Lost the thread - is this spicy roe from Kitakata?
In the OC?
anyone been to the Kitakata Buena Park yet? i was wondering it itās just as good, the one in Costa Mesa always has a wait.
If you meant rice (and not roe), then yessiree.
Hi @Hungrydrunk,
Yah weāve been a few months ago. I wrote about it in the linked Kitakata thread (above).
I thought it wasnāt as good, but it was decently close in some ways, with much better seating / less wait.
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thanks for the information. iāll re-read the Kitakata thread.
No problem. 
I appended the visit to the original post (at the top) if itās easier for you, rather than going through all the posts.
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No
Iām in the OC as little as possible.
WOW. Iām no expert in this area but it seems pretty bad. Considering the size of their space and the amount of business they do (they are frickinā crazy busy almost always), This may be foretelling for them that they need to change gears. Downsize their menu/hours/days would be my guess. Optimally move.
Wow, thanks for the info.
Iām guessing the move of their OG kitchen staff to the new Glendale location (manager included) didnāt help with their Sawtelle location keeping up standards. Thanks for the warning.
What part of the mall are they going to be located?
I have no clue, but the boards were right below Din Tai Fung across from Uniqlo.
Anyone whoās ever run a restaurant, will tell you that list is basically a health inspector being nitpicky (or, translated, for hoi polloi āwas not sufficiently bribed during the inspection processā)
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My favorite violation is the āno towels in the red sanitation bucket.ā
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Thatās what I was sort of wonderingā¦
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Iāve been the victim of being present while eating during a health Dept inspection twice - theyāre total assholes. At the same time, they do point out shortcomings based on their rules. If half of what they point out carries weight, then I think Iād be concerned as a business was owner. Just my thoughts.
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Anyone still like the tantanmen ramen at Asian-Ya? I used to love that soup
I donāt think theyāre total dicks; Iāve never had the pleasure of dealing with one directly but itās not super difficult to get an A grade in LA. The violations at Tsujita just show that they were careless, and the management doesnāt have their shit together. The LA County Dept of Public Health lets every restaurant know when theyāre coming ahead of time. There really arenāt surprise visits so to see violations like contact surfaces not clean and sanitizedā¦like cmon guys I know youāre busy but you couldnāt take some extra time the night before to get those hard to reach shelves??
Wiping cloths?? Donāt be leaving them on tables/countersā¦they should know better. Those are easy things to take care ofā¦
Tell me Iām stereotyping, but I think itās incredibly unusual for a Japanese place in LA to receive lower than A. A for asians except C for Chinese right?? (itās cool, Iām Chinese.)
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These inspectors were dicks. Both instances were in open kitchens so everything was in full display.
The volume of their voices were just below screaming. The tone of their comments was full reprimand mode.
Pointing fingers in the faces of the owners and workers by one if the inspectors was really uncalled for. This inspector was from Africa, and his accent was so thick that he had to be asked to repeat his reprimands, which made him more angry.
The silliest thing was so much of what this inspector was rampaging about was stuff the kitchen WAS doing right. He felt it necessary to emphasize these points with raging statements like, āā¦AND IF YOU DONāT DO IT LIKE THIS, YOU WILL BE IN VIOLATION AND I WILL WRITE IT UP!ā
The owners were miffed as to why this inspector was yelling at them for all the things they were doing right. It was like a tirade through the whole inspection. I guess you had to be there.