Kaori Sushi かおり寿司 — Restaurant in Fullerton

After reading the reviews on how authentically Japanese this place was, I had to try it out. My bf and I went on a Saturday night around 7pm, and boy was it crowded! It is a very small restaurant, with no podium for a host. So go toward the cashier's podium in the middle of the room to sign your name in.

We also saw that there was a row of seats in the back facing the outside of the restaurant. Not sure why that wasn't utilized...

Anyways, let's get to the food. Although I ordered the food for takeout, I ate it immediately in the car because 1. It took half an hour to get our order and 2. my bf wanted to stay longer to watch the wrestling match on TV and my HANGRY self could not take it anymore.

The uni nigiri was awesome. It is uni done right- sweet, oceany, thick, and creamy. YUM! Granted, it is not as amazing as those you get fresh from the shell. But still good.

The toro nigiri was pretty awesome as well, but not for its price- $12 eek! I've had better toro at sawtelle's Granada Market for a lot cheaper.

Small Sushi Set with 15-17 sashimi pieces. I regret choosing this one. It comes with chef's choice, but in this case it was just the usual suspects of salmon, tuna, hamachi, mackerel, white tuna, and one more I couldn't figure out but wasn't good. Pieces were big, but nothing tasted as fresh as the price should be. One fish was very chewy as well and not melt in your mouth tender :/

Being from West LA, I've been spoiled by Sawtelle aka Little Osaka. I thought even Sushistop's quality was comparable to this (and those are $2.75/nigri!).

This entire dish cost us $55, and it was not worth it. I unfortunately...

I expressed to both servers that I have a shrimp allergy. Nothing deadly, I just can't eat it. They were very accommodating with my main course, but when I ordered another roll on the side, a crunchy dragon roll, neither the sushi menu or the servers told me it contained shrimp.

I'm not very familiar with shrimp, and I even asked the server if any of the things that I had ordered, (I was seated in a group of five,) had contained shrimp. They assured me nothing I would eat contained it.

When they brought out my food, it took me three bites of it to realize it did contain shrimp. When my party brought attention to the issue, the server took the roll back to the kitchen to consult the chefs, and they said because I had eaten half of the roll, (I had only 2 bites,) they could only take off 50% and not the entire cost of the dish off the bill.

I didn't ask for a discount, or a free meal for the group, we only asked that the one roll I could not eat would be taken off the bill.

They did not accommodate my food allergy, nor did they accommodate my request to correct the error that they made.

If you read this far in the review, note that the food I was able to eat was pretty good and I think if you don't have any food allergies this would be a nice place to visit. The rest of my group did have an excellent time.

(Photo attached is the sushi roll they refused to take off the bill, no one else in my party ate from it, not lying about only having 2...

OK lets put it this way - The BEST and my MOST FAVORITE sushi restaurant in entire West and East Coast of US. PERIOD. Yes there more fancy looking restaurants out there - just like Kitayama in Newport Beach and some very pricey in Beverly and Hollywood but none of the come any close to quality and FRESHNESS of seafood that one get in Kaori Sushi. I actually for a while was trying to find similar place where you can have fresh food and very reasonable price and yet feel truly welcome and search al over US and compare places not only in South and North California Coast but also when i fly to New York i also try to find matching seafood restaurants there as well - funny yet amazing - none come close. No i did not receive any money from the owner of Kaori Sushi - yet if he would offer me free dinner i would gladly accept! :)))) The only place i finally found one day was truly matching by quality comfort and fun was elite restaurant in Kyoto Japan :)))) yet price range was astronomical! (very high!) The only drawback is because this place is so good it is very hard to get there on Fridays and Saturdays so i would recommend to call and make an appointment unless you dont mind to wait a bit. But no matter what even if i have to wait its ok because joy of good fresh food and comfortable cozy environment with reasonable price range. Bottom line - yes i would highly recommend this place to a...