'GOKAN' Symphonized Japanese Eatery — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I had no idea that this will become the very best spot I've had sushi at! I've travelled quite often for both work and fun! I've visited more then a few Michelin star restaurants, some of them Japanese but mostly French. My wife is literally the opposite of a foodie and when it comes to sushi her favorite will be Philadelphia roll, duhh.. (i know) so her request the other day was for me to take her to sushi and literally I googled Philadelphia roll and that's where google sent me. The 30min wait really worth it as soon as we were seated the waitress brought over dark blue bottle of water with 2 glasses to match the color- filled up with crushed ice and a slice of lemon i was like well this is unexpected it felt like we ordered an expensive bottle of wine or so. I looked at the board with specials and got interested to try the oysters but I ended up getting all other specials but the oysters (they ran out of before we got seated) We had about 10 different dishes and everything was great! One of the servers told me I should definitely try the large shrimp sushi that they served alive and after done with the sushi part they will de-fry the head It was absolutely amazing experience, better then some omakase restaurants I've been to. I think the servers, and the chefs are absolutely amazing, knowledgeable and professional ! the dishes are quite unique, prices are extremely reasonable and inexpensive for the quality of the food and the whole presentation. I will highly recommend to try the entire menu and I will definitely visit again! Absolutely...

The head server is unprofessional and disrespectful. I ordered the deep fired seafood set but tasted the calamari is spoiled that created my miscues with a sensitive throat. I asked the server to take off this whole set because I don't want to get sick from their non-fresh deep fried seafood. She called the head server back to deny my experience. He claimed that their seafood are freshly prepared every morning and refused to taste my calamari. He said other customers ordered without the same complaint so it is rare for him to hear my complaint. Then he went to the kitchen to ask the chef to deep fried another plate of calamari for him to taste. I repeated more that 4 times that the calamari I tasted is spoiled and ask him to send it to the government bureau to test if he didn't trust me. I also explain him the uni & jambo scallop sushi I ordered were over the price of their deep fried seafood set. I care about my health instead of the price so I had to take this item off. Then he said that I created drama and scenes and killed the peace of other customers. He asked me to leave and never come back by removing my bill.

I asked for the manager but he claimed he was in charge!

Why don't he think how many hours their calamari has been sitting today until I ordered after 5:30pm? He is non-sense and lack of training.

Get away from this place if you want a...

Came here after seeing an IG Reel from July about their secret lunch special that must be outdated. Spoke with the server and got the lowdown. They changed owners, name, and menu (slightly) about 4-5 months ago. They’re now “KOPAN Izakaya” or “KOPAN Sushi & Ramen Bar”.

The staff was very friendly, helpful, and attentive. Vibes are pretty cool, they have a nice izakaya-like interior that reminded me of some restaurants in Japan. Ice buckets at every table for some reason. Chillhop lo-fi music on loop.

The menu is extensive and lots of choices for standard Korean-owned Japanese fare in LA. I got the lunch special chirashi sushi for $18 and a hot genmaicha ($4 👎 but free refill 👍). Food quality was very good, especially the rice. It was just smaller than I was hoping, and looking at other reviewers’ photos from even just 4 mo the ago it looks like they might have changed the presentation and possibly sizes. Not their fault, everywhere in LA especially is raising prices or cutting costs currently.

I would get a bento box if I came again for lunch because it looks like much more bang for your buck. I’d also try it at dinner time because the vibes are nice and they are still currently running some Grand Opening promotions for sushi...