon Rice.
Slightly toothsome, but weak in flavor, with a tinge of that rather unpleasant metallic flavor.
The Oxtail Rice had a decent sauce that edged on being too salty.
The oxtail were really tough, which made eating this messy and rather unpleasant.
So yep, that was it……I realized that I just wasn't hip or perhaps not sequacious enough to enjoy and appreciate the food. Or perhaps, it's my lack of a sweet tooth that has me not order any of the desserts. I will say this though….none of my eating partners ever went back to Facing East.
Still, I decided to wait things out a bit and returned a few weeks ago. Strangely, the place was empty for the entire hour I was there, not a single other customer.
Could it be that lunch is just not the time to eat here? Or perhaps folks have learned that lunch might just too long…..
Deciding not to push my luck with ordering the XLB or anything that might extend my lunch; I went with the Niu Rou Mian; Beef Noodle Soup. After all, I was told they make their own noodles and this, at heart is a Taiwanese Restaurant, right?
The soup was very hot; I enjoyed the preserved vegetable, which really helped the flavor of the broth which seemed to have a whole bunch of white pepper in it, but wasn't overly salty. The beef – soy sauce – anise tones were really in the background; though there was a bit of spice to things. Just two small pieces of tasteless beef in this. The noodles were decent, a bit overcooked, but had a nice doughy-pull to them…except for that giant clump of noodles in the center of the bowl.
Still, an hour for a bowl of noodle soup? With my schedule at work these days, I just can't do that. I mentioned having to wait over 40 minutes for some noodle soup to the young man working. His response? A shrug of the shoulders….it's not his fault things took so long, but perhaps he could have said something like, "I'll mention this to the kitchen….." Or something like that.
So perhaps….if…a BIG IF….I return it'll be for dinner. The service is quite hit and miss…..the folks are as a whole nice; but I saw a lot of mistakes/mix ups….though hopefully things are better now.
Facing East
4647 Convoy St Suite 101C
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Daily:
1130am – 1030pm
