Thousand Cranes and Garden Grill

07/01/08

Great Atmosphere with overpriced food

by sink at Citysearch

Compared with similar restaurants in Tokyo, Thousand Cranes is cheaper. However, with average set dinners at $85, I would expect better for the price in Los Angeles. As recommended by others in their reviews here and elsewhere, half of our party went with the premium sushi/sashimi dinner ($85) and half went with the Kaiseki dinner ($85). The premium sushi/sashimi dinner started with couple of raw oysters (yum), a plate of pickled veggie, 8 pieces of sashimi, 6 piece sushi plate, and small tempura plate (two shrimps and sweet potato). The sashimi was good, sushi was only decent. The toro was too grainy and did not melt in the mouth. The Kaiseki dinner was better in my opinion in terms of presentation and taste. The drawback was lack of description for each course. In Japan, the restaurant typically furnishes the diners with a description of each course.

We had good service since I did approach the host and told him about the recent reviews about poor service. He informed me that he had seen it as well and the restaurant is addressing the problem by hiring and training experienced servers. We did enjoy our meal in tatami room; it was a delight to spend time with our closest friends.

• Pros: Ambience
• Cons: Price and food taste

05/24/09

expensive, boring

by Lichtsprecher at Citysearch

So the teppanyaki was rather bland. While the food was of top quality, the chefs were listless and didn't provide any sort of show. When I go to teppanyaki, I expect a show from the chefs. These chefs don't introduce themselves, they don't talk to you, they just cook, the food for you. No pyrotechnics, no percussion using cooking utensils, no flipping food into your mouth. Boring and lame. On top of that, they charge ridiculous prices for small amounts of food. I would not return and recommend that no one else go.

• Pros: Top quality food
• Cons: Expensive, and lackluster

03/01/08

Change of ownership = Downhill quality and service

by TopCuisine at Citysearch

I used to go here quite often for their Sunday Brunch. Ownership and Management changed recently around 2008. Geisha wearing, polite and attentive servers are now gone. Oysters are half their former size. They run out of food often and are slow to bring new dishes. You have to ask 2 or more times to get your drinks refilled. It no longer represents a traditional japanese restaurant, but rather only looks like one. They promised to take corrective action when I brought these issues to them. Two weeks later nothing had changed. I no longer go there, where as I used two at once or twice each month.

01/19/08

A little disappointed

by toroishan at Citysearch

After reading many reviews online i found out that the chef who does tempura bar for 27 years quit. Too bad i didn't have a chance to taste tempura omakase but i still enjoyed tempura at thousand cranes. For first timers, i would suggest king crab topan, sukiyaki or shrimp tempura. Kaiseki was okay, but not too impressive that i'd wanna order when i visit again. The grilled plates were a little disappointing since the steak were a little dry and definitely not worth the price.

05/10/07

Special Occasion Place

by jrizal at Citysearch

This is one of those places that you go to for Special Occasions AND, if you feel like conversing. It is a quiet place, elegant, beautiful oasis-type view (they created a lovely Japanese garden in the middle of downtown) and the service is generous and cordial. Oh, and the food is very good, too.

• Pros: Ambience, hospitable service and good food
• Cons: None

01/05/07

The Most Excellent Traditional Japanese Service in Los Angeles!

by pascalarmstrong at Citysearch

I just brought my girlfriend to A Thousand Cranes and it was really an amazing experience. We actually visited Japan a few years ago and fell in love with the polite, attentive service by the people. It was something that we really a treat. And we didn't think that we would find something like that in LA. We've been to really great sushi bars in LA like Nobu, Hirozen, Matsuhisa, but there is something so different about A Thousand Cranes - the service and atmosphere. The restaurant sits on top of a hotel and has a beautiful garden outside with the most captivating Downtown LA skyline view. It's really gorgeous at night!

We were seated in one of the special private rooms with tatami mats. We sat on the floor with our legs crossed. The waitress, who was dressed in geisha clothing, couldn't have been more attentive, polite and helpful. She poured the tea for us and smiled throughout the entire evening when serving us. It felt like we were in Japan again!

The food if good, but doesn't rival the other sushi bars. However, if you're looking for a REAL traditional Japanese experience without the 10 hour plane ride to Japan, go visit A Thousand Cranes. It's wonderful!

Traditional Japanese cuisine in a garden oasis high above the city.

by Contributor at Citysearch

In Short
The restaurant overlooks a garden lush with ponds, waterfalls and azaleas from atop Little Tokyo's New Otani Hotel. Huge windows bring the outside in, while small, private dining areas offer sanctuary. Kimono-clad waitresses cater to local business people and well-heeled Japanese tourists. Prix-fixe sushi, shabu shabu and Kaseki dinners are standard, but diners can also order from an extensive a la carte menu.

11/07/05

Best sushi and tempura in town

by shamrem at Citysearch

Talk about a hidden treasure. The fish was fresh, the tempura tempting and the service was excellent. I especially loved sitting in a private room that makes you feel like you're in another world. I highly highly recommend Thousand Cranes.

• Pros: Romantic, Amazing Food, Beautiful Views

07/20/05

User review by asriyal

by asriyal at Citysearch

The tempura bar is amazing for a quiet business lunch. It seems that you just have to know about it, as it's not mentioned on their website, and it's tucked away in a corner of the restaurant. The tempura chef keeps it coming in a well-paced stream of eggplant, shrimp, pumpkin, scallop, whitefish, sweet onion, etc. This definitely isn't one of those places where you get two wimpy pieces of tempura on top of a mound of rice. I was quite pleasantly full at the end of the meal, on just tempura. I've already decided to go back, and tell my friends.

• Pros: quiet, easy parking, unique
• Cons: somewhat pricey

01/29/05

good ambience, too expensive

by gocelts at Citysearch

the service was top notch as everyone from the host to our server was extremely accomodating. but i thought the food was average. i took my love interest and wanted to spoil her, so i ordered their most expensive dinner ($80 per). what we got was a series of disappointing meals that looked great, but tasted, eh.

still, i recommend checking this place out once, only if you're in love and want to splurge.

• Pros: atmosphere, service
• Cons: price, price, price