Everybody Was Kung Fu Yelping Elite Event @ Rok Sushi

Sake for days upstairs if you just smiled nicely. Awesome cocktails at the downstairs bars but it was a bit of a wait to score one of those. The bartenders were busy busting their tails all night long. Loads and loads of sushi platters circulating around the room but it was rare to spot a full plate unless you stuck close to the booths towards the back. That was the spot for scoring a tummy full. Fresh and oh so flavorful sushi though once you were lucky enough to snag some.
Great company bringing my homie Justin Y. who just so happened to win the costume contest wearing his graduation gown. U-​C-​L-​A whattttt.

What a fun-​filled night! A million thanks to Jenny B. for good times, noms, and fun photo action.
I love sushi and so did the Elite crowd. We were sure «kung fu Unilocaling» for a taste of sushi and tempura. If you read my review on Rok Sushi, well, I still feel the same about the food, but hey, this event was not just about food. More important to me was hanging out with Jenny B. and mingling with the «Westside» Unilocal Community. I had a great time. I made new friends and finally met CM Christina Y. face-​to-​face.
Cheers to Unilocal and Christina for throwing another great Elite event!

«Elite this, and elite that… blah, blah, blah…»
It’s awesome to be «ELITE» you get to try some food and drinks for «FREE»!!! And, it was awesome that LA West did my favorite food of all, sushi, as an elite event! It’s one event that I look forward too taking my non-​elite Unilocalers and/​or non-​yelpers at all! They get to see what « Unilocal Elite» is all about.
Now, to my review of the event-​food was great at Rok Sushi, but had a hard time getting to it since everyone else was holding up the server once it gets out of the kitchen. So many variety that I didn’t know what I was eating, except that they all tasted great. Drink was okay for me since I don’t drink! (What? Yes a Marine that doesn’t drink anymore!) As for the location, it was okay too, it was just hard finding parking since it was by the water.
Overall i had a great time hanging out with old «Elite» friends and meeting new Unilocalers.

Hooorrrayy for a local Unilocal event, with a continuous flow of yummy food, drinks and fun Unilocalers. This party ROK’ed!
With yummy eats and drinks making it back to our booth, there was so much to sample that I was super stuffed. The Bruce Leemonade and I got well acquainted and by the end of the night I felt like we were life-​long friends.
Somewhere in-​between the sake tasting and the raffle I ended up having dinner #2, as the staff kept bringing out sample trays out of the magical second kitchen upstairs. It might have had something to do with the fact that Kwiri Y. was sitting down with us and snapping pics of all the yummy eats as they came to our table.
Thanks Christina Y. for another amazing party. And of course Katie B. and Hazel Q. for being such great hosts.

This was my first LA West elite event – I was able to go as a +1 thanks to marvelous Marvin C. :)
Rok Sushi was a great venue! Tables and seating both downstairs and upstairs, servers walking around with trays filled with delicious sushi to sample, everyone seemed to be having an awesome time!
Free cocktails! I loved the Bruce Lee-​monade! It was so yummy, cute and refreshing! Definitely a drink for the ladies.
Free food! I tried the edamame, seaweed salad, mozzarella crab tempura, and bits of different kinds of sushi rolls! Lots of light bites here and there kept it all fun and interesting.
Free sake tasting upstairs! Didn’t get a chance to try it but that was definitely an excellent idea!
A big thank you to Christina Y. and Katie B. as well as everyone else who made this event such an awesome success! :)

Another great event! How lucky am I to be part of the Unilocal Elite family!!!
Here’s a rundown of all things awesome:
1. Rok Sushi: Great venue. I actually came here on my very first date with my bf 3 years ago when it was Club Sushi. I haven’t been back since bc I moved but I immediately noticed the great new look/​renovations! The staff was unbelievably attentive, nice and just plain awesome (to the adorable waitress whose name I forget — THANK YOU for coming around to our area and making sure the food reached all corners of the restaurant).
2. Sake Tasting: Rock Sake you… well…ROCK! I’m no sake expert but my friend who is knowledgeable deemed the sake very good/​smooth.
3. Drinks: The watermelon cooler and lemonade cocktails were SO good. I’m not a huge fan of mixed drinks but these were just plain tasty and not overbearingly sweet. And on a plus side the bartender was phenomenal. Speedy, sweet and smiley for the win!
4. Sushi: Not going to lie. I’ve become somewhat of a sushi snob over the years as I’ve experienced so many of the wondrous and not so wondrous sushi joints in LA. I’m not dinging stars for it bc it’s quite a feat to host so many ravenous Unilocalers but sushi rice needs to be cooked and seasoned right or else it just ruins the sushi for me. Rok Sushi’s rice was gummy & unflavored. And, unfortunately, what could have been pretty good sushi turned out to be somewhat disappointing for me. High– five for using real crab in the CA roll and for the tasty, carbless sushi (cucumber wrapped spicy tuna and shrimp tempura I think?).
5. Other food: I didn’t try the cheesy, crab tempura app but I heard it was super yummy. Seaweed salad and edamame starters were nice touches. Tempura was a-​ok. The deserts were awesome. The peanut buttery cheesecakey block on a stick and the pumpkin pie-​ish desert were delicious.
6. Unilocal Coordinators: You guys rock, as usual!!! Super nice and friendly. Prizes were awesome (my +1 can attest to that as she won the grand prize $ 65 gift certificate). You guys made the event so fun!
Overall, what’s not to love? Got to meet more awesome Unilocalers, enjoy great (and free!) drinks and food, and now I’ll get to go back for more with my +1 to use up her gift certificate!

Had the pleasure and privilege of checkin’ out this place courtesy of a Unilocal Elite party this week. (Ni Hao, Rebecca D) Sorry. That was Chinese :) Anyway, I didn’t get to formerly sit down as a patron but I can tell you that I did eat the sushi and let me tell you about my experience.
Parking: Parkin’ isn’t too bad. I parked in the residential area that is around Hermosa beach. Just look at the signs
Location: Hermosa Beach, California baby… It’s on the corner. You can’t miss it
Venue: Super cool. There is a downstairs bar and and area upstairs. Bathrooms are on the lower floor as well. Dug the layout and the cool art that was hangin’ up on the walls (It was a Kung-​fu Theme… So I got to see my Dad Bruce Lee and my Uncle Jet Li kickin’ ass while I was cupcakin’ with all the attractive waitresses and staff.
Food: The sushi is ridiculous. Super tasty and yummy. Everything you can expect from a high quality sushi place.
Price: I can’t elaborate on that cause everything I ate was for free
Drinks: I don’t drink but from what I did see… It seemed like the drinks were very legit and not too pricy.
Staff: I’d say the best thing about the place was the staff. I was givin’ ALEX a hard time the entire night but she was such a sweetiepie. Very sweet girl who seemed to always have a smile on her face when she cleared away my plates… Also, in addition. I love love love Cristal. Her friendly and gregarious personality was definitely one of the highlights of my night. Bright personality plus as she was boppin’ her head to «I got a feeling» by the BEP’s. Though, I was only put off by one thing that night… I tried gettin’ a drink from one of the individuals behind the bar and was rudely brushed off. She was wearin’ all Black that night. Though, I doubt that will help to identify her. Not that it matters but I just wanted to say that maybe because:
1. It was super busy at the bar and there were tons of people crowdin’ around askin’ for drinks (Oh wait, there was no one at the bar askin for drinks except for me… So I guess that couldn’t be it…)
2. Perhaps if was the fact that you had to clean that glass or take out that Tequila bottle (Nah… I don’t think that could have been it)
3. Maybe it was because I just asked for a glass of water and you didn’t think I’d tip you… (That can’t be it either)
4. Perhaps since it was a Unilocal Party full of people who Unilocaled religiously you probably didn’t think that any one of us would take the time to rate and review the service of that night (*DING DING DING*) I think we have a WINNER!!!
*Regardless or not I had a blast. A very cool establishment, good food and thanks to Alex and Cristal for bein’ such sweetiepies. If I indeed liked white girls. You two would be on the top of the list for me to bring home to my mom :)

Also attended a Unilocal Elite event last night, so my friend and I were treated to a variety of delicious food at Rok Sushi. Overall review? Very very good food. Friendly waiters. Sushi chefs are hilarious and entertaining. Chic and cozy décor. Right by the pier, so it’s a happening area. I found the prices to be pretty high, so I’m not entirely sure I’d come back on a regular basis if I had to pay. However, the food is GREAT, so I would come back on occasion for sure!
Bruce Leemonade — Strawberries, lemon, basil, liqeuer and Ban Ryu 10,000 Ways sake. Yum combo… tasted like lemonade! Dangerous, no? Would def order again.
Watermelon Cucumber Cooler (Cucumber, Watermelon, Bacardi Rum, Fresh Lime) — Meh. Tasty, but not a favorite. Could be because I’m generally not a fan of rum though?
Spicy Katana — It was actually spicy and had a kick!
Hermosa Roll — — ADDICTING!!! Definitely my favorite roll of the whole night.
W.F.O — Yum.
Crab and Mozzarella Tempura — Oddly addicting. It was like a Japanese inspired cheesestick. Not enough crab but very addicting and bad for your health.
California and Spicy Tuna rolls — Just ordinary.
ROK Pumpkin Pie with Pecan crust — Yum!!!
Food: 4 star quality, but definitely on the pricey side.

I need to agree with the crowd on this one– excellent times! The people were great, Christina did a wonderful job putting this together, the Rok Staff was prepared and ready for us and didn’t skimp! It seemed that the more unique the sushi roll was the better it tasted! The drinks were super loaded… believe me. I went from DD to passed out passenger! ;) Thanks to everyone for the good times and it was a great chance to try a place I may not have gone to otherwise!

Enter the Dragon…
Pretty sure that’s what feeling I evoked from the crowd when sashaying my way through the doors of Rok Sushi last night. This was my cherry popping Elite event, and let’s just say Christina Y treated me with dignity and respect (although she definitely tried to get me crunkdrunk on bruce leemonades).
Word on the street says this ranks up there with one of the best socal Elite events ever. Word on the street also says that they may have put roofies in the spicy tuna rolls and hypnotized us all to collectively remember having the times of our lives. Either way, I owe the CM gang and Rok Sushi a pair of my personal collection autographed leopardskin bikini underoos for making Monday funday once again.
The drinks flowed like booze cascading through a gentle mountain stream and into my eager mouth. The «small bites» were extremely tasty, and I have to give it to Rok’s gorgeous waitstaff for finding underground railroad paths past the scrappy vultures and to our royal table.
As always (or I guess just the 2^nd time), it was like a non-​awkward, happy drunk uncle-​loaded family reunion to see my new Unilocalalicious homies Ciara G, Isa F, Steven L and Lucy Y. Spice that up with meeting the infamous Hugo C (what?!? another effing raffle prize??) and Mrs and Mr Hazel Q, and I was nearly in heaven.
My heart is still set on proving to Christina and Katie (and now Hazel) that an Eliter from the Bay Area can bring much love to socal events… but until I’m able to show my pole vaulting, shake-​weighting prowess, I’m just gonna have to do my best with hugs (awwww).

Let’s roll…
UPstairs:
«Junmai or nigori?»
«Let’s try the dry one first — junmai.»
[half wine glass later]
«Did you know sake has less calories than beer or wine?»
«Awesome, more nigori please.»
DOWNstairs:
«So we have yellowtail, shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, mozzarella sticks, veggie rolls…»
«I’ll take 2 of each please. For my friend and me.»
[proceeds to plate, I return to the table]
«Mmmmmmmmmmmmm»
“I agree. MMMmmmmmmmmm”
«Do you want that cut?»
«Yes. Go get another one. Plus one for me.»
My +1 and I were among the first to arrive and what did we do? What any two asian chicks would — scurry up the stairs and indulge in sake first. Woohoo for rock sake!
Glasses in hand, we headed downstairs and grabbed seats in the middle bar. It was a good thing we did — within half hour, the place looked standing-​room only! Though Rok makes great use of their space. Even low walls dividing the space into the bar, sushi bar, low tables and bar tables make for ample conversation and people-​watching.
Saucers of marinated sesame-​topped seaweed and edamame started appearing. Then, the sushi platters. To our chagrin, those heaping piles of fish and rice were milling in and about only the sushi bar section of the room. My hungry eyes couldn’t wait any longer; I grabbed my plate and made my way there over to them instead. So worth it!!! And who knew mozzarella and soy sauce had an infinity for each other???
Then there was the lemonade. and some other sweet fruity drinks. But the lemonade. Oh that lemonade. Pumpkin PIE and chocolate pb CHEESECAKE sealed it.
Thanks to Christina Y. (YAY for finally being able to personally say HIII!!!) and Katie B. (HIIIII!!!) and Kwiri (HIIIIII!!!) for rocking out a bombtastic elite Monday evening. By far one of the BEST Unilocal events, and the BEST start to a great week.

I knew when the Saint Rocke folk took over the former Club Sushi that good things were to come… and the good thing that came was the first ever Unilocal event in my hometown! I had fallen off the Unilocal bandwagon and not attended any Unilocal events since the Holiday Party so this was a great way to ease back into the Unilocal scene. Luckily my lovely friend Love extended her +1 to me (I was stuck in waitlist purgatory!)
The themed drink of the night was cleverly called the Bruce Leemonade & there were Sake tastings being offered upstairs. The Sushi Rok employees were doing a kick ass job serving up sushi rolls, edamame, seaweed salad and the best dessert I’ve had in a long time! Those little dessert bites were so good that if I had won the Sushi Rok gift certificate in the Raffle I would have skipped spending it on sushi or booze and just bought myself $ 60 worth of that dessert! Oh ya the raffle prizes were all theme appropriate too! (I still think the soundtrack for the evening should have been the following songs on repeat «Kung Fu Fighting», «I’m turning Japanese» & «Everybody have fun» by Wang-​Chung!)
Although part of the reason I stopped attending these events was because I kept getting waitlisted, now I understand why that’s happening. This event was smaller in scale and the number of attendees was limited so the place wasn’t too overly crowded and the food/​drinks were plentiful. I’d much rather attend fewer events but enjoy them as fully as I did this one instead of show up somewhere where I have to stand in long lines for no reason. Did I mention I walked away with a spiffy new Unilocal wrist sweat band? Ya chaaaaaaa SCORE!
Great job CM’s! It was a great event!

Rok’ed It OR Sok’ed It!
**ROK’ed IT**
So, this was my very first Unilocal Elite event and boy did I have a KICK-​ass time! Pun totally intended! I got a chance to meet some fellow Unilocalers I’ve been complimenting and exchanging reviews and ideas for the past few months, so that was cool, met Christina Y. and Cynthia L. for the first time and of course, Jenny B.
The venue itself was very cool and modern-​esque and the amount of Unilocalers Christina Y. capped it at was great; not too packed yet not too little! Great job! Moreover, servers were pretty on top of their game in terms of delivering the sushi and other goods around to the Unilocalers, although at times I had to chase some of them down, but its understandable! On the second floor of the restaurant was a small dining area with a few tables and also where they were serving Rock Sake samplings… mmm! Deeeelish!!!
I don’t believe the bartenders expected such a larg (er) crowd at one time because they were a bit backed up on the drink orders but the drinks were good nonetheless especially their Bruce Leemonade!
CONCLUSION:
I had a great time at my first Unilocal Elite event and I can’t wait to check out other ones, so I’d say, I ROK’ed ITTTTTTTTT! Thanks Christina Y., Rok Sushi, Rock Sake, and everyone else who made this event happen!

Rok Sushi, I’m almost speechless
That party was off the charts!
Unilocalers were on your food like leeches
I guarantee you won some hearts
We ate cheesecake, sushi, and seaweed
But not necessarily in that order
There was all the food a party could need
Everyone was a light-​bite hoarder
I loved the Bruce Lee-​monade
I heard there was Sake tasting too
Until the very end, I stayed
Holy crap what a party, woohoo!
Hooray for South Bay events!
Thanks Christina, our Westside CM
And, as soon as you get a chance
Could we please do this again?

This Elite Event on the Westside was definitely ROKing!!! Great venue, awesome atmosphere and with the COOLEST people ever!!!
Salute to Christina Y for doing this and so nice to see OC CM, Hazel Q and Eastside CM, Katie B welcoming the Unilocalers at the door! You guys ROK!!!
Thanks to ROK sushi for providing the food continously, altho at some points, we got skipped a couple of times, it’s fun chasing down the waiters for a bite or two!
Shout out to some Unilocalers that I haven’t seen in awhile!
Cynthia L — thanks for coming and being my partner in crime for the night!!!
Jacqueline C — finally we met at Unilocal events!!!
Isabel F — thank you for finding me first! =)
Kwiri Y — thanks for lending me your camera, chica! Now, show me the pictures!!! =)
Alre B — Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed your first Elite event, I hope to see you in more upcoming events!!! =)
Ching T — I didn’t get a chance to say Hi to you downstairs, but I was glad to spot you from above! LOL
Ryan P and Jodi — nice to see you guys again, it’s been awhile!
Michael C, Amber B, Anthony N, Alma M, Justin Y, and everyone else that I met with, it was great seeing you people!!! Can’t ask for a better way to enjoy a party than to spend it with the peeps you love!!!

I’m stealing Mama Unilocal tag line…
*************Holy Crap WHAT A PARTY!!!****************
Christina (I heart you my CM), Katie (the ying to the yang to LA West) and Hazel (wish I saw you more, thanks always for the hugs) kung fu’d us up with a great space IN THE SOUTH BAY all to our Unilocal selves.
Nick P. from Concord great to meet you and your +1 buddy Eddie M. (Return of the Mac!) But get to Napa boy you only lived 2 hours away.
Joe U. what a small world to meet a San Pedran boy at a Unilocal event. You are SUPER cute btw
Kwiri! I HEART You! I need to see you more.
Anthony N. 6 buckeyes please and lunch at O120 «early September». You have to now bc Mama Unilocal said so. (;
Brett L. BOY move you and the fam to El Lay already! It is always a blast when you are in town.
Christopher T. and Sara T. I love you both hope you had fun in my Unilocal world.
Mike C. kissy or not, you still rock you Hunk of Man Bait you. Omg and I told you I wanted the small dessert bite. Chicharrrrrrrones!
To all my Unilocal buds at the raffle winning table Holla! If Hugo C wins another one I swear… Lol…
The Bartenders Rok’ed it! Bree was that main gal and she was on top of her game. Seriously Bree, you Rok’ed!
One of the servers Katie was too kind and magically made here way to our back corner table with a platter of nomnomnoms. Way to go Lucy Y. for getting that done for us.
The DJ was spinning tunes that brought me back to HS. Hated HS but loved the jams playing tonight.
I can’t believe I almost missed this parTay.
SOUTH BAY ALL THE WAY! Holy Crap this was the BEST Elite Event YET!

Mmmmmm… sushi sound good right now: P

The Unilocal events are always a good time, and I usually leave in a cab since the drinks flow like the salmon of Capistrano. This event was no different expect I had to be somewhere after so I controlled myself, begrudgingly.
I was excited to finally check out Rok Sushi since I hadn’t been there since the days of Club Sushi. Hermosa has a ton of great sushi spots and Rok lived up to the challenge. The inside was remodeled really nice and has that cool urban, industrial look to it. There are TV’s scattered randomly throughout, so it should be a great spot to watch a game and take a pretty lady to. The staff was really top notch and worked hard to make sure everyone had a good time.
The Food: Usually there are just small bites at the Elite events, so you always eat before showing up, but man there was food everywhere last night! Great rolls being passed around by such friendly staff. I particularly enjoyed the avocado rolls, the shrimp tempura and the spicy tuna. The mozzarella sticks weren’t all that great, but I commend them for trying something different for a sushi restaurant.
On to why you’re reading this… the drinks! The bartenders worked their buts off making great drinks all night long, and never let on that they were probably wishing you’d just order a jack and coke since the specialty drinks were a bit time consuming to make. The Bruce Lee Lemonade was really good, but the kicker was with the Watermelon Cucumber Cooler (might’ve had a different Asian themed name tho) — from the first sip you were tasting a lot of booze! The sake sampling upstairs was great and the Rock Sake company provided a knowledgeable representative and some tasty sake!
A lot of great people at the event and I have to say that this was probably one of the better Elite events I’ve been to. Christopher T and Ciara G were great company, and props to Justin Y for rockin the grad cap & gown! Much love to the LA CM’s for putting on another great event and for keeping the South Bay on their radar!
Don’t think just because they fed and liquored me up that I returned the favor by writing a 5 star review — Rok Sushi and Unilocal really put on a great event!

Unilocal L-​Heeeeeey is seriously the bee’s knees for putting on this Elite Event (Yeah that’s right… capital E’s up in here)! I fall in-​love a little more each time.
I LOVE Rok Sushi, no doubt, BUT if we had been paying the bill ourselves, we would have been some poe-​ass Unilocalers by the end of the night… so mayjuh-​mayjuh-​mayjuh thank you’s to Christina Y, Katie B & Hazel Q for making this event happen. +1 for greeting us at the door with your sweet & sexy selves.
I already wrote a review of the restaurant a month ago so there’s no need for me to go on another huge escapade about how fabulous (and expensive) I think it is. You’ll just have to go read my review (wink wink, nudge nudge).
I had a wonderful time and I look forward to many, many more!
xo

What do you get when you combine Kung Fu, Sushi, Sake, and a room packed with hungry Unilocalers? There’s a word for it in German but it has way too many letters for me to spell. In English we’d just call it one Hell of a good time, a Kung Fu Hoedown.
This was one of the best Unilocal events yet and that’s saying a lot. Kwiri the photo lass was actually letting people use her camera. Katie B. was shimmying to the beat, Danceosaurus Rex Style. And Christina Y. was overseeing it all high atop her perch, passing out prizes to the huddled masses (meee!)
Kudos to Rok Sushi for having us over for dinner. The treats were delicious and there was plenty to go around. Cheese Tempura. Caterpillar Rolls. Spicy Tuna. California Rolls. Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake on a stick. And let’s not forget the drinks. The Bruce Leemonade? Nothing tasted better while watching the Master himself punch people in the face repeatedly on the big screen.
This was a particularly good crowd. GF, Hugo, Isabel, Brett, Ciara, Jean, Kwiri (Wooo!), Ching, and Anthony N. were there along with lots of other new friends, including Andrea, Sequoia and many others.
@ Kwiri: WOOOOO!!!
@ Brett: thanks for making the «Shake Weight» into the most unintentionally pornographic informercial ever. Now I feel dirty all over, like the floor of a New York Taxi Cab. «Double fisting! A pink Shake Weight in each hand!» I’m so buying you the «Mandingo» model.
Thanks again to the lovely and talented Christina Y. and the illuminatingly danceaholic Katie B. for another job well done!