Sushi Katsu-ya (Studio City) — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Avoid this old dirty restaurant with bad atmosphere and really rude employees! I was having dinner with my daughter, and she recommended Catsuya, since it was close to her place. I told her it was not the best atmosphere and good food, since I never had good experience eating there before. However she wanted Japanese and there are not many choices in the area, we made a reservation and arrived early. One of the hostess ( younger female) told us they could seat us as soon as a table is available. We even agreed to sit at the bar if seats became available. So we waited and waited and see at least 4 tables became available and each time they gave the table to someone that just walked in the door, we waited 30 minutes and finally since my daughter has some health condition, she was getting anxious and not feeling well. I approached the head host( a middle aged heavy set lady) and asked are we going to be seated soon? She rolled her eyes at me and said, as you see there are no available tables. I replied you have been seating people who just walked in! She replied” they have reservations! I said so do we and we have been waiting for 30 minutes. She rolled her eyes at me again and walked away with anger! She returned with a large intimidating guy and without introducing himself said what seems to be the problem. I explained everything to him politely and expected him the resolve the issue! To my surprise he ignored all my expectations and repeated again, there are no tables available! He continued with, the people who came after us and got seated had reservations, ignoring the fact that we also have reservations. So basically costumer service in this dirty restaurant with low quality food( some of their food is pre-cooked and reheated when ordered to save time) does not exist! Bottom line bad pre-cooked food, terrible atmosphere, bad seating( very cramped cluttered dinning room) with horrible service, make your dinner experience to a nightmare! Avoid...

I returned here tonight after my first visit about 13 years ago.

I remember back then, I really haven't been exposed much to great food that I really loved the sushi experience here. Returning 13 years later, I would say that I am a fan, but this is not the best sushi in LA.

I left their sister restaurant tonight, Kiwami, really close by due to their horrible service. I said to my sister, let's finish our meal at Katsu-ya. So, off we went and drove a few minutes down the road to eat at Katsu-ya.

I usually avoid this place because it is always so packed and so "Hollywood" as celebs dine here such as Gwyneth Paltrow.

Prices here are lower than Kiwami and the other fancier Katsu-yas (partnership with Philip Starck and Sam Nazarian). The quality at this original restaurant is said to be better than the other locations.

Of course, people have differing viewpoints on the best sushi in LA. I'd say the people who haven't "been around" think this is the best sushi in Los Angeles. I've had conversations that Katsu-ya is at the same rank with the best of them -- Matsuhisa, Nobu, etc.

As I've gotten older and my palate has gotten to be a bit more sophisticated (sorry to sound like a food snob), I prefer my sushi traditional, fresh, and simple. No rolls. No sauces.

If you love fusion sushi or sushi with sauce slathered all over it, you'll love the Katsu-ya restaurants.

I highly recommend taking sushi novices to Katsu-ya. It is much easier on them to eat sushi here because they can order some of their most popular dishes and sushi rolls. You can get simple traditional sushi, but it seems the emphasis here is the "popular" and fusion dishes.

I find that the best sushi places refuse to serve California rolls. This place does.

What I've heard that the best sushi restaurant in LA is Urasawa, which is on a whole different level than the sea of great sushi options we have...

Favorite sushi in LA.

Actually, 2nd favorite sushi in the world - and I lived in Japan for a year! ;-) (But who can afford sushi in Japan?) #1 in the world? Ironically ;-) Nick-san's in Cabo San Lucas Mexico! ;-)

Katsuya is fun. Delightful. Always packed. Always crammed. Who would expect a line out the door before they're open? Especially between dog groomers and a pet store in a little strip center in the Valley? But this is the ORIGINAL. ;-) With Valet parking the finest cars in the Valley ;-) the sushi is just great!

I love many of the ones posted here. The Albacore with crispy onions, the Lollipop plate? (I don't know what they call it ;-) but the red tuna wrapped in cucumber with toothpicks arranged around a beautiful designed reduction sauce. The crispy rice with spicy tuna. The uni. ;-) Mmnn...the flavor comes over you in waves and you can literally taste the sea. ;-)

Yes, it's noisy. Yes, it's always jam packed. Yes, you'll probably have to wait. Yes, it's a little pricey.

Yes, it's all worth it!

;-)

Been my favorite in the Valley and So Cal for near on two decades now. Never...