When this placed opened years ago, I used to come here once a week. After a while, I got tired of the same thing but if you’re looking for sushi rolls, this is your kind of place. You can also create your own roll and if you’re a regular, they will name the roll after you and put it on the wall.

Eel Tempura Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll

As  you can see from the picture above, the rolls are large and generous. Although this place is far from being an authentic Japanese restaurant, the owner is Japanese and so the hot green tea is free. Nice.

Come here for sushi roll heaven, but this place is very small so if you come late, you may have a hard time getting seated.

11629 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 996-2366
calrollfactory.com

As you may have read, my sushi hunting in Vegas has been a complete fail for me so far. A little disillusioned, I asked my researcher friend to find me a decent sushi place.

She found Okada at the Wynn for me, and the although the look of the restaurant was semi-fusion, I liked the ambiance there. The first thing you see is the wonderful waterfall and koi pond, although I didn’t actually see any koi. Perhaps, they were being fed somewhere. The sound of the waterfall is very relaxing and would be perfect for meditation.

Waterfall

As per my usual test, I ordered the sushi combination dinner as shown below. Although the quantity was low, the quality was very high and the portions were generous, fresh and prepared correctly.

Sushi Dinner - $46

Although the miso soup was a wopping $6, the green tea was free. As readers of this blog knows, the free green tea is the indicator I use to see if a Japanese restaurant is authentic or not.

For desert, I tried the Creme Brulee shown below, which was well prepared and delicious.

Creme Brulee - $4.50

All in all, I can finally say that I found some good sushi in Las Vegas. Yes, it’s a little pricey but that’s expected and as long as you’re not looking for bargains, I recommend a trip here.

3131 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109-1967
(702) 770-3320‎

After being fully burned at BarMasa at Aria, I was over with the over-priced Asian-fusion crap and decided to checkout something more traditional. I inquired about a traditional Japanese restaurant that a local would go to and was told to see Hamada, located in a restaurant mall type area.

Although, by LA standards, this place is pretty large for a mom-pop type restaurant, by Vegas standards, it’s not that large. However, the first indication about it’s authentic nature was when both the hostess and waitress both spoke Japanese. So far so good.

One thing I did notice was that the restaurant was completely empty. I may have been the only customer there. That’s always a bad sign.

The menu consisted of the usual traditional type dishes, so I ordered Hiya-yakko (cold tofu) to start, and a sushi combination for my dinner.

Hiya Yakko - $5

The tofu was okay, but not great. Nothing wrong with the way it was prepared, but the tofu itself wasn’t fresh.

And below, you can see the low quality of the sushi itself. The tuna was not fresh, and everything was sub-par, including even the egg sushi. In fact, the ginger was even dry, which is a clear indication that they are not busy enough to use up their ginger. But how hard is it to keep your ginger fresh? At least it wasn’t $90, but I’d rather pay more and get good sushi.

So far, I’m batting zero in Vegas for sushi. At least the green tea was free.

Sushi Dinner - $27

Come here for the non-sushi traditional Japanese food. Actually, just skip it.

Hamada of Japan
365 E. Flamingo Rd.
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 733-3005

As a change, we decided to checkout the Las Vegas branch of Bouchon Bistro, a French bistro cuisine opened by acclaimed chef Thomas Keller. Located upstairs in the Venetian, this restaurant has the ambiance that you would expect from an upscale bistro.

Upon out waiter’s recommendation, we tried the Sweetbreads, which was prepared perfectly but not a dish that I would try again. There was nothing wrong with it, just not my type of dish.

Sweetbreads - $13

For our main course, we tried the Poutlet Roti. As you can see from the picture below, it looks like a big pile of chicken, which is exactly what it is. As you would expect, it was prepared perfectly, but I’m not sure the ambiance and name makes the price tag worth while. Of course, if you are price conscience, you shouldn’t be coming here.

Poutlet Roti - $59

If you like excellent service, and upscale French bistro and you happen to be in Vegas, check this place out.

3355 Las Vegas Blvd.
S Las Vegas, NV
(702) 414-6200
bouchonbistro.com

Tom Colicchio from Top Chef owns Craft restaurants and he’s got a Craftsteak in Vegas so we decided to check it out. Located in the MGM, I had high hope for this restaurant after the bad experience at BarMasa earlier in the week.

We decided to go for the gusto and order the Angus Beef Selection (Chef’s Angus Menu – $110) where the chef will pick 3 courses for you.

The meal started with warm fris salad which tasted just like breakfast in your mouth when the poached egg melted into the bacon. However, my favorite salad was the Persian cucumber salad, which was light and vinegary. This was the perfect prequel for the steaks.

Next, the main course. It wasn’t surprising that the Filet was cooked to perfection at this well known steak house, but the Porterhouse was not only perfectly prepared, but we were both surprised at the great seasoning as well.

Unlike at other outings, I made sure I had room for desert. Personally, I like very light desert so the Sorbet with fruit was perfect for my taste. However, for decadent pleasure, the Monkey bread with banana ice cream was to die for. The clever mix of monkey with banana just tops off the greatness of this dish.  If you just want to get great desert after your dinner, I highly recommend getting this desert.

It was a nice change to be completely satisfied with a great meal. Personally, this was too much food for me, but if you want to taste the different offerings here, let the chef decide for you and I’m betting that you will be as happy as I was. Be sure to make this place one of your stops in Vegas.

BarMasa Entrance

The new Aria Hotel and Casino is located in the new City Center in Las Vegas. The entire complex is stunning to look at. It’s a complete change from the 80′s look of the Balagio, Paris, and Mirage. BarMasa is located towards the inside left. The entrance is so large, you might not even realize what it is.

By Los Angeles standards, this restaurant is gi-normous, but by Vegas standards, about what you would expect. Basically, it’s a bar and one large room with mega-high ceilings.

Service is very good but maybe because it’s new, some of the servers seems a little tentative, like they’ve never done it before. The prices here are somewhat expensive, even by Vegas standards. We decided to try the Sushi sampler for $98 shown below.

Sushi Sampler

Although it may be hard to tell in the picture, the portions are very small. The selection is good and everything is fresh but the preparation technique is not top notch. In LA, you could get this same thing for $20. The strange thing was the sushi chef loaded the cucumber roll with wasabi to the max. I’m used to wasabi, but this was over-kill.

There was no need to even ask about “free” green tea. I knew what the answer was going to be. All in all, although the ambiance is good, don’t come here for the sushi. It’s over priced and not close to anything that I would consider great sushi. In fact, I would have to rate their sushi sub-par and would never order it here.

I’ll have to look for another good sushi spot in Vegas this trip.

Roy’s Restaurant started in Hawaii and apparently has spread all over the place according to their website.  They claim to have Asian Fusion food with a Hawaiian touch so I decided it was time that I check one out.

There’s one located very close to LA Live on Figueroa in downtown LA, but there’s no parking so you have to valet or park at the lot across the street for about $5.

The decor is much nicer than the downtown Katsuya at LA Live, with non-plastic comfortable chairs and real booths where you can sit and relax.

Since this was the first visit, I decided to go very safe and ordered from their “Spring Fusion Prix Fixe” menu where you get to choose one item from 3 courses. I chose the potstickers, Rustic Charred Salmon, and melting hot chocolate souffle for desert. This set is $35.

Rustic Charred Salmon - $35

The potstickers was fine but nothing to write home about. The salmon shown above was prepared perfectly and very delish, and the desert was very good but it’s hard to screw up a chocolate souffle. In case you’re in a hurry, remember that the souffle takes about 20 minutes to prepare.

My friend ordered the “Shellfish Sampler,” which comes with butter poached half lobster tail, seared scallops, and stuffed shrimp, on pesto risotto for $33.95.

Shellfish Sampler - $33.95

Having tasted a tiny portion of the sampler, I can recommend it as something you might want to try yourself.

The waitress was very personable and attentive. Everything was to my liking here.

All in all, this first trip was a “sampler,” and I am determined to return to try the other dishes there. Don’t come here for bargains, or authentic Japanese cuisine. Instead, come here for upscale Asian fusion.

Roy’s Restaurant – Downtown Los Angeles
(213) 488-4994
800 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
roysrestaurant.com

My friend sent me this website that’s selling Hello Kitty wine.

“Sweet Pink” wine. I wonder if they’ll have these at restaurants around town. I guess since they sell Hello Kitty vibrators and bikinis, it’s not too surprising that they have wine. Next up, Hello Kitty cigars.

See a list of online sellers at: mwcimporterforhellokittywine.com

Downtown is really becoming upgraded by all the action from the Nokia Center and LA Live. Because of all the new commotion, I decided to checkout Katsuya at LA Live in downtown.

They have other branches in Brentwood, Glendale, Hollywood and others opening in Vegas and Miami, according to their website. I’ve never been to any of the other branches so take that into consideration as you read the review of this new branch.

The ambiance here is your usual upscale, hip-fusion Japanese Restaurant that can charge a lot. However, the strange thing was the chairs were cheap plastic chairs that you would have outside for your kids to play on. On top of that, they had tiny tables where they would seat 6 people! The table was so small, at other restaurants, you would seat 2 people and putting 4 would be pushing it. Very strange.

Sushi Bento - $36

My friend ordered the Sushi Bento because it comes with a futomaki roll, which she loves. Don’t ask. In any case, it also comes with nigiri sushi, miso Cod, sunomono, inari sushi, albacore meatballs. The Futomaki is the huge roll closest to the camera and the inari are the “footballs” you see next to it.  The miso Cod was excellent. Almost as good as the cod at Mori Sushi.

However, the albacore “meatballs” were not edible. I don’t use that phrase lightly. When I say “not edible,” I literally mean it. If I bought it at Ralphs, I would return it for my money back. This should not be served anywhere, especially not at a high priced Japanese Restaurant.

Sushi Sampler - $30

As per my usual technique, I ordered the Sushi sampler which comes with the usual assortment of nigiri sushi: tuna, albacore, yellowtail, salmon, halibut, shrimp, octopus, fresh water eel, and egg, and California roll. As you can even see from the picture, the California roll was falling apart and not properly made. Although everything was fresh, all the sushi showed inexperience in the sushi chef’s technique. I’m pretty sure Mr. Katsuya was not part of the creation of these pieces by any stretch of the imagination. It was more like his intern’s helper made them.

We complained about the horrible “meatball” and the waiter told us that other people have complained about it. I guess it doesn’t matter what their customers say, they are going to serve it no matter what. The waiter also warned us that on busy nights, service is very slow because it is so packed and therefore, the restaurant should be avoided. After seeing the food, no problem. At least we were there early and the service was good.

All this wouldn’t be completely horrible if the price was not so inflated. I guess with the name of the restaurant, and the supposed upscale LA Live location, the over inflated prices are to be expected. To add insult to injury, the green tea is $5 here. Yes. That’s right. No, for one person. And everyone that reads this blog knows that in my opinion, any Japanese Restaurant that charges for green tea is not authentic.

At least they validate your $5 parking at LA Live. It can always be worse. You won’t be seeing me there again.

Katsuya
800 W. Olympic Blvd. #A 175
Los Angeles, CA 90015
sbe.com/katsuya/
lalive.com/dining/katsuya

Have you gotten bored with the same old Kit Kat bar?

Well, if you go to Japan, or find a store that has Japanese imported Kit Kats, you can get the Strawberry flavored version.

Is it just me or does the strawberry look flesh colored? By the way, it pretty much exactly what you think it will taste like. Not very good.