Saigon Village, 1280 E. Holt (at East End), Pomona

One of a handful of Vietnamese businesses in Pomona’s far-eastern (where else?) stretch of Holt, Saigon Village opened in 2011, replacing Pho Express and the earlier Pho 54. Oldtimers will remember the location as Breakfast at Carl’s, a beloved breakfast spot that moved to Claremont and was renamed BC Cafe.

But that was then, this is now, as S.E. Hinton once said, and this spot has been a Vietnamese restaurant for maybe a couple of decades now. A friend and I met at Macho Pollo across the street for dinner but did so on the one day a week it’s closed. Saigon Village was an acceptable substitute.

The interior still looks a bit like a ’60s diner: crushed stones, big windows, comfortable booths, slinky hanging fixtures. The menu has a zillion items, lettered and numbered. One specialty is called 7 Courses Beef and apparently lives up to its billing (see photo below). An explanation is on the restaurant’s website.

My friend had CS5, special combination crispy egg noodles with chicken, shrimp, squid and vegetables ($9, pictured at bottom); I had the beef pho, another specialty ($7, below).

The noodle dish was constructed like a bird’s nest, very cool. “I liked it a lot,” my friend said.

I’ve had pho a few times, although I tend not to order it because I’m very poor with chopsticks and end up using a fork. The server, who may have thought I’d never had Vietnamese food before, pushed the pho, and when she brought it she explained what to do with the plate of condiments: strip the leaves from the mint and put them in the bowl, add the bean sprouts, mix Sriracha and hoisin sauce in a dish and swirl the meat in it, and add Sriracha to the broth. I have to say, nobody has ever offered instructions before.

Some on Yelp say the broth is bland, and I wouldn’t disagree — that may explain all the Sriracha — but I’m too inexpert to feel comfortable making much of a value judgment. Only large bowls of pho are served; I couldn’t quite finish mine, but I ate too much to bother taking the dregs home. I liked mine, although I feel like I’ve had better.

So, not a bad place, and if you like Vietnamese food, old diners or have fond memories of Breakfast at Carl’s, you might want to try it. Also, as my friend said of the cuisine: “It’s good hangover food.”

El Cantarito, 1190 E. Mission Blvd. (at Reservoir), Pomona

The folks behind Pomona’s Sabor Mexicano, about which I posted in 2011, have a second restaurant, El Cantarito. I’d been meaning to try it ever since the owners emailed to tell me about it, two years ago, but I kept forgetting the name and location. Recently, though, as I made dinner plans with a friend, this place came to mind while I was online, and I searched my email for the name and address. El Cantarito, here I come!

Sabor’s specialty is D.F. and Oaxacan food. El Cantarito focuses on seafood and goat. You might say, goat? But I’ve had it a time or two, a few years back, and had no compunction about ordering it again.

El Cantarito, across Mission from Golden Ox Burgers, is in an unassuming yellow building with two archways and a Spanish tile roof. And a nifty mural on the Reservoir side. Inside it looks like a former fast-food spot, with its fake brick walls, but you sit down to order. We got Mexican Cokes, birria seca and fajitas.

The fajitas, with beef, chicken and shrimp, plus peppers and onions ($14, below), were pronounced excellent by my friend, who said: “I think it’s one of the best things I’ve had in all our outings.” My birria seca ($8.50, bottom), or barbecued goat, was served dry, with lemons, cilantro and onions and a broth on the side. The rice and beans were blah, but the goat was great. The texture was like pulled pork, but the taste was deeper and smokier. As my friend put it, impressed, “It’s a lamb-ier version of lamb.”

Service was attentive and friendly. The menu had the usual Mexican staples and several shrimp dishes, although my initial plan of ordering a shrimp cocktail was foiled because they were out of shrimp that night. That was fine. I was happy to get my goat.

The Burger House, 171 W. 2nd St. (at Thomas), Pomona; closed Sundays.

Burger House is the latest occupant of the onetime 2nd Street Bistro space in Pomona’s downtown Arts Colony, opening in late 2012. The interior is much the same as before, with wood flooring, exposed brick and a pressed tin ceiling. They’ve gone gourmet burgers with more than 40-plus beers and a few hand-crafted milkshakes. I had lunch there in January with a friend.

He had the Bistro Burger ($9), the standard burger; I had the Caprese Burger ($11), with mozzarella, mixed greens and tomatoes. Both very good, and accompanied by fresh-cut fries, good and crispy. I also got a Reese’s milkshake ($5), very chocolate-y.

Service was accommodating, and with the sun pouring in through the storefront windows, it was a pleasant experience. The menu is almost all burgers and sandwiches, with a few salads and starters.

It’s not Eureka or Back Abbey, with their exacting standards, but even with a somewhat slapdash feel, Burger House was better than expected. “I like this better than the Rookery,” my friend confided concerning the similar burgers-and-beer spot a block to the east.

* Update, February 2014: Friends and I ate here for dinner before a concert. The place was packed. They got a turkey burger and wings, I had a pulled pork sandwich. The wings were good, the burger okay, the pulled pork over-sauced and disappointing. Also, I saw a soft-serve ice cream machine in the kitchen, meaning the shakes they’re so proud of aren’t hand-scooped. In another demerit, the menus (these are not the menus I saw at lunchtime) were riddled with typos, the worst, but funniest, being a “pare and bree” salad, which does not inspire confidence. So, be wary of anything that’s not a burger (or wings).

Valentino’s Pizzeria, 644 E. Arrow Highway (at Towne), Pomona

Pomona isn’t a pizza town; after the usual delivery suspects, and a Round Table, about as exotic as it gets is Pizza Loca. Valentino’s, a hole in the wall spot in a slightly sketchy shopping center at Towne and Arrow, is well-regarded among locals, so when some Pomona friends and I wanted a pizza delivery, I suggested Valentino’s. Anything for a blog post.

We got two customized extra-large pizzas ($15.50 for three toppings, $17 for four items), one with extra-thin crust, recommended by Yelp commenters. The chefs can’t really do extra-thin if you get more than two toppings, but they tried. Delivery took a while, but the driver was apologetic and blamed staffing issues on a busy Friday.

The pizzas had crisp crust, lots of cheese, chunks of sausage, fresh mushrooms. (One had jalapenos and olives, neither of which was my idea.) Our reactions ranged from mildly impressed (“This is pretty good”) to mildly unimpressed (“It’s not slaying me”).

The menu also has a few sandwiches, buffalo wings, salads and calzones. But it’s mostly pizza.

I returned for an early dinner last Sunday. They have a deal, two slices of pizza and a can of soda for $4.99 plus tax, which I’ll try another time. I got a meatball sandwich ($7, bottom), which arrived open-faced, covered in cheese and looking like a Stouffer’s french bread pizza — but better, and with meatballs. I ate the whole thing, later wishing I’d saved half for lunch the next day.

Valentino’s has only five small tables with folding metal chairs, but it has a downscale charm, and the food’s pretty good.

Oh, and they have another deal, written on a pizza box on display near the counter: “Try our Triple Bypass Monster Pizza, win $200, eat the whole pizza, 1 person, 1 1/2 hours. Cheese + 2 toppings.”

I’ll just get the two-slice special, thanks.

O’Donovan’s Pub, 101 E. Third St. (at Garey), Pomona

Located in the renovated Mayfair Hotel, cater-corner from the Fox Theater, O’Donovan’s has a great setting, a five-story brick hotel, with fire escapes yet, that dates to 1915. It’s now apartments for students at the nearby medical school. The Irish restaurant occupies the first floor, with the pub portion in the basement.

O’Donovan’s opened in September and the pub is said to be a big hit. Besides the bar, there’s pool tables and darts, a couple of cozy nooks to sit in and neat vintage-style beer signs.

The restaurant portion is quieter, but it’s received strong ratings on Yelp, where it currently has 4 1/2 stars. A friend and I met up for a late lunch/early dinner last month; at 4 p.m., it wasn’t a surprise we were the only diners. (By the time we left, another table was occupied.) The interior has a lot of brick, exposed pipes and hipster Edison bulbs. Our server was friendly and assured.

The menu has sandwiches and salads; entrees range from $12 to $32 and include fish and chips, corned beef and cabbage, bangers, salmon and a ribeye steak. They have 26 beers on tap and 30 in bottles.

I had fish and chips ($14), he had shepherds pie ($15), and we shared beer-battered onion rings ($4). He had a pint of Black Butte ale ($6).

The rings were excellent. The shepherds pie, besides mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, has the traditional lamb. I’m not sure how a shepherd would feel about that, but my friend was impressed. My fish was okay but the batter tasted over-fried. I’ve had worse, but I’ve had better at the Heights in Upland.

Four friends dined there recently and had shrimp pasta, fish and chips, a quesadilla (!) and mac and cheese. None of them were dissatisfied, but none was enthusiastic either.

Well, it’s another option downtown, better than some, and it’s open until 2 a.m. daily, although food service stops earlier than that. They also have brunch on weekends. I expect I’ll go back when I’m downtown. It’s well-situated and pleasant, and they’re trying.

*Update: I’ve been back a couple of times, got the fish and chips on my most recent visit in January 2016, and thought it was quite good.

Pancakes R Us, 2282 N. Garey Ave. (at Arrow), Pomona; open daily.

The first location is in Costa Mesa, the second in Pomona, an expansion model you don’t see very often. Pancakes R Us took over the closed Sizzler between a KFC and a shuttered classic Arby’s in north Pomona earlier this month.

It was moderately busy on a Sunday morning. We were immediately greeted and sat, and our beverage orders taken. Service was a little shaky, but attentive. What surprised me was how few pancakes a place named Pancakes R Us had on its menu: 10 varieties, by my count, including buttermilk. apple, blueberry, boysenberry, peach, strawberry, country nut and grain, chocolate chip, potato and pumpkin.

What, no banana? I thought banana and blueberry were as basic as you could get. I went for pumpkin ($8). They were acceptable, and with no syrup accompanying, I used the maple at the table. The second person got pigs in blankets ($7), four sausages in four buttermilk pancakes. He had no complaints.

That didn’t hold true for the third person, whose huevos rancheros ($8.29) were poor: scrambled rather than fried, with canned refried beans and clumpy rice on the side, and pickled jalapenos on top rather than the roasted whole jalapenos depicted on the menu (with fried eggs). She was told corn tortillas weren’t available for her side, only flour, but the eggs were served atop fried corn tortillas. “I’d give this one star,” she said, picking at her inedible rice.

So, it’s good to see a middle-of-the-road restaurant open in Pomona, one serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, but my first visit was not promising. In fact, it fell flat as a pancake. Well, there’s a Carrows a few blocks away on Foothill, and Flappy Jack’s in Glendora serves up a lot more pancakes.