RIZE THAI SUSHI — Restaurant in Santa Monica

When the kitchen and the front of house are both working well, this place is amazing.

The difficulty is that you may run into something like my last two visits...once the food was amazing and the service awful; the second time the service was great (very nice, consistent, apologetic server working hard) but the food was insanely slow (20 min for one order of sushi; 45 minutes+ for a main dish that then came out room temperature, and when I asked for a warm up, it came back out ruined (they nuked a soft shell crab dish, which of course destroyed the texture of the dish.) Oh, also, they informed me they were out of rice (!?!) But they told me this just before they brought out the curry (I would've changed my order to something other than soft shell crab curry if I'd known they were out of rice sooner.) After an hour, one beer, and one small order of sushi, I opted to wanly smile, admit defeat, thank my server for trying, get the check and leave. Too tired for another outing at 9:30pm, and facing early start the next day, I had a tortilla roll from the local El Pollo Loco drive-thru instead.

Yeah, it will be awhile before I go back. Months. Need to forget that last visit.

So...it's a roll of the dice. The front and the kitchen both seem to get slammed and get out of sync fairly often. One or the other is struggling on almost every visit.

I recommend avoiding busy times and you may...

Excellent place, still fairly new but quickly gaining popularity. We were there Tuesday for All Day Happy Hour, arrived at 5:30 - great time to go BTW- they got really busy around 6:30pm and- due to a large group all trying to talk over each other- it got really loud. (Normally even when full its not unbearably loud- this was an exception). Food is very high quality, highly recommend their sushi!! Both Pad Thai and Kale Fried Rice are delicious as well. For the quality of food the prices are very reasonable and they have great lunch specials. Do be advised recently SM add parking restrictions so no parking infront 4-7pm M-F. Makes parking a little tricky but there is usually available side...

I have been either ordering from Rize, or going there to eat since they first opened. The food is absolutely delicious, and it is priced accordingly. I highly recommend the California roll. I know it's a very simple and straight forward roll, but sweet Jesus Rize makes it perfectly. The chicken Pad Thai is also a staple. The staff is incredibly friendly! ESPECIALLY the owner. He will not only greet every single table if he is able, but he also handles all deliveries! He will remember you, he's always smiling... Just a perfect example of excellent customer service. Rize CAN get crowded around dinner time, but that is simply a testament to how great...