PANGAEA GRILL
ADDRESS: Ocean Avenue, 5 NE Lincoln Street, Carmel, CA 93923
WEBSITE: https://www.pangaeagrillcarmel.com/
After a good portion of the morning spent on the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, my friends Nate and Ruby and I were looking for a spot to grab some lunch down in Carmel. It was really convenient because there was a gate to 17-Mile Drive that exited us out right in the town itself. I had found a place on Yelp called Pangaea Grill that had seemed like it was really popular and well-rated, so the three of us navigated our way through the town streets to find parking before walking over to the restaurant.
I feel like the menu at Pangaea Grill could be best described as American with a mix of Asian options. This certainly led to a number of different items that we were interested to try; lucky for us, we were all relatively hungry, so getting a few different dishes to sample fit right with our plan. Food choices ranged from sandwiches to salads to pasta, coupled with your Asian options such as Spam kimbap, kimchi fried rice, and kalbi (Korean short rib). We decided to lean more on the Asian flavors for our selection, ordering five plates total: the Spam kimbap, fried calamari, kimchi fried rice, tempura shrimp salad, and grilled spicy pork.
The dining area featured a mix between booth seating and tables, along with bar seating along the right-hand wall of the restaurant. Lights were suspended from the ceiling, with an overall bright atmosphere inside. Given that we had ordered five dishes in total, it wasn’t a surprise that it took a little bit for everything to get put together. It was about a half hour later from when we ordered that our plates made it out to the table.
Visually, all of the dishes looked about what I had expected, with the exception of the fried calamari. The pieces of squid were definitely much larger, not the bite-sized variety that I’m typically accustomed to. It was definitely manageable by using a fork and knife to cut the larger pieces for dipping, but just my personal preference on liking the bite-sized kind more. From a flavor perspective, I did think that the pieces leaned more on the bland side, relying more on the dipping sauces to give it the additional flavor while the breading was only there for texture. I did appreciate the fried bell peppers that were intermixed with the pieces of squid as well.
Moving on to the next “appetizer” style dish, the Spam kimbap was exactly as advertised, with the large chunks of Spam cooked with egg and layered with avocado in the middle of the rice and seaweed. I thought that it had pretty good flavor, with some dabs of the sweet soy sauce providing a small punch of umami. My next sampling was of the kimchi fried rice, with a fried egg sitting on top. The rice itself was mixed in with kimchi, sautéed pork belly, chopped scallions, and sweet potato noodles. I’m a fan of the funky flavor that kimchi has, and this fried rice definitely had that flavor profile within. There was a lingering spiciness from eating the fried rice, but it was more subtle, which I liked. The only thing that I didn’t really get was the pork belly, unless it might have just been cut into much smaller chunks.
I’ll admit that tempura shrimp is not something I’ve experienced with salad before, so this was definitely a first. The ginger vinaigrette brought a nice flavor to the spring mix, romaine hearts, tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado within the main vegetable mixture. The shrimp themselves were pretty huge, and I thought that the vegetables were a nice counter-balance to the fried shrimp pieces. I think that if there was one thing that could have helped elevate the salad a little bit more, it would have been some edamame to add into the mix.
The last dish I got around to trying was the grilled spicy pork, marinated in a sweet and spicy sauce that definitely gave each piece a kick. The plate also came with some seasonal vegetables and rice as well to complement the flavors of the marinade. It ended up being one of my top items from the five dishes that we tried, with the sweet and spicy sauce really standing out and delivering on the flavor punch. I would have been perfectly content with just a large bowl of rice topped off with a larger portion of the grilled pork.
Of the entire experience with the restaurant, the major downside that we observed was the inattentive service that we received. There wasn’t anyone that came by to refill our waters at the table, and we had to seek someone out for that after we had empty glasses for an extended period of time. When looking around for our waiter to ask about the water, he was nowhere to be found. I actually didn’t see him out in the dining area for at least 10 to 15 minutes after I started to notice the lack of service. After we finished our food, we were left waiting again until we had to flag someone down to bring us our check for the meal. Just very unfortunate and something I wouldn’t have expected for a place that seemed to be well-regarded from the reviews that I had seen.
While the food offerings are certainly something different than from the other places located within the town, the service we received makes it hard to recommend coming here. The best way I can describe my feeling is that if someone else really wanted to come here for the food, I wouldn’t mind. It’s just I personally wouldn’t be the one making that recommendation if someone asked about where we should go eat. The food itself, however, did taste good and there is a nice variety of different options to choose from on the menu. If you do end up finding yourself stopping by, just know that you might be rolling the dice when it comes to the service for your meal.
Let’s now take a look at the Pangaea Grill Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Spam Kimbap **
Spam, eggs, and avocado wrapped with roasted seaweed and seasoned rice.
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Fried Calamari
Lightly breaded and deep-fried local calamari, fennel, and bell peppers, served with garlic lemon aioli.
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** Kimchi Fried Rice **
Medium spicy kimchi, sautéed pork belly, scallions, rice, and sweet potato noodles, topped with a fried egg.
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** Tempura Shrimp Salad **
Romaine hearts, spring mix, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and tempura shrimp, served with Asiago cheese and ginger vinaigrette.
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** Grilled Spicy Pork **
Grilled marinated spicy pork, served with rice, seasonal vegetables, and fruit.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Pangaea Grill:
Food: 4.25 / 5
All of the ingredients from the various dishes tasted fresh and there is a variety of dish types to choose from, ranging between sandwiches to salads to pasta, along with Asian options as well. The flavors overall were good in the dishes that we tried.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
The interior décor was spacious and featured plenty of seating between the booths, tables, and bar. The atmosphere also seemed like it would be good for a casual meal or if you were stopping by to celebrate a special occasion.
Service: 1.75 / 5
Inattentive service coupled with not seeing our waiter on the dining room floor for extended stretches of time certainly do not make for a good first impression.
Price: 4 / 5
Even though the dishes were priced higher, the location on the prime stretch of Ocean Avenue is likely what was driving those prices. The salad seemed reasonable at $18, but the kimchi fried rice at $22 was stretching it a bit for me.
Overall:
14.25 / 20
(71%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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