Wokcano Asian Cuisine

We like Wokcano, although there is even classier and better quality around it, this restaurant is the restaurant to go if you are in a more "modest" budget and is consistently great for the price. The drinks and specially the desserts are a little bit over priced, but the sushi is very affordable and of extremely high quality, $50 of sushi will get you sushi for at least 4 people (not two as hinted on prior comment.) I love the orange chicken and the fried yuca they garnish it with. I love the house salad. The staff is generally very helpful and if you let them know, they will address any complaints. We ordered delivery today and the same great quality of food arrived in a matter of minutes, super fast. Wokcano is never risky, we like everything we get here. My review is based on at least 10 visits to this restaurant.

Pros: Happy Hour and Ambience

Cons: Overpriced Desserts

Posted 02/15/09

The place succeeds in coming off as very trendy with its jungle techno music and it's low lighting, but the staff is very gracious and attentive. A rare combo. Yeah they do have stuff like orange chicken that is pretty standard for the price, but when you can get orange chicken, pad thai, unagi sushi, korean short ribs and curry noodles all from one restaurant then I am impressed. From what I've tasted they do each region well.

For sushi their salmon, yellowtail and tuna I hear is delivered fresh daily or every other day. Their salmon definitely tasted delicate. It doesn't come frozen either. Their Golden Triangle and Black Pearl rolls are innovative and delicious. Ok I've eaten here a few times. It's open till 2am everyday. They have daily happy 3-7pm with sushi and drink specials. It's way packed and service can be rough for the poor waiter, but that's what happy hour is all about--survival of the fittest haha.

Pros: Large Variety of Asian Food, Great Staff, Great Ambience

Cons: Expensive drinks, Music gets a bit much

Posted 12/13/08

Being a new resident of downtown LA, I just had a delivery order of over $50 in rolls, and both my husband and I agree that this is the worst tasting roll/sushi we have ever tasted in our lives. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. The fish was warm, the rolls had rice falling apart everywhere, and one roll consisted of 4 tiny pieces of disgusting material.

It's worse than one of those packaged sushi obento (lunch boxes) sold at Ralph's.
I can not believe I hate this restaurant so much that I actually made an account on citysearch to blast it.

I hope no one goes through the same horrific experience as I have. Waste of money and time.

Pros: nothing

Cons: EVERYTHING

Posted 09/03/08

After going to the Wokcano in Burbank, I wanted to try the downtown location. I parked in a lot nearby and headed inside for Happy Hour with my gf. We both had a couple glasses of wine and shared the bbq spare ribs and calamari appetizers. The spare ribs were tender and had a good flavor. The calamari were crispy and had a really good dipping sauce. The ambience is really nice and it just looks beautiful inside.

Posted 07/14/08

I was in downtown to visit my friends from overseas, so I decided to take them to WOKCANO, once we got there,they took several minutes to get us a table.
We ordered love boat for 2,grilled seabass,roasted duck etc...and we got a bottle of wine!
My friend didnt like the roasted duck, tasted it like fried duck, so we ask the waiter for a different kind of meet, so he ended up getting a orange chicken, which it was hard as a rock.
Tired of the Hong Kong express food type, we talked to the manager (Tin or Lim), Manager did not seems like professional at all, didnt even apolozige.
AVOID THIS PLACE!!!
CUSTOMER SERVICE, BAAAD !!!

Pros: N/A

Cons: CUSTOMER SERVICE

Posted 07/10/08

I was really disappointed by my recent visit to Wokcano. My friend and I drove by it and decided to try it on a whim. The restaurant was mostly empty, although the bar area looked like it was the place to be. The hostess was impersonal and sat my friend and I in a tiny table secluded in a room in the far corner of the restaurant by ourselves. Our server was awkward, barely checked in on us, and seemed to lack basic social skills. The food, expensive as per traditional downtown code, was the most disappointing part of our evening. My friend ordered the Crazy Roll, which contained what tasted like spoiled fish (really poor quality) and I had the very oily and heavy Tofu Family Style. The entire evening was a let-down. Avoid this restaurant if you're looking for a fun atmosphere and quality food. The bar might be a decent after-work hangout, but the rest of Wokcano is not worth it.

Pros: Good bar selection

Cons: No parking, bad food, bad service

Posted 07/02/08

I met my friend at Wokcano for Happy Hour to try it out. The restaurant is beautiful inside....love the dark wood....has a great lounge-y tmosphere and loks very hip. I got the spicy calamari, spicy albacore roll, and dumpling appetizers. All were good, but I absolutely loved the calamari since I live for spice and it had chopped spicy pepper and green onion on top. I was surprised the portions were pretty big. I tried the lychee martini...no discount during Happy Hour, but it was sooo yummy. One of the bartender's, Doug or Dave? was so nice and gave me a couple extra lychees in my drink after I mentioned how much I love them. Overall, great experience and I will be back to try dinner.

Pros: Bartender Dave or Doug?, appetizers, lychee martini, ambience

Cons: The other bartender working was not friendly and kept rushing us.

Posted 06/26/08