12/23/08

Best sushi on the westside

by LTaylor0407

This is one of the best sushi restaurants in the city in my opinion. We eat here a couple of times a week and love it. Highly recommend trying some of the unusual specials that Toshi offers. This place is named after the head sushi chef and owner's little daughter and his care and dedication shows in everything he does.

Enjoy!

• Pros: Amazingly fresh fish with interesting special sushi combinations
• Cons: none that I can think of

05/23/08

Best sushi ever!

by pavid

I almost don't want to write a review so this place doesn't get crowded...but for the better of mankind, here we go: I have eaten at almost all high end sushi restaurants...from the cliffs of Croatia to the trendy LA sushi, I have yet to experience sushi the way Sushi Karen prepares them. My all time favorite: amberjack with garlic and jalapeno. Talk about creative and good...melts in your mouth. Everything is great, I have tried the entire menu. I also recommend ordering:koshihikari echigo beer to accompany your meal. It is an extremely rare beer and I have only been able to find it at one other location (wally's).

Ps. don't expect some fancy entrance with a valet service...this is about the sushi...

01/21/08

One of the best Sushi restaurants creative

by tp547

I do not order any combinations they may not be as good as the individual sushi. Try the special rolls and the Sashami it is great.

09/18/07

BEST SUSHI IN LA!

by kjbachmann

This is definately the best sushi I have ever had. The service is great, staff is friendly. Toshi knows exactly what he is doing and does it well every time. Now that I have become a regular customer Toshi is quite generous. The rolls and sashimi are absolutely amazing. I have never had a bad piece of fish there EVER. They definately have something for everyone, lots of variety. They also have good food for the non-sushi eaters too!

I also think the price is right. We took a friend there and she thought it was pricey, but after going to her sushi place just up the street near Best Buy and CPK it is clear that you pay for what you get. Up the street was noticably cheaper, but also very noticably poorer quality, they didn't even have a good enough knife to cut all the way through my roll.

Sushi Karen is simply the best in LA and everyone who enjoys quality sushi needs to give it a try.

• Pros: AMAZING SUSHI! Good service, variety, pretty easy parking.
• Cons: NONE

06/17/07

Surprised

by lvein

Who would think great Sushi in Culver City. I was finishing a meeting in CC and mentioned I was heading over to another sushi restaurant for dinner before a bit of traffic. Someone said to try Sushi Karen and raved about it. We have heard those stories before but everyone's taste is different. 100% fantastic. She said to try the Amber Jack, one of their house specials. It was excellent. They do sushi simple. They have a blend of the "hip" items like rainbow roll but for the most part I stayed with the basics of straight sushi. The quality is amazing. The chefs carefully prepare each dish as if an art form. I was there in between busy hours so I do wonder how fast service is when they are packed. Nonetheless, I savored every bite. The flavor was so outstanding that I think I used the least amount of soy sauce ever. In any event, this will be the new Spoil Me spot. I have been to many others but for pure, tasteful, sublime sushi I do not think you will find better. Or if you do...let me know. (Sorry if I over did it here but I do not often write reviews and this place merited it.) Best, Larry

02/16/07

Best Sushi on the Westside!

by abadz

Sushi Karen is simply the best! My husband and I, who consider ourselves "sushi snobs" frequent this restaurant at least once a week. Toshi, the chef, is incredibly talented. The seaweed salad is delicious, the tuna and halibut carpacciao amazing, the amberjack is incredible and the lobster roll -- to die for! Feeling adventurous? Try the "shrimp boat"...shrimp sushi topped with a quail egg and roe. Service is great and quick and prices affordable. The atmosphere isn't as shiek as Nobu or Yamashiro, but it is clean and small/cozy. Sit at the bar and buy Toshi some sake and he will take care of your dining experience!

11/21/06

The Best Sushi In LA!!!!!!!

by dainty

Sushi Karen is my favorite sushi restaurant in the city. I have been dining here at lest one a week for the past six months. I had been a fateful customer of Crazy Fish in Beverly Hills until a friend and I had lunch at Sushi Karen. I recomend any sushi lovers and even any first timers to enjoy a lovely meal at Sushi Karen

• Pros: The food is excelent!!!!
• Cons: The hours are a little tricky

11/14/06

Not a great experience...

by knothead8

We tried Sushi Karen last night because of the great reviews here, and because it's basically right around the corner.

I really, really wasn't impressed. First of all, the place has kind of an odor to it, which wasn't so pleasant, but it's easy to ignore after a little while.

I got the normal sushi combination, which *looked* pretty enough, but the texture wasn't good (nowhere near "melt in your mouth") and the flavor seemed...off. I *love* sushi, and I couldn't finish my dinner, I was so turned off.

I will add, the previous 2 times I'd been out for sushi, I've had incredibly good sushi, so maybe for the price, Sushi Karen is better than I'm giving it credit for. Maybe going just before closing on a Monday night isn't the best plan. I'll also add that the 2 people I was with thought the sushi was *very* good. So, maybe it's just me.

• Pros: ambience, service, price
• Cons: average sushi

11/09/06

amazing sashimi!

by cocono5baby

toshi's amberjack sashimi in jalapeno citrus sauce is one of the most divine creations on this planet! and, the rainbow roll is a mouth watering meal in itself.

super clean. super cozy. great staff!

• Pros: everything!

10/01/06

mmmm...crunchy roll

by redgiraffe

My boyfriend and I went to Sushi karen after our old sushi restaurant remodeled and was no longer the gem of the Westside. We scouted many joints and evaluated all of them. We went through many misses and finally had a winner. The prices are decent, the atmosphere is not pretentious, the service has always been nice. It can be a little awkward when you first go enter because the host is at the back. You can pretty much seat yourself if it is not busy. We have never been served bad fish. I am sure it is not a 5 star sushi restaurant but it is a good staple. The crunchy roll is delicious....although not very light in calories. There are other good restaurants but we've found ourselves returning here the most.

• Pros: usually not too crowded, locals eat here, good value
• Cons: can be loud if a big party is seated near you