WaBa Grill

Good & healthy.. Salmon looks goods goin to try it. but my favorite is half/​half. Chicken &steak! !

Waited 20 minutes, then I cancelled my order. Don’t waste your time here. Find a place that treats you with respect.

Its hard finding fast food thats healthy and delicious… And not over hyped or over rated like Chipotle! Man, i wish this place would come to the East Coast!

So I’m at the waba right now and I just got the steak and chicken plate. The steak isn’t as great as the chicken but it’s alright. They got simple basic customer service and very small amount of flies but the lamest part of this place is the location. Other than that it’s ok. Eh. out of 5!

Seriously… I usually love waba, like REALLY love waba. But this location always disappoints. My food feels like it’s so over cooked all of the time and not to mention that they take forever to get out even one small bowl. Horrible. Location sucks.

Always packed at lunchtime, don’t expect to find a place to sit down and eat, and you will most likely not find parking easy. It tastes like fast, but well made food. The portions in my opinion are tiny, not much food for how much you’re paying. Even though within walking distance it’s 5 minutes from work (in addition to be one of the only places in walking distance), I only go here once a month if not less.
–1 star for small portions
–1 price
At least it’s clean though.

I don’t really care for teriyaki but I found this place to be really yummy. I had the rib plate and it was tasty and juicy.
Area is not great but they have plenty parking.
Definitely bookmarking this place.

I should preface this review by stating that Waba Grill’s advertisement of «No MSG! No Frying! No Skin!» initially made me very leery about eating at their restaurant, as I tend to place more emphasis on the tastiness (rather than healthiness) of what I consume.
Quite frankly, 1) I don’t mind MSG in my food, 2) frying is the tastiest way to cook food, and 3) the skin is the best part of the chicken!
Having said that, I finally got around to trying this place out, and I’m actually glad that I did. I tried the Chicken-​Steak Plate, and it was quite tasty for the most part. The plate included rice, chicken, steak green onions, half an orange, and a salad.
The salad left something to be desired (it needed more dressing, and some higher quality greens would have been appropriate given the price of the plate), but the plate was otherwise pretty decent tasting, though I was somewhat disappointed by the small portions of meat.
Only when I took a look at the paper menu when I got back to work did I notice that there was an option of extra meat for an additional $ 2.75. If I had been more attentive while I was ordering and was made aware of that option, I would have gladly paid the extra amount! I guess the standard serving is probably sufficient though, if you are not a big meat eater.
The cashier was very friendly and helpful, and parking was not difficult to obtain -, I was able to get a spot on the street in front of the restaurant. I do like that you can self-​serve yourself additional quantities of teriyaki sauce and chili sauce at the counter. I also applaud the restaurant for offering the options of brown rice and avocado.
Due to the similarity of the menu offerings, Waba Grill practically begs for a comparison with the Yoshinoya chain of restaurants, one of which is only a few blocks north of this Waba Grill. I would say that Waba Grill is probably indeed a healthier option, but Yoshinoya seems to offer bigger meals for less money.
Tastiness is fairly comparable, with perhaps a slight edge going to Yoshinoya *on a good day* — my experience over the years has been that you will encounter significant variation with the quality of the food you get at any given Yoshinoya location — sometimes you get a really tasty meal from the chain; other days … your taste buds end up sorely disappointed.
Overall, while I was not overwhelmingly impressed by this place, I do plan to return and try some of their other plates, next time with the addition of avocado and extra meat, which I think will improve my dining experience and perception of their meals. If you want to eat something quick and healthy, this place is probably one of the better options in the area.
P.S.
While their business model obviously appears to focus on cutting out anything perceived to be «unhealthy», I would definitely like to see them offer the *option* of leaving the skin on their chicken servings. I believe that doing so would attract a broader crowd of diners than just the health-​conscious segment.

i got the salmon+veggie bowl for about $ 7, which is slightly more expensive than flame broiler or yogi’s. and for that price the portion (including the piece of salmon) was pretty small. found a thin layer of oily remnant left over at the end of my meal which was kinda odd because everything’s supposedly grilled. i like how they have a salmon option which a lot of other places don’t offer and brown rice is always a plus. i would still come here for a healthier lunch option and maybe trying a plate next time to fill my belly up more

I order a shrimp bowl and got food poising and call them and all they could say is that maybe I’m allergic to shrimp I said no I’m not they couldn’t say much the only reason I call was to give the heads up so no one else gets sick. I would never go to that one

this place is nothing special but i like how they have brown rice options.
i usually get the chicken bowl with teriyaki sauce on the side with extra green onions. they always ask if i want onions, but i think they mean green onions because i don’t ever see onions with my chicken.
sriracha makes everything taste better!

I’m a Waba Grill fan but this location is not the one I usually frequent & I doubt that I will be back. The salmon portion was ½ the size of the portion of the one on Soto & Whittier Blvd. which is closet to my job.
The staff was friendly & helpful — but that doesn’t make me want to drive 15 minutes from my house for a Salmon Bowl.

After becoming quite the fan of Waba while working in Ontario, I somehow avoided trying to locations closer to my new job in LA…
Mistake on my part! My usual order is «half and half bowl, no rice, no veggies, no sauce… just the meat and green onions.»
Every other place charges me the full amount… this location… only charges me as if I was ordering a side! Which makes perfect sense, I am only ordering the meat.
Very much appreciated! I need to go here for lunch more often.

This place is my default for lunch. The chicken salad is my fav, and I always ask them to put the bowl chicken on the salad.
Parking lot can get crazy busy, but its the healthiest option around for a quick lunch!

This is the only Waba Grill I’ve visited. I think it was about average overall, not all that different from other teriyaki chains. The parking lot is shared with other businesses, and can fill quickly.

no skins,
no msg,
no trans fat,
no frying,
low calorie,
high protein,
etc. etc.
I like their concept.
but all those together
= tasteless (at this place at least).
Plus, you can put as much teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, etc. so that makes up for the calories they take out for you! AND you get unlimited refills on your soda. so hmmm. they fatten you up in other ways: P
but… their steak plate was a little better than their chicken plate
and for the price I guess it’s ok.
and since this location is in the middle of all the factories/​businesses in downtown LA, it gets packed at lunch time.

Very tasty food without all the grease and fat you’d normally get from an asian fast food restaurant. Love the chicken teriyaki bowl here, get it with green onions on top. Fills me up everytime and that’s saying something cuz I can eat! haha If you’re in the area, stop by and grab a bite!

This is as healthy as you can get for fast food. No grease, low fat, low calories, fresh veggies! So far I’ve had their chicken-​veggie bowl, their salmon plate, and their grilled chicken salad. all of which I can say were excellent, no complaints. And you can help yourself to as much teriyaki sauce as you want! Mmm I love that big jar of teriyaki sauce. The place is a little tight so at prime lunch hours it’s difficult to get a table. But their service is super quick and their prices is definitely affordable.