ABSteak by Chef Akira Back Reviews
Submitted by KYLE AHN on 06/17/2022
KYLE AHN 4 stars rating.
It was good.
Service was great.
Another High end Korean Bbq house.
I wish they have cold noodle soon.
Shirlene Kwan 5 stars rating.
Great experience. The food was great quality and the service was excellent. The yukhwe was almost tuna like in texture. Super fresh. I enjoyed the boneless short rib the most. It was a perfect amount of fattyness. Could've skipped the dry aged rib eye and gotten a few more servings of the short ribs. The egg souffle was a bit densed for my liking but my fiance love it. The galbi fried rice was flavorful and I definitely would recommend it. Pancakes were OK. Scallops were OK, again would skip for more short ribs or wagyu. Sorbet was light and the pumpkin puree really compliments it.
Submitted by Shirlene Kwan on 09/07/2022
vic NY (Vic NY) 5 stars rating.
Great steak and meat, excellent soup, top service, beautiful restaurant in a nice neighborhood. Love Akira’s restaurants.
Submitted by Vic Ny (vic Ny) on 08/03/2022
John 5 stars rating.
One of the best Korean bbq restaurants with exquisite dining experience. Service was also a top-notch. Would definitely go back next time we visit LA.
Submitted by John on 07/31/2022
dev isemeyer 4 stars rating.
Fabulous food and top class service - a shout out to Jay. I would give it 5 stars but the fantastic 4 wasn't available and that was the 1 dish we were so looking forward to trying. Will definitely come back...sooner rather than later. ????☺
Submitted by Dev Isemeyer on 05/08/2022
King B 5 stars rating.
Very good Korean-style steakhouse. Don't come here for the scene, it's the food that's the star. They cook at your table on the grill. Strongly recommend the Wagyu it's the A5 real deal.
Submitted by King B on 04/29/2022
Pat 5 stars rating.
Amazing Service and Amazing tasting meats= 5 Stars! This is the best quality High End Korean steakhouse in LA... Definitely recommend!
Submitted by Pat on 03/20/2022
aly yeh 5 stars rating.
I have eaten at some truly fantastic restaurants, and this one just made the top of my list. Not only was I impressed by the beautiful decor and incredibly creative and unique menu, but it was the level of service that will guarantee my return. Eric took amazing care of our party of six. Never intrusive, but always attentive. They have done an incredible job preparing the staff for a one of a kind dining experience. Get a reservation, before you can't!
Submitted by Aly Yeh on 03/11/2020
Bernard X 5 stars rating.
Service: Our waiter Eric was incredibly friendly and had the odd ability to make me feel like he'd been serving me at the restaurant for years like an old friend. One thing that sticks out the the precision and efficiency of the service flow. The food was not rushed out all together like a Friday traffic jam on the 405 but neither did we wait on food from the kitchen for any period of time. Everything was served at the perfect pace and the perfect time. This bodes well as I'm certain this place will become more and more populated as word gets around and turning tables quickly, while making people feel well served and comfortable will be paramount to success. Since it was my first time there, I subtly tested our waiter Eric by casually placing my chopsticks randomly on the table away from the holder, using the wrong utensils and emptying my drink and placing it uncomfortably out of reach for myself. Eric quickly helped organize my utensils and non verbally and unintrusively suggested the fork or the spoon when it was most appropriate for the course I was consuming. He managed to take care of all the table service while not interrupting the actual meal. Steaks are cooked at the table by Eric, who presented the food and made sure to not be in the way of any photos of the food. Eric quietly seared each order, gave its proper respect with the flame and rested the steak before portioning the meat into shareable and more manageable sizes.
Food: Besides the regular menu, they had a special in season branzino dish as well as an extremely refreshing yellowtail ceviche that I want to say had some yuzu in it.
Bread course included 2 different types of table rolls and a kimchee butter. Ok, before your brain starts to process that, you need to know that the butter was absolutely beautiful with a soft, smooth kiss of a kimchee essence. It does not by any means clobber you over the head with any harsh salt, spice or pungent flavorings.
The “BO SSAM” featured a 24 hour sous vide pork belly, with an apple kimchee (again, toss that harsh idea of kimchee out the window) an an XO sauce. I neglected to ask if the XO sauce was house made, but I suspect it was. It tasted like the quality of the dried scallops and umami bomb ingredients associated with XO were much nicer than some of the jarred stuff many restaurants tend to utilize. The XO was gently added and didn't overshadow the pork belly.
The Kimchee fried rice was more along the lines of traditional flavors of kimchee, really really good kimchee... It had heat and depth without any sharp acidic tones.
Onto the star of the show...the beef. There are no bad choices here. AB Steak offers several varieties of dry aged beef as well as prime and Wagyu beef. Ab Steak seems to source their wagyu out of Australia as well as one of the several popular wagyu farms out of Oregon, forgoing the popular Snake Rivers Farms and Double R Ranch Wagyu popular with many high end restaurants and competition bbq teams . They do offer A5 wagyu from various prefectures of Japan but my personal preference for the dollar is American wagyu. Depending on the breeding, American Wagyu can offer a deeper flavor and doesn't carry the cost of a pure bred and imported wagyu from Japan. And to be honest, if you're dining out and having wine, sake or even soda, the subtle differences become much more of a grey line.
One of the more interesting stars of the show is the Camembert cheese dry aged ribeye. Camembert generally carries a similar process and flavoring to aged beef and it certainly plays well here.
The meat is presented with 3 different flake salts all extremely subtle with it's flavoring. Eric had suggested to cut the meat into smaller sections and play with each salt individually. Ultimately I ended up using the truffle salt with a touch of the black garlic salt. The kimchee salt was also quite complimentary to each cut of meat.
Dessert was not an afterthought and was well conceived and complimentary. Thank you Chef Back, staff and our waiter Eric.
Submitted by Bernard X on 03/01/2020
G King 5 stars rating.
Ordered their 28 days dry aged black label wagyu steak and it was so far one of the best steakhouse I had ever been. The steak was so buttery. We didn’t have a reservation and it was a little busy when we got there but we didn’t wait very long to get seated and served. The food was there right away. Their costumer service was one of the best in LA. All the people there seemed to be happy with what they are being served so the resto was a little loud. So the server would bend down to you when you are ordering so that he can hear you clearly. This is what most resto don’t teach their servers and I think it is one of the best way to show respect and attentiveness to your costumers. They would cook the food in front of you and make sure it is to your liking. Can’t wait to go back here! I’ll take more pictures next time.
Submitted by G King on 02/28/2020
