Robata Jinya

• Cuisine(s): Japanese
  Hours: Sun 11:30am-2:45pm, Sun 5:30pm-10:45pm, Mon-Sat 11:30am-3pm, Mon-Sat 5:30pm-11pm
  Price: $
• Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards
  Features: Takeout
  Serving: Dinner, Lunch
• Alcohol: Beer/Wine
  Reservations: Accepted
  Parking: Valet

Description

Like most robata-ya and izakaya menus, the menu at Robata Jinya can be bewildering in its complexity, listing dozens of meats and vegetables available skewered from the grill, a number of Nobu-style sashimi preparations and a selection of rather overcomplicated sushi rolls. The one most people order is the La Brea roll, which is a Crunch Spicy Albacore roll frosted with an extra inch of spicy tuna paste. (You can eat sushi at Robata Jinya, but it is by no means a sushi bar.) And at Robata Jinya, there is also ramen - really good ramen, among the best two or three bowls anywhere in Southern California: springy noodles; soft slabs of simmered pork belly; deep, long-boiled pork broth dinged with a hint of bonito; and a spoonful of richly colored onions, cooked almost black, that give a bittersweet edge to the soup.