El Merendero, 242 S. Garey Ave. (at 2nd), Pomona

El Merendero, which already had (and still has) a La Verne location, was a pioneer in downtown Pomona, arriving in 1980 and occupying the corner of the Fox Theater building until moving a block away in 2008 to much nicer quarters. Check the lovely mural. The new location has table service too. Alas, two years in, service remains shaky. I’m not sure the expanded menu has adjusted to the new surroundings either.

Five of us ate there prior to a concert at the Fox. Chips and salsa arrived. We liked both but the salsa’s presentation in a plastic to-go container, with a lid, hints at the awkward transition to a full-service restaurant.

Our table had two enchiladas ($5.95), a chile relleno and carne asada ($8.50) (pictured), camarones rancheros ($9.25), a chile relleno ($5.95) and a milanesa steak torta ($4.95) (also pictured). The first three plates were enjoyed by their diners; the camarones customer was impressed by the number of shrimp. My torta was acceptable, although I’ve had better. The solo relleno diner, who’s more exacting, said it wasn’t cooked through and had a crunchy rather than soft exterior. She doesn’t intend to go back.

The service was friendly, when we got it; nobody came to the table for the first 10 minutes (the first-timers began to wonder if they were supposed to order from the cashier) and at the end, the credit card transaction took at least five minutes.

I like El Merendero but have to say it’s not my first choice for downtown dining. Somehow I liked it better when it was basically a taqueria and burrito joint in the then-dumpy Fox and you ordered at the counter. The new location raises expectations but can’t quite meet them. That mural sure is pretty, though.

Next door is El Merendero’s popular panaderia, which moved along with the restaurant and seems to have made a more successful transition.

Rocco’s Taccos, 669 Indian Hill Blvd. (at Holt), Pomona.

Yes, Rocco’s really does spell its product that way, a joke that may or may not be worth the confusion. Rocco’s recently filled a space where every tenant, it seems, is doomed to failure after its year is up. (The most recent victim of the curse was Pittsburgh Broasted Chicken.) But perhaps Rocco’s will escape that fate.

I had a quick dinner there Monday before a council meeting. The woman behind the counter was cheerful. I asked if there were any specialties and she recommended the fish and shrimp tacos. At $1.75 each, they were pretty good.

Besides the usual tacos ($1.15 to $1.75) and burritos ($4.50 to $5.50), Rocco’s also has an array of tortas ($5). One is the La Cubana. I wonder what’s in the one named La Pomona?

I wouldn’t say Rocco’s lives up to its slogan of “Best tacos in town” (see photo); in fact, last time I checked you could get better tacos across the street at Mariscos de Ensenada No. 5, although you’d have to factor in the time and money for table service. But as a taqueria, and for the money, Rocco’s is okay.

If the name or logo ring any bells, the same family also owns Rocco’s Pizza in Montclair. Can Rocco’s Sushi be next?

This week’s restaurant: Kwon’s Restaurant, 1625 W. Holt Ave. (at Dudley), Pomona.

I’d never taken notice of Kwon’s until finding ecstatic reviews on Yelp and actively searching for the place one recent lunchtime. It’s out on West Holt near St. Joseph’s Church and housed in a skeevy-looking strip mall, although a CHP car parked outside offered some comfort.

Inside, Kwon’s was bustling, with multiple people ordering at the counter, waiting for takeout or packed into the half-dozen tables or booths. The clientele was made up of laborers, families and a couple of employees from Lanterman, not to mention a hungry columnist.

The menu consists mostly of fried rice in numerous permutations of beef, pork, chicken and shrimp, with or without vegetables. They also have chop suey, lo mein (or as a poster spells it, “low mein”) and the dreaded orange chicken. I ordered shrimp fried rice with vegetables ($6.45) and hoped for the best.

What I got was a heaping plate — Yelp reviewers estimate it at a pound — of rice with cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, scallions, onions and broccoli, and a generous amount of shrimp. Slightly bland, perhaps, but you get soy sauce and hot sauce. For a cheap meal of reasonable quality and unreasonable quantity, you can’t beat it with a chopstick.

I took home half my order and got a second meal out of it.

Apparently Kwon’s was upgraded a year or two ago. Yelpers say the storefront sign used to read only “Restaurant”; now it gives the full name and says “since 1983.” Long may they fry.

This week’s restaurant: Aladdin Jr. 2, 296 W. 2nd St. (at Main), Pomona.

Aladdin Jr., a popular Middle Eastern restaurant on Pomona’s Garey Avenue just south of Foothill, recently opened a second location in downtown Pomona, taking over a vacant space last occupied by Lela’s, of “Kitchen Nightmares” infamy. (The Aladdin owner also has Casablanca in Claremont, a slightly more upscale restaurant.)

Aladdin Jr. 2, as it’s dubbed, is still ramping up, but it’s been drawing a decent lunch and dinner trade since opening in March. The corner location is striking, with a patio, rollup doors that expose the 2nd Street side, brick walls inside and paintings by local artists. Contrast with the slightly kitsch Garey location, in which servers wear vests and fezzes and an imitation-Disney Aladdin mural decorates the walls.

I had dinner at Aladdin 2 with friends before the Smogdance Film Festival at the Fox a couple of blocks away. We all had chicken shawarma and all were impressed.

As a sandwich, you get a generously-sized portion that comes in pita bread wrapped in paper to hold in the juices. I had it a la carte ($5.99), one friend got it with some tasty round fries (price unknown), and the other had the shawarma as an entree with salad and hummos ($9.99).

On Monday i returned to try the lunch buffet ($9.99). The two steam tables were piping hot. I tried at least a smidge of the following: shrimp stew, chicken and kafta kabobs, lamb shanks with rice, kebbey, Mediterranean salad, tabbouleh and hummos. Items change daily. A complimentary baklava was dessert.

Not gourmet, but all in all, pretty good food for a pretty good price.

The location is perfect for Second Saturday art walk nights, Fox shows and jury duty. The menu is evolving; unsure of their market, management put four pastas plus pastrami and turkey sandwiches on the menu, but to Pomona’s credit, few people are so timid as to order them. Unlike big brother Aladdin Jr., the sequel has beer and wine.

This week’s restaurant: Dino’s Chicken and Burgers, 770 E. Arrow Hwy. (at Towne), Pomona.

When Dino’s took over a Golden Ox Burgers location a couple of miles from my house in November, the full import of this development eluded me. Stepping inside last weekend, I saw an L.A. Times Magazine blowup on a wall behind the counter. Turns out Dino’s, which until recent years had only one location, is celebrated for its chicken. Alas, I’d already ordered a burger.

Well, the burger was fine, but I knew I had to go back for the chicken before writing something. I did so on Wednesday evening after work, ordering the chicken combo with fries and soda ($6.91 with tax). While I waited I read two more blowup articles newly posted on another wall, one from the Azusa Herald, the other from the L.A. Times food section.

It seems Dino’s was founded by Demetrios Pantazis, who used a Greek recipe for his chicken marinade at his West Pico location. Vinegar, garlic and oregano appear to be involved. The restaurant has since opened a second outpost in Azusa, with Pomona being only the third.

The half-chicken arrived. It’s fiery red, like tandoori chicken, its orange juices dribbling onto the bed of fries. The chicken proves lightly spicy and very, very good. The fries, already well above average, only improve with the addition of juices.

The Dino’s dining room is nothing fancy, beige walls with burgundy booths, but you’ll come here for the food, not the ambience.

Supposedly the carne asada here is also quite good. Dino’s has breakfasts, Mexican food, sandwiches and pork chops. The Dino’s website has photos and more. You can read Jonathan Gold’s entertaining LA Weekly capsule review here.

Welcome to Pomona, Dino’s. You’ve made life in the 909 slightly more bearable.

This week’s restaurant: Pho Vi, 281 S. Thomas St. (at Third), Pomona.

Pho Vi opened in early 2008 in downtown Pomona, in a corner of the 1912 Founders Building that had seen a variety of marginal businesses in recent years. In preparation for its opening, the sidewalk was widened to allow patio dining.

As aficionados know, Pomona is home to several exemplary Vietnamese restaurants, most of them on East Holt between Clark and Indian Hill, but Pho Vi is the first attempt downtown. It may have represented something of a gamble, but perhaps because downtown is light on sit-down restaurants, Pho Vi was an immediate hit, especially during the monthly art walk or when there’s a concert up the block at the Glass House.

I first went there last May and I’ve gone back almost a dozen times, ordering something new each visit. The menu has 222 numbered items, which should keep me busy through Obama’s second term. (On one visit, employees were overheard testing each other on their recall of the menu: “147!” “Sauteed mixed vegetable fried noodle!”)

I’m far from an expert on Vietnamese cuisine, but my own experience and that of friends tells me Pho Vi, while perhaps not the best in Pomona, is among the best.

There are three dozen examples of pho (pronounced “fuh”), the Vietnamese beef noodle soup, most of them under $6.50 even for a two-person bowl. You also get a plate of mint leaves, bean sprouts and lime wedges to season the soup to your taste.

(The very long thin noodles are a challenge to eat if you’re not good with chopsticks; I always, rather shamefacedly, twirl them with a fork against my soup spoon, like spaghetti, hoping no one sees me.)

There are dozens upon dozens of rice and noodle dishes, often with charbroiled pork, beef or shrimp. I’ve had a few of these too and liked them quite a bit.

The restaurant is L-shaped, done in shades of green, with an industrial look. Each table has jars and bottles of various spices and containers of cutlery and chopsticks. The service is prompt, but rather than make you feel rushed, they rather quaintly never bring a bill until you motion for it. The place is family-run, with the oldest member of the family usually seen sitting at a table reading a Vietnamese-language newspaper.

Also, their neon sign, which lends an urban feel to the corner, is really cool.

This week’s restaurant: Nancy’s Tortilleria, 348 S. Towne Ave. (at 3rd), Pomona.

Many are the times I’ve passed this Pepto-Bismol pink building with green awnings on Towne Avenue at Third Street and thought I should go in sometime. They seemed to sell food in addition to housemade tortillas, but would they have seating? Not knowing what to expect, I put it off.

With business in Pomona on Wednesday afternoon, I decided to try Nancy’s for lunch while I was in the neighborhood.

Nancy’s is three businesses in one. Their business card calls it Nancy’s Tortilleria Carniceria and Deli. Besides the tortilla operation, Nancy’s is a small market with a large meat section. Up front the deli sells takeout tacos, burritos, sopes and other items.

The white-jacketed counterman lifted lids off a series of metal containers to show off the various meats. They all looked good; I had planned to get carne asada but went with chicken instead.

I got a chicken burrito and a small horchata to drink ($6.23 total). There is no seating inside but two tables outside in the parking lot. Not the most pleasant seating on a blazingly hot day, but at least the building cast a shadow over them.

My lunch was very good, helped along by the very fresh and tasty tortilla. I’d go back, and if you don’t mind takeout, I’d recommend Nancy’s to you too. With that color scheme you won’t have trouble finding it.

This week’s restaurant: Omana’s, 1050 W. Holt Ave. (at Currier), Pomona.

Omana’s is a Juanita’s-like taco stand at about 1000 W. Holt Ave. in Pomona, near St. Joseph’s church, where I had a good burrito before Monday’s council meeting. (At Omana’s, not at St. Joe’s.) Tacos are $1 to $1.25, burritos are $3 to $3.50 and plates are $4, so you won’t spend much dough. My carne asada burrito had meat, beans and salsa. It was ruder than most neat American-style burritos, but quite good.

Hilltop Jamaican Market and Restaurant, 1061 E. Holt Ave. (at Clark), Pomona.

Their business card says Hilltop’s, the signs say Hilltop. I’ll go with Hilltop. Anyway, I’ve passed by this place for years and, while forever meaning to investigate it, always came up with excuses not to stop. Hilltop is in a narrow storefront in an aging building and the curb is painted green. The neighborhood is slightly dubious. But finally I stopped for lunch last Wednesday.

Hilltop turned out to be much more restaurant than market. There are a half-dozen tables and on the walls are amateur drawings and paintings. No customers were present at 1:30. The market consisted of a corner with shelves stocked with shakers of jerk seasoning, packets of curry powder and cans of breadfruit slices.

At the counter, I asked the employee for a recommendation. “First time?” he asked. He suggested oxtail stew. The small plate is $10 and came with rice, plantains, cabbage and fry bread. I got a ginger beer from the refrigerated case. He didn’t charge me for the drink. “I gave you a discount,” he said.

I have no basis for comparison but certainly enjoyed my meal, eating every bite except for some rice. In fact it was so filling I didn’t even need dinner.

Hilltop also sells fried chicken, curry goat, curry chicken and fish patties, which the paper menu reports are sold in restaurants in L.A. and at the Bob Marley Festival in Long Beach. My guess is that takeout, catering and perhaps wholesale are a bigger part of their business than the dining room.

But for the adventurous, I recommend the place, mon.

This week’s restaurant: King’s Teriyaki, 1175 E. Holt Ave. (at Clark), Pomona.

This is a new place near Clark Avenue and across from Minit Man Car Wash. Until recently it was a burrito joint named something like El Amigazo. I looked the address up in a reverse directory at the library recently and learned the building was originally an Arby’s, which makes perfect sense; it’s got the same curved-roof chuckwagon design as the Arby’s on North Garey.

Anyway, King’s has the usual array of chicken, beef and teriyaki bowls and plates, plus shrimp and fried fish teriyaki. For chicken, you could get a small bowl ($3.25), a medium bowl ($3.75), a large bowl ($4.25) or the plate ($5.25), which comes with a small salad and two gyoza. Scanning the menu too hastily, I got the plate, which with a drink cost $7.08 and arrived in a foam container.

Why too hastily? A small or medium bowl would have sufficed. Two people could have split the plate. Decent teriyaki, and I liked the salad and gyoza too. But I got through only half the teriyaki, if that. What was left seemed almost as much as what I started with. Could the teriyaki have been self-replenishing? Well, I took it home, so my $7.08 will have bought the equivalent of two meals, so all’s well that ends well.

Odd fact: The napkin was imprinted with the logo/address from an Upland restaurant, Sho Sushi. I didn’t have a chance to ask why.

My favorite teriyaki place, by the way, is Posh Burgers and Beyond on East Holt Boulevard in Ontario. There the chicken is chargrilled and I like its crispiness. The King’s version is fine, though, and I hope they make a go of it. I’ll give a wave in the direction of King’s and Macho Pollo (see recent review) when my parade car passes by on Saturday. At least now you have some post-parade dining tips. And don’t forget the pho places, or the quite good Chalio Birreria, in an original Denny’s on Holt just west of Indian Hill.

(Incidentally, I won’t be dining anywhere: The parade ends at noon and Sunday’s column, which common sense will tell you has to be about the parade, must be written from scratch and filed by 3 p.m. Yikes! Maybe I can grab a burrito at Juanita’s and eat at my desk.)