Chinchikurin Sawtelle — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I'm sure okonomiyaki is a never-before-seen delight for strangers to this very common snack/street festival/fast food shop fare in Japan, but anyone who's ever been, lived, traveled to Japan knows wth?! $14+ okonomiyaki?! Right. $5 or less in Japan. Anyways, silly pricing aside, parking in this plaza is the usual. Anytime except Friday dinnertime, Saturday and Sunday meals, expect the lot to fill quickly and maxing out. This means you'll wait 30+ minutes for a spot to open up for the valet to be able to take your car. Surrounding parking similarly goes from open to absurdly packed at peak hours. Read the signs very carefully if you park along the street - crazy rules, 3-4+ signs describing when you can park and exceptions. So let's say you're smart and arrive 5:30p Friday for easy parking and no waiting. Good, led in, loss of tables and counter open. Sit, get the menu. Wait. Yes, three cooks. Three to four waiters. Actually takes a bit for the waitress to roll around simply to ask what would you like to drink. Drinks mange to come after a few minutes, then....I have to stop a waitress to take an order because they keep walking by for minutes on end. Not ignored. They're just not timing things like a restaurant with skilled servers. Anyways, two orders go in. Non Japanese cook makes them, a bit of a wait later, first one arrives. Well, it's ok. 3 stars. Nothing amazing, nothing mind blowing. Their #1 name brand version. In fact, after putting on the Magic Five mayo sitting on the table, the mayo has a more memorable flavor! Not steaming hot either. They cook it on the grill, but put out on a metal plate that goes on a wood block to be brought over to the table. Well, metal absorbs heat.... (then again, most ramen shops in LA/OC also disappoint with warm, not steaming hot, broth. It's like the idiot McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit made most coffees warm, not hot.) A second, different one came minutes later, and ditto. Nothing memorable. So $30~ of okonomiyaki later, I'm bored and wasted money. Might as well make them myself if I wanted better. Hours later after a bath, thought about it again. Bring up photos of okomomiyaki from here - can't remember the taste! Oomasa sushi - my tongue remembers the delicious flavors. Rollritto - very tasty poke with fresh flavors. Here? Mayo taste was the most memorable. After both were done. Wait. Wait. No hot tea refill even though my cup is empty. 4 servers, no checking, no service going on. One finally stops to pickup the empty dishes, I say 'Check', none comes. Eventually, I have to flag down another to get the check, which takes some time. And some of the tastier looking versions in their 'About okonomiyaki' guide? Can't even get them in the USA. Sigh.... Basically, one of the latest Sawtelle I'm a tourist/UCLA student/never had a great okonomiyaki so I'll overspend trap. Not amazing, no service. Decent for simply filling your belly and chatting, and most seemed content with doing...

Too many people think Sushi is the only Japanese food. But the Japanese have an incredible range of food from different parts of the country.

If you've never had Okonomiyaki (o-kono-me-yaki), this is an excellent place to try it!

For the uninitiated: there are two main kinds of Okonomiyaki:

Osaka-style where the cabbage is mixed in with the pancake batter itself, and then topped with various ingredients. That's delicious, but NOT the kind that's served here.

Chinchikurin serves Hiroshima-style, which is layered with a thin crepe-like pancake, finely-grated cabbage, noodles, and various meats and cheese. Think of it as a kind of Japanese lasagna.

Whatever you think of it, you will feel it's quite delicious as they're authentically made here.

I had the B&C, which is basil and cheese and pork. One friend had the shrimp, the other beef. There are lots of variations, including crispy noodles. If you're not sure, ask your server for advice.

All Okonomiyaki are big, even the small ones. If you're a light eater, then there's enough for two. If you're a normal eater (and what's normal, really?), then you will eat 1/2 to 3/4 of one and have some left over to take home.)

The service was prompt and friendly. We sat outside, and even on a cold rainy night, it was comfortable with the flame heater.

It's a busy place, and they don't take reservations, so you might have to wait, but even with our party of five we didn't wait long. And they have a traditional counter service where you can almost always just sit and enjoy watching them being made as well as eating them!

There's even valet parking in this notoriously hard to park neighborhood.

So give it a try....

I absolutely love okonomiyaki! I've been searching for Hiroshima-style for so long, and the okonomiyaki here is the closest I'll ever get to the one I had in Japan.

I ordered the classic because I wanted it the way I had it in Japan. Because I was sharing with my parents, I ordered the larger version. Even if I was hungry, I don't think I could finish it. The larger portion can definitely feed two people. You have the option to order the noodles crispy, which is what I did because I never had it made that way. The noodles weren't completely crispy as I thought they would be (I was thinking of a type of Chinese dish where the noodles are really crispy and topped with veggies). But the noodles had a good bite to them, which was perfect.

And service was good too. We had dogs, so they set up a table on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant. The space is tight, but luckily we were there before the dinner rush so it wasn't crowded. But I recommend leaving the fur babies at home if you can so you can dine inside and see the cooks create your meal.

The only complaint I had was the vegetarian option. It doesn't include the noodles.. perhaps they make it with animal products? Well, the veggie version was just the cabbage, crepe, and the seasonings. Because the okonomiyaki comes on a hot plate, you have to move the cabbage around so it get a good char.

Parking is an issue at this location. It's only valet parking as the lot is really small, and is for other restaurants in the mini-mall. So try to find street...