Tsubaki - Los Angeles

Update: portions are smaller than the picture's.LOCATION Very discreet from the street

Upshot: The dishes we ordered were consistently tasty, though portions could have been bigger for the price. For four people, we ordered around 12 dishes plus a dessert, and it came out to about $240 (we didn 't order any drinks). Favorites: Peas and carrots salad. This was one of the best salads I had in a while. Sugar snap peas, crumbly tofu, and crispy rice, tossed with a light carrot ginger dressing. Also loved the steamed clams with seaweed butter (what I 'd give for some sort of bread or rice to sop up the remaining liquid after eating all the clams).Chawanmushi will always have a place in my heart (my mom used to make me the Chinese version of this dish whenever I was sick as a kid). The chawanmushi here was delicious, paired with thick slivers of crab, but comically small, with four people going at it with tiny wooden spoons. The hojicha parfait (topped with sesame/black sugar miso and full of candied walnuts) was the perfect way to end the meal. As we were eating it, a guy a few tables over kept waxing philosophic about how good this dessert was. Fully agree! Just all right: I saw a photo of the garlic crab fried rice, which lodged in my brain as the one thing on the menu I considered a must-order. I 'm usually the person who thinks everything is too salty, but this tasted extremely bland. And not enough crab in the dish to justify the $26 price. We also ordered a bunch of skewers, but nothing stood out. I 'm not a huge meat person, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. After a while, the meats all ended up tasting the same. If I had to pick, the chicken oysters were the best. The branzino, while cooked to a beautiful level of tenderness, was minuscule. A note on gratuity: They add a $18 service charge to the check, which they disclose in teeny tiny font at the bottom of the menu. Parking: We didn 't know the area at all so we just sprang for the $11 valet parking.

Food: 5 stars. Here are the dishes I had and my review for everyone: grilled yellowtail collar special 5 stars. Served vegetables 5 stars. Crab roasted rice 5 stars. Green tea ice cream 5 stars. Silken Tofu 4 stars. Pork jowls yakitori 3 stars. Overall very satisfied with the food. Ambience: 3 stars. It has a modern hipster vibe, not Japanese. There's pop music playing and his kind loud. It's close to a busy street. Parking is difficult. Service was good. Cost: $150 for dinner for two people: 5 dishes, 1 dessert, 1 box. They include a 18% service fee in the invoice, so tipping is optional.

The staff were super friendly. The food was average. The Wagyu spits were too fat and the chicken wings were a little salty.

Since I have not paid for this meal, it will be 10/10! Delicious food, sweet ambience. Our server was okay? But overall great place for a nice dinner! I'm probably coming back.