Our dining experience at Hinoki & bird was delightful! The staff were very friendly and welcoming, every dish that we ordered were absolutely exquisite and the atmosphere was great too. We’d definitely plan to visit again on our next trip to LA.
We ordered the brussel sprouts, fried chicken, sashimi and the kale salad for appetizer. They were so delicious, especially the sashimi. For the large plates, we ordered the black cod and the hanger steak. The cod was so good, but found the steak not flavorful. Their cocktails and wine lists are pretty extensive. We truly enjoyed our dinner.
Today, we went to try the menu for our daughter's wedding. Each dish was unique and incredibly delicious.
I had the absolute pleasure of eating at Hinoki & the Bird, and it’s an experience I wholeheartedly recommend.
Upon entering the restaurant and opening the front door, the dark yet elegant setting set the mood, as well as a well curated playlist of music. The waiter was quick to our table and provided a full run down of all the favorite items (to which there are many).
We began with the lobster roll, which we shared 3 ways. I could have eaten the whole thing myself it was so good. The sashimi in a special ponzu sauce was fantastic and the fish tasted fresh. The kale salad really surprised me. They use three types of kale and they all melded perfectly to create an amazing salad.
Now we move on to the mains. The beer battered fish sandwich looked a bit like a gourmet filet-o-fish, but I can assure you after your first bite that thought is immediately cast aside. It was an outstanding sandwich. But the real winner was the Hinoki wagyu burger. I’m not joking when I say this might be one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. The smoky, tender, medium rare wagyu patties melt in your mouth. The pickled veggies are a nice touch, and the potato buns added to the decadence. I can see why this burger was once heralded as the best burger in LA.
The great thing about this place is you can order to share or order individually. I highly recommend sharing as you’ll want to try every dish that arrives at the table.
Lastly, I noticed a lot of reviews stating this place had bad service. Either those waiters got fired or the management took the feedback to heart because the service was outstanding. Never was there a moment where you were waiting too long, and there was always someone ready to fill up your water.
While expensive, the experience is worth it. You must go here!
Kevin Mojaradi (Kevin Likes to Talk)
+5
The food is absolutely amazing! The ambience is very nice specially if you’re seated outside. It’s like your own private and nicely decorated garden. We expected the shared food to be small but it was a very good portion. Fried chicken was perfectly cooked. Lobster roll was superb! But the beef tenderloin took the prize!
One down side, the parking was a s-show. Took us 20 min to get out since they had one attendant and a million cars. That may need to be resolved or just don’t park there. I saw many coming in frustrated and left.
Highly recommend minus the parking!
A delicious culinary experience, everything was perfection, especially the fried chicken and their homemade bread. The grilled avocado was a hit and so were the desserts. A must try spot, with an amazing atmosphere. However, We were a big table and our waiter couldn’t care less about us (since the tip was included) we had to ask multiple times for water and other items, which became a tad annoying at the end.
Wonderful atmosphere & ambiance! The food was delicious. The service was good not great. The servers were nice but not very attentive. We had wanted a couple more cocktails - they we really good - but the waiter never checked back in on us. We needed to flag him down a few times for drinks & desert. Not to miss dishes: the Boar ribs, the Salmon, the Fire cocktail & the Pana cotta
Hidden Gem
We came for lunch and the service and restaurant is a really good atmosphere and the servers are very friendly and attentive. Food, loved the fried chicken for appetizer, the fries and the clt sandwich. Will be coming back to try more.
The restaurant is beautiful,great for a date night or hang with friends.The food and drinks were fantastic!!!
Went for our anniversary on a Tuesday night and it was delicious. Unfortunately we couldn't order what we wanted because my hopefully pregnant wife shouldn't have raw or undercooked things. All of it sounded and looked good. The fried chicken small plate was anything but small but that was her favorite dish along side the amazing Japanese yams. Apparently it's my job now to figure out how to make them for her.
Service was great, good was great we now know what we want to order when we come back and we will come back. Had the cheese cake and it went really well with my Nikka Coffey malt whiskey. We want to come back for the donuts.
The restaurant is beautiful, great for a date night or hang with friends. The food and drinks were fantastic, I will definitely be eating here again. Pictured is the fried rice and the lamb with tzasiki sauce, all the dishes were great, we also got a lobster roll as an app and that was delicious (not pictured).
Impressive lunch venue filled with celebrities who I don't know, nor care to take pictures with. They have valet parking for $7 too which makes life easier.
Their juice drinks are surprisingly good. I tried a few of them so view my pictures! The appetizers are delicious. Definitely try the toast with pumpkin. So warm and tasty.
Surprisingly the noodle soup was good. At first it looked small, but the taste packed a punch and was filling. My colleagues had steak and salmon salad, which they thought were delicious.
Would return here for a date or business dinner!
20% automatic service charge regardless of the party size is what most people have opinion on. Sadly it has gradually becoming a norm in this geopolitical climate, where restuants charges, workers health care %, water fees and the sort. I've also been intimidated by counter service workers at other places where they passive aggressively asked for tip by simply flipping their iPad. Some restuarants checks give you the tip options of 20%, 22%, and 25%. I suppose we should be happy that they only do automatic 20%.
Perhaps our Hanoki and the Bird waitstaff wanted addition 5%? Because as we were leaving, they were not as friendly as when we arrived. I maybe too self conscious, too sensitive. But that's what the city do to you.
It's the LA experience.
Overall, food were not bad. Service was cordial. Location is a bit out of way, where valet parking is cheaper than parking lot parking rates.
The best dish for the night for us was the fried chicken.
Food was delicious, ambiance perfect and service little slow. But overall definitely a place to go for good Cod fish. Their whiskey collection was amazing. Casual place with fancy vibes.
Definitely one of the most unforgettable dinner before I left Los Angeles.
Lobster sandwich, sashimi and mushroom fried rice were the best 3 out of my orders.
Beautiful setting. Excellent food and great service. I had the Avocado salad with chicken. All very fresh. I also tasted several of the appetizers or side dishes such as the mushrooms and the chicken bites. All very good. This place is pricey and I would have liked to see a larger selection of entrees for lunch. However overall it was a great lunch in a great setting.
Finding Hinoki & the Bird was not quite straightforward as I hoped. Nestled by a condominium and so close to the currently underway large construction in Century City it took a bit to get to the well hidden entrance.
The staff were polite and professional although our waitress listed 90% of the items on the (short) menu as being great which instead of making me feel like those items were good, made me feel like the rest of the items weren't the best.
Once everything was ordered, and we had a pretty large party so this took a bit, things went smoothly. The chef merges some classic Japanese and a few Korean dishes with more contemporary Western tastes and this is largely pretty successful. There were a couple of times where the dish came across as fusion-confusion but not very often. I will probably be back but not very soon.
The design of the entire space was very aesthetically pleasing. Quite busy even on Friday noon. Foods were all fantastic. The lobster roll deserved its reputation - the meat was firm and had a sashimi-like texture, I quite liked the vinegary flavor as well. It was not exaggerated to say that the okonomiyaki burger was “probably the most tasty burger ever..” The honey potato bun was quite unique and the artful balance of cheese, picked peppers, tomatoes, and some unknown sauces created a flavor which was so enticing that you just want to have more (only available at lunch though). The famous roasted yam impressed me with its delicate and smooth texture - well, one never brought home and baked a yam like this. Finally came the desserts - surprise - the matcha ice cream was like those Turkish ones with very hard and thick texture and the cherry sorbet had a very rich flavor. My little grumble would be about the service: too few staff and it took some effort to get proper attention.
Lovely ambience—really beautifully designed inside. It’s in a weird area of town but that makes it highly convenient if you’re meeting folks from the East and west sides.
The food was delicious. The boar ribs are crispy and rich, and the yam is beautiful to behold and also delish.
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