For lunch today I decided to take my mom with me to try Whittier’s California Grill located off of Philadelphia and Painter Avenue in the lovely area of Uptown Whittier.

I have driven past this restaurant over the last ten years and I finally decided to give it a taste. Looking at the website now I have to laugh at their motto: Fresh, Fast, and Fun.

The service was definitely not fast. The outside appearance of the restaurant was very tropical themed. They had some plants and palm trees around the parking lot entrance, which gave it its appeal.

The host happened to be a fellow classmate at Rio Hondo in which case he noticed me right away. Sorry for not recognizing you at first, you look different in a button up and slacks!

The inside was very calming. They had three huge saltwater fish tanks (learn here)located in different parts of the restaurant housing multiple colorful fish. They even had this rare looking urchin fish that was slurping onto the rock next to a couple eating; by next to them I mean directly in their peripherals right next to their faces, that part was pretty amusing.

The place seemed very clean, cute and friendly so my beginning impression was great. The waitress approached the table asking for our drink order in a very timely manner and we had the drinks at our table within the first couple minutes.

After that the wait periods became longer as the lunch date continued. Once the waitress finally returned I decided to go with one of their healthy choices (located with a heart next to the selection on the menu), and ordered the Hawaiian Chicken sandwich plate with a side soup of Chicken Tortilla.

The Hawaiian Chicken sandwich plate consisted of a charbroiled piece of chicken, teriyaki sauce, and pineapple placed on top of a piece of wheat toast with a side of fresh fruit and cottage cheese.

While my mom and I waited about ten to fifteen minutes for our food to arrive I was beginning to think they might actually serve my soup with my main dish (which is a definite no-no in the restaurant business).

I finally was given my soup and I have to say it was pretty mediocre.  They layered the top of the soup with grated low fat mozzarella and crunchy tortilla chips, but underneath were a bunch of soggy tortilla pieces with two large chunks of chicken. I wasn’t very impressed.

The main course finally arrived about five minutes after that and it was very visually appealing. They were very generous with their portion of fruit and cottage cheese, which were both very appetizing.

The chicken with the pineapple drizzled with teriyaki sauce was also very flavorful, but I was not a fan of it being on top of the slice of bread. It just didn’t taste like the whole combination flowed well together. Plus after a while the teriyaki sauce began to make the bread soggy.

The check process also took roughly another ten minutes to be taken care of. Overall I would rate California Grill three stars. Not only was the service very slow, but also the menu was also a bit pricy which would have been tolerable if it was accommodated with quality service.