Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I have never experienced a more wheels-fallen-off dining service than at Takami's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Having parked in the nearby garage, in the building's lobby we saw firemen engaged in rescuing people from a stuck elevator, as we boarded a different elevator, which thankfully conveyed us to the 21st floor. It's too bad that we did not understand that the spectacle in the lobby was merely an omen of the misfortune which was yet to come.

I had booked a 7 PM reservation the previous week, paying a $30 deposit for my wife and I. But it seems that having a "reservation" in no way implies that this restaurant has the capacity to adequately serve everyone who has one, judging by the patron-to-server ratio I observed,

I doubt that there was any limit whatsoever to the number of reservations which Takami was willing to accept for that evening. I can only attribute the egregious overbooking to absolute GREED on the part of Takami's ownership or management.

I had booked our table in the Elevate Lounge section of the restaurant, having seen photos of the picturesque views over DTLA. The view was indeed nice, but what I didn't know beforehand was that Elevate is an OPEN AIR LOUNGE, which means that in mid-February it is FREEZING COLD.

I pretty quickly regretted opting for the lounge, and my wife went back to the hostess to inquire about whether we could move the main restaurant where it was warmer, but was told it would probably be another hour wait, so we decided to soldier on in the lounge.

After being seated, it took about 40 shivering minutes for our order to be taken by the server. In about another 40 minutes we were served our main course. Then 15 minutes later we received one of our two appetizers along with the drinks we had ordered over an hour ago. After another 15 minutes they kindly brought the second appetizer we had ordered so long ago.

The food was OK pedestrian Japanese fare - I found the quality acceptable and the prices were not out of line. I don't blame the employees for all the problems. They seemed to be working hard to get through a very difficult night.

I won't go through all the details of trying to get the check and paying it, but let it suffice to say that we were on the 21st floor for well over two and a half hours before we could leave. As we left late in the nine o'clock hour, there was an even bigger queue of patrons trying to get seated. I felt sorry for them, knowing that things would be even worse for them.

My parting thought is: SHAME on the management of Takami Sushi. Their greed and their indifference toward their guests' experience demonstrates their utter incompetence, and their absolute inability to manage ANY kind...

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. They served our drinks in smudged and dirty plastic cups, no glass! No presentation. I would avoid going here if you have other options.

I Made reservations over a month in advance for a Valentine’s Day dinner. Upon arrival, we checked in with the host , he confirmed with us that they would be able to accommodate window seating… not true. Not only did we not get window seating, they put us in the middle of a dance floor on the elevate lounge next door. The chairs were super uncomfortable. And the whole set up was very unpresentable, some of the chairs were miss matched other ones were the type you find in a cheap quinceañera. I actually witnessed a few couples get up and leave after being seated.

We asked if we could switch seats and they said they would not be able to do to high demand. It’s ridiculous how none of this was mentioned when I made the reservations. Moving forward with the night, I ordered drinks and was absolutely shocked. When I picked up my plastic cup…. No glass, but they used plastic cups to serve wine and bourbon. All of our drinks were served in smudged, scratched up plastic cups. They had monitors set up displaying cute Valentine’s Day hearts flying in a pink backdrop, too bad 2/3 of the monitors were broken. Very cheap presentation considering the price I paid for everything.

I get with this place It’s a higher price point due to the views and atmosphere, and I was totally on board with that but the fact that we did not get seated in the main restaurant and instead we got sent to what could be compared to as the kids table.

I am not sure if the manager on duty just didn’t care, or did not have the coordinating skills to make this night a success, but I was extremely let down by my first time visiting this place. The only reason I gave them two stars instead of one is because most of the staff was friendly and attentive, considering how busy they were, the food was actually good. Severely disappointed with the bait and switch that occurred, I have never been bamboozled this hard by a restaurant.

Edit, the restaurant never got back to me, they just replied to my review, asked me to reach out, and when I reached out...

After 4 months in Europe , we were sooo overdue for good sushi . So , here we are all the way from Westwood to Takami for the wonderful dishes we knew they had .

The Sensational rolls ,the Gyoza , the Tempura were v v good , as expected .

The Crispy Tuna Rice had the rice WAY over cooked , chewy and hard to bite it . The tuna on top tasteless and almost non existent . Such a butchered order .

The Spicy Tuna Rolls were worse than in a grocery store. The tuna was a TASTELESS paste ! I do not think I ever had it as bad ever .

The Japanese Taco , my favorite , had a strong VERY FISHY SMELLING , disgustingply mushy / very pasty consistency and a bitter / bad taste to it . I took 2 bites& I just felt something was really wrong , not safe to eat . I informed the server & gave them back . I had this tacos for years & I knew the texture and how they usually taste , no doubt they were bad . Something was really wrong , probably a left over from the day before at the bottom of a bowl they wanted to use it . You could not taste the tuna , crab or shrimp . I am really happy I did not have more of them because the little I had I could feel my stomach was not happy about later on .

The Yellow Tail and Albacore Sushi had hardly any fish on , the rice took over the fish taste .! The prices went way up there , the fish went all the way up low !

All in all , the experience was not what we were looking for . very disappointing. How low on quality do they think they can go before losing customers ? Or somebody getting sick ? I do not know ,do they have a new chef ? Is this the problem ?. For so many years everything was just consistently very good . never disappointed. If so , definitely it is not a good one . Time to look for somebody else . The only highlight part was our server Cordoba who tried to make our evening bearable . We had him 3 times before & really, really liked him . Nice , friendly, polite and very personable . We will try this place again , hoping everything it will be up to par . If not , time...