Katana's Red Sun Hour

Katana
8439 W Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone: (323) 650-8585
Happy Hour: 5:30-7:00, M-F; 6-7 weekends

Food - 9
Prices - 5
Service - 10
Total - 24 out of 30, but only because we had a little bit of sticker shock at the end of the night.

First, the important stuff - the atmosphere here is great, and for a Tuesday night, it was a decent crowd. Young professionals, friendly bartender, good decor. The downside is that for two people having drinks and food, the total was $74 (after tax and a hefty - as always - tip.) The upside is that there was PLENTY of meter parking on Sunset at 5:30 mid-week. Plenty.

Drinks on the HH menu include sake, wine, well drinks and a Katana Fusion (vodka and fruit juice) for $5. There used to be beer as well, but they no longer stock the happy hour beer and haven't replaced it with another selection. My companion wanted a beer, so we paid menu prices for two of those ($6 each), plus we had two Katana Fusions, which are mighty tasty. The awesome bartenders topped me off with club soda after that and generously kept my glass full, gratis. Thanks, guys!

Let me start by saying the food was outstanding. Among the best I've had on the Happy Hour gauntlet. Everything is $5 a plate and was so good it was easy to not realize how small the portions were until -- eight plates later and we weren't full. That might not seem like much, but your favorite foodie here has the appetite of a budgie and usually can't split five plates with my fellow revelers, much less eight. Now, eight orders of sushi are also going to be pretty small, but if it's Happy Hour, or "Red Sun" hour, prices should be reduced, and these seemed like standard $5 appies from a regular bar/sushi menu.

But who cares about that -- how did it taste? Almost all great. Skip the rock shrimp tempura - the coating was too dense and greasy and the shrimp underlying were nothing special, but don't skip the seared tuna, the albacore sashimi or the deep fried chicken (and ask for the spicy mayo sauce to go with). All worth the price. We went a little nuts with the Robata (mini skewers; 3 for $5), getting several orders, and the best for me was the asparagus wrapped with bacon. The shitake were also good; the salmon were nearly perfect; the chicken with green onion wasn't bad; and I wouldn't get the chicken meatballs again. Ours were dry and tasteless, although on a different night, they might be better.

We topped the meal off with a delicious spicy tuna roll and tried to order dessert (which is not on the Red Sun menu), but by that time we'd moved from the bar to a table and couldn't get a server to come over, so we bailed.

My friend got hit on, which should have made her happy, but didn't - can't say whether it was a quality prospect or not, as I was in the ladies room at the time (with its nice decor and oh-so-hip, but impossible to actually use, wash basin), but it seems like a place single girls can go to get hit on. She is absolutely going to return, and I probably will as well, but most likely with my husband. I'm not as good a wingman as I once was.

Next Tuesday - El Guapo, which I'm going to with a very large group (over 50 peeps). Let's see how those $1 tacos hold up under that scrutiny. Until then, よく食べなさい !