Hinoki & the Bird — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I went to Hinoki & The Bird last night with a party of 6 for Dine LA. It was an exceptional experience. We were mourning the loss of a beloved pet and it was our first night going out, a celebration of life. We ordered one of everything on the Dine LA menu (except the mushrooms and octopus, which they were out of) and we doubled up on the lobster roll and bucatini. The vibe of this restaurant is impeccable. Their patio existed before covid and thus feels like a beautiful escape from the world - it is nothing like the thrown together sidewalk settings elsewhere. Large comfortable seats, greenery surrounding absolutely everything, and lily-shaped lights hanging overhead make this patio one of the most delightful outdoor dining spaces I’ve been to in Los Angeles. We ordered every cocktail except for the negroni. The Manhattan in particular was a big hit with the table. The bee sting was quirky and had a bright kick of spice. The final flight was strong and almost tangerine-like; our summertime backyards would be made better with the addition of this drink. The lotus margarita was a safe and yummy choice. My personal favorite was the monsoon, which had the perfect amount of ginger and rosemary - it vaguely resembled a lemon drop candy. We had after dinner espressos and I enjoyed a well-balanced espresso martini. As far as food, we were all very pleased with the variety of the menu, the speed of service and presentation, and (most importantly) the food itself. The lobster rolls, with lobster served over a soft black bread, were a wonderful start to the meal. The spiced nuts in the kale salad gave extra oomph to what would otherwise be a standard dish. We grow heirloom tomatoes in our own garden and the ones served with toast and gazpacho were as fresh and flavorful as ones from our own vines. I wish I’d had the chance to try the sashimi, but my friends snatched up each piece so quickly that I can only take their word for it - it was apparently delicious. You MUST order the fried chicken and bucatini. The chicken is breaded and cooked to perfection and the buttery bucatini is excellent alongside the NY strip or pork chop. For a delicious instagrammable dish, order the salmon and/or black cod - they are beautifully plated and are flaky and flavorful. We did not order dessert - but we will next time. The manager, Conrad, chatted with us at our table a couple of times throughout the evening and he was a very gracious host who is clearly invested in the quality of the restaurant. He asked what he could do to make our experience even better, shared laughs with us, and made us feel entirely welcome. We know that Hinoki & The Bird is in good hands with him. Our table shared many giggles and a few tears for our beloved dog and we deeply enjoyed our meal and experience - it was a beautiful and intimate dinner party. We live five minutes down the road and this was our first visit - even once Dine LA has ended, we will certainly return for the wonderful food, cocktails, service, and ambiance. Thank you Hinoki & The Bird and...

We came to this restaurant for a celebratory meal, party of 8, after having an incredible experience last year (May ‘21) and this time couldn’t have been further from that. Primarily, the extremely poor service left a bad taste in our mouths that no amount of food or drinks could wash away. We enjoy fine dining often, and have truly never experienced service as poor as what we experienced this evening, we were incredibly disappointed. Our server’s (Charlie was the name on the check) attitude throughout dinner was egregious in several additional ways: -It took 20 minutes for most of our table to receive any sort of menu— an error that our server only noticed when he finally came around to ask us if we were ready to order drinks, 30+ mins after we sat down -When someone in our party ordered a dirty martini, he rolled his eyes openly while facing the table. Later, when she asked for a second drink, he apparently couldn’t remember what she’d ordered and proceeded to pick up her glass and sniff it, then proclaimed loudly “Yeah well this is definitely not one of our usuals” (The second martini never came, and it ended up on our bill. We had to get up and find our server as he was nowhere to be seen to get this issue corrected) -We requested a bowl of plain white rice, as one of our party was feeling under the weather, which prompted extreme confusion from the support staff and our primary waiter responding with: “I’ll check but sometimes we have some, sometimes we don’t” and when we asked again 20 minutes later after receiving no update, he said loudly while walking away “Yeah we don’t even serve that here” while rolling his eyes. For a bowl of plain white rice. When the bowls arrived (somehow we ended up with 2), the rice was terribly cooked and rock hard, basically half raw. -When a member of the support staff arrived at our table with several plates, he barked “Get the menus out of the way” and “Clear the table” to us… to make room for the food. -Our server didn’t check on us a single time unless we waved him down, and was openly rude every time.

To be honest, we will never return to this restaurant after our experience this evening. The quality of the food is also not nearly as good as what we experienced last year, so there was no saving grace for Hinoki & the Bird.

We spoke to the manager, who also introduced themselves as the sommelier at our table earlier in the evening, on our way out. They offered us a free dessert, but we honestly ended our evening early because of the way our entire table was treated. It felt a bit tone deaf to have them offer a dessert when we’d clearly just had an incredibly poor experience. We didn’t want to stick around for anything else…

I don’t usually write reviews, but I want to make sure people are aware of the appalling experience we had at Hinoki...

Location is REALLY difficult to find especially with the sign barely visible during the evening ! It is located right next to century city hotel and inside a kind of a tunnel that pretty much brings you right to the front steps of the restaurant!

My gf made reservation on Monday and was told she was going to get a call back the following day but never did, so she panicked and it was WED already! We almost lost our table if not for some calls made to management. We had a party of 8 and were seated closes to the restroom with the high table that can easily be resembled as a resting area. A lot of random people waiting for a table decided to place their bottoms at our table while they wait, while some of our people were in the restroom. It was kind of awkward to actually tell them it was reserved seating. If you have a big group i suggest you tell them that this was not the way to go ..cause aside from this situation we are also placed right in front of the door- so if you get cold easily, be warned to wear your coat the whole time!

So to the positive : There is this amazing "rainforest" - like area in the back room and it was beautiful, i wonder if it was because of the last minute changes that we were placed there instead of the outdoor area!?

I noticed a chef behind the counter was a Top Chef contestant, didn't win but was actually one of my fave! So being that it was tapas style - us girls loved it! Our favorite of the night was hands down the Pumpkin toast- ridiculous amount of flavor and i could of ate all 4 if it weren't for sharing !

Kale salad was also pretty delicious with some grilled and fried that the texture might be a bit odd at first but you wouldn't want to stop munching on it!

Vegetable curry- had an incredible taste that you just want to lick it clean!

squash soup - rich in flavor and if your a soup lover , this is a must!

Lobster roll- all my girlfriends loved it, the black ink bun paired with the freshest lobsters ever!

dessert: OMg, i am not a fan of donuts but lordy lord this is ridiculous! The perfect blend of salt with brown sugar plus drizzle the butterscotch syrup and add a bit of ice-cream, Im telling you, it'll feel like you are in heaven for...