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Sexy Asian in Snap Chat’s turf. Why did we dine here? – Cassia is a restaurant from the folks at Rustic Canyon and Spice Table. A new Metro station (eminent domain), caused the shuttering of The Spice Table. Cassia has dishes from across Asia: Singaporean, Vietnamese, Taiwan, etc..
The chef’s menu is focused on Southeast Asia as his heritage is Chinese-Singaporean. His wife Kim’s Vietnamese heritage is also reflected on the menu. We wish the Pho was on the menu!
Insider Tip – Reservations are needed, but walkins are easy, early on.
Cuisine – Asian fusion
Location – Santa Monica downtown
Opened – 2015
Service – Cassia has decent service. We got a rookie server, so rough spots were definitely evident.
Verdict – Cassia is a beautiful restaurant in an upscale town, fitting in almost perfectly. The food is good but not a great value. This is almost a mashup of different Asian dishes in a trendy LA spot, folks that eat here would not go seek out at an Asian eatery. Nothing wrong with that if this fits the bill.
Is this restaurant worth a 5 minute drive? Yes. 30 minute? Maybe. 1 Hour? No
Cassia Signature Dishes – pot-au-feu, Laksa, Seafood platters
Cassia’s Menu is pretty wide ranging with something for everyone, even vegetarians.
Cassia Food Picks:
Kaya Toast ($12) Coconut jam, butter, slow cooked egg is a Taiwanese dish we have had in Taipei. A nice reminder of our past time. Great for those who love runny eggs.
Koda Farms Chickpea Curry with Clay oven bread ($18) Coconut milk, Cilantro hit the mark. We ate lunch at Angelini, so this reminded us of their free one. Really good bread and curry. We had to order more bread to use up the curry. They mistakenly brought their country bread. We found it overcharred and not as good as Tartine Bakery’s.
Beef Rendang ($32) Beef Cheek curry, jasmine rice, sambal, kaffir lime, peanuts was really good. Sambal was far too spicy, but the beef cheek combined with peanuts and the rice, was fantastic.
Laksa ($22) Rice Noodles, spicy-coconut seafood soup was interesting, but far TOO spicy. We should have sent it back.
Grilled Chinese Broccoli ($12) with carmelized fish sauce hit the mark.
OK: (Order if you like this dish)
None
Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None
Do you agree with our review? Have you found other similar restaurants that are better?
Restaurant Map:Cassia Overall Rating: 
(Very Good
Come Back? 
| Food Rating: | (Very Good) |
| Service Rating: | (Very Good) |
| Atmosphere Rating: | (Excellent) |
| Value Rating: | (Average) |
Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Below/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary
| Alcohol: | Full Bar |
| Attire: | Dressy |
| Parking: | Street |
| Reservations: | Yes |
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