Owner Bios

Executive Chef: Mako Tanaka

See full bio at his site: makorestaurant.com

Dennis Mao

Dennis Mao is a partner at Robata-Ya  and has been in the restaurant business for 20 years. After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1992, he worked at his family’s food company that supplied poultry and proteins. He expanded his family’s business when he began Jidori Chicken in 1995 while becoming the premier poultry supplier to many top chefs in Los Angeles including Wolfgang Puck, Nobu Mastuhisa, and Joaquim Splichal. Dennis continues to expand the Jidori Chicken brand while growing his restaurant ventures.
Dennis has been featured in The New York Times, see full article HERE.
He was also featured on the Sept 2011 issue of “Angeleno” magazine, download PDF HERE.