Serina T.'s Profile

We came here for dinner on a Friday night and didn't have to wait for a table.  We originally were trying to go to Nanbankan but they couldn't seat us until 9:30pm so we came here instead.

Seems like a fun place for izakaya...they have a communal table like Musha in Torrance.  Pitchers of Sapporo for only $13...not bad.

Octopus balls...these were pretty good.  One of my favorite dishes.

Japanese sausages...definitely fill you up.  Nice and juicy but not very big.  You get 10 of them.

Calamari Kimchee...nice and spicy but more kimchee than squid.

Baked Mussels...these were sooo good.  But they only give you two.  Nice and creamy.

Yakitori combination...comes with 10 skewers of various things such as chicken, shrimp, and pork.  Pretty tasty especially with the sauces.

That's all the food that I remember off the top of my head.  Bill came out to about $26 a person which isn't bad at all.  Their happy hour seems like a great deal but it's too hard to try to get to the westside before 7:30pm.

I took my bf here for his birthday.  Lucky for him he likes sushi.  It's a bit hard to find as there were no signs from the street except for the small valet sign (parking was $7).

The bar area is pretty nice as is the decor and ambiance throughout the rest of the restaurant.  We had reservations for 8:30pm and were seated promptly.  

For drinks, we ordered a large of the Nobu black lable sake...very smooth and dry.

Whitefish sashimi with ponzu sauce and garlic....it was pretty good.  The slices were so thin and the fish so tender.  The flavors complemented each other very well

Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno...also very good.  The jalapeno wasn't so spicy that it overwhelmed the taste of the fish.

Monkfish liver with caviar...one of my favorites.  It was rich and creamy with just a hint of saltiness from the caviar and a little sweetness from the sauce.

Squid pasta...another good dish.  It came with baby asparagus and shitake mushrooms in a butter soy sauce with some pepper.  The squid were extremely tender and not chewy.  The mushrooms just melted in your mouth.

Black cod with miso...I've had this at Matsuhisa and it did not dissappoint.  The fish is so soft you can eat it without really chewing.  It's marinated for 3 days so you can definitely taste the flavor.  This is one of their signature dishes and a definite must try.

Scallops in wasabi pepper sauce...this dish was similar to the squid pasta but with scallops instead of squid.  The wasabi just added a tiny kick to it that made it very enjoyable.

Negi Toro roll...the fish was so good.  Too bad the roll is fairly small.  The seaweed was so fresh and wasn't chewy at all.

Creamy spicy crab...this was the most underwhelming of the dishes.  Way too salty.  We could've done without ordering this

Whiskey Cappuccino...this was perfect for dessert since we were already kind of full.  It's a pretty small portion but it comes with cookie crumbs, capuccino flavored ice cream and light foamy whipped cream.

As for service, it started out on a bad foot as the waiter kind of disappeared after giving us the drink menu.  We were already hungry and had to ask a server to go get him.  After that though, the service was much better.  They cleared our plates at just the right moment and was always there to make sure our glass of sparkling water was never empty.

It is a bit on the pricy side so I would probably only come here for a special occasion.  For 2 the bill came out to $280 with tax and tip.

We usually come here for drinks/desserts since its a nice place to hang out.  They're usually pretty crowded and there's a wait for tables normally.

They have a huge menu of drinks as well as serving food.  I really like their fruit teazers (a smoothie).  My favorite is the mango passionfruit...really sweet and yummy.  The regular size is $4.50 and it's a $1 extra for the large size.

It's located in Diamond plaza so sometimes its hard to find a parking spot.  Service is pretty bad.  You really have to flag down your waiter if you need anything and then expect not to get it for a long time.

So I ended up going to this place two days in a row.  The first time I really needed it since I hadn't had a car wash in months previously.  They did a pretty thorough job.  

The regular wash is $11.95 and includes vacuum and wash.  For an extra $2 more you can add the polish wax and a car freshener.  

What sucks is the very next day after I got the car wash, my car got egged.  Ugh so rather than clean it up myself I decided to just come back here and get it washed again.  I think they remembered me and my car was even cleaner the second time.

They have a little shop with cold drinks or you can walk over to Hong Kong Plaza to satisfy your thirst while you wait.  They even have a massage chair there...$1 for 3 minutes.

Finally went to go get a car wash and while we were waiting we decided to get some shaved ice.  So we walked over here.  It tasted pretty good too since it was so hot this weekend.

So you pick 3 things and they put a lot of shaved ice, condensed milk, and caramel syrup on top.  We got the red bean, soft peanuts, and this black gelatinous stuff which I don't know the name of.  

They also have a lot of other food and stinky tofu here.  Everything here is pretty cheap with most of it under $5.

This place is located in Yes plaza where there are a bunch of other eateries as well.  It's more of a fast food type of joint but there are tables if you want to eat there as well.  The tables are next to a boba tea place that has games like Jenga that you can play.

Came here for the chicken wings.  We got the hot sweet sauce half medium and half spicy.  It was 8 pieces for about $8.  The hot sauce was pretty spicy...left quite a burn in your mouth.  I like how its pretty crispy...not like normal wings.  It's a tad pricy for wings but very yummy.

We actually got up early to take my car into service so we decided to stop by here for Chinese breakfast.  The place doesn't look too clean but there's almost always a line.

We usually get the geen onion pancakes and soy milk.  It's pretty cheap...under $10 for 2.  There's not much room to sit so snag a table while your dining partner waits in line to order the food.

I was so happy when one of the vendors took us out to lunch and we actually went somewhere else besides Applebee's or the Indian buffet place.  I like to try new places and get sick of going to the same places all the time.  It was a little sad though as it was one of my coworker's last week there.

It seemed quite busy for lunch time but we were seated right away.  They have a pretty extensive menu of Japanese food with everything from sushi to sashimi to udon to teriyaki.  They had some pretty good combination plates for under $15.  

So I ordered combination #8 which was the sashimi & teriyaki combo.  It came with a lot of food!  3 pieces of salmon sashimi and 2 pieces of tuna sashimi with chicken teriyaki.  Also came with a crab hand roll (which was pretty good), potato salad, regular salad with japanese dressing, miso soup, orange slices, and a bowl of rice.  We also ordered a salmon sashimi plate and a crunchy shrimp roll.  The roll was just alright...the tempura tasted as if it was a bit stale.  The tuna wasn't as fresh either but the salmon was pretty decent.

Service was decent...my water was refilled when it needed to be.  This is defintely one of the better lunch places around my work.

Came here for dim sum after clubbing the night before.  We barely got there before they stop dim sum which is at 2pm.  We were seated in the little side room so it seemed as if the cart ladies didn't come by as often.  We actually had to run after one to get some stuff.

We got the usual shrimp and beef rice noodles, har gow, shu mai, egg custard, char siu bao.  I liked how the shu mai had a little slice of sausage on the top and was especially juicy.  Also had the spicy pickled cucumbers which were good.  The chinese broccoli that we ordered though was a bit on the chewy side and not as soft as usual.  Didn't get to try the fried shrimp balls but they looked good.

Overall bill came out to $14 a person.  I was full at the time but got hungry again pretty quickly.

We came here for my bf's birthday and his friend who also has the same birthday.  There was a large group of about 30 of us so we got the whole front section to ourselves.

They just ordered a whole bunch of food and we ate family style.  We ordered 8 combination platters which came with beef ribs, pork ribs, BBQ chicken, tri tip, and sausage.  The pork ribs were the best...so tender and just fell off the bone.  It came with 4 sauces, 3 red and 1 yellow.  None of which were really that spicy.  The yellow sauce was a sweet mustard and was actually quite good.

There were a lot of side dishes as well.  My favorite was the blueberry cornbread...very soft and buttery with real corn.  The mashed potatoes were also pretty yummy.  We also had artichokes, coleslaw, salad, corn, and french fries.

The service was decent considering that we had such a large group.  Overall price was pretty good too as it came out to $18 each including tax, tip, and the birthday celebrants' portions.