**** This location of Crispy Chicken n' Tomato has closed
Back in the comments of my "Rebuilding the Rotation" post FOY "Peter" mentioned that the La Jolla Village Square location of Padadak was being replaced by something called Crispy Chicken n' Tomato. Peter kindly included a link which indicated that the chain was the #1 Korean Fried Chicken Chain in Japan. Is that something to brag about? Hmmm…..sort of like saying Ajisen Ramen is the #1 Ramen Chain in China?
Anyway, a couple of weeks back, not sure on what to grab for lunch I decided to check the place out. I did the Google search and found that all the Padadak locations in San Diego, save the San Marcos location, though some would say that's not really San Diego had been replaced by Crispy Chicken.
The one good thing about this mall is that since the trolley stop was built there always seems to be ample parking. I arrived right at opening and sauntered on in.
The friendly young lady was an absolute joy. I placed my takeout order and was told there would be a 15 minute wait. The young lady mentioned putting in an online order, making sure I knew there wasn't any additional charges.
Of course, I couldn't help but notice the #1 Korean Fried Chicken Chain in Japan sign.
One quick note. Since when is Hiroshima in "China"? Last I heard, Hiroshima was in the Chūgoku region of Japan? Did I miss something in Geography class?
Anyway, I took a short walk and returned to pick up my order.
I had wanted to just see how the wings were without all the various sauces just to get my bearings, so I ordered the 8 piece wings Original ($14.50). A look at the fries had me thinking that they would not hold up well, even on the short trip back to the office, so I got the Onion Rings with Truffle Salt ($7).
That's what things looked like when I opened up the boxes back at the office. I did a quick taste of the tomato topping which was super bland, you couldn't even really taste tomato. The version of Mul Kimchi provided was weird as it had a real strong anise/clove flavor that wasn't very pleasant.
As for the Onion Rings with Truffle Salt….well, the color was very dark…maybe black truffle salt??? Ahem, no, it was burnt, the breading bitter.
And not a hint of truffle flavor to be found.
As for the wings; well, they did not hold up real well during the 10 minute trip back to the office. I found the batter to be thicker and the wings were fairly evenly coated… the pieces that weren't overly soggy were more crunchy than crisp, the seasoning also mild, apparently you do need some kind of sauce on this. The wings were on the larger side and were quite moist.
Looking over the website, I noticed that Crispy Chicken had lunch specials where you could order a bowl, yakisoba, bulgogi, or like I did the Chicken Plate, which comes with both the boneless chicken and chickens wings, corn slaw, veggie fried rice, and one of three choices of sauce for $14.50. So, I went with the Soy Honey I ordered online and my lunch was ready when I arrived.
Of course you know what what stated on the takeout box, right?
I gotta say, the price to portion ratio was quite good for these days of inflated prices.
The wings had held up better this time. I tried the sides first. The corn slaw was terrible, the "dressing" was really watery and this lacked flavor. Very little corn, you might as well just give me raw coleslaw mix.
The fried rice on the other hand was not bad. The rice was nicely coated, decent, simple, straightforward soy sauce flavors. It was my favorite item of the day.
The boneless chicken was served in fairly hefty chunks.
The batter had peeled away from two of the pieces, which had been turned face down in the box. The sauce was not overly sweet, but I still would have preferred a bit more saltiness, this was much milder than the versions at other places. The chunks of chicken were on the dry and tough side.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse about that Mul Kimchi. I just don't care for the flavor.
The wings had held up much better this time and definitely did better with a sauce. Though the wings weren't evenly coated really paring down the impact of the already mild soy-honey. Perhaps I should have ordered the "Monster" sauce, after all, from my experience Japanese don't like super spicy food and you know…this is the #1 blah, blah, blah, blah……
In the end, this might be my least favorite of the four KFC chains in San Diego. Though I'm wondering what it would taste like in "Hiroshima, China"?
Crispy Chicken n’ Tomato
8657 Villa La Jolla Dr.
San Diego, CA 92037
Current Hours:
Open Daily 11am – 10pm
This time the crepe was delivered with a fork and knife. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy chicken in a crepe, but it wasn't bad at all. Actually, the bite of tangy-sour heat from the sauces/salsa really made it enjoyable to my palate. The sweetness was tempered and the cheese really helped to balance out the flavors. I do think this could have used a bit more salt. And heck, even more spicy too!
I'm glad I tried Hola Paris. While it's not something I crave, Benjamin and Gabby are so nice and friendly. I really enjoyed chatting with Benjamin about Paris.
And yes, it was quite full of Cha Lua, Thit Nguoi…… What I think banh mi purists' will appreciate, I'm looking at you "Billy" is that Phoung Nga still includes cucumbers in their banh mi, a rarity these days. The bread, as usual is a bit heavily baked (onsite), making it more hard and crusty than having a nice balance of light, crusty-flaky. But these days, this is almost a blessing, as much of what I've had is soft and doughy. There's a good amount of pickled veggies, the jalapenos were present, but not overly spicy on this visit. This was a nice lunch for me.
Arriving home, I quickly unpacked things and immediately went for the item I 
It looked like it needed to be airlifted to a burn center; it was so black. A quick taste confirmed things. The chicken skin was incinerated and bitter. The flesh very dry. The peri peri was quite sour and very mild in terms of spice.
There were two containers involved here. The smaller one consisted of 4 rubbery and overcooked wings, the spicier peri peri helped things a bit, but it still didn't seem very spicy to me. The peri peri was on the sour side and not even close 
And the peri peri came in handy here again….though it seemed to heighten a tanginess of the dish a bit too much. I thought the brioche roll, which looked quite dry, added a bit of buttery sweetness and really helped things out here.
I swear I tasted some soy sauce in this ceviche negro; but I must be imagining things. I liked this refreshing dish. The shrimp had been chopped and for me, it made a nice bite when including the onions, cucumber on a tostada. The Missus thought the dish was short on shrimp and had too much "other stuff" for Her taste.
This was a nice portion of plump shrimp. Though that salsa verde was very mild and really lacked acidity. And because of that; the shrimp never "cooked/cured" in the sauce. It was basically raw shrimp the whole way thru. The tostadas provided were tasty and up to the task, but that sauce was really weak.
We recently were back in the area and stopped in. 
I did not get a photo of the menu, but 
Of course we had to try a combo: Two chicken tenders, waffle, fries and a drink ($13.99).
I was curious about the falafel slider ($4.99)
A fresh made falafel patty with tahini, lettuce, tomato and a pickle on a toasted eggy bun. I really liked this. 
We also ordered a House Salad ($6.99). Mixed greens, cheese, onion, grape tomatoes and cucumbers. We asked for ranch dressing, which was standard and good.
And to be perfectly honest, I was interested to see what the price of the Gyro Combo was these days. And the sign said the combo was now $15. In case you’re keeping score, in 
Upon opening up the Gyro, I quickly noticed that things had changed. This was no longer marinated pork cut from a spit into thin slices. This was more like chunks of marinated grilled pork shoulder. Along with being chunks of pork, the meat was a lot darker in color than what I’d had previously. It was also tough and dry. In terms of flavor, this was on the salty side.
