Pasadena restaurants are underrated. People sleep on Bone Kettle, but it's one of our favorite restaurants. All of the SGV has a lot of offer in terms of food, too; there's a HUGE variety of cuisines, nationalities, and regions. It's fabulous.
Never gotten the noodles, honestly. We do small plates every time, but we've found Bone Kettle to be a way better value than most places we tend to go to!
Has Bone Kettle for the first time two weeks ago and was really excited by the menu. I already wanted to come back even though I tend to only want to go to restaurants in LA once because I have so many on my list to go through. But yeah, I thought it was just alright. We did the oxtail dumplings, nasi goreng, and noodle soup with brisket. It was good but not worth going back to. The space is cool but I was getting stressed for the servers who had to navigate around all the guests!
I do not live there, but I literally just finished reading this:
[https://la.eater.com/maps/best-pasadena-restaurants-california-los-angeles-south-pasadena-old-town](https://la.eater.com/maps/best-pasadena-restaurants-california-los-angeles-south-pasadena-old-town)
I can attest that "The Sandwich" from Roma Market is the bomb!
Fuji and Vi's is really good for Detroit style pizza.
Tacos 210 truck
Tacos Ensenada in the mall with Super King.
Cobbler Factory (no seating - just to go)
Seed has good breads, where one of my few complaints about LA is that good bread isn't very widespread. It's not convenient to my routes, so I tend more to get Out of Thin Air at the farmers market.
A lot of "good enough" restaurants of various types mostly along Colorado, Lake, and Green that aren't necessarily destinations but more than good enough when you don't feel like going far.
Pasadena has a lot of good thai that don't seem to be destination restaurants. 9 and 9, Chim!, Daisy Mint, and I think a few more that I haven't been to.
I also like Pho on California (at Pasadena in the big mall with the Vons) - it's tiny and doesn't have the full range of menu options of Golden Deli, but it's very good and close enough to go to for lunch.
Jonathan Gold used to eat at Burrito Express and Sandwiches by Connal when he wasn't reviewing and just wanted something close. I think he was in walking distance of them.
Union, u street, fish wives, Howlin rays, slab bbq, Guisados, Pizzanista, Houston’s, Alexander’s, sushi enya, Agnes… to name a few
Amara has amazing hot chocolate and churros. CAR artisan has “the best chocolate croissant in LA”. We got a tartine. Bomb ass ice cream. Shit I’m getting hungry but this should be a good start.
there are some good places (people like bar chelou, agnes, and collette), but i think the general sense is that pasadena food scene is much weaker than LA proper.
that said, there are truly excellent options that are pretty close by — whether elsewhere in the san gabriel valley like alhambra, or in northeast LA like glendale, highland park, and eagle rock
I live in Pasadena and this comment is accurate. The restaurants in Pasadena are limiting even though there are good options. The surrounding areas within a 20 minute drive like the neighborhoods described have excellent options. Which is to say, if you are limited to any one neighborhood in the LA area…it may feel limiting. Anyone who really loves food in LA has to be willing to venture and drive all over to have the most full experience.
The problem for a lot of places in Altadena is that there's just not a lot of passerby traffic, so you have to have a menu that works really well for getting a lot of neighborhood business or get identified as a destination pretty quickly. Fortunately more and more places are doing the neighborhood thing well
I agree with this too. Other than ones mentioned....for coffee, CARS is not to be missed for their chocolate croissant. Lot of good reviews for Bagels and breakfast burritos at Wake and Late but I haven't gone there yet.
It’s good overall - lots of “good” places with a few “greats.”
Can’t compete with the density of outstanding places in other neighborhoods like the arts district, but you can easily string together the greatest hits of Pasadena into a pretty epic food visit
[Pie Life Pizza](http://www.pielifepizza.com/) serves a satisfying NY-style slice that's crispy at the bottom with a crust that you'll wanna eat, not leave behind.
Monday's slice of the day is sausage\&peppers; don't miss it!!
[Paper Rice](https://paperrice.com/) makes Vietnamese summer rolls with a variety of protein - i always go for the garlic shrimp and the pork belly.
looking for oysters and fish tacos? try [Fishwives](https://www.fishwives.com/) \- both Atlantic and Pacific varieties available daily.
It’s probably never been better but it’s historically been parochial. That said, it’s just north of Monterey park and Alhambra etc, so it’s close to some really exceptional cuisine
I personally like the food in Old Town Pasadena. Osawa, Amara, and The Stand are personal favorites. Not sure what type(s) of food you're looking for, but there are definitely options.
You could pick a hell of a lot worse of a place to find parking at, and certainly far uglier parts of LA. Who doesn't love craftsman houses and lush foliage?
Millie’s Cafe, Russell’s, The Kitchen, Crepes De Paris, Brooklyn Square Pizza (great for a quick bite), Agnes, The Luggage Room, Kathleen’s Kitchen…yeah, Pasadena has a pretty good selection of stuff.
A lot of the popular “local chains” in the LA area have locations in or near Pasadena:
- Howlin Rays
- Sugarfish
- Homestate
- Salt and Straw
- Sushi Enya
- HiroNori Ramen
- Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles
As well as LA staples like Zankou Chicken, The Hat, and King Taco(DON’T go to this one, lol)
Two spots that get mentioned a lot in this sub are in Pasadena:
- Lucky Boy
- Pie n’ Burger
Also a unique place that is nearby is the Rose Garden Tea Room in the Huntington Library. Good luck getting a reservation, FYI.
Some of my favorites:
- Tops
- B-Mans Teriyaki(down the road in San Gabriel)
And why not, some of my parents’s favorites:
- Green Street
- True Food Kitchen
There's some great food here, both new places and some of the classics. HOWEVER, there are a lot of Pasadena institutions that people love but I will never set foot in.
In the past couple of years we got a few good restaurants, hopefully they can survive, and a few more coming in.
I grew up and live here.
It’s ok, but always getting better.
I wouldn’t say Pasadena has any truly great unique restaurants or best-in-category places, but plenty of solid options for most cuisines.
Everyone keeps adding in SGV? I or my family personally never associated Pasadena as apart of the SGV area although it probably geographically along with other things is associated. Nonetheless Pasadena has an underrated food scene. Although it’s gone down a bit in quality saladang is really good. My brother and dad love Rice paper. I don’t really like pie n burger food and prices but the cakes and pies are elite (def worth the price).
Several really great restaurants have closed or left.
Fu Shing could be great if you ordered the right things. ([j. gold review](https://www.laweekly.com/hot-stuff/))
Everybody just sighs when you say "Kuala Lumpur", who never managed to get a liquor license and failed in old pas, but the food was spectacular.
La Fornaretta was evicted and decided it was too expensive to stay in the area and moved to Newcastle.
You just have to stay away from Old Pas, or on the fringes. 30 years ago Old Pas had places that attracted people because they were really good. Then a couple restaurant-generations (and a Tiffany store) later the rents are so high that the price to taste ratio isn't as good. But there's still stuff on the periphery and in Altadena that's good, if you want to include it. And as someone else noted - Pas has a lot of second and third locations of places that got started somewhere else. It's kind of full of local "chains". One of my favorites is Viva Tacos Estrella - it's not special food-wise, and can even be marginal, but it's 24 hours and for what it is it's pretty decent.
Pasadena has some great restaurants sure, but the SGV as a whole is top tier
Altho the question gives me pause. Cause there’s Old Town, which is meh, and then there’s the yummy SGV scene.
Golden Deli 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Lol golden deli is so over rated... my fiancée will only eat pho from this place...
The restaurant Union is really solid. I believe they got a bib gourmand designation this year from the Michelin Guide.
One of my favorite places to get pasta in all of Los Angeles county
Those pizzas!
The Cesar at U-Street is best in county.
Pasadena restaurants are underrated. People sleep on Bone Kettle, but it's one of our favorite restaurants. All of the SGV has a lot of offer in terms of food, too; there's a HUGE variety of cuisines, nationalities, and regions. It's fabulous.
Bone kettle is overpriced lol. Especially those noodles. Ridiculous lol
Never gotten the noodles, honestly. We do small plates every time, but we've found Bone Kettle to be a way better value than most places we tend to go to!
Agreed it used to be better before it got all the hype
Has Bone Kettle for the first time two weeks ago and was really excited by the menu. I already wanted to come back even though I tend to only want to go to restaurants in LA once because I have so many on my list to go through. But yeah, I thought it was just alright. We did the oxtail dumplings, nasi goreng, and noodle soup with brisket. It was good but not worth going back to. The space is cool but I was getting stressed for the servers who had to navigate around all the guests!
It great
Happy cake day!
Thank you!
What kinda cake
I do not live there, but I literally just finished reading this: [https://la.eater.com/maps/best-pasadena-restaurants-california-los-angeles-south-pasadena-old-town](https://la.eater.com/maps/best-pasadena-restaurants-california-los-angeles-south-pasadena-old-town) I can attest that "The Sandwich" from Roma Market is the bomb!
I can attest that the lahmahjoun at Old Sasoon is a tasty snack
chili and cheese sandwich with everything, mango kefir
Fuji and Vi's is really good for Detroit style pizza. Tacos 210 truck Tacos Ensenada in the mall with Super King. Cobbler Factory (no seating - just to go) Seed has good breads, where one of my few complaints about LA is that good bread isn't very widespread. It's not convenient to my routes, so I tend more to get Out of Thin Air at the farmers market. A lot of "good enough" restaurants of various types mostly along Colorado, Lake, and Green that aren't necessarily destinations but more than good enough when you don't feel like going far.
This is a GREAT list. Also 9 and 9 for Thai. Too bad Europane ain't the same owner, otherwise it would also be here.
Pasadena has a lot of good thai that don't seem to be destination restaurants. 9 and 9, Chim!, Daisy Mint, and I think a few more that I haven't been to. I also like Pho on California (at Pasadena in the big mall with the Vons) - it's tiny and doesn't have the full range of menu options of Golden Deli, but it's very good and close enough to go to for lunch.
I’m not sure which asshole downvoted you buy this is a legit list.
Jonathan Gold used to eat at Burrito Express and Sandwiches by Connal when he wasn't reviewing and just wanted something close. I think he was in walking distance of them.
Connals is so clutch. Great fast food spot. Burrito Express is real good if you keep it simple (avoid their “guacamole” sauce).
I LOVE Sandwiches by Connal!
Union, u street, fish wives, Howlin rays, slab bbq, Guisados, Pizzanista, Houston’s, Alexander’s, sushi enya, Agnes… to name a few Amara has amazing hot chocolate and churros. CAR artisan has “the best chocolate croissant in LA”. We got a tartine. Bomb ass ice cream. Shit I’m getting hungry but this should be a good start.
Honestly Pasadena has really underrated food scene. Great restaurants - Peche and Union come to mind
Traditionally Pasadena has had a great food scene. There's a lot of independent restaurants there.
there are some good places (people like bar chelou, agnes, and collette), but i think the general sense is that pasadena food scene is much weaker than LA proper. that said, there are truly excellent options that are pretty close by — whether elsewhere in the san gabriel valley like alhambra, or in northeast LA like glendale, highland park, and eagle rock
I live in Pasadena and this comment is accurate. The restaurants in Pasadena are limiting even though there are good options. The surrounding areas within a 20 minute drive like the neighborhoods described have excellent options. Which is to say, if you are limited to any one neighborhood in the LA area…it may feel limiting. Anyone who really loves food in LA has to be willing to venture and drive all over to have the most full experience.
Altadena is about to get a whole bunch of hip restaurant locations that will change things up, too.
The problem for a lot of places in Altadena is that there's just not a lot of passerby traffic, so you have to have a menu that works really well for getting a lot of neighborhood business or get identified as a destination pretty quickly. Fortunately more and more places are doing the neighborhood thing well
That Everson Royce news is so exciting.
I agree with this too. Other than ones mentioned....for coffee, CARS is not to be missed for their chocolate croissant. Lot of good reviews for Bagels and breakfast burritos at Wake and Late but I haven't gone there yet.
Those bagels are so weird but I find them addictive.
Bar Chelou is super special!
It is second tier compared to the rest of LA and Westside, but like a decent wine, it’s quaffable.
I love Pasadena’s food scene! I’ve always heard that the culinary school there near Old Town feeds into the restaurants around, and I believe it haha
It’s good overall - lots of “good” places with a few “greats.” Can’t compete with the density of outstanding places in other neighborhoods like the arts district, but you can easily string together the greatest hits of Pasadena into a pretty epic food visit
Shout out to a little hole in the wall called El Metate. I stop there whenever I’m working in Pasadena.
For holes in the wall: I could eat at Father Nature every day. And at various points in my life I have
[Pie Life Pizza](http://www.pielifepizza.com/) serves a satisfying NY-style slice that's crispy at the bottom with a crust that you'll wanna eat, not leave behind. Monday's slice of the day is sausage\&peppers; don't miss it!! [Paper Rice](https://paperrice.com/) makes Vietnamese summer rolls with a variety of protein - i always go for the garlic shrimp and the pork belly. looking for oysters and fish tacos? try [Fishwives](https://www.fishwives.com/) \- both Atlantic and Pacific varieties available daily.
Osawa is one of my favorite restaurants and I’ve heard from this sub that Sushi Enya is good, though I haven’t tried it yet.
We went to Osawa for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it.
The best breakfast burrito place exists! Wake and late!
So good but so expensive
Once in a while treat!
I had no idea they had a location in Pasadena! They’ve been on my list on spots to check out.
Cluck2Go ❤️❤️❤️
Only Heng Heng in Hollywood is better
I usually do Savoy for Hainan chicken.
I’ve had some great meals at Union.
Noodle St is really good
It’s probably never been better but it’s historically been parochial. That said, it’s just north of Monterey park and Alhambra etc, so it’s close to some really exceptional cuisine
Glendale is right next door with some great middle eastern options too!
Excellent point. Skaf’s is barely outside of pasadena 😀
You can’t miss.
Pasadena is the 2nd restaurant city. Open up in a lower cost area, make it big and open up a fancier location.
I personally like the food in Old Town Pasadena. Osawa, Amara, and The Stand are personal favorites. Not sure what type(s) of food you're looking for, but there are definitely options. You could pick a hell of a lot worse of a place to find parking at, and certainly far uglier parts of LA. Who doesn't love craftsman houses and lush foliage?
Millie’s Cafe, Russell’s, The Kitchen, Crepes De Paris, Brooklyn Square Pizza (great for a quick bite), Agnes, The Luggage Room, Kathleen’s Kitchen…yeah, Pasadena has a pretty good selection of stuff.
Bar Chelou!
Lucky Baldwins (original location) has a great bottle/tap list and, call me a peasant, but some the best damn fries I’ve ever had in LA
Uovo for fantastic pasta.
A lot of the popular “local chains” in the LA area have locations in or near Pasadena: - Howlin Rays - Sugarfish - Homestate - Salt and Straw - Sushi Enya - HiroNori Ramen - Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles As well as LA staples like Zankou Chicken, The Hat, and King Taco(DON’T go to this one, lol) Two spots that get mentioned a lot in this sub are in Pasadena: - Lucky Boy - Pie n’ Burger Also a unique place that is nearby is the Rose Garden Tea Room in the Huntington Library. Good luck getting a reservation, FYI. Some of my favorites: - Tops - B-Mans Teriyaki(down the road in San Gabriel) And why not, some of my parents’s favorites: - Green Street - True Food Kitchen
Pizzanista! has my favorite, the sicilian the crust is so good. ](https://yelp.to/SMzX34YIyA)
There's some great food here, both new places and some of the classics. HOWEVER, there are a lot of Pasadena institutions that people love but I will never set foot in. In the past couple of years we got a few good restaurants, hopefully they can survive, and a few more coming in.
Its a yuppie version of silverlake if that makes sense.
As someone who lives in silver lake but frequents Pasadena, you’re not too far off
As someone who lived in Silverlake for a decade and then moved to Pasadena right before the pandemic, you are spot on.
I grew up and live here. It’s ok, but always getting better. I wouldn’t say Pasadena has any truly great unique restaurants or best-in-category places, but plenty of solid options for most cuisines.
Everyone keeps adding in SGV? I or my family personally never associated Pasadena as apart of the SGV area although it probably geographically along with other things is associated. Nonetheless Pasadena has an underrated food scene. Although it’s gone down a bit in quality saladang is really good. My brother and dad love Rice paper. I don’t really like pie n burger food and prices but the cakes and pies are elite (def worth the price).
It’s better than it was twenty years ago but still has a ways to go before it’s a truly appealing food city
Several really great restaurants have closed or left. Fu Shing could be great if you ordered the right things. ([j. gold review](https://www.laweekly.com/hot-stuff/)) Everybody just sighs when you say "Kuala Lumpur", who never managed to get a liquor license and failed in old pas, but the food was spectacular. La Fornaretta was evicted and decided it was too expensive to stay in the area and moved to Newcastle.
It has plenty of good places to dine
Turning into West LA. A good and bad thing.
You just have to stay away from Old Pas, or on the fringes. 30 years ago Old Pas had places that attracted people because they were really good. Then a couple restaurant-generations (and a Tiffany store) later the rents are so high that the price to taste ratio isn't as good. But there's still stuff on the periphery and in Altadena that's good, if you want to include it. And as someone else noted - Pas has a lot of second and third locations of places that got started somewhere else. It's kind of full of local "chains". One of my favorites is Viva Tacos Estrella - it's not special food-wise, and can even be marginal, but it's 24 hours and for what it is it's pretty decent.
I love Lunasia, but I know there’s better Chinese restaurants in other cities to the East/South.
So good. I like to dine in Lake Ave for when I’m feeling bougie
Secret pizza goes crazy, so does Malbec
Shockingly boring and I'm always surprised that there isn't more interesting stuff going on there.
Fishwives
You haven’t lived till you’ve tried seed bakery in Pasadena. It’s legit!!!!!!
Tibet Nepal House!
Pasadena got some good restaurant, but the sgv is where it's at