Maison Riz

French Japanese Cuisine. I was put off by the idea but enjoyed their offering thoroughly. The service left us a bit unhappy but the chef must have had classical chef training because his food was on point.
Food 5*****
Service 2**
The view of PV is fantastic! Bring a date and hopefully the service will be better than ours was.

CLOSED DOWN but writing this anyway from a bitter heart.
For the amount that you would pay here, I would rather go to LA and spend my money there. I’m not surprised this place closed down. The décor was outdated clearly shown by the worn and stained carpet. The waiters were young college kids who probably were not trained properly.
The food was sub par and have experienced better at a Macaroni Grill.
Sure the view was great especially when you went during the sunset but other than that, not much to look at.
This place was always empty and you never needed reservations even on the weekend.
The pricing was sky high but with nothing to show for it.
The inside was freezing cold, did they not have a heater? Or at least close the windows. It is the beach after all, it does get cold.
Many waiters just mulling around not doing much of anything.
I don’t know who the owner/​manager of this place was but WOW.
If you were going to throw away that much money for a sinking ship of a restaurant, donate it to the needy.

Originally came to Redondo Beach for some fresh sea-​urchin, chez Quality Seafood. The casual fish-​market environment wasn’t exactly a suitable ambiance for the farewell dinner that the outing was meant to be, so my family decided to send my cousin off to Hong Kong in style at Maison Riz.
At the door, however, we took pause: the place seemed completely empty, save the 4 or 5 waiters congregated on one side of the restaurant. This was around 8PM on a Friday night, so we were a little perturbed – why the lack of patronage?
We decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, and sat down. They have set tasting menus and items à la carte – a mix of japanese fare and western dishes. A couple of fusion-​esque sushi rolls were ordered as appetizers, which were pretty fresh. My mom’s seafood chowder came artistically prepared; it was creamy and small, but had decent flavor. Don’t expect hearty SF-Fisherman’s Wharf style chowder here though.
My dad ordered the tasting menu, with 5 courses: an amuse-​bouche, seared tuna salad, a fish course, filet mignon, and chef’s choice of dessert, and seemed content with his meal. My cousin had the salmon, my brother the sirloin, and myself, the braised beef cheeks. My dish was flavorful and tender, but nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to beef cheeks. My sister’s ribs, however, left something to be desired – perhaps a good helping of BBQ sauce (but then again, I might be biased since I just visited Phil’s in San Diego last weekend…).
Panna cotta to share was elegantly presented, and not bad. All in all, nothing really stood out positively or negatively, could potentially be a cute date venue… if there happened to be other patrons in the restaurant.

My husband and I tried Riz last weekend for our weekly «Date Night». I was at first afraid to go inside as it was 6:30 on a warm and beautiful SolCal evening and not one person was in the restaurant! We were seated at a prime table with a wonderful view of Palos Verdes, Torrance Beach and the Pacific. Sealions were swimming and playing just under the pier and would pop up from time to time. My husband and I could not have asked for a more perfect spot to relax from a hard work week.
We ordered from the price fixed menu and we each ordered a glass of wine. We were pleased with the very generous pour! Soon the food began coming and it was fantastic! Every course was perfect, not too much and not so small. Crab cakes were made with crab, and lots of it not like the filler crud you get at other places. The fish was fantastic and steak super yummy. Dessert was a chef’s choice of three small tastes. Hurray for the apple crisp in wonton wrapper! Like a bite sized apple pie churro-​fantastic!
Our server was very good and attentive. He explained the menu to us and made suggestions to help us. The support staff for our server was also very good. The cool jazz being played on the restaurant speakers was really great to sooth our souls. A really good accompaniment.
There are things that need to be addressed in order for this restaurant to really fill the seats. Two on the top of my list would be carpet cleaning and fly removal. The food comes so beautifully prepared and is so delicious it is a shame to have such dirty carpet and with flies buzzing around. The flies never landed on us or our food, but they were on the window screens and flying in small swarms in the dining room. There were also dead flies on the window sills. Plus, I know it’s the beach and the pier and with that comes sea birds, but for god’s sake, clean the windows! Bird poop and big poop at that, needs to be cleaned off the windows. Looking out the windows at the million dollar views throught fly filled and poop covered windows kind kills the appetite! Also, what’s with the host/​est table? It had a make-​up case and all sorts of tacky crap next to it. Guess extension cords are needed at a moments notice. Really, first impressions make all the difference. Class it up and loose the junky greet station. A small bud vase on each table with a real flower inside to go with the current single candle votive could add a little color to the place.
I would go back to Riz for sure, but I hope the place cleans up its slightly dirty and tired appearance and starts to make an impression worth the fantastic and certainly classy food.

Didn’t pay $ 25 bucks to eat corn chips with the consistency of cardboard…
Food: Gah… There are so many things wrong with this place that I don’t know where to start. For a restaurant that presents itself as an elite establishment, they sure have disgusting food. The meal started out ok with some tasty mixed drinks bursting with watermelon and cherry flavors (
,
). Everything went downhill from there. Our waiter brought out some bread and butter that was pretty decent (
), but inadequate for the number of people there. Due to the price, my friend and I decided to pretend like we were madly in love and split one of the prix fixe options that I assume is for a couple. While we definitely had enough food between the two of us, there were no leftovers and most of the dishes were something I could easily make at home or get at McDonald’s. For example, one of the first items on our menu was french fries and onion rings (
). I think that one is self explanatory. The next dish, baked scallops, fared a little better (
). This actually tasted great, but there was barely anything in the pan. To compensate for the lack of mollusk, they served it with some round corn chips (
). I swear they got these things from Costco in some huge industrial-​sized bag because they were salty as heck and hard as a rock. But let’s not dwell on this unfortunate chip selection. On to the main course. I can’t remember who got what since we were sharing, but one of us got a California roll with tempura (
) and the other a pasta dish (
). As you can see from the images, the California roll is pretty much just a California roll with a sad tempura shrimp running through it. The pasta? It’s freaking spaghetti with something similar to cat food on the top. Anyway, I do think it’s possible to get something good here. My friend got the ribs (
), a pricey but seemingly satisfying choice. Also, the chocolate cake served at the end of the meal was pretty good (
). All in all, this was definitely not worth what I paid.
Atmosphere: This is possibly the only good thing about this restaurant. The exterior is gorgeous and the view of the ocean is amazing, especially at night when pelicans are active in the vicinity. Of course it also has to smell crazy weird in the back where you have the best view…
Service: Almost nonexistent. I don’t even know how long we were there… 2, 3 hours? Most of it was spent waiting. The irony was that there were only two sets of customers in the entire restaurant.
Synopsis: Still regretting my decision to come here.

I should have listened to the reviews on the service. HORRIBLE!!! Count this as you’ve been warned on how utterly awful this place is. The view doesn’t even make up for it b/​c it smells awful in here as well.
We came here for Mother’s Day lunch and the only good thing that came of this lunch was our mom’s had a good umami bouillanese. Everyone else’s dishes were overpriced, fish of the day still had the scales on it, and my soup didn’t come out until everyone finished their meal (not to mention lukewarm and disgusting!!).
Our server was nice enough and apologetic on the timeliness of the food by the chef. I asked him politely to waive the soup and coffee b/​c we were waiting so long. He waived the gross soup only AND WROTE IN HIMSELF the gratitude. Understandably parties of 6 or more gratuity is already included as stated on their menu, but shouldnt that be something the register does instead of his own «chicken scratch» of how much gratitude we have to include for. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING — Please don’t come here!!!

Owner change.
Not the same as before, which sucks really bad: /​
They have french fries now with calamari.

Finally decided to try this restaurant… wish we didn’t!!! First off the restaurant was dead and still got horrible service. The food wasn’t any better. We ordered the Short Rib that was supposed to be prepared table side. Well they brought out a hot platter and a plate of raw meat. The waiter tossed 3 pieces of the meat on the hot platter and walked away… they call that cooking table side? They didn’t even bring out a second plate to put the cooked meat on. We had to use our bread plates. We also ordered the Bouillabaisse which was served luke warm and in an unstable bowl that spilled while trying to remove the lobster meat from the shell. The waiter came over 5 minutes later and said «oh…do you need napkins?» He then preceded to bring over a hand full of bar napikins… REALLY?
For an upscale restaurant, this place was a total disappointment!!! Yes they have a great view but not worth the price for horrible service and terrible food.
I would not eat here ever again!!! This place disappoints!!!

Found this place on accident. My boyfriend and I had made reservations to another restaurant thinking it would be more along our budget. However we came across the posted menu outside the restaurant and realized that they were having a promotional deal of 2 for $ 25. (MAKE sure you ask for this menu inside since they won’t give it to you unless you ask)
The food for this deal is not listed on their original dinner menu but the selection is still really good.
For appetizer we got a plate array of fried shrimp, fries, and calamari. For my entrée I got Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo which was amazing and a huge portion size.
My boyfriend ended up getting the teriyaki burger he was all smiles =)
for dessert we went with the chef’s dessert of the day which was something along the lines of a chocolate oreo ice cream cheesecake .
Over all a great surprise find! Very romantic scenery of Redondo Beach.
Total came out to be $ 29!!! way under what I was expecting and a wonderful experience. Check this deal out before it ends!

Literally one of the worst places I’ve been in the LA area. They get two stars; one for their delicious strawberry balsamic martini (delicious though a tad over-​priced) and one for their helpful waitstaff. The food was absolutely atrocious. Lobster pasta was an undercooked, cracked lobster over spaghetti swimming in a tasteless broth. Shrimp ravioli was edible, but really not tempting, and definitely not worth the price.
Don’t waste your time or your money. If you want to go somewhere nice, go to Kincaids. If you want to go somewhere affordable, get pizza and churros on the pier.
Seriously some of the worst food I’ve had in a restuarant ever. Whatever bland, terrible jazz music they were playing was WAY too loud, as well.

I don’t get how this place has so many stars on here.
PROS:
— The location and décor are nice. It is very cool to sit above the water and look out onto it.
— The sign out front is awesome.
CONS:
— The food was mediocre, overpriced, and not properly seasoned.
I was pretty irritated that I had to add salt to a $ 27 meal. That should be perfect for
that price. It was good, but not $ 27 good. Note: I VERY rarely salt anything.
— The waiter wasn’t even remotely trying to be friendly despite my best efforts at being friendly.
— They had a «2 for $ 25» menu outside which came with an appetizer, two entrees,
and a dessert, but we were never shown that menu INSIDE. I could have asked,
but I didn’t care to bother since I didn’t really want anything on that list. Now I wish I
had.
FINAL VERDICT:
— I won’t be back unless friends really want to go. If I go, I will order whatever is
cheapest on the menu and buy something on the pier later.

lol

It’s a 3.5, and I’m rounding up.
First off, the view. How often can you have a nice meal ONTOP of the pacific ocean, and feel like it? You’re on the pier, but there is so much glass and window space that you really feel like you’re on the water. We went on a beautiful day, so all the better. We walked in, without reservations for lunch at about 1p. We got a window seat! But they were almost all window seats… and… we were one of three parties in there…
Place was dead. DEAD. I don’t care how good the food is, that kinda puts a damper on things. And the décor somehow makes it seem even more empty.
The food was good. The Black cod was excellent. it was tender and the miso or whatever they cook it in was of good flavor, but a little too heavy for my taste. I’d like to taste a little bit more the fish. Not only because I like the flavor, but also, I’d rather have a freshly prepped meal than something that seems like it was prepped wayyyyy earlier.
Presentation on all our dishes was nice, and a bit inventive…
Seafood salad (beware, it’s large) was right on the fence of average and good, but the house dressing was perfect for it, once again, bumping it up .5 of a star.
Reasons why I’d go there
a) the view
b) the food
c) if they don’t get much more business, they’re going to be gone soon.
I will return

I hate to have to do it but after last night’s experience, I am compelled to downgrade Maison Riz.
My fiancée and I dinned at Maison Riz last night while celebrating my birthday. We had previously celebrated his birthday there and were so impressed with the food and service that we decided to return again. Unfortunately, this present experience paled on comparison to our March 2011 visit. Our waiter was very friendly and accommodating therefore allow me to give him credit where credit is due. However, the quality of food has definitely gone down and the current management is rather infantile.
I received a coupon via email indicating that the Maison Riz would provide me with a free entrée on my birthday provided that we purchased another entrée of equal or greater value. What a great deal, we thought! We presented the coupon to our waiter prior to ordering and since the menu seemed different from our previous visit, we asked him for his recommendation. He recommended two of the tasting menus and after confirming that these menu selections would be covered by our coupon, we proceeded to order the 5-​course tasting menu.
Although the food was exquisitely plated, the portion sizes were extremely small and lacked flavor. The dessert consisted of a variety of bite sized items but also failed to impress.
The cherry on top of the cake came when we asked for the check and were told that our coupon did not apply to our menu selections that evening and that we would only receive $ 10 off of our bill. Did we not inform our waiter that we were utilizing a birthday coupon that evening prior to placing our order? Did we not confirm and reconfirm prior to ordering that our menu selections would be covered? We asked our waiter to please explain our situation to the «manager» and he came back only to say that the manager was unwilling to honor the terms of the coupon. We called the «manager» over to our table and calmly explained the situation to him. Rather than being apologetic about the restaurant’s inability to confirm the applicability of the terms of our coupon usage he became argumentative and strutted off telling us the dinner was on the house because he did not care to quarrel about technicalities. My fiancée told him that we were willing to pay for our meal based on the terms of the coupon and that this was not about the money but rather about principle. No sooner did he intercept our waiter, he told him to charge us according to the terms of the coupon going back on his word to us that the dinner would be on the house.
We ended up with a $ 68 bill and left close to a $ 30 tip. The waiter was not entirely to blame although he should have confirmed with management the terms of the coupon. What really became upsetting and nearly ruined my birthday celebration was the immature attitude of the so-​called «manager.» In the restaurant business or any customer dependent business, it is the duty of the «manager» to ensure that customers are made to feel that their patronage is appreciated and that they are encouraged to return to the establishment. Unfortunately, the manager on duty at the Maison Riz failed to do that.

I’m not gonna lie — when I first came on to Unilocal about this place, I was pretty shocked at the food selections that previous Unilocalers were raving about. Sea Bass Roll? Umami Bouillabaisse? Crab Salad? I saw nothing of the sort. Instead we were given a limited menu with only a few seafood choices in sight. It was their «happy hour» menu.
Believe me: there was nothing happy about it.
The service was slow — which was hard to believe since they only had THREE tables occupied in the whole restaurant. Our server was often chatting with someone up at the front (read: back turned towards us) and when he did pass by, we needed to nearly wrangle him over just to get refills. The only girl who appeared to be «available» seemed to be deeply preoccupied with the same pitcher of ice water that she kept spilling onto the counters. *sigh*
The food was marginal. We started off with their fried plate — which consisted of fries (duh), onion rings and 4 panko-​covered shrimp. The portion? Ok. The food was ok, too, but you’d really have to SUCK to mess up anything deep-​fried.
I’m sure that it would have been yummier if we didn’t have to let it sit for 5 minutes before someone would bring us utensils…
Next up, «seafood» alfredo and «seafood» salad. Set aside your preconceived notions on what «seafood» means when you order these dishes, folks. According to Maison Riz, it means chopped up, seasonless tentacles sparsely spread on top of your dish. NOT appetizing and FAR from good. What happened to crab? Shrimp? Fish? What happened to the SEAFOOD? Pretty unacceptable coming from a restaurant perched above the ocean.
The only shining beacon of light was their teriyaki steak — our final dish. Although a little overcooked, it was soft and juicy. It was definitely a surprise considering its’ predecessors.
Their teriyaki steak earned them one star. Having a McDonald’s down the street from the restaurant earned them the other.

Love this place. The service is excellent and their food were cook & prepare perfectly! Specially their Bake Chilean Sea Bass with Rice Cracker Crust, it’s tender and juicy with the rice cracker crust you can feel the different texture in your month. Very yummy.
Definitely will go back there again!!! =)

If you are looking for an upscale dining experience with an excellent view from the Pier, Maison Riz is the only option. It’s not as fancy as anything on La Cienga, but it is certainly a local five start fancy restaurant. It is the nicest place on the pier and merits at least a business casual dress.
They are a Japanese French fusion restaurant and offer a slightly more casual sushi bar style dining, as well as a more formal dining area.
They offer various different pre fixe menus offered at various prices. Additionally, you can name your price, what you do not like to eat, and the chef will make up a custom pre fixe menu for your budget and taste. Add $ 15 to any entrée and get a dessert and dungeness crab salad.
It is not «french» in the sense that it is not a «Big plate/​small food» restaurant. It is a little pricey, but you do not leave with the feeling that you have been completely ripped off.
To start:
Tofu baguette with seaweed butter– The tofu adds a unique but almost unnoticeable taste to the baguette. The Seaweed butter is slightly salty, but an excellent compliment to the fresh bread. (It’s a good thing when you go when they are very busy and food takes a long time to come out)
Dungeness Crab Salad– Spring greens, but this time it’s topped with a bigger than a baseball clump of pure dungeness crab meat. They use Yuzu salad dressing. (Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit that is a little sour like a grapefruit peel.)
California French Tartare– This is amazing. There is sashimi mixed with cumbers and avocado on a beautiful presentation which is topped with caviar. I HATE cucumber. However, this was AMAZING. At $ 19 it’s a pricey starter, but it is well worth the money.
I don’t remember what it was called, but they have some sort of sashimi where you can choose what you want to it. It was ok, but as strange as it is, I like their fusion food better.
Entrée–
Kobe beef rib served table side– If you are korean, this is basically really naturally buttery (in a natural fat way) unmarinated Kalbi cooked on a really hot stone plate. The smell is amazing and the meat just melts in your mouth.
Seafood ravioli– The ravioli is made in house fresh every day. Unlike most other places, the ravioli is actually stuffed with dungeness crab. I tried really hard to like it, as it was fresh and made with excellent ingredients, but had I not been told, I would not have known the difference between this or any other seafood ravioli.
Bass– The bass was breaded in what looked like fried quinoa. It was sitting in a nice broth and topped with fried noodles. The plating was beautiful, but the flavors were amazing. I HIGHLY recommend this dish.
Dessert–
Red Bean Cheesecake– It may not be on the menu for the day, but be sure to ask if they have any. Again, I greatly dislike red bean, but this cheesecake was out of this world.
Black sesame Cheesecake– It was very good, until the red bean cheesecake came along. It’s very fluffy and light and does not leave you feeling like you ate rock, like the cheesecake factory.
Orange Jewel– This is basically a deconstructed orange, The peel is left intact, the inside taken out, purée’d, poured back into the orange with berries and jelloified. It was ok, but was more intriguing in how it was made rather than in taste.
Chocolate Cake– You can’t go wrong with chocolate cake, and that is most certainly true here.
Apple Crisp– The apple crip is a wonton square folded into a triangle around an apple pie flling. The triangle is deep fried and coated in cinnamon and sugar. After the cheescakes, this was my favorite.
I highly recommend getting a nice cup of lavender Earl Grey to go with your dessert.
They get their ingredients in fresh everyday, and the chefs apparently are very picky about their ingredients. If they say it’s not on the menu, it’s not that they ran out, it’s that what was in the market did not meet their standards for the day.
We went on a Tuesday night, and there were a lot of people. My only gripe is that the servers were busy, but still it took a LONG time for our food to get there. (Long time = 4 baskets of bread before the first appetizer) Also, my mom and I had order the salad and dessert, but somehow, they forgot the salad. We ended up eating the salad with entrée. Unlike traditional «French» restaurants, we didn’t have the courses explained to us, which depending on your point of view may be good or bad. Also, they did not seem to have the timing of the courses being presented down as perfectly as say, Providence on Melrose.
The only problem seems to be with getting a 5 star restaurant serving staff. But if you have the time, and don’t mind just enjoying the view, it’s a great place to try unique food.

I’ve often said, food served with a view is generally more about the view then it is the food. Conversely, I often say Location, Location, Location. This restaurant proves the first one wrong, the food is delicious and the view is awesome. The second one might be their downfall. Why? Because most people that go to the Redondo Beach Pier are not expecting the kind of food with the presentations Maison Riz serves, they expect the «Captain’s Platter» of fried items and the type of people who do enjoy these interesting tastes and textures of food, beautifully presented, do not normally eat on the pier.
That said, we were staying nearby and decided to go to the pier to get something for dinner and stumbled upon Maison Riz. We were stunned to find such an interesting place. The food is considered French-​Japanese Fusion, but it was really more Japanese food with French presentations. They have a couple of «prix fix» tasting menus, but I would go with «Option B»…pick out an entrée and then add $ 15.00 and get an «amuse» (which is really more of an appetizer portion than an amuse, along with some sort of salad, and then a dessert. The accompanying items change daily.
We were intrigued with a «Spicy Hacho Miso Soup» ($ 7.00) so we added a bowl of that (to share); describe as Red Miso with with shitake and shimeji mushrooms and shrimp dumplings. It was delicious and had a beautiful presentation; and they split the soup for us and presented each with our own bowl. Always a nice touch.
This night our opening dish was a kobe beef skewer served with two salts and two dipping sauces. The beef was perfectly cooked and tender tender tender. Fab! The second dish was a crab salad. Nice.
Then came our main courses. I had the Unami Bouillabaisse ($ 29.00). OMG — scallop, mussels, clams, squid, tiger prawns and a half of a whole lobster in a tasty broth, served with a side of risotto. Beautiful to the eyes and the mouth. My husband had a Dungness Crab and Uni Risotto ($ 27.00); another surprise in both presentation and taste. Wonderful. And then comes dessert…
It came on one plate. It came in three parts. A reconstituted orange wedge with pistachios and berries in it. Reconstituted? Yep. The chef squeezes the orange and then takes the juice and mixes it with something and mixes in the nuts and berries and then allows it to reset in the shape of an orange wedge which he then serves it in the peel, and even the pips show like a fresh orange slice. Wow. Tasty and impressive. Second was a very rich chocolate cake/​truffle. Third was an apple tart, but it was rolled and deep fried and then dusted with confectioners sugar. It was all good. Even the coffee was special.
LindySez: If you want a unique foodie experience, try Maison Riz.

Good food, good drinks, awesome location.
They have happy hour at the bar every day until 6 or 7. Me and my friend are regulars even though we currently live in Brentwood. Staff is helpful and attentive and the restaurant itself is a far cry from the Touristy atmosphere at the pier on which it sits. Situated on the Southside of the pier on the corner, the spectacular view through the bay windows is worth seeing at least once.
Newly opened sushi at the bar is great too.

Came here on a Sat night. Not quite ready for a formal atmosphere, so my date came… pretty casual (what else do you do when you live by the beach :))
We didn’t make reservations and the hostess was gracious enough sit us right away… right next to the window with a view to the shore. The ambiance was awes! Light was dim and we could see the seals swimming around in the water. The staff was very helpful and attentive!
I had the Kobe beef cheek braised in wine sauce and she had the dungeness crab and shrimp Ravioli. The dishes came out and the presentation was nice! The portions are not huge… but they were filling! Everything from the filling to the sauce on the ravioli was excellent. The beef was tender! It just separated as soon as I put my fork in it! It was served in some wine sauce with bits of vegetables scattered around the beef. All of it was just… Awesome!
Great location, great food… need I say more :)