So, mum and I were starving, it was kinda late (9ish pm) and we didn't feel like driving anywhere, so we decided to finally revisit the Japanese restaurant down the street. We tried Kino Sushi when we first moved to Hollywood, but they had recently renovated and expanded and we thought we would see if the food had improved as well. Much to our surprise we were in for a treat; we were immediately greeted by several hostesses and servers, everyone was friendly and eager to attend to us. The space itself is beautiful, they've easily doubled their original size and completely redone the menu. They now have a full sushi bar (with bar seating) and the menu includes hot and cold appetizers as well as assorted bentos and entrées.
I walked in knowing that I wanted chicken teriyaki but by the time I made it through the eight page menu I was unsure and confused. I couldn't decide between a baked sushi roll, an order of dumplings or still the chicken teriyaki. Fortunately it was the eighth page that answered my question; I've been curious about Bentos for a while now, I've seen pictures of them and people eating them at various Japanese restaurant but aside from that I just hadn't paid much attention. 
Ordering a Bento box ended up being exactly what I wanted, I was able to get everything that I had fussed over earlier. I chose the spicy chicken teriyaki, with the chicken gyozas (dumplings), the spicy tuna roll and an order of miso soup and side salad came with it. This was more food than I realized but at $11.95 not a bad deal. Mum and I could have easily shared one of these (they're that large) and perhaps now we know for next time. Mum ended up ordering pretty much the same thing except she optioned for the Baked Crunchy Shrimp roll (my new favorite). 
We rounded the evening with Fried Green Tea Ice Cream and Strawberry and Coffee Mochi. One word, complete. The fried ice cream is actually green tea ice cream inside a deep fried tempura coated shell (I don't know how they do it), the ice cream was fantastic, sweet and just a subtle hint of green tea. The coating was my favorite, I'm not one of those die-hards that feels everything is better fried, (I believe everything is better with butter) but in this case, fried was a great choice. Mochi is a very traditional Japanese rice cake; made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and then molded into a shape around a scoop of ice cream. Think petits fours and marzipan, but gummy. The mochi were cute and bite size, the coffee was my favorite. In the end this was a lot of food for sitting but as usual we couldn't make our minds up and if this were going to be our last meal we wanted to know that we enjoyed everything possible on the menu.
The only complaint I have about Kino is that aside from the immediate attention you receive upon walking in, you're pretty much left on your own after that. We had a hard time getting our servers' attention when we were done eating our dinner and when she did return (check in hand) we weren't even given the option of ordering dessert. When we asked to see the menu again for dessert she sped away and took even longer to return for our new order. Maybe they just haven't gotten around to customer service training along with the renovation and other changes. In any case, if you can put that aside for a great meal then it's worth it but if you're looking for the whole experience then maybe you might want to find another Bento place. This really comes down to how hungry you might be.
Kino Sushi
6721 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-465-4567
No comments:
Post a Comment