bad, ajima, bad

Pacific Fish Center & Restaurant
131 Fishermans Wharf
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 374-8420

price: $$$
verdict: it's aight

randomly finding myself in redondo beach with a group of hungry asians meant getting korean seafood. besides, one of the dudes in the group had fond memories of this joint as a kid and wanted to check it out again. SURE, happy to oblige since he used the word "great" and "food" in the same sentence.

we ordered quite a few dishes to try; their sashimi plate, boiled baby octopus which you dip in this sweet sauce they have, a sashimi salad that had a sesame oil dressing with chunks of sashimi and rice (the same fish you find on the sashimi plate minus the uni), and this huge spicy tofu soup with skate (a flat fish that looks like a sting ray). in good ole asian fashion, the steamed dungeness crabs were nayed because "it's too expensive and not a deal here..." hahahaha.

the sashimi plate was a bit on the untraditional side because of the inclusion of marinated cuttlefish, pickled scallions, and this orange japanese root. the tofu soup wasn't so spicy that night and skate is just a plain weird tasting fish with too much cartilage! i think the yummiest parts of the meal were the boiled boiled baby octopus because of the dipping sauce which was slightly sweet and spicy and the fresh uni. overall, the food was alright, but the rudeness of this one ajima was just plain annoying. i asked her to refill our water pitcher but she said there's still water left and promptly walked away. no really...melting ice is not considered water.

fortunately or unfortunately, the dude picked up the tab for the 5 of us. so for all that food, it came out to be about $140. do i think it's a deal? nope. i live too close to koreatown in l.a. and komasa for sushi to ever want to trek back over here.