Yatai

8535 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.289.0030www.yatai-bar.com

Parking: Street parking… that is if you can even understand the restrictions!
Daily, 6-7pm, $3 Asians tapas and hand rolls

It’s very easy to miss Yatai, the Asian tapas restaurant on The Sunset Strip between La Cienega & Alta Loma Blvd. Hidden behind a non-descript brown building and a heavy wooden door, one might even miss it on foot.

Once there, the food at Yatai is definitely worth the find. Yatai’s happy hour offers $3 tapas and hand rolls. My friend, Arielle, and I ordered a variety of baked crab, spicy albacore, and yellowtail hand rolls. We also ordered nasu-miso, eggplant with miso sauce dish, and age-dashi tofu, a tempura style tofu with ginger on top. The hand rolls were my favorite, but I was surprised at their smaller spring roll like size. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised since it was tapas, after all, so I just ordered another round.

Unfortunately, there are no drinks on happy hour special. Luckily, the $7 hot sake was enough for us to split. The full prices for food and drinks didn’t look too terrible, but after already hitting another favorite happy hour, we were definitely looking for deals only at this point since we already spent some dough.

The scene at Yatai was far too intimate for two single ladies out on the town. I’ve been to plenty of good for dates happy hours, but this was too much for someone not on a date. The main room is painted red with low light that naturally includes candlelight. Since it was a nice day out, we opted for the patio. The patio seating is one long, communal table so we ended up sharing it with a couple. At some times, we felt like date crashers so I took limited photos, definitely without flash.

The staff was more than nice enough to do a happy hour last call. However, since the happy hour is just an hour – that’s right, 60 minutes – we were more than ready to leave. We were single, full, & ready to make the 8pm showing of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The food and service was great, but I gotta say I wouldn’t return unless on a date.
-JG
Rating: 2 Martinis for Singles/ 3 Martinis for Couples