Octopus Japanese Restaurant

This restaurant has been here for a long while now, and it is as good as it gets. * Great lunch/dinner specials * Great selection of sushi * Good happy hour menu * Great place to hang out with friends * Great customer service Recommendations: If coming for lunch, please make a reservation.

Stopped off for a quick lunch. Haven't been to this location in downtown. Once inside, the staff behind the counter was very friendly and sweet. Compared to the others, these girls actually had a real smile on their face. Got seated right away, lunch time but most people in the area had the day off as it was right after thanksgiving. Our waitress, Samantha I believe was her name. Very sweet. Took out order and was always on point with refilling our drinks and checking up on us. The food was great and didn't take long at all to arrive. I'm going on it as it want crazy busy and there was plenty of chef on hand. Checked in with yelp and the offer came with a small saki for 1.00. To my surprise, the small was quite large. Overall, service was great, food was great, staff was great, and atmosphere was great as well. Would definitely come back for sushi. Also, they have a great sushi deal for 30.00 per person.

Awesome AYCE deal! I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of choices, quality of the food, and the quick service here. I've been here multiple times many years ago, but never left with an amazing impression so I didn't bother coming back. Now I can say I will definitely be bringing all my friends here instead of getting KBBQ all the time. AYCE is ~$25, completely worth the price. We ordered a little of everything, the sushi better than expected for the price. They should have smaller size dishes however; for example, we ordered the edamame and it came in a giant bowl so the three of us really had to try hard to finish all of it. The menu variety is insane as there are so so many options. We asked for dessert, and they said they were planning on incorporating that in the menu sometime in the future. So if they could just add dessert, this place would be perfect! Overall, highly recommend coming here for the AYCE deal. If not, the bento boxes are also pretty good, filling, and worth the price.

When you eat with the boys, they like to do sushi AYCE style. We went around 5ish and got seated immediately. The place was a little busy though as it took forever to even get someone to notice us. I think the hostess must have been very attentive bc my hungry eyes were wandering all over the place and my guess is she sent someone to us. Ordered drinks and she said she wasn't our server but they would be with us soon. The baked mussels weren't available that day, so that was a bummer but other than that, we just ordered and tried to eat as much food as possible!!! I think the best thing about this place is that they offer specialty type sashimi in their AYCE menu. That's a plus! Most places don't. I was also stoked that their rolls aren't just overloaded with a bunch of rice...a trick some AYCE places do to get you to fill up on empty carbs before you can out eat them! Happy Hour sake drink - large for $5.50 and if you have Yelp! Do a check in and you get a $1 small bottle of sake! Super win! Now, I'm a pescatarian so I can be quite snobby with my fish. Quality and expensive sushi is the BEST. But I can't always eat that way bc $$$ and sometimes I just wanna eat A LOT of sushi. I would say Octopus' rolls are pretty good for AYCE. I would definitely come back here, no problems! Plus eating with the boys let's you eat a schmorgasboard (sp?) of sushi tapas style! Taste a little of everything and get your fill fix. Hopefully you get a good table and don't get stuck sitting next to a boring dud couple who can't enjoy and appreciate a group of young bucks. Will come back soon! Plus I still wanna get my share of baked mussels.

I've been a fan of Octopus for many years being a regular patron at one of their Valley locations. So when I found out there's a DTLA location near the office, I was all over it. Better yet, it's easy to get a seat immediately (they only take reservations for parties of six or more). I've been to this location a handful of times either by myself (comfortably -- everyone downtown eats alone once in awhile), as well as with my colleagues. I have to say, the wait staff is very mindful of the short break times since I can never spend more than 40-45 minutes in one sitting. And if it *is* time to go, they help you get on your way. This service is a huge deal when you have a limited lunch hour! For these handful of visits, I've always indulged in the lunchtime combo, which is basically, a Bento Box. It comes with house salad, rice, a gyoza, edamame, four California rolls, and the two combo specials of choice. I usually go for either the chicken teriyaki, veggie rolls or veggie tempura (I request no seafood). Before the box comes, you also receive a small bowl of Miso soup with tofu which is really delicious. I love it! But the BIGGEST difference I've noticed between this location and a Valley location, is that the house salad comes IN the bento box. In Burbank for example, the house salad comes separately on its own plate. In other words, you don't get 'as much' with the lunch combo here as compared to other locations. Small quirk, but as a fan, I notice! The food itself is great and never have a problem. When I need my Japanese Bento fix, I'm here, and under $12. I highly recommend if you need a quick, sit-down lunch with plenty of food.