Oh! BANZAI — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Oh! Banza! has an unexpectedly amazing lunch menu, and this has turned into my regular sushi lunch spot! Note, they stop serving lunch at 2:30pm, and I recommend arriving between 11:30am-2pm.

The restaurant is not visible from the main streets, and is tucked further back into the shopping center. They have plenty of free parking in the lot, and there are two entrances to the parking lot.

The staff is always extremely friendly & efficient (the hand rolls typically come within just a few minutes of ordering) and the fish quality is consistently fresh and delicious. They also had the high-quality pre-separated chopsticks. The aesthetic is very modern, and all seating is indoors, and you can either sit at the sushi bar or at tables.

The Hand Roll Lunch Plate comes with a rotating side dish (the past few times it’s been root-based) and miso soup, and is broken into 2 pricing tiers, 3 pieces for $18 or 5 pieces for $26, and you can add an additional hand roll for $5 each. They have a large variety included in this special, including: tuna, salmon, yellowtail, scallop, shrimp, eel, snow crab, and vegetables.

On my first visit, I went with the 3 pieces lunch set for $18, and I chose:

Tuna + Kizami Wasabi (my favorite) Negi-Toro Scallop + Jalapeño Ponzo (the raw jalapeño is a little spicy)

Everything was so good, I added 2 more hand rolls:

Tuna + Kizami Wasabi (reorder) Salmon + Onion Crunchy Chili Oil (another favorite)

On my second visit, I went with the 5 piece lunch set for $26 and it was a much better choice. I went with:

Tuna + Kizami Wasabi Spicy Tuna with Scallions (loved, another favorite) Yellowtail + Grated Daikon Ponzo (my first time trying grated daikon!) Scallop + Spicy Mayonnaise Aburi (delicious, but mayo overpowers taste of scallop)
Snow Crab + Spicy Mayonnaise Aburi (also delicious)

I now plan to go for sushi-lunch at least once a week, and I hope you enjoy as much as I have! Conveniently located if you work...

📍Ambience: The restaurant is cozy and intimate, with a corner bar and just a few tables. It’s clean, minimal, and welcoming—perfect for a casual yet elevated dining experience.

🍽️ DineLA Four-Course Menu: Uni Yamaimo Ikura Shooter An incredible start to the meal! This shooter came with four thick slices of Santa Barbara uni—generous, creamy, and extremely fresh. Combined with ikura and grated mountain yam, it was an umami bomb that literally danced in your mouth. A luxurious and well-balanced bite. Five Premium Hand Rolls Each hand roll was thoughtfully crafted and filled to the brim. The selection included salmon + chili crisp, toro, ikura + scallop, unagi + egg, and crab leg. All of them are featured on their regular menu and typically range from $8 to $15+ per piece. Getting all five in one course was an amazing value and showcased the quality of their ingredients and technique. Char Siu Mazemen (Dry Ramen) A pleasant surprise! The ramen was light yet flavorful, with a tangy-spicy kick that suited the hot summer weather. The char siu was tender and fragrant. Portion size was quite large—great for value, but a bit too much for a smaller appetite. Vanilla Ice Cream with Warabi Mochi A sweet finish to the meal. The vanilla ice cream was speckled with real vanilla bean and paired with warabi mochi, kinako powder, and brown sugar syrup. A chewy, fragrant, and slightly sweet dessert—classic and comforting.

💰 Overall Value: At $65 per person, this DineLA set is an excellent deal, especially given the quality and portion sizes. Honestly, this meal rivaled and even surpassed many of the more hyped hand roll spots in town. They also offer a $26 lunch set (5-piece hand rolls) that I’m already planning to...

We had a nice dinner here and the service was great. We came on a quiet week night, so service was extremely quick.

When we sat down, we were given a complimentary dish of radish and fish cakes cooked in oden broth. We ordered hand rolls as well as the pork cartilage and chicken wings. It felt like it took just a little over 5 mins for us to get all of our food.

The hand rolls were very good quality! One thing to note is that all the hand rolls are brought out at once, so the seaweed will get soggy after a while. Given how fast service was, in the future I would space out my orders to keep them fresh. The pork "cartilage" we got was more like cuts of fatty pork belly, no actual cartilage in the dish. It was still very yummy though, especially with the mustard sauce to pair with the rich fatty bites.

I do not eat hand rolls very often so it did get a bit messy with some of the sauces and toppings. Be extra careful with the chili crisp topping. It tastes good but can easily get on your clothes. Wet wipes are provided which is nice.

Overall a very enjoyable (slightly messy) dinner with...