The Sushi by Jin — Restaurant in Los Angeles

It's over Johnny...

This place has been our go-to for 7 years. We live in the neighborhood across the street. Our last couple of take-out orders have been mediocre, but tonight we dined in and had a terrible experience. One that I think is the new norm for this place. Otherwise, I wouldn't be leaving this review.

I should also say that we aren't the teen AYCE crowd that leaves glowing reviews for the privilege of eating meager amounts of fish wrapped in buckets of rice. We order a la carte and pay full price for dishes.

To start, they are clearly on the way out. You can sense it. We used to wait in line to get a table on a Thursday night. Tonight we walked right in and we were two of only six people in the restaurant. That's a pretty bad sign for a sushi place that requires turnover to keep fresh fish available.

Which makes complete sense because the fish was far from fresh. Super thin slices of sushi, and nasty crab meat told us that they are stretching their already stale food stores to feed their shrinking customer base.

Several items that we usually order arrived looking VERY different than normal. Especially the portions of fish in the rolls. When we complained to our server that there was literally HALF of the normal amount, she told us that it's because we ordered it without sauce. What?!? I showed her a picture of it on the menu (which is how it is usually served) and she just shrugged it off. So, either she is an indifferent idiot, or what she means is: order without sauce, and we can't mask the flavor of rotten fish and have to give you the 'good stuff' that we can't afford any longer. Either way, that's unacceptable.

Oh, and to top the night off, I ordered a bottle of their best Sake. And while clearing some of our dishes, she took and threw away the cap while the bottle was half full. When I complained about that and asked how was I supposed to take it home, she did an exceptionally shitty job of wrapping the bottle with cellophane. Yeah, keep it. I don't need that falling over in my car. Consider it your tip, and a parting gift. Because tonight we say goodbye to you.

Looking forward to the next restaurant in your location. Hopefully, it will be a...

Came in with expectation that the food quality would be better than most ayce but not as good as a high quality a la carte restaurant. Expectation was met. Salmon, yellowtail, and tuna were better than most ayce because I could taste the fish flavor. However, the fish was not as fresh as an a la carte restaurant and I saw pre cut slices of fish in the display. Mackerel,eel and one order only items(didnt have snow crab leg nigiri) were phenomenal and are something you would find at a good a la carte restaurant. Cut rolls were good but nothing special. Typical ayce quality but acceptable. Salads, and meat items were also acceptable typical ayce quality. I think the online reviews are either greatly exaggerated or based on how it compares to other ayce sushi places. I came in when the doors opened and there were already people in front of me and was near capacity when I left. The area does not have the best location for parking, so come early or park on the street. If you expect this restaurant to have high quality and fresh fish like what you would expect at a high quality sushi place because you read the reviews on here stating that this restaurant has the best sushi in la or Socal, you likely will be disappointed. If it wasn't for the nigiri, this place would be your typical ayce sushi place. The nigiri is why this place is popular but again, the fish is NOT as fresh as a high quality a la carte restaurant but still better than the typical ayce...

Ok here is the thing. We have come here about once a month for five years or so. No ambience, but the sushi was great. Take out or dine in, always delicious, always crowded. Tonight, I worry they are not going to make it. First of all, it’s Thursday night, and the place is 2/3 empty. But the real problem is the portions. I ordered a Laurel Canyon roll, $16. The thing shows up and it is a teeny bit of sushi inside a giant glob of rice. Like, less than half the fish that should be in a roll.

Because this is not normal for this place, I called over the server and said, hey, there is not enough fish in my roll. Here look, do you see? And she proceeded to nod and say… that just is what it is. I’ve eaten here no less than 50 times, and this was super, comically skimpy. Where is the fish?

She did not care. The chef did not care. No one cared. Honestly this would be no big deal if they said sorry, here is an extra slice of salmon or whatever to fill it out a bit. Nope. Nada.

Sooo.. sadly, I will be no longer patronizing Jin. One tiny sliver of additional fish and some acknowledgement would have been fine. But I left hungry and angry. Seems like they lost out on the deal. And I would guess others have had the same experience or they would still be crowded.

They get the two stars for our previously good...