Tokyo 7-7 - Dining Japanese. I think I'm dining Japanese, I really think so.

You will have trouble finding it. Your GPS will insist, such as it does, that you have arrived at your destination and it will do so using that condescending British accent you've been meaning to change but you can't remember how and the manual has gone missing. Your eyes will scan the street and find nothing. You’ll decide to just park and find it on foot. You’ll park in the nearby parking garage and then through the iron bars of the garage you will see it:

Tokyo 7-7 Coffee Shop



....it's in the alley.

Tokyo 7-7 is an American Japanese Diner. Its alley location isn't so odd from the Japanese perspective of alleys being streets that cars don't drive down. Stores and restaurants are often found down alleyways. A few years ago, I went to Japan on vacation and most of my time was spent wandering down alleyways.

In America, where alleys are for hobos and murderers, it is an odd place for a restaurant.

Inside, it’s like going to eat in your weird uncle’s den: wood paneling on the walls,



really odd…things…sticking out at you,



and like every weird uncle has—an autographed cast photo of Full House.

#1DC Antoinette, along with Diner Pal Paul (remember him?), took the opportunity on President’s Day to try out Tokyo 7-7. We rolled in at about a quarter to twelve, disappointed that we missed the super cheap breakfast specials which ended at eleven.

Our waitress went from sweet ol’ lady to exasperated in no time as after three check-ins with us we still had no idea what we wanted. The menu isn't expansive, but everything was so cheap that we were looking for the catch somewhere on the menu. “Do they charge for water? How can they afford this? Is salt extra?”




Sorry if the picture doesn't sell it, but there are no items in the double digits, and nothing above seven dollars.

Even though we missed the special super-cheap price for it, Paul ordered the French Toast breakfast. He liked the bacon and the french toast was pretty good.



Antoinette got the Portuguese Sausage and Eggs. The sausage was spicy. The eggs were okay. The home fries were rather boring; they tasted like boiled potatoes that were just kissed by the griddle.



I went in a different direction. I went East...FAR EAST! (Get it?!) I got the Tokyo 7-7 Special. Basically a Japanese breakfast with tamagoyaki (thin layered omelette), cha-shu (pork), sunomono (pickled cucumber), rice and miso soup. Everything was enjoyable at least. There's something about the way the Japanese prepare eggs that kind of disgusts me with the texture (wet and slimy), but it tastes pretty good. Clearly the Japanese dish was the way to go. It was also the most expensive of the three, topping out at--OMG--6 dollars!



Now a word about the coffee at the Tokyo 7-7 Coffee Shop. It's bad. It might have been the worst coffee I've had at a non-Starbucks. It took a lot of sweetener to make it through. The waitress was pretty good about refills...which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Diner Pal Paul, insists that, on price alone, he'd eat there everyday. For the three of us, our bill came in at about twenty dollars. I would definitely go back if I ever happened to be in Culver City wanting breakfast. It's a unique little hidey-hole of a place. I felt comfortable there, probably because it reminded me of Japan and... my weird uncle.

Food- Good
Service-Good. She did get visibly annoyed when we didn't know what we wanted right away.
Price- Dirt Cheap. Remember, cash only.
Pie- No pie.

3839 Main St.
Ste B: Alley behind the street
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 204-5728

UPDATE- 12/21

I just learned that this place closed down last weekend. Special thanks to Diner Photog Charlie Chu for sending me the link. http://www.giantrobot.com/index.php/blogs/eric-post/tokyo_7-7/

Ronnie's Diner... I think K-Fed was our waiter. (updated with more pics!)

While seeking out a way to promote the Dinerwood blog, I stumbled across a handy website for restaurant listings. Why don’t I post the link? Because I want you to come here to Dinerwood to find your information, not to some soulless mega website devoted to Los Angeles eateries in general. Okay maybe if I’m nice I’ll post a link in the links section.

On this website I found Ronnie’s Diner in Culver City. My comedy group works out of Culver so I am getting to know the area well. I suggested we have our Saturday brunch meeting at Ronnie's and surprisingly everyone agreed. Or if they didn’t agree they kept their big mouths shut.

Ronnie’s is in a strip mall. Well, it’s not really a ‘strip’, it is more of a courtyard. Parking was a bit difficult since the courtyard consisted of several other restaurants and a bar having a private party… at noon. Seriously. We did manage to snag street parking nearby, right in front of “Shady Dan’s Mafia Front Garage and Murder Den” (name changed as to not offend) Ronnie’s was busy, it being lunchtime and all, but we luckily managed to snag a table. Ronnie’s does offer patio seating if you are so inclined. I am usually not inclined considering I hate the sun.

Our waiter was a young man with a cocked baseball cap and baggy clothes. He spoke in an amazing out of place drawl. His accent was similar to my brother-in-law’s Louisiana accent. Apparently part of that accent is calling everyone “man”. My sister's husband will say “Hey man, you go see any shows in LA?” or “I just got me a Playstation, it’s cool man.” It’s really disconcerting when he calls my nieces by that. “Breanna put down the sugar, man.”
So K-Fed- that’s what I’m calling our guy. I don’t mean it as an insult. Honestly! - took our drink orders and brought them back quick as you please. I got the coffee, of course, which was adequate. The mugs were the good, heavy kind you buy your dad for Father's Day. When I found grounds at the bottom of my mug, one of my friends said "That means it's good." I think it means they need a new filter on the coffee maker.

Two things about Ronnie’s reminded me of the 101 Coffeeshop. First of all, the globe light fixtures, for which I am a sucker, and the bizarre out of place photograph that adorns their menu. Much like the pictures that adorn the walls of the 101, we are left without any context to the image below. The poor Cowboys kid surrounded by Rams fans, he seems lost and despondent.

Looking over the menu, I settled on the Louisiana Royale. How could I not? Not only would it be homage to our waiter but also it also sounded delicious! Check it- eggs scrambled with hot links and tomatoes, served over Spanish rice. Doesn’t that sound so crazy it just might work? It did! Like the Devil’s Mess at Millie’s, this was a surprising (not surprisingly, note the difference) delicious meal. My one critique of it would be that by the time it got to me it was not as piping hot as I’d have liked it. I just chalk this up to K-Fed having to bring our whole table’s dishes out at once.

Everyone enjoyed their meals. They will vouch for their sandwiches being tasty, their fries long and crispy and their french toast with marmalade being "good, actually".

I asked K-Fed about pie. He said they might have some chocolate cake left. “Left” really threw me. Like ‘left’ over from Jose’s birthday party last week? Do they usually have cake that they burn through by 12:30 on Saturday? And really, if you break it down, nobody really likes cake that much. It's like an obligation. People will say "I love cake!" but if you press the issue, it is soon revealed that cake takes a back seat to pie, milkshakes, cobbler(the kind with fruit), milkduds, and cobblers (the kind with shoes).

Overall, we enjoyed Ronnie’s. It lacks atmosphere (except for those sweet globe lights!) but the food is good. As a diner experience, it is middle of the road. If you are in the neighborhood and you’re hungry, or you are getting your car serviced/meeting the guy who knows the guy who can kill your wife for less than two grand, stop in.

Food: Good.
Service: Decent bordering on Good.

Price: $7-$12P
ie: No. Left over cake though.

Ronnie's Diner
12740 Culver Blvd #J,
Los Angeles 90066
At Braddock Dr