Plan Check Kitchen + Bar

Don’t believe the hype – or rather, don’t let the hype heighten your expectations and ultimately detract from your overall experience.
I came in with a group for DineLA, and despite it being prime time dinner hour, aka 7pm, the restaurant was surprisingly empty. Never a bad thing. Having studied the menu on the drive over, we pretty much knew exactly what we wanted to try: the PCB, Chef’s Favorite Burger, Stuffed Mushroom, Sweet Potato Waffle Fries, Smokey Fried Chicken, Truffled Fried Chicken, and here’s the curve ball, the Ahi Tuna Salad with a Sriracha dressing.
Now, I know what you’re all thinking – who orders a salad at a gastropub? As much as I believe that you probably shouldn’t judge a shotputter by his running ability, or a pastry chef by his/​her beouf bourguignon, you probably also shouldn’t judge a burger joint by the quality of their salads. With that being said, I also believe that as a fine and reputable establishment, Plan Check should have a well-​rounded menu that accommodates both carnivores and Pescatarians alike. In other words, less popular items should still be appetizing, and inedible items should be left off of the menu – I’m looking at you Ahi Tuna Salad.
I’m generally fairly conservative when it comes to criticism. Although highly recommended by the waitress, the salad at Plan Check was an absolute disaster. The seared tuna was plopped on a sparse bed of radicchio and bitter endive, and drizzled with what was claimed to be a «sriracha aioli». Though extremely smooth and seemingly fresh, the tuna was spoiled by the pairing of bitter greens. The sauce also did absolutely nothing to add from the dish. It did not compliment the greens at all or make them any more bearable, and even went so far as to muddle the lightness of the tuna.
The experience, however, thankfully wasn’t a total disaster. The pickle appetizer plate was absolutely delicious, as was the stuffed portobello. The garlic steak sauce on the portobello was to die for – the perfect combination of sweet and savory. The individual components and ingredients on the burger were fresh and well done resulting in a beautiful end product. Good? Yes. Well crafted? Yes. Unique? Not especially. Spectacular? Arguable. The Smokey Fried Chicken, however, was very well done. Paired with a maple dipping sauce, it was pure gluttonous bliss. I’d highly recommend getting two different dishes and sharing though, as the portion was fairly generous, and I don’t know about you, but personally, it got a bit heavy.
But I guess that is to be expected – we were at a Gastropub. Final notes. Burger and fried chicken loving fiends? You won’t be disappointed. Will you be blown away? Possibly. One thing, however, is for sure. Leave your meat-​averse friends at home, or insist that they join you afterwards for dessert. Unless they’re particularly craving a plate of disappointment for dinner, I’d sit this one out.

Marian was an amazing server. She was very attentive. The food was very good and it was nice that they warned us about some of the portions sizes. The olde fashion cocktail was well priced and quite yummy.

The chef’s favorite burger! I really enjoyed my burger which was cooked medium rare, with bacon, cheese, and ketchup leather, topped with a sunny side up egg. If you’re wondering, ketchup leather is like a slice of cheese, except it’s made of ketchup.
We also got the baked crab dip and sweet potato fries. The crab dip reminded me of a sushi roll, because it tasted like the mayonnaise crab sauce sushi rolls are often baked with. I really liked the sweet potato waffle fries!
A chill spot for burgers and drinks and they have HH during the week!

My boyfriend & I were in LA (from San Diego) for the day for the FitExpo & just googled «Best Burger in LA» and hit JACKPOT!
Definitely among the most delicious burgers we’ve EVER had! He got the Chef’s Favorite Burger & I got the Plan Check Burger and we split an order of fries. Both were delicious, however, the Chef’s Favorite was a sure winner! I feel pretty comfortable saying it was the best burger I’ve ever had!
On top of that, the service was OUT OF THIS WORLD. From the hostess to the waitress, we received exceptional service and were very well taken care of!
This is a MUST GO TO anytime we are in LA now! We both crave it regularly!
I will say it is a smaller menu, however, that just means everything on the menu they specialize in!

Plan Check is so under staff that we felt bad for them.
Overall, the place has two signature dishes:
1. Chef’s Favorite Burger
The typical ketchup, pickle, and bacon are very unique about this dish!
2. Bake Crab Dip
Cholesterol on major hike!
We came here during the Gudetama set menu promotion in which they ran out of the T-​shirt on the first week. The manager of the restaurant was very accommodating and place customer on the contact list and offer to ship if we came out of town.

My girlfriend’s brother recommended Plan Check for their Truffle Burger about 2 years ago. I can’t believe that it took me this long to finally try it. Here’s a tip… the Truffle Burger is not on their menu, but they will make it if asked. The burger was as good as I expected. I had it prepared medium with just cheese. My GF’s brother was right, each bite oozed with flavor. The size of the burger is my only complaint. Overall, I do recommend if you’re craving a great burger in LA.
2016 Unilocal Review #10

Great place to come with friends for drinks and good food.
CHEFS FAVORITE BURGER
Bacon and a fried egg atop medium rare beef, what’s not to like?
CHILI CHEESE FRIES
Excellent chili cheesiness.
CHURRO DONUTS
Fluffy cinnamon and sugar dusted, cruller style, «churro» donuts topped with ice cream. It’s just not fair.

Came here for the Gudetama promo they had — I was bummed that I had missed the first Sanrio collaboration, so I definitely was not going to miss this one. The set is a little overpriced $ 39, but I shared it with a friend, so it was fine — and it comes with a T-​shirt, which I got to keep! They didn’t have XS, but they did have a S.
We got there a little after they opened on a week day — there was no crowd at all. However, after an hour or so, it was packed, and there was a wait to get a table. Wow.
The set was actually pretty good — we both liked our beef sliders, which came with a over easy quail egg with Gudetama’s face on them. I think they used some sort of edible sticker or something, but it was super cute. I felt a little bad for eating the guy, but down the hatch he went. Some people complained about the orange cream ginger soda, but I really liked it. It had a mild ginger flavor with a hint or orange — it was delicious and I drank the whole glass. The deep fried egg was okay — I just had a small bite. I did like the egg was soft boiled yet deep fried — interesting combo. I did enjoy the pudding for dessert, though it was nothing extraordinary — just good pudding, which was not too sweet. I liked the sweet cocoa powder on top — usually whenever there’s cocoa powder on a dessert, the powder is bitter, but this one was sweet.
Another friend ordered the fried chicken, which was decent. It came with some kind of yam sauce I thought I wouldn’t like, but it went well with the chicken. They also serve cocktails — friend got a Manhattan. Decent.
Overall a good first experience. Can’t wait for the next Sanrio collaboration! :)

Plan Check opened next to my work almost a year ago. I was pretty excited to have it so accessible but alas my experience has been mediocre. I’ve gone here multiple times for lunch and happy hour and all of them have been mediocre. The services is great, the staff is very attentive. The burgers are a little over priced for me personally and they are okay burgers, I still haven’t had a mind blowing burger. I feel like the buns get soggy after a while because the patty is so juicy.
Happy Hour is actually pretty disappointing, every time I go I feel like my drink is watered down. The food option in happy hour price is limited and that’s why I don’t go here often for happy hour given the array of choice in DTLA with superb food and alcoholic selection which unfortunately Plan Check doesn’t fall under.
Over all Plan Check is a decent place and will still comeback but not too often because of the what has been described above.

This place serves awesome crafty burgers in a modern industrial design layout with various types of seating arrangements — communal, bar and patio. Since I came with a group, I got to sample their PCB, Pastrami Nosh and KBBQ burger. They ran out of their «Gudetama Special» for $ 39 so our group was quite disappointed. I guess we should have called in advance but we just didn’t think it would be sold out on a Sunday. The waiter could sense our disappointment but surprisingly, we were able to make a special request to add that «Gudetama» smile on our burgers as long as the burger included a «sunny fried egg.» They were able to accommodate us and make that cute little smiley face! I mean, c’mon, those Instagram photos were what got us enticed to come here in the first place!!!
Plan Check Burger (PCB) $ 12– This is their classic and quite simple. It comes with Americanized dashi cheese, ketchup leather, Schmaltz onions, and mixed pickles with a crunch bun. I added an egg to this meal which was $ 2 extra. I liked this burger. It was not too greasy and the patty was tasteful.
KBBQ Burger $ 14 — This was probably my favorite of the three we tried. This comes with grilled pork belly, kimcheese, sprouting onions, gochujang bbq sauce, sesame salt and fried onions. My friend didn’t want to add the egg, but I think adding one is definitely worth the extra bucks! An egg makes the burger much tastier! The beef patty was tender and perfectly medium rare. The «kimcheese» flavor was rather light but I did taste the BBQ sauce flavor and that was superb. The pork belly was thinly sliced which might be overlooked but it does give that extra richness to the burger. Seriously, it was great!
Lastly, Pastrami Nosh $ 14– This was my least favorite. It came with double smoked pastrami, melty swiss cheese, kimchi mustard, pickles and a sunny fried egg. The pastrami was surprisingly quite chunky, rather than thinly sliced. Since it was thick and tender, I thought the load was just too heavy for a full burger. The portion was good enough to just sample a bite or two but if I was to order and try to complete this burger on my own, I would get a heart attack. It was too salty for my palette and way too heavy to complete in one sitting. In my opinion, I would opt out of this one.
Aside for their known burgers, we did place an order of their smokey fried chicken. Holy Moly! It was juicy and the milk gravy added a great touch. The chicken wasn’t dry and it was smoked to perfection. It only comes in 3 pieces for $ 13 so kind of pricey but worth a try!
Parking — There’s garage parking but it’s only free on Sundays! So dine on Sundays =D

Happy Birthday to Meeee!
I went here with a group of my friends for my birthday a few days ago. Since Unilocal’s details said they didn’t take reservations, I didn’t bother to call. However, my cousin called and they did take note of our large party.
Parking: They have a few spots in the small retail/​future resident parking area that is to the right of the driveway. The parking lot straight ahead closes, and DO NOT go past the gate int he retail/​resident parking area if you aren’t a resident. You’ll get stuck.
My cousin/​sister managed to get us the little room on the side, so we could get as drunk and loud as we wanted. We ordered up a storm…
The drinks are strong.
The sweet potato waffle fries were the best sweet potato fry action I’ve ever had. The regular fries were nothing special.
The mushrooms were pretty good. The crab dip was AMAZING. Get it.
I got the chef’s favorite burger and it was delicious. I wish I could have tasted the cheese tuille better, but I was 1. Hungry 2. Drunk… so the food was great, but my senses were dulled for sure.
Since it was my birthday they brought out the crueller, and it was delicious. It was light and crispy… like a found churro with whipped cream (and ice cream? I don’t remember).
Considering all the stuff we ordered, no one went home hungry (I hope), and it was a bit pricey after all was consumed and done.

Came here during lunch with a couple of co workers around 1:30pm on a Thursday and we were seated right away. We had the option to sit inside or semi outdoor but the outdoor seats were like benches and did not have a back to lean on. My co worker didn’t like that but I didn’t have an issue because I thought it felt more roomy and I told him to just lean on the guy sitting behind him. The waiter was chatty and friendly but hard to get their attention at times.
The menu was pretty simple but it had cool modern concept to some of the ingredients and items on the menu. I ordered the chefs favorite burger I liked the candy bacon, the fried egg, and the ketchup leather. it was a very tasty burger overall. We also shared skin-​on russet fries which came with fresh ketchup and the sweet potato waffle fries that came with fresh peach ketchup. Both were good with their sauces but the peach ketchup was a bit on the sweet side combined with the sweet potato fries.
I would definitely come back to try other items on their menu and it is also a nice place to hang out and chat with friends or just to have some drinks.

Reunited and it feels so good…
After getting together with Sanrio for last year’s Hello Kitty Hungry Hunt, Plan Check Kitchen and Bar has reunited with Sanrio with another cute collaboration via their Gudetama inspired menu!
Being the Hello Kitty Foodie that I am, you know I just had to check out the special Gudetama menu that Plan Check was offering. I came here on a Saturday with my Unilocal buddy Liz F. and her cousin and we all ordered the $ 39 multi-​course Gudetama special.
The special consist of four items and a complimentary t-​shirt.
First up was a orange-​ginger egg cream soda. This soda seemed to be a hit or miss for many folks. It has a ginger taste and thus make its a little different.
This was then followed by a starter with crispy blanket egg, soy sauce egg, spicy pork belly sausage and miso aioli. This was my favorite of everything. I liked the fried coating outside and the pork belly sausage and egg were a good mix. The miso aioli was a good dipping sauce but a bit on the salty side.
The main course were two beef sliders with a sunny fried quail egg (with a Gudetama face), cheese two ways, bacon two ways, ketch leather and hot sauce. The sliders were almost too cute to eat! I just loved the special touch of Gudetama’s face. Initially one may think these sliders are small but I was actually quite full at the end.
The dessert is a set with chocolate custard pudding and apricot thumbprint cookie. They were both delicious.
What I liked most about this meal is how Plan Check incorporated the egg theme to everything! From the yolk colored looking drink, to the egg appetizer to the Gudetama sliders to the dessert with a egg looking cookie and a Gudetama designed chocolate pudding, everything just looked wonderful. It not only looked wonderful but tasted wonderful as well! Plan Check Kitchen and Bar, this Hello Kitty Foodie is a fan!
I am so happy with this collaboration between Plan Check Kitchen and Bar and my favorite Sanrio! Yay!

MEHHHH — says Gudetama.
Plan Check, however, is consistently good every time we’ve gone~
* GET — Gudetama meal~! (available only for limited time):
— Includes orange/​ginger soda = twas ok
— 2 Gudetama teeny sliders = SO good
— Scottish egg (with yummy aioli)
— Gudetama chocolate mousse pudding
— comes with Gudetama t-​shirt in your size
*GET — We ordered side of criss-​cut sweet potato fries
* YES — Our server Daniel was nice & friendly
* YES — Full bar available inside, with some house cocktails
* YES — Good for friends and families (indoor can sometimes get loud)
* FYI — Indoor bar, communal table, and outdoor seating
* FYI — Outdoor seating has heat lamps
* FYI — No wait if you arrive to beat pre-​dinner crowds
* FYI — For this particular limited-​time special, they serve 40 a day (more on wknds)
* FYI — Street metered parking (only free after 8pm)
* FYI — No reservations
* FYI — Accepts credit cards

Gudetama! I came here last night because Plan Check has partnered up with Sanrio to feature one their newest addition, Gudetama. I have been to Plan Check before and I think that their food is a little pricey and just average. However, I have come here for both the Hello Kitty Hungry Hunt and now the Gudetama and they really shine with their special event menu. I came on a Sunday night and there was no wait. The restaurant itself is very airy and spacious. I heard that there is a structure for this place, but I always try to find street parking, there is always street parking behind the Starbucks across the street. (But, be careful if you are wearing heels, because you will need to walk up a hill to get to the restaurant).
I got seated immediately. For their theme meals, they always have a pre-​fixe menu. So, I of course tried the Gudetama pre-​fixe last night. The following were in the pre-​fixe:
1. Egg with pork belly: This was a fried round ball, with pork around the outside and an egg in the inside. It was pretty tasty. The pork was tender and I loved the miso aioli that came with it. I thought that the egg was a little too runny for me, so I took out the egg yolk.
2. Slider: Yum, this was probably the best part of the menu. I normally don’t really like sliders, but this one was pretty delicious. There was egg, bacon and cheese. Each of them was cooked just right and the flavors blended well together.
3. Custard and cookie: I was pretty full by this time, so I only had a few bites of the custard and cookie. The custard and cookie was OK, nothing too special about it.
The meal also came with an orange cream and ginger soda. I did not like the drink at all because I am not a big fan of ginger and the soda was overwhelming with ginger. Also, one of the pork belly dishes at my table came out raw. The waitress was very nice about it and brought out another one and took one of the meal out of the check. But, that did make me a little wary about eating mine.
Overall, I had a nice dinner experience (aside from the raw pork). The Gudetama theme is until the end of November, so I definitely recommend to check it out. The pre-​fix is $ 39, but it also comes with a limited edition T-​shirt, which was super cute. And make sure to check out the restroom, they have Gudetama toilet paper. LOL.

Came here a while back with my friend when they have those Hello Kitty Hunting Pins going on. We parking on the street and walked over. I guess this location in new since the one with more reviews is on the west side. We didn’t know how the Hello Kitty thing worked so we ordered what the waitress told us. The meal was bigger than we expected: Burger, Fries, Spicy Tuna, Latte and Dessert. Although the meal was pretty good and better than I expected, it was definitely pricey! I think it was $ 40ish… and I just wanted the pin!
Anyway, burgers was pretty good. Service was on point.