The food here sucks, and I agree, it deserves two stars(since it is still edible and the food IS cheap, so you kinda get what you pay for.. .) but I think the service deserves 4 – 5 stars. My friend and I were walking around one day, and we were passing through on our way to Cathy’s bakery, when we peered through the window and saw a lonely waiter standing around in the empty restaurant, obviously with nothing to do. He saw us looking at him/the restaurant and immediately grabbed a few menus and waited near the door with a big smile to greet us.. .but unfortunately we had already eaten so we had to keep on walking by.. . I think I saw his head dip down in disappointment. His enthusiasm and then the aftermath of his sadness tugged at our heartstrings. Seeing the waiter’s dismay, my friend and I(it was NOT a pity eating stop.. .or maybe it was.. .) decided to visit the next time we were around. We didn’t see our waiter boy, but instead got a motherly waitress. My friend got some sort of Korean bbq galbi/bulgogi combo, and I think I got sushi with soon dobu. Weird mixture, yup, with a counter for shabu shabu right next to us. The food was okay, I think my bf thought the meat was a little on the sweet side. The sushi was the kind you get at grocery stores.. .overall, some pretty mediocre food. I couldn’t finish my Korean tofu hotpot, so I asked to have it packed up. The waitress double bagged the carton up all the while chatting me up in Chinese. She mentioned how she hated her leftovers spilling over in the car and having all the juice run all over the outside of the carton. I doubled that statement, and felt she was kind, sweet, and personable, so we gave her a nice tip. Other than the waitstaff, I don’t see any other reason to come here.. . Or maybe this is a pity review?
Jesselynn S.
Tu valoración: 1 West Los Angeles, CA
Dai Kei breaks my heart into a bajillion little sad pieces. This place used to be THE sushi place to go to in SGV. My brother and I used to live right down the street and would frequent Dai Kei at least once a week, and it would always be crowded when we went(even on weeknights). The customers would be gorging happily, and the chefs would crow ITADAKIMASU and other random stuff proudly. The fish was gleaming fresh and they even had a tankful of live sweet shrimp that the chef would take out and murder right in front of your eyes to order. Because we frequent the place so often, the head sushi chef got to know us and took the trouble to make extra-generous portions for us and even gave us free sake toasts as the crowd dwindled into the night. I remember the chef was this jolly Japanese guy who was very concerned about me and my brother… always asking us about school and stuff. Then he went back to Japan. And everything went to the toilet. The raw fish display lost its lustre and started housing some sad-looking hunks of meat, and the tank of sweet shrimp lost its costly inhabitants. The last time I went there, there was only a tank of dirty water. There were maybe four other people in the restaurant. My brother and I wanted to cry. What happened to our chef, the one who remembered everyone’s names and gave out free drinks to his loyal customers? Did they change owners? So there you go, that’s the sad story behind Dai Kei. I just wanted you to know that before it became this hovel, it used to be a crazy awesome sushi place that even Japanese people found worthy. *sniff*
Herman A.
Tu valoración: 1 Los Angeles, CA
I’ve been to this place many times back in the days when I first moved to LA and craved for Japanese food. I’ve been so spoiled by some very authentic Japanese sushi found in Northern California that I became very picky about cheap sushi. Dai Kei is one of those Chinese owned Japanese restaurants that cut corners here and there. You will absolutely not find the best of anything there, but you won’t find yourself running out the door complaining about the food either. Dai Kei serves fish that all taste the same regardless of how beautiful they look. If you close your eyes and taste their sushi, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell what you’re eating. Their fish does not have its natural aroma and taste to it… They also serve shabu shabu in the same restaurant across the room from the sushi bar, but I’ll let you be the judge for that since I refuse to return after I found other sushi joints. Their pricing is okay, but for that kind of money you’ll find much better food elsewhere.
