ISO Fusion Cafe

Really want to give this place a five star.
Pros:
— Lamps on every table that’s not close to a ceiling light. This shows how considerate their manager is.
— Consider the price, their food is actually pretty good. (For those Unilocalers who complain about their food, I’m not sure what are they expecting from a $ 6 sushi roll or a $ 9 unadon. I mean, seriously, any big bowl unadon in Sawtelle is over $ 17.)
— The portion of their Edamame is so huge, one dish could be a good snack for two to four people.
— Service is good and not pushy.
— The restroom is clean.
— They offer very big cups and water with lemon at the register, no need to worry about getting thirsty but have to pay for a drink.
— Plenty outlets.
— Free wifi, could be a little bit unstable sometimes.
Con:
— This is my only issue with this place but it’s a huge problem for me:
I’m not sure if it’s their dishwasher or vent in kitchen, but sometimes there’s a high pitch noise randomly kicks in and lasts like forever. The volume is relatively low so some people do not even notice it, but it makes my ears physically uncomfortable and makes me feel anxious. My friend studying with me said he also heard it, but his headphones are the noise-​canceling ones so it does not bother him. I went there twice but had to literally run away because of that mysterious noise. First time the noise starts around 9pm on Friday, and around 5pm on Sunday during my second visit.
I’m not sure if the manager has noticed this, but I really really hope they can fix that problem. Not only because it’s the only issue that stops me going there, but also because that kind of noise could impair people’s hearing even they don’t mind it.

I was quite impressed with this place. I work in the area, and often pick up food for our team. This was a new spot, and everyone was surprised at how much they loved the items ordered.
I had the beef Japche, really good, not too greasy, and comes with salad, rice, and miso soup. My coworkers had the spicy ramen and said the flavor was really great. We also had the spicy rice cake with cheese — such a weird dish but I definitely suggest trying once, by the end we realized how delicious this odd item was.
Overall, for 4 dishes, half cali roll, and a side of the spicy rice cake — $ 55. Order was ready in 15 minutes! Will come back to try more sushi items, this time was more soups and noodles.

I’ve been coming to Iso for years!
Bring cash if your order is under $ 10.
Second, order the chicken yakisoba.
Or the salmon salad. Both amazing. The owner is so nice. He made us plastic bag ponchos on a day that was raining really hard. He’s such a hard worker. And his staff is always so incredible.

My 4yr old daughter and I went here this afternoon. We ordered green tea boba, avocado roll (which came with miso soup), and vegetable dumplings. The prices were very reasonable. The owner brought my daughter her own bowl of miso soup and wrapper her half of the avocado roll smaller with the seaweed on the outside so it was easier to eat. He brought us napkins and checked on us several times. He was very attentive and so nice to my daughter. The food was also very delicious. I recommend, especially to parents of children who love Japanese food. We will definitely be coming back!

I love this place for studying and eating while i’m staying here for quite long time. They serve okay foods with reasonable price, and always welcome students who want to stay on for their work till late time (they close at 10pm).
I ordered Spider roll and taste wasn’t too bad but i would rather recommend this place for studying and eating.

Like most of the other reviews have mentioned, this is a great place to study. There’s free wifi, multiple outlets, and plenty of space to sit. The environment is usually quiet and they don’t seem to mind if people stay for a long time to study. I’m literally sitting here and writing this review in the middle of finals week. Before coming here, I checked all the libraries on campus and they were all packed! I was so glad to finally find a place to settle down and get some work done.
Although I can’t say much for their food quality, I wanted to write this review to show them some support. The owner seems like a really nice guy and is always happy to help.
TIP: Remember to bring some cash if you’re only going to buy a drink. They have a $ 5 minimum on credit cards.

This is a great place to study. They have free wifi, lots of seating, and a quiet atmosphere. They also don’t passive aggressively try to make you leave like native foods does when you are studying there.
They also added a poke bar and vegan/​vegetarian options to their menu. I had a poke bowl with salmon, tuna, and shrimp and it was superb! The menu here is wonderful for anyone concerned with fitness. Many of their meals are very high in protein, low in fat and simple carbs, and much cheaper and more delicious than food that’s advertised as «healthy.»

**ATTENTION STUDENTS**
Super great place to study! There’s free WiFi for customers and ample of tables to get your studying on. Outlets aren’t numerous, but if you head upstairs, many of the side tables have outlets on the wall.
Food wise, ISO has much to offer, ranging from Japanese comfort food to Korean cuisine. Because there’s so much variety I guess they don’t really excel at anything? Nothing really blew me away. The Spicy Kimchi Ramen was a bit bland and the Chicken Katsu plate was decent (but again nothing amazing). I do recommend their Kimchi Fried Rice though! It’s not the best I’ve tried but I honestly think it’s the best on their menu.
Service wise, the owner is so nice! Sometimes I feel bad about staying so long I order more food out of obligation. Probably not good for my wallet, but then again, being active on Unilocal isn’t helping much either.

This place is terrible. Avoid at all costs. Ralphs has better sushi.

It seems like it’s a one man show here.
He does a good job and he’s always courteous.
There’s a good study room or tables on the upper floor. I’ve got alot of good studying done here.
The noodles are okay. Sushi isn’t too bad as an appetizer. The chicken teriyaki is also a good content meal.
I wouldn’t eat here for the food. I would only recommend this place as an eat and study place. After all, free WiFi.

2 stars only because they gave me good customer service.
I was on the search for sushi and I remember driving by this place so I finally decided to check it out. When I got there around lunch time the place was completely empty. The menu was so basic and boring. I didn’t know what to order because they didn’t even have real sushi. Anyways I ended up going with the «kimchi ramen» and spicy tuna half roll. I’m 99% sure the ramen was the packaged Korean ramen called SHIN ramen (I know this because I eat it a lot) with kimchi and egg thrown over it. I was so disappointed. You don’t go to a restaurant to eat packaged ramen. The spicy tuna roll was meeeeeeeeeeeeeh. The owner guy was friendly and talked to me about how business was down because of construction next door, but I honestly think its because the food isn’t great. And in Westwood their are so many other places to eat that are delish!

Was always skeptical about coming here because it always seemed so empty but I just decided to give it try! The restaurant is big, with an upstairs seating area which most people like to go to.
I ordered the eel rice bowl and a jasmine green tea. The food came out really mediocre. My eel dish was teriyaki eel with daikon, ginger, avocado and cucumbers all atop a bed of rice. There wasn’t much eel, a ridiculous amount of vegetables, avocadoes that were not yet ripe and creamy and rice that was packed way out of proportion with the amount of eel. I didn’t even finish half of that rice! The flavors were not bad but nothing special. Finally, the jasmine green tea did not have a very good flavor and was not worth the steep ~$ 4 price.
Aside from food, the service was really good and though it is a quiet place to study, the wifi was not that strong. Overall, it’s worth giving Iso a try but don’t go for internet heavy studying!

Iso has been my secret go to study spot for the past few years. They have a good tea selection and some interesting snacks. There is usually a lot of open tables and is relatively quiet. There is free WiFi and the staff as been pretty friendly and don’t seem to mind me camping out.

Interesting little café which gets a ton of bonus points for having a lot of swag and style. Love the presumed owner in his green barrette making jokes and helping everyone out. Regardless of the food it is a great place to study if you find yourself far off campus and want to crack that book open.
The food was nice. I got to eat rice cakes which is often hard to find good rice cakes around. They were smothered in a spicy creamy sauce, and I got so much for the price. Seriously the plate was overflowing with them. I couldn’t finish them all because as it is my tummy was already bursting walking back to UCLA.
I would come back again to try some more things and just hang out because it was such a nice little café.

Overall: The food is decent, the price is ok, and it’s a good place to study.
Food: 4
It’s not fusion food in the normal sense. Rather, they just sell food from a lot of different cuisines all in one place.
Shrimp Tempura Udon: Good but the shrimp was a little disappointing because the batter was under seasoned and not crunchy.
Chicken Yakisoba: It’s usually too sweet or salty for me, but this was well seasoned. The chicken wasn’t dry and you could taste the char from the grill on it, unlike most places. My only complain is that there’s a little too many vegetables compared to noodles and chicken.
Service: 4
You order at the counter then sit down with a number and wait for them to bring out your food. They’re courteous and friendly.
Ambiance: 4
It’s a quiet little café and it’s not too packed, so it’s a good place to study. They have wifi !

I am sometimes wary of Asian fusion places because I’m skeptical that they can do everything well. Sushi at a place that serves Phở, Dimsum, and Pad Thai? No thank you. However, this place is a decent caliber. I had the eel bowl. I love eel, so naturally I loved this dish. Items are well-​presented here.
A perk to this place is that although it’s a café, it is actually a full-​fledged restaurants with many many items, including bubble tea. The café portion is upstairs, where you can do work all day there. I don’t recall whether they had a lot of plugs though.
In terms of the food otherwise, the udon was decent. The eel bowl was good. The boba was pretty standard. As I said, they do everything well. But don’t be expecting gourmet authenticity.
Remember to bring cash for smaller purchases…

It kind of pains me to give ISO three stars, because honestly I think it deserves 3.5. Unfortunately, until Unilocal overhauls its system, I’m going to have to stick with three.
I have always loved the idea of ISO – a place in Westwood for students to study and get a bite to eat. I love the overall feel of ISO; I usually feel really comfortable inside. It feels warm and soft and very safe, and that’s actually pretty hard to find in Westwood, where everything is fast-​paced and almost stressful.
I love coming here, getting some kimchi fried rice, pulling out my laptop, and just enjoy life. The people working here are always nice and offer good service, and it just feels like you’re welcome here.
Why did I give it 3 stars despite how much I like it? The reason why is because with the exception of the kimchi fried rice, I’m not a huge fan of the other dishes; the beef teriyaki bowl is decent, and the ramen is just fancier versions of instant variety. I think that ultimately adds to ISO’s charm, though. Also, the last time I was here, I was struggling to connect to the internet, which was kind of sad. I think most people don’t have issues, but do note that it may not be the most conducive for streaming or anything too intensive internet-​wise.
That said, I hope ISO stays here for a hundred more years. A gem of Westwood.

Seems like a great study place. Finally got a chance to visit because my friend was studying here.
Watch out for that $ 5 minimum credit card!
The waitress/​cashier was extremely nice. I asked her if I could just order a drink and stay and she was completely chill about it.
I ordered the duet (milk tea + espresso). I was disappointed when she said they ran out of boba though. As a huge boba connoisseur from the 626, I did not appreciate this one bit.
The hours right now say that they close at 10pm. I feel like it would be better if they opened till much later, so that it would attract those late night students who can’t find a seat at that Starbucks one block away.
The wifi isn’t that great though, so don’t expect to get much internet-​heavy type of studying done (e.g. watching lectures).

Not a huge fan.
They were doing some building repairs when I came here, I didn’t get a friendly vibe from the guy who took my order, and my ramen came out with fish in it when I ordered it vegan.
When I told them my soup had fish in it, they simply took it to the back and removed the fish and brought me back the same one. I said, «I’m allergic to fish, is this the same soup?» They brought it back to the kitchen and gave me a different one.
The ramen was good, it came in a cool pot, and the boba was okay.
I’m not running back here, there are tons of other amazing places to eat around here!

(5 stars for the study area) I love coming to study here, they have ample outlets and study tables upstairs so you can just post out for the day. There’s also really good wifi here, my main reason to come and study. The study area is only for customers so I just run downstairs and grab a Thai iced tea. Can’t mess that up.
(0 stars for the food) I was with Rav. K when she got this long, blonde hair in her rice and was similarly disgusted. I will not be purchasing food from here again. They waitress apologized and refunded her for the dish, but still doesn’t makeup for the lost appetite.
The manager and servers are very nice. I wish I didn’t that first dining experience described above. The food does look good, but I’m not taking any chances after that.