Del Rey Kitchen

Food is so so.
Service is so so.
Dessert is good.
Some dishes are nothing special at all.
Especially drunken wings! :(
I disappointed with kurobuta sausage!!! :(
I think $ 1-​$ 3 overpriced.
I want to give zero star for not changing a plates!
Not even once.

Intimate, casual atmosphere. Staff are friendly and attentive. A few seats at the bar too. We got there at six on a Saturday and over half the seats where empty.
Really nice beer, wine, sake selection. Had the local Smog City Coffee Porter. Nice to see local beer.
Had the salmon for dinner. It was fine. Nothing special. Everything we had was really, really heavily sauced. Could’ve been any fish really. Came with steamed broccoli and a grilled tomato. Nothing special. Didn’t finish it.

2 entrees and 1 side was about $ 50. Too expensive to come regularly but once in a deserving while is worth it. Been here twice: once to dine-​in and once to pick-​up.
FAVES:
SPICY CAVIAR MISO PASTA —
Lots of Masago and seaweed, but not sure about the caviar presence. Must have been dissolved in the sauce.
(Side) D.R.K.K.C. aka Del Rey Kitchen Karage Chicken —
Yes it rhymes. Yes it’s one of the better Karage Chickens I’ve ever had, and I’ve had it in about 5 different Japanese restaurants. Yes you should try and let me know if you know better places.
Let’s leave the STEAK BURGER reviews to the others…
SERVICE:
Customer service is better than average. The attentiveness is sporadic. They’ll kept coming to check on me (mostly towards the beginning) but at halfway through eating they stopped refilling our water and took a while to return our check/​change.
ATMOSPHERE:
Little on the dark, romantic side. Ambience is sort of like a ktown bar, but more quiet and respectful. Plenty of seating.

Restaurant is on a very random part of Culver Blvd. in a very secluded strip mall. You would never expect such a cute little restaurant to be there.
The ambiance is tikiesque with little string lights and good reggae jams playing softly in the background. Such a chill environment.
We ordered the Aji Furai (Fried Mackerel Fillet), Mushroom Salad and Spicy Caviar Pasta.
The Fried Mackerel fillet was disgusting and I could only have one bite… tasted like a fishy fish stick. The mushroom salad was really good, delicious dressing and buttery mushrooms. The Spicy Caviar Pasta was unique and tasty, not too spicy.
They have a lot of unique beers here although I was slightly bummed when our beers came out in cans. Thought they would have been on tap or at least glass bottles.
Overall if you live close by definitely check Del Rey Kitchen out, it’s an adorable place with some unique bites.

If you’ve never tried their Spicy Caviar Pasta, you are missing out. It’s SO AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. You will want to keep the bowl and scrape all the caviar and green onion off of it, just to make the plate last longer.
I used to come here regularly when they were open for lunch last year. Currently they’re only open at dinner time so I haven’t been as regular. I would if I lived closer though!
Other faves are the Albacore Tiradito which comes with an amazing sauce and a good serving of thinly sliced onion.
The deep fried baby octopus is wonderful. Perfectly fried and light.
The beef carpaccio is delicious.
The haricot vert are so yummy. It comes with a sesame sauce.
I love the mushroom salad too.
I’ve heard the hamburger steak is really good but I haven’t tried it yet.
The staff are very friendly.
They serve wine, beer and sake. It’s not a huge selection but it’s a good selection.
I love this place.

Excellent food, service, atmosphere!
The Hamburg and egg was flavorful and juicy.
I look forward to trying a new dish… soon :-)

Four of us went in for an early dinner before a movie. The restaurant wasn’t crowded at all. No one came to our table for a really long time, so we hailed a server and asked if we could order. We ordered family style, plenty of appetizers and entrees, including two mushroom dishes. The food started coming, and we started sharing and eating. The food was nice, not remarkable.
A few minutes later, a different server came over and said that one of the mushroom dishes we were eating was not one of the mushroom appetizers we had ordered, and it was meant for another table and was brought it to us by mistake. Then the server brought us the second mushroom appetizer we had ordered. Since we were eating family style, none of us had noticed the mistake.
The service got even worse from there, and by the time we got our entrees and finished our deserts, we were running late for our movie, even though the restaurant wasn’t crowded and we had allowed 1 ½ hours for a relaxing dinner. We asked for the check and we paid quickly and we left about a 30% tip for the mediocre service.
When we got home, I noticed that we had been charged for the mushroom dish that they mistakenly brought to our table. I sent an email with all of the information to the email address on the website, asking that the dish we had ordered be taken off the check and credited to my card. A week later, I still had not received a response, so I printed out the email and sent it by mail to the attention of the manager. About a week later I received a voice mail from the manager. Since then, I have called back, left messages, and still no response and no credit on my card.
This is no way to run a business.

i’m not sure why i’m so stubborn to like this place. but i must admit, it is good. maybe i’m just not into the whole asian fusion, but regardless this place is legit.
my favorite dish is the crispy ponzu chicken. it comes with a pan fried chicken breast, with tomatoes cauliflower and broccoli swimming in yummy ponzu! it also comes with rice, sub brown rice for like $ 1 more i believe.
my mom always orders the tofu too. its a small block that comes with a bunch of goodies on top.
i dont think the location matches their theme. the fanciest little restaurant in a plaza but give it a try. there’s lots of parking and the staff is very friendly.
perfect place to take a date at night as well.
so many business owners have been in and out of that particular building. hopefully this one stays!

VERDICT: Casual dining. Good Asian fusion. Not very Japanese at all.
QUALIFIER: Plenty of parking inside the shopping plaza. Gets crowed at peak dinner hours even during the weekday, but after that there’s plenty of seating available.
FOOD: Spicy Caviar Pasta was amazingly good. Mixed Mushroom Salad, Beef Carpaccio, and the Napolitan (Yokohama) pasta were pretty good too. Their signature DRK Hamburg Steak was just ok. Decent selection of craft beer and wine. I think it might be a seasonal rotating stock.
SERVICE: Friendly waiting staff. Can get buys during peak dinner hours. Good to make reservations, but don’t really need it for walk-​ins.

5 stars in my book! I went here for the first time a few weeks ago and it was deeeelicious! A great local spot and there’s a parking lot! I liked the ambiance, it wasn’t too crowded. Nice place to grab dinner with some friends and enjoy a couple drinks. The price and food was on point! The spicy caviar pasta is a must try!!! TRUST ME.

This was our second time trying Del Rey Kitchen, while we were in town for a wedding. For months, my husband had been expressing his excitement to have their caviar pasta again.. . Ohhhhh, so many times I heard about it.
The atmosphere is casual nice. You could dress up or you could dress down. Either way you would be comfortable! It has this almost romantic feel (probably because I’m a hopeless romantic). It is a great spot for singles, couples, and small groups.
The staff is knowledgeable, friendly, and really go out of their way to give great service. Both times, I left thinking, «Wow, I really enjoyed our waitress! She was so friendly!» All of the staff seemed to have a smile and when we go again (I’m sure we will) there will be more smiles (I’m sure of it!)
The food:
Appetizer — Tako Wasa — Whew! Spicy, but boy was that octopus oh soooooooo fresh.
Appetizer — Garlic Soup — Mmm! Who thought that this would be good as a soup? They are a genus!!! I’ve been thinking of making it myself because I am obsessed with garlic.
Entrée (lunch this time) — Croquette Sandwich — Meh. I have had better. but the ingredients were fresh. They also didn’t skimp on the croquette itself — it was HUGE!
Entrée (lunch this time, dinner last) — He still LOOOOOOOVED it! This time it only had one type of caviar (I guess they only have the five types occasionally), but it was still buttery, fresh, and tasty. He regretted not ordering a to go order for later. And now. .. I’m still hearing about that…
Overall, both visits were wonderful and I am sure we will be back, when in town again. YUM!

Nice little Japanese fusion spot that you probably wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. It’s tucked in a small strip mall area with a small parking lot.
The interior is kind of dark; nice ambiance to it. It’s not really big, so large groups may not be great here.
Our service was good. Pretty quick and efficient.
As for the food, it’s good overall. Of all the dishes our group tried, I think we liked the D.R.K.F.C the best (essentially karaage). The Hamburg Steak was pretty good. I think the sauce tho was what really made the dish. Not sure what we were expecting exactly with the Naporitan, but it wasn’t quite as flavorful as we were hoping for. Thankfully the prices weren’t too bad for what you get.
Overall, nice spot to try if you’re in the area. Food was solid with good service.

What is the hype? 9 of us had dinner here last night because of me. I was working in culver city and searched restaurants near me and chose this because of the reviews.
Not one of the 9 were impressed. Nothing entirely wrong but nothing actually great.
Menu is limited. 3 pastas, 2 meat entrees, a ponzu chicken dish and a ginger salmon.
They had some fun appetizers both hot and cold.
We ordered the tofu and it wasn’t impressive especially cause I’m asian. Sauce didn’t absorb into the tofu and it was oily. Chicken wing appetizer came with a decent hot sauce. Edamame was just edamame.
I had the spicy caviar pasta and it was super salty. Definitely mix it up completely for better mouthfuls of flavor. 3 people ordered the salmon and I heard it was bland. The hamburg steak is just meatloaf. Ponzu chicken seemed to be the best.
It’s in a strip mall and a shopping center. Small restaurant. When we asked the server what she recommends cause we had a few people who weren’t really familiar with the fusion type menu, she basically went down the list and said everything.

As far as Japanese food goes, I admittedly am a tough critic. I grew up with my Japanese mom and grandmother cooking – and that is certainly quite the challenge to compete with. Growing up, we had «ham-​bah-​gah steaku» for dinner at least once a month and after many many years of not having it, I was ecstatic to find Del Rey Kitchen specialized in it. $ 16 seemed steep, but it seemed worth the nostalgia.
In the end, I wish I didn’t have to be so bratty and prideful, but my mom’s hamburg steak is better. Way better. The meat was tough and it turns out, $ 16 was steep. I enjoyed the ambiance and especially not having the fight the crowds on a Friday night in Santa Monica. The craft beer selection was surprisingly good, even including some rare beers like Pizza Port’s Swami on tap. The takoyaki were average and the potato salad was pretty authentic.
Pleased that this restaurant brings to light traditional Japanese fare that is not sushi and ramen. I’m thankful for that exposure!

I can’t believe this spot was literally walking distance from my home. My friends and I decided to go to Del Rey Kitchen to talk about a few things and see what the hype is all about. To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed.
PROS:
Ambiance. This place is so chill, romantic, and casual at the same time. Not the best for large groups but I’m sure they can accommodate if you let them know soon enough.
Customer service. The ladies working were so sweet! I called today to make a reservation but unfortunately they do not take same day reservations. I was a bit bummed but whoever I was talking to was extremely apologetic. When we walked in which was around 7pm (group of 4), we were seated immediately. As the hour went on, it got pretty busy.
Appetizers. Soooooo yummy! I actually liked them more than the main dishes. I plan on coming back just for the appetizers since there are so many more to try!
— We got the Devil’s Tofu $ 5.95 (soft tofu, mustard, ginger, sesame, shoyu dressing) which didn’t taste spicy to me like the other reviews say. I love spicy food and one of my friends don’t and she even said it was medium.
— We also got the DRKFC $ 7.95 (marinated boneless chicken, deep fried Karaage style) and this too had a great taste! It was crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside *drool*. The sauce that came with it was delicious mixed in with Sriracha.
Beer and wine, and everything fine. Haha. For all those who enjoy a drink or two with dinner :)
CONS:
Main course dishes. I don’t know if I was expecting too much but I was a bit disappointed. The flavors didn’t pair well with me although the food did taste fresh.
— Spicy Caviar pasta $ 15.95 had a weird mix of flavors for me. I was really confused on how to feel about it. Too much cheese or butter for my liking with a strong fishy taste. Wouldn’t get again. Beautiful presentation, though.
— Hamburg Steak $ 15.95 was very saucy and sweet. I wouldn’t recommend unless you like that type of style.
— Chicken Chilindron Stew $ 15.95 had a strong tomato/​BBQ taste with huge chunks of chicken. This was pretty decent!
— Crispy Ponzu Chicken $ 14.95 was alright. The taste reminded me of spam when you first bite into it and it was really tender.
All of the items were good shared but by themselves were just okay. Next time I think I’ll get the Naporitan pasta.

DRK… Da Real Kombo!
That acronym was me paying homage to the Asian fusion flare here~ (and totally reminds me of JP’s lingo!)
A sweet friend bought this dinner to my doorstep, score! Marking another bookmark off my list…
* GET — Beef Carpaccio = sliced raw beefsteak with watercress and sesame aioli, they disappeared instantly
* GET — Devil’s Tofu = so spiiiicy! Oh so good soft tofu with ginger/​sesame/​mustard in shoyu dressing
* GET — Hamburg Steak = DRK’s signature dish: Wagyu beef and Kurobata Pork patty in housemade 18-​hour sauce… it was pretty tasty~
* GET — Naporitan Pasta (applewood-​smoked bacon, bells, zucchinis, mushrooms in tomato sauce) = reading the components, dish doesn’t sound particularly amazing but the pasta was surprisingly good. All pastas are under «Itameshi Pasta»…that’s Japanese for «Italian».
* YES — I wasn’t very hungry but still ate so much! Good sign~
* YES — Very friendly and good service (his rating, not mine)
* N/​A — Parking, ambience, décor (wasn’t present)
* WOA (words of advice):
— Can call orders in advance for pickup
— Yes, accepts credit cards
— Yes, takes reservations
— Closed Mondays

What a little gem… little did I know. It’s quet during the weekdays. no Asian waitresses.
I would say this place is best for only one thing. spicy roe pasta. I wish I could say I loved the other items as much. but they weren’t that good:
— Drunken Wings
— Seared Albacore Tuna with Jalapeño (best thing out of the bunch)
— The steak that everybody raves about really isn’t that good. very saucy.
— Sweet Potato Dessert
Best thing is that pasta. the bomb!

4 stars or maybe even 5 just for the spicy caviar pasta alone! Nice creamy/​buttery pasta with a kick to it. The Asari Clam Sakamushi appetizer was good — people may think this tastes bland but I found the broth to be light and tasty — it was a nice way to offset the heaviness of some of the other dishes. The deep-​fried sake marinated chicken wings were very tasty (sweet and nicely fried) — though may be a tad overpriced for only getting like 5 – 6 pieces. The takoyaki was good as well. Got the OG version of the Hamburg Steak — I thought the meat was very nice and tender and liked the sauce as well though my company didn’t really care for the sauce (has a strong tomato flavor to it).
There’s also a $ 5 corkage fee so you can bring your own beer and wine. If you forget, there’s a liquor store in the same plaza :)
This place is a hidden gem in the middle of really a random plaza — but glad I found another local joint that is cozy, quaint with rustic industrial décor and has a «local neighborhood» vibe to it.

This place was spectacular, loved everything about the joint. A friend of mine had brought me here for dinner in the middle of the week. Its located in a small shopping complex, parking is sufficient and free. As soon as we entered, the hostess greeted us and walked us to our table.
The interior is dimly lit, has a very old and vintage look, yet most of the furniture couldn’t been older than a couple of years. They played old school jazz music that filled the room. Most of the table were full, you could see how popular this spot is.
We started off with the Beef Carpaccio and Albacore appetizers. Both were excellent choices, only grip is the portion sizes. Yes I wanted more than two bites. The taste is hard to describe but both were flavorful and rich with taste. Enjoyed every bite, savor it more by chewing slowly. Also ordered the house salad which was okay, not a fan of raw onions mixed with greens.
The best part was the entrée, ordered the Hamburg Steak which more than excellent but absolute perfect. To top it off, order it with the fried egg, don’t worry its only one day and won’t kill your diet. ;) Truly enjoyed itmost of all, it came with rosemary potatoes smothered in sauce. Even the tomatoes accompanied were great and that’s coming from a guy who hates greens.
Only con is better choice of desserts, still a worthy trip to this part of town. At end we left content with our bellies filled to the brim. Nice way to feast on any day.

Like: Spicy Caviar Pasta and Napolitan (A.K.A. Yokohama Soul Food) Pasta!
Love: the tiki, cozy interior and the owners!
Could be better: the exterior signage – it’s small and dim.
«Asian Fusion» might have you feeling skeptical but this mom and pop shop serves up solid, good, jazzed up Japanese Fusion.
FOOD
* Takoyaki (octopus fritters): pretty decent, bite-​sized appetizer just enough to set the tone for a heftier entrée. If you order this with the set price deal, it comes with 3 fritters. ($ 7.95)
* Devil’s Tofu: soft tofu slabs topped with ground mustard, ginger, scallions and sesame seeds in shoyu dressing. It’s a horseradish-​y spicy – less heat but a flavorful twist to a predictable tofu dish. ($ 5.95)
* Spicy Caviar Pasta: masago, «secret butter sauce», and nori – solid. It’s got a bit of a kick but not intolerable. The lovely masago (fish roe) flavor blends seamlessly with the creamy sauce – a winner. ($ 15.95).
* Napolitan (A.K.A. Yokohama Soul Food) Pasta: al dente noodles coated in a hearty and comforting homemade tomato sauce. If you’re worried about the acidity from the tomato, it doesn’t overpower. Without a cream-​based or butter sauce, this dish is filling but overly so. Don’t forget to add a fried egg on top! ($ 12.95).
* Gen Mai ice cream: highly recommended by Michael, the owner. Let’s just say I would’ve regretted not getting dessert! Light, pillowy, and hints of the promised green tea/​roasted rice flavor.
* Sweet Potato Baby: roasted, ground sweet potato patty, very lightly toasted, served warm with homemade whipped cream. Almost all desserts are made in-​house including this one and tailors to a not-​overly-​sweet type of sweet tooth. Tastes like how it sounds, homemade delicious; a sweet potato cloud. ($ 7.50).
* Crème Caramel (Flan): creamy, sweet and lightly caramel; nothing too surprising in my opinion. I’d recommend the ice creams instead!
SERVICE
Very hospitable and attentive, a type of restaurant I’d want to give my guests.
AMBIENCE
Comfortable, intimate and a sort of lodge-​y feel. Great for couples or small groups.
PARKING
Private lot out front.