sushifoode "catches his own sashimi"

out of business

I believe that I have eaten in every ramen shop in the valley. I always order the chasu ramen everywhere I go. Most get down graded for a weak soup broth and/or tasteless noodles. Kyushu ramen could be be best ramen in the SFV. Their soup broth is rich and flavorful. The noodles are just right ie a little chewy and tasty. The portions are just right. They also serve a pork stock ramen it is very traditional. But I like the regular soup stock. The decor is OK and has improved. It has a sushi bar next door. You can enter on either side. There is a doorway that connects both businesses. They also carry premium grade sake. I drank hakaisan and otomoyama. I like hakaisan better but its expensive. kabuki in burbank and woodland hills serves those brands also.

This was an OK restaurant. Nothing special. I wanted it to be better since it is one of the few remaining Japanese owned restaurants. We saw only one other Japanese person eating is the place other than ourselves. So much for the soul food title. The decor is interesting but be advise THEY DO NOT SERVE WINE OR BEER. If you want alcohol you can go across the street to the liquor store. I ordered seared albacore polki. There was so little fish that I had to pick it out to get a taste of fish.

Sushi Nishi-ya
March 2009

We went for our first omkase dinner at Sushi Nishi-ya on a Saturday night. I took my wife and son. When we got there, we got the usual “sushi only” and “no rolls” policy repeated to us that was written on the wall. Everybody get this message. The 7 seat sushi bar had a “Reserve” sign sitting on top of the bar with three customers. So we took a booth. Another party came in and saw the sign and promptly left. There were other couples that eventually came in later to take up other booths. As the sushi bar filled up, our service got slower and slower to the point where we got hunger pangs between servings. It became obvious that one chef cannot adequately support this restaurant even if it has only 21 seats and those at the sushi bar got prompter service. That night there was anywhere between 12-15 dinners. It took over an hour and a half to get 8 or 10 servings. The sushi itself was excellent but the portions were a bit small. I left slightly hungry cause I stopped when I got spicy tuna rolls. I figured that the chef was running out of options and I was not going to pay top dollar for stuff like spicy tuna rolls. We had to make something for my son at home to fill him up. The bill was over $300 that includes a tip and one small bottle of sake. The tip was for the waitress. She tried her best to apologize for the service.
Hint-do not go on a Friday or Saturday night. If you do, get reservations for the sushi bar

This is a very small restaurant. The restaurant has been there for awhile, It use to be under a different name like Kawamata or something like that. The new owner, Kenji Nishimura, took over about 2 years ago. He serves only sushi and hand rolls. he says he goes to the fish market every day and closes whenever the fish market closes. Consequently, the restaurant is closed on Sunday and major holidays. I took a take out order of bluefin maguro, toro, hamachi, and uni. I thought that most of the servings looked a little smal except for the uni which was one of the bigger helping I have seen. I was also a little disappointed in the toro. It lacked the creaminess I love in toro. The rest of the servings were fine.

Its been a while since I have been there. I ordered Chasu ramen. You get a small plate of tsukemono. We got cucumbers in a kim chee like sauce. Its not hot or as strong real kim chee. The first thing that strikes me when my order arrives is that it is so visually appealing. The slices of pork are neatly arranged along the sides of the bowl. The pork was very lean. The bean sprouts,boiled half egg and the other condiment which I forgot the name but it is usually found in ramen are again neatly place in the own spot and green onions covers the bowl. The broth is good, not salty or too oily and the noodles are tasty. If you do not like a lot of pork, order the shoyu ramen. Its the same thing with less pork.

I was there for lunch Saturday, 4/18/09. It was 85 degrees in downtown LA. Daikokuya does not have AC. The place was hot and crowded. Mostly young adults in their 20s. Some were from the USC Med Center. It said so on their scrubs. I sat at the counter and watched them cook. They had a bunch of small strainers filled with pre-measured amounts of noodles that they hung over the sides of a boiliing pot of water when the order came in. There was also a timer. The amount of noodles was about enough to fill an 8 oz cup. Not much in my opinion. see the rest of the review below.