Pearl Dragon

What a great little gem hidden in the Palisades. The rolls on the menu were inventive and the fish was very fresh. The sushi bar was a great time and the head sushi chef A was a true professional. Will be back again. Highly recommended!

Food is good, service is good. Wait staff want to take care of you. Great family environment. Always see familiar faces there. Price is reasonable.

My wife and I really enjoyed a date night at Pearl Dragon.
It was a Monday, so the restaurant was not crowded (slowest night of the week at most eateries in this fine nation), and we were seated in about 10 seconds. We found a parking spot right in front on the street, though there may have been a nearby lot. We didn’t check it out.
They had some sort of Happy Hour Mondays, so my wife got a few rolls off of that. One was cooked fish, which she wasn’t pleased with, but she should have asked. The other, she said, was quite good. The miso soup was good — big chunks of tofu. Like, real big.
I got the salmon teriyaki dinner, which came with ginger-​garlic peas and an onion ring. It felt like a weird blend, but it all was very tasty. The salmon was an ample portion, which is good since it was probably 4 – 5 dollars more than most teriyaki dinners at other Japanese restaurants on the west side. Delicious, too. Really impressive salmon quality and perfectly cooked.
My wife’s favorite choice was a yellowtail sushi. Nothing insane, but she described it as magical. I’m not big on the raw stuff, so we’ll have to take her word for it.
The service was prompt, thorough, and excellent. She answered all of our questions. We got a cold sake from a list of 4 – 5 carafe choices, as well.
Plus, a 10% OFF Unilocal coupon, honored with a smile by our waitress.
Well done — we will be back for sure!

sushi here is soooooo great.
Yes, the burger is one of the best in town.
You have to try it !

Our family comes here about once a week for dinner. When we’re in the mood for a nice, sushi restaurant, this is the to-​go. On this particular Sunday, we decided to have a belated birthday family dinner (birthdays landed on weekday), we made a reservation for 6:30pm. The wait was longer the expected, usually we get seated right away so we decided to go ahead and order drinks at the bar to which the host, Lexi, said she would go ahead and take care of since we did ended up getting seated 25 minutes later at 6:55pm. PS it was really hot when we got there that half our party left to go wait outside where it was cooler. The food is no doubt amazing! The Buddha handroll was hands down my favorite. We even asked for extra sauce and Charlotte (our server) was so quick! She got all our orders right and even spaced them out so that way we have time to enjoy our food before having to make room on the table for more food. The cooked salmon entrée was one of the best salmons we had. When the bill came, we noticed that the two drinks that the host said she would take care off did not get comped off the bill. We brought this to the attention of the host and she said she would take care of it again. We were then approached by the manager, I think his name was Chris. He asked us how was your dinner and we said that food was wonderful however we had to wait almost a half hour to get a table, not including the fact that we arrived 10 minutes before our reservation. He then tried to explain to us that reservations are not guaranteed and they do their best job to accommodate larger parties of which there were 6 of us. We told him that we had spoke to the host about getting our 2 drinks taken care of at the bar since we had to wait a long time. He went off to confer with her most likely. He then returned and said that she made no agreement what so ever, however when we asked to speak to her directly to clear up the confusion in miscommunication, he bluntly said «he was the manager and he is the ONLY one that can comp items and the host cannot do anything.» Of course, how are we or any typical customers suppose to know that, should’t the host ask the manager if she can approve that comp in the first place. For a while, he wouldn’t do anything, basically implying that we somehow made up this idea of getting 2 drinks for free. After explaining for several minutes to him that we had small children waiting a long time to get a table, and that our family are regulars who dine once a week, and spend hundreds of dollars every time, he finally agreed to meet what was promised to us from the host, Lexi, in the beginning. The way Chris handled this situation was a killer for us. Coming off on sort of a power trip in front of my family and not fully taking into account what went through earlier, ruined the experience for our birthday dinner. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I wrote such a negative review on Unilocal.It saddens me to have to write one about one of our favorite restaurants where our own integrity was questioned. Overall still amazing food though… if you can get through the management.

I live for their Sunomono salad — best I’ve ever had, and I’m constantly trying to find one as good that doesn’t require the trek back to my hometown! Worth the drive, though. Some of the best sushi in LA. The Sumo roll is amazing.

Great restaurant. The sushi chefs are very creative. For the price this restaurant absolutely can’t be beat. If you live anywhere near the Palisades it’s a must go.

the food here is great I have never had anything bad here, it’s just pricey. Even the «happy hour» is not a deal. They have sushi and some cooked items as well, that are asian ish.

Fantastic food! Quality of sushi is great and honestly it’s much better than Nobu at a lower price. Only one downfall is the amount of children there even late at night so don’t take a «date». We now just order take out instead.

The Buddha roll, jetty roll, makimoto roll, spicy tuna on crispy rice, chicken satay, stir fry udon noodles are all my favorites!!! All of the staff is really friendly.

Really good, great service, fast food delvery, lost 1 star cus some rolls are so tiny the value really suffers.

This is my go to spot in the Palisades. Friendly, attentive staff serving up an eclectic menu of Asian Fusion… the sashimi and sushi are always really good. Never miss a chance to get the Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice or the Korean Style Short RIbs with Pear which are amazing.
Terrific place for dinner.

Food awful — early evening atmosphere of noisy kids and flashlights required to read the menus not much better. Bland soggy fried rice, fried dishes tasting of stale grease, and subpar cuts of sashimi. Then to top it off my sister and I came down with food poisoning we traced back to the tuna on crispy rice — the only item we shared. Not worth it to say the least!

This is a great sushi place in the Palisades. Spicy tuna rice cakes and albacore sushi are delicious. The fish was very fresh tasted great. Spring rolls, pot stickers and chicken sauté are good too! Loved the shishito peppers. The bartender and staff are friendly and provide a great service!

I have done a 180 with this place. It’s been a couple years since my nightmare happy hour and maybe they have improved. Or maybe it’s that happy hour is hell (Chuck E Cheese of the 1% as I wrote both on Unilocal and in mybecause slamming it on Unilocal seemed insufficient) and you have to go after 7:30.
But when my father died in March and Mom and I were working on the obit, I ran out for takeout. The quality of the fish impressed me as far and away above your average local sushi bar and the high prices justified.
But since then, Mom and I have been twice for dinner. The 31 dollar sushi combination features a Japanese scallop better than any scallop sashimi I’ve ever tasted. The next time, Mom and I shared the Thai spicy papaya salad and fell in love. Instead of noodles, the salad comes with shredded zucchini. The shrimp was plentiful and flavorful and the tomatoes Farmer’s Market fresh. The tangy dressing nicely offset the spice. At 15 or so, it’s a well-​priced and goes nicely with the large side of snap peas.
Two martinis, the shrimp salad, the chef’s sushi plate and a large vegetable side: 90 pre-​tip. Totally fair for what you’re getting and the chairs in the booths padded leather. A very pleasant place in the Palisades and if Taste in the Highlands finally got its liquor license (full bar), one of only two places you can order a real drink in the Palisades. (My parents moved here in 1974 when I was two, but just learned that House of Lee (the Pearl Dragon’s prior incarnation) was the only place in town with a full bar because of a de facto blue law written into the town’s charter.)

Over-​priced. Rolls are tiny. Don’t go if you’re hungry.
Service was okay. Full bar. Check the hours before you go.

Pearl Dragon has been my family’s favorite sushi bar for over ten years. The sushi is perfect… Service is excellent… And they actually have a bar, which is a rarity in Pacific Palisades! Parking is easy in the lot behind the restaurant. I can’t think of a single negative about this fabulous place.

If you claim to be open till 1am
Don’t lie to people because in reality you close at 11pm!

I’m fortunate enough to work very close to Pearl Dragon, so this has quickly become a favorite lunch spot. It is rarely busy and sitting at the bar is great. The bartender even handed me the remote so I can watch whatever I want on tv.
The sushi is delicious, though not the most affordable I’ve ever seen. An $ 18 roll is steep, but awfully tasty. There are some more affordable options, but I always seem to like the expensive stuff.
The surprising item on the menu is the burger. While it wasnt the best burger I’ve ever had, when you’ve got a craving, this is the only place nearby. For a more authentic Asian cuisine, I’m a fan of the noodles with chicken.

There is really one main reason to come here and that’s because it is one of two locations in town with a liquor license and it is the only one of the two that is actually open.
With that in mind, expect to pay a slight premium above the already high Palisades prices for the quality of food, but you can blame the high cost of rent.
Having set you up with the caveat, this place has come along way since its dodgy dark, but admittedly, enjoyable days as the Wing Ding room.
The food is decent. The rolls are all pretty decent. Recently, I ordered the salmon teriyaki which was decent. The salmon itself was pretty decent and suprisingly, was decently cooked. My only complaint was that the sauce was a little too sweet for my liking.
The rock shrimp is flavorful and the dragon roll is pretty good.
Now go enjoy a cocktail and if you don’t, you’ve wasted a trip.