I originally rated this spot 5 stars and saved the review as a draft. I am coming back to it today to finish this review once and for all and man, was that quite the meal. I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was lucky enough to snag a seat at this intimate 11-seat counter, and it is easily one of the most memorable dining experiences I've ever had with my girlfriend. The restaurant is fairly hidden, but once you find your way there, expect to be treated like royalty. Watching Chef Shingo and Chef Niki craft each course right in front of us felt incredibly special. They advertise a omakase tasting menu blending Thai, French, and Japanese flavors for the most aromatic, well balanced dish. I agree that their complex flavor worked extremely well for our palette. Each dish was assembled with intention and passion. At $220 for the tasting menu, it's definitely a worthwhile experience. Consider yourself extra lucky If you can find an open reservation. read more

French Onion Soup Chawanmushi was quite special, it got a silky Japanese steamed egg soaks up all that rich sweetness from the caramelized onion soup, letting you taste this gentle French-Japanese fusion in just one bite. Charcoal-Grilled Bluefin Tuna Burger has this slight char that locks in all the good fats and fresh flavors. Snow Crab Green Curry & Fresh Shrimp Tom Yum Noodles brings out the sweetness of the snow crab, while the Tom Yum broth is this perfect sour and spicy kick, finished off with these super thin noodles that make it all come together. Grilled Wagyu Ribeye with Phla Ponzu Sauce is balanced out perfectly by a special Thai herb citrus sauce, making it fragrant and rich without being too heavy. read more

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Love love loved our dining experience here. For the price point and what you get, this is an absolutely a high quality and value experience. (For reference, I have 30+ Michelin starred restaurants that I've dined at) Food: 5/5 Alternating between innovative flavor combinations and elegantly upleveled classic. My favorite was the mini burger with fatty tuna and shiso. It was a French twist on nigiri and instantly recognizable. Service: representative of fine dining. Attentive and respectful. The chefs explain the courses and finish plating and cooking the dishes live in front of the bar seating style counter. Ambiance: clean, simple and traditional read more

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Not usually into fusion concepts but when I heard that Kaneyoshi group had a new addition, I had to try it. Maison Kanatha is housed in the same space as Kaneyoshi, Sawa, and Ki. You take an elevator down to the basement where you enter a small lobby and check in with the host. The same fishy smell I noticed when I first dined here for sawa still permeated the lobby and when we were brought into the dining room. The service style here is clean cut and I don't have any complaints about the pacing or presentation. The chefs introduced themselves and also made sure to say good bye to each of us and thank us for dining. It was amazing watching the delicate dance they did to prepare the food in front of us, with nothing out of place. They even sent us home with little gift bags matcha cake slices with red bean. The star I removed is solely for the food. A lot of omakases at this level will cost you $300+ so I felt for $220 per person it was fairly priced, but the menu was about half misses and half hits. Main hits: White sesame mousse with caviar and monk fish liver- loved this. I thought the white sesame mousse was so unique to be presented in this way and the monkfish liver just added to the overall umami of the dish Seared tuna burger- this had fatty tuna, shiso, cream cheese, and apple. I thought looking at this it wouldn't work but it really did! I loved it. My favorite of the night. Unagi- was delicious because it was grilled perfectly, crisp on the outside and so tender on the inside, but I did not feel the burdock or balsamic added to it all. It was just kinda there. King mackerel beignet- also loved how well cooked this was and how you could taste the nori in the very light batter Some things were just ok: Kataifi Shinjo- not bad but not a strong opener at all. Didn't really feel elevated. Both desserts were also just ok- the Thai tea ice dessert was a little all over the place with flavors and textures. The raspberry pudding the thing that felt elevated was the almond cookie crisp Green curry pani puri- good concept but it was not a good mouthfeel to bite into it and feel grains of rice along with intense curry flavor. That texture did not balance with the crunch of the shell Carrot coconut soup- the crisp added on top of this was what saved the dish. Adding it to the soup changed the flavor entirely and added complexity. Once the crisp was gone it was just cold thick soup with cold vegetables that didn't taste like much. Spot shrimp- the flavor for this was so intense it would have done well to add something crispy or a starch to it to balance out the intensity. I mentioned to my partner it reminded me of ceviche and made me crave nachos or a tostada to temper the flavor. Major misses: American Wagyu- the biggest disappointment of the night. The first thing we noticed was a smell coming from the dish that neither of us found pleasant. The sauce it was served with was so sour/intense it was almost a relief once it was finished. I understand tart/spicy is meant to cut the rich fat of the Wagyu, but I felt it completely overwhelmed the meat and was just not a pleasant feeling. I would like to walk away from eating Wagyu going "mmm that was good" not "goodness what was going on??" I didn't feel the garnish or broccolini added anything to it. Squid tart- texture issue. The slimy starchy texture of the squid was offputting. Not a good bite. The olive pieces at the bottom tried to counter it, but it was not enough. Chawanmushi with onion soup- I see how both French onion soup and chawanmushi can be melded to create a very warm comforting dish, but it felt muddled to me. It felt like there was no point for the chawanmushi to be there and the onions just overpowered everything. What I like about chawanmushi is how delicate it is. Even if it was just for additional texture I felt it all got lost in a soup slop. All of it being so hot also made it just feel like onion soup because that's all you could perceive. For soup I preferred the shrimp tom yum with somen noodles and how delicate that dish was instead. Overall I would actually rate this a 3.5 due to the food because I expected a bit more, but rounded up to 4 because everything else was a good experience. I don't think I would return unless they'd been open longer and maybe the menu got a major rework. read more

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I'm a follower of Chef Shingo Kato since his days at UKA and was eager to try his newly helmed Japanese - Thai - French fine dining restaurant. I booked it for my gf and I's anniversary dinner for a friday night. The entire meal took about 2 1/2 hrs with excellent pacing between dishes and stellar service. Majority of the cooking was done inside their kitchen but final plating was done in front of us at the counter. The food was not only innovative and delicious but also beautiful in presentation. I honestly cannot even pick a favorite dish because they were all incredible and unique in their own way. I'm generally not the biggest fan of many thai spices and taste but this meal was a game changer. A little over half of the dishes were very much thai focused in terms of taste but using japanese high quality ingredients and cooked with french techniques. The best part, I felt full after the last savory course which even had the option of extra somen noodles. Overall, this has probably been the best restaurant based fine dining experience I had. A very unique fusion compared to the typical contemporary or japanese focused fine dining that is all over LA. Chef Kato and Niki's food was certainly a breath of fresh air. I'm definitely recommending my friends to come try this place out and I'm already planning my next visit soon. read more

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Thank you for giving me such a great experience during my birthday month! The food was really creative, combining Thai, French, and Japanese influences so beautifully. The flavors were perfectly balanced and absolutely delicious. I really enjoyed my experience! read more

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From start to finish, top to bottom, Maison Kanatha is a winner. The chef is amazing - every dish of his Thai/French/Japanese fusion cuisine is delicious. He and his wife also make a lovely team serving the dishes and tending to diners. The venue is beautiful as well. This place is a must in LA. read more

french-thai-japanese is not a combo i've ever heard or thought of before.. but i think maison kanatha has created something really special! all the dishes had high quality ingredients with expert textures, prepared with beautiful precision and detail - something you expect from an upscale tasting menu. but what was unexpected were the flavors - the sourness and spices of southeast asian food - combined with the high quality preparation. RESERVATIONS i went to restaurant ki with two of my friends, and our host told us that maison kanatha had recently opened in the same location under the same restaurant group. we looked into reservations on the spot and booked one about a month out. it wasn't hard since they are newer. PARKING/GETTING IN the default option the restaurants here give you is parking in the garage, which i heard is $10. but i've been able to find free parking on the street nearby. the restaurant will send instructions on how to get inside. it's on the basement level of the building attached to the garage. SERVICE/AMBIANCE everything feels very calm, clean, and respectful. i felt very taken care of by all the hosts, servers, and chefs. we were seated a bar so we got to watch the chefs prepare everything, and they put in so much care and attention to detail to everything. overall, the hospitality we experienced was a 10/10. FOOD some overall notes: my friends and i liked everything we got, but there were definitely some things that stood out. my menu excluded shrimp items because i am allergic. there were 4 items on the menu that were different due to my allergy, which felt like a lot.. but i still liked my replacements so i'm not complaining. my friend has an aversion to cilantro, and it seemed like a lot of dishes had cilantro. sometimes i wouldn't even really notice the flavor of cilantro but my friend did because she's sensitive to it. if you don't like cilantro i would let them know when making a reservation, and maybe they can accommodate. now for specific dishes: - crispy salmon w/ soy butter sauce: well cooked salmon, i loved the light crunch and the sweet sauce - caviar w/ white sesame mousse: all of us loved this! perfect balance of salty, creamy, nutty, and light - charcoal grilled black cod w/ holy basil sauce: the fish was SO SOFT. softer than miso black cod anywhere. combined with a crackly skin and mushrooms? i don't think you could design a more perfect dish for me. i will say the skin felt a biit burnt to a crisp for me, but i didn't care as i was just obsessed with the texture of the fish itself - cold asparagus soup w/ crystal salmon: DELICIOUS. the salmon was perfect and fatty. my only note was that the crispy bit was super thin and delicate, but i could have done with a more hefty crunch to go with this dish. - crispy tart w/ squid and uni: similar to the soup, i felt that the tart was so delicate and thin, and i would have wanted just a bit more. i enjoyed the fishiness of this, with the textures of the squishy squid and soft uni. but one of my friends felt it was a bit too fishy for them. personal preference! - tomato and flounder w/ mozuku seaweed: there was a tartness and sourness that i really enjoyed. the flounder was the perfect texture (i think it was shrimp for everyone else). - mini burger w/ charcoal seared bluefin tuna: my friend's favorite dish of the night. the seared tuna was a 10/10 for me. i just felt that mine tasted a bit strongly of shiso, and i couldn't really taste the cream cheese. but still good and you get two fat pieces of tuna which felt generous. - green curry in pani puri with hokkaido scallop: this dish was interesting. i loved the flavor of the green curry. the scallop on top tasted and felt more like crab, but it was still good. there was rice at the bottom but i couldn't really notice it unless i specifically looked for it. - chawanmushi w/ french onion soup: unique dish, a combo i've never seen before. i was skeptical of the flavors working together but they really did! perfectly soft egg custard, overall delicious. - sea bream beignet w/ yuzu sake cream sauce: this dish was the only thing on the menu that i kind of had a hard time with. the sake cream sauce was sour in a slightly unpleasant way, like when you want yogurt to be sweet but it's unsweetened greek yogurt. the texture of the sea bream was just ok - wagyu shabu shabu w/ tamarind ponzu sauce: big fan of the ponzu suace. perfect, balanced bites with meat, veggies, and sauce. - somen noodles in tom yum soup: sour, warm, delicious - passion fruits coconut: yummy, though the passionfruit was a bit too strong for me - pudding w/ blackberry sauce: the perfect dessert, tbh. i could eat this every day. finally there was a good amount of crunch if you like thai food and upscale asian food, especially seafood, maison kanatha is the place to go! i don't think i've seen anything like this anywhere else in LA. try it before it gets too popular :) read more

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After seeing that Chef Kato had opened his new restaurant, I was so excited to try a Japanese/French/Thai fusion tasting menu! It was so wonderful seeing him work with Chef Niki and getting to meet her as well. My boyfriend took me for my birthday, and every bite was perfectly seasoned, cooked, and flavorful. The fusion was super interesting, and each course was thoughtfully explained. Mini tuna burgers were so delicious!! The staff were very kind and service was timely. We also loved the sake pairing but was on the sweeter side. Highly recommend for any special occasion :) P.S. Chef Kato's home baked matcha pound cake with red bean was amazing!! After seeing that Chef Kato had opened his new restaurant, I was so excited to try a Japanese/French/Thai fusion tasting menu! It was so wonderful seeing him work with Chef Niki and getting to meet her as well. My boyfriend took me for my birthday, and every bite was perfectly seasoned, cooked, and flavorful. The fusion was super interesting, and each course was thoughtfully explained. Mini tuna burgers were so delicious!! The staff were very kind and service was timely. We also loved the sake pairing but was on the sweeter side. Highly recommend for any special occasion :) P.S. Chef Kato's home baked matcha pound cake with red bean was amazing!! read more

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Fantastic food. So many cool combinations of Thai, Japanese, and French dishes and flavors. Service pretty exceptional. Location in the basement of downtown building is slightly weird. But they send you directions on how to get there. Would definitely dine again. read more