I don't usually go to Pasadena, because there's no reason to. But today I wanted to get some tea leaves from Flour + Tea for guai lo's dad as I am visiting them during thanksgiving weekend. Since I am driving all the way to Pasadena, I thought maybe I can try out some of the places there, and I found this place called La Grande Orange Cafe with a four-star review by over 1000 reviewers on yelp.
This place is located in old town Pasadena, and close to the city's main street (Colorado Boulevard), where you can walk around different stores, coffee shops, other restaurants, etc. For people who takes public transportation, it is right next to the del mar metro station! With the reviews, I was expecting a line, but there's no line! I was happy for a second, and then I got worried..... is this place good? Oh well, I am here, let's just give it a try! Although the place does not have a line, it is fairly packed (that's a good sign).
Once we sat down, we were dying for a good cup of cappuccino/coffee, but they do not have a lot of options for coffee...... which is very disappointing..... since there are a lot of great coffee shops around, we decided to wait till after brunch for coffee. We ordered a short rib hash and a crab cake egg Benedict. For those who like big portions, this is the place to go, they are massive here! Besides what we ordered, all the dishes from the other tables looked equally big, if not bigger! As for the taste, it's okay. I like the crab cake, but the hollandaise sauce was drowning the English muffin so much that it was all mushy, as well as a little too salty and heavy. As for the hash, the potatoes are supposed to be crispy, but they were immersed in sauce, and the dish was slightly under-seasoned. There's just not too much taste to it. A good hash should be pipping hot, right out of the frying pan, but this is really not what we would have expected. We noticed most people ordered Nachos and Tacos, so maybe those dishes are better? In general, it was a disappointing dining experience, but it wasn't bad, it's just not good.
I will give it a 2.5 out of 5. Good Service, nice ambiance, decent food, wouldn't care to come back though.
