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A small place with a modern aesthetic. Main focus are on their small and cute onigiri. Each order comes with 2 small onigiri, so sharing is easy. The idea here is to order a bunch of small items to make up your meal. Overall I like the aesthetic and presentation. Some of the item tasted great, while others fell short. Price is a bit on the high side, considering you could get most of these items at different places nearby in Little Tokyo for less. The combos are the most value here, as you get a soup, 3 onigiris, and 2 sides for the price of the onigiris and the soup. We tried the below onigiri flavours: - Ume (quite bland tasting, little Ume taste) - Chicken Teriyaki (decent tasting, but nothing special) - Curry Shrimp Tempura (curry flavour is really good, and the small shrimp tempura is good too) - Spicy Yaki (a bit spicy and a bit overly strong soy sauce flavour) My favourite is the curry shrimp tempura. I had high hopes for the use but was disappointed. The miso soup is well flavoured. We tried the below sides: - Chicken karaage (well fried, surprisingly the biggest portion out of all the items, and not oily tasting) - Mashed Kobacha (cold sweet pumpkin side dish. Good taste, just enough sweetness and good in the summer) - Brussel sprouts (the most western side out of the three, way more sour than I expected. It's like grilled brussel sprouts in lemon but instead of lemon its strong black vinegar). The chicken karaage was the best out of the three, with its large portions and good frying. Kobacha is a close second. Was not a fan of how sour the brussel sprouts were. Overall it doesn't look like there's much food, but all of these items are quite heavy and very filling. Pretty good! Might go again if I'm craving some different flavoured onigiri.
Superb presentation, very creative. Eclectic music. Pleasant staff. As I approached the counter to ask a question, the first thing I was told was "we're out of white rice". Then after receiving a three to five minute explanation for a confusing menu, I was about to order and the next thing I heard was "we're out of fried chicken". Not great to lead with what you don't have. (IF I had ordered the fried chicken how much better would it have been to say "we sold out of that entree") I chose to customize my own combo. This involves putting together three entrees and two sides plus a soup. ($15) Sounds like a lot but trust me it's not. Each of the three entrees consisted of two very small egg-shaped mounds of room temperature rice. Four of them contained less than a 1/2 teaspoon of chopped fine, overcooked meat filling. The other two had one tiny piece of cauliflower on top of each rice mound - no filling. The veggie soup I was told was made in house; however it tasted like water had been added to powdered soup mix. Just pungent. The one bright spot was a kale salad with an excellent dressing. It was served in an ashtray-sized dish.
Parking: There's street parking right in front of Rike. There's also a city lot on the north-east side of Judge John Aiso Street and 1st Street Rike is located on the south side of 1st Street, west of San Pedro in Little Tokyo. I stopped by Rike this morning (10/31/2019). It was a soft opening. The grand opening is tomorrow. It's an onigiri bar with indoor and outdoor seating. It's a contemporary look with gold barstools and an open kitchen where customers can watch the staff craft the onigiris. At first, I was just going to have a drink (the drink menu is on the other side of the food menu). Why? I wasn't particularly hungry, but then I learned that they're mini onigiris! 2 mini onigiris with high-quality ingredients for $4. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and iced tea for a total of $7+ They were placed in a tiny cardboard box. Be careful transporting it though because the toppings can easily topple over. If there's one suggestion I would make, it would be to place a toothpick so that the presentation stays intact. Amazing staff members! Cool and hip is the vibe here! This is a must-try for all the foodies.
Rice burger was decent, kinda wish the chicken was seasoned a little stronger? But maybe that's because I'm a mos burger fan! Karaage was tender and the okra with black sesame and sugar was interesting but not sure if I'd order it again
The time and care that the kitchen staff put into making my lunch special was surprising. Every little Gojiberry or edible flower petal was slowly placed in the correct spot. I had a wonderful meal at a great price. Don’t go here if you cannot appreciate the process or if you want a large quantity of soulless food. BEAUTIFUL and inexpensive. Thank you.