Shibuya — Restaurant in Calabasas

I was able to eat here finally last night after hearing many good things about it. I've tried BANZAI and HANAMI before in Calabasas, so it was pretty cool finishing off the trio. Out of the three, which one was the best? Narrowly, I'd have to say Shibuya. This place is a pretty small, practically designed restaurant with a Nozawa-like vibe to it (but none of the attitude). The restaurant places a lot of emphasis on traditional sushi and fresh fish for sushi connoisseurs, which I highly respect.

I decided to go Omakase (a style of eating that allows the chef to choose the best selections to give you all night), and I was very pleased with the result. I've tried many of the usual sushi selections, like yellowtail, salmon, uni, kohada, salmon eggs, yet I've tried many new "special" things as well, such as halibut fin (engawa), homemade tamago (egg), a piece of crunchy fishbone (yikes) and pike mackerel sushi. I must have eaten at least 25 different kinds of fish. Chef Toshi gave me one piece of everything in the course meal, thus I practically ate every single fish selection that night (no kidding). Plus, I had other appetizer dishes as part of my omakase, such as sauteed shishito peppers, matsutake w/ sauteed scallops, and baked black cod. All pretty delicious and of amazing quality.

A pretty sad thing I noticed on this night was that I was the only customer eating like "a typical Asian." Everybody else around me were ordering Americanized rolls (like spicy tuna and california rolls) and nobody real had the guts nor the will to try some of the house specialties that I was able to try. They were all staring at my dishes like I was eating cow brains or something. Thus, now all of you know that my review is pretty credible because I'm critiquing the real stuff.

In all, I highly recommend this sushi restaurant. It's one of the best sushi joints in the valley, and possibly LA. Pretty much on par with places like YOTSUYA and NOZAWA. Even though I haven't tried the rolls here, I'm sure they're pretty good based on how popular they were with the other customers here (although I personally don't care about them). This place is a bit pricey, but definitely...

This is some of the best Sushi in the city, the quality and taste measures up to some of the Sushi you can get in Japan. Some people have had gripes about service, and I can agree on some levels; hands down you want to sit at the bar, as you can interact and talk directly to the chefs. It is important to remember that service while not at the bar, really depends on the day; how much traffic is going through; how fast people are eating; size of parties that are going through; and finally how much stress the staff is being put under. While I have never ordered take-out; I can see how the staff would be pressed for time. The sheer amount of orders being put together every minute is amazing, the chefs never seem to stop working, so give them a break. While the wait times are long it is very much worth the wait; around 20min to an hour depending on when you get there. It can be a bit awkward for some people to see the people waiting outside the window ogling you, it has never seemed to bother me though. The way seating order works is; you put you name down on a list, picking bar, tables or either. Lots of people, including myself, get there early before opening and put our names down. Some even will go later, put their names down, leave for a bit then come back. Of course this only works well if you live in one of the surrounding communities. They will then call you depending on availability of seating. The atmosphere is generally laid back, people seem to dress casual to casual dress, although I have seen the younger generations in nothing more than t-shirts and shorts. There is no dress code.

Over all, I have no regrets giving this Sushi restaurant a 3/3 rating. The amount of money your paying is well worth the quality of food that you...

Everybody complains about the wait. So we got there a half hour before they open and put our name in and we were seated at 5 o’clock. No biggie. So the wait is not my complaint although there’s not a chance in hell it’s worth even a half hour wait! And based on the reviews and what I’ve heard from others, the wait is often two hours! The place is very, very small and way, way overcrowded. You have to see it to believe it. Horrible. The food was great. Good quality. Definitely nothing to write home about. But definitely amongst the better sushi and other good places. Although they don’t have a lot of fancy stuff. Been to a bunch of sushi bars as it’s my favorite food and I’ve had as good or better. I like the good stuff and know the difference. So I don’t go to an all you can eat place. I go to good Sushi bars. The chairs at the bar, without exaggerating, are may be an inch to 2 inches between each chair! The way they crowded is absolutely absurd! That in and of itself is a reason never to go back! The atmosphere sucks! Young youth, type of music, playing way too loudly so that several people complained including us. The prices were gross! I understand, overcharging, especially nowadays. But this is gouging! I know it’s Calabasas, but I’ve eaten at fantastic sushi bars on Wilshire or in Santa Monica and I have never had a place this expensive. I know there was one high-end sushi bar that I went to off Wilshire which was close but not this expensive. Was absolutely the best quality I’ve ever had, and it was still less expensive than this place! My favorite sushi bar is in Chatsworth, it’s expensive there too. And it’s literally $70 less...