Maru Restaurant Video Review

Check out West LA's delicious Japanese restaurant featuring fresh ingredients and amazing omakase.

Maru 
12400 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90025

Phone number(310) 820-7240

Zankou Chicken

What's so special about this place?

The prices are expensive for what you get, and the food is just mediocre at best. 

I got a lule plate for $11.99 and my DC got the try-tip shawerma wrap for $6.99. 

We had to wait 15 minuted for my plate to be done, and then we headed home. 

Um, the lule meat was overcooked and dry and so not worth the $11.99. Also, the onions had a weird, old, stanky flavor to them. Disgusting. The hummus was decent though. 

Lule plate

My DC liked his wrap and ate it pretty fast, however for $7, it was pretty pricey. 

Overall, I would not go back. The food at Panini Cafe is better and is a tad bit less expensive.

Zankou Chicken
1716 S Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 444-0550

Hot Pot on Sawtelle: Morinoya

With the current chilly weather that LA is enduring, it's quite fitting that this review is for hot pot. 

Hot pot is usually associated with Chinese restaurants, but Morinoya serves up individual hot pots that hit the spot. 

You wouldn't know this restaurant exists since it's pretty much hidden on the second level of the Olympic Collection plaza, but if you're up for trying a new place, get yourself there asap.

They used to be open for lunch, but unfortunately have now made themselves strictly a dinner establishment. (boo)

On every occasion that I've been here, I always order the hot pot, either kimchi or the soy milk. Both are delicious, yet very different in taste.

Opt for the kimchi hot pot if you want more flavor and a bit of spice. There are small pieces of pork as well, so this would be good for meat lovers. 

kimchi hot pot

The soy milk hot pot is one-of-a-kind and I highly recommend it for fish lovers or those who prefer a milder flavor. It's more of a savory soy milk, so don't be scared off by the soy. It comes with bits of fish, mushrooms, and napa cabbage. 

soy milk hot pot

veggie tempura

Both hot pots come with a small salad, rice, and an appetizer of your choice. 

salmon + yellowtail sushi

I've tried the sushi here, but it's just okay. If you're here, take advantage of the hot pots and forgo the sushi.

Service ranges from good to just okay. I guess it depends on how busy they are, but the only complaint is having to wait for long periods of time if you are more than a group of 2.

They provide free parking validation for 1.5 hours, so feel free to park underground.

Morinoya
11301 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 473-3960

CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice - Boba in West LA

Finally, a good boba place in West LA!

Located in the Olympic Collection plaza, next to Pinkberry, Coco delivers fresh teas and juices with good boba. You know, boba that isn't all hard and nasty. *ahem Volcano Tea*

We happened upon this place after dining at Morinoya upstairs in the same plaza. 

The guys who work at night are way better than the girls who work the daytime shift. As in they know what they're doing and they pay attention. 

Good items to try: Vanilla milk tea with pearl and chocolate with pearl. You can also specify how much ice or sugar you want in your drink.

Drinks run about $4 - $4.50 on average. 

Wait time can go up to 15 minutes if the place is busy. 

Music could be turned down a few notches. 

The pudding is just okay, I prefer the boba..

And yes, they do take credit cards!

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice

11301 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Fatburger - Westwood

The attitude of the cashier girl is beyond apprehensible. I'm not sure what she's so pissed about, but she should be grateful she at least has a job!

Whatever. 

Moving on to the food. Well, for $2.99 I got a small burger, 2.5 oz and boy was it tiny! My bf got the large burger and it was huge, but cost over $5. 

I also got an order of skinny fries, and he got an order of chili cheese fries. For all this fatness, we spent around $22. 

Was it worth the price? I think not. Sure, the burger was decent enough, but for less than $2.99, I could have gone to In-N-Out down the street and had a a regular burger served with a side of smile. 

I do have to say the fries here are better than In-N-Out. Chili fries were okay, nothing special. 

Bleh.. we know better. We just wanted to try something different, but this is what happens when you stray. 

Also, this location has a weird vibe. The clientele there is kinda ghetto, and after dining there, we slathered on Purell. 

Enter at your own risk.

Fatburger
10955 Kinross Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 208-7365

West Restaurant and Lounge - 17th Floor Dining

I booked reservations at West last weekend for a birthday celebration and was so looking forward to good food and service, but alas, it did not deliver.

My first visit at West was for a CMYE event where we were treated to a 10 course tasting menu. It was pretty damn amazing and the crispy egg was off the charts. 

However, last Saturday, the food was short of impressive. 

I had been raving about the crispy egg forever to my friends and was so disappointed to find out that it was no longer on the menu! WHAT?! Apparently, they switched chefs, and I guess the egg was his signature dish. *sad face*

So, we asked the waitress what she recommended and she said the loup de mer was bomb, which is European seabass. 

It sounded good, so 4 of us ordered it. 

And what a letdown!

Loup de mer with ratte potato and truflle: Presentation was boring, skin was on, and it just looked like it was slapped on there without care. I didn't think it had much flavor, so I switched my dish with my bf's. 

loup de mer

Beef fillet with red wine onions, gem lettuce, and short rib ravioli: This is the dish I swapped my fish for. It wasn't much better, but at least it had more flavor. Beef was too chewy for me. Presentation was whatevers. 

beef fillet

Hanger steak with English peas, tamworth bacon, and twice baked potato: Best dish out of the 3. Beef was cooked well, and the peas were a nice touch. Presentation looked more appealing than the others. 

hanger steak

My friends had mixed reviews on their dishes, but the overall consensus at the table was blah. No flavor, cold cheese for the cheddar cheese brûlée, and too expensive. 

On a positive note, the pear-tinis are delicious! Sweet with a nice pear flavor. At $12 a pop, they are totally worth it, albeit a tad small. 

pear-tini

In terms of service, it seemed our waitress was lacking in experience. She was nice enough, but she kept forgetting people's drinks, not filling water glasses, and she charged us for the "free" popcorn that we got for checking in on Foursquare and Yelp. 

Considering each popcorn was $8, and we got 4 of them for the table, that's $32 extra that we had to pay. 

Also, she mentioned valet parking would be free for everyone in the group since I had a "preferred" diners card, but it wasn't. 

In fact, the valet guy was pretty rude about it and wouldn't even give me my card back until they pulled my car up. Wtf. So, everyone else in the party had to pay the $7 charge. 

Please have the valet and the servers coordinate to make sure this does not happen again. 

We did get a 15% discount off the food bill (not alcohol) because of said card, but it was still pretty expensive for the quality of food we received. 

I wish Chef Matt was still working here! Had I known he left, I probably wouldn't have dined here. 

3 stars overall for decent service, good views, tasty drinks, and subpar food.

3***

West Restaurant and Lounge at Hotel Angeleno
170 N Church Ln
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 481-7878

Nong La Cafe - Best Vietnamese On the Westside

If you're looking for some good Vietnamese food on the westside and don't want to sit in traffic for hours headed towards the SGV, you should try Nong La Cafe. 

This newish restaurant on the bustling Sawtelle strip serves up fresh Vietnamese fare with friendly service. 

I've come here 3 times in the past month and can't stop raving about the pho and the steak banh mi!

The first time we came here was on a weeknight around 7:30 pm. We had to wait a good 30-40 minutes for a table for 4. 

We ordered pho tai bo vien, bun bo hue, and spring rolls. 

The spring rolls were small and not that good. I would pass on these. 

spring rolls

The pho tai bo vien (pho with rare steak and beef ball was delicious! I've never had pho so fresh! Usually when I eat pho, I have to drink a gallon of water to offset the MSG. 

My friends said the bun bo hue was okay. One of them liked it, the other one didn't. The bun bo hue here does not contain blood, so yay for that!

bun bo hue

My next visit was during lunch on a weekday around 1:30 pm. Considering this was kinda late for lunch, we were surprised we had to wait. But, that's mainly because this one table decided to sit and talk FOREVER even after they were done eating! How rude! The girl actually went outside to put more money in the meter. Some people are so inconsiderate. She saw us waiting too!

Ugh.. at least the host was apologetic about the whole thing. 

I ordered pho tai and it was so tasty! I love how tender the beef is. 

pho tai

Since I read so much about the banh mi, I decided to get one to go. 

DAMN. The steak banh mi is amazing! It's loaded with jalapenos so make sure you pick some out if you can't stand the heat. No pate though, FYI. 

steak banh mi

bun with lemongraass and sesame steak

In fact, the banh mi was so good, I actually went back the same day to get another to go. The host actually remembered me and was like, "I told you it was good!". 

A couple days later, we went back again. My BF got the bun sesame steak and I got the pho tai again. What? I'm addicted. 

He said the bun was good, but not his favorite. The noodles are thicker than traditional bun, so that could be why. 

I do like the noodles in the pho here. Thick, flat noodles that don't stick together. Good stuff.

Highly recommended for pho and banh mi cravings! 

Closed on Mondays.



Nong La Cafe
2055 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, ca 90025

Asuka Restaurant

Service- 1 star. Food- 3 stars.

Came here for lunch the other day because I had 2 hours to kill. Man, what a mistake!

It took a while for someone to greet me and seat me. Since I was eating alone, she seated me at this table behind the wall, next to the door. Shitty table, but it was either that or the sushi bar. I didn't feel like sitting at the bar.

I get the menus and it takes another 15 minutes for the ONE waitress to come over and take my order. Meanwhile, she's just running around taking orders to other tables. The busboy came over to ask me what I wanted to drink and when I told him I wanted to order and that it had been a while, he said that the waitress would have to take my order. Well, get her over here! Geez.

When she finally showed up, she didn't even apologize, just asked me if I was ready to order. Yeah, like 15 minutes ago. I opted for the lunch special for $13.

Grilled salmon, rice, miso soup, iceberg lettuce salad and 2 pieces of white tuna sushi. The sushi came out first and it was pretty damn good! Surprisingly. Then, 10 minutes later the rest of the food appeared and I dug in. I liked the grilled salmon but it was lacking in flavor. The salad was a generic salad but what do you expect for a lunch special?

grilled salmon lunch special

white tuna sushi

I asked for the check and it took another 10 minutes to arrive. But, once I paid in cash (they only take credit card for bills over $20), she was pretty quick to bring me my change. 

NO, I would not go back. I don't think it's asking for much to get decent service.


Asuka Restaurant
1266 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024(310) 474-7412

The Misfit - Not For The Faint of Heart

Very cool restaurant and atmosphere. We were looking for a place to eat on a weekend day and decided to give The Misfit a try.

We sat down by the window and proceeded to order. My friend had mentioned that the oysters here were yummy, but I wasn't in the mood for oysters.

However, it was happy hour and they had sangrias for $3.50 a glass. BTW, HH is 12-7 pm every day, so indulge! I only had one since it was the middle of the day.

What we ordered:

Ahi tuna burger, pan seared medium rare, meyer lemon aioli, avocado: Pretty damn tasty! I would have liked it if they didn't toast the bread. Toast and my mouth don't get along. Too hard for me. Other than that, good solid dish. ($12)

Baked mac + cheese, green chile, brown rice pasta + chorizo: Good lord, this was a dish to behold! It was super heavy, but delish. I found it a bit greasy for my taste, but then again, I kept eating it. Definitely a dish to share, as I don't forsee anyone eating this by themselves. ($14)

Prime rib french dip sliders, seasoned + sliced to order, homemade au jus: Yum! Another great dish, 2 sliders per dish. i liked the au jus which added flavor without being salty. ($13)

Fried chicken: 2 pieces of fried goodness. I loved the crispy skin and sweet mustard dipping sauce. You need to try this if you're a fan of fried chicken. Sure beats KFC by a mile!

The service was good and attentive. Music was way too loud. I would prefer to be able to hear my companions in the middle of the day, but loud music is fine at night.

I'd definitely come back. They also have bottomless mimosas!

4****

The Misfit 
 225 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 656-9800

Blockheads Shavery- Shaved Ice Goodness

Seriously, the best shaved ice I've ever had and I've had a ton of shaved ice. In fact, I'm not even a fan of shaved ice, but Blockheads has made me a believer.

Their ice is so soft and fluffy, it's not even like your typical shaved ice. More like buttery, flakey snowy goodness.

I had the black sesame with rice balls and coconut puree. OMFG. Heaven in a bowl!! The black sesame may sound weird, but it's really, really good. It has a unique flavor that is hard to describe. Kinda sweet, but not overly sweet. I also tried the taro, but it wasn't as good and didn't really taste like taro.

Black sesame with rice balls & coconut puree

Plain with mango puree and mango

Tip: If you check in on Foursquare, you get a free topping when you order a regular with a topping. Good deal! Regular is $3.50 and toppings are 50 cents each.  You really can't miss this new gem on Sawtelle.

5*****

Blockheads Shavery
11311 Mississippi Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 445-8725