K-ZO Japanese Restaurant

With all the new restaurants budding in Culver City, it is nice to have a great japanese sushi restaurant. Kzo had a rocky start, but it is doing better than ever. The octopus dish is unbelievable. If you didn't like it the first time, give it another try...

I am not sure how this place got voted the "Best Sticky Rice" over others. It was good, but nowhere near as good as Katsuya or Koi. I ordered a few things off the menu - less than impressed with each. The black Cod was extremely fishy tasting which usually is not the case. The scallops were less than par and did not come as described on the menu. All in all, I left hungry.

I was happy/satisfied with every aspect of this restaurant. Highlights of my visit:

1. Goma Wild Chicken
2. Whitefish Yuzu
3.Gindara Saikyo
4. Ankimo
5. Lychee martini
6. Fresh sashimi
7. The best buta no kakuni (simmered pork) I've had in LA. The flavor, the texture, and the meat melted in my mouth.

Great place for 2-6 people, pleasant & modern ambience, great service as well.

A coworker of mine told me about K-Zo about a year and I still had not been. We decided to make an office/girls' night out of it and all my expectations were more than surpassed. We were seated immediately (without reservations - it was a Wednesday evening) by a very friendly hostess and our waiter arrived promptly with water and took drink orders (I definitely recommend the "Brass Fields" white wine). We let a co-worker who was familiar with the menu do the ordering and each dish was better than the last. They are known for their Spicy Tuna Crispy dish which combines crunchy warm rice with soft chilled spicy tuna in a way that is completely unexpected and delicious. Another item that we tried was the Spicy Jalapeo Shrimp Handroll which we ordered in soy paper rather than seaweed. It was incredible and definitely left me wanting more! Of the sushi, my favorites were the albacore, halibut, and the yellowtail, all of which were sliced generously and were artfully presented on a long serving plank. This is a perfect restaurant for sushi lovers and haters alike because of the extensive, non-sushi menu.

So my friends and I decided to go here on a Saturday night. We made a reservation beforehand. They seat us right away and the staff was friendly. However the items on the menu were quite expensive. None of us wanted to order the pre-fixe dinner so we have to choose from their small bites item, sushi and rolls. I had two of the rolls, and they were okay, nothing spectacular. The small bites were quite small and pricey for what they were. So not worth it.