Omaniku is a fine dining restaurant located in the Sheraton hotel in San Gabriel. Guests have the option between a beef or seafood tasting menu. We came as a party of 9 for my friend's birthday and all opted for the beef - the Omaniku tasting course. We were seated in a private room. It was relatively quiet with few other guests. The ambiance didn't feel quite right. I felt like I was sitting in a hotel lobby or an office conference room as opposed to a luxury restaurant. The lighting was a bit too bright, and the table, made up of several other tables with a tablecloth on top, had several bumps and gaps.
I started with a Tokyo Night cocktail from the bar, which set me back $18. Sake base with grapefruit, grated ginger, nutmeg, and sparkling water. It was good. Sweet and refreshing with a strong rice wine flavor.
The actual meal left me disappointed. It started strong enough. First, we had the Butterfly Yuzu Cleanser, a palate cleanser made of butterfly pea flower and yuzu. Then, our servers brought each of us an ornate black sphere. Opening it revealed a cloud of mist and a "one bite" beef tartare topped with uni and served on a nori cracker. The uni was fresh and buttery and melded beautifully with the raw beef. The nori gave a nice surprising crispness. The A5 Amuse was good too - more beef tartare served on a "one bite" spoon with truffle jelly. For me, the meal reached its peak here.
I found fault with the remaining courses in one way or another whether it be their flavor pairing or quality of cooking. The next dish for example, the USDA prime skirt, was cooked tenderly, but its natural juiciness and aroma were vastly overpowered by the ponzu sauce and onion. The ponzu was very tangy. The onion was sweet, caramelized, and biting. All together, however, it was too much and the meat did not shine. In addition, there was too much onion. In terms of volume, I felt like there was more onion than meat on the plate. The chive on top was just overkill. Next was the short rib, which was largely unimpressive. The meat itself tasted bland with most of the flavor coming from the dill garnish. In this dish, the eggplant, which should have just been a side, outshined the beef.
The vegetable trio dish was refreshing. I liked the pickled bamboo shoot and the tangy sauce. The green beans kinda just tasted like cold green beans.
We then received a crab chawanmushi on the house because it was my friend's birthday. It was one of the better dishes of the night. The egg was silky, warm, and filling. The broth was umami and delicious.
Then, we were each served an overcooked scallop with a side of garlic bread. The scallop was very disappointing. It was tiny. The texture was all wrong - mealy, stringy, and tough. It did not taste fresh. I was not getting truffle from the truffle butter. The broth and scallop were bland. The best thing on the plate was the garlic bread.
The ribeye was fine. I don't remember much about it other than it was served with a Bordelaise sauce.
The A5 Wagyu with goma sauce was.. Fine. Objectively, it tasted good. But when I compare it to similar dishes I've had, I wasn't too impressed. I think it was slightly overcooked as the edges were a bit charred. It was not as tender and buttery of a bite as I was expecting for A5 Wagyu.
The bone marrow rice was a huge let down. I don't know why they chose to sear the bone marrow. It looked dry before they even began mixing it. I did not taste the bone marrow in the rice. I was expecting a fatty richness to coat the grains of rice, but I did not get that at all.
Mango pudding was good.
At $128 per person, this tasting menu is definitely expensive. Was the food disgusting? No. It was decent. But at this price, I was expecting so much more and was severely disappointed read more