Uoichiba Handroll — Restaurant in Culver City

As has been mentioned before, this place doesn't offer any kind of substitutions to their menu, you must order the rolls in the sets they are arranged in and they are served to you in that order. They will only allow you to order a la carte after ordering an initial set.

Some days they have specialty rolls not on the standard menu, but you have to power through the first set before they'll even give it to you. It's annoyingly amusing.

Feel sorry for the server that has to explain this to everyone EVERY time because no one expects so many strict rules from a vendor in a food hall.

It is unfortunate they think hand rolls are fancy enough and they are exclusive enough to leave money on the table not offering a set on the menu that allows for customization (though, they will allow you to customize by adding things like caviar for a not so nominal fee).

I think you setup shop in the wrong space for that kind of prixe fixe white tablecloth pretension. The rolls were tasty enough, but there were others I wanted more and chose not to get because my tab would've been outrageous. Also, I would've been full by then.

I suspect time will weed them out. The patrons here have too many good choices.

Ordering "to go" (which they imply is anywhere that is not the bar)? You are charged more for each menu item. You are also charged an automatic 16% gratuity in case you were suffering from tip fatigue and needed someone to take all the guesswork out of the equation for you.

Unless hand rolls are your new obsession, skip this.

If you really want a good hand roll only experience, head to a Kazu Nori location. And if you happen to be in Vegas, the Cosmopolitan and the Aria have hand roll establishments much less draconian. You'll spend the same amount and have a much...

We really enjoyed this place. I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent quality of the fish and the handroll preparation. Our service was excellent, the portions were quite decent, and the prices for the handroll combos were very reasonable. Other prices were also quite fair. A bottle of Evian cost us $3.50. Ramune (imported Japanese soda) goes for $4.50. Sides like soup or edamame ran in the $5 - $6 range.

One note of caution. It's a sort of an omakase place. The combos are fixed and you can't substitute your favorite types of fish for what they offer. The menu is fixed and it's a take it or leave it type of deal. Unless you're truly picky, I definitely recommend that you take it.

They put the handrolls together nicely. The flavors are tasty and we enjoyed them all. Some were simple -- just fish and sushi rice. Others included little added ingredients that enhanced the flavors.

A note on the negative reviews:

I find most of the negative reviews of Uoichiba to be suspect. The large majority all direct readers to a particular competing restaurant with a frequency beyond coincidence. It causes me to wonder what their connection to this other place might be.

Overall we've found more than a couple of very good places to eat at Citizen Public Market -- the very cool food court concept where Uoichiba is located. So far, Uoichiba is my favorite among the best of them. If you like sushi handrolls, you should check...

Stick with Kazu Nori. Fish quality is ok, but it’s cut too thick, portioned small, and not evenly mixed in the roll. Rice is cold. Miso soup is saltwater with no seaweed or tofu or anything in it. They dont offer tap water or hot water. The guy making my rolls was literally dragging his hand along the wall while pacing around the place, touching the register, and other surfaces with the same gloves in between making my rolls. Not clean. Counter stools are cheap and uncomfortable. Service is mediocre. They offered half off price of 6 rolls on Sunday night (extra medium) but charged gratuity on the full price. I paid it, wasnt a huge amount, but out of principle didnt like it, especially since service wasn't so good. I love sushi and handrolls and have enjoyed many, many places. This place is a wannabe that missed the mark in every category. I’d avoid...