My Friend Oyster Bar & Grill

There’s a lot of mixed reviews about this place. But I love this place. Food is DELICIOUS but expensive. Someone down there said something about getting raw oysters & having fever? Well, theres a paper posted on their wall even warning & informing you. I believe that’s about every raw oyster. & about the dices being slammed loud, where else should it be slammed? On the lap? Course it’ll be loud on the table. Anywhos, it’s a great environment to drink & eat, if you’re asian, & a hella Asian environment, so you’ll feel at home.
Oh yeah, the raw oyster, fried tofu, chicken wings & fried squid is BOMB.

Can they please hire someone, or at least talk to somebody, who speaks correct Engrish and get their business name correct with the proper tenses? «I hungry, let go to My Friend Oyster bar’ NO!!!
It’s not: 1 hamburgers…2 hamburger. NO!
Anyways, aside from butchering our English language this place butchers their oysters pretty fresh. The prices are reasonable, as well. The servers there were apparently hired b/​c they look cute not because they know something about anything. You ask for a light beer, and they will bring you a beer with a candle next to it. I asked «what kind of Hefeweizen do you guys have?» I get back, ‘uhh, you know, heheh, the normal kind of Hef!’ Me: «allrigthy, buuuut what Brand do you carry?» Her: ‘oh, hehee, you know the kind that has wheat in it! Its a Hef! and guess what, we put lemon in it!’
*slap my own forehead*

Officially the last day of business, My Friend’s Oyster Bar will be closing it’s doors for the last time. Look for a crawfish restaurant opening in it’s place about a month from now. As a server that’s been here for since the Laker’s were Finals Champions– hahaha– on behalf of all the girls, chefs, and management: Thank you everyone for your years of patronage. We know we were not everyone’s cup of tea. But we did our best to be a place of laughter and drunken memories: D
Thanks again!!!

My friends and I would come here during the weekdays for dinner and drinks. It’s a rather small restaurant close to indian and azteca.
Food: my favorites are the chicken wings, asparagus+bacon, and oysters. the other food are bleh
Drinks: we almost always get beer… kirin, etc. but they also have sake.
Parking: can be limited at times, but there’s street parking
Environment: great place to sit and drink. they also have dice games.
Compared to the other restaurants similar to Myfriends. i’d choose myfriends for it’s laidback atmosphere.

Out of the other restaurants I been to of this kind, this place pretty much is my favorite. What makes this place better than the others is the food and the service. The environment is pretty fobish, but I really don’t mind places like that. The restaurant itself is nice, colorful and has like a cozy feeling to it.
The food here is actually pretty good, almost the same but a little better than the other joints. My favorite dish here would have to be the fried calamari and the oysters. The calamari are bigger in size and are seasoned. Most places they don’t season it or very little, but they don’t hold out here. Really good fried rice and bacon wrapped asparagus. The oysters are really good. If I remember correctly there are two kinds here, obviously the most expensive one taste much more fresh. Whether its the cheaper or the expensive one, they are both good though. Traditional $ 10 pitchers are here of course. Also including some deck of cards and cups with dice to help the night out with some fun.
The service here is awesome. The waitresses not only are cute and good looking, they always come around to see if you need anything from food or drinks. They are very friendly and even will joke around with you sometime. They helped me out a couple of times when I’m undecided on what to eat. Also when the food is ready to serve, they even bring it right away and don’t forget about you.

Come here every so often when we want to do something, but not necessarily go balls to the walls. The food is ok, usually I only eat their kumamoto oysters (one of my favorites), french fries and their bacon wrapped asparagus. You can’t really go wrong with those three dishes, but I do wish that they would make the fries a bit more crispy and serve them piping hot.
The ambience of the place is kind of fobby and loud, mainly because of the other patrons. They seem to play a lot of Korean music videos which always kind of surprises me a little. Overall the pricing for everything isn’t too bad (at least that’s what the person who pays the bill always tells me: P) Service is okay, friendly. However, there is this one guy who is there all the time… he’s nice and friendly, but kind of creeperish and gets a little too drunk at times… and a little too friendly.

So one of my friends took me here the other day cause she was craving oysters.
Anyways, came here at around 6pm on a Sunday– and we were the first customers.
The interior was… alright. It wasn’t anything spectacular– however, it was pretty spacious, which makes this restaurant a big + for big groups.
The food was «eh.» It wasn’t the worse, nor was it the best. We ended up getting the Masago Fried Rice, Fried Squid, 1 dozen of House Special Raw Oysters (~$ 20), and Bacon Wrapped Asparagus. The Masago Fried Rice was a little on the greasy side; however, it was steaming hot and came in a generous portion. The fried squid was decent and also came in a generous portion as well. The bacon wrapped asparagus was alright, nothing extravagant nor memorable. Overall, my favorite dish was probably the house special raw oysters because they were REALLY FRESH and the oysters were pretty big! So kuddos on that!
Service was alright– it wasn’t the best. The waitresses aren’t really attentive unless you pin them down.
Overall, this place was decent. In addition, this place isn’t really for suited for «dinner,» because there are a lot of appetizers compared to the entrees. Also, it’s more for a «bar hang out and grub» type of setting.

The place and the food is ok. Its a good place to chill and drink with friends and the prices are decent.
Whats good:
Masago Fried Rice (fish egg fried rice)
Chicken Wings
Fries
Lamb and beef kabobs
Pitchers
Ginjo Sake
They have two different type of raw oysters, the expensive one taste much more fresh and better obviously…
whats Bad:
Bathrooms are disgusting
all other food not mentioned above is mediocre.
Parking is a hazard during busy nights
Some nights the cops shake the place down

Pretty awesome place to hangout with a bunch of friends! The place is pretty small. You can get seated at the bar or at tables. Also, they have flat screen TVs set up at every angle so you can also enjoy whatever sport is on and what not. You can chill here for hours and hours because the beer here is so CHEAP! A pitcher is about $ 8!
Of course food was also ordered. Mainly, they sell appetizers such as fries, raw and grilled oysters, chicken wings, and many other finger foods. They also have rice plates and what not, but drinking + finger food is the best. Service is really good. The waitresses are there to talk to you and make you buy more alcohol. So they are really attentive.
Just sit down, order a pitcher, and play your drinking games. Excellent place to kick it!

Chilled here with a group of 8. Had a lot of sake and we also ordered cubed beef on a stick, fried calimari, raw oysters and fried chicken wings. The grub was tasty! Fried calamari was as I like it, tentacles and all! Yummy, spicy sauce, think it’s called XO.
Service was prompt with cute, friendly waitresses. Uh, it’s their job to be super friendly and even flirtatious so hey drunk guys, beware, your wallet might just be that much lighter! Wait, who am I talking to? Drunk guys, oh wait, I guess they could care less! Be nice, ladies, that just might be a sweet guy you’re stringing along!
As another person mentioned, yup loud Asians playing their slam the dice game! I’ll refrain from throwing out the 3 letter description! It’s cool though, everyone’s just drunk and having fun without the shady, wana-​be gangsta attitude.
Oh and any place that jams Britney’s music videos gets extra ***** in my book! 1…2…3… party til the world ends… they also had Bruno Mars and J. Derullo, just to name a few other cool artists. My only complaint is the music needs to be louder in the bar area.

This was my first and probably my last time I will go to this restaurant (and that’s using the term restaurant LIGHTLY).
This is your Vietnamese Coffee house instead they serve meals like oysters or various asian finger foods like chicken wings, hearts, neck, skin, etc.
Ironically this USE TO BE called Vino’s and THAT was good. The sign says they have sushi, but they don’t according to a door entrance… –1 pt. Here’s a quick business tip, if your not serving a particular food, DO NOT have it at your name… you’ll just look stupid.
Now my girlfriend and I wanted to try their dried scallop fried rice because she looked at a picture and thought it looked good. It didn’t disappoint! I ordered chicken wings and they were your average Asian Fried Chicken Wing with XO sauce.
Based on this alone I’m going to say that the food is real good!
HOWEVER, as I sat down the tables to our left were engaged on a heated dice game… and every 20 seconds they would slam their drinks, card, dice, etc on the table and shout something in Vietnamese. –1 pt
I don’t mind crowds getting rowdy… in fact that is a GREAT sign of a popular restaurant however, why the hell are you promoting gambling. I know its an Asian restaurant, but come on now… break the stereotype!
Lastly the waitresses were young girls probably 16 – 18 wearing shorts and hooker boots. Now if this is their attempt at an Asian Hooters, this may work to their advantage but their food speaks for itself, no need to stoop low! –1 pt
Theres TV to watch the game (s), music videos, etc. Its a sports bar type establishment, but the way its being run they clearly do not know WHAT type of restaurant they want to be…
Go here on a game day, but be prepared for loud annoying Asians…

After reading the reviews my boyfriend and I decided to check it out and see what all the fuss was about.
The moment we get there we walked around aimlessly for about 5 minutes until one of the waitresses finally came and asked where we wanted to sit. After choosing a table (it was still dirty at the time) we stood by it for another 5 minutes until she finally came to clean it. Then after waiting another 15 minutes she came to ask what we wanted to drink. Just to make things clear there was one semi-​big party in the back area but there were four waitresses on duty so taking forever because they were short-​staffed could not have been an excuse.
When our pitcher of beer came we were a bit surprised/​disappointed because the cups were the size of shot glasses (imagine trying to drink an entire pitcher shot glass by shot glass, not that fun)
I guess to sum things up you should only go here if you are a guy who does not care about waiting a long time for your food and beer as long as it is served by a decently pretty waitress in a floral dress, who also does not know how to pour beer (so much foam!!!, it is not hard to learn to tilt the glass!).

FRIEND: Let’s find somewhere to eat and watch the Lakers game.
ME: Sure… Where you wanna go?
FRIEND: Let’s go to MY FRIEND
ME: Uhhh… You sure?
Well… I have been to MY FRIEND OYSTER BAR a few times already. Always been an OKAY experience, but never liked it too much, but this recent visit was just plain HORRIBLE.
My major complaints from my recent dining experience:
— Waitress ignored us for 15 minutes after we were seated.
— It was another 15 – 20 minutes after we placed our order before we got our pitcher of beer (after I had to ask for it twice)
— We order food during 1^st quarter of the game, and it wasn’t served until 3^rd quarter! And food definitely lack flavor.
— We moved to the outdoor patio and asked our waitress to pack our unfinished rice To-​Go, but our fried rice dish was never seen again.
ANOTHER REASON WHY I HATE THIS PLACE:
— PARKING: Yes, they have a private lot, but argh~ it’s a nightmare!
Yes, I understand it’s the NBA Playoff, and the place is pack. But this is not an excuse for what happened.

Very boisterous place. Great atmosphere if you’re loud and social and love to meet people. The waitresses were all very good looking and drank with us as well. I really just came here with a large group of my friends for drinking. I love the TVs with the music videos on it… but what’s up with playing Justin Bieber?
Anyway, prices are pretty decent and order a lot of drink and you get some for free! We definitely went through our fair share… I’d be back again since I do love a happy rowdy crowd :)

When you tell your friends that you’re going to My Friends, make sure you tell them you’re going to the My Friends Oyster Bar. I kept telling my friends that I was going to My Friends and they kept asking me which friend I was going to. I went on a Tuesday night and it was quite packed. We parked in the alley way where we found parking right away. There’s a security guard there so you don’t have to worry about losing your car or getting it stolen.
The staff is pretty nice to look at and they’re pretty fast at bringing you your food/​drinks. They serve typical Chinese food as well as oysters and other different types of food. They also serve different types of beer and we were able to order different bottles. They do check your IDs so make sure you don’t have a sly friend who thinks they can sneak a beer in. Try their oysters as they’re known for this. We tried their eel fried rice and it was pretty good too.
If you’re looking for a quiet night out, this is definitely NOT the place to go to. The music is bumping, people are drinking and it is loud. You can play card or drinking games here so it’s all good. Have fun, order some food (Chinese food, oysters etc), pound down a few beers and you’re all set.

I come here because it’s close to my parent’s house. There aren’t too many contemporary bars in the area. It’s essentially an Asian hangout. Lot’s of guys come here because of the hot Asian waitresses. And they’re very friendly.
Every time I come here, there’s someone throwing up. Apparently the Asians here can’t hold their liquor. It’s quite a show. Last night someone threw up right outside the door. Last time I came here someone gave it back in the restroom.
The food is standard Asian bar food. Usually about $ 8 a plate. Most of the waitresses don’t know how to properly pour a beer. You end up getting about a quarter of the pitcher with foam. I tell them to tilt the pitcher, but they don’t listen.
Otherwise, It’s a nice place to hang out and drink some beers with friends. Nothing special.
I’d come here occasionally.

It was packed and really loud on a friday night. The parking lot was full but there’s parking along the street outside. The waitresses wore white shorts and black tank tops. I don’t want to compare them as the Asian version of Hooters… so I will just move on to the next topic.
I spent most of my time playing drinking games with beer. They provide dice and cups if you ask them. The flatscreen TVs inside are on sports channels. I did like their chicken wings and french fries! They have oysters and a variety of sushi as well. If you smoke you can get a table outside on the patio where people are chain smoking non stop. It’s loud inside and outside — most people shouting and just having a good time.
The cops rolled in for a little while to check up on things. They seemed to be taking special interest with one particular guy who looked like an Asian gangster to me. I also don’t appreciate being hit on by those same Asian Gangsters later that night. Definitely a no-​no. I’m going to avoid coming here on popular nights because truthfully I felt like I had to be on guard a bit. I’m too much of a white washed Asian girl to come here again.

My cousins and I decided to take out my uncle for dinner. being all indecisive and very easy going people the conversation of where to eat basically went round and round and round. Until I got my uncle to finally give me a few suggestions and let me make the final decision.
Uncle — «There’s this oyster bar near Indian that is pretty good.»
Me — «Oyster bar? Is that going to be really expensive?»
Uncle — «No no not bad at all.»
My Friends Oyster bar it is. Haha… the food was good, small dishes tapas style, but the not so pricy turned out to be 28 a person (more in the end since we treated out our uncle), and we didn’t really leave very full at all. Next time… not listening to my uncle unless I know for sure its not that expensive. Thus, 3 stars. 4, for the food itself.
This place is a sports bar with a sushi bar in front, a room in the back with lotsa tv’s, and an outside area where smokers usually sit and eat. Place was empty when we walked in, but all the tables in the back were reserved for the UFC fight. So we sat at one of 3 tables near the sushi bar. Service was decent, got a bit busy during the game and it was hard to get a server’s attention.
Round 1
–chicken butt skewers-​tiny but tasty, can’t go wrong right?
–chicken heart skewers-​tiny but okay
–kumamoto oysters-​smallest I’ve ever seen of this kind, 27 for 12. Still tasty, but I’ve had larger ones at Redondo that were just as good
–fried rice with scallops-​came at very end of round 1, boo no rice to go with my meal, tasty but kinda dry
–oysters in black bean sauce-​the most food for the price (14), and pretty good but needed some tabasco
–eel-​smaller than I thought it would be… few pieces of eel on rice, eel was bit dry and not too tender
Round 2
–intestines-​best dish here
–spicy salmon roll and spider roll-decent’y good sushi
–fried tofu-​really good
Dishes flew onto the table, and were taken right off as they were eaten. They all came at different times so don’t expect to eat anything together, just eat. Pricier than I want my meals to be, but the food was good.

Last night I came here a bit late (10ish?), and it was not packed at all. I think there was only one other group when I arrived, and parking was plentiful if not horribly maintained. But I will not judge the place by the sinkholes in their parking lot.
Oysters were pretty fresh and tasty and definitely decently priced. Then again the pitchers of beer probably didn’t hurt our opinion of the place. But I will say that I was wowed by service. That is more often that not what makes a breaks a place for me. Sure, there were no more than 3 other tables there at the same time as us, but that level of friendliness and attention was perfect. My hot tea was always refilled and warm, they didn’t make faces at our continual requests for lemons, and every attempt was made to keep our mounting shells off the table despite our protests to keep.
Cheap alcohol, decent food (especially for the price), and really attentive and friendly staff are pretty much what I look for in a local hangout place with friends, and My Friends Oyster Bar meets the requirements. That may change if I come here on a busier night, but for now it gets all four stars.

If you come here past 9 p.m. you might run into rowdy and loud crowds. Formerly known as Vino’s, it use to be a «gangster» hangout, but has since cleaned up its image. It feels like a bar/​restaurant with several large tvs showing whatever game is on at the moment, and plenty of alcoholic beverages to choose from.
I was leery of their sushi and oysters, but when I tried an oyster that someone else ordered, it was surprisingly fresh. Even more surprising, the Masago fried rice was one of the best platters of fried rice I’ve ever had. The Dried Scallop fried rice was pretty good too. Just those two plates of rice alone may warrant another trip to My Friends.
Parking is free in their own lot.