Konbi

Outstanding. I tried the pork katsu sandwich. It was genuinely phenomenal. The meat was perfectly juicy, the fat was rendered beautifully and the katsu coating was deliciously crispy. Yes, it’s not a cheap sandwich. Yes it took ten minutes to prepare (that’s great, it means they’re making it fresh). Yes there is a mandatory 20% service fee. I’m not sure why some reviews are making that into a big deal. Think of it as no service charge and the food costs little more if you prefer. Whichever way you look at it though, my sandwich was amazing and I will be going back again and again.

I think this place is waay to overrated. Not that big of a brunch and it costed us (2 people) $65. They add a 20% tip as soon as you order so you dont even know what you’re tipping for. Specialties lattes not that special and we waited like 10 minutes for them. We tried the Pate a choux which I thought was better than the katsu ????. (8 out of 10) As you can see in the picture they charge you $15 for the katsu and they dont even bother to fill up the bread all the way with pork. I also asked if I could try the pistacchio ice cream and they dont give out samples (first time I’ve ever heard that in an “ice cream shop”. Wont be coming back anytime soon.

Konbi is definitely worth a visit but it's up to you (and your wallet) whether you want to be a regular there. They opened at 9am, instead of the 8am mentioned on google, to a line of more than 30 patrons. The kitchen and the system inside is quite organized though. Some menu items were not available during the 'soft opening' but they anticipate to have everything soon. Food wise, the egg salad sandwich is really good, but well, it's a sandwich, so there's an inherent limitation to how amazing it can be. The omelet sandwich is pretty good too but not as good as the egg sandwich. The eggplant katsu is interesting with some umami flavors going on. The butter croissant was the best I've had so far in LA, easily comparable with the bakeries in Paris. I felt the flavored croissants took a little away from the pure flavors of the croissant. The prices are reasonable, but when you add the 20% surcharge it does work out to be quite steep. Expect to pay $20-30 per person for what is a light bre