parking

** valet recommended ** TAISHO is located in the most lit part of Ventura blvd, a hub for trendy restaurants in the valley! self parking on the main street is limited and requires meter payment. the nearest residential street parking requires a permit that you don’t want to risk getting towed for not having !!

ambience // vibe // fit check

ambiance

was so perfect – so sexy, great playlist going of tasteful r&b at perfect volume that allowed us to talk amongst each other.

* full disclaimer: we did have the back patio to ourselves, a party of roughly 15-20.

what to wear

Casual-fly! I wore some cargo pants and a cropped long sleeve with some strappy heels! + fur coat cause baby its been coooooold outside!

drinks

cocktails here are pretty yummy. I got the “Ventura Heat” cocktail, essentially their play on a spicy marg. It was great & not too sweet! I had tried the Yuzu Margarita but wasn’t fond of the flavors (I also am not a big yuzu fan so I probably could’ve predicted that).

---

menu

Starters

Because it was my homegirls birthday we were so lucky to have had a specialized, tailored menu of 4 courses + dessert! We started off with the Crispy Brussel Sprouts and the Salmon Dry Miso. The brussels were tasty with a truffle aroma and very crispy. The one critique I have is that they were chopped up quite a bit and therefore felt like I was eating brussel sprout flakes. I think I prefer them cut in half or at least larger slices for a more substantial bite. The salmon dry miso was a thin salmon sashimi, like carpaccio-style thin, soaked in some type of oil/miso sauce. I personally am not a huge raw salmon fan because it’s typically quite fishy-tasting but this dish was the first ever to prove that preference wrong ! Delicious!

Course #1

For the first course the pleasant staff brought out Kumamoto Oysters, Tai Yuzu Kosho, and the Wagyu Gyoza. Flavor-wise, the oysters were pretty straightforward – a lil citrus w/ some scallion on top. Very refreshing and petite starter course. The Tai Yuzu Kosho was a light white-fish sashimi dish topped with a chili-type paste and micro greens. I definitely would order this again – it’s right up my alley and has a lot of dynamic flavors going on! Wagyu-Gyoza??? Ummm sign me tf up! This dish was pretty good but if being fully honest, I felt that the wagyu inside the gyoza may have been a bit dried out, perhaps from frying method. Presentation of this dish was nothing crazy, nothing worth taking a photo of but I would probably order it again cause how often do you see wagyu gyoza on a menu??

Course #2

Ok ok, our taste buds are warmed up at this point — second course, here we go!! The Whole Striped Bass, was indeed “whole” as in they threw that entire fish into the deep fryer and tossed heem on the plate for us – haha! I thought the fish was really yummy, the fry on it was nice and thick and the sweet n sour sauce they sat it in was delish. It’s a huge dish so for a dinner of two I might not get it if I was planning on getting a variety of things. The Crispy Rice on Spicy Tuna was cool.. I’m a bit of a crispyricespicytuna snob and would say the rice was a bit too fried for my preference; I like more of a soft fry. The flavor of the spicy tuna was nothing special. The lobster noodles were great in flavor but felt the choice of noodle type was a bit off– it was giving fettuccini vibes and I think either a thin yellow noodle or all the way thick noodle would’ve been better. It’s hard not to compare it to crustacean’s garlic noodles if being honest.

Course #3

 Our third course was from the Robata side of the menu: Lamb Chops, the A-5 Wagyu Short Ribs, and lobster skewers. I’ll have to give the lamp chops a 5/10.. flavor was underwhelming. I typically love lamb and its gaminess but without much season or sauce it isn’t my favorite.. and especially when brought out alongside the

A5 Wagyu which for me was the showstopper here.

It’s hard to go wrong with this cut of beef but I still give props to Taisho for their preparation of it. This was the definition of “melt-in-your-mouth”. If you only order one thing here, get the wagyu short ribs. Lobster skewers were also a win! The buttery garlicy sauce + chives on top??? *chefs kiss*

Course #4

4th course!! Shitttt I’m full. But Come thru Baked Lobster Roll (not to be confused with the bread/sandwich kind) and Baked Crab Hand Roll! I enjoyed both a lot. I don’t discriminate against bottom feeders they’re all welcome in my mouth! Would 10000% order the crab one over n over again.