I wasn't asked white or brown rice!…read more
Gnat a problem.
The rice is too clumpy!
Gnat a problem.
The chicken is too tough!
Gnat a problem.
There are way too many gnats!
Gnat a problem.
I went a little out of my way to stop by this Flame Broiler in Garden Grove since I was also planning to get a drink nearby. To celebrate the start of the college football season, Flame Broiler was offering 40% off plates, excluding the Korean BBQ Short Rib plate. Between bowls and plates, I prefer getting plates because they also come with a small cabbage salad as well as a half orange whereas bowls do not.
This Flame Broiler in Garden Grove is located in Chiana Plaza on the southeast corner of Valley View and Chapman. It's the westernmost business in that plaza closest to Carl's Jr, which has its own lot.
Soon after I came inside, there was a customer placing his order, which gave me time to think of what to get. Amongst the plates, I noticed that the Chicken was the cheapest at $12.15. The Tofu plate was 60 cents more, which I found odd because at the two locations closest to me, it's at most 30 cents more. However, they're also more expensive than this location by almost $2, so at least there's a good reason to drive further for this Flame Broiler lol.
While I was waiting to order, I pulled out my calculator to determine that between the Chicken and Tofu plates, I'd still earn the same number of points after the 40% off, so I settled for the Chicken Plate.
When it was my turn to order, I showed the 40% off a plate offer on my phone to the female employee at the front (Julie?), but she mentioned that particular deal would only work online despite the "Redeem in store" button on my phone. That confused me, but she also mentioned another customer was having trouble with a similar offer.
At the locations closer to me, I'd usually provide my phone number, so I gave her my phone number to see if the 40% would come off. Sure enough, it did. I quickly paid, hoping that the register wouldn't reverse course, and asked how long I'd have to wait; Julie estimated about 5 minutes.
I think it was more like 3 minutes, but during the short wait, I noticed the receipt had said "white rice" when I would have much preferred brown rice, which is way healthier than white rice. There were several customers who followed me inside, so I really didn't want to be that one customer to hold up the line.
When Julie called my order number, I brought to her attention that I wanted brown rice instead of white rice. I almost thought she'd say "too late", but she was able to send my order back and tell the female chef in the kitchen to remake my plate using brown rice instead.
I thought it would have been as simple as scooping brown rice onto another plate and emptying the contents from the first plate onto the second, but surprisingly, it was a longer wait than for the first plate! When Julie announced my number again, she asked which sauces I'd like, and I went with the usual one of each except for the Seoul Scorcher, which I must forewarn is not for the faint of heart. I also asked for a water cup.
I took the plate to the table in the near corner, but once I removed the lid, I saw a gnat on the edge of the plate! I really didn't want them to remake my plate a third time, and I didn't see the gnat on the food, so I just kept it as is.
The cabbage salad already had the sesame dressing on the salad as opposed to the dressing on the side like I usually see. However, the cabbage was finely chopped as if to look like very thin rice noodles. I felt there was less salad here than what I usually get.
The half orange was cut up into thirds, which I'm not sure why they had to go through the trouble of that, but at least it did make peeling the orange a little easier?
The brown rice, chicken, and steamed vegetables tasted fine for Flame Broiler's standards, but I didn't like how the brown rice was so clumpy. I have a feeling Julie assuming I wanted white rice instead of brown rice may have played a factor in this. I don't think I had ever seen brown rice this clumpy at any Flame Broiler location, and the oddity continued with some pieces of chicken being tough to chew, almost as if there were soft bones randomly in the chicken.
But the worst part? The abundance of gnats inside. It was a pretty warm Saturday, and I saw a couple of ceiling fans spinning pretty fast. I had to keep an eye on the gnats and shoo them away pretty frequently while I was enjoying my Chicken plate. Needless to say, it got annoying.
There was a steady flow of customers placing their orders, and I didn't recall Julie asking even one of them white rice or brown rice, so I suppose the norm here is that you have to specify "brown rice"; otherwise, it defaults to "white rice". Also, most of them ordered to go as there are only about five tables inside.
Overall, I'd only consider a return visit for the lower prices. And I hope they realize that gnats aren't gnat a problem.