We also received a lovely dessert that was created for our occasion: a small scoop of ice cream and sweet red bean with mochi. Then the nigiri and a lot of it! It went from raw to lightly seared to the last piece of freshly cooked unagi. Very authentic, our chef informed us, a hundred year old traditional soup that is part of everyday life in Japanese culture. Early in the meal we received a lovely «winter soup» with monkfish, veggies, and 5 different types of mushroom. The plating was acheived with acute attention to detail. Then came a seasonal appetizer assortment with various veggies picked in-house, small fruits that were new to us, and of few pieces of sashimi. It started with the velvet tofu and «special soy sauce,» also housemade. Artisan ceramics gave it a unique and dignified vibe without coming off as ostentatious. I believe he called it soft, creamy and «nicely wheaty.» The aesthetic was lovely. My boyfriend who would never claim to like tofu actually loved it. Cuttlefish was a new fun one! The housemade tofu was the best I’ve ever had. Come January I called three times whether to confirm or ask a question to make sure everything was perfect. He asked that I please cancel in advance if I needed to I felt like he meant «you’re calling so early in don’t want you to forget about it.» Of course we didn’t. The gentleman on the phone was clearly astonished and repeated the date but booked it and noted the special occasion: boyfriend’s birthday. I feel that’s allowed due to the substantial cost and advance notice with which I placed reservations. Total bill for premium omakase for two with one sake and one beer totalled a little over $ 500 so I am going to nitpick a little. They meant well but I’m not going back and wasting my money over boring sushi and nice but annoying service.
They made us feel like they wanted us to hurry the fuck up and get out the second it was last call and it was even more downhill from there with that. Not saying it’s not nice to have an attentive waiter, absolutely! But as I said there is a difference between attentive and obnoxious. It was extremely annoying and even if the sushi was good that would have bugged the hell out of me and lost them a few stars. I couldn’t get through a half a conversation without them coming by. I was trying to have a conversation with my friend and they came by literally every 2 minutes, I actually timed them once so I felt like I wasn’t over exaggerating. There’s a difference between being attentive and obnoxious. Aside from that, I may have given the 3 stars but the I have not ever been so hovered over by waiters in my life. I feel like I just got ripped off completely. It wasn’t garbage but I’ve been to cheap sushi places that had way better sushi than this place. Maybe we went on a bad night or something but the sushi was not anything special whatsoever and completely forgettable. Ok, soooo, this place, not sure why they have the crazy great reviews.
Tip: The parking lot is tiny, so consider street parking. That might be true, but I’m not eager to spend $ 600 on a meal (before wine) to find out! For now, Sushi Zo and Mori Sushi are my two favorite omakase spots in LA. You’ll have to find out for yourself! And for my few friends who have ventured to Urasawa, they still maintain that Urasawa does it best. My friends are generally split between Mori Sushi and Sushi Zo.
However, world-class sushi here, no doubt. I have to give the nod to Sushi Zo for being a much better value. While it’s not as snooty as other LA restaurants like Animal or small hipster coffee shops, it could still use some improvement. At Mori Sushi, you feel somewhat appreciated, but you feel like you should be the one giving appreciation instead. At Sushi Zo, they treated you like a special guest. While the food was incredible, the service lacked that edge that Sushi Zo had. Those dishes were flavor explosions that made me wish I could just buy an entire plateful of each. My favorites were the chutoro, bluefin tuna, Hokkaido uni, and crab. Even though you get many traditional and classic cuts of fish (snapper, hamachi, salmon roe, squid, uni, etc), there’s a distinct difference between having them here versus any other high-end establishment. The sushi here is right up there with Sushi Zo and the sushi I’ve had in Japan. We opted for the Premium Nigiri Omakase, which came out to a little over $ 250 per person. Some people argue that Mori Sushi is better than Sushi Zo, and while I can understand that perspective, I still give a slight edge to Sushi Zo due to greater QPR.