Bite

This used to be one of my favorite places to eat, as I live and work nearby. However on my most recent visit, I was very disappointed. An entire section of the menu has been removed, my favorite part at that! They used to have all these great a la carte skewers of tasty fish, chicken, veggies and exotic mixes. It was sort of tapas-style, where you could get an appetizer and a few different types of BBQ items. All gone now! Only ""fusion"" sushi rolls (unauthentic and over the top), overpriced entrees and two salad options remain. They have also done away with the crispy noodles and yummy plum dipping sauce to start with, and were out of my favorite appetizer--which I am not surprised about because it was the only familiar thing on the menu so I bet it's pretty popular with people who are repeat diners!\r \r The one waitress (never seen another one there) was overworked and too busy to help us, plus had attitude when we asked questions about the menu. She juggles the whole place by herself, and also was behind the bar making drinks, which seems insane to me! I'm sure she's trying but it left me as the customer feeling left in the cold. That is not her fault, but management's.\r \r Basically, whoever has made these changes is a moron and has definitely lost my repeat business. more

I travel a lot for work and have eaten at multiple sushi restaurants in multiple places. As soon as I walked in to Bite I was greeted with friendly, prompt service. I was seated right away and was given the option of outside dinning, upstairs dinning by a chic fireplace or romantic seating on red velvet. The atmosphere is relaxing and hip. You can tell that it was well thought out. The staff works together like a well oiled machine which makes their service even better. The menu has an excellent selection from delicious main courses to rolls to delicate deserts. The chefs truly know what they are doing and will go the extra mile to satisfy their customers. Bite is located two blocks from Venice pier... so why not top off a perfect meal with a stroll down the beach. It is a great place to eat on all occasions. If you are looking for a sushi restaurant that will not disappoint, you have to try BITE! Pros: Amazing service and atmosphere more

I've Been to alot of sushi bars here in Los Angeles, alot of the fish is pre-cut and removed from pre-packaged plastic...Bites sushi bar filets all their own fish on the spot...im surprised that people complain about the slow service when they're actually getting such fresh fish for such a low price...The sushi chefs there know alot and are quick at what they do. not alot of places serve live ama-ebi or muragai and they actually bring out huge 40 lb blocks of tuna...whats great about this place is that they filet it in front of you...so if you do decide to go to bite for sushi, just take a look over the bar and you'll see the difference between real sushi that this place offers compared to the super market garbage that other places like benihana and ""sushi mac"" offer. bite is the real deal! Pros: the sushi chefs know what they're doing more

in short, don't bother. \r the music was ridiculously loud, the food took f o r e v e r and was just ok,and the main entree my brother ordered never arrived (although we reminded the waiter 3 TIMES about it...). it seemed pretty clear from the way he interacted with the chef that he forgot to put in the order... ok , we're all human...but after being reminded three times?... come on... was it that we were too polite when we asked that we weren't taken seriously? i don't know but the waiter really lost me when on the fourth and final request we made for the entree he said, ""im sorry the kitchen was really behind tonight..."" this may have been a more believable excuse if kitchen wasn't completely visible (its a sushi bar) to us and /or there had been more than 8 people in the entire place (including the bar). \r i guess we should have known something was wrong when we walked up past a bunch of other busy restaurants on the way in but this one was a ghost town; the bar and the sushi counter had two customers between them... despite this though we waited more than an HOUR in this loud, echoing emptiness for our sushi rolls, all the while we were getting headaches from the music which noone seemed to be enjoying (neither the workers nor any of the patrons...). my brother and i are both in our twenties and he is a musician and i love all types of music but we were so agitated by the irrititating techno/house concoction they foisted on us, we truly couldnt get out of there fast enough. \r please, there are hundreds (thousands?) of restaurants in this town, give your business to one that is at least trying to be great. more

Although the restrooms are the cleanest ever, this place, in its attempt to be ""cool"" misses the mark with food, overpriced bar (for the neighborhood) and service. The best bet here is the 5:00 - 7:00 happy hour. If you can get service, the appetizer menu is a deal. Sit outside and watch the locals parade their dogs and up and down the street and then walk a ? block to the beach for a great sunset. There is something about the concrete block ""Industrial"" look and feel of the place, which was intentionally built from the ground up for this venue that is cold, unappealing and cramped. \r \r Low food cost (chicken and cheap beef cuts in every spicy Pacific Rim way possible) must have been the business model here. If you like this sort of thing, are on a severe diet and have a lot of time to wait on food delivery ? go for it as the portions are small and skillfully place on the plate with enough garnishments (lettuce leaves) to at least hide some of the bottom of the plate. Pros: Happy hour appitizers Cons: Pacific Rim is great but this place misses the mark more

Nice attempt to create a hip Asian budhha bar scene at the beach, but they miss the mark. Quality of food is extremely poor, so only go for the drinks and/or sushi. Pros: Ambience and upstairs seating area Cons: food is cheapo terrible more

Amazing food! Not claiming for this to be best sushi in la- though the sushi IS good, but it's the best JAPANESE food in general... noodles, salads, etc. favorites are: garlic noodles, green beens, flash fried tofu, and seared tuna sashimi. YUM! Pros: food, decor Cons: service sometimes slow more

I used to go to Bite when it was called ZaZen. Even though the service was poor, the food and drinks made up for it. The only thing that's changed since they changed the name to Bite, is that the food quality has gotten worse. We sat down at the bar and the bartender wouldn't even let us order appetizers while we waited for our table. He said the kitchen was too busy to handle it, but the place was nearly empty!! When we finally did get seated, it took over 30 minutes for our server to even approach the table. It took over an hour for our food, and we had to get up and track her down any time we needed anything. The food was horrible. No-one was able to finish their entree because everything was so salty and greesy. We ordered BBQ chicken skewers as an appetizer, and when it came out, it was ONE chicken wing on a skewer. Don't waste your time or money. Bite really bites. more

The Za Zen menu has been remodeled to revolve around Asian street food, and this restaurant is now a bit more eclectic. We go here often and the service is reliably slow, but that's our only complaint. The zen fried noodles are fabulous and we love the kobe beef skewars and beef hot links. The sushi is above average. Martini list is long and a lot of fun. Check out the upstairs where there is a fire pit and patio. Pros: Ambience, location, friendly staff Cons: Unfathomably slow kitchen more

We were excited to try the ""Japanese Street Food."" The restaurant had only two other tables seated and one couple at the sushi bar. The decor is odd with a blend of different styles that gave us the impression that the space had been thrown together. The service and the food were as haphazard as the space. We waited over half an hour for our food- the tables that had come in after us received their food before us. When I finally received my noodles, they were cold. The sushi roll was mediocre at best. We had the impression the servers were trying, but didnt really know what they were supposed to do. THey were not well versed in the menu. The menu is way overpriced for ""street food."" They might be able to capture Venice tourists, but this is a couple of locals who will not go back. Pros: full bar Cons: mediocre food, poor service, odd atmosphere more

DO not come here unless you have hours spend. I came here 3 weeks ago with a group of 6. As we walked in they apologized for being ""backed-up"" even though the restaurant was empty skewers are $2.75, but the food is low quality. i went there last night as well. it took 15minutes to get drinks and they brought me the wrong one. my waiter was abolutely awful. we waited a good 30 + minutes for food. i saw my order sitting under the heat lamp. i waited about 5+ minutes. needless to say they came out thecold and chewy. finally after crappy service again, we decided to just pay for the drinks not the food. of course the food was on the bill and we had to ask take it off. the hostest however apologized for the situation. seems this waiter has a really bad attitude. READ lazy. Pros: cute sweet hostess, drinks are good, if you get the right Cons: waiter, wait, food not that great. more

mediocre food and really bad service - the chefs behind the sushi bar were fighting with eachother through our entire meal, we all got our food at completely different times, it took an extra 30 minutes to get the last item (a veggie skewer that should have taken 2 minutes). and for all that, the food was average at best. there are so many better sushi places, in venice and on the westside, and the skewers/other food didn't make enough of an impact to warrant a 2nd visit. Pros: location, martinis Cons: service more

We went to Bite for Happy Hour on a Monday, when the restaurant was nearly empty. There was only one other table besides ours, but service was still... well, slow. However, the decor was great and I could see that on a busier night the atmosphere would be fantastic. The Happy Hour menu is such a deal, but it doesn't include drinks. The food was very good, and the martini menu was impressive--pricey but, from what I experienced, well worth the $9/ea. One downside was that they were out of the lumpia on the menu, which was what I really wanted to try. Oh, and another thing--why does Citysearch say this place just opened? The bartender told me they've been around for 5 years! Pros: martinis, food, decor Cons: no lumpia, slow service, no drink specials more

We went on a Sunday when the restaurant was far from busy. Still, the service was extremely slow. We ate upstairs and I think our server forgot we were there. The food vs. price equation doesnt quite work out. The sushi is by no means bad, however, its no better than average. The menu is extensive. The bread pudding is fantastic. The place does look great though! It has lovely ambiance. My advice...eat elsewhere and go to Bite for tea and dessert. Pros: Dessert, Atmosphere, Tea Cons: Service, Sushi, Price more

I was there with my friend from out of town for the first time, Great Food, and the service was superb!, Truly a great ambiance and yummy dishes! Reasonable too. I like the Decor. I Plan to bring my out of town Girlfriend here in May! The Zen Fried Rice is really good! and the Martinis have a classy feel to them. Pros: Martinis, Sushi, Service more

The food was mediocre, however, the service was great. I went there for dinner and the restaurant was relatively empty. The tables were slightly uncomfortable as you felt like you were sitting very far apart from your party. They did bring out these tasty crackers before the meal. Pros: Service, Cozy, Quiet Cons: Food was plain more