Located at:
345 E 2nd St
Los Angeles,
CA 90012
Date of Visit: 09/07/2013
I had just left an outdoor movie at Grand Park which played Jurassic Park. And i got to tell ya. Watching all those dinosaurs going to town on people and other dinosaurs built up quite the appetite. So from there we ventured down to Little Tokyo. We wandered for a bit checking to see what was still open since it was just about to be 10pm. Turns out a lot of places were open. Except they were rather crowded. Then i recalled that this restaurant MAY be open. Luckily we had an hour before closing... score! There were a few tables with people in them which wasn't too bad.
I've been here a couple of times before. Except it's usually with months in between visits. And some of those visits were better than others. But I haven't been back since i started this blog so i figured, why not pig out here?
The restaurant had a very quaint feel to it. It was very well lit and they displayed some cool art pieces on the walls.
The service was pretty good. The waitress and waiter we had were rather nice. Even though the waiter had a really stern face and didn't smile at all. He didn't disrespect us or gave us any attitude. And best part was they didn't forget about us like some places. They would come by periodically to check up on us which a plus for me since I've been to places where it's a game to catch the waiter's attention.
Then the food came. (approximately 10 minutes from the time we ordered) The fried oysters were very nicely done and flavorful. Crispy on the outside and ooey gooey in the center. God I'm such a sucker for these things.
The potato croquette. That had to have been the biggest potato croquette I have ever seen so far. Just like the oysters it was nice and crispy on the outside and was able to retain a soft and moist potato mash at the center. But it was only "ok" to me when it comes to the flavor. (My friend got this dish and was nice enough to give me a bite... well he had to or else i would have beaten him.)
Albacore Roll. Very fresh. Very delicious. It was very nicely seasoned and I didn't have to drown it in wasabi and soy sauce. (My cousin's dish.. would have beaten him too if he didn't let me have a piece)
Ten-don. What went into this box is shrimp tempura, squid tempura, and vegetable with a bed of rice at the bottom and tempura sauce drizzled on it. I inhaled this dish leaving no survivors. It was just that good. They were not too heavy on the batter and everything inside the batter was cooked well overall. Each element inside held their own when it comes to flavor. And it didn't heavily rely on the tempura sauce for flavor. I usually know it's good tempura when my mouth isn't all cut up after the meal. Seeing as how my mouth gets roughed up after unsuspectingly wolfing down heavily overdone battered tempura dishes in the past.
And of course where would we be without combos? Beef teriyaki & tempura combo. This is my cousin's dish. I asked him what he thought about it. His response: "It's alright." Wow. Just...wow. My cousin talks too much. No point in wasting anymore time adding to his response.
Based on my few visits I'd say this place could be inconsistent at times. Though that has something more to do with the service aspect. The food however has been consistently good. So I'd definitely be back to sample something else. (They do have a rather big menu)
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