SUGARFISH by sushi nozawa — Restaurant in Marina del Rey

So I'm a Sushi lover. From the mountains of Hawaii to the Coast of Lebanon to the AYCE of Studio City Sushi Bars.

But you know. This place just has that attractive dark side vibe.

A late Monday night and the place is busy.

I go alone. Bar seat for one please....5 min wait. Good deal.

As soon as I am seated I am quickly greeted by a nice young lady who asks if this was my first time. I reply with a Yes and she says Welcome! Let me begin by breaking down the menu.

All in all a simple menu. So I go with the Nozawa and a Water with Lemon to drink.

The place has enough pictures on Yelp to show everything. The presentation is extremely simple and very consistent with what you see on Yelp. So don't worry. You will get your experience the exact same way.

Now. There are people just Lally gaging and talking over a single piece of sushi for 10 min. And then they order again. Some people are doing the same Nozawa experience. The whole thing took about 20 min total.

They start with your drink, edemame, and a small disc of Wasabi and ginger.

I am not fond of the processed powder style wasabi. I like the real Wasabi. The real fresh grind wasabi. Which sadly they do not carry. I ask for a small side of Sudachi Ponzu. But regretfully to keep the Nozawa experience they do not give any out. I understand.

So the sushi rolled out. With about 5 min between. Each presentations.

Starting with the Tuna Poke. Good clean fresh. Nice small cuts and well soaked.

The Albacore. Salmon were great. I also liked the Toro hand roll.

I can go on and on. But the bottom line is. You get great sushi and a nice little worry free dinner. Just sit there and enjoy the time with a friend or a small group of 4 or 6 maybe. The place is definitely not big enough to handle large groups of 8 or more.

The end you get a nice bill with gratuity included. So no real need to tip unless you want to give more then 16% that is already added.

I had not eaten before going. So I was Huuuuuungry. I left feeling better but not full. So if your a big eater. Grab a small sandwich next door at Mandecino before your clean and easy experience at Sugarfish.

An extremely nice once In a lifetime experience for me. But I'm a Sushi holic so I crave large quantities of sushi all the time. So back to the slums of Midori Sushi AYCE I go.

I'll probably be back one day, With my wife, On a date night since now she is jealous of my little rendezvous. But I'm definitely grabbing a small bite to eat...

This is my favourite sushi restaurant of all time. I hadn't been since they changed locations (they just hopped a few doors down to a slightly larger spot), and I was pleasantly surprised at the new ambience which was much more open and light, with a casual and classic Japanese touch to the furnishings, larger windows, and outdoor seating with umbrellas.

Before they moved, I always sat at the bar because you could watch them make the sushi and they did a thorough job explaining each dish. I missed that here sitting at the table; I ordered the tasting menu called "Don't think. Just eat." for $55, and couldn't know the dishes in advance, but they did turn out to be basically the same as the "Nozawa Trust Me" with two extra sashimi. However, I didn't even get much of an explanation when served, even after asking what they were.

Onto the food. As always, the quality of fish is outstanding: easily the best I've had. The nigiri were perfect and the Chutoro was my favourite. The two hand rolls were fantastic, but the tuna "sashimi" felt more of a ceviche or a raw fish salad than sashimi (it was still good, but unexpected). The eel was firm and not drenched in sugary sauce like you'd normally get at a sushi place, but more of a modest drizzle meant to bring out the flavour and emphasize the texture, which was more true to perfectly cooked fish than the soggy, greasy mush I receive elsewhere. The uni (sea urchin) was also very good, but not better than what I have had at cheaper restaurants (although it was more expensive). Everything was simply beautiful, and the amount of food left me reasonably full. My single complaint would be that the rice fell apart easily when the nigiri were picked up.

Overall, a great experience and seriously great value for money. I'd recommend this restaurant to anybody looking for higher-end sushi at a...

Simply one of the worst dining experiences period. I've been to Sugarfish in Santa Monica a few times and LOVE that location. This time as I'm transfering through LA I decided to give this location a try. Terrible choice. We ordered takeout option. The food quality from the takeout sushi quality was very low. Rice was too hard, and fish was bland.

The staff experience was simply one of the worst ever. We ordered takeout to save time since we have a flight to catch. Upon arrival we asked the waiter whether we could use the waiting area to eat since it's heated and sheltered, he said it's no problem. We sat down, and a minute later the hostess came out and pretty much chased us away. What was worse is only 30 seconds later the manager came out to do it again. We were quite literally in the middle of packing up and moving to our car. When I explained to him that one of the restaurant waiters told us it's fine to use the area, his response was nothing short of accusing us of lying. Since it was about closing time (8:36 pm), no one is waiting, I really couldn't see the harm of us using the area. We were already on our way out out of respect for their preference, and was yet chased out like beggars and accused of lying!

Needless to say, I will never again give this location my business, and would strongly advise anyone who wants a good dining experience...