Spencer’s Bistro

Really good food at a fair price. Had salmon étouffée, beef cheek and beef ragout pasta. Beef cheek was the hands down favorite at the table. The salmon and beef pasta were also good.

Great little place!!! My friend and I only had time for a glass of wine and some fries but it was a nice atmosphere and well kept place. Friendly staff and the chef even came to the table to make sure the fries came out right. The rest of the menu looked great too & I’m excited to come back and try out the rest real soon!

Really good hidden gem, I had the Milanese and it exceeds expectations!!! It is next to a funky lawn mower repair shop so it looked like a hole in the wall but the food is bomb.

Am I missing something here?
Came here last night for a friend’s birthday (note: this is not really a birthday celebrating type venue). When we were trying to figure it out, the girls kept saying the reviews were great and it’s local so why not? Birthday girl said «I’ve been wanting to check that place out. you know… the restaurant in that ghetto plaza?» But I’m not discriminating because its located in a ghetto plaza. Like seriously, I’m all for finding hole-​in-​the-​wall hidden gems.
So we pulled up and birthday girl was right – it was in a ghetto plaza but that actually excited me. The food MUST be bomb.
So we take a look at the menu, maybe about 10 dishes offered with pictures on the menu like old-​school diners. You order and pay at the counter and the server brings the food out to you. Not the drinks though… you carry those damn drinks on your own.
First of all, the prices are way too high for what it is. I can easily get a similar dish elsewhere for a better price. Usually if the venue is pretty special (has a view or near the ocean, etc.) then I can see why they overcharge on the food. But this place gives you a view of the parking lot and Orangethorpe so it was simply just over-​priced.
Second, the food itself was meh. I didn’t want to mention how much I disliked the food because that’s just bad energy if my girls were enjoying it. None of us finished our dishes. That’s when I knew that I was not the only one who felt this way. After I brought it up, everyone agreed that the food was not GOOD. To make ourselves feel better, we told ourselves that atleast we got to try it once, and we all agreed that none of us would ever be back.
To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe we all ordered the «wrong stuff.» But 3 bad dishes out of 3, the odds speak for itself. They have «home-​made pasta» …had way better. I already knew we were in for food trouble when we tried to order a few other dishes and they said they were out of those. Even the dessert was not great and they «ran out» of the one we were originally intending to try. Not only that, the cashier was NOT apologetic AT ALL for running out of the top three things we wanted to order. Her response? «We were busy today.» She wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t friendly either. Regardless, okay, so maybe it ran out because those were the only good dishes on the menu? I don’t know but I’ll probably never find out.

Definitely a hidden gem! I even feel like «hidden gem» is an understatement because I’m so out of words now to describe how great this place is! Chef Kim presented the two dishes we ordered to our table — what a personal touch and we loved it! Thank you! We ordered the seafood pasta and white fish fried rice. OMG you can’t miss the white fish fried rice! The different flavors would stimulate your tastebuds. And don’t be fooled by the pictures that people took of the decorations and settings in here. The atmosphere is warm and cozy and makes you want to sit in here to have a cup of coffee in hand and hang with your friends the entire afternoon! Last but not least, dishes likes these would be selling you at double the price in Pasadena!

The food here is awesome. If you care about how your food is prepared presented and how good it taste then come here!

If you’re in the area, this place is a must! The poutine fries with chicken confit, homemade cheese curds and pepperoncini, and gravy was the best. The food was outstanding overall with friendly service and and ample dining area.

I love this place so much. Since discovering Spencer’s Bistro I’ve taken my brothers, mom, and cousins on four separate occasions within the last two weeks.
I love the small town friendly feel he’s created with the way he’s set up his joint. It’s such a novel concept. One of the actual cooks will take your order at the front. Then Spencer and his crew focuses on bringing you that bomb diggity. All for a ridiculously affordable price. As a gesture of appreciation I like to bus my own table. Clearing my own dishes is the least I can do for such wallet friendly gourmet.
On the first occasion I got hooked on their in-​house made pasta noodles. So soft and tender… deliciously served with with pesto basil salmon, eggplant parm (shout out to all the vegetarians like my mom out there) or my absolute favorite, the beef cheek ragout. All bomb in their own right.
On my 3^rd visit, we discovered the lunch menu’s chicken parm Sandwhich. Dude, imagine the hugest piece of chicken perfectly crunchy in its fried breading, cooked to moist perfection. Then infuse just enough marina sauce for flavor without sacrificing the crunch.
If the fates align, Spencer might even let you taste one if his latest craving inspired culinary masterpieces as he’s figuring out his upcoming winter menu selection. My wife went bananas over a peanut chicken curry we sampled the other night. We both hope it makes the cut (extra spicy for me, por favor).
Did I mention he uses only the freshest herbs from his very own garden? If you’re wondering how in the world I know all of this, it’s because Spencer will actually take the time to personally serve the food, bus tables, and say sup’. He’s super friendly and brings the good vibes.
Don’t feel discouraged if they are out of that favorite entrée you’ve been craving… each time that it’s happened to me, I’ve discovered a new dish that was at least equally satisfying… this coming from a guy who typically knows what he likes and sticks with it.

Their food is so amazing! Been here 3 times. The menu changes each season.
Gathering a bunch of friends, smoke a lot of weed, and order a lot of different items. You will truly appreciate the flavors :-)

Came in after reading an article in OC Weekly about this hidden gem in a Buena Park strip mall. Was disappointed to find they sold out of fries today, so we didn’t get to try the poutine or pomme frite but will definitely be back to try those highly recommend items.
We started with the French onion soup which was picture perfect and tasted as good as it looked.
Items tried today were:
The Milanesa Sandwich (beef), which was a breaded cutlet cooked to a crispy perfection with spring mix, tomato, onion and an amazing indescribable sauce served on a soft baguette alongside paper-​thin (which only adds to their awesomeness) hand made potato chips.
The Greek Grilled Chicken, which was super tender and full of flavor. All of the sauces are clearly made from scratch and the tzatziki sauce served here was my favorite of all the food we had today!
The Salmon Pesto was also super fresh and the Pesto was, in my daughter’s words, ‘the best freshest Pesto I have ever had in my life’
Also, the iced tea was amazing as well. When I first ordered it, the employee behind the counter offered a sample to make sure I knew what I was ordering but I declined because I like trying new things. It’s like iced tea with cinnamon added. Yum!
Lastly, dessert. Also, the main reason I wanted to come here…
The S’mores, like everything else here is made from scratch. The graham cracker, marshmallows, chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce were so amazingly good and each one their own would be an amazing dessert, but the combination served here is an absolute steal considering they only charge $ 5!!! Also I have to say the chocolate ice cream was really, really, really good!
The Strawberry Shortcake! Gah! So good with the strawberries, Chantilly cream and made-​from-​scratch biscuit that I had to barter some of my S’mores to get a few bites of!!! Don’t even know which one I’ll chose when we come back.
Also, just the people that work here… I hate to call them employees because you can see from the articles on the walls (which prominently feature the same people who made our food today) and the quality of the food served here that they are all highly skilled, very talented and clearly love what they do.
Can’t wait to return!

The ambiance could use a little work, but the food is spot-​on and the prices are extremely reasonable for the quality of food that you’re getting. The hubby got the Chicken & Mushroom Risotto, and I got the Salmon Pesto Pasta. Both dishes were delicious — we cleared our plates pretty quickly.
There’s no table service so you’ll need to place your order at the counter. To be honest, I’d prefer a slightly more formal sit-​down eating experience (especially considering the fact that the food is pretty fancy!) but I’m guessing that that would necessitate higher prices. If you’re looking for an upscale meal, quick service, and affordable prices in a casual dining environment, Spencer’s Bistro is the way to go.

Just got the kids salmon with Homemade fresh pasta and veggies. Guess I was hungry cause I ordered some pomme fries with the garlic aioli too. Salmon very fresh and everything was cooked perfectly. U can definitely feel the love in this food. And the prices are very reasonable especially for what you are getting.

My friend and I came here on a Thursday around 5pm. We were the only ones there. You need to order at the counter and find a seat after your order.
The guy taking our order was friendly. He gave us suggestions on what to get. I decided to get the chicken milanesa and my friend got the grilled greek chicken. Food was prepared by both Spencer and that guy taking our order. We also got the fries with parmesan herb + garlic aioli.
Chicken milanesa — comes with coleslaw and potatoes. The milanesa was nicely cooked and the outer layer was crispy. Coleslaw and potatoes were just ok.
Grilled chicken– Looked like a very healthy dish. The chicken was topped with greek white sauce and zucchinis.
Fries were really good and crispy.
I’d definitely return to try more.

Came here for dinner after finding it on Unilocal.
I had the Greek chicken, my friend had the Milanesa, and we shared the fries with some garlic aioli. They were all good dishes, but I think I preferred the milanesa that my friend got. I live pretty close by, so I’ll probably come here again to try some of the other dishes.

This place is such a hole in the wall! Found it on Unilocal and realized it was just 5 minutes away from home! Took my girlfriend and we were impressed!
First off the location is a bit unexpected. It is in a random plaza but I’m sure this is how they can afford to serve such cheap quality food!
We ordered the calamari, fries, and salmon with pesto pasta. The chef/​owner offered to split the entrée for us! How nice of him. Total was around 20 bucks and we got filled! The calamari was great and the sauce was a bit spicy/​salty! The fries were decent since I like skinny fries more. However the aoili was great! Lastly the pesto salmon. Sadly this could have been better IMO. For some reason it tasted like crawfish, very interesting!
All in all if they work on their pesto I will definitely be back to try it again! Other than that I will also be back to try other stuff!

Located in a nondescript strip mall in the shadow of Del Taco, Spencer’s Bistro was my latest lunch destination and surprisingly impressed me (with a couple exceptions).
It’s one of those places where you order at the counter (menu is on the wall) and they bring the food to you. Grab your own eating utensils at the counter and seat yourself. I’m not a fan of this method of «service» but the young woman at the counter was so pleasant it was easy for me to refrain from being cranky.
I ordered a side salad, two appetizers and a dessert.
The apple salad consisted of greens, apple slices, tomato pieces, garbanzo beans, onions and raisins (and probably a couple more ingredients I’m forgetting). It was bright and fresh — I really liked it a lot.
Big blueberry marinara pork ribs had a delicious sauce coating each of the three. I went back to the counter to get a knife before eating them but it wasn’t necessary (the young woman even gave me a look that said ‘you fool, you don’t need a knife!’). They were so tender the meat easily came off the bone with my fork. The pomme frittes were enough for two people. You have several seasoning options and I wisely chose parmesan herb which was excellent.
I had tiramisu for dessert. It was a sort of deconstructed tiramisu; all the components were separated. Visually it looked cool but the taste was disappointing. For me the flavors just didn’t meld together when presented like this. While the coffee elements were bold the rest of the flavors fell flat. Maybe the chocolate sauce needed to be sweeter or the homemade ladyfingers less dry… I don’t know what it was but it didn’t work for me.
One oddity to this little restaurant: the restroom is located in the rear of the kitchen and — since you can’t just go marching through the middle of the kitchen — it must be entered by going outside and to the back of the restaurant.
Even with its shortfalls I really liked this place.

They’re playing the Chrono Trigger theme right now. Best. Restaurant. Ever.
Oh food is great too. Feta watermelon salad and ribs are wonderful.

Eats: Kid’s Pan Seared Salmon Pasta
Takes: For a kid’s size, this is quite a hearty dish! You get the healthy fresh veggies with a huge helping of salmon. The salmon was seasoned perfectly and wasn’t overly salty. The winner was definitely the pasta. It’s homemade and just by the texture and consistency, you can taste the difference between that versus the store bought boxed pastas.
Price: Reasonable. A great lunch time meal for under $ 10!
Service: Menu was pretty straight forward. You order at the counter and pick your table to dine in. Your meal will be served to you once it’s ready. You also have the option to do to go.
Location: In an unsuspecting strip mall near the intersection of Orangethorpe and Valley View
Parking: shared parking lot; spaces can get a bit tight
Bottom line: Go here for your lunch time fix!
Highly recommended.

Like so many other reviewers I was eager to sample Spencer’s Bistro, but after dining there with 3 others on a recent Friday night I couldn’t help feel like there was a lot missing from the experience…
Although I enjoyed the hospitality, I found it quite unnerving to be the only ones in the establishment when we arrived, at a time when the most popular places are lining up with crowds to get in; it wasn’t a good sign. It’s very casual with no wait service, you walk up to the counter, order, and pay just like a fast food joint. You help yourself to utensils and napkins and seat yourself. Someone brought our food out to us but I can’t imagine how they would handle more than a few tables, it didn’t look like they had the personnel as the self proclaimed manager was also the waiter and busboy…
Reaching the restroom is awkward. In order to reach the restroom next to the kitchen, the girls had to go outside down the dark, poorly lit side of the building and around the back in order to reach it. The restaurant is already located in a janky stripmall, this was just another oddity and it didn’t feel safe…
Soda is from a dispenser and I understand they just started offering beer like Stella and Heineken. It was cold outside but the only hot beverage they offer is coffee and they had to make it fresh when we ordered it as they didn’t have it readily available. I wish our coffee was served in mugs or teacups instead of cheap styrofoam cups. The eclectic menu offerings include items that you will not normally expect to find in a casual setting let alone at these low price points. There isn’t a lot of fanfare to the plating as it’s very basic served on plastic French whites which helps to make pictures of the food look better…
The Calamari Fritti is lightly battered and served with a slice of lemon, you get both body and tentacles which is nice. Not chewy which means that they didn’t overcook them. Also served with a romesco sauce instead of marinara sauce which is nice but those with nut allergies have to be careful…
Spencer’s risotto’s are copacetic but not great. I was skeptical since a proper risotto takes lots of attention and standing over to get the right balance between creaminess and starchy bite, it would be challenging to offer one on the menu let alone the two that we ordered. The Chicken and Mushroom Risotto was heavy on the shimeji mushrooms and not much of anything else, in fact I didn’t notice the chicken. The Tomato Risotto w/​beef Milanesa looked prosaic with nothing on top of it because they mixed up the chicken and beef milanesa dishes and ultimately gave us our chicken milanesa on a separate plate. I preferred the former over the latter…
Our order of Milanesa w/​Chicken came erroneously with beef milanesa but all was accounted for in the end. The milanesa is pounded meat that is breaded and fried. I’ve had it a couple of times at other places and it is reminiscent of schnitzel or katsu. Served with a Greek flair with Greek spice roasted potatoes and garlic tabbouleh slaw piled on top and a barely perceptible chimichurri. It wasn’t my favorite combination since I’m not generally a fan of slaw, I think I would have preferred the sandwich since I usually go for the milanesa sandwich at Tito’s in El Monte…
I would have liked to see whole oxtail pieces in the Oxtail Ragout Pasta since it seemed that the ragout had been cooked down into a sticky gravy and served with a fairly wide fettuccine noodle with grated parmesan and peanut gremolata over the top. Short in sophistication but long in comfort…
We all thought the food was tasty and good, especially after resetting our expectations after we ordered. Maybe a better way to say it is that everything is good for what we’re paying, but probably falls short if we were in a fancy restaurant. But fancy names and fancy descriptions aren’t enough, very good comfort food is probably accurate. I might have had a better impression if I had come to Spencer’s for lunch instead. Some menu items seasonal…

Spencer’s Bistro features the creative «fusion of Pan-​European influences of chef Spencer Kim.» In my own words, Spencer transforms ordinary ingredients into delightful, fresh, and unique creations.
When you walk in check out the menu on the wall, or hold one in your hands. Proceed to order then sit down. There’s no table service.
Johnny took our order, but not before giving us his honest recommendations. I must say Johnny was the most honest, humble, informative, and helpful employee I have come across in all of my recent experiences.
Service rating: 5 stars.
We analyzed the menu for a good ten minutes after taking into account Johnny’s advice. (Everything looked good; it was hard to decide.)
Ultimately we ordered:
–calamari fritti
–roasted kobocha squash bisque
–French onion soup
–Greek grilled chicken
–Italian beef sandwich
–salmon crudo
Food rating: 4 stars. Rounded to 4 stars overall.
The food couldn’t justify 5 stars, but it was a solid 4 stars. I love french onion soup, but this one let me down. Lack of flavor. You could call it a «light french onion.» And the kobocha (pretty as it was) was not that good. Maybe I just don’t like kobocha. It’s the only thing we didn’t completely finish, and if I leave anything on the table, it can’t receive 5 stars. The other 4 items we ordered were very good though, which puts Spencer’s Bistro in the solid 4 star category.
I ordered the salmon crudo. It was the most impressive vinaigrette dressing I’ve eaten in a long time. I asked Spencer what it was; he said it’s just lemon, apple, and honey. It was a perfect, delicious combination. I don’t like olives; when I ate this salad I finished every last bite, including all of the olives! That’s how good this vinaigrette was. The salmon was sashimi grade, and there was a bountiful amount (about seven or eight nice pieces). The salmon tasted as good as any salmon sashimi I’ve had at a comparable price level.
The fried calamari was very good. The portion was decent for sharing. The batter was light and tasty. The accompanying romesco sauce was the perfect compliment to the natural flavor of the calamari.
I sampled bites of my friends’ dishes.
Greek grilled chicken: tender and juicy. A little lacking in the flavor department, but made up for by the tasty tzatziki sauce. Nice accompanying salad as well.
Italian beef sandwich: when I took that bite, an explosion of fresh beef flavor hit my tongue and the roof of my mouth. Instantaneously I was impressed by this sandwich. Johnny told us it’s just the natural flavor of the beef, and that’s how beef should taste when it’s cooked fresh and not messed with too much. It had jardinière (pickled veggies) inside as well to accentuate the orgy in my mouth.
We left, and my friend forgot her wallet. As we were walking to our car an employee bolted out the door and returned it to her (what a relief!).
I would come back again to try other dishes, especially since they change menus with the season.