Katana

Recommends

ejergens

Joined 8 years ago

GREAT NIGHT OUT!!!. My husband and I went there last night and if I had read the reviews I might not have gone, but I am glad I did. We ordered the Izakaya Feast and it was fantastic!!! Our servers name was Chris and he was charming, our food came fast....very fast actually. Our tea was constantly refilled without asking, our food was introduced and explained to us as it was served, the manager came over and gave us his card and invited us back. I loved the place! The only problem we had was parking down below. My husbands truck is too tall for underground parking so we had to park in the $12 lot. Oh well......One more thing....I never go to restaurants for "the scene" I prefer the beach actually where you can look and dress and be whatever and whoever. High-end, Sunset strip, hip-slick-cool-see and be seen places are NOT interesting to me at all. I went for the food. It was fabulous! We will go back.

Doesn't Recommend

cynthialu

Joined 11 years ago

HORRIBLE SERVICE. Went there on Sunday night, place is empty, hostess tells us there are large parties coming in so she can not seat us outside and that we can either sit at the banquettes in front or at the bar. We ask her if there is service at the banquette and she said "yes" so we sit and every waiter in the place walks right by us. I ask the hostess if she could send someone over to take our order, she says "yes" but does nothing. We wait and complain again and again -- no service. We moved to bar and there are only 4 people there, the bartender says "I'll be right with you" and leaves the bar for 15 minutes!! At that point, I complained to the manager and he could care less, doesn't apologize, doesn't say anything, so we left! I have never been treated so poorly at a restaurant in my life! I have been to every hot restaurant in LA and never, not once have I been treated that way, I will never go back! You get better service when the place is packed.

Recommends

Mar Yvette

Joined 6 years ago

Cool scene & Japanese 'cue overlooking the Sunset Strip.. The team behind Balboa and Sushi Roku has put its muscle into this sceney Japanese restaurant and lounge. The decor verges on "Blade Runner" territory, with ultramodern touches like steel I-beams substituting for traditional teak rafters, and security grills standing in for Japanese lattice. It's all pretty swank, but the primo spot is the elevated patio, which overlooks the action on the Sunset Strip. The encyclopedic Japanese comfort-food menu can be overwhelming. Get your bearings over fragrant red miso soup, then turn your attention to the specialty of the house, robata. The traditional Japanese skewers are roasted over an open flame, infusing the meat, fish or vegetables with a smoky essence. Served in dainty portions, the choices range from chicken breast to sea bass marinated in ponzu. Other dishes include scallops and shiitake mushrooms loaded with minced chicken. The chefs also turn out a lobster roll loaded with broiled meat and a buttery toro roll.

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GBGirl

Joined 4 years ago

So good!. Great meal, great place to socialize, had a great time!

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jeepin07

Joined 4 years ago

Wonderful food & great service. The waiters were fun. The food was excellent & my fav, the volcano cake. ;O) Thanks!

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Nirali2009

Joined 4 years ago

Great food and ambience. When we went there the service was a little slow but the staff provided us with free dessert which was to die for. The chocolate lava cake was delicious!

Doesn't Recommend

mariap3

Joined 4 years ago

Worse Restaurant Experience...EVER. I just left at 7:45 pm on Sunday August 9, 2009 from having drinks and appetizers with a friend at Katana, and I have never had a worse experience at any restaurant as I did tonight. Our waitress was inexperienced and unprofessional. While she made a series of undoubtedly mistakes (that even she admitted), she was unapologetic and rude about having to serve us. She ordered the wrong meal for my friend, and we then had to wait for long periods of time for our meals to be delivered to us. Not to mention, she did not apologize for her incompetence, but instead she repeatedly walked away dismissively as if our concerns were not valid. The manager came to our table and before we had a chance to fully express our concerns, he immediately took an abrasive tone with us. While my friend was explaining the poor service we received, he rudely interrupted her by saying, “There’s nothing I can do if you had a bad experience." Not only was his tone generally rude with us before we could even fully explain our service experience, but he was also resorting to saying rude things under his breath (almost whispering) to us. When we asked him to speak louder to have a civil conversation, he did not do so. During the course of his quiet berating, he said "You all have been difficult since you've arrived here, and we have the right to refuse service." If we were being difficult, rude and upsetting to his staff from the beginning, then the staff and general manager did not acknowledge this before and during our meal by doing as the manager stated, and refusing to service us. After witnessing the rudeness of the manager, I asked him "What ever happened to the customers' experience coming first?" He replied that his role was to "protect his staff". When asking him to elaborate upon how we did anything that gave him the need to protect his staff, he gave no specifics and refused to explain how he came to this conclusion (applying apparent prior racial bias and prejudice to his approach to us being African American female patrons).

Doesn't Recommend

restaurantcritique09

Joined 4 years ago

Worst Dining Experience thanks to Mgr and Waitress. My girlfriend and I I just returned from an absolutely awful dining experience at Katana. We thought we were going to have a nice girl’s night out, but this turned into a nightmare. I usually do not write reviews but this was soo bad that I can’t just act like it never happened. This is my 5th time dining there and my last. All other times I have been nice, hence why I returned. However, tonight our waitress was flustered and making rude and snide remarks when we asked questions on why each order was taking almost 30 minutes to come out ( we ordered small bites). Then we asked to speak to the manager who identified himself as Al who was beyond rude, before we could say one word he was verbally attacking us and telling us the restaurant has the right to refuse service. What is he talking about? We had the bill and were paying but wanted to speak with him to address why the food was room temp when it came out and also why each order took so long. We really were not going to mention our waitress (we figured she was having a bad day). However, he attacked us saying he heard us talking to her in a rude manner...WHAT? he was no where around and also there is no way he could have heard us as we were not rude and we couldn’t even hear the people 10 ft away from us talking so how could he have possibly heard our conversation unless he was standing at our table...which he wasn’t. As we attempted to talk to him he was beyond dismissive and said well you ate the food didn’t you...pay the bill and leave!! Unbelievable...he then continued to say we protect our staff and she said you were being mean and rude to her. Ok, if this was going on then why didn’t she approach the manager and ask him to come over to our table? Why because we didn’t say or do anything rude to this woman. I then asked her please tell me what did we say or do that was rude her response was I just told him I couldn’t do anything to please them. The manager was rude and unprofessional. A manger is suppose to speak with the customer and address their concerns, not approach a customer with an attitude, and not let us get one word in. He had already made up his mind on what he thought happened. It seemed to me as though this manager and waitress had a dating or some type of relationship as he approached the situation as an overprotective boyfriend. We have no idea but this was beyond unprofessional ...no apology or anything. This manager Al should not be working in the hospitality industry let alone as a manager, and if this waitress can't deal with the public she should chose another profession. I will never return and I will tell everyone I know to never return to this place unless you want to be mistreated and verbally abused!!!

Recommends

ScottMencken

Joined 4 years ago

Cool. Testing

Recommends

dcyber

Joined 4 years ago

Excellent fresh fish in high energy environment. The sushi and sashimi is fresh and attractively prepared. The server kept up with our ordering pattern, but seemed a little distracted (overworked?) and it took a few reminders to keep the drinks coming in concert with the food. In general, I would give the thumbs up for taking a date or a small number of guests -- nice interior, very clean, professional service environment without the uptightness of nobu. it is more fun that ocean ave seafood (also of excellent quality, but a very predictable American experience).