The Shrimp Guys

Spicy coconut lime shrimp plate. Made my mouth sing!!! Portions could be ordered small or large but it’s definitely better to order the larger size even if you’r e not hungry because it tastes soooooooooo amazingly good.
I used to hit up this truck when it would frequent the Sawtelle area but it’s been a few years now and from the looks of their Twitter account possibly the truck is no more and it’s all about their store front in West Covina? Or is that closed now? Sigh. I want me some coconut lime shrimp!!! Don’t make me have to wait for Hawaii later this year…

Fashionably late, but just in time! The Shrimp Guys arrived at the tail end of an event just as my stomach started rumbling again. They took their sweet time cooking their dishes, taunting me with tantalizing smells (yep).
Just before I started a mutiny, they gave me a bowl with a mound of expertly cooked white rice (not that easy I find) with 4 jumbo shrimp on top in the tasty sauce of my choice.
My choice was coconut lime and my pal’s choice was garlic butter. He probably wanted the coconut lime, but knew if he got the same thing I got, I’d take his bowl and dump it on his head. Then he wouldn’t get to try any. My friends need to order what I want them to order! Which is whatever I didn’t order so I can try it too. You can judge, I don’t mind.
I thought both sauces were delicious, and definitely something I’d get again. The coconut lime just edged out the garlic butter for me, but both were delicious. Simple, balanced, full of flavor.
My only complaint: peel those shrimps! If I’m going to peel my own shrimp I might as well get myself a net and go shrimping. Get a boat and a crew. Be a shrimper.
I’m lazy. Peel my shrimp. Thanks.

I happened upon these guys, and having a difficult time passing on scramps I decided to take a look at what they were cooking up.
When I saw they offered a coconut lime sauce, I decided I had to try them.
The shrimp were large, fresh, and cooked to perfection.
They’re placed on a bed or white rice, and they give you enough sauce to mix in the rice.
The shrimp still do have shells on them, so be prepared to get your fingers a bit dirty.
It’s worth the work, the slight mess, and the rice (I’m not a huge fan of rice).
I’ll definitely be coming back.

Picture this, outdoors on a freezing cold evening, steam billowing off a plate of buttery garlic shrimp, a gentle breeze wafts their delicious scent toward you, you lean in for your first bite… is it love?
Yes, I do believe so! The garlic butter sauce could make plastic taste good, but instead it takes perfectly plump shrimp and hot rice to a whole new level. It is a bit pricey, we had the large plate with about 8 shrimps for $ 10ish. It wouldn’t be a big deal if we were in a restaurant, but instead we huddled near a heat lamp in the freezing cold. Ah well, at least it wasn’t raining!
I would definitely come back, next time for the spicy garlic butter and the coconut lime!

I love shrimp. When I found out these guys were gonna be at the K-​mart near my house, I made plans to go three days in advance.
This little trailor has a nice simple menu. From shrimp and rice to shrimp tacos.
Tonight I had Garlic buttered shrimp. Shrimp sauted in a garlic and butter sauce served with white rice. A little bit too much bitter garlicy flavor for me. But if you remove the garlic topping it’s much better. Squeeze a little lemon and it’s even better.
If you love shrimp too, follow them on twitter and we’ll see you at the next truck stop.

The BEST Shrimp truck outside of Hawaii!!!
After spinning at Soul Sessions in Downtown LA, I had craving for the Butter Garlic Shrimp plate. It was the Bomb!!! (Huge shrimp pieces, with butter & garlic smothered over the shrimp, and over the rice).
They’re all over town during the week… but every other Friday you can find em posted up at Soul Sessions
My pic is with Richard, one of owners of «The Shrimp Guys»…check em out:
or follow em on Twitter: @theshrimpguys

I was excited when I first found out that The Shrimp Guys were going to be at the LA Fair (located near the entrance of Gypsy Camp). The prices were a little higher than usual, but of course it’s at the fair so what’s NOT expensive?
I ordered a large plate of spicy garlic butter shrimp for $ 12. I think there were about 10 pieces of shrimp with the sauce on top of the jasmine rice & shrimp with a slice of lemon. The flavor was spicy & tangy, I LOVED IT.
Will definitely come again to try their spicy coconut lime plate :)

Frankly, it comes down to several things: the freshness of the shrimp, whether you’re an avid garlic lover, and the price. First off, I love shrimp. I could probably recite the lines word-​for-​word from Bubba’s speech in Forrest Gump, the one where he goes on forever about all the different things he can do with shrimp.
I ate the spicy coconut lime shrimp plate, and the I can tell you right off the bat that the shrimp seemed to taste «off,» to put it succinctly. It was listless and sad looking with a hint of grey, as I suspect that it was previously frozen shrimp quickly defrosted and thawed out. Fresh shrimp should be vibrant in color, with an orange tinge, and give a slight snap when taking a bite — especially from a larger-​sized shrimp.
Flavor-​wise, there’s no doubt which ingredient takes center stage. It’s Mr. Garlic. Chopped up into small-​medium sized chunks and coated all over each shrimp, they’re like «bling bling» crystals clinging onto each shrimp. You just might get one of those bad boys stuck between your teeth. Get ready to floss, because it’ll be a war zone on your bathroom mirror.
I could definitely taste the coconut and lime flavors, and there was a decent spicy kick at the back of the throat. As the side, the abundance of rice served as a decent compliment to the garlic mini-​nugget parade. If you’re a fan of garlic, like me, you probably won’t mind it as much. But if you’re a bit more like a vampire, or prefer minced garlic instead, you might cringe a bit when eating the dish.
The «gourmet» food truck world is still evolving. What used to be considered expensive for a food truck at around $ 6 – 7, is now the norm. I don’t mind paying a premium high price like $ 9, but only for good quality and fresh ingredients. With higher prices comes higher expectations. There’s just no other way around it, and I think most savvy consumers and business owners would agree.

I agree with Nino M. and Irene M. Don’t waste your time or money on The Shrimp Guys. Not only did they open an hour late for the recent OC DinDin-​A-​GoGo in Irvine, but they also took nearly another hour to get the food out.
As for the food, it was subpar and really disappointing. The Spicy Garlic Butter Shrimp was just spicy garlic butter WITH shrimp. There was absolutely no garlic butter flavor absorbed into the shrimp itself. Maybe marinating the shrimp would have helped, but the only way I could really taste the sauce was to scoop up a big forkful of garlic butter and stick it in my mouth, which is something I do not recommend anyone to do.
The Spicy Coconut Lime Shrimp was better. You could actually taste the coconut milk and the lime on the shrimp. There was tons of garlic on this dish too, but it was better integrated into the other flavors. However, the shrimp did not seem terribly fresh, so I didn’t eat too much of this dish either.
Of course, the next day there was garlic coming out of nearly every pore in my body — not a good way to be reminded of a not-​so-​pleasant meal. $ 9 is not a terrible price to pay for shrimp from a food truck, but when they overload the plate with 3 heaping scoops of rice, you don’t really feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth. And with food like this, you certainly haven’t.
1 ½ stars

First off, they opened an hour late. They were slow and unorganized.
We ordered the spicy coconut lime shrimp and the spicy garlic butter shrimp. The coconut shrimp was a more successful dish than the garlic butter dish.
The shrimp was fishy, the rice was hard and sauce had huge chunks of garlic in both dishes. I can still taste the garlic in my mouth. The only reason the coconut sauce was better than the garlic sauce was because the coconut covered the fishy taste.
Overpriced and not impressive. Anyone could have cooked this at home, no problem.

I’m gonna keep this simple and sweet. The food from this truck does not come within a fraction of what the REAL Giovanni’s shrimp does for my taste buds. I’m am not even a big foodie. In fact, I will eat anything most food trucks will offer. However, I wouldn’t even eat this food if it were presented to me for FREE.
Why? Because straight up, the garlic shrimp dish they serve is bland… needs paprika, has too much oil, and is extremely over-​priced. I literally paid ~$ 10 for rice smothered in vegetable oil and 7 – 10 shrimps. Do yourself a favor and just google «Giovanni’s Shrimp Recipe» if you want to re-​live your North Shore getaways of the past.
You know when you travel to Oahu and you see those random «GARLIC SHRIMP» trucks in Waikiki catering to tourists seeking that classic Giovanni’s flavor? You think to yourself…“Those trucks suck compared to Giovanni’s!” Well, sorry. The Shrimp Guys isn’t any different. :(
As cliché as it sounds. Giovanni’s is «Often imitated. Never duplicated.»

I woke up craving shrimp today. Yesterday I tried getting a shrimp burrito from another truck and was sorely disappointed. Tried a different truck today – The Shrimp Guys (actually 1 Shrimp Guy and a Shrimp Gal) came through for me bigtime.
The menu was pretty limited today at 9^th and Hope, there were just 4 choices. Two of them were Coconut Lime Shrimp, and Spicy Coconut Lime Shrimp. And yes I went with the spicy.
For $ 9.00 (and that includes tax) they serve a plate with 3 scoops of white rice and 8 nice sized shrimp. The coconut in the name refers to coconut milk, there is no trace of shredded coconut meat here, and the milk is sauteed with garlic, peppers, thai chilis and what the website calls «tropical spices:. I am not quite certain what that all entails, but I think I detected a trace of curry.
Whatever it was, it clicked, this was an awesome meal. I am fairly new to the whole nouveau truck scene, and this was the 3^rd time I had a shrimp dish. The Shrimp Guys and Komodo are probably my two favorite trucks, it would be nice to pair them off in a tiebreaker.
The other truck, Fish Happens is nor even worth a mention. For roughly the same cost, you get about half the shrimp. And I want every shrimp they will give me, especially when it’s this good.
«Gourmet Food Truck #8 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in So Cal»

When you come to the shrimp guys shrimp truck, it’s like Hawaii all over again!
they’re very generous on the shrimp and the rice which is always good when you’re paying 10 bucks for a nice big plate. :)
the coconut shrimp is definitely my favorite!
and the best part is the people that work here. RICH, RON, PETER, DREW, VALERIE… they all make you feel like family! :)

I am all about eating from lunch trucks. There’s something about a seasoned, mobile cooking surface that makes my tastebuds happy.
I was expecting some fantastic flavor and ordered the tilapia, but got a mouthful of garlic instead. Now, I’m ½ Filipino, so I’m not a stranger to garlic, but holy holy… there is such a thing as too much garlic in the sauce. I had the tilapia and the hubs had the shrimp. I would have preferred the shrimp. The were cleaned, tail-​on, and not hard/​rubbery/​overcooked. Their rice was delicious and they gave a very generous portion.
If you ever find this truck, stick with the shrimp meal and pass on the tilapia… unless you’d like some tilapia with your garlic.

I’ve been craving Hawaiian shrimp truck food for awhile and it was nice to find a truck that attempted to do just that. I’ve tried the Garlic Butter Shrimp from the Shrimp Guys truck… pretty good. It was good, but I wasn’t blown away because I can’t help but compare it to the shrimp spots in Hawaii. I wanted more flavor. I also wanted more garlic seasoning.
If you’ve never had shrimp in Hawaii from places like Giovanni’s and Romy’s, then you will definitely feel delighted this kind of shrimp even exists. So if you’re a shrimp lover, although not the best shrimp I’ve had, I still think it’s worth a try.

Talk about a hot mess! I was about to go get a salad and saw the ‘The Shrimp Guys’ truck on the street. Pulled over, took a gander at the menu then ordered the special: Beef Hot Links and Shrimp Special. I asked if I could have the Spicy Garlic Shrimp with that and they happily obliged.
Get back to the office and took the cover off. Then proceeded to scrape off 4 tablespoons of garlic. Love garlic and use to eat a lot then one day it just was too much. I didn’t want to have garlic breath or garlic coming out of my pores at the office. Any other day, yes, but not today.
Took me 10 mins and 4 paper towels. I then spread some red Chinese hot sauce on thick and «VIOLA!!» It’s so good!
$ 9 for a plate full of YUM!

I’m pretty sure I ordered the Coconut Lime Shrimp but I think I was given the Garlic Butter version instead. Hey, that just gives me another reason to go back.
The shrimp are rather large and quite tasty. Unfortunately, I now have bad breathe from all of the garlic I ate. But the best part of the meal was the rice with garlic sauce. Perhaps my rice cooker operating skills are poor but the rice from restaurants always seems to taste better than my own concoction. And today was no exception.
So soft, flavorful… delicious!
$ 8 for a dozen large shrimp and three scoops of rice is quite reasonably priced. Out of all of the nouveau food trucks running around town these days, The Shrimp Guys is definitely one of the best.

After stalking The Shrimp Guys for weeks on Twitter, I finally paid them a visit… and I am in love.
In an homage to Giovanni’s on the North Shore of Oahu (their inspiration), The Shrimp Guys, offers Garlic Butter Shrimp and, to make things their own, they also serve Coconut Lime Shrimp. All shrimp is available regular or spicy, and all shrimp plates cost $ 9.00 (drink included).
My plate was absolutely loaded with shrimp and three scoops of rice, which soaked up the tasty flavors of the shrimp.
The garlic butter shrimp did not disappoint. Each shrimp had a delightful crunch that packed a garlic-​y punch. Although my inner fat kid wanted the shrimp to drip with butter, I certainly did not complain about the lovely garlic flavor that prevailed in the dish.
My favorite of the two offerings, however, was the coconut lime shrimp. Topped with a sweet and spicy mango salsa, the coconut lime shrimp had the perfect amount of flavor. Dishes such as this are all too often overpoweringly sweet, but the Shrimp Guys have done it right with a subtle sweetness that is enhanced by the salsa.
Although some may balk at the $ 9.00 price tag, think about the $ 8 that people willingly shell out for a grilled cheese sandwich from The Grilled Cheese Truck. You can make that at home. If you can make shrimp like this and don’t need The Shrimp Guys and will give me THIS MUCH SHRIMP, call me.

While I found a bustaurant with World Fare, now I found a pulling trailer with The Shrimp guys. So, instead of driving a truck around, a Ford Explorer is actually having this cooking trailer behind it.
Anyhow, the shrimp may not be buttery, but I like its garlicy and spicyness, it’s great. And yes, just like others said, you don’t have to travel to Hawai’i no more to get these amazing shrimps. Mine was a bit soggy, so I got to deduct 1 star. I had Spicy Garlic Butter Shrimp and yes it came with a DOZEN of shrimps and they’re NOT tiny, along with 3 scoops of rice and a side of those mango, tomato, onion salad-​like on the side plus lime wedge.
Since I’d tried the same thing at Uncle Lau’s truck, this one was definitely much better and really closed to the ones in North Shore. They also cooked it based on each person’s order, so it took longer than usual, my order came out in about 10minutes or so. I forgot how much things cost in Giovanni’s, but this plate was about $ 8 and for another $ 2 you can get a Luau punch. As you know with other trucks, it’s CASH ONLY peeps!

These guys single handedly turned me on to shrimp and that mango salsa is stellar! The spicy garlic flavor transformed plain white rice into a rock star meal. And, I was hesitant to try the shrimp, but the boys insisted and my life is now forever changed. They turned a gloomy Sunday afternoon into paradise (in my mouth)!