I Love Teriyaki

Best for: quick service

Price: $$

I have had traditional teriyaki plates everywhere. You know the rice, chicken, and salad. But “I Love Teriyaki” is different and yes that is the actual name of the place.

I Love Teriyaki is one of those unsuspecting restaurants that from the outside looks like it might be bad but actually turns out to be a local neighborhood gem. I have one of these unsuspecting gems in my hometown La Habra, it’s called T & S burgers and sells some of the best cheeseburgers I've ever had. These places have some type of nostalgic power that no other place can replicate. 

I Love Teriyaki is tucked away at the end of Main Street and can easily be missed if you aren’t looking for it. This is the only establishment on the street that has a drive thru, so I opted to take advantage of that. I rolled on through, placed my order, and was on my way. I want to say the whole experience took about 10 minutes between ordering and waiting for my food. 

Whenever I try new places I look at Yelp for pictures of the menu and the food. I always want to have an idea of what my food will look like. One of the first items I noticed was their teriyaki burger. The best way to describe it is an island burger; between the two buns there is tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pineapple and of course a good amount of teriyaki sauce. For me a perfect burger will leak and collect all of the sauce at the bottom of the wrapping. I Love Teriyaki burger did just that.The burger was $6.29 and honestly really filling so the price was worth it. The teriyaki sauce complimented the pineapple so well and made me wish I was on a beach in Hawaii enjoying the burger.

Obviously when eating a burger you need fries, right? Yes, you do need these chili cheese fries I ordered. The fries came in at $6.99 and had the perfect ratio of cheese to chili. By that I mean, there was enough chili that the fries weren’t drowning in it and enough cheese for every bite. I would 100% order these again minus the onions that were on top. I can only blame myself for that because the man who took my order did ask if I wanted them. I usually love onion on chili cheese fries but not this particular cut of onion. They were shredded cut onions and I like more of a cube cut onion on my fries. 

Like a true Angeleno, I have shared meals with friends eating on the trunk of my car; so that's what I did that day. It was a nice day out, plus eating on the trunk of your car is an experience like no other. I recommend sharing the chili cheese fries with friends and eating on the trunk of your car because why not?