KushiBa

New favorite! Great food & cocktails, perfect night out We were able to sample several appetizers and we ordered the sticks omekase. We had high expectations, but what we sampled still exceeded all of them. The tofu appetizer was layers of flavor and just the right kick of spice, one of the highlights of the night. We really enjoyed all the cocktails that we had, I would say my favorite was the house Martini. What a creative take on a classic. Make sure to use the house sauce and mustard, they are delicious and great accents to the dishes.

Dinning for one at KushiBa, loved their top notch recommendations, the rice shochu with calpico made expertly, paired with their potato salad with smoked eel n sizzling Five spiced bacon pork jowl, ordered a helping of their doteyaki beef tendon stew small bowl, yet packed tremendous flavor. Definitely will come back for more Osaka inspired cuisine, their asparagus, the lotus flower, shiitake, shrimp, n pork belly were deliciously crafted!

I’m very picky about food and atmosphere and I would not change a thing about Kushiba. I’ve been here a few times now and each dish complements the other so well. Every option is stellar and unique. This restaurant pays attention to every detail. We especially love Steven! He is so accommodating, generous, and informative. Kushiba has the BEST potato salad I’ve ever had. Some other favorites are the chicken shiso, mochi, and beef skewers. This place has become so important to my partner and I in the neighborhood :) Our day is immediately much better upon arrival. If you haven’t dined here, you’re missing out! Take time to savor each bite and season to your liking.

I’m a big fan of the chef’s other Michelin Star restaurant Shibumi, so I had to check this out during the soft opening. Love the ambience and location, it’s a really great escape from the craziness of Sunset Boulevard. It feels like places in Japan that I’ve been to. The kushikatsu is excellent, as expected from a chef of his caliber. Perfectly fried and crispy and not greasy like others I’ve had in L.A. (not that there are many other local places that specialize in this.) There’s a pretty awesome selection of sake and Japanese beers, but what I enjoyed the most was the highball and shochu cocktails, something I don’t see much of outside of Japan. The prices were super reasonable, and arguably underpriced considering the quality and compared to other restaurants in the area. Already planning my next dinner there to try the rest of the menu, especially the wagyu!

Skewers take 30 mins so plan accordingly Service and ambience were great. We ordered various skewers, taro potato, camembert, mushroom, tomato, pork belly, kabocha, mochi, pork belly, Prime beef, smelt, flounder and shrimp. Also got the tendon stew, potato salad, a few draft Asahis and some of the shochu cocktails. I really enjoyed the calpico sour.

The place is vibey, but I didn’t feel too welcomed inside. Our first batch of kushikatsu wasn’t seasoned so I ended up putting on a lot of salt which I usually don’t do. But I did I like their shrimp, asparagus, and mochi. I was excited for a kushikatsu place to finally open in LA but it was okay..

Chef Schlosser, who is behind Shibumi, has created another slam dunk Japanese restaurant that clearly displays his skill and knowledge of the craft. Notably, this restaurant fills SoCal's void of kushikatsu that's actually oishi. The kushikatsu itself was fantastic. Everything, true to form, comes hot and crispy on the outside. The skewers are paced properly, and the fryer is correctly placed close to the window to minimize any delay. Staff were very friendly, made us feel welcome, and had great recommendations with respect to the drinks. In short, I highly recommend this restaurant and will be returning soon myself.

Gotta shout out this new place. Food is of superb quality. Their kushikatsu is clean, simple and delicious + they have fantastic sake. I saw another review that says the skewers are under-seasoned, this is not true at all! They are amazing as is, but also there are several seasonings on the table to be used to taste. Favorite items are the shiitake, eggplant, pork belly, and prime beef. In addition, the waiter Steven is the man!

After getting back from Japan, we were depressed. Depressed that the USA is not Japan. So when we saw this restaurant come across in a listicle, we knew we had to check it out! This is like the 1 place in Echo Park that has a parking lot which is SO nice and there was like 1 other table here when we went. We got highballs, of course, and a bunch of different sticks and appetizers. The sleeper hit was the cucumbers with the 8 grain miso, I'm not sure how they make that miso paste but it has such good flavor and texture. Writing this now is making me think I should go back and get some. The pork belly might have been my favorite of the bunch with the shiitake as a close second. This place is definitely worth coming back to!

I came here with no prior knowledge My expectations were zilch So here is what I have to say. I did feel the quality was worth the money. The approach was quite different from the traditional kushikatsu as far as I know, where there is a tub of slightly viscous dark sauce with a sign that reads, NO DOUBLE DIPPING Instead this place had 3 choices of sauce/salt. And I was able to enjoy the kushi katsu 3 ways. I do like that. The quality of the dish were pretty good. And price were awesome. It did occur to me maybe it's the Grand Opening special price? Only thing that didnt make any sense was the way corned beef. $30 and quantity/quality didn't make any sense to me. I am sure a lot of hard work was put into it. But it bedazzled me zilch.

Considering KushiBa is a brand-spankin' new establishment, I decided to go with an open mind and a forgiving attitude. KushiBa labels itself as an izakaya specializing in kushikatsu, which are skewers fried in a light batter. First of all, I LOVE that there was a parking lot! I wish we knew in advance as the area gets very congested, especially during the weekends, and we circled around for a while unable to find parking. There were essentially three areas for seating: patio, dining, and the bar. The patio would be lovely during warmer nights and the bar is quite nice if you want to drink with lighter bites. We had a reservation and the host seated us in the dining area. The decor inside was dark and sleek with candlelight and Japanese accents. The bar area was impressive and nicely lit! The menu was simple. There was a section for appetizers, veggie kushikatsu, meat kushikatsu, and drinks. Each order of kushikatsu comes with just one skewer. Here's what hit and what missed: *Doteyaki (beef tendon stew) - not enough tendon and a bit too salty for my liking. *Mixed pickles - refreshing and crisp! A nice palette cleanser and great appetizer to have with some sake. *Hits - taro, kabocha, garlic, eggplant, shrimp, smelt, chicken shiso, tomato *Missed - flounder (the texture was chewy as if undercooked), chicken wing (a bit dry) *Japanese and Original Highballs - effervescent, nicely mixed, and cold! Love a good highball. *Sake - offered in different sizes (one cup or a shot size i think?) and was listed in order from light to drier which I really appreciated. I ordered one of the drier sakes and thoroughly enjoyed it! *Service - the staff was amicable and accommodating, however, the main server kept forgetting to bring stuff to our table (water, menu, etc) and the other runners were a lot more helpful. They brought some items to our table that we didn't order and were nice enough to comp them! Overall I enjoyed my meal and experience at KushiBa! I probably wouldn't come here if I was super hungry, but more for drinks and some light bites.

We've been eyeing this place for a while since it took over a mezcal bar that I really liked! Interior is cute, combines both historic Japanese artwork with modern design. Wait staff is attentive- I was telling one of our servers that some restaurants just don't quite get it down on the first opening day; understandably so- but everything was super smooth when we went! It wasn't a slow hour too, they had a huge party coming in at peak dinner hour. We got the pork jowl, shiitake, green pepper, shrimp, smelt, beef, and flounder, all pretty good! I also thought their drink menu wouldn't be ready yet but they have a bunch of sake already. I will say, it's not the most filling meal- not sure if they'll have like rice or noodle bowls, or if that's even the vibe they're going for vs. little munchies w/ drinks (I mean, it's kushiyaki so unless you order 10, it won't make for a heavy dinner, so you gotta be ok with that). Will definitely come back, I'd love to see how the menu evolves and new stuff gets added!

Kushiba!! It's a love letter to Showa-era Osaka. I love the many details in this beautiful space that give it life. The colorful array of plates, menus, sauce containers, tiny izakaya chairs with patterns all bring you to a retro Japan. First off, what people should remember is this is primarily a bar that has food to complement the fun drinks. Get a pitcher of beer or sake! Shochu is another refreshing option. Get a round of YUZU BOMBS (secret menu) to start! The sky juice and kushiba margarita are fantastic. Don't only get kushikatsu - the apps are delightful. I love the pork jowl, wagyu corned beef, chili tofu, cucumbers, mixed pickles, raw chopped fish - honestly, you can't go wrong. Raw veggies and doteyaki are kushikatsu restaurant staples in japan, so if you're new to this genre that's a must! Sticks shortlist: Camembert, Asparagus, Chicken Shiso, Lotus, Shrimp Other awesome sticks: Flounder, Smelt, Beef, Mochi, Chicken Wing ... You can't really mess up an order of sticks. Drip some tonkatsu sauce or sprinkle some nori salt and you're good to go. Definitely get the coffee jelly to finish! If it's warmer weather, a spot at the patio is my favorite :) (Yes, I know it just opened, but I've been here 6 times already)

Cute little restaurant with outdoor dining too. Very good food and prices. It's the first time I've been happy with Kushiage outside of Japan. Everything I tried was good but my favorites were the tomato, the asparagus, the garlic, the kabocha, and the pork belly. I'm really excited to try the fried cheese, Mochi, and more of the appetizers and fish next time! Oh! And the chicken wing and beef were good too. It has lots of good Japanese drinks that pair well with the food. If you're unfamiliar with Kushiage, it's a little like tempura, but different kind of batter (usually a bit thicker), and a wider variety of fried foods (in my experience). Here you have some mustard, a kelp salt mix, and a sauce, and you dip your food in it. If you're into Japanese food at all, it's a real treat to have this place open here! I'm so happy there's now good Kushiage in Southern CA! (I wanted to say in the States, but maybe there's somewhere in NY or NorCal I don't know about)! I wish I photographed everything I ate... But I was so excited to finally get good Kushiage again my brain shut down after my mouth took over and I missed some. Whoops.

Driving on Sunset this place can be slightly tricky to find depending on which side of the road you are on. Keep an eye out for the little yellow sign as it's slightly hidden. It has its own parking area which is great specially on Sunset Blvd. The place is very hip and well decorated as you wouldn't imagine a place like this part of the area. It's definitely more of an izakaya where you come in to have a snack to go with your drinks. The craft cocktails and selections of adult beverages and liquors with the Japanese concept is great! Their house martini is more of an acquired taste but the yuzu sour was just so fresh and tart it was dangerously good. I got to try one of every skewer of their Kushi Katsu (breaded skewers) and they were well fried with good flavoring. My personal favorites were the lotus, taro, weimochi, flounder, and chicken wing. Mind you this is not a place for you if you're starving, it's more of a Japanese Craft Bar first that comes with bites than a place to fill you up. The ambiance is great, you can watch games on their time, and enjoy a good time with your friends having cocktails.

Every skewer I had was delicious, simple as that. Breading was not too oily, sauces were simple and good. Price felt fair and reflective of the quality. A huge bonus for bringing a style of Japanese cuisine not represented in LA.

If I could say only one thing about Kushiba, it would be this: It's not really a restaurant; it's a bar that serves food. By that, I mean, it's not somewhere to get a full meal. If one likes some food to go along with drinks, it's an interesting place to go. If one is planning a pub crawl, this would be a fantastic stop on the itinerary. As a stand-alone dinner destination, Kushiba is lacking. Kushiba specializes in kushikatsu (串カツ), skewers of food that are breaded and deep-fried -- essentially a cross between the better-known grilled skewers known as KUSHIyaki (串焼き) and of the Japanese fried cutlets called KATSU (カツ). Kushikatsu originated in Osaka, which is renowned within Japan for its food culture. While Angelenos with any familiarity with an izakaya have probably encountered kushiyaki, kushikatsu remains almost unknown in L.A. Options at Kushiba include many things often found on a standard kushiyaki menu: asparagus, tomato, garlic, shiitake, beef, pork belly, tsukune (捏ね -- minced chicken meat), Japanese sausage, shrimp. Items that are uniquely suited to frying include flounder, lotus root, mochi, and Camembert. Most things are unseasoned so the diner can "season to taste" with seaweed salt, tonkatsu sauce (cut with apple juice), and/or Japanese mustard blended with sesame oil. On their own, the skewers can be pretty bland, but just a bit of the salt makes a world of difference. The tsukune with shiso leaf and pork belly were very good; I could have skipped the chicken wings and gotten another tsukune. After seeing the asparagus coming out with mayonnaise on it, I decided to skip that. The lotus root had a woody texture I did not much care for. The pepper is chunks of poblano (incorrectly called "pasilla"), which I love, but... that distinctive poblano flavor automatically makes me wish it was stuffed with cheese. (Chile relleno kushikatsu would not necessarily be a bad thing.) And I'm Southern, so please, okra. Fried okra. I'd order a dozen of those. I ordered the pickles, though I didn't much care for them. They had a harsh flavor, as if they hadn't been given enough time to ferment. Good Japanese pickles should be mellow, but these had astringent, sulphury notes. Not pleasant. The appetizers are pricey for the small, amuse bouche-like portions, so I ended up passing. (The microscopic size of the $32 wagyu corned beef appetizer the party down the bar received was just shocking.) The price of the kushikatsu skewers is fair at $3-$4.50 each, but they add up quickly, and after about a dozen, with those unpleasant pickles, and with tax and tip and God-only-knows-what fees and charges, I'd racked up a tab well north of fifty bucks without drinking -- and was still a bit peckish. (I'd been drinking earlier and was looking for some post-dipsomania nourishment.) And drinking here should be addressed because Kushiba really is, first and foremost, a bar -- one with a curated selection of spirits chosen for unique character. That person who needs to be able to get their Ketel-and-cranberry should go elsewhere. Japanese spirits, of course, are dominant. My eyes instantly went to the bottle of Old Parr scotch on the shelf, which is not a common find. And I've never seen a bar with such an extensive selection of baijiu. I'm not sure who's drinking that sorghum menace, but trends must start somewhere, right? The design of the store has clearly had a lot of thought put into it, with Japanese indigo-dyed cushions, glassware imported from France, and a nice selection of art on the walls. Service is earnest, with the staff still learning the ropes but trying to please. If one goes in with the goal of drinks with small plates rather than a full meal, Kushiba will be a fairly satisfying experience. They're presenting a part of Japanese cuisine that has, so far, not been offered in L.A., in a stylish environment. Now they just need to narrow that price-to-value ratio.

I think it is the very first Kushikatsu place in LA or even in CA. This is not another usual fake Japanese restaurant. All the ingredients are very well fried with thin tempura flour. If you like real Japanese food, this is the must go place.

I'll start this review by saying I'm fully aware that it's only been a few days since they've opened, so growing pains are expected. With that being said, I'm going to go into a lot of detail about what went well, but also the hiccups. I was unable to find a way to make a reservation through Yelp, and they had no phone number listed, so I decided I'd just try walking in around 6:45. The staff was very accomodating even though we had a party of 5 and no reservation, and they told us we could have the table until their next rsvp came in at 8. Our server Anna actually ended up moving things around for us so we'd be able to stay later, which was super sweet, but we also hadn't even gotten over half the food we'd ordered by 8 so I think we would have been pretty upset if we had to give up the table when we had barely eaten. The food itself was generally great, though. It was fried very well, with an amazing batter, and their seaweed salt was the only seasoning it needed. I'd say my favorites were the asparagus, mushroom, and shrimp. However, when our chicken wings arrived, half of them were raw in the center at the bone. Not slightly pink - translucent, because they didn't cook in the middle. The ones that were cooked, albeit just barely, tasted great. They were tender, juicy, and a perfect texture. But it's really off putting to bite into a raw center of chicken. Also, after one of the servers took the matter to the kitchen, he never came back to our table and nobody came to say anything to us about it. I brought it up with Anna at the end of the meal, where she went to find someone to correct the issue and make us another order. We also asked for a calpico lemon sour mocktail (listed on their menu), and the bartender messed up this order several times before we just accepted whatever at the end because not only were the drinks wrong each time, but the wait times in between were super long. One of these drinks was some soda water with chunks of coconut cream floating on top - literally nothing close to what we ordered. We ended up asking Anna for a little calpico to fix it and then let it be. The wait times on the skewers were also kind of insanely long. We went like half an hour at one point with nothing coming to our table. I get that we were a party of 5, and there was another somewhat larger group as well, so things can get backed up. But for an izakaya that's serving small portions like skewers, waiting 30 minutes in between servings of skewers is crazy. We were there for about 2 hours and I'd say in total, a full hour or more was just spent waiting for our food. Anna asked us at the end of the meal if there had been anything that didn't come out yet, and after we told her the flounder had never come, she came back from the kitchen to inform us they had run out. The order had been placed as soon as we had sat down over an hour and a half prior, so I think they had just forgotten about it and didn't account for our order, so they ended up running out. Not great, but by this time we'd spent so much time just waiting around for most of our food that we just asked it be taken off the bill. We did get the other drinks we ordered relatively quickly, because they were just sake pours or cans, and most of the drinks we tried were great. They have a very nice sake selection, and the yuzu sour and calpico sour cocktails were tasty. The Japanese whisky selection seemed extensive as well. The bar was beautifully done. There were a lot of issues overall, and I understand it was very busy with only a few members of staff, but I think they need to limit seating to focus on serving just the number of people they can comfortably serve in order to mitigate issues like this - at least until they can figure things out a little better. If there's only one chef and the skewers take time to prepare, maybe they shouldn't be seating to full capacity. I would have preferred being turned away at the door with the explanation that they couldn't provide the best service if they took too many walk-ins, rather than endure all the issues we did that night. We came for the food, but Anna was the only reason our group decided to stay, because she was so incredibly sweet and accommodating. She always had a smile and tried her best to pick up the slack for all the issues that were happening, even though I could tell it was an extremely stressful service. I haven't had a server as great as her in a very long time. None of the problems we had were her fault in any way, but she took it upon herself to keep us updated and she even brought us dessert as an apology for everything, which was really nice of her. I want to update the review at some point, hopefully once they've worked out the kinks and can fully accommodate everybody they're seating. Again, I'm aware many of these things can be chalked up to normal growing pains of a brand new restaurant, so I hope to come back in the future when they figure things out.

New favorite! Great food & cocktails, perfect night out We were able to sample several appetizers and we ordered the sticks omekase. We had high expectations, but what we sampled still exceeded all of them. The tofu appetizer was layers of flavor and just the right kick of spice, one of the highlights of the night. We really enjoyed all the cocktails that we had, I would say my favorite was the house Martini. What a creative take on a classic. Make sure to use the house sauce and mustard, they are delicious and great accents to the dishes.

Came to check out KushiBa with a friend a few weeks back. We opted for patio seating which was cute albeit giving COVID vibes right by the parking lot. We ordered a couple sakes and an eggplant appetizer to begin. We weren't a huge fan of the app unfortunately! Moving on to skewers, we tried a few. Favorites were probably the shrimp, kabocha squash, and mochi actually!! My friend and I ordered a round of maybe 7 skewers each and were still hungry, so ordered a second round. This was where things went downhill. We ended up waiting nearly an hour for the second round as the kitchen became backed up and we were even informed quite late they had run out of a couple items. Our server offered to bring us a free drink, but we politely declined as we just wanted our food promptly. Our second round finally arrived and our check had no comps for the inconvenience which would've been nice given we declined a drink. It also ended up being quite pricey for mostly snacks. I think this place would be cute for a small nibble and drink, but otherwise would not be worth it.

We were just here and unfortunately, got tangled in the Dodgers traffic, making us 30-min late for our reservation (sorry, KushiBa!) But once we got here, things were good. There's limited parking in their lot, so go early and/or make sure your party fits into the fewest number of cars as street parking can also be limited. Another thing I noticed was the stunning and beautifully crafted tables, that just might be made out of hinoki. Hubby had the highball and said it took him back to our recent trip to Japan. Our favourites of the evening: potato salad (if I lived closer, I'd be addicted to this), doteyaki, mochi, smelt and wiener (I usually don't care for little hot dogs, but these were really good). We loved the light, tasty crunch of the various katsu/cutlets fried to a beautiful golden brown. Hubby loved the tonkatsu sauce, whereas I preferred the lemon+nori salt. We finished the evening with coffee jelly for good measure. We were there a little shy of two hours; I thought the food paced well, even though it was at 80% capacity inside and 50% outside. It was a lovely meal and if we lived closer, this would be on our rotation. The vibe was relaxed, though the noise level was vibrant (not sure if it was the low ceilings, the four kids, or a combination of both). Definitely worth a visit!

This place sucked. It took an hour for half of our food to come out. Feels like they totally forgot us. How long does it take to deep fry some vegetables? The portions were small, the service was bad, and the food was overpriced. I had to walk to another restaurant immediately. They didn't apologize for the bad service after we had to walk inside and ask for our check mid-meal.

NEVER eat here. If you're starving, if you can only have one more meal in your life, it doesn't matter. Don't fucking eat here. It took over an hour to get food on sticks. Like fried fucking garlic, GARLIC on a stick took over an hour. The service was the worst I've ever experienced in LA. The owner or whoever the guy in the hat was, he was a rude spaced-out poor man's Jerry Garcia. He never apologized for the awful service. The food was bite sized and the prices were astronomical. We spent $100 on tasteless trash food, we had to race to another restaurant to sustain ourselves after this travesty. I could skewer frozen food on sticks at home faster than this place could. This was like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from, with Japanese house music on continuous loop.

DELICIOUS food, authentic kushikatsu, good price for the high quality. Really nicely done interior and wonderful outdoor patio.

This place misses big time. Menu only features deep fried tempura items, nothing grilled. Fish and chicken option were both very dry. Not much of a vibe either.

Ok, for context I want to open with that the group I was hanging out with gets food together all the time, and we're extremely easy to please and ok with spending good money on good food (this is the first time I've ever been moved to leave a full review of pretty much anywhere). We were super excited to go to this place as our friends had a reservation and were hyping us up on it all day. We called and tried to add 2 more seats to their table, but the person on the phone told us that they were at full capacity for the service. Fair enough, we thought, and prepared to split ways for the evening, until we saw online that there were literally TONS of reservations. We called one more time to ask if this was a mistake, and the person was extremely rude and just said "if they're available online why don't you just go book one of those then". Which doesn't sound that bad in type, but they way they said it left the whole group jaw-dropped over speaker phone. Multiple of us wanted to boycott going of feeling like that was a red flag/not wanting to give our money to someone who treats people like that. However, we were able to make a reservation online and decided to put it past us, hoping the food would redeem the place since it's nearby and the type of cuisine looks amazing. When we arrived more than half the seating was empty, and we were sat quickly with a very sweet waitress and it seemed like everything was going to be great. We were able to order food quickly and there was a lot we were interested in. The drinks came out and honestly weren't great, I can't remember what I had but it did grow on me despite being definitely weird tasting on first sips. Now, to simplify, the rest of the evening was exemplified by 2 main characteristics, waiting INSANELY long periods of time for food, and paying way more than any comparable meal we've had in memory, despite eating out as a group once to three times every weekend. I spent $80 personally and left still hungry. The food IS pretty tasty, but the portions are comically small and you pretty much have to order the entire menu to be satiated. The kitchen forgot multiple orders and the wait time was at least 50 minutes between ordering and getting the food, which was a problem considering that the tiny portions left us all i wanting more. We were there for close to three hours by the time we got all our food, but we did order 2 rounds. I hope they figure out the growing pains, because the potential of the kitchen is high if they can do better with the portions, pricing, and delivery. That said, it'll take someone I trust vehemently telling me thats fixed to get me through those doors again. Perfect meal if you need to hold someone captive at a business dinner they're going to pay for! Otherwise upsettingly expensive for what you get and a bummer in your night.

KushiBa was everything I hoped and none of the negatives previously voiced. The service was prompt , the food was delicious , especially the lotus root, camembert, shrimp, asparagus, onion, garlic and potato salad. It came in less than 1/2 hr. and we ordered a couple more which only took 10 minutes. Previous complaints about the limited choices are misunderstanding that this not an all encompassing restaurant, rather one that specializes in Kushikatsu, much like Canes or Wingstop which also serve a limited although very different menus. For those that want grilled options, Sakura House in West La has a similar menu that is grilled (Yakatori) instead of deep fried, both options are excellent. I found the pricing to be reasonable (except the wagu beef) and enough variety to have a wonderful dining experience. Also this is not the first Kushikatsu restaurant in LA although you have to have been in town awhile to remember that in the 80"s there was a wonderful little place on 3rd near Western called Yuriki. It was one of those Jonathan Gold, LA Weekly finds. It was owned and run by a wonderful trio of Mother and 2 daughters. We mourned when they closed and have been looking for a replacement for a long time and have finally found it. Can't wait to return.