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Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese
12217 Santa Monica Blvd Ste 201
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Echigo is yet another beautiful dining experience to add to my list for 2010. Fresh sashimi and decently price omakase.
I was schooled in the technique that Nozawa and students of Nozawa use in terms of nigiri. Warm rice with subtle amounts of vinegar. Boy was it delicious. Not too warm and not too soft. Fluffy. Aromatic sweet vinegar taste.
The cuts of sashimi were all fresh and the omakase kept coming with almost what seemed like no end (great for three hungry girls). Memorable courses included the fresh like it just died scallop, delicious melt in your mouth albacore, kanpachi, and the heavenly crab roll.
The cuts of sashimi are thin so if you are a hungry monster (or a large male), you might want to order a la carte until you are full. Everything was scumptious.
So my boyfriend suggested that we try this place because it's cheaper than Sasabune, my favorite omakase place in LA . The quality of the fish was pretty good, but I didn't like how the rice was soggy. The moisture from the sushi rice accentuated the fishiness, which kind of grossed me out. In addition, when my bf ordered an extra plate of toro sushi, they did a poor job making the sashimi part look presentable (crooked and had one long piece hanging from the side). I don't know about others, but I think the technique of cutting the fish precisely is extremely important.
Friendly staff and fresh seafood. My boyfriend liked the place, but this place isn't for me.
Don't come here for Teriyaki, anything cooked on a pan, California and/or Rainbow Rolls. If you do, you will be one angry costumer that might just give Echigo a undeserving 1 star review.
But, do come here for a tranquil, intimate, good quality, reasonably priced, warm rice sushi lunch.
Tranquil - It's never packed, so like it or not, you will have to be engaged into the lunch time conversation because you will hear every word coming out of your lunch crew's mouths.
Intimate - The bright Southern California sun, even on a winter day, shines through the big windows that will emphasis every pore in everyone of your lunch crew's faces. It's like lunch crew in HD, which might be unnecessary.
Good Quality - Yes, the pieces of fish could be cut bigger, and the rice was a little too mushy and Nozawa and Sushi Zo are still my favorite sushi places. But, the sushi is melt in your mouth quality served with warm rice that brings out the flavors in each piece of fresh fish. The crab roll is to die for! I love the crispy seaweed wrapper!
Reasonably priced - I usually order the lunch special - 5 pieces of sushi and 1 blue crab roll for $14. So, on average it's $2.33 per piece of sushi, but a blue crab roll is $6 on the a la carte menu and that crab roll is worth its weight in gold! Granted, I'm generally not full after the lunch special, but I do leave feeling satisfied!
Give Echigo a try! It's not Sushi Zo nor Nozawa, but the 14 dollar lunch special is well worth the trip!!
Not a fancy place, but the fish is very fresh and Omakase is a good price. The butterfish and crab were really good.
Delicious as ever!
The dinner omakase is not as filling as one would think or hope for because the sushi cuts are on the small side. But, the fish is so fresh and amazing that it makes up for it. My most recent visit (Friday, 12/11), it seemed that their rice to sushi ratio was a bit off, i thought they gave me more rice than usual... *shrug*
The toro was amazing as well as the butterfish! The crab roll was perfect... Uni was not included in the omakase so we had to put in an order... mmmmmm, omakase isn't complete without my favorite uni.
I still think this is one of the best sushi places on the westside, especially for it's price (cheaper than Sasabune, BUT they give you less amount of nigiri).
Whenever I eat at Echigo, I always get omakase. you just have to... it's far cheaper than Sasabune… Read more »
Went with a friend here for her birthday. Sushi was quite fresh, but the portions were small and overpriced for what it was.
For two people seven orders came out to be $60...not counting the price of the grub we grabbed at the Arby's down the street, which we needed to complete the meal.
Cute place, but so not worth it.
NEXT TO PIZZA HUT AND DR. SCHWINGHAMER
Lies Echigo. Yes, it's in a strip mall. Yes, it's next to a chiropractor with a funny name. Yes, it's got about as much ambiance and personality as a cardboard box. But what it lacks in decor, it makes up for with some high quality fish.
In true Sasabune-esque form, Echigo embodies a sushi-nazi philosophy which unapologetically bars you from ordering a dragon-philly-rainbo-Octomom roll or any such nonsense. Also barred are miso soup, edamame, tempura, et al. Truth be told, the latter is kind of an annoyance. I'm not saying I want some chicken teriyaki bullshit, but I do like to start off my meal with a nice bowl of asari miso soup.
That said, the sushi is quite excellent. It's not flashy at all. Just fresh and delicious. The warm rice takes some getting used to, but it does seem to enhance the flavor. Standouts on my visit were the blue crab roll (I could've just ordered 5 of these and been content) the uni, and the hamachi.
I would have given this place 5 stars, but our bill made me gasp out loud. I was really excited to have lunch here. When my friend suggested we have sushi, I picked this over Sugarfish. I'd been to Echigo maybe 5 years ago and was pleased to see that it still earned such positive ratings on Yelp.
The fish was fresh, the rice was warm, and I thought I was getting the $14 lunch special. When I saw our total over $60, I was shocked and embarrassed because I emphasized to my friend what a great value this would be. Hmm....did we forget the secret code or something?
I went to meet a client, who was so charming and interesting, that I now prefer to know her as a friend. And it was this friend who suggested what turned out to be the best sushi experience of my life. That is how I would describe our meeting and visit to Echigo this noon.
I am a self described "Ignorant Sushi and Sashimi Lover." I'm a "point and eat" kinda' guy. My first visit to Tokyo, and the Ginza in 1967, was my first exposure to "colorful pictures and plastic models of what was available." So for someone who has eaten sushi as far South as Sao Paulo, Brasil, and loved it, if I don't have a menu with photos and names of each style and type of sushi, I'll be hard pressed to tell you what I ate. But what I do know is texture, flavor, and that savoring moment when I know I have to swallow........ but to swallow means I'm ending a "food orgasmic moment." The only salvation is knowing that the sushi chef will soon deliver another incredible sushi creation; and I can go through the short but orgasmic eating cycle again.
Like Yee-Shing Y., a fellow reviewer, we also had "omakase." We too sat at the bar, and we too savored each and every sushi that the chef handed us. Christine C. summed up this restaurants offering quite well; come here for great sushi, but don't expect a wooden chinese junk filled with a "lunch special of teriyaki chicken and tempura"..... and as you might see from the receipt I posted..... bring a credit card with some available balance. But know it will be worth it. By the way, the omakase was sooo good, that we reordered our favorites a la carte.
Believe everything everyone has written. This restaurant is for the purist. The decor reminds me of a converted retail space at an old Broadway Department Store, where they just left the acoustical ceiling as is, repainted everything in white, and put clean black and white linoleum tile down on the floor. But that blurred into my peripheral vision, as we focused on the sushi......... and I promise you, it was EXCELLENT.
Melt in your mouth delicious!
Fresh cold fish in top of warm sushi sushi rice!
I've died and gone to sushi heaven!
Not my typical shi shi sushi joints but Gosh!
It's so FLIPPING GOOD!
I wish I was there right now...
*drool*
Omakasi is great but not enough so be prepared to order more..
Defiantly not a date place... but I still Love this place!
This place doesn't look like much but the…
Read more »
Either I'm in a nice mood or I've just been eating at really good places recently, but this place is absolutely awesome!
Come here if you:
A) like sushi
B) don't want teriyaki or tempura
C) have some $ to spend on a great meal
Went here for lunch and got the lunch special, which was 5 assorted pieces of fish and then a blue crab roll (hand roll). Each of the 5 pieces of sushi were absolutely fantastic and the blue crab roll was just so good. The sushi rice was slightly warm, which was a nice difference.
This is the kind of restaurant where it is quality over quantity. So if you've got a craving for fried/garlic cream sauce covered/cut roll/teriyaki boxes, this is most definitely the wrong restaurant.
Definitely a great omakase menu. Came here with my boyfriend and along with drinks and tip, it comes out to about $60-70 a person. Each fish is delectable and I love the hand roll at the end. And it is true about the chef, don't stick around too long or else you'll end up ordering special made omakase and your bill will skyrocket.
DO NOT COME IN HERE ASKING FOR CRAZY ROLLS. You will be unapologetically frowned upon.
I miss you Echigo! See you when the recession is over and I can spend some $$$....
So I'm sitting in the restaurant right now... About to bite into the last course on the omasake: blue crab roll. Lemme tell you, if this place was that fantastic, I would not be busting out my iPhone to write a review.
Echigo is not bad. But not blow-your-mind-out good. The ambiance is... Non existent. You can tell they don't go for looks in the restaurant by their (lack of) decor and (lack of) food presentation.
Foods okay, if I were to come back I'd just order what stood out straight off the menu: toro, butterfish w/ miso sauce & blue crab roll. Rice was def yummy =]
I prefer Sasabune over Echigo. Not only is there more variety instead of plain fish sashimi (no oyster, sweet shrimp etc) it really isn't that much cheaper. The portions are half as big so the bill was half a much. Makes sense right? Personally I thought the one piece of sushi on a tiny sauce pan was wack.
Or you could just take my date's two cents: "Man, that sushi was bad ass!".
I give it 3 1/2 stars, he gives it 4 ;)
Echigo leaves me speechless- the fish is so fresh and buttery and the rice so fragrant I don't know how to describe it. This place is for sushi purists ONLY, so if you're looking for California roll, not only will you be disappointed, but if you ask for it you will probably offend the chefs. Some favorites of mine include:
Blue crab roll
Scallop
Red Snapper
Giant Clam
Toro
Butterfish
Stuffed Squid
I strongly recommend the omakase or "Chef's Choice" menu. While it seems pricey at $45, it is worth trying at least once.
Yes, Yes, Yes.
Echigo now reigns supreme on my West Side sushi list.
They only sell Sushi, no California Roll crap is to be found here.
The view is a glorious overlook of Santa Monica and did I mention the service and fresh fish rock?
The only down side is that that crappy renovation and peeling paint on the wall was a bit unappetizing.
Sat at the bar and had omakase. This was only the second time in my life that I've had sushi omakase style. It's always a nice treat...
Echigo is in three words:
1. Simple
2. Fresh
3. Delicious
The space is lackluster, but who cares. We come here for the quality of fish they serve. Omakase runs about $45/person and you get around 10 types of fish I think. If you're still hungry, just let the chef know that you want to keep going and he'll keep making you fish until you're full (dangerous! as the price adds up in the end)
I don't remember the names of all the fish we ate, but everything was melt-in-your-mouth good. I DO remember the butterfish and the blue crab hand roll. The butterfish is unbelievable-it comes with a dollop of this special miso paste/sauce. Amazing. The blue crab hand roll is, well, a staple here. Believe the hype.
All in all, a really nice traditional sushi restaurant. The service is super efficient-they're all very nice. It's kind of quiet inside but it's refreshing in a way. No Hollywood hipsters here! :)
on the second floor of a strip mall
u will find the freshest sushi at reasonable prices
sushi is served individually as it is prepared
not plattered up on a sushi boat in an assembly line
get the hamachi, skip the monk fish liver (trust)
listen when they tell u "no soy sauce"
but feel free to soy sauce it up after u try it sauce free
close ur eyes and enjoy the flavours of the deep ocean
ok so i don't feel like writing in complete sentences right now, but basically this is solidly delicious sushi served by hard core sushi chefs. it's kinda hard to find japanese people working in a sushi restaurant, at least in chicago, so this was a pleasant surprise since that's generally my number one criteria for a good sushi place.
what else... dinner for two medium weights with a bottle of sake was about $130+tax/tip which isn't bad but it's not super cheap either. i take my sushi super serious and did a lot of yelp-search before my trip to LA. i'd come here again for sure. but i wouldn't ever get the monk liver.
My friend and I were hungry and buzzed. Since we were only two blocks away, we decided to give Echigo a try. I've been to California Healing Arts College dozens of times for massages (highly recommended, by the way) and I've always wanted to try Echigo. I figured that it's hard for a restaurant to survive on the second floor of a strip center and since Echigo has been around for so long, it must be good. Wrong, I was so wrong!
Since I had already had a few beverages, I didn't want to think so I went with the omakase instead. My friend choose 4 orders of nigiri. On a positive note, my omakase courses came quickly. In fact, it was so quick that we were in and out of the restaurant in 20 minutes. All of the sushi I got tasted just ok until I got to the blue crab roll. I have to admit, the blue crab roll was really delicious. It seemed like 2/3 of the fish they brought me was to be eaten without soy sauce. The sashimi course at the beginning had some sort of sweet teriyaki-ish sauce on it and it tasted really odd. There was a piece of fish that tasted like curry - yuck! I can't remember how many pieces of sushi I actually got; but I think it was around 10. That means that each piece of sushi was about $4.50 - ouch!
I do love the disclaimer about how they don't have teriyaki, tempura, miso soup, ramen, rolls or anything else a "regular" Japanese restaurant may serve. It was a memorable dinner; not because the food was so great but because we managed to blow $85 combined within 20 minutes and the food wasn't even that great. We were also the only Asian patrons in the whole restaurant and that is not a good sign.
Great sushi at a good price!
I live in OC and this place is totally worth the two hour round trip drive anytime I have a sushi craving. The slightly warmer rice really does provide a better canvas for the fish and the freshly grated wasabi is the BEST!! Do not leave without having a blue crab roll. Its nothing like a generic California roll. IT's made w/ fresh blue crab meat and lightly bound with mayo.
By far the best sushi I've ever had and I've tried many Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area. I love the food in SF but I have to admit LA has better sushi.
The sushi literally melted in my mouth......the price is very reasonable for the quality you are getting.
I will definitely be revisiting this restaurant.
After bombing a midterm, I decided that I needed some sashimi. Taking a friend's recommendation, the school BFF and I decided to come here. Looking at the rundown exterior of the plaza, we were pleasantly surprised by the modern interior. I noticed that they had omakase, which the waitress quoted to be $47 for that day, but I really wanted some chirashi. Unfortunately, they only serve nigiri and some special hand rolls.
We ordered various fish (albacore, salmon, scallop, yellowtail, barracuda, and eel), but only the albacore really stood out. The blue crab roll and stuffed squid specials are definitely overrated. The rice is warm and slightly sweet, which I didn't mind. Surprisingly, I also didn't mind the wasabi. Normally, I absolutely hate wasabi but theirs was milder and I didn't hate it as much.
Their selection of cold sakes were uber expensive, so I settled for a less pricey fizzy version. It was more like a dessert drink; it was much too sweet to have with dinner. In the end, we still paid about $45 a person and I couldn't help but be annoyed by the waitress constantly hovering over us. IMHO, not really worth it. In hindsight, looks like lunch would have been a better deal.
Look at me, being useful and shit.
I went back after about a year for the lunch special ($14), and the pieces were much smaller. The pieces were really thin too. I had to get two of the lunch specials, and i still wasn't really full yet, but i was ok i guess. The lunch special comes w/ 5 pieces of sushi and a blue crab hand roll. My friend i went with came here a couple days ago before at night, and said the pieces of sushi were bigger, but still smaller than when we went last year :(.
Tasted great still.
They had a huge selection here, and prices were reasonable. I probably should've had the omakase,… Read more »
Still the best sushi bet in the West Side! And I LOVE sushi so have tried it far and wide.
I have been a fan of Echigo since it first opened its doors years ago while I was attending UCLA (go Bruins!). I recently made it back after a prolonged absence (living in Boston), and I was delighted to see that it's as fabulous as ever.
I'm not sure what all the recent griping is about! Yes, the omakase price had gone up- but hey, that's inflation for you. Still, the array you get is impressive- and not just the expected, standard stuff for the price. Service is impeccable. Never was my teacup less than half full.
And most importantly, the fish is fresh, flavorful and attentively prepared by Chef Toshi and his assistant (a new guy since my last visit. Didn't see his wife there - but she's a sweetheart as well). The butterfish simply melted in my mouth...and the crisp, refreshing bluecrab roll was the perfect finish. His ankimo is to die for but alas, not the season for monkfish. We could have stopped but I couldn't resist another round of eel and the stuffed squid (soooo good).
I took a first time visitor (but longtime sushi lover), and he loved it, too. True, this is not where you go to get stuffed silly with tempura and bright colored rolls (hey, I'm no snob- I have my roll days, too). It's where I go when I really want some great sushi prepared by a man who loves what he does and takes pride in it, at a reasonable price. And still a hidden gem, you are seated immediately. And there is plentiful, FREE parking.
Echigo- you will always have a hold on this sushi-addict's heart!
echigo echigo...what happened to thee? ever since sugarfish came into my life, things just haven't been the same between us. i had thought there would be room for both, but sadly, the last time really may have been, well, the last.
an omakase composed of thin sad little slices of fish, an overly-mayonnaised blue crab roll (i even ordered two to make sure it was not my imagination...) - and since you have no miso, edamame or avocado, i'm really not sure what else you can offer me.
This place rocks! I heard about this place from a friend after I brought her to a top sushi restaurant in the bay area. Her response: it's *okay*, I guess, but you should try out Echigo.
The next time I was down in socal, thought I'd give it a shot. What's to lose, right? It's in this total strip mall and so didn't expect too much. Well as it turns out, the next couple hours of my life were among my most delicious ever.
The best sushi, the best cuts, and it just melts in your mouth. You will never look at sushi the same way ever again.
They have a sign inside the restaurant that says it best. The message basically comes down to this: We ONLY make sushi, and ONLY sushi. And if you want something else, well then go somewhere else, because we ONLY make sushi.
Well said, Echigo, well said...
Ok, I went back and had a much better experience.
I did not order the omakase this time (last time it left me still hungry).
I ordered off the menu, baby tuna, albacore, yellowtail, and all were tasty except the albacore which was a little fishy.
I do still prefer Hiko (by a lot!), but I understand the popularity of this place a little better now.
Sat at the sushi bar. the chef have a set order. I ate probably 6 or 7 different sushi and it came out to $60. Definitely not worth it. It was fresh but not $60 worth fresh. small intimite place
For the money, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better sushi restaurant. As an added plus, there is nothing flashy about this place--it's all about the food.
Sushi here is served traditional Tokyo style, which means there are no cut rolls, tempura or cooked dishes. If you appreciate sushi for the fish, then this is your spot. Chef Toshi is no stranger to the L.A. sushi scene, having apprenticed under Sasabune. He hand picks his seafood straight from the markets daily, to ensure you get the highest quality fish.
You can order from the menu, but I recommend the Omakase (chef's choice). At $45 it's still less than Sasabune. Try to sit at the sushi bar if you can, so you can watch Toshi work his magic. He'll start you out with some tuna sahimi, and from there you'll receive piece after piece of mouth watering toro, butterfish, kanpachi, scallop...the list goes on. The finishing touch is a delicious blue crab roll. And if you still want more, check out the specials or just order what you like, you won't be disappointed. For the adventurous types, try the monk fish liver. Yum!
blue crab roll was the best! also i enjoyed the yellowtail. the restaurant is in an unappealing strip mall, on the second floor, next to some sort of vocational school. location not the best to say the least, but it is in west la, right off of santa monica and close to bundy.
i went on a date and for some reason he didnt order much so he was kinda eating everything i ordered. well actually, the waitress brought out each order on a small dish, piece by piece. so we actually ate equal amounts of everything. imagine one nigiri on one small place. thats how the whole meal went.
he offered to pay at the end of dinner, but since i really didnt know the guy, i just paid my half, which was pretty reasonable if i remember correctly.
not the best sushi place i guess, i would rather go to sakura sushi or hama sushi in dt la. speaking of sakura, i need to go soon and write a review!
Someone once told me "Do it well or not do it at all!!"
Same goes for Echigo!
IF you want good Omakase, Just spend a lil for more a peice of sushi heaven. Goto Zo or Sasabune! Or just save your money instead of getting half assed attempt at Omakase sushi!
I must warn you, lovely peeps, this is gonna be a nasty rant....and tho i am not known for these rants, i can certainly rant with the best of 'em on rare occasion.
This is one of those occasions.
This rant is the rant of all rants, and once you read on, you'll see why. By now you're thinking:
A. Ok, this dood must be known for negative reviews (which i'm not)
B. This guy's an uptight aggro freak (wrong again)
C. Yeah, whatever, he's a white guy, what the fugg does he know about sushi? (right on the white thang, wrong for underestimating me ;)
so why the angst & utter exasperation? b/c this time, it's REAL personal....
'Echigo' is the ancient name for Niigata Prefecture, a 'state' in northwestern japan known for some of the top rice, fresh fish, sake, skiing, snow-country (see the book 'Yuki-Guni'), & outdoor onsens (hot springs)...it's countryside, and beautiful countryside at that---AND a place I lived for over 3 yrs....
So i came here with a sense of Niigata 'Echigo' pride & really high expectations, especially after reading the overwhelming majority of gushing 4 & 5 star reviews. I have eaten some amazing sushi in Niigata, and at least, i expect the high end standard of quality when compared with other sushi joints in LA.
Let me just say, this place gets a FAIL in virtually ALL categories. It is so un-japanese in its methods, if any true sushi master was a fly on the wall here, overseeing the operations, this place would be flagged by the International Sushi Police and closed immediately in disgrace...
Believe me, my 1 star review is kind. it deserves a rating in the 0.5 range.
Completely abysmal food served by completely joyless staff.
To ELABORATE:
1. SO, my sushi partner and I sit down at the bar, and immediately i see a horrible harbinger of things to come---HUGE PILES OF THIN, PRE-CUT SLICES OF FISH. Not only is this NOT practiced in japan, it's an extreme faux-pas that is completely intolerable and offensive to both a sushi master and his/her customer, b/c it signifies that the fish is not fresh at all, it is not prepared individually with care sliced right off the existing slabs of fish. and I don't care if the place is really packed or not (tonite is wasn't packed at all), it's better to eat slowly and chat with the chef than to be subjected to this impersonal assembly line of un-freshness...
2. IS THIS FUCKING SUSHI CARPACCIO??? FISH IS WAAAAAY TOO THINLY SLICED, so much so that each piece has absolutely no texture resembling the original fish/shellfish, & virtually every piece tastes like the other with that razor thin, mushy bland texturelessness (thus i am not even bothering to mention most of the fish by name that you get in the inadequate Omakase that is required for counter eaters)...
Yet a few were soooo horrible I need to sound the alarms:
a. Subpar Toro (fatty tuna belly), sliced razor thin,with no distinguishing flavor/texture, though my sushi partner managed to pull a nasty long tendon from the cut...blech.
b. Pompano Sushi--who cares if it's one of those chef's special rare sushi when it smelled and tasted like spoiled goo
c. Amaebi (sweet shrimp)-- first of all, it had a dark pinkish color so uncharacteristic of amaebi, and upon first bite, felt partially cooked (which amaebi never is), and stank to high hell with a completely spoiled aftertaste.
It's a wonder we weren't food poisoned.
And my sushi partner did something neither of us has EVER done--spit out the pompano & amaebi (incognito) into a napkin (because we are NOT drama queens, & as to not tip off the other seemingly content patrons--though we were tempted)...
3. STINGY TINY CUTS & CRUMBLY OVERHEATED RICE---
So not just thin, but TINY!
Traditionally, sushi is eaten with semi-warm rice, but this shit was practically hot, & the overly sour rice was so formless that it was impossible to dip it properly in the shoyu soy sauce (normally u turn sushi upside down and dip the fish/shellfish side into the shoyu) without the rice tumbling into the soy sauce. By this point, i really didn't give a shit, so i just turned it rice side down and plunked it into the soy sauce regardless of the mess that was to follow...
meanwhile, the guy next to me is gushing... 'Soooooo goood.'...
HUH? have i landed in the Twilight Zone?
The tiny Omakase portion left our stomachs growling, surely with rabid discontent, as well as continued hunger pangs--we grabbed the check and got the fuggg outta there asap. so the bill comes and for 16 miniscule pieces of crap & two thin crab rolls--$120 with tip...
as i rolled out & down the creaky 2nd floor stairs, i felt like punching the stuccoed walls--whoa, and peeps who know me know i'm one of the most un-aggro peeps you'll ever meet.
what happened next, i've surely NEVER done, but as a few other unsatisfied Echigo reviewers have noted, food reinforcements were needed--Von's Market $5.79 12 Piece California Roll--most fucking oishii store bought pseudo-sushi goodness i've ever had...
What Echigo lacks in ambiance (typical LA upstairs mini-mall haunt, crappy chairs and tables, enormous 80s windows overlooking the blah of Santa Monica and Bundy) it makes up for in food quality.
In a tradition that should be much more embraced, Echigo's sushi masters serve their sushi with warm rice that has a hint of vinegar. The fish is as fresh as it gets, and portions are just right. I don't need a three inch long piece of fish if it's not fresh, and here you'll get only the best.
My girlfriend and I went with the chef's Omakase, which I recommend for any and all patrons. There were a good 9 or 10 'courses' of straight up one piece per course sushi, with an appetizer of sashimi that was outstanding. Bonito was a highlight, as was the kampachi with yuzu citrus pepper sauce (my all time favorite sushi topper). Apparently the blue crab handroll is a house specialty, which is served at the end. It was good but actually my least favorite compared to the other high quality and tasty fish. The clam and scallop both melted in our mouths, which is a testament to freshness since rarely do I ever find clam that's not either too chewy or well... clammy. Nicely done!
We went on a Wednesday night and it was pretty quiet. By about 9:30pm we were the last people in the restaurant, so don't head here if you're looking to rage disco late night. I also felt that the courses came slightly too fast, and I would have liked to take a breather between courses. That said, I can tell why it's my friend's favorite sushi spot in LA, and if you want a scene-less, scrumptious venue that also doesn't break the bank in these recessionist times, hit up Echigo!
I went with my friend for Friday lunch. I wasn't sure what to expect, since I had seen some really good reviews and (more recently) really bad ones.
I went to Sushi Zo last week, and it's hard for any place to measure up. But still... Echigo was a disappointment.
We got the butterfish, spanish mackerel, salmon, freshwater eel, egg, blue crab handrolls, and one other thing that was so blah that I've forgotten what it was. Everything was prepared similarly to Sushi Zo. But the pieces of fish were thin, and slimy, and something just tasted OFF. And I agree with the previous reviewer, the rice was almost hot. Not good. After we were finished, we had to go someplace else, because we were still so hungry.
Service was meh as well. We weren't brought a sushi menu until we asked twice. The waitress asked us "are you ready" BEFORE we had menus! I guess they were rushed, but the place didn't look that busy. They also forgot our drink order. And the bill came to $56!!
All in all, not a good experience. I would prefer Hara (cheaper, better service, more selection, consistently good food)... and of course would prefer Sushi Zo every day of the week (if I had the money ;))!
An amazing place for sushi. It's small, and in a strip mall, but it's sushi the way it was meant to be - don't ask for the American rolls like Philly or California.
The lunch omakase for $14 was an amazing deal. Five pieces of sushi and a delicious crab roll (I recommend an extra or two). Warm rice sushi and you can request sashimi, too. Hot tea that was prepared properly, too, and refilled swiftly.
Dinner omakase is supposed to be even better. Can't wait to try it again!
Toro is pretty cheap here, too.
Foreward: I went here weekly from the time it opened until 2 years ago. I have spent ridiculous amounts of money at this place, only to be shined off.
I loved it until I took my wife here for an early dinner on a Thursday - not even 7pm. Bar was empty, sweet!! Oh no, says the waitress, they're "reservation".
Fine. Gimme that table.
1.5 hours, 2 omikases, 12 extra pieces, 2 bottles of Kikusui, and 2 big bottles of beer later - oh what's that, the bar is STILL EMPTY? I mention it to the waitress, no response. I ask chef Toshi, no response.
EFF U, you're banned.
I thoughts you were my friend, chef...
Wish there was less than 1 Star.
My friends still go here, and they say food quality is not as good as before, it's more expensive than before, and certainly the fish cuts are smaller than before.
Move along, nothing to see here.
I had a crappy night after my boss' wife art show and since I was on the west side, I figured I treat myself to some good sushi. Since it was a spur of the moment, I didn't bother to do my research, and headed to Sasabune but to my luck, it was closed. There was another unknown sushi restaurant opened nearby, but there was a wait for 1 at the sushi bar...yeah, might as well pick another good sushi place, and found Echigo on Yelp. Thanks Yelpers!
There was no wait and parking space in their lot --looking good...I seated myself at the bar and then a minute later I realized that if you sit at the bar then you are automatically ordering the Omakase...uh, oh...how much is this going to cost? Luckily it wasn't one those ridiculous $100 Omakase, just $44.60 --more than what I wanted to spend though...
I guess the good thing is that it forced me to try some fish I would have never thought I tried. I really liked the Japanese snapper, Kimpache, Skip Jack, and the Butter Fish. Oh, it's true what they say about their rice --warm, buttery, and delicious!
Why am I giving it a 4 star and not a 5? After spending $50, I was hungry two hours later...
Love the warm rice sushi, stuffed squid, blue crab hand roll, and butterfish.
I think the quality is on par with Sasabune and prices a bit more reasonable.
No frills, quiet place to have dinner.
I love it!
You've heard the common complaints with Nozawa-style sushi. Warm rice and sauces turn people off. I wasn't a fan, but it didn't dissuade me from trying Nozawa or Sasabune. I would say though, the blue crab handroll would make a believer out of anyone.
Come here for the lunch special. It's affordable and includes one of their treasured bluecrab rolls worth its weight in gold.
If I go again, I would sit at the sushi bar so I don't have to look at the rest of the room. I felt like I was in some disco era/flash dance movie. Mirrors, tall bar stools, neon lighting. I should have worn my purple jumpsuit.
The food itself was stellar. I came for the omakase and was happy with the meal. I think the best part was the variety-I had butterfish and a number of other fishes that I'd never tried before.
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