Chaya Venice

I used to come here for years now… They raised the prices for happy hour a little, so not so happy.
But the food is still good.
Its our regular meetup place with my girlfriend from NY
thats where I take her every time she comes to LA:)

Have you heard of a restaurant where they offer happy hour every night? Not only every night but all night. Insane! And their menu is pretty thorough including sushi, drinks, entrees, and appetizers. The atmosphere is cool with a nice bar area, intimate and dark lighting, and trendy music.
FOOD:
To enjoy their happy hour menu, you have to sit in the bar area. They do have plenty of seating though. You can either sit at their bar or they have small tables in their bar dining room area for you to eat. Things are fairly priced ranging from $ 7 — $ 20 depending on what you order.
We ordered their calamari, signature chef sushi roll (which was baked black cod for that day), yellow tail sashimi with jalapenos, and oysters. The calamari was just okay… Batter was soggy and the pieces were quite large. ³⁄₅ The dish did come with a lot of seafood though for the price that we paid.
The sushi was interesting. I have never had a baked black cod in a roll. Normally, I like to eat it on its own. However, the roll was decent. The cod was sweet and flaky but there was a lot of rice compared to the fish. The sweetness from the cod balanced out the vinegary rice well though.
Yellow tail sashimi was fresh and delicious. There was just only 4 TINY pieces lol. And oysters were good. They were yummy and fresh as well. I just liked how you had so many options off the happy hour menu. And what is nice is that you never feel rushed to order something off the menu just because happy hour is about to end.
PARKING:
Either you park on the street which is EXTREMELY limited or you can park in their lot right next door. But if you park here, you must get your ticket validated which is only $ 3 for 2 hours. Afterwards, you have to pay $ 8 and they only take ca$h.

Happy hour in the bar area all night… how could you not go wrong! The food is delish and at the happy hour prices, you can’t beat it! We went in on a Wednesday night around 7 and the bar was pretty empty, but around 8 it was completely full. So keep that in mind when you are planning what time you want to go. Worth getting there a little early to get a table :)

Hands down the best in value in Venice for lunch! I was delightfully surprised at the amount of choices for the «Create Your Own Bento Box» selection. I chose the seaweed salad, the dijon chicken, with a spicy tuna roll. It. was. amazing. Need to impress a client for lunch? Go Here. Can’t say enough about our waiter as well. He was the utmost professional.

Been coming to Chaya for about 10 years. I would say they have probably the best happy hour of anywhere. I believe it’s from 5:30 to 11:00 every night. The food is consistently great. The drinks are great. Prices are very reasonable. Service is usually better than most. The crowd is great and I love the ambience and décor. I would probably give it a 5 star rating if I could order the calamari grilled rather than fried. But other than that I love this place!!! Def worth checking out!

Pretty disappointing for a Main Street restaurant. We had the tuna tartar, sushi, and Thursday seafood special. They were all pretty bland and fairly uncreative. The sushi was loose and the seafood was a little rubbery. Pass for $ 50 a person.

I’ve been coming to Chaya Venice with my buddy for probably over 18 yrs. No… Not a typo. 18 years! It all started when we were working as young associates at a local bank and we somehow discovered this place. We’ve always liked the vibe, the food and location. and of course, service. Jeffrey, our waiter who has been there the whole time, is the best we’ve ever had! Service is an art and it can be tricky. He has the abilities to make us feel welcomed, carrying on a conversation with us, never had to write down our orders, and never missed a beat. Over the years I’ve also sent him my friends to ask for him at Chaya Venice. He’s worked here for many years and he’s truly the best of the best! I’ve been to probably all the rest of the Chaya locations (except in SF). Hes the reason we keep coming back over the years, especially that restaurants come and go very often, and on the Westside there is no lack of any good competition for loyal diners. We typically wait for Jeffrey’s recommendation on the daily specials and he’s never failed us! The older we become, the more we realize its all about relationship and the connection and synergy. Thank you Jeffrey! And Joshua is great too! Both amazing! Thank you for the good times.
Favorite appetizers: sashimi, lobster roll…
Favorite Drinks: rasberry martini, lemon drop, Melbec, etc.
Favorite Entrée: I’ve never had a bad dish!

I really like this place for the all-​night Happy Hour and great location. It has become one of my go to spots for grabbing a drink and some solid Asian-​fusion bar food after work. Good ambiance and always a solid experience.

Hands down my fave happy hour place! Dinner menu isn’t bad either. There is a nearby parking in a lot across cvs, street parking in nearby neighborhoods (read the signs) and pay station street parking.

This is a great spot for sushi lovers an non-​sushi lovers alike. There is a variety of options on the menu from sushi to steak, pasta, and salad (all which look phenomenal). You can’t go wrong with the tuna tar tar… They make it right in front of you and it tastes delicious… Probably the best tuna tar tar I’ve ever had. Also the apple tart for dessert is to die for… Don’t miss out :)
And, If you’re not lucky enough to get street parking, there is a parking structure right behind the restaurant which is very convenient!

Wonderfully fresh fish, BUT
Serving size is smaller than tapas…
Presentation is spectacular
Service is great but slow… Recommend sitting NOT at the sushi bar.
Street parking readily available
Sunday nights are slow
Bar is fun. Great bartenders and great people watching
Love the salads they are REALLY fresh!
Spicy shrimp hand roll is amazing and beautiful to look at. Found better elsewhere in LA but this definitely stacks up

It never fails me :)…I went there last night for a pre-​thanksgiving dinner. It was very very good once again…
Calamari, few sushi order, then the Chilean sea bass and Steak.
All all good always… you get what you pay for here. I’ve been going to this Chaya for 39 years and I have never been disappointed…

I came to chaya for my birthday celebration, and it was one of the best asian fusion restaurants I have been to. I started off with their dragon roll which is THE BEST dragon roll I have ever put in my mouth. The quality of the fish was just amazing which is the reason why the price is more expensive than your average joe schmo sushi restaurant.
For my entrée, I had the jumbo shrimp and lobster ravioli because I read many good reviews about it. It was really, the best ravioli I have ever had. My boyfriend ordered the chilean sea bass and that was very tender and flavorful.
For dessert we shared the Bananas bananas bananas which I ended up just eating the frozen chocolate banana. This dessert contains a lot of bananas, obviously, so be prepared!
It’s a shame they closed down the Beverly Hills location as it is closer to where I live, but Chaya is so good, it’s worth the extra drive.

I went lunch today. My order is Korean stayle Yakiniku bowl.
Rice is so soft, I could not be eat.

I’ve dined at this Chaya location 5 times and think I’ve experienced enough to give a balanced review.
The bar area-​if you get there in time to grab a seat-​has nice ambiance. The bartenders know their drinks and they have a great selection. They infuse their own pineapple vodka and the lychee martinis are fantastic.
The dining area is somewhat formal with white table linens, stemmed glassware, and enormous windows. To my dismay, the kitchen is confident enough in their preparations that they don’t station salt or pepper grinders at the tables. This is typically the mark of a really fantastic establishment, with a skillful executive chef. However, each time I’ve eaten here, the entrees are honestly a 3.3 to 3.9 out of 5. It just can’t quite make an A or B rating on my palate. The seasoning is decent but could use some tweaking. I find that the flavors are really mild, like they might be apprehensive about flavoring quality proteins like lobster and filet mignon. Vegetables are done nicely though. I wouldn’t come here again just for lobster, steak or another substantial protein choice.
I’ve also had sushi and oysters on the half shell on more than one occasion and give both another 3 – 4 out of 5 at this time. Both times there was liqueur drained from some of the oysters and the accoutrements were mostly on target (no cheesecloth for the lemons to keep seeds out). The sushi was good but felt a little warmer than I normally like. If you enjoy it room temperature than this might be the place for you.
Back to their strengths though, the desserts are pretty incredible. The presentation matches the flavor and the presentations are pretty fancy. I recommend anything with caramelized bananas.
Service is polite. The hostess and waiters are pretty friendly but I’ve noticed the waitresses are big on smiling, at least those I’ve seen in passing. I’m a big smiler so I notice these things.

Great place in Venice! Excellent vibe and atmosphere, especially at the lively bar. Try the lychee martini, easy with the sweetener, very nice! My preference regarding the food: Sushi, Tuna tartar and bread pudding as dessert. Can’t go wrong! Service perfectly ok. Can sometimes be a little bit tricky with parking, not at least on weekends! Highly recommended!

So to start this review off, I have to say that this score is an average of their food and their policy.
3% extra wellness tax policy: So I have read through the reviews and the replies by this establishment, but I have a problem with this tax. First I did not notice this wellness statement when I ordered. But then again, I am dining out and not signing a contract, so I didn’t think I needed to read the menu’s fine print… Secondly, if you want to provide benefits to the staff that is fine, but do it how you pay all your costs, by the cost of your food. Increase the cost of each dish by about 50– 75 cents which will roughly balance it out and make the customers truly understand how much they are paying at the start of the meal. If you value your customers and think your food stands on its own merit, removing this tax in place dish increase will net you more for your staff and make customer’s feel like they are not being duped.
Dining: A few of us came to Happy Hour in the bar area and had very pleasant service from the waitress. We ordered a good 7 items off the menu and tried to enjoy the food, but its hard when you bring all 7 items to a small table of 4 at one time. There was no room for plates and we had to forgo eating plates and eat directly off the dishes. Though I was excited to eat my half dozen Market Price oysters, I was left about 45 seconds to eat them in order to fit the other dishes. The food itself was fine, nothing exceptional but a reliably good meal. The Old fashioned ordered was an exceptionally watered down $ 14 mistake.

We didn’t have a reservation for Chaya and arrived just before the dining area was open so we sat in the bar area. At first my husband was not pleased about sitting next to a dirty wall. Once we moved we enjoyed some happy hour specials and regular dinner selections. The happy hour is very popular. The white wine sangria served with peaches was refreshing as was the Prosecco.
Appetizers:
Tuna tartare-​had a slight kick, very good
Lobster enchiladas-​delicious
Entrees:
Short rib ravioli-​great dish
Sea bass-​perfectly done
All our dishes were excellent. The menu offers a
nice twist to classic favorites.

Didn’t know much about this place just walked in, received good service and a very patient waitress. Thank you Danielle for putting up with our group.
Came here for my boyfriends bday with his very extroverted boss and coworkers after e3 was done. We ordered a lot of alcohol, food, and in the end a ice cream bread pudding with a candle.
The Kobe beef lobster roll was ridiculous. Very interesting and a good weird. The beef made it chewy but a rich quality to sushi.
I got the banzino fish bento with spicy lobster roll and a beet salad. I very much enjoyed it, got too full to finish my lobster roll due to the appetizers but so good. About $ 18 I believe.
It’s hard to remember the whole meal due to various activities but overall for 6 people the meal came out to be $ 350. We had a bottle of wine (half off), 6 entrees, 10 separate drinks, two being double shots of whisky, two sushi rolls, two Mac and cheese (highy reccomended), and one shishito pepper appetizer. Will come again.

I went here tonight with two girlfriends. It was my first time and when I got there I had a hard time parking. I paid to park for a spot on the street. When I finally parked there was a doorman there to open the door. It was a nice touch.
My friends chose to sit in the bar table area because they wanted the happy hour prices. It’s happy hour at 5 until closing everyday. But to get the happy hour prices you need to be seated in that area. That area was small, super crowed with people standing all around and over our table. I would have prefer to be seated in the regular seating area but who wants to pay double the price for items on the menu.
The restaurant itself isn’t that big but had a nice ambiance. Bright chandlers hanging and leaves painted on the ceiling in the main dining room.
The service was decent. Our waitress was nice but nothing exceptional. The food was good but some of the portions were kind of small and the menu didn’t have a whole lot of options if you weren’t ordering sushi.
I ordered the vegetable rolls and the chicken tacos. They both tasted good. Nothing amazing but good enough. However I wanted my rolls with brown rice and our waitress said they had brown rice available but couldn’t make the rolls with them, I have no idea why. I tasted my friends Mac and cheese and it was pretty good. They both seemed to enjoy their food as well as the drinks they ordered.
This place seems to be known mainly for the sushi and I don’t eat fish so my review was solely based on my food and experience.