Mako

I am so crestfallen to hear that Mako is closed! I love Mako… both the restaurant and the chef! What a likable, warm, inviting culinary genius! It seems like he doesn’t forget a face, and always makes you feel like his most important guest! I will miss this Bev Hills gem, but look forward to tracking him down at his next venture! I hope there are bento boxes involved! Each unique compartment was its own beautiful, creative, delicious treasure! They were such a treat! And those amazing desserts (and I’m not even a dessert person). Can’t wait!

One of the best fine dinning restaurants in LA. i’ve gone here twice for my birthday and my best friend’s birthday. the servers always made sure we had clean plates and water was always refilled before empty. each plate was well portioned and seasoned. i love their «chef daily specials.» i do compare this to Providence. amazing!!!

never thought i’d be in love…
with fried tofu. extra spicy. Mmmmmm.

Excellent food and presentation.
Had the crispy oysters — excellent always.
Half moon lobster — very good.
Baby Halibut — excellent!
Bento box desert — excellent.
The wait staff — is always on top of their game.
Thank you Mako and Lisa!

Is there a way to give half stars? Honestly, I would probably have to give this place 3.5 stars.
Food was good, not great. All of the dishes were pleasant, but none of them were particularly memorable. In general, the dishes were probably a little on the heavy/​salty side.
Décor is great and location is good if you want to walk around Beverly Hills and shop before or after.

One of my favorite restaurants of all time.
’nuff said.

In My Stomach: Duck Potsticker, Wonton Soup, Scallop w/​Baked Uni, Meatballs, Strawberry Shortcake, Fried Oysters
In My Mind: The ambience of this place is lovely. The presentation of the food was beautiful. However, I was disappointed with some of the food.
Wonton Soup w/​Miso/​souyu Soup?: this is definitely a fusion but the soup was very salty, the wonton skin is very thick and the shrimp wasn’t fresh. For the price they charge and the amount they include, I thought it would be quality but I was disappointed.
Scallop w/​Uni: I was disappointed. The uni is great but the scallop was overcooked. The sauce was a little too salty.
Duck Potsticker: This is worth a try. The Duck in potstickers is a interesting combination. The presentation is appealing.
Fried Oysters: This is good! The oysters are definitely a must have. It comes with two pieces plated on its shell with tasty toppings
Meatballs: I like how these were made. It’s the meatball has some chopped veggies that keeps it juicy. what a Genius! Worth Trying!
Strawberry Shortcake: This was surprisingly delicious.
The service was somewhat ok. We made reservation but we waited for 5 – 10 minutes until a server notice our presence at the door. Servers were not very attentive. Parking: there are meters or parking structures nearby. It is recommended to make reservation because the restaurant is relatively small.

Located on a pretty busy section of Beverly Drive, Mako does not have much of an exterior presence. Inside, the restaurant is nice and clean, but there is not too much to it (a little on the plain side – kind of like any small neighborhood café you’ve been to). There is an open kitchen. The seating is comfortable, and the large windows give you a good view of Beverly Drive to people watch. There is also an outdoor patio, which is also simple, but looks quite inviting.
Maybe, it was the simple interior, the familiar look of the waitress, the food, but I had a serious case of déjà vu on my experience here. I went here for lunch, and it was quiet and slow at first though it did pick up business later.
Their menu is limited. I knew they had a special lunchtime bento, and after the waitress brought it up, I knew that is what I wanted.
In terms of the bento box, here are a few general comments. It was priced around $ 30 – kind of steep for lunch. However, it was enormous in both variety and portion size. They brought it out and placed it on a little platform. I didn’t quite get that because it kind made it too high on the table. I felt like a little kid struggling to get to his cereal in a deep bowl or like breakfast in bed without the bed.
I mentioned the portion size. I had it around 12:30pm, and it pretty much did me in for the entire day because I wasn’t hungry enough to eat much else. It also resonated for the entire day – the fish and wide variety of sauces kind of sticks with you. Overall, it was pretty good. Like any bento box, some items were better than others. The only real negative I noticed was that they did over-​sauce a lot of it.
Rundown on the items included:
–Duck potstickers. These were pretty good. Nice and tasty.
–Broiled eel. Maybe the best thing in the box. Very flavorful.
–Wagyu meatballs. You are always setting yourself up when you call out the type of beef in the name. These were good though (but not great).
–Mackerel. It may have been pickled or cured. It was good.
–The potstickers, meatballs, eel, and mackerel were served over a bed of various greens including arugula and frisse (nice to have some greens in there).
–Braised beef short rib. It was very sweet and tasty, but it was also mostly fat. I wished they would have just taken the beef part and put it on top of rice or tofu or something.
–Steamed rice with yellowtail and ahi tuna sashimi. It was good (though I’ve had better sashimi).
–Broiled yellowtail. Served on the bone, this was good, but it was difficult to eat. I haven’t had cooked yellowtail in a long time, and I forgot how similar it is to mackerel. While the fish wasn’t dry, it was a tad on the bland side. An optional ponzu sauce helped perk it up a little, but it still could have used something else.
A marathon of food. It took forever to eat. For dessert, I asked the waitress what they had, and she ran off a few names – strawberry shortcake, chocolate cake, apple pie, mousse, etc. Oh, brother. My first reaction was that the desserts were kind of generic. They may bring them in from the outside (which could be the case).
I went with the mousse. It was actually surprisingly good. Dark chocolate and white chocolate mousse sit on top of a sugary almond base. The mousse was quite good – creamy and tasty but also light. The almond base had a nice texture, but it was a little over-​sugared. The dish was completed with powdered sugar, caramel syrup, fresh strawberries, and fresh cherries.
The service was friendly and very good. There were a lot of regulars today as they had quite the familiar banter with the restaurant’s employees. Chef Makoto «Mako» Tanaka even came by to talk to a few of the patrons.
Overall, Mako is pretty good. The quality of the food is more in the 3 to 3.5 stars range, but the service and value make up for it. I may come back and give it a shot for dinner to see if there are any significant differences, but it does not have me itching to come back anytime soon.
By the way, parking is available on the street by meter, but it can be difficult. A small parking structure is located across the street, and it is free for the first two hours (when arriving before 6:00 p.m.). Many people look for the best parking spots on this street, which could explain the noticeably frequent car honking on this part of Beverly Drive.

Well, this is a Japanese restaurant but sushi this isn’t. I think that’s the initial misunderstanding I had, but once I got over that, things worked themselves out.
We thought this was a japanese restaurant, and so was planning on sushi. But lucky for us, we are of japanese descent, so any sort of Japanese food will do.
We ended up getting dinner bentos that were absolutely MASSIVE!!! like they were huge. It consisted of a two tofu balls, duck dumplings, chicken katsu, tuna sashimi, chicken, white rice, fried rice, and!, salad. Geez louise, and then at the end, they serve you a sorbet of mango, lychee, and raspberry that was the absolute best ending to a meal.
The place is small and intimate, and the location is a little out of mainstream Bevelry Hills, which makes it an ideal date place.
But then again, do you really want to see your date gorging out on a bento? I mean, she would have to be able to put it away to get through this. On second thought, bring your girflriend/​boyfriend… someone that maybe you’re not trying to impress but love to be around. Cause that’s what this has the feel of… comfortable, not flashy.

Do not get the pad thai.
I had lunch here by myself since CPK was choke-​full and I have no idea why I got the pad thai but I was in the mood for it. And seeing as how this restaurant got 4 stars on Unilocal I figured they could do anything okay but i was WRONG.
first I got a soda which was f-​ing expensive and tasted like tap water. I think it was diluted from the ice so I asked the waitress to give me another one and it came back tasting the same so I gave up.
and then my pad thai came smelling really good (maybe i was hungry) but ended up completely inedible. I literally poked at it for about 5 mins before deciding that I didn’t wanna torture myself so I asked the waitress for a to-​go box (just to be polite. I threw it away outside the restaurant). the best part is that she didn’t seem very surprised. it was like she wanted to see whether i would actually eat it or not. says sth about the restaurant huh.

small portions.
nothing really special about it.

I can’t believe they would actually serve this food. You know that I am always very fair in my reviews and I give the benefit of the doubt, but last night’s dinner was just not edible.
I wanted sushi and we saw this place so decided to pop in. Um. what the F. I will say that the service started out good, but at the end of the meal I have to take off the star for service. I’ll explain why later.
So, we order mint tea since I’ve got a cold and needed something warm. Tea was good and the honey helped soothe my scrathy throat.
Food–
Sashimi platter– this was not fresh at all! The salmon was chewy, the yellowtail was bleh and the ahi tuna was ok, but still not up to par. Look man, if you are gonna charge $ 14 PER sashimi, then you best get that shiet up to speed. I felt like the fish was frozen and it just tasted gross. We had to leave pieces uneaten.
Black cod– this was the only decent dish of the night, but it was still too salty. Look, I’m picky, but hey, this was $ 26 and if you are gonna charge that much, the fish best be soft and flaky. This was overdone and over seasoned. I did like the black mushrooms it came with though.
Spicy tofu– brown tofu cubes, lightly fried and heavily seasoned. Not spicy at all, more like salty tofu.
Veggie pad thai– WTF. How can you even call this pad thai!!! This was freakin chow mein with bits of tofu in it. I didnt see any veggies. OMG. What a disgrace. I can’t believe they would put this on the menu and try to pass it off as pad thai. We had 2 bites and were thoroughly disgruntled.
I had a side of white rice since I eat rice with everything. Guess what? I had rice leftover! *gasp* Why? Cuz the food was so bad that I couldnt eat it with the rice.
We left 80% of all the dishes on the plate. The busboy asked us if we wanted to take the food home and we shook our heads no.
I’m in shock that they could charge astronomical prices for this kind of food. Panda Express would have been tastier.
Here’s the kicker– The waiter brought us the check and we just gave him the credit card without looking at it first. When he brought it back to be signed, we looked at the bill and noticed he had added on TWO PIES that we never ordered. WTH.
I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if you are gonna try and pull the wool over my eyes, then you’re on the shit list. Funny how everything else on the bill was correct, EXCEPT for those 2 pies. We looked around and guess what? No one had any desserts on their tables. HMMMMMMMMM. interesting.
Don’t waste your money here. Or your taste buds.
see pix–

I would really give this 3 ½ stars. The food is fairly good, some dishes are better than others. The duck potstickers are really tasty, and I liked the fried halibut with dipping sauces. The portions are a little small, which means that when you share everyone gets only one piece or one small scoop. Probably better to go with only 2 people instead of a larger group. I will go back.

I came here for a rehearsal dinner last Friday night, my sister and new brother in law rented out the restaurant for us and my. my. was I a happy man when I left. The space is small, a lot of dark wood, contrasting the white tablecloth, dimly lit in the evening for a «just right» romantic feel to it. A lovely exposed kitchen where the chef’s were feverishly dishing out appetizers and our courses. The bartenders were great and quick pouring the drinks.
Really, though, let’s get down to the important part, the food. The appetizers were great, a mix of simple sushi rolls, chicken spring rolls, fried oysters and meatballs, (maybe of duck?), certainly got the mouth drooling and fended off the effects of the champagne I was drinking… at least for a little while. We sat down as the servers swooped in and started filling our plates. Can I remember all of those plates? Um no. Remember free good champagne + me = tipsy non remembering me. However some highlights that I do remember was a very tender bbq short ribs, tasty and amazing chili shrimp, and crispy skinned glazed chicken. A variety of desserts were served family style, but I will say the one pudding, (I want to say butterscotch) was simply amazing, glad my mom got a hold of it and finished it off before I did.
Speeches were made, embarrassing stories were told, but most of all many expressed the love between my sister and her husband which was quite apparent. It made for a great start for the wedding weekend.

I was underwhelmed by Mako. None of the dishes tasted as I expected them too. My mouth was watering reading the menu but what I had didn’t knock my socks off, and in most cases didn’t taste as they were described at all. I will recommend and revisit Mako however because there is so much more on the menu to try.
The dumpling soup had very nice soft dumplings and the soup broth was incredibly flavorful. A dark brown color, the beef stock was obviously homemade from scratch. It was however much too salty. Duck pot stickers were simple and traditional with strong seasoning.
Shrimp Pad Thai was the biggest dissapointment. I am not sure what defines pad thai. one would think the shape of the noodles, or perhaps the sweet salty sour combination of peanuts and lime. None of these flavors were in Mako’s version. Round soba style noodles with an indefinable flavor brown sauce. Worst of all was the shrimp though. Tiny bay shrimp that were deep fried and tasted like hard crispy dehydrated mystery meat. Honestly, who serves bay shrimp?! Not to mention using it without mentioning so on the menu. Please, this is 2008. I was quite offended. Though happy at the same time to grub on a big plate of noodles.
The best dish was the shrimp and chicken lettuce cups. Spicy, meat though I coudn’t really taste any shrimp. Cashews and the iceberge lettuce were both cooling for the spice and a wonderful textural balance. A must order.
Word on the street is that the best dishes to order are the chinese chicken salad, the tuna tatakki salad, the sashimi, and the fillet mignon. Next time for me!

I went here for a work lunch and the bento box was ordinary. I should have gotten something else since a fourth of whatever was in it was fried. BUT the salmon with fraiche crème was delish!
The highlight at Mako was the dessert. I kid you not it was amazing. I had a lemony tart things that was perfect for what it was. I tasted my comrades’ desserts as well and would go back just for dessert!

I very much like this place, but I have a few qualms — hence the four stars. First, I am really glad I called to make reservations, because Mako is a small, hopping restaurant. And not without good reason.
The food is great. Prices are appropriate, not outlandish as you might expect for the downtown BH location. We had the sashimi, the seafood salad, the meatballs, the diver scallop mushroom ravioli (great texture, and a unique combo), the mousse, a bottle of wine and a flight of sake. Unfortunately, it arrived in uneven graceless clumps, not in a fluid, well-​timed manner as I would hope.
I’m picky. Mako needs to train the front of the house better, with a focus on timing and pre-​bussing (clearing the table in anticipation of your needs). The volume level was quite high, and the ambiance a bit weak for it. Our server did her best, and she was cordial, and able to make food and beverage recommendations. I would return, but only knowing it will be loud and somewhat messy.

We happen to know Mako who is a great chef and always in the kitchen.
If at the bar normally he just send us the chef’s specials and orders for us, everything we have tasted is superb!!!
We have also been lucky enough to drink from his own private wine collection… so delicious…
Remember once when the restaurant had just opened we celebrated after hours drinking it up and getting so wine dizzy! It was wonderful!
The place looks great and the vibe is awesome!
Def a place to check out! If your a wine person, he has a GREAT SELECTION!
Enjoy!

THE VEGAN CONVERTER
Got a vegan friend that you want to convert in only three easy steps? Look no further.
Step 1) Trick vegan into going to lunch with you (say something about organic quinoa and chakra realignment)
Step 2) Drive to Mako
Step 3) Order the orgasmic wagyu burger and watch their belief system crumble before your very eyes!
Mako makes an amazingly juicy wagyu burger with grilled onions, spicy Chinese mustard, and a port wine sauce so good you’ll be sopping up every drop. Prices are a bit high, but it’s Beverly Hills so that shouldn’t be a real shocker.
I’d definitely go back to try some of the other dishes, but for now I’m smitten with that burger.

One of the more tasty Asian fusion restaurants in LA. This place serves good dishes without all the fanfare and hype of many others in this category. The key is to come with a bunch of people and share lots of things on the menu. Crispy oysters, yellowtail sashimi and braised black pork were the more memorable dishes. We shared a couple of desserts and they were good. I’ve only been once but other foodie friends of mine have agreed with my assessment so I feel good about the 4 stars.
I heard they have great bento box lunches so thats my next trip.