Fermentation Lab Japantown

My wife suggested we go eat at this place where she and my son had dinner before. The interior is very hip and caters to a younger audience. You can easily have a nice lunch or dinner meeting here. I ordered the uni pasta. Presentation was very good. Once I tried the dish, I was very disappointed. Too salty. Sauce was flavorful but I had to reach for a glass of water almost every time I took a bite. Portion size was average. Price was $26 for the entree. Not worth it in my opinion. Service was average. We tried their ube bread pudding dessert which was very good and a large slice for $10. I would consider this more of a dessert place than a restaurant. Would I come back? Probably not but only for their desserts.

The crew here have always been top notch. 💗 their happy hour selections (update, times for Happy Hour have been changing - you might need to call and find out actual hours). We devoured the four items that I posted (update, came back and had the Korean potstickers on another visit). A great lounge space above the bar and I am thinking, cool spot for a gathering of your favorite peeps (though, it may be $2k to rent the space). Restaurant also catered a 3-day event in the past and it was absolutely superb.

Came here to celebrate my bday with my friends and let's just say we were underwhelmed with the food. The ambiance is very chic and cute. It's great place to catch up and have drinks but the food leaves something to be desired. We started off with the ahi poke and the Korean kimchi pancakes. The ahi poke was fresh and was a bit over seasoned because it was a bit salty and had a bit too much sesame oil. The kimchi pancake had kimchi flavor but was the soggiest pancake we've ever had. It just kept breaking and falling apart. We shared some of the mains which were the makeogolli pork belly , the octopus pasta and the tea leaf salad. The tea leaf salad is their own spin on the salad and it came mixed already, I didn't feel like it had enough tea leaf but it was an ok salad. The makegolli braised pork belly was pretty tender and flavorful but would have been better if it had some lettuce and kimchi on the side to make wraps. The octopus pasta was interesting since it was cold, there was a generous amount of octopus to mix in but the flavor for pasta was faint. You can't really taste any hint of citrus in the pasta. It was spicy , cold and somewhat refreshing but it wasn't a real standout. We all agreed the pork belly and the tea leaf salad were the better mains. Overall this is a cute spot but the Asian fusion spin kinda misses the spot. Some felt over seasoned and others under seasoned. Probably wouldn't come here for full dinner maybe just for drinks and an appetizer. Total for 3: $ $220

Appreciate the creativity behind the dishes and cocktails, but the deliverables need some work. The tartare had too many conflicting flavors and lacked focus-the taro chips were excellent and plentiful. The octopus kimchi pasta was … and the duck tacos were simple and underwhelming. Nice vibe inside. Understaffed. From the outside, the menu is intriguing, but the execution is not there.

We enjoyed our dinner here, and the service was good especially for a Monday. The gyoza type dumplings were the highlight of the meal

Visited on a Friday afternoon so there wasn’t too many people, and I got to seat myself at a nifty spot in the corner where I could pop in my headphones and go at my own pace. I was served by Phoebe, who was all sorts of friendly and helpful. I lucked out and came during happy hour so I picked out a couple of things: One cocktail, poached oysters, calamari misto, and the squid ink pasta with uni. Everything came out larger than I expected, but even as one person I very much enjoyed the food. One word of warning for those that can’t handle spicy, there are a few peppers that are breaded and included with the calamari. Against my better judgment I also ordered two desserts, the Ube whiskey Pie and the Pear Bread Pudding. Im definitely planning on visiting again to try even more of the items, everything looked really interesting!

TLDR: nice service and pretty good food but a few misses on the food I really wasn’t a fan of the pork belly and the steak was way overcooked. Everything else was pretty fantastic. The wings were sweet and a little spicy, the fried calamari and “friends” was perfectly crispy and just the right amount of salt, I also really liked the raw oyster

Came here for a friends birthday dinner and surprised with a sign at the entrance that said to seat yourself. We made a reservation but went ahead and sat ourselves since it was had vibes of a bar/lounge. I had the dragon breath mocktail which was tasty and order a ton of dishes to be shared between four. I recommend the steak tartare with taro chips and duck fries as appetizers! We also had the poached oysters which were good but a tad on the salty side, mussels, and the deviled eggs which were solid but not memorable. Our entrees were the loco moco, uni pasta, octopus noodles, and tea leaf salad — my favorites were the loco moco and uni pasta. The crispy exterior of the meat in the loco moco was different and very tasty. The uni pasta was creamy and delicious too. Octopus noodles/pasta was good but the octopus was a little salty, but when eaten in a bite with the noodles, it helps balance it. We ended with the churros — came out fresh hot. Solid but not too memorable. It was around $300 for four people including tax and tips. Service was amazing. Our server was super nice and friendly. He seemed to be the only one waiting tables for the whole space too! Props! Recommend checking this place out :)