SUGARFISH by sushi nozawa — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I have been to multiple Sugarfish locations in LA and NYC and usually the experience is excellent, but the latest experience in Sugarfish Studio City left something to be desired.

Food: The food was delicious, as always. My partner and I each ordered the Trust Me - can't go wrong with that! This, and the other set menu options, are very reasonably priced for omakase and offer a variety of dishes: edamame, sashimi, sushi, and hand rolls, with different types of fish.

Service: Our main(?) server was quick to greet us and take our drink order, shortly followed by our food order. We informed him that my partner is allergic to shellfish, which we've never had issues with; Sugarfish's kitchen has always been able to accommodate and substitute the dishes containing shellfish with another item, and it was the same in this case too. After ordering, he didn't stop by the table much, but we were able to get his attention when needed (such as refilling drinks). The runners, however, were another story. There appeared to be sooo many people running around to deliver food to tables. We wouldn't have minded that, EXCEPT for a few things: Runner service started well. We had both ordered the Trust Me, which should've been the same except for the one item substitution. After the first couple of dishes arriving at the same time for both of us, the rest kept getting delivered to one person at a time. Uh, WHAT, why would they do that? It got confusing and they missed one of the dishes so we had to follow up with our server. He remedied the situation, but it took additional time for the kitchen to remake it, and it's something that should have been straightforward if things were delivered at the same time as they had started. For the final dish, the runner mis-served the shellfish-substitute dish to the wrong person. Since the second dish didn't arrive until later and we decided to wait until both people had food (again, WHY was this even a thing?), we didn't notice until right before eating them. This lack of attention to a food allergy is messed up. They didn't even notice the swap and it was only because we've been to Sugarfish before that we noticed the difference (it's harder to see what's inside of the hand rolls). I mention this because a newcomer coming in with a food allergy might not have noticed, and this could've been more serious situation.

Ambiance: We arrived before 9pm on a Sat. There was a short line and we were told it was about a half hour wait. No problem. It seemed reasonable for a weekend evening. In the end, we probably only ended up waiting around 10-15 min. By the time we sat down, the line was gone and there were even some empty tables around the restaurant - i.e., it was busy, but not that busy. It was a bit loud, but again, not totally unreasonable.

Overall, excellent quality food, but the service slip-ups with the service did not make for a thrilling experience and, though we are usually agreeable with it, we did not appreciate the pre-added tip in these...

There are a few things that have altered my entire understanding of sushi. The movie Giro Dreams of Sushi which highlights the Edo-Style strictly adhered to at Sushi Nozawa and less so here at Sugarfish. With Sushi Nozawa now closed and the Nozawa Bar a little out of my price range Sugarfish has become my go for Omakase Edo-style sushi until I save enough money to fly to Japan.

I have always had immense respect for the care, skill and preparation that is involved in creating sushi at it's highest levels. All too often in my hometown our sleepy surfer vibe gets in the way over saucing rolls, losing all the nuances and purity.

Small. All of Kazunori's restaurants are small. Design is traditional, clean, uncluttered.

You will not find any rolls like the Las Vegas roll, Rainbow or anything that's beyond traditional, highlighting the fish. The rice is served warm to almost melt the cool fish without cooking it. The Toro and Blue Crab are my favorites, not sure why the cucumber roll is almost as expensive as the other rolls. They are not overstuffed pine cone's when it comes to the hand rolls. Tight and the roasted seaweed ensures the full effect and flavor profile.

I wasn't a fan of the sashimi as it's small, and I found the oyster sashimi kind of mushed, I prefer either shooters or half shelled. I was digging the organic edamame.

Uni is overpriced, but the nozawa style shrimp is pretty good value. All the tuna's are excellent, but I wish they offered grades within the toro designation. Salmon is perfectly firm. On my last trip they had monkfish liver which was the freshest I've ever had and the standard by which many sushi nuts rate restaurants.

The Trust Me Menu's are very reasonable and not meant to stuff you. These are the dinner's you should be getting. The lite has shrimp while the standard has quite a few other offerings like blue crab hand roll and halibut instead of the shrimp. TheNozawa is kind of the best of both adding snapper and the daily special nigiri. They do these to go which is great. They don't substitute and warn of this up front. No extra sauces, salt or additional rice.

I like their Nozawa sake which goes well with Orion, but for the real value go with the Ryo as the Hakkaisan is pricey at $3.50 per oz. I find it hard drinking Sapporo when the rest of the meal is so high.

Service is deliberate, inviting, but not catering or accommodating which I think at this level is understandable. Sugarfish follow in the footsteps of the original restaurant that pretty much educated California about edo and omakase. Nazi or not, it's not for everyone. They will not compromise their art and for those that want to go to Giro have the next best thing here...

This place is so laughably terrible. I had always heard about Sugarfish so it had been on my radar. I decided to go with my family when I found out about their 16% auto gratuity no tipping or add on fee policy.

To start the servers are all miserable, I get that there’s auto gratuity, but that should make you appreciate your job not to take it for granted. They were constantly huddled up together laughing and talking while multiple guests had empty drinks clearly looking around hoping to be helped. Then when they would finally arrive they would act like they were doing you a favor. When my wife walked to the restroom our waiter crossed her path, he rolls his eyes and looks to the sky and then points in the direction she’s walking to give her the right of way lol. At the end of our meal I had a question about one item as the name of the sake was super close to nigiri so I thought they accidentally added an item. I nicely brought it to a different waitresses attention (as the first person that treated us terribly had left without telling us, we only knew because we saw him walking out wearing headphones) and she condescendingly says “oh you mean you didn’t get that bottle right there in front of you?” with her eyebrows raised scolding me. Like dude I obviously misunderstood the bill and i asked with a smile saying that I probably forgot I got something. Anyways, in short the service was honestly the worst service I’ve ever received at a sit down establishment. Transients are made to feel more welcome at a fast food restaurant.

On to the meal, it was pretty bad. All three of us got the “don’t think, just eat, trust me” they rush you through your dishes to try and get you to eat faster (would be nice if you got the same service when you actually needed it) all three of us were unable to eat multiple items. Rolls were gross cheap mush, shrimp was inedible, the rice was HOT, we were just looking at each other like we were on a hidden camera show. I would literally prefer to go to the conveyor belt sushi place down the street.

We ended up dropping $300 between the 3 of us which would have been reasonable if it was decent, but between the awful service and inedible fish we felt super ripped off. I’m giving two stars only because I want to support the auto gratuity/no tipping model but they honestly need to get rid of the entirety of the depressed and entitled staff they have working for them, they should all be...