10 Must-Try Value Sushi Spots In Los Angeles
Los Angeles's food scene is as great and diverse as the city itself, with top-notch talent gracing kitchens across the sprawling metropolis. While LA might be most well-known for having some of the best Mexican restaurants in the country, it also has stellar Thai and Vietnamese food, as well as excellent sushi. In fact, the city is home to countless sushi spots, although typically, the really expensive places get all the glory. Restaurants like Nobu or Sushi Park are world-renowned, but inaccessible to most people — visitors and residents alike.
While you could certainly learn to roll sushi like a pro at home, if you prefer to hit the town, there are plenty of approachable and affordable sushi restaurants to enjoy around LA. They may not all have the name recognition as a giant like Nobu, but they are just as good. After living in Los Angeles for a decade, I can attest that these value sushi spots are some of the best around and are worth checking out. Here are 10 of the best sushi restaurants in Los Angeles.
1. Sushi Gen
Sushi Gen is a hidden gem located right between Little Tokyo and the Arts District downtown. Tucked away in a small plaza and adorned with a discreet blue sign, you may not think much of this classic sushi restaurant as you drive by. Unless, of course, there's the typical long line of people outside waiting to be seated for dinner service.
The trick to beating both the line and the prices at Sushi Gen, though, is to go for lunch. The two menus are similar, but items for the early bird sit between $4 and $10 cheaper. The sashimi lunch, a popular choice on the menu, is only $26 compared to a dinner price of $36. The meals are the same, but the dinner special comes with an additional tempura appetizer. The premium sushi option, which utilizes a nicer selection of cuts of fish and is served omakase-style, costs just $38 for lunch and $47 for dinner.
Sushi Gen's combination lunch plates are perfect for someone going to lunch with a dinner-sized appetite. These heaping portions of salmon teriyaki or fresh water eel are paired alongside a bowl of rice and sashimi for a delicious and decadent meal.
(213) 617-0552
422 East 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
2. Mrs. Fish
You'll be hard-pressed to find another sushi restaurant anything like Mrs. Fish. Guests are seated below a colossal fish tank that surrounds the dining room and reaches all the way up to the ceiling. In addition to the unique decor, Mrs. Fish offers impressive weekday happy hours and family share menus.
Happy hour at Mrs. Fish occurs Tuesday through Friday evenings, and includes an array of snacks, skewers, and sashimi at a reduced cost from its everyday menu. Simple classic rolls like spicy tuna or salmon avocado cost just $8, and are regularly sold at dinner for $12. Cocktails like the Haku Lychee Martini are only $10, which is basically a steal by LA standards. Other snacks on the menu include a spicy tuna or salmon belly seared rice, both paired with spicy sauce and veggies.
Mrs. Fish is a great sushi spot for large groups, serving family style share menus for parties of 11 to 20 people. For just $65, you can get edamame and spicy green beans as starters, along with another six appetizers of your choice, such as salmon carpaccio, steamed clams, or vegetable fried rice. Finish with four rolls for the table and the chef's dessert.
213-873-4444
448 S. Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
3. Yama Sushi Marketplace
Yama Sushi Marketplaces are small mostly grab-and-go eateries that have become incredibly trendy over the past couple of years throughout the city, with three locations in Koreatown, Mar Vista, and Alhambra. Shelves of various cold sushi, warm appetizers, and bottles of sake line the walls, giving customers seemingly endless opportunities to mix and match as they please.
A one-stop-sushi-spot, Yama Sushi Marketplace also has any Japanese accouterments you could ask for in the kitchen. Grab a quick spicy tuna roll, Dashi soy sauce, some authentic matcha, and a cute novelty oven mitt all in under five minutes. The sushi shelves are constantly being restocked, but if you can't find what you're looking for just head to the counter for a more personalized experience. Sushi chefs will make specialized rolls, traditional bento boxes, or large group sushi platters in just a few moments.
Almost everything in the store is incredibly cheap, with customers able to get a roll or two and Yama's popular chicken katsu all for under $10. While the Koreatown location is the smallest of the three locations, there's still plenty of seating outside to enjoy your meal.
Multiple locations
4. Sugarfish & Kazunori
Sugarfish is an institution across both Los Angeles and New York, rivaled only by its sister restaurant KazuNori. With over 12 Sugarfish locations and seven KazuNoris around Los Angeles, this elevated chain of sushi restaurants is one of the most visited and well-known in the city. While not the absolute cheapest spot in our list, Sugarfish and KazuNori serve excellent quality sushi for far less than you would pay at other spots around town.
Sugarfish is known for it's "trust me" combinations, an almost omakase-like box that takes the guesswork out of gastronomy. A $24 "trust me lite" lunch box comes with edamame, tuna and chutoro sashimi, albacore sushi, salmon sushi, Japanese yellowtail sushi, and a toro hand roll. Dinner service serves the same box with an additional Hokkaido scallop for an extra $4. KazuNori has a similar approach to ordering, with set menus consisting of anywhere from three to six hand rolls, all made right in front of you fresh to order. The three hand roll set costs $16 and comes with salmon, bay scallop, and crab. Each roll is made and delivered to your seat as you finish the previous one, staving off any warming fish or wilting seaweed wrap.
Multiple Locations
5. Uchi
Uchi's happy hour menu may be the largest I have ever seen, making it a great choice for people who love choices. Whatever you order is sure to be great with Chef de Cuisine Joel Hammond at the helm, a talented and knowledgeable chef that helped us correct any mistakes we were previously making at sushi restaurants.
Take the choices out of the equation and enjoy happy hour in the most decadent way possible by ordering the nine-course signature tasting for two. It costs $120 total, but nine courses for $60 per person really can't be beat. The menu at Uchi in West Hollywood, including the happy hour menu, changes daily so you know you're getting fresh and seasonal fish every time.
Uchi is aware that some people are here for a good time, not a long time, which is why it also offers affordable, shareable takeout sushi boxes. The smallest of them, the Ichi Box, comes with 12 pieces of nigiri, two maki, and Uchi's sweet and spicy Hama chili sauce for $95.
310-708-4808
9001 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 101, West Hollywood, CA 90069
6. SushiStop
SushiStop may have invented the McDonaldification of sushi restaurants — in the best way possible. You won't find cheaper sushi that is still pretty great anywhere in the city. Just be ready to wait in line at any one of its numerous locations.
One of the most popular and accessible sushi restaurants in Los Angeles, SushiStop offers a wide array of rolls, nigiri, and Japanese-American fare for even the pickiest eaters. Already cheap prices are made even better by an ever-changing selection of special promotions that are unique to each location. The Hollywood restaurant across from the daunting Scientology Center is the most popular, but the Stop in Burbank has the benefit of serving ramen on those rare cold California days.
Eating at SushiStop often feels more like an club-going experience than a restaurant — it's incredibly loud, crowded, and there's always a line out front. But truthfully it's never a bad time for your stomach or for your wallet.
Multiple locations
7. Roll Roll Roll
You won't miss Roll Roll Roll while driving through the heart of Koreatown, as it invites customers with a brightly lit and welcoming storefront on the main strip of Wilshire Blvd. Particularly great for takeout, Roll Roll Roll is a fast-casual restaurant serving alcohol and a large variety of colorful sushi all at a very affordable price.
Few other places can you find a classic California roll for just $3.95 or a spicy tuna roll for $5.45. Roll Roll Roll specializes in simplicity, serving common sushi bites to help keep internal costs down so you can try a little of a lot of different items. Savings are passed along to the customer with affordable prices for everything from the $4 edamame to the $9 udon noodle bowls.
As an added bonus, Roll Roll Roll also offers a free cup of miso soup with any roll, poke bowl, or bento box. The restaurant sells large platters of sushi too, giving customers the most bang for their buck with 54 pieces of sushi for $49.
(213) 922-0000
3675 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
8. Kura Revolving Sushi Bar
One of the few conveyor belt-style sushi restaurants left in Los Angeles proper, the Kura Revolving Sushi Bar chain does things the right way. Small plates of sushi spin through rows of booths on a long mechanical belt, allowing customers to grab whatever their hearts desire for a uniquely umami experience.
Serving sizes are rather small at Kura, usually consisting of just two or three pieces of sushi per plate; this lets people choose exactly how much they want to eat without over-ordering or over-paying for anything. The plates are small, but they're seemingly endless with more than 75 options on the menu ranging from Hokkaido scallop to American Wagyu gunkan-maki. Small portions mean small prices, and you won't find anything that breaks the bank here. With three locations in the Koreatown, Sawtelle, and Little Tokyo neighborhoods, Kura Revolving Sushi Bar is a fun, cheap, and delicious dinner to enjoy in a large group or by yourself.
310-597-4490
2130 Sawtelle Blvd, Unit 111, Los Angeles, CA 90025
9. Noshi Sushi
Noshi Sushi is a historic California restaurant that opened in Koreatown in 1983 in a time and place when sushi was extraordinarily rare. Not much has changed since then, besides the Beverly Boulevard restaurant expanding in size from 30 seats to more than 100 seats in order to meet the customers' surging demand.
Since the beginning, Noshi Sushi has served a homemade spicy tuna that is often hailed as one of the best in Los Angeles. You can get it topped on a crispy rice cake as an appetizer for only $10, or even cheaper as a regular sushi roll for just $5. All of Noshi's other rolls cost around the same, like the yellowtail very belly roll that costs just $7. Unlike many other value sushi spots in town, Noshi also utilizes real crab meat in both its $8.50 Spider Roll and $6.50 California Roll.
Noshi's best-selling dish, the light house set, consists of two pieces of uni, salmon egg sushi, tuna, salmon, whitefish, octopus, shrimp, mackerel, clam egg, seaweed wakame, and four pieces of spicy tuna for $55. Split that in two or dine on a huge feast for yourself for what ends up being quite a good deal.
323-327-5809
4430 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90004
10. Waka Sakura
Waka Sakura is a hidden gem tucked away inside another hidden gem. Located in the middle of the Tokyo Central Market in Gardena, there's no other place around where you will be surrounded by so much delicious and inexpensive sushi. This conveyor belt-style sushi restaurant feels like it should be a splurge, with large slabs of fish constantly up for grabs as they zip by your table. But plates like the salmon assorted trio cost only $5.50, a steal for three pieces of fresh fish.
Opening in early 2024, this relatively new spot is already making waves as one of the best affordable sushi restaurants around. Enjoy a dinner of sushi as this restaurant and you'll leave with your stomach and your wallet surprisingly full. If you somehow haven't had your fill as you're exiting the restaurant, shop around the Tokyo Central Specialty Market for even more cheap, fresh, grab-and-go sushi.
(424) 205-1085
1740 W. Artesia Blvd., Gardena, CA 90248
Methodology
I have been a customer at all of these sushi restaurants on at least one occasion and a semi-regular diner at many of them. Living in Los Angeles for 10 years, I know a thing or two about the sushi scene in the city and which spots are worth visiting time and time again. These aren't the only sushi restaurants in Los Angeles, but they are some of the best that are affordable.
Taking into account the quality of the sushi as well as the cost, these spots are considered some of the best value options in town. I also considered cost-saving sales from restaurants, including happy hour, promotions, and other daily specials. These sushi restaurants are approachable to both locals and visitors alike, and are highly-favored in online reviews as well. While some places on the above list inevitably cost more than others, they are all worth checking out for great sushi at great prices.