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"I'm so happy I discovered San Sui Tei. It's really easy to miss this place because it's toward the end of the block populated by the likes…" read more »
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This review is SOLELY for their Salmon Mondays....
We love salmon and this place sells it for $1 each. It is so yummy. You get to choose between regular or Toro (fatty salmon). There are also a couple of other salmon dishes that are grilled or in salads. All the salmon specials are reasonably priced and from looking at the tables next to us, pretty tasty.
We were thinking of ordering other food, but we found the price to be a bit too much. It runs about $15 for a bento combo thing. So we just ordered miso soup and salmon sushi.
NOTE about Salmon Mondays: you only get one round., which means that you can order all the special salmon at their great prices ONCE. For every subsequent order, you will be charged their usual price.
The only downer about this awesome little joint, is the distance from my house in Santa Monica.
The salmon and tuna nights are the best idea ever! How can you beat $1 sashimi?!
The sake club is just plain brilliant!
The girls are quick to fill you cup, plus you can take it home a design it! I rest at peace knowing that no one else will enjoy all you can drink sake from my special cup!
Defiantly worth checking out, even if it just for the sake club!
**THIS IS AN UPDATED REVIEW**
I used to *love* this place. But the last two meals I had there kinda sucked. Did they change chefs?
Nonetheless, I've noticed a change and I'm bummed. I probably won't go back.
There's usually not a wait - the menu is easy, and the service is fast and good. What more do you… Read more »
Well, get ready to sweat in this place on Half-off salmon Mondays and half-off tuna Thursdays because it gets super crowded! We went here on Thursday and waited to be seated for probably the longest thirty minutes of my life. This place is small and dinky but with a great atmosphere of people. It's super lively and noisy so it's a great place to chill with friends and have a couple of sake bombs. I'm not a fan of Japanese tuna rolls or spicy tuna rolls so I can't say that it's a great deal to come on Thursday unless that is what you like. Overall, it's cool but not great. Service wasn't fab when there's a crowd. Not a place I would crave to go back to again.
mmmmmmmmm.... it was okay. not too bad and not too good.
You know sometimes when you get sushi at a market and it takes decently?? I would compare those to East in a same level. Except sushi at a market is rated high since it's from a market and sushi at a restaurant tasting like it's from the market should be rated moderately low.
Two things that annoyed me.
1. I caught one of the waitress picking her nose and still serving. (Luckily she wasn't serving our table)
2. The waitresses seem to have their own "method" of sitting people down. A couple came in and wanted to sit by the window yet the waitress insisted them to sit inside. Was the place busy? mmmm no. My friend and I was the only customer at the moment. The couple being stubborn told the waitress they would like to sit at the window and sat down. Few minutes later the waitress comes back and asks the couple to move inside and this time the couple gave in.
Found out the reason why is because they want the pedestrians to think the place is packed??? I must remind you there were only two tables occupied...
I really like East, and my dh for some reason LOVES East. I am rather enamored of their sake club. I love drinking sake out of a cedar cup. My OWN personal cedar cup. It makes the sake taste and smell delicious and I love knowing that no one else will get to put their paws on my sake cup all year long, I am sake cup #69. !!!SIXTY-NINE!!!!
I am easy to please for sushi. I usually order a couple orders of sashimi, and then maybe one or two orders of sushi something that might be special. I have never been unhappy with the food at East. Yesterday for lunch I ordered their chirashi, my all time favorite thing for a Japanese lunch. It was good. The peices of fish were small chunks, left over probably corners of fish being used for other things, and this is ok. This is why they sell a chirashi. All the fish was amazingly fresh and delicious.
East also has a perfect street sign pole out front to lock your bike up to. East could become a destination lunch on bicycle riding days. Now if only there were a Scoops downtown....
Absolutely beautiful salmon...
Finally checked this place out for Salmon Monday. For the price, the salmon is of excellent quality and just absolutely melts in your mouth. I pity anyone who does not or has not acquired an intense love for the texture of raw fish in the mouth. It is an absolutely wonderful sensation without the regular experience of which, would make ones life incomplete.
I also tried the salmon salad. Very good favors, and perfect crispness of the lettuce to balance the soft sashimi.
This is also a very visually appealing place to hang out. How I've gone four years without ever venturing in, I will never understand.
Ok, so I was at work...on my ambulance and my partner and I had a craving for Sushi (he eats the raw stuff, and I don't). So after we dropped our patient off at the psychiatric hospital down the road (seriously, really!) we headed down the road to find a place we both would be happy at.
The menu was plastered on the front window so we made up my mind quickly and went inside.
We were first greeted by a nice looking girl. We told her we wanted it to go and she gave us a different menu...which kinda sucked cause I had already made up my mind, and it's not easy to do! I checked out the menu and found something that sounded great!
I settled on the Vegetable Maki Combo. Basically it consisted of 3 different veggie rolls that consisted mostly cucumber, avocado, aspara and celery I think? It was only $10 plus tax and it consisted of 24 ROLLS!!!
All in all, this place was pretty good. And I loved the decor inside! It reminded me of something my dad would love. Tables made of real wood, looks like driftwood, and cool ball lights hanging from the ceiling!
it's been a long ass time since i last wrote a one star review.
yes, on monday nights it's salmon monday.
yes, on thursday nights it's tuna thursday.
yes, on it's unlimited sake for 6.99 only after you've paid 20ish for the one year membership and your own bloody cup.
and yes, i know the sushi are cheap on monday and thursday, but
no they sucked. so bad i had to finish my friend's leftover. friend was a beeyatch.
no, i never thought sushi could be that salty.
no, i won't tell anyone else about the gay ass sake club, that's so 1999.
nevermind the quality of the food, nevermind the fuglies, but at least don't try to keep my change as your big tip. i can count on my own, son.
"all she was doing was trying to clear plates while i was trying to eat. plus she looked evil. she looked like an evil fish!", said a friend.
hi doug. guess who i met? natalie portman.
this place is so whacked, so bad that it didn't deserve a star, but because i just met natalie 40 mins prior to this, i'll holler. how was garden state?
Great lunch special. $8.50 for choice of 2 picks plus miso soup and sides.
Service is always prompt, and worth tipping well. But on today's visit, I noticed that when they run your credit card, the tip chart is 18%, 20% and a whopping 25%.
I'm always a decent tipper and that's a good thing because our server chased me down on the street to return the card I left there.
If you like picture menus, this place is for you!
Only 4 reviews?! Crazy. East is one of my favorites in Little Tokyo, but I probably never would have… Read more »
We were down in Little Tokyo and decided to wander over and perhaps finally try out Daikokuya (known to us previously as the "yellow awning place") and, of course, the line was crazy. We put our names in (only 16 groups ahead of us!) and milled about on the sidewalk.
We had wandered by earlier and my bf noticed the place a couple doors down was rockin' a Tuna Thursday special. I was feeling more noodle-y than tuna-y but it's not like I ever sit down for food and not enjoy it. Sheesh. That is, when a place will actually take my order and bring me some food. We sat at our table for a solid 10-15 minutes, watching waitresses rush by, making eye contact, everything we could do and nothing. No menu, no water, certainly no food. We finally flagged someone down and form there, it was ok.
The tuna was actually really good - much better quality than I expected for a bargain day. I prefer salmon so I might try to go back for the Monday night salmon special. We'll see if we can drag the bf...
To sum up: food good, service annoying, chairs were stools, diet coke was canned, tuna was fresh. I'd go again but I'd make sure I brought a bottle of water and my patience.
Oh, and I almost forgot the strange smell that wafted by mid-meal; not sewage, per se but not flowery deliciousness by any means What was that?!
Why am I saying I will go back to this place?!
Fun place to go to and get sushi with a group. Pretty nice and cute environment. I don't eat sushi so I can't be a fair judge on the food, but the staff is great and what I did eat was good.
They have this saki club thingy that you pay like 6 dollars plus the cost of one saki and you get unlimited saki all night! The cup you get with the saki club is a wooden box and they provide markers to decorate. FUN place.
The restaurant opens for dinner at 5:30 and we were there exactly at that time but they weren't ready and didn't let us wait inside (even though it was raining outside).
Parking is a bit tough, mostly street ($2/hr meters or $6 lot).
Overall, the food was good and the waitresses were cordial. The teryaki sauce isn't the usual generic thick and overly sugared out-of-the-bottle variety but a nice savory one with a hint of sweetness. The food came very fast and well plated. Tempura was typical, just like any other restaurant in Little Tokyo (except that they included a BROCCOLI! I love broccoli!! Places that tempura broccoli have a special spot in my heart.)
Will probably eat here again..
Great salmon sashimi on Mondays! Just ate there and I really enjoyed it! Buttery, Tender, practically melts in your mouth! Very fresh!!
The spicy salmon roll and salmon collar were good too!!
The parking sucks and the service is abysmal but I would go there again.
Caution: Nearly got mugged on the way to my car by two black homeless guys trying to get change out of me. Unless you're the type that can get them to back off, cough up the $6 and park in a safe parking lot (3 lots on 1st). I thought I was all smart trying to save money by parking on 3rd St.
I don't care how many cops are out there, they're never around when you need them.
To sum up, the salmon is great! Go on Monday, it's cheap and tasty! Park close if you can or park far and bring a bat (seriously!)
At this particular time, I have eaten dinner at East four times and have not left gastronomically unfulfilled.
My latest visit brought forth sake (salmon) ochazuke, saba (mackerel), and unagi (eel) sushi. The delicious broth of the ochazuke, which subtly harmonized with the salmon, was the most remarkable of the three foods. The runner up was the miso saba, which was well prepared and not overcooked as sometimes is the case as can been simply seen in the condition of the skin. The sushi was satisfactory. This may largely be attributed to how impressed I was with the ochauzuke.
The waitresses were friendly and efficient both equipped with a good sense of humor. There is little more off putting to be served by a waitress with a despondent or serious disposition. Levity is as important an ingredient in a dining experience as the quality of the fish being served or the chef's ability to determine the proper balance of flavors in a broth.
East is relatively inexpensive, however, neither I nor my friends have not had anything there that would be deemed inferior or repugnant. It is not always the case that cheap prices equal lousy food that is better suited for vermin.
Not somewhere I would specifically drive to eat. More suitable to stumble on while drunk.
Hence, this is a review a-la-buzz. Things that i do remember:
Cool lighting, helpful staff (good waiter and her little helpers).
Good sushi. Lots of them (double vision?)
Bad, weak, sad sake.
The night is so fun!!!!!! Wait, i'm sober. Damnit, let's get trashed at a REAL SUSHI place.
I was in Little Tokyo with a co-worker and he kept saying he wanted Chicken Teriyaki. It was that or nothing. We walked around and decided this place would do.
Sushi Gen is walking distance from here. Not the kind of money I'd want to spend with a co-worker, but my mind couldn't help wandering.
Before we walked inside I told him, get ready for a hearty welcome, the usual, "Irrasshaimase!" He had no idea what this was about.
What a disappointment, it was hardly a peep. I had to strain to actually hear the faint welcome from the sushi bar and the servers.
The food on the other hand was not bad. I bad Box number one. Chicken Teriyaki, mixed tempura, California Roll, salad, miso soup for $12. Remember, this is dinner with a co-worker. Not a date, not a night out.
The restaurant next door had a 'C' rating. So I think we did just fine.
i've lived a block away from this place for 2 years now but i didnt find out about salmon mondays till today
for $1 you get 2 salmon toro nigiris which actually tastes very nice. our table of 4 loaded up on 20+ orders of salmon nigiri + other rolls.. our total bill after beers / sake etc came out to only $20/pp.
the restaurant is cheery and it feels like you are in japan.
nevertheless, something is kinda lacking from the restaurant.. i would come back again for a cheap snack / beer, but probably not for a full meal.
One star. That's not a lot. Some people might think, hey, that's an exaggeration. It can't be that bad. Sadly, it is. Actually, it may be worse.
There are a few things about East that are not acceptable. Let's begin with the sewage smell which many other reviewers commented on. So, yah, like, it smells just like a sewer in many spots of the restaurant. Funny, it seems to be emanating from the toilet area. So whatever the verdict on the food is, if you don't mind inhaling poo smell, you may have an ok time. Best to eat here in the evening, when other people can soak up the lovely odor and perhaps mask it with their cologne and naturally alluring smells.
Next - the bloody Salmon Monday SCAM. So, yes, I went here on Monday for lunch to try the salmon specials. And quite sadly, I was informed, "oh no, we only do that at night". Ok. Fine. So I had a chicken terriyaki bowl. The chicken seemed like it could have been from yesterday or the day before or perhaps, it wasn't chicken at all. Whatever the case, it is hard to mess up a very basic dish that even fast food chains have managed to emulate and execute with some efficiency. Well, dudes and dudettes, this chicken bowl was sucktastic, and please don't infer that any sort of mouth sucking movement should be associated with the culinary experience at East. If anything, the good ol spit out the food in the napkin deal may be more called for.
Incidentally, service is really bloody awful. I mean, the chick is ushering us out the door so she can clean my table before I managed to finish the one thing that was mediocre but palatable - the water.
Next, I did end up returning the week after for the salmon 1 dollar scamarama because hey, I'm a bit cheap and I am hungry. And I like salmon. So I figured, toilette smell, no prob, rude fake-Japanese waitresses, super duper - as long as the salmon flows upstream into my mouth at 1 dollar a piece price.
I also dragged my poor buddy along to enjoy the feast of cheapness that this evening was meant to be.
Alas, it was not meant to be after all. Tears fill my eyes.
After ordering our first set of what was so-so salmon (fresh, yes, possibly, or possibly just mushy which sometimes passes for fresh), we tried to order more, all the while attempting to overlook (oversmell? undersmell?) the odor in the restaurant, and we were informed in the most discourteous, rude, obnoxious, arrogant, hostile, condescending, un-Japanese way, by what must be the most dissatisfied useless server I have ever had the mis-pleasure to encounter, here or anywhere in the known Shatnerian galaxy including on Klingon which is not known for politeness at all, that any 2nd order of salmon was at regular price. So, silly me, I ask - but why did you not inform us before? She answers - "it was on the menu in big letters!". Well, let me tell you - if it was marked in such large letters, why then did she tell us anything? I mean, clearly, it was marked, in super big english letters, so then, why tell me before I order more that its at regular price?????????????????????????????????????? Like, um, like, um, I already knew. Like.... Seriously, the servers I have experienced here are impolite. The place smells. The food is not all that good and they are inexcusably rude. Rude. Rude. Rude. I've been here 3 times, twice by my own stupid decision, and each time, rude, lousy food and bad smell.
The answer friends, romans, countrymen, is that this hole in the wall is truly a restaurant where you get what you do and don't pay for. We left, but not before taking one final breath of what even Hong Kong on a warm, humid summer garbage collecting day could never amount to in smell (and I am from Hong Kong so I should know). I praise those who are so ignorant and cheap, who have never tasted the true fruits of actually fresh salmon (and by the way, there is no such thing as salmon toro - my opinion is that this is not actually salmon but some small red animal, possibly a goldfish or a carp or maybe even Gumby's friend Pokey), that brave the nouveau yuppie cheapskate white-man gaijin, qwai-lo crowd who frequent this excuse for a Japanese restaurant. No bowing. No "thank you". Actually, no thank you.
I suggest that we all take a moment to consider how much it would cost us to go to Ralphs, buy a piece of salmon, cut slices off and put those slices on rice. It may just be that this process which sounds confusing could indeed lead many of us to the promised land of making our own sushi at home where the smell is at least of our making, then we know for sure that no goldfish was harmed in the process.
P.S. Goldfish do grow quite large. Large enough to make sushi from.
P.P.S. Mako sushi in Weller Court is very good. Go there and bring a rich friend.
God bless all of you!
At least I can say I've tried it.
I would never have gone to this restaurant (over daikokuya?? *gasp*) and I mean never....until I was lured in by the cheap prices. Just because I happened to be waiting on the street for my ramen dining companion and had nothing to do but read these menus against the window with "Tuna Thursday" special.
You definitely get what you pay for.
The sushi wasn't bad, but it was just..meh. Knowing that I could have had a glorious bowl of steaming hot ramen from Daikokuya next door just magnified the sadness of the sushi. But it wasn't all that bad, just not that great.
At least the iced tea with free refills was good! We also got the Manhattan roll, which was just so-so.
I would not recommend this restaurant...to me it's like, why go here when you have SO many other wonderful options in Little Tokyo?
4.17.08: Its sad to say this but this place would not have been discovered if it wasn't for the long wait at Daikokuya. It was Tuna Thursdays. Which means they have a list of rolls with tunas for about $2/$3. It was cheap and of course for the price I didn't expect much.
We also ordered the philly, the rainbow and one more roll. It was suprising to me. I didn't expect it to be decent. I really enjoyed my food knowing that I didn't have to wait a lifetime for it.
Next time I'll probably go just to go rather than just settling for this place cause of the long line next door.
Cheap and decent! Lets go!
You know how it goes-- you get what you pay for. I'd say the only worthy menu items are those featured on the day-specific specials like "Salmon Monday" and "Tuna Thursday". This is definitely about quantity over quality. But with that being said, the quality is still rather decent.
A girlfriend and I ordered one of everything off the Tuna Thursday menu last night, and we were absolutely done over by the end of the meal. The most bang-for-your-buck items would be the tuna sashimi, spicy tuna salad (basically a mixed green salad with miso dressing and a bunch of spicy tuna plopped on top), and of course the tuna rolls (spicy/non-spicy).
Beware, doggy bags for these specials are nish-nish, so pace yourself accordingly. We sat around and made sure we ate every last piece. Purely out of principle.
Don't expect too much. Otherwise, you will be sorely disappointed.
Salmon Special Monday is fantastic. I thought I would provide a useful estimate of how much to order. Two people (both moderately hungry) got:
5 salmon sushi
5 toro sushi
2 rolls
1 salmon skin salad
1 large sapporo
1 peach cocktail-type deal
All for about $40 with tax and tip. Perfect amount of food. Pretty good sushi (come on! it's one damn dollar and pretty decent in my opinion) and surprisingly filling. Nice decor and ambiance.
Its the first place I go if I'm craving for japanese food. I may not be a expert on japanese food but they serve good food at a very good price. Very casual atmosphere and interesting crowd every time I go. Check it out :)
Something went a little downhill here... I used to come here on a monthly basis when I lived nearby, and when my brothers were craving sushi last night I figured it would be great to hit up that Half-Off Tuna Thursday. While it's a rad deal, only I even ordered any tuna and the rest of the food was pretty mediocre.
The "Crazy Salmon" roll I ordered was pretty bad, actually. It had cooked, dry, chewy weird tuna inside and like a stick of dry, plastered avocado on top. The salmon sashimi was MUCH better. Their tempura udon was also OK, but that stuff is pretty easy to make... I mean they do comparable udon bowls at sushi buffets.
There were ZERO Asian people inside. Well, aside from my family of 5 Chinese people. The bill came to $119. I think that is WAY too much for 5 people (though, granted 4 people ordered soup bowls, but still). It's especially expensive for Little Tokyo.
Tuna Thursday, Salmon Monday, Shellfish Sunday, Big Wednesday, Casual Friday... you get the picture.
No, I didn't get the memo either, so I just happened to end up at East on Tuna Thursday. As I would soon learn, they generously discount their sushi depending on what night you're there. Very clever, East. 'Tuna Thursday' ... It's so much catchier than 'Oh Shit, the Tuna is going to spoil on Friday!' Thursday.
Not to be harsh, but that's kind of what it tasted like. Now, I'm not saying it was "bad." It just felt... kind of like Sushi Event Horizon. It tastes fine, and yet you feel a lingering sense of imminent digestive doom; much like a carton of milk the night before it goes sour.
East is "okay." It's cheap, and they give you dubiously large amounts of food. Their dinner plates are like "holy shit we need to get rid of this tonkatsu NOW" big... So if you want to gorge yourself on HUGE portions of "okay" food, East is a great choice -- just about any day of the week!
[p.s. If Daikokuya didn't have such long lines, East would be out of business.]
East is a comfy little eatery with a quaint atmosphere. Tables in the front, and a small bar area in the back.
The service is good and the menu is diverse yet simple. They serve everything from ramen and soba to teriyaki and sushi.
I had a Chirashi bowl, which was fresh and had an assortment of fish (not too much of one or the other), also an order of rainbow rolls (salmon and yellow tail wrapped california rolls). They were delicious, crisp and fresh, and last but not least an order of spicy tuna rolls, which were extra spicy to begin with (just the way I like them).
Overall I enjoyed my experience. Nothing fancy, just good clean simple food. It won't win any awards, but the food was great and the price was right.
Re: Tuna Thursdays.
Um... When is discount sushi ever a good idea?
Tips: Good for the indiscriminate sushi eater. At least they have friendly service!
What happened to the sushi places where they'd give you hot towels when you sat down? Well this isn't one of them either. However, East will give you a scratch off game piece where you can supposedly win something for free, or a discount off an item. Obviously, my card didn't win.
East does have a good variety of items on their menu, from sushi to tempura to teriyaki to udon, theres lots of stuff to choose from. The menu has pictures of most of the items to help clear up any confusion on names. I didn't have much of anything else besides sushi, as thats what I went there for. To me, the variety of sushi was somewhat limited. Even though they had specialties such as the Mexican Roll and the Tuna Crazy and Salmon Crazy rolls, which were good, they still didn't really present some of the oddities or things that make sushi places really stand out from all the varying competition out there. Now I got lucky and got seated with my 2 friends quickly for a Friday evening, but there really isn't tons of seating in the restaurant, maybe for around 20 to 30 people tops. So I would say be prepared to wait a little while if you go here during peak times.
All in all the food was average to above average, the service was pretty good, and the experience itself was good enough for me to give it an above average rating.
First things first: some of the other reviewers mention the special nights for discount sushi (Tuna Thursdays and Salmon Mondays are all I know about first hand). But I couldn't find anyone who mentioned the special super important rule: YOU MUST ORDER ALL SUSHI/SASHIMI AT THE SAME TIME TO GET THE SPECIAL HALF PRICE DEALIO ON THE DESIGNATED NIGHT. They'll probably explain it to you, but why risk missing out by ordering conservatively. I usually order bigger than I think I'll want, then my friends and I over-eat.
OK. Sushi freshness and quality were called out in a couple of reviews--I'm going to just say this and risk sounding gross-- never a big deal with me.
Yes, of course seafood specials are always on the day before the fresh delivery arrives. It's the trade off we make for living within an 'economic system' where things that are 'of value' cost more than things that are close to loosing all of their value. By all means, I wouldn't dream of eating in a place where I felt vaguely sickened by the food. Don't go there if you are not prepared to enjoy sushi that's still good but about to be bad.
I guess there're two kinds of sushi eaters, the tactile enjoyers and the flavor savorers.
I'm a tactile enjoyer. I put so much soy sauce, ginger and wasabi on their sushi/sashimi that I miss tasting that the sushi is about to go bad. For me it's all about the sashimigasm--the very tactile moment where the hunk of fish is dissolving on my tongue... ahhhh.
Flavor savorers are in it for the fresh bloodlust taste of good raw meat. I could liken this to sex as well, but it just doesn't turn me on as much as the tactile experience.
So a two-step sure-fire way to enjoy East is:
1. Determine whether you're a flavor savorer or a tactile enjoyer, and
2. go or don't go.
I've been to both the salmon and the tuna nights and I've only had good quality sushi --now I'm not talking about how quickly I think it was going to go bad--I'm talking about the appropriate cut. Have you ever been out to cheap sushi and had gristle in your tuna or salmon? A little string of fat that ruins the 'melts in your mouth' tactile sushigasm I spoke of earlier? Right: that's never happened to me at East.
A lunch spot for my co-workers and I, this small sushi/Bento/Teriyaki type place is pretty standard for generalized average "Japanese" cuisine.
Nothing spectacular, I tend toward the Katsu-Don or the like, while others hit up the bento boxes. Cheap eats for lunch... they have Salmon Mondays and tuna Thursdays where sushi of that ilk is extra cheap.
Note that this place is usually packed at lunch time with the Government Office Crowd.
\\\\\East Japanese Restaurant:
Poor Air Conditioning on a Hot Smoggy Day + Sushi Restaurant + Get rid of all the Tuna Thursday = Just a Little Bit of Trepidation.
Sushi (Tuna) * Atmosphere (Small) * Service (Eh) * Price (Discounted Tuna Thursday) = DECENT
Fortunately, all went well the next morning. These downtown joints need to get some better air conditioning!
lets be real; if the fish is fresh and you have all the right ingredients, sushi pretty much comes down to presentation. That being said this place is really good for that. The portions are right for the price, and everything comes out really clean and pretty. The waitresses are so friendly that they always know that me and my boyfriend want that little two seater table by the door. the food is simple and all made to order (as sushi should be) right there in the exposed kitchen. it's cozy and cute. order a bunch of the appetizers and rolls to share so you can try a little bit of everything. then chill out with a bottle of hot sake while you stare outside at the line at Daikokuya...
Been here like 4 times.
Its good enough, you know? Like, sure, i'lll go to East. Its cute enough, good enough, the waiters are Japanese, so its authentic enough I guess. Salmon bento box - no complaints, but no cheers.
I did see Ryan Gosling there once right around when The Notebook came out. Did it make the food taste better? not really, but it was pretty neato.
So... East, sure, I guess, why not?
The food I had here was pretty good but the atmosphere was pretty shitty and it felt kinda dirty, and I don't really like the words dirty and sushi in the same sentence. I mean yes, I know the place "isn't" dirty, it just felt that way. Kinda like it used to be cool and they kept it up and now it's not as important to the owners anymore so they don't try to make it presentable as it could be. The service was also rather slow, and the menu as vast as it is isn't vast enough. When eating somewhere that's not the cleanest place on earth I tend to want to have options of food that are not raw, and there isn't a lot. I can't say I recommend this place, if I did I'd be lying.
smells like sewage in the restaurant.
you dont even get used to that.
my chicken-don was drowning in teriyaki sauce. way sweet!
the chicken wasn't bad though.
$7.50
the sushi platter looked ok for 12$.
The food was excellent, wonderful and prompt service, great atmosphere, very clean including the restroom. The presentation of the food is nothing less than perfection. Small and comfy ambience! Will be going to eat there again definately.
The sushi and service at East are pretty good. Finally tried out Salmon Monday. We were seated at the sushi bar, but received normal wait service from a server (ie, did not order directly from the sushi chef.) It was good.
The salmon specials were listed on a piece of paper, where we marked how many we wanted. And yes, you only get one shot at how many special-priced salmon dishes you want, so you better mark higher than lower and just hog out if you have too many pieces at the end. They were out of the salmon toro, but we ordered some salmon nigiri, sashimi, and rolls, a few additional rolls (Green River roll is tasty), and a big sushi combination platter. Yep, lots of food. Along with a couple of large Sapporos and Crazy Milk, it all came out to less than $80. It was a great deal for two people and everything tasted fresh and delicious.
If you really like salmon and don't want to spend a lot of money, I really don't see anything wrong with taking advantage of this deal.
Also, they seemed to have touched up the interior of the restaurant since the last time I had been there (eg, new paint, improved ceiling, air conditioning unit.) It looked pretty nice.
Very good tempura udon. Hirame nigiri was chewy (yeah, really, *chewy* halibut !!) but my friends thought the yellowtail nigiri was excellent. I also really liked the unagi rolls - fresh ripe avocado slices on top, sliced thinly.
We had to ask 3-4 times for water but otherwise our waitress was very kind and attentive. Not sure what was up with the water.
Hands down, my favorite sushi restaurant. I have tried to go to other's, but I always end up back here. The fish is fresh and yummy and the prices are right. I would say the only bummer is that they close too early on the weekends.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Sushi Bars
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Japanese
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