Restaurant: Kappo Miyabi
Location: 702 Arizona Ave Suite BB, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 260-0085
Date: February 18, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya
Rating: Too much of too many good things
Jeffrey talked this place up, but he tends to “over like” Japanese restaurants in walking distance of his house and work, like the middling Soko. Kappo Miyabi, formerly known as Kappo Onsen, is technically an Izakaya I guess, but it has a very wide range of Japanese food including Izakaya, sushi, skewers, rice pots, hot plates, udon, etc.
The vast — too vast — menu.
Edamame.
Seaweed Salad.
Sunomono. Not enough “marinate.”
Agedashi Tofu. I like agedashi tofu in general, but this one was a bit doughy.
Potato Salad.
Miso Glazed Eggplant.
Charcoal Mentaiko. Grilled fish roe. Interesting.
Wagyu Gyoza. Hard to tell it’s wagyu.
Salmon and Tamago Sushi. The sushi here is the slightly large middling sushi a lot of middling places have.
Scallops with Uni. This didn’t quite pair.
Marinated Snapper Carpaccio.
Popcorn Shrimp Tempura. Can’t go too wrong with this.
This came as a set.
Miso Black Cod.
Salad.
Potato Salad.
Skewers.
Chicken Wings and Chicken Meatballs.
Bacon Wrapped Shrimp, Pork Belly, and Chicken Tails.
Plain Udon.
BBQ Eel Bowl. Not bad.
Everything at Kappo Miyabi is just “kinda decent.” They have way too many different kinds of food and way too white a clientele to be really good. It’s not truly any particular type of Japanese Cuisine. It’s not a sushi bar, nor a yaki tori place, nor exactly an Izakaya — but it sort of tries to be all of them.