Yama Sushi Marketplace — Restaurant in San Gabriel

This place is a dream and a gem disguised as a hole in the wall independent seafood market. It's been my best kept secret of where I can get my better than restaurant sushi grade quality fish. Now, this place doesn't make rainbow rolls and different types of rolls etc. The only rolls you will see ate the simple seaweed wrapped mini rice n salmon rolls, cucumber rolls, avocado rolls and tuna rolls. They also have some cooked fish mini rolls etc. All wrapped by seaweed on the outside. Lots of items from Japan and items you would find at an Asian Supermarket or regular grocery store IF you're lucky. California Rolls? Let's just say they're quite large more than avg and sell out in MINUTES. All rolls are never by customer order. It's only what they have available and put out. Now let's get to the star of this; the sushi grade fish. There is a LONG LINE. EVERY DAY. 100% WORTH THE WAIT. The avg. wait time is around 8 min per person in line. If there are people in front of you expect to wait at least an hour. It is only done by one expert and no one else. The other 2 gentleman are there assisting in either making fresh sushi rice, making rolls for the deli case and/ or helping keep the area sanitized. Now the fish; Ranging from different country region of Salmon (e.g., Scottish, Norwegian, etc.) Blue Fin Tuna, Ahi Tuna, Yellow Tail, etc. There are different sized portions behind the glass counter (picture a deli). You pick which portions of which kinds and the kind Ser will ask if you want them sliced as they will be wrapped with a lemon slice and a serving of wasabi. The cashier will put a lil mini bag of ice on top of each fresh serve to keep it fresh before you get home. My best advice is to arrive early as opening time of 11am. Place closes at 7pm except that at least by 3pm all rolls are sold out and hopefully the latest by 5pm sold out. Fish is served till closing. You will wait and there's nothing that can be done to speed things up. Show any disrespect and you will get a lot of silence and glares from the respectful community. Show respect and patience, as you will be served when your turn is up. They have sushi ware dishes, sake cups, bottles. This place does honest pricing more than a restaurant would. Only difference is you won't get fancy rolls here. Just real sushi grade quality seafood. It's the #1 place to go to if you plan on making your own rolls. Guaranteed. It's super jam packed busy. Every...

• TIP: Parking lot and entrance are in the back, behind the thai restaurant.

I’ve been coming here over the last few years for a quick sushi pickup. The employees are always friendly and attentive. My favorite are the salmon sashimi (from the display case) and tamago (in the fridge area). Depending on when you arrive you may find the fridge sparsely empty but they do their best to restock it as quickly as possible. In the fridge area you can find an array of nigiri sushi, maki sushi, california rolls, seaweed, tamago, spam musubi, etc. In their display case around the corner you’ll find fresh slabs of fish. I enjoy seeing the label of origin the fish is from.

I’ve only had an issue here one time during the summer and the cashier was very patient. I stopped by here on my way out somewhere and wanted a quick bite. After making my purchase, I sat in the car ready to chow down before hitting the road. There was a piece of a glove in one of my sushi containers. No big deal since I hadn’t left the store parking lot, walked back in and informed the cashier. Made the exchange for the same item, walked back to the car to chow down but this time I noticed there was something blue which had stained the rice. Okay, back inside for another try. This occurred maybe 3-4x before I figured out what was staining the sushi pieces blue. When you purchase certain items from the fridge it comes with wasabi and a packet of soy sauce. Turns out the ink from the date on the soy sauce packets was rubbing off onto the sushi causing the blue staining. The cashier was always extremely nice each time I walked to and from my car with the unusual issue. She seemed just as puzzled as I until the cause was revealed.

Other things: They take Apple Pay. Normally they cut your chosen slice of fish into sashimi slices, but not during the holidays since it’s busy. The photos are from different days I’ve...

I’ve came here to see some of my family and they told me to go here and I see why. The fish is prepared to perfection. The prices are reasonable. And that’s why. Even though it may seem packed, it’s still good.

And it’s just that I am patient. The longest I’ve waited was only 10 minutes, it wasn’t too bad for the wait. At least you can get a number so people don’t fight and shove people around to get what they want. And that means workers here are smart, and they are smart. I have been going here for 2 years and I love this place so much that I thought that this place deserves a review. And since then they were saying Hello and have a great day. And I really appreciate it. I recommend sashimi, tuna, yellowtail and the ahi tuna.

But when you drive by on Las Tunas, you usually won’t see it, because it’s a tiny cute establishment. But this place is a hidden gem and if you want to go here. Do NOT think of any other places, why? Everything is perfection inside. They sell yamasa and kikkoman soy sauce and it’s still fresh, and that stuff may be sitting there for days. But it’s still fresh. That’s why Yama is a hidden gem and the best place to get sushi for any kind of party.

I am telling you, Go to this place. You will be...