[Santa Ana] [Chinese] Tan Cang Newport Seafood Restaurant

Tan Cang Newport Seafood Restaurant
新港海鮮
4411 W 1st St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 531-5146
http://www.tancangnewportseafood.com

Our original plan was to have Christmas dinner with Dr. P's family at Tan Cang Newport Seafood.  Dr. P's mother wasn't feeling well that day so dinner plan was canceled.  But Dr. P still wanted to take me to Newport Seafood for a Christmas lobster dinner.  I told him it would be too much food for 2 people.  He said, "That's ok.  It's Christmas!  Only the best for my baby!"  How sweet!  @^_^@



Original plan was to go to the San Gabriel location, which is a lot nicer.  It was my first time at the Santa Ana location.  It looked like a hole in the wall sorta place.  To be honest, if I didn't know about the restaurant, I probably wouldn't go in if I just pass by because it just didn't look nice and clean from outside.  But we all learned "never judge a book by its cover" since we were little, right?




We went a little earlier, around 4pm, to avoid the dinner crowd.  There were still a lot of people eating in the afternoon.  EVERY single table ordered the famous Newport lobster.  We overheard a couple telling the waiter that they drove all the way there from San Francisco for that lobster.


Heineken Beer ($3.00)

Dr. P started the meal with a bottle of Heineken.


酸魚湯 Cat Fish with Hot & Sour Soup ($8.95)

We ordered a $22 family meal plus the lobster and another dish.  By ordering the family meal, we saved about $6 comparing to order the dishes separately.  The family meal included a soup and 2 dishes.  For the soup, the choices were seafood soup or Cat Fish Hot & Sour Soup.  We picked the hot and sour soup.  We LOVE it!  The soup was full of strong flavor.  Basil, lemongrass, pineapple, tomato, fried garlic, onion, jalepeno....  and lots and lots of fish.  My mouth just started watering thinking about that soup now.  We both just love the sour and spicy flavor.


牛肉芥蘭 Beef with Broccoli ($8.95)

Beef with Broccoli came with the family meal.  This was not a special dish, but it tasted good.  I like the fresh and crunchy Chinese broccoli a lot.


香草大蜆 Clam with Spicy Hot Sauce ($9.95)

Clam with Spicy Hot Sauce was another dish included in the family meal.  Dr. P loves this dish.  This dish was actually not that spicy as its name applied.  The clams were all big and meaty.  This dish is best to eat when it's hot.  The sauce became gooey not as good when it's cold.


法式牛柳 Beef Loc Lac (French Style) ($11.95)

Beef Loc Lac was a dish I always get at Newport Seafood.  The cubed beef was juicy and tasty.  Yum yum yum!


新港龍蝦 Newport Special Lobster ($11.99/lb) ($53.96)

Newport Special Lobster was $11.99 per pound.  We asked for the smallest one and got a 4.5 pounds lobster for about $55.  The lobster was sooooooooo delicious!  I didn't care about if I wasn't eating pretty because it was that good.  I was just eating with my hands, breaking the shell with my teeth, got sauce smeared all over my face, but who cares?  The lobster was THAT good!  We tried our best to eat as much as we could at the restaurant, but only managed to finish about half of it.  The leftover lobster didn't taste as good though.



This was our Christmas feast for 2.  Yum!


Orange

A plate of orange at the end of the meal.  I don't know what kind of orange it was, but the color was lighter, and it was super juicy and sweet.



Love the food at Newport Seafood.  This is a cash only place, which is a little inconvenience.  So if people have banquet dinner, they need to bring hundreds of cash with them?  Hmmmm....  Comparing the San Gabriel and Santa Ana locations, I still prefer the San Gabriel one.  The restaurant is nicer and cleaner there, and they also accept credit card there.  If I remember right, the San Gabriel restaurant also has a better family meal menu with better price.  But nonetheless, I am very pleased with our Christmas dinner.  Thank you for the delicious meal, Dr. P!  ^^

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