Justin M.
Yelp
This review is strictly for the bar area. (No food was had, only drinks).
"If we meet at Westfield Sherman Oaks (Fashion Center), we can go to that revolving sushi bar that I was telling you guys about. The one with the robot server." - One of my friends, circa 2023.
If you haven't already had the pleasure (or displeasure, depending on your views of technology) of experiencing being served your drinks / parts of your order from a "robo waiter", then here's your chance!
I've actually been here a few years ago so I'll leave that dining experience to the side.
This time around, this experience was strictly for the bar.
I met up with a pretty good friend who lives in the area & we all know that Westfield Fashion Center is a pretty solid beacon for such a rendezvous for anyone in & even not as close to the area.
However, as we were catching-up during our promenade throughout the mall, we decided that it was an occasion to celebrate. Therefore, libations were in order.
Literally, the first & only immediate option that I could think of that was within walking distance was Kura. However, it had been a few years & I honesty didn't recall if they had an actual bar.
Luckilly, they do. We came on a Friday evening - 6:30ish. Good think that we really only wanted drinks, because the wait for a table was about an hour.
We went straight to the bar (no wait necessary) as we were the only patrons that were ok with drinking (& dining if we wanted to, less the signature revolving sushi bar). Granted the revolving sushi bar is in the name, it's very nice to know that you have the option of drinking *& dining at the bar if you are willing to forego the whole revolving sushi bar thing.
DRINKS
Chu-Hi Flights
We order a set of 3 Japanese Style Cocktails. However, I personally only tried 2, since my friened had the 3rd.
Lychee Chu-Hi - 7.5 / 10
Adequate lychee flavor. It almost reminds me of those lychee jelly snacks that were pretty ubiquitous in the 90's. If that's was turned into a drink, with sparkling water, & just the tiniest hint of alcohol (not enough to get a buzz), then that it what this drink is.
Peach - 7.3 / 10
If you were to pour a teaspoon of peach syrup from say a can of peaches, mix it with some sparkling water, & the tiniest drop of alcohol, then that is what this cocktail would be.
Again, I didn't try the 3rd drink of the flight since that went entirely to my friend. I believe that he opted for the melon / yuzu.
I'd had both drinks & I was pretty ok to drive. Granted I waited a close to an hour just catching-up with my good friend & completely sobered-up with 2 full glasses of ice water.
In all honesty, the bartender never checked-in on us after we had our drinks served to us. I'd have to flag someone else working there to get my 2 glasses of ice water. Maybe he was thinking that the robo waiter would take of all of our future needs. I get that it's a Friday night & we opted not to order food. But if we did, this would be a harsher review. It would had been nice just to al least touch-base with us once or twice while we had our drinks. Perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part.
I have a theory that the robo waiter is just the very beginning. Like if a few years from now, if we see the service industry all but replaced by autonomous counterparts, well, you can thank Kura's push towards robo waiters.