Red Rock-The shops SantaAnita／レッドロック サンタアニータ — Restaurant in Arcadia

We had our first Red Rock experience in Japan (thanks Jimin and Jungkook of BTS for the indirect recommendation!) and were blown away. When we saw there was a Red Rock opening in our own backyard, we knew we had to come and see if our prayers were answered.

They were still in their soft opening during November 2024 with a limited menu. We ordered the tried and true: a large sliced beef don ($29.99) and a large cut steak don ($31.99). We were disappointed to find that the portion here was the smallest out of the two other Red Rocks we've dined at (in Tokyo and Torrance), despite us ordering the large size (can't imagine how the regular size bowl is!) and that the sliced beef don had more sauce than we liked. Not quite what we were hoping for, so we might give them some time before coming back. Since they were in their soft opening phase, service was a bit disorganized (forgot to give us menus when seating us, forgot to take our orders when we were ready, etc.), though still friendly.

They charged for credit card use, so we paid in cash. Space isn't very large, so not great for large groups. They have a couple of two-top tables and bar seating. If dining here, parking by Nordstrom or in the promenade structure will cut down on...

Got excited to eat it after my Japan trip! Got there around 3:00 so there were seats available.

Sat down and a complimentary miso soup arrived for each person. Its what you'd expect.

Angus cut steak don - I asked for medium rare. Well seasoned and enough sauce on rice! I ate the whole bowl. Highly recommend this dish! Lots of rice!

Us Kobe American slice beef don - 5 oz - delicious! You can add an egg for an extra charge. I'd get it with the raw yolk. After mixing it, it's creamy and delicious with every bite! Their bowl comes with their white sauce as well. Loved this dish. 5 oz may not be enough. So getting a 10 oz is recommended. I got both before and I can still eat the 10 oz bowl. Rice does seem to be a little less for the 10 oz meat.

Baked Hamburg steak - the sauce porfion was way more than enough. Can put it onto your rice if you want to as well! It was juicy! Not dry at all. Delicious!

Id come more often if the price was lowered. The price is considered quite high in my opinion. That's the only thing that shocked me. Besides that. I'd say to come try it...

This place only has counter seating, which is fine, but the overall experience didn’t justify the higher price tag compared to their Torrance location. They claimed to use better meats here, but the taste didn’t stand out — in fact, the beef bowl I had (pictured, $39.99) had some really tough and chewy sinew that was hard to bite through.

When I mentioned the issue to the staff, I was told it's probably because I didn’t order one of the more expensive dishes. Seriously? $39.99 for this — is that supposed to be cheap?

On the positive side, the staff was fairly patient when taking the order, but that doesn’t make up for the disappointing food quality and the dismissive attitude when concerns...