Claim Jumper (City of Industry)

I think just about everybody who's ever been to Claim Jumper recognizes the large portions of food they serve. However to me, what's more important when eating out is quality over quantity. I rather have a little of really delicious food than a whole lot of mediocre food with nothing to rave about. I guess that's also a part of my particularity and "hard to please" character... some would say. I haven't been to this Claim Jumper (on Gale) for several years and as I walk in with 2 of my good friends, it's nothing short of a walk down memory lane. I have had a few birthday dinners here in the past and all were good times, though the food was not memorable. This time the company was great as well, thus the food tasted a little better than it really was and I didn't want to ruin the fun time by sending anything back! =)

I ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon. Somehow I recalled that the salmon was really served on a cedar plank in the past. It's been a long while, so maybe I could be wrong. Anyhow, the salmon was not that great, edible but not memorable. It has some sweet and sour brown gunk on top. My mistake for not reading the description of the dish. They only have one salmon dish so I didn't bother reading the whole description, thinking how bad can salmon be? And, I wanted to have salmon for dinner. Well, I had to scrape off the brown stuff... it was nasty flavor to be paired with salmon. I don't see the point of it. It simply ruined the entire piece of salmon. Also the salmon was a bit overcooked. Oh well. I wanted my omega-3s.



The black sauce does nothing for the Salmon.



My Side salad with balsamic vinaigrette was decent.

Allen wanted the Babyback ribs (full rack). We eat family style, so we share each others' food. I think the full rack has shrunk! Years ago, the portion seemed much bigger because we used to end up with more leftovers.



Even the Cheese Toast is kind of smaller than before.



Ken ordered something "safe" as usual, the Chicken Fried Steak. Can't really go wrong with it, since it's a pretty popular dish at Claim Jumper.



The Chicken Fried Steak usually is moist and tender and breaded properly, that is if you happen to get good pieces the day you visit. We got lucky because it was pretty yummy. Ken didn't even touch the rest of his food (mash potatoes and biscuit) since the two pieces of steak was plenty to make him full!

The service that night definitely was not stellar. Our waiter never cared to ask us if we wanted dessert. We might have, if he asked. I guess he assumed since we boxed up our leftovers, we were too full to have anything more. Oh well, his loss.

One thing I never quite understood after all these years, is why do they give paper sacks that the food containers won't fit in. What's the point of the bag if you have to slide the containers in sideways to carry them. I just thought that was kind of ridiculous. Maybe no one ever bother to complain so they don't bother designing a better option.



Address: 18061 Gale Ave., City Industry, CA 91748