Tsukiji Restaurant

Wouldn’t come here for anything other than the uni-​don during lunch. At that price point it’s quite satisfactory. Or for a raucous drinking party at night w/​some nihonjin. Feels just like japan, too bad the sushi isn’t as good as japan but one can’t expect much when the japanese will pay insane prices for the best seafood. There isn’t enough good fish to go around.

It’s hard for me to judge this sushiya based on my last experience mainly because my chef that I became friends with had took off all of a sudden with letting me know (some friend huh?) Anyway, the replacement chef who took his place was dull and boring and very conservative with his cuts.
The fish was fresh I must say but sushi to me should be fresh and if it isn’t, see ya. No second chances there. Not with anything raw at least.
Tsukiji was my sushiya of choice back then and i tolerated the prices because my friend was funny, the cuts were great, and the uniqueness was amazing. It was different every time and I even brought all my friends and family here for a great time. Everything was great! Now? Not sure/​
Sorry Tsukiji. I’m sure you’re not terrible but maybe one day I will be around and fancy some sushi. I will keep you in mind.

As we were about to walk into Lee’s Tofu for lunch, my fiancée and I couldn’t help notice the low low prices here for sushi.
So we actually came here for dinner! Prices were again very low on sashimi (½ off). The portion sizes for the sashimi were pretty large especially the albacore.
Prices were great, service was good. I wish they could have stayed opened later than 10pm. But with low prices and good location, I’ll definitely come back

Oh Tsukiji, how you disappoint me. This isn’t what I had come to expect from a restaurant named after one of the world’s BEST sashimi and sushi places! =(
Ordered the chirashi and the unagi donburi well as salmon and yellow tail. Overall, good fish, but man… the sushi chef cuts with a heavy hand. No finesse… I’m actually complaining about the cut of sushi… how it should be thinner and at a certain angle… the customer should not be complaining about this!!! Otherwise, everything else was quite pleasant… service was great, ambiance was nice… did remind me of being back in Japan… *love…
BTW, the best way to regain taste after a sugar indulgence is to eat something simple and not too starchy. After eating this, I was able to resume eating more cupcakes… :)

It’s an ok sushi restaurant. probably 3.5 stars
The quality of the fish is good, but not great. The cut could be better though.
Yeah, complaining about the cut is splitting hairs, but hey, I’ve had way better cuts. The meat here is more like a chunk. Some people might like that, but it supposed to be cleaner.
It was in Japan.
Aside from that, the unagi’s good, better than some places, but not elite, like at Sushi Ike or some high end place.
Or the real Tsukiji in Japan.

Hhmmm… I’m a little surprised at the poor reviews this places gets. However I have noticed a good portion are from the past year.
I’ve been going off an on since 2000 to this place and have never had a bad meal, the sushi has always been fresh and the service has always been better than most places.
*** Just went today for lunch with a couple of co-​workers and they are convinced as it’s one of the best places for sushi.
Great place, great service!
Had the $ 20 Nigiri plate, fabulous! Very fresh melt in your mouth sushi!

I’m shocked by the bad reviews. I have eaten at Tsukiji at least 20 times and every time it has been TOP NOTCH.
The fish is always fresh, and the presentation is always good.
One reviewer said that the fish was frozen, with ice crystals, icy water and poorly cut. I have had this at other (bad) sushi places, and I hate it. I would never expect this from Tsukiji, and I have never experienced it there. All I can say is you must have caught them on a very off day, because they are usually excellent.
Give it another try… really. If you can stand waiting for a table, go on a Friday lunch, or Friday/​Saturday night when they are busy. Great Sushi, nice place, and fresh.
Cheers!

I begged him. I begged him not to do this to me.
He begged me. He begged me to do this for him.
«I know it’s gonna be bad. We’ve passed by it many times and it never looked good.»
«But Unilocal has 4+ stars!»
«It doesn’t matter! It’s gonna be bad! Unilocal is never right when it comes to Sushi restaurants (sorry Unilocal,but it’s mostly true).»
«But it could be good! People said great things about this place!»
«Why do you like to torture me???»
«We have to try new places!»
«…»
I gave in. What can I say, I guess I’m too nice. I let him win the begging competition. I did make him promise though, that he’ll be paying for it if I didn’t like it.
So off we went to Tsukiji Restaurant. We go in and see bunch of non-​Japanese people sitting there. Oh this is great. I don’t mean any disrespect towards non-​Japanese people and that is not what I’m saying. But when you are in South Bay, which is filled with major Japanese corporations, good Japanese places are always filled with Japanese customers. Who wants to go to a restaurant filled with non-​Chinese in the middle of China Town when you want good Chinese food, right?
Already feeling even more pessimistic about our dinner, we got seated. What did I see there? Massive empty space in the glass case in front of us. About less than ¹⁄₃ of the space was filled with fish, half of which enfolded in the plastic wrap. Hmmm… how long have you kept those fish in there, and how much longer are you planning on keeping? Scared, I decided that I should order bunch of kitchen food to avoid sushi, but then ended up with super greasy fried oysters. Crap. There is no way out of this. Fine, fine, fine. Apparently I’m destined to eat scary sushi.
First up was Ankimo. I don’t know how the hell my fiancé knows what cat food tastes like, but that’s what he said it tasted like. With strangest rough grainy texture, which is the total opposite of what Ankimo should be, it tasted like some sort of thawed processed mystery meat. Eew. Then we received our first sushi, Kanpachi. He reached to it first, so I saw him pop it into his mouth, chewed it few times, paused for a second, and slowly turned to me with the funny look. I interpreted his facial expression as «Oh crap. This is bad. She’s gonna give me total sh*t about this.» Ugh. I braced myself for what was about to come into my mouth, and popped one in. Two thoughts came into my mind: «I’m not paying for dinner tonight.» and «America’s Test Kitchen (PBS cooking show) was just featuring fish episode and they were talking about how your finger will sink into the fish if you touched the old fish whereas the fresh fish will give your finger a nice bounce back. This must be the finger sinking fish.» Gross. If the chef didn’t tell me what he was putting in front of us, I couldn’t have identify any of the fish as they all tasted the same… no particular fish flavor, but just bland with a hint of freezer flavor.
During the course of dinner, I saw something disturbing too. The chef took out this sealed package that you see at any super markets. I couldn’t tell what was inside as the plastic cover seemed to be frosted. The chef pealed the plastic seal then disappeared to the back. Next thing, I heard the microwave dinging and saw him come back with several strips of what seemed to be thawed crab legs. He put those into hand rolls and gave them to the customers. Wait, he buys packaged frozen crab legs just like the one from the super market??? Wow, just wow.
By then I lost my appetite and told the chef that I was too full to eat anymore. Too bad, the chef here was really nice though he seemed to be pretty drunk. I feel really bad to give it low rating, but after all, it is good food that I want from the restaurant, not a nice chef to talk to.
Oh and yes, my fiancé did pay for the dinner without saying anything.

I’m shocked at the average rating this place has! It’s sad when so many people can get something so wrong.
This was one of the worst sushi dinners I’ve had in ages. I begged the girl to try it (trying new sushi is not her favorite, and I’m starting to see why.) Even though there were many glowing Unilocal reviews, it was all BS.
The one redeeming quality of this place was that the chef was nice and friendly. The fish was all garbage. Every piece I received was brutally cut off a large ice cold block of recently thawed fish. And I mean EVERY PIECE was saturated in icy water and lacked any true «fresh» flavor. I have never seen so many poorly cut slices of fish. The ankimo I got had the strangest texture and smelled and tasted like cat food. Easily the worst I’ve ever had.
Unilocalers like to use the word «fresh» a lot, but I bet in a blind taste test 90% would fail, probably myself as well. But I at least know crap when I eat it.
Beyond all the terrible, depressingly bad fish, was the high price tag to go with last week’s frozen fish sticks. Just unforgivable for something so bad.
Unilocalers, you have all failed.

This place is about as authentic as it gets in the US, and well worth every penny paid (between myself and my buddy it was $ 60 each).
To offer some background, I have lived in Japan before and am therefore VERY picky about the authenticity of the Japanese food I eat in the US. I’m okay with eating crappy/​mediocre/​Americanized Japanese food to satisfy my constant craving for Japanese food, but I am always hunting for the ever-​elusive «authentic» Japanese food (something far too rare stateside, mostly due to cost and a lack of chefs directly from Japan). That’s why this little gem, tucked away in a small plaza on Redondo Beach Blvd, gets five well-​deserved stars.
One star is for having Orion Beer directly imported from Japan: contrary to popular belief, Asahi/​Kirin/​Sapporo beers as found in the US are brewed in Canada and are NOT the real deal (I learned this the hard way when I came back from Tokyo to learn that my cherished beers were significantly crappier). Right upon getting here, I was offered a familiar beer and that lovely taste was a trip back in time.
Another star is for the staff – it wasn’t that busy on a Friday night, but the owner and staff are wonderful and a tremendous help. This may be biased because I speak Japanese, but they were attentive and a blast to party with. Even the non-​Japanese regular said that the chef is always top-​notch in his service. The chef loves beer and will drink with you as he prepares the food.
The last three stars are simply for the quality of the fish – some items on the menu are listed as «from Japan,» and this is not a joke: the yellowtail sushi I had there was the best I’d had since I went to a hole-​in-​the-​wall sushi spot in the middle of East Tokyo (read: no foreigners for miles). I’m talking yellowtail that’s so good I actually felt tears coming into my eyes. Still, even the fish that’s American in origin is amazing. According to the regular patron that was sitting with us, all the Japanese ex-​pats who work at nearby Lexus/​Toyota always eat at this restaurant… and I really believe it.
Lastly, adventurous eaters be pleased: if you ask nicely, the owner will give you teriyaki flavored grasshoppers (strangely enough, they weren’t bad at all)!
You really can’t go wrong with this place – do yourself a favor and check it out! And definitely drink with the chef… he’s a class act.

Best Sushi in the South Bay!
Very authentic, lots of variety, and a very charismatic staff (especially the sushi chef).
Sushi is ordered by the piece, (not two pieces like most restaurants). I feel this can give you a chance to order a lot of items.
If you drink beer, get the Orion beer. It is much better than Asahi/​Sapporo and it is directly imported from Japan.
Make sure to have fun and give the chef a taste of your drink!

Been in the area a number of times, but the signage is poor and they don’t advertise (at least in the many publications that I read).
A friend of mine recommended the place for lunch and I was somewhat amused that he said that he doesn’t do sushi with cream cheese and he’s not into hand rolls. That said, I figured that he was a purist.
Everything was extremely fresh. What you will notice is that the rice per fish proportion is much great and so you don’t get filled with rice.
Service is extremely attentive and they aim to please.
I had tuna, salmon, spanish mackerel and sweet shrimp (ame ebi). The ame ebi was my favorite. I could probably eat these all day!!!

I was told by my co-​worker about this place and decided to check it out. Nevertheless the Yellow Tail, Salmon and Tuna was very delicious and fresh. I was quite surprised of the quality of the sushi because a week ago, I was in Hawaii trying out all kinds of fresh local catches. I was happy with the price for the quality this restaurant had offered.
The service was fast and prompt. I would definitely go back whenever I’m in the area. One of my top 10 sushi places in
.

Even though the owners have changed couple of times sushi here is still pretty good and fresh.
I used to work there back in college so I never question the freshness of the fish. Not only that the taste is authentic and even though dinner is pricey, I still like coming here.
Lunch time is the best bang for your buck because they have lunch special bowls. The bowls have sashimi and sushi rice.

My bf and I have passed Tsukiji everytime we go to Lee’s Tofu next door which is about once every other week. After a year of wondering and then reading the great reviews on here, we were very excited to try this place out. Unfortunately we were very disappointed.
They have two different sets of omakase, one at $ 17 and one at $ 24. Each set contains 10 pieces of nigiri sushi. We decided to get one of each and compare. Since we sat at the bar, we had a bird’s-eye view of the preparation and this is when things started to go downhill.
When I’ve ordered omakase sushi at other restaurants, I’m used to the chef preparing each piece and serving it one by one. At this place, the chef prepared both sets and then presented everything all at once. This wouldn’t have been a big deal but while preparing it, he was so careless with the fish so far as to throw the pieces around while rummaging through the refrigerated case. And no, this was not theatrical «flair.» This was more in the line of «I could care less» flinging the fish around.
To make matters worse, when he got to the tuna, he took out the piece, trimmed off the stale/​dry exterior, and then proceeded to cut it and serve it. Needless to say, the tuna was definitely not fresh and it was one of the worst out of the 10 pieces.
It’s unfortunate because some of the fish was good but between the 2 of us and the 20 pieces, only about half were good while the other half were either fishy or so-​so. This goes against everything omakase is about — which is the chef presenting the best of what he has for the day.
The price was very low but I would have been happy to pay double for better quality. As it is, I will not be coming back because I’d rather spend more for great sushi or spend nothing at all rather than getting mediocre fish for a good price.

Stopped in for an early lunch today at 11:30am, on my way back from Long Beach. Monday is usually my favorite day for sushi (Tuesday at certain places closed Monday…) and when I sat down and asked «what’s good today?» I heard the answer I wanted to hear… the chef said «Everything is good, it’s monday!»
Well they didn’t disappoint. Let’s just start off with the maguro. It came highly recommended. And let me tell you, it was one of the best orders of maguro I’ve EVER had. So fresh and so sweet, texture was firm but delicate. And the aoyagi (orange clam). It can be difficult to find this at most sushi restaurants… Tsukiji had the freshest and most flavorful orange clam I’ve ever tasted! The texture was perfect… slightly soft on the bite, but crunchy once you start chewing.
Their scallops from Japan were pretty good, though not as good as the scallops I’ve had from Sushi Masu or Sasabune. And definitely couldn’t compare to the live scallops frequently served at Isshin (Westwood).
The kampachi, also flown in from Japan, was among the fattiest baby yellowtail I’ve ever had. It still retained the firm texture and translucent color of kampachi, but had very visible fat bands that are quite uncommon in this age of fish. Delicious.
Hirame (halibut) was good, but nothing remarkable. They serve it without ponzu sauce.
I had one piece of Aburi Chutoro… seared medium fatty tuna, served with a dab of some heavier soy sauce. Very buttery, almost as much as otoro is. Although lately, otoro has been off-​the-​charts-​fatty so much that it has been kinda grosse to eat. This was just right.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed by their uni. I became suspect when the chef put a glob on his hand and tried it before serving it to me. When I looked at my uni nigiri, it was noticeably gooey and turning and slightly darker mustard color. And it was no surprise that they had a hint of bitterness… it was quite a disappointment considering my friend Scott recommended this place based on the uni alone (knowning my love for the urchin). When I told the head chef that it was only so-​so, he told me «come back in the afternoon, we give you fresh from today. that one from 3 day ago.»
OUCH, I knew it. How lame that they served me 3 day old uni. Ordering nigiri at the bar, I expected better. They could have saved the old stuff for people ordering the various Uni-​Don combos they have for lunch special!
Overall, I enjoyed my lunch here and I will be coming back. The prices are pretty good… definitely cheaper than what I’m used to in West LA. My bill came out to $ 44 for a meal that probably would have been just over $ 50 normally. Hopefully next time, I’ll get to try the fresh uni that everybody seems to rave about!

I have eaten here only once, and for a lunch with two work related business folks from a sister company in Japan.
I took the visitors here hearing from friends for years that it is a good place, but is pricey (god bless business lunches and dinners). One was a high ranking individual. I was asked to take them to lunch because I speak Japanese (I love taking visitors places, except little kids to amusement parks). Turns out they wanted some Japanese food (they got tired of huge burgers and steaks with huge everything I was told).
They were semi-​impressed at first because of the name. They were wondering if the place just used the name of a famous fish market in Tokyo for the heck of it.
They also told me they have sharp eyes for Uni (sea urchin). In my mind I start to sweat but don’t show it.
They ordered Uni. They eat. They liked it. Overall they were impressed with the fresh quality and were pretty satisfied, not a fancy place but no complaints. I quietly wipe sweat off my brow in my mind.
I was glad, Tsukiji didn’t disappoint.
How did I like their sushi? Good. Went down like it was nothig but I was preoccupied making small converstions with the visitors.
It’s a small place so a reservation is a must.

I finally made it back to Tsukiji with the hope of finding a great sushi spot here in the South Bay. I recalled it being good when I came with my parents, even though my dad had the gall to order a California Roll. He’s half-​Taiwanese. He didn’t know any better and wouldn’t let me order for him.
I remember the uniquely flavored rice, slightly more vinegary than usual, made with akazu (red rice wine vinegar), the ezobafun uni from Japan and thinking that the sushi was good. Last night, I didn’t notice the darker rice, there was no ezobafun uni, and my experience was slightly above average.
I had hirame, tai, maguro (most likely yellowfin, definitely not bluefin), salmon, aburi toro (seared toro), hamachi, kanpachi, saba, mirugai, aoyagi, aoyagi himo (the flap around the muscle), ikura, uni, ama ebi, ika somen and some fried oysters. The tai was very good as were the aburi toro, ikura (cured there — with a good balance of shoyu and dashi flavor) and uni. But as the chef informed me, that was pretty much all of the good stuff.
I ordered the ika somen and fried oysters because I was just craving those things. The ika somen, although good, was not cut as thinly as I was used to. The fried oysters were covered in a rather heavy batter and panko, but they were super hot, plump, and perfectly cooked, oozing with plenty of juices.
But, disappointingly, the chef told me they still use akazu, but it was very light, thus the rice didn’t even have any color. I did like that the rice was packed well, not so soft as Sasabune, Sushi Zo or Echigo.
I got one piece of each fish, and including tax, the food cost me less than $ 60, which these days, is a very good deal. But, as sushi prices continue to escalate, it seems more worthwhile to eat better sushi for a little more, than to eat ‘good” sushi for a little less.
And on that note, I’m going to eat sushi more at lunch than dinner to save money. I’m going to save my money for The Hump, Kiriko or Sushi Zo.

There is something about birthdays you always want to make sure you get it right. It’s not always about getting the gift you want, but also making sure the food you will taste that day to be memorable. Hey, I’ll take the gift too if it was stuff with a duffel bag worth of green backs. Alas, it was always the same sock and sweaters.
Luckily for me this year turns out a lot better than last year.
This year I get to choose where I want to go. Last year I had the so so Kan Pai:
. This year I have to do some diligence so I don’t felt like a sour sap again. So I went with the sure thing on my search.
Yep…stalking Hana K.‘s list of reviews.
I quickly scanned for the words of «favorite», «the best», or «great» on her list and was able to come across Tsukiji. Damnit, I should credited Rodger R. too, but he hasn’t been able to do a review about this place and I did remembered how he raved about this place. So I decided once and for all to hit this place. If it suck, it would fall squarely on their shoulders.
Tsukiji Restaurant described by the fellow Unilocalers as a place named after one of Japan’s biggest fish markets/​distributors. So in essence they should be able to serve fresh fish to uphold the reputation of their namesake. The pressure is definitely on for these sushi chefs to do just that.
Arriving to the destination, the parking lot entrance is a little tight with narrow lanes to enter and exit the parking lot. But on this evening, it is a little easy to find the parking space as the plaza is very light compares to the other day.
I fully took Hana’s suggestion of skipping the rolls and ordered the sushi. In short ordered, I had ordered Eel, Sea Eel, Salmon, Mackerel, Sea Urchin, Shrimp, Halibut, and Yellow Tail:
and
.
For a good measure I also added Sea Urchin & Eel Tshimi bowl
with a tempura
. Finishing it off with a bowl of hot udon soup:
.
Of course people are wondering if I actually ate all that all by myself… the answer is absolutely. And I loved it! OK OK, I got help with the sushi and my friends did ordered their own sushimi bowl and other dishes.
Oh, we also ordered appetizers too. Yikes you say, well… you gotta also check out their fresh iced cold tofu:
, this is every dieters’ dream where they serve something very fresh where this little thing is fantastically perfect to start off the dinner.
The big rave in the appetizers that was suggested by the staff was the Stuff Lotus in Tempura:
. This is a must try when you get in there. The lotus is excellently wrapped in a tempura battered with a tad of salt and sauce, it was a stop in time when you took that first bite. Okay, maybe exaggeration on my part, but I did have a moment of observance at that point.
The service was excellent. It is a very small place with probably only two tables with two other smaller tables on their private mat space. There are also some counter seats which I suggest getting because of the interaction with the sushi chef. The man was delightful and entertaining for the night. Of course it better be if we are going to drop a bucket on this. Let’s put it delicately, I didn’t pay because it’s my B-​day, but it did went north of $ 150 for three people, which was considered not bad for that pricing.
After tasting those fresh sushi, I wondered why it took me that long to taste such a fresh raw fish, but yet totally addicted afterward. I’m wondering if I was scammed all these years by going to Kabuki or some other rundown all-​you-​can-​eat seafood buffets.
No more I say!
This was one of the best meal I had in quite awhile. Now I have all a whole new mission afterward. My conquest begins to find another sushi restaurant that would parallel to this place. It’s hard to find, but I’ll begin that quest soon.
Needless to say, I concur with Hana K. in reaffirming this place get a solid 5 stars in my book too.
Oh, be prepared. If I ever scanned your list for suggestions. If you proclaimed a restaurant to be «the best», «favorite», or «great», make sure you back it up because it will disappoint me if I find otherwise. Or I might have to de-​list you for that.

Good sushi here. My buddy Nobu brought me in here for lunch back when I used to work in Gardena… tried their uni-​salmon don (rice bowl) and it was really REALLY good. Food was fresh and tastilicious! It gets packed in there so you may have a wait.