Restaurant Review: Kabuki

After living in Los Angeles for nearly 4 months, we finally made our way to the famous Old Pasadena. We got there 20 minutes to noon, so we decided to look for something to eat before we do our window shopping. My friend, Heru, recommended a few restaurants (the famous Italian Mi Piace, Japanese Gin Sushi and Thai Salangde not sure of the spelling). Since Arman didn’t really feel like Italian or Thai, and reading how Gin Sushi is always crowded, we decided to try the Kabuki instead.

The restaurant was not crowded at all. They have the outside seatings as well, but since it was very hot yesterday (100 degrees Fahrenheit in Pasadena), we asked for the inside seatings. The person who helped as with the seatings also works as the cashier and taking to go orders. She looked very sleepy and wasn’t focus. I clearly saw her dropped some to go food in front of the customers with no apology and dropped the chopsticks when she was filling up the empty chopsticks organizer. The waitress who was in charge of our table spoke very fast with a low voice that we couldn’t hear her clearly.

Anyway, the restaurant is actually nice, but I personally think the lighting needs to be brighten up a bit. We ordered Baked Scallop California Roll $5.50, Eel & Avocado Roll $9.95, Samurai Deluxe $10.95, Regular Ice Tea $2.5, Ice Green Tea $2.5. We spent a total of $37.39 with tax and tips.

The Baked Scallop California Roll was just ok, the Baked Scallop wasn’t as tasty as I expected. The Eel & Avocado Roll was good, but the size was too big, so when you pick it up, each sushi will break. The Samurai Deluxe is a set of chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki and vegetable tempura. This set comes with rice, salad, edamame and miso soup. The beef teriyaki was perfectly grilled and the meat was juicy with just enough teriyaki sauce pour on top. The chicken teriyaki was just ok, not too special. The vegetable tempura, salad and miso soup were great. The vegetable tempura consists of shrimp, sweet potato, yam, string bean and zucchini. The drinks were just ok, regular tea and green tea.

Overall, I think the food was good, but the service was just ok. If we are ever around in Pasadena, we will perhaps visit this restaurant again.