Wakasan- Good Food, Crappy Service

Waksan started off on a high note, but ended with rudeness from the wait staff.

I'll get to that later.

First the food. We got the omakase for $35/per person. Quite a deal considering how much food we got, but I was under the impression it was 12 courses. Instead, we got 9. When we asked the waitress why that was, she just said that it "varies". Hmm. I see.

1. Spinach with bonito flakes- Cold appetizer topped off with bonito flakes in a soupy broth with slices of bamboo. I liked it because it was healthy. It was just hard to eat without dripping broth all over the place.



2. Egg tofu with steamed sea urchin- This was a favorite among the table. The uni was paired perfectly in texture with the tofu and practically melted in my mouth.



3. Marinated abalone with shitake mushrooms and seaweed- Not a fan of this dish. It was toO salty for my taste, and I only liked the mushrooms. Abalone was okay. (oops, I forgot to take a pic of this. It was just brown and dark anyway)

4. King mackerel, tuna and halibut sashimi- Delicious. I liked it all! Fresh fish is sometimes hard to come by, but they did good.



5. Salmon, fried shrimp and lotus root- This was my favorite dish of the evening. Salmon was grilled perfectly and seasoned well. I loved the fried shrimp, it was simply divine. The lotus root added texture and elegance to the plate.



6. Albacore salad with poached egg- Pretty damn good as well. We mixed the poached egg into the salad and it brought out the flavors of the fish and greens. Yum.



7. Beef shabu- This was quite a set up. They brought out a small stone boiler with raw beef and scallions sitting in a paper dish on top of it. We had to push the beef down to cook it and after it was cooked, they took away the fire pot. I rather enjoyed this soup, but then again, I'm a shabu fanatic! Great presentation.








8. Sticky rice with mushrooms- Meh. Some parts of the rice were burnt. I hate burnt rice, and the flavor was not good. My least favorite dish. It felt like a let down after everything else we ate.



9. Cheese creme brulee- Holy smokes! This dessert was off da hook! I wish they gave us a bigger portion, as the ramekin was tiny. I'm not big on sweets, but damn, I could have ate a tub of this creme brulee. Smooth, creamy, and lip smacking good.



So, why the 2 stars?

Well, after we enjoyed our dinner and paid the $200 bill, the waitress comes by to tell us to leave since there was another party waiting outside. She just said, "We have another party waiting and if you could leave that would be good". What the F? Are you kidding me?

We were in shock at her rudeness. She didn't even say please! Besides that, there were 2 other empty tables! And, we had just spent good money and given her a good tip! $200 aint cheap, especially in this economy. The reason it was $200 was due to the 2 bottles of sake we ordered. But, anyhoo.

My friend asked to speak to the manager who came by and was like, "Oh, it's a Japanese custom, you can choose to leave or not. It's up to you." UMMM what? He did say sorry, but it felt like he was just saying it out of respect, not like he meant it.

BTW, the party that was waiting outside ended up being seated at an empty table. So, why did they ask us to leave again?

Whatever, it's cool. We ended up staying another hour chatting and drinking water.

And no, I won't be back. I refuse to pay good money to be treated like shit.

2/5 **

Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 446-5241