09/24/09

PAY MORE FOR NO APPARENT REASON

by Adam Rehmeier

Katsuya Hollywood is bad news. It might be terrific dining for the Minnesota set---tourists easily impressed by the flashing lights of Hollywood Boulevard and the chance to dine of foods they've only read about in celebrity magazines---but for those who enjoy sushi on a regular basis, this place is a real let down. seriously. the menu is like a "greatest hits" of the Studio City or Encino Katsuya. Only the most popular dishes. No special menu. No life. No soul. It is the sushi equivalent to orange chicken and sweet & sour pork, or translated into American, Hamburgers & Fries.

This place is not only pretentious, but the prices are disturbingly skewed. For instance, creamy rock shrimp tempura is $17 here versus $11 - $12 in Studio City. Instead of giving you whole shrimp, they have quartered the shrimp and stylishly lump them on a shiso leaf---the only problem is, the order is about 1/3 of the size of the Studio City Katsuya. The baked crab hand roll was limp and pathetic---hope you like a 3-1 mayo-to-crab ratio. We had some nigiri sushi: Yellowtail Belly, Snapper, Albacore, and Salmon. The yellowtail was actually decent and fatty, but the snapper, albacore, and salmon were bottom-barrel. Truly. And covered with pickled ginger and micro-cut scallions. The taste was overwhelming. I believe there was fish somewhere in there. One bite and I knew why they were covering for this poor fish that was probably frozen for over a month. It's just sad. The staff was friendly and courteous. No complaints there. But I really love a sushi place that is trying to get you in and out and paying attention to you, constantly checking in on you to see if you're ready to order more. The wait staff is very lax here, mostly actors with big dreams, so don't be surprised if you don't see them for five to ten minutes. A very light lunch for 3 came to $185 w/ tip. When i say light, i mean light. And that, my friends is pure BS. I'd tell you where to go in town, but to be honest, i really don't want to corrupt my favorite spots in LA. i'd rather those places just stayed focused on delivering amazing quality fish. The tourists don't care anyways. They just want to sit in a restaurant that doesn't have a smoking section and eat radically foreign stuff like edamame. Try Little Tokyo if you want the real thing. Down with pretentious LA sushi!

• Pros: ???
• Cons: 2nd rate sushi in a cliché Hollywood setting

09/24/09

worst sushi and getting worse

by jaimes

I've dined at Katsuya in Studio City, Katsuya in Encino, and Katsuya in Hollywood. I've lived in California for 8 years now and I have to say the food at the Encino and Hollywood locations has declined so much, today will be my last visit to Katsuya - period. I hate that I was even inclined to write this review because this used to be one of my favorite places to eat - lunch or dinner.

I ate at Hollywood Katsuya today with my husband and a friend. We were greeted properly at the door. Our seats were comfortable. And our server was great - super pleasant. But when the food started coming out I couldn't believe it. Our rock shrimp tempura was cold and looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp forever (can't figure this out because there was only about 5 other people in the restaurant). And they must have butterflied the shrimp to get more out of it because they were the tiniest pieces of shrimp I've ever been served. This was super disappointing for two reasons: this used to be my favorite dish and how can you screw up fried shrimp? That was $17 for about 10 miniature pieces.

Then we ordered the other dish Katsuya is famous for: crispy rice and spicy tuna. It was so over cooked I thought I cracked my jaw trying to bite into the rice. And it tasted like butane. I was so sad because this was my other fav dish.

Next we ordered a plate of sushi: salmon, yellowtail belly, snapper, and albacore. The salmon was watered down, like it had been frozen. The yellowtail belly was ok. The snapper and the albacore were TERRIBLE. I eat sushi all the time so I know what it's supposed to taste like. For those of you reading this that are not regular sushi eaters, sushi is not supposed to taste fishy - THIS WAS SOOOO FISHY TASTING. And it was so obvious that they were trying to cover up the taste of the fish by drenching it with scallions and sauce. Yes, albacore is usually served with ponzu and onions but it's supposed to compliment the fish, not cover up the taste.

We also ordered some baked crab hand rolls - these were ok but on the skimpy side - mostly rice with hardly any crab. Again, cold and that made me sad.

So, 4 orders of sushi, 3 baked crab hand rolls, 1 order of crispy rice, 1 edamame, and 2 bottles of water = $145.00+ $27 TIP= $172 for LUNCH. Sound it out with me: pre-ten-tious.

For those of you that are reading this thinking that I'm a 300 pound woman that expects huge portions - not the case. I'm a pescatarian who LOVES sushi. And again, it saddens me to have to write this but I think people deserve to know that the quality of the Katsuya tradition has gone done considerably. Just because the economy is sad doesn't mean the food has to be - people are still willing to spend money but I won't for bad food.

• Pros: posh environment
• Cons: way too expensive for such bad food

09/05/09

Delicious (although pricey) drinks!

by 2XBRUIN

Seven of my girlfriends and I stumbled upon Katsuya while looking for a pre-Pantages (Legally Blonde-OMG U GUYS) drink! The parking attendant at Pantages suggested Katsuya and while I had heard great things about it I had never been there myself (like sushi but don't LOVE IT).

Upon walking in through the doors the first thing you see is the bar (YAY). We were greeted by the hostesses in a friendly manner and we maneuvered our way past these giant holographic looking cubes (with knives) to the bar. Surprisingly we were able to find a bunch of seats together (for the review that said there were no chairs at the bar...I have no clue what they are referring to). I honestly thought the bartender was going to get annoyed with us because we moved twice (found more chairs) and informed him that we were all paying separately (sorry!). However, he was super nice, gave us a friendly smile, commented on our pink outfit theme, in Legally Blonde style, and made some good suggestions. The Burning Mandarin is delish if you like something tangy and spicy and unique. It reminded me of the Lucas bar from the paletero or something with Tamarind. The other reccomendation, if you like mojitos, is the Watermelon Cucumber Mojito yummy! We didn't have any food but we sure enjoyed the $14 drinks. I think they are worth it but I guess since money is not an issue for me it didn't hurt me to pay so much for a drink. I will say though they COULD be like $10-$12 since the portions (especially the martinis) are pretty small. I could have had 5 of those things in a few minutes...

As for a few of the reviews that state they were discriminated against due to race etc. Well I will tell you that while we didn't have dinner, so I can't speak about the service there, we never felt that this was an issue with a group of 8 Latina women. Additionally, while I don't think any of us are ogers we are not model looking or super skinny or any of the descriptions that some of the reviews stated you had to be in order to be treated well. Our group ranged in age from 21 to 31 and in sizes from a 5 to an 18 and we were always treated with respect. The bartended (didn't catch his name) was attentive and not once did I feel uncomfortable or intimidated at this establishment. Trust me, even though there were 10+ degrees between the 8 of us and we are highly educated, professional women, our casual look and our preference for speaking Spanglish can sometimes be frowned upon. I have been at many places where people assume that we are just some "Latinas from the block" and make you feel that way without knowing that we have great careers and are highly educated. However, at Katsuya this never even crossed my mind! I will check out the dinner next time and will let you know if I get good service.

THE GIST: If you are looking for a good drink before catching a Broadway show this is a good spot. Walking distance from Pantages.

Pros: Yummy drinks, friendly bartenders, beautiful decor and ambiance

Cons: Drinks are Pricey average at $14. While I can understand this for some of the fancier drinks (Burning Mandarin-yum) my friend ordered gin and paid the same for a small shot. A bottle of it costs $14 -come on!

• Pros: Beautiful decor and ambiance, yummy drinks...
• Cons: Expensive...