Octopus Japanese Restaurant

729 W. 7th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90017

(213) 402-1500

http://www.octopusrestaurant.com/pb/

Okay so honestly I'm not a fan of sushi or Asian food in general. I usually eat it to go along with the crowd or cause it's there and I don't want to be rude. But really that whole raw fish thing is a problem for me and I'll usually pass.

So today one of my lunch buddies and I tried Octopus on 7th and Flower. The space was really nice. It looked like a great place for young downtowners to hang out after work for Happy Hour. I didn't check out the Happy Hour menu but you can by clicking the link above. The sushi chefs kept yelling something in Japanese whenever someone came in the front door. We assumed it was either Welcome or Hello. We sat in the lounge area which I would advise against because you seated on a knee high stool in front of a knee high table. I'm not from Munchkin Land so I had to lean over quite a bit to put anything in my mouth. I understand there is a upstairs dining room which actually has real tables but a coworker said the chairs upstairs are also have something funky going on.

So today lunch buddy and I both had the lunch special. You can choose between the two or three combination plate. The plate came with salad, rice, an orange slice and one gyoza and the soup. Now with these combos you can choose from things like Sesame Chicken, Chicken, Steak or Salmon Teriyaki, Assorted Sashimi and a bunch of other choices. The cost of a combo plate was about $9. I had the Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura (which was 1 choice) and the BBQ Beef Ribs. The Tempura was exactly what you would expect from Tempura nothing special. Is there some law that says you can't sprinkle salt on Tempura?? I can't find seasoned Tempura anywhere. The BBQ Beef Ribs were fantastic. Grilled beef ribs marinated in soy sauce, sake, onion and garlic. The flavor was fantastic. They were thin cuts but they gave you a good helping. Lunch buddy had the same thing I did except she decided to get the Spicy Tuna instead of the Tempura. Now let me explain something to you about this lunch buddy of mine. She's very thin but I believe she can eat a man under a house if she wanted to. She can eat her lunch and then go for my leftovers no problem. She didn't finish her Spicy Tuna nuff said she hated them. I heard her murmur something about them being too spicy and then offered them to me. NO THANK YOU!!

I do plan on going back to try some of the items I saw on the appetizer menu as well as the Traditional/Signature Dish menu. The jumbo scallops and shrimp in a garlic butter sauce sounds FANTASTIC!!

We did make the soups last weekend I just haven't had the chance to copy down the recipes and post the pictures yet. Also, please check out the advertisers to your left.