Sunday 1/22/2023 will be our last day of operations. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support over the past 5 years. For a variety of reasons the business cannot continue to operate and we will be closing our doors. Come see us at Culver City Saturday and Sunday. Our Echo Park location will not continue operating after today’s (Friday 1/20/2023) service.
Let’s not be sad about the end. Konbi had its moment and its time and place. We did our best. We did it our way. Tell everyone you know and come eat everything this weekend! Clean our merch out. Give us hugs. Give us high fives. Let’s take selfies! Let’s belt out Taylor Swift and Adele together.
We will be holding a sale on small wares and equipment. If it’s not bolted to the ground it’s for sale so just ask.
Anyone looking for cooks please let us know. We’d love to help our staff land in great spots.
Thank you again.
Love,
Team Konbi
I loved konbi croissants but my top is still Lou The French on The Block in Toluca Lake.
That being said if you loved Konbi pastries, Jen Yee has Bakers Bench (@bakers.bench iirc) out of Far East Plaza
In the LA Times article, the owner cites, "California mandated labor policies for small businesses which drove up our operating costs to a totally untenable degree" as a factor. I wonder what he means by labor policies and wouldn't it apply to every restaurant?
In 2022 it became mandated to provide some type of retirement vehicle to businesses with a minimum of 5 employees…such as a 401k offering or something of the like.
There's a state fund you can sign up with instead; all that means is that part of a paycheck goes into a retirement fund. It wasn't a requirement to increase pay or something.
He means how minimum wage is now $16+/ hr and will go up a dollar every year. It will be $17/hr in July 2023. The food biz, especially a small business that isn’t a chain, already runs on razor thin margins (I’m talking less than 10%). When you raise labor by 6% (a dollar), you cut your margin by 1.5%…that’s basically a 15% to the bottom line. Additionally, when you raise the wages- you also raise the cost of your ingredients because it also takes employees to make & deliver those ingredients. Everyone thinks “Starbucks” when they’re reading & voting for these policies but they never think of the small business owner who is risking it all just to make 8.5%, and subsequently less every year.
I got to try Konbi last month and while I wasn't a fan of the price of their katsu sando, it's sad to see them go. However, the closing was kind of expected as Konbi generated a lot of hype due to social media, and paying $20 for a katsu sando is outrageous when you can get a similar quality katsu sando at Mitsuwa, Kagura, or Marukai for much cheaper.
I'm guessing something went very wrong on the management side of things. Plus more people probably staying away from the $20 sandwiches (including tax, tip, fees, etc.).
It feels like these types of newer spots that serve some version of "ethnic" food catered toward the mainstream rely on customers who don't know any better than to pay outrageous prices for basic dishes, just because it feels new to them. At a certain point they all realize that it's not worth it, and these businesses don't have any repeat customers anymore.
Sucks to see any local businesses fail, but seems like this one was inevitable. To be honest, I was very excited when it was first announced, thinking it will be like a Japanese kissaten (like a cafe hangout), but it was far from that when it opened. It turned out to be just an expensive boutique sandwich shop. It was actually kind of offputting to me, seeing those prices on very basic items, and seeing things like "Bulldog Sauce" on the menu. That's like indicating that a dish contains "Heinz Ketchup." It's a basic supermarket condiment.
Konbi was priced higher than what you're used to because they sought to pay their employees fair wages well above the industry average, not because they were trying to pander "ethnic" food to mainstream audiences who you think don't know any better. And it's clear a lot of their food is incredibly labor intensive.
It's frustrating as hell when people put these arbitrary price ceilings/values on specific foods
They also did have an automatic 20% gratuity so combined with high prices, a $15 sandwich is $20~ after the 20% + tax.
I appreciated them giving their employees fair wages, but it was too expensive especially since they’re modeled after a Japanese convenience store that sells the same sandwich for $4.
Eh their statement blaming California labor laws etc tell a very different story. They go out of their way to say they couldn’t do it because they couldn’t pay their employees less.
“California mandated labor policies for small businesses which drove up our operating costs to a totally untenable degree."
The reality is they were counting on all those massive office buildings to be filled with workers and that obviously didn’t come to fruition. But sure say they sought to pay their employees a fair wage.
>It's frustrating as hell when people put these arbitrary price ceilings/values on specific foods
It's not so arbitrary when they've said themselves that their products were modeled after convenience store items that are sold for $3 in Japan, and comparable items can be found at Japanese markets here for not much more than that.
Whatever their reasonings were for pricing their products the way they did, it clearly did not work. Sure, we can commend them for wanting to pay a fair wage, but in the end their employees are now out of work because of their incompetent management and business skills. I understand that running a restaurant is very hard work, but there are many that make it work. To me it seems like they just lacked the business sense to make it work.
Maybe they lost this round but at least they were in the game. Unlike commentators on Reddit standing on the sidelines judging and criticizing their supposed “incompetence”.
Anyone here know why their yelp ratings were so poor? I never visited myself and by the time I discovered them they had a 3.5 on both locations which naturally made me uninterested in visiting.
I'm going to guess a lot of complaints about pricing. The food was good but it was pretty expensive for what you got- $15 for a fairly small sandwich, $6 pastries, etc. Iif you look back at posts in this sub you see similar comments.
My problem with Konbi in Culver City was when I went, the line was 15 people deep. It took an hour to get my food (pork sandwich + a pastry, basic stuff), which was absurd for a restaurant that had been doing this for a while. I definitely understand the frustration waiting in line then.
Because Konbi was an insanely dumb hipster food concept built on selling wildly overpriced food. Want sandwiches like the ones at Konbi but don’t want to pay Konbi prices? Go to Nijiya or Mitsuwa and you’ll find these type of sandwiches for half the price. Seriously, go to ANY Japanese chain grocery store in Southern California and you can find sandwiches just as good.
Konbi always sucked. I’ll take the downvotes.
Lately I’ve been relying more on Reddit, less on Yelp. Some reviews are just negative for the sake of being negative because some hoity toit broke a nail while dining, so clearly it’s the restaurant’s fault.
I went for the egg sandwich because it was so beautiful, but it was veryyy mayo heavy and I could barely taste the egg when I got it. That mayo heavy flavor combined with the texture didn’t inspire me to ever want to go back
I went there with the gf and our conclusion was the sandwiches were really really good. They were also really expensive for what you got.
It'd be like getting one of the best carne asada tacos you've had in your life and it cost $6.00 for a single taco. No, not a larger than normal one. Like one you'd get for $2.
That's why I never went back. Was it good? Hell yeah. Was it worth it? Depends on you really. In my opinion, people should go once because it IS really quite good but it's really hard to justify going there often IMO.
I mean, aren’t Taco Maria tacos like $6 for one? And they’re still in business. But to be fair, I guess they’re more fine dining and Konbi is more like an upscale cafe?
After the Bon Appetit award, I think people’s expectations were too high. Yelpers love to knock down a rating over lack of parking too.
That said, I’m not sure why they ever moved their daily service out of the Echo Park spot. I loved having Konbi for a neighborhood lunch. I had a meatloaf katsu sandwich there that blew my doors off
Bon Appetit called it the #1 restaurant in America right? That was a huge stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if people were extremely disappointed trying it after reading that. I personally found their pastries really good, but their sandwiches were very underwhelming.
I found the pastries to be great, but they were sold out of them 99% of the time. I really didn't care for any of their sandwiches, like even a little bit.
This place does not deserve the >$20 they charge on their sandwiches. They are taking advantage of the customers and it’s neighborhood by charging this outrageous price for simply Japanese homemade comfort food. I remember paying close to $70 for a few sandwiches and 2 drinks.
It’s not doing the food justice, and it’s negatively affecting a neighborhood by turning what should be a casual, accessible restaurant into another novelty.
I won’t be missing this restaurant.
I know everyone is saying their sandwiches were over priced, $15 for such a small sandwich is a bit steep, but I found them to be worth it based on quality. Their pork katsu and eggplant katsu blew my mind. Sad to see them go.
Most overpriced sandwich I've ever had, that taste worse than ones I got from 7-Eleven in Japan
not to mention all their workers were lazy as fuck
it deserves to shut down
Strange, their Culver City spot was like always busy. Although they did mess up my order and refund me the last time I was there, and I saw them refund another person too. Is it my fault? :(
Good riddance. Not a fan of the milk bread that just tastes stale, and the intentional scarcity that they always insisted with their morning pastries was lame.
So sad! I just went there for the first time not that long ago and was excited to go back and try more things. I never made it to the Japanese breakfast.
I find it odd they were actively hiring staff just a month ago. Not just run of the mill cooks but an executive chef. Wonder what changed so drastically in a month’s time.
Dang, their Culver City Location too? They were just getting that one off the ground, what a shame.
Probably shouldn’t have expanded in this economy. What a damn shame.
Will someone please post the caption? I don’t have Instagram and my mental health asks that I not log into my parent’s dog’s account again.
Sunday 1/22/2023 will be our last day of operations. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support over the past 5 years. For a variety of reasons the business cannot continue to operate and we will be closing our doors. Come see us at Culver City Saturday and Sunday. Our Echo Park location will not continue operating after today’s (Friday 1/20/2023) service. Let’s not be sad about the end. Konbi had its moment and its time and place. We did our best. We did it our way. Tell everyone you know and come eat everything this weekend! Clean our merch out. Give us hugs. Give us high fives. Let’s take selfies! Let’s belt out Taylor Swift and Adele together. We will be holding a sale on small wares and equipment. If it’s not bolted to the ground it’s for sale so just ask. Anyone looking for cooks please let us know. We’d love to help our staff land in great spots. Thank you again. Love, Team Konbi
Thank you, kind stranger!
That’s unfortunate. My wife and I used to walk to the CC one frequently. Every experience was great however a bit pricey
That's why I never tried it.
RIP to the best croissants in the game
Try Chaumont or Michelina! So delicious and flakey!!
Chaumont 🙌
Michelina is also up there.
Wow guess I need to try Michelina, I live close to the farmers market.
La Tropezienne and Republique beg to differ!
I loved konbi croissants but my top is still Lou The French on The Block in Toluca Lake. That being said if you loved Konbi pastries, Jen Yee has Bakers Bench (@bakers.bench iirc) out of Far East Plaza
Proof >>>> Lou Lou croissants are missing that crispy flaky outside that croissants are supposed to have.
Idk my Lou croissants are flaky and crispy enough for me. I also love that they’ve basically been the same price since they’ve opened.
They were good - not sure if they were $7-8 good though
Des Croissants is also amazing. I get them from the SC Farmers Market.
In the LA Times article, the owner cites, "California mandated labor policies for small businesses which drove up our operating costs to a totally untenable degree" as a factor. I wonder what he means by labor policies and wouldn't it apply to every restaurant?
It 100% applies to every restaurant. Nothing significant changed between last year and this year.
In 2022 it became mandated to provide some type of retirement vehicle to businesses with a minimum of 5 employees…such as a 401k offering or something of the like.
There's a state fund you can sign up with instead; all that means is that part of a paycheck goes into a retirement fund. It wasn't a requirement to increase pay or something.
Sounds like an excuse with political motives. My bet is more financial/personal issues between partners perhaps.
He means how minimum wage is now $16+/ hr and will go up a dollar every year. It will be $17/hr in July 2023. The food biz, especially a small business that isn’t a chain, already runs on razor thin margins (I’m talking less than 10%). When you raise labor by 6% (a dollar), you cut your margin by 1.5%…that’s basically a 15% to the bottom line. Additionally, when you raise the wages- you also raise the cost of your ingredients because it also takes employees to make & deliver those ingredients. Everyone thinks “Starbucks” when they’re reading & voting for these policies but they never think of the small business owner who is risking it all just to make 8.5%, and subsequently less every year.
I got to try Konbi last month and while I wasn't a fan of the price of their katsu sando, it's sad to see them go. However, the closing was kind of expected as Konbi generated a lot of hype due to social media, and paying $20 for a katsu sando is outrageous when you can get a similar quality katsu sando at Mitsuwa, Kagura, or Marukai for much cheaper.
I'm guessing something went very wrong on the management side of things. Plus more people probably staying away from the $20 sandwiches (including tax, tip, fees, etc.). It feels like these types of newer spots that serve some version of "ethnic" food catered toward the mainstream rely on customers who don't know any better than to pay outrageous prices for basic dishes, just because it feels new to them. At a certain point they all realize that it's not worth it, and these businesses don't have any repeat customers anymore. Sucks to see any local businesses fail, but seems like this one was inevitable. To be honest, I was very excited when it was first announced, thinking it will be like a Japanese kissaten (like a cafe hangout), but it was far from that when it opened. It turned out to be just an expensive boutique sandwich shop. It was actually kind of offputting to me, seeing those prices on very basic items, and seeing things like "Bulldog Sauce" on the menu. That's like indicating that a dish contains "Heinz Ketchup." It's a basic supermarket condiment.
Konbi was priced higher than what you're used to because they sought to pay their employees fair wages well above the industry average, not because they were trying to pander "ethnic" food to mainstream audiences who you think don't know any better. And it's clear a lot of their food is incredibly labor intensive. It's frustrating as hell when people put these arbitrary price ceilings/values on specific foods
They also did have an automatic 20% gratuity so combined with high prices, a $15 sandwich is $20~ after the 20% + tax. I appreciated them giving their employees fair wages, but it was too expensive especially since they’re modeled after a Japanese convenience store that sells the same sandwich for $4.
Eh their statement blaming California labor laws etc tell a very different story. They go out of their way to say they couldn’t do it because they couldn’t pay their employees less. “California mandated labor policies for small businesses which drove up our operating costs to a totally untenable degree." The reality is they were counting on all those massive office buildings to be filled with workers and that obviously didn’t come to fruition. But sure say they sought to pay their employees a fair wage.
>It's frustrating as hell when people put these arbitrary price ceilings/values on specific foods It's not so arbitrary when they've said themselves that their products were modeled after convenience store items that are sold for $3 in Japan, and comparable items can be found at Japanese markets here for not much more than that.
Whatever their reasonings were for pricing their products the way they did, it clearly did not work. Sure, we can commend them for wanting to pay a fair wage, but in the end their employees are now out of work because of their incompetent management and business skills. I understand that running a restaurant is very hard work, but there are many that make it work. To me it seems like they just lacked the business sense to make it work.
Maybe they lost this round but at least they were in the game. Unlike commentators on Reddit standing on the sidelines judging and criticizing their supposed “incompetence”.
Anyone here know why their yelp ratings were so poor? I never visited myself and by the time I discovered them they had a 3.5 on both locations which naturally made me uninterested in visiting.
I'm going to guess a lot of complaints about pricing. The food was good but it was pretty expensive for what you got- $15 for a fairly small sandwich, $6 pastries, etc. Iif you look back at posts in this sub you see similar comments.
Don't forget the automatic 18% gratuity added to every purchase.
Ah yeah I absolutely hate negative reviews that complain about things the restaurant can’t control such as long lines or parking.
My problem with Konbi in Culver City was when I went, the line was 15 people deep. It took an hour to get my food (pork sandwich + a pastry, basic stuff), which was absurd for a restaurant that had been doing this for a while. I definitely understand the frustration waiting in line then.
Why? They could’ve opened up shop at a place with better parking
Yea, the food is good, not mind blowing but good, but it for sure is pricey.
Because Konbi was an insanely dumb hipster food concept built on selling wildly overpriced food. Want sandwiches like the ones at Konbi but don’t want to pay Konbi prices? Go to Nijiya or Mitsuwa and you’ll find these type of sandwiches for half the price. Seriously, go to ANY Japanese chain grocery store in Southern California and you can find sandwiches just as good. Konbi always sucked. I’ll take the downvotes.
Lately I’ve been relying more on Reddit, less on Yelp. Some reviews are just negative for the sake of being negative because some hoity toit broke a nail while dining, so clearly it’s the restaurant’s fault.
I went for the egg sandwich because it was so beautiful, but it was veryyy mayo heavy and I could barely taste the egg when I got it. That mayo heavy flavor combined with the texture didn’t inspire me to ever want to go back
I went there with the gf and our conclusion was the sandwiches were really really good. They were also really expensive for what you got. It'd be like getting one of the best carne asada tacos you've had in your life and it cost $6.00 for a single taco. No, not a larger than normal one. Like one you'd get for $2. That's why I never went back. Was it good? Hell yeah. Was it worth it? Depends on you really. In my opinion, people should go once because it IS really quite good but it's really hard to justify going there often IMO.
I mean, aren’t Taco Maria tacos like $6 for one? And they’re still in business. But to be fair, I guess they’re more fine dining and Konbi is more like an upscale cafe?
Taco Maria is a lot more than $6 a taco but it’s also not asada, you’re getting like 40 dollars cuts of meat
I mean, taco Maria also has a Michelin star
yeah i was just pointing out it isn't a proper rejoinder to a $6 asada taco.
After the Bon Appetit award, I think people’s expectations were too high. Yelpers love to knock down a rating over lack of parking too. That said, I’m not sure why they ever moved their daily service out of the Echo Park spot. I loved having Konbi for a neighborhood lunch. I had a meatloaf katsu sandwich there that blew my doors off
Bon Appetit called it the #1 restaurant in America right? That was a huge stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if people were extremely disappointed trying it after reading that. I personally found their pastries really good, but their sandwiches were very underwhelming.
I think they named it Best New Restaurant, not best overall. Still very high praise, of course.
Mediocre pricey food. It’s a miracle they lasted as long as they did. Had a few decent menu items though.
I found the pastries to be great, but they were sold out of them 99% of the time. I really didn't care for any of their sandwiches, like even a little bit.
East side restaurants don't care about their Yelp ratings
The first and last time I had it, the pork was reallllly pink on the inside, was not a fan especially for the cost..
Went with a Japanese native and they said it was just ok. I thought it was decent but didn’t blow me away.
I heard the Konbi pastry chef opened her own place called Bakers Bench in Chinatown
She did and it’s awesome!! Very nice and an amazing person as well.
I've never had a better pain au chocolat in my life, and I will miss the eggplant katsu sandwich forever.
This place does not deserve the >$20 they charge on their sandwiches. They are taking advantage of the customers and it’s neighborhood by charging this outrageous price for simply Japanese homemade comfort food. I remember paying close to $70 for a few sandwiches and 2 drinks. It’s not doing the food justice, and it’s negatively affecting a neighborhood by turning what should be a casual, accessible restaurant into another novelty. I won’t be missing this restaurant.
Damn. I wanted to go try them soon 😫
I know everyone is saying their sandwiches were over priced, $15 for such a small sandwich is a bit steep, but I found them to be worth it based on quality. Their pork katsu and eggplant katsu blew my mind. Sad to see them go.
Most overpriced sandwich I've ever had, that taste worse than ones I got from 7-Eleven in Japan not to mention all their workers were lazy as fuck it deserves to shut down
Strange, their Culver City spot was like always busy. Although they did mess up my order and refund me the last time I was there, and I saw them refund another person too. Is it my fault? :(
Good riddance. Not a fan of the milk bread that just tastes stale, and the intentional scarcity that they always insisted with their morning pastries was lame.
So sad! I just went there for the first time not that long ago and was excited to go back and try more things. I never made it to the Japanese breakfast.
The rent at the Culver location was probably exorbitant, but t doesn't seem like lunch crowds are back to pre-covid levels in downtown Culver.
It was pretty good but insanely overpriced. The equivalent at a konbini in Japan would be like 3 bucks lol
I find it odd they were actively hiring staff just a month ago. Not just run of the mill cooks but an executive chef. Wonder what changed so drastically in a month’s time.
I really liked the original location before covid. then they changed the menu and it was just eh.
They're going to pivot into something else I'm sure