Even with a 4 star based on hundreds of review, this place is extremely disappointing. The fish were relatively fresh but the sushi was not authentic at all, period. All the fish were pre-sliced, an abomination for a sushi restaurant! Further more, all the slices were 'paper thin', some nigiri were even served with a thin stack of fish scrapes! It was the first time i had a scallop nigiri with less than 1/4 of a scallop on; had a sweet shrimp that's pre-shelled and sliced in half. The list goes on... We each had an uneventful omasake which ended abruptly with crab roll, really?! We didn't even know the course ended till 20 minutes later, how professional. Ordered additional orange clam and sweet shrimp nigiri. The bill is just over $65/person, before tip and -alcohol. Not too pricy for sushi but there are so many better places that it's definitely not worth it. read more

This is one of the best sushi places in all of Los Angeles. My favorite dishes are the butter fish and the blue crab hand roll. Can't miss. read more

Best sushi in LA by far. The rice is warm and the fish is cut perfectly. The only place where ikura is not salty read more

This is my go to sushi restaurant. I love their scallops and on one occasion I had 5 blue crab hand rolls. Also try try the omakase, you will not be disappointed. read more

Probably some of the freshest sushi I have had in Los Angeles. Got the chefs selection and it melted in my mouth like butter. The albacore, salmon and blue fin tuna was my favs. read more

Unbelievable quality. Sit at the sushi bar and enjoy a wide variety of specialty fish, fresher than 99% of restaurants you'll find in Los Angeles! read more

I was in town today and visited my buddy and his daughter for lunch. He was in the mood for sushi and ended at this place. We had omekaze 8 pieces @$40 . The quality is average , the hirame ( halibut ) did not taste like halibut and more like squid. The cut quality is mediocre . Unfortunately , this is not the place for me . Should gone to Sushi Gen for the price read more

The BEST sushi ever. Enough said. I had to add my two cents but there are better reviews listed here already. Crappy parking but it's LA! read more

Here's the thing: the food is really good. So, there's that. It's a great lunch stop, and the lunch special is relatively cheap at $13. That $13 will get you four pieces of sushi and a crab roll; not exactly filling. Some folks I know even double up on the order. So, go there for lunch once in a while. Do it. You'll love it. Just have something at your desk to snack on for later. Dinner is different. It's got a big problem in that it's a fancy expensive restaurant with great food, but it's in a strip mall with no atmosphere. It feels like a place that wants to be great date material, but it really fails in that regard. That being said, the food doesn't stop being good at night. read more

One of the best sushi places I've been to. I try to visit here every time I'm in the LA area. Omakase is the way to go. They only have sushi and the location is strange, but well worth it. read more

First, the quality was very good. It is a very traditional style sushi restaurant that has no bells, no whistles. No spicy mayo and no rolls. Piece of fish on warm rice and the only frill was miso soup. The toro and yellowtail were delicious. But when it comes down to it, I like sugar fish and sasubune more. read more

I think Echigo has the best sushi in LA. Don't go there if you're looking for crazy fried tempura rock-n-rolls - Echigo is for the purist. Always an exceptional experience here. read more

best fish LA did a sushi tour in LA and this was our favorite by far blew away sasabune and less expensive read more

I have gone to Echigo at least 15 times in the last three years. It became my favorite sushi restaurant after my first visit. For most of that period it was an excellent sushi house serving wonderfully fresh and delicate fish on soft warm rice. The service could best be described as "efficient" and the food was reasonably price for its excellent quality. Unfortunately over the last six months I have seen a marked decline in its quality, service and value. I have returned hoping for some improvement several times but have been disappointed as of late. I have become reluctant to go back anymore until I hear of a return to its previous quality. I am very sorry it has gone downhill because I used to like it so much. read more

Been wanting to try this place for a while... Let's start by say that the staff here was very polite. Decor; very plain and bright, and nothing to write home about. But then again we come for the fish...... first and foremost (Omakase) And I have to agree with another yelper, if your fish is suppose to be cast in the highest light, it should NOT be pre-sliced unless you are doing SO much business that it does not effect the fresh caliber! And this place does not fall into that category of turn over. 1. Albacore sashimi, something was off about this dish, it tasted fishy and i'm not quite sure how I feel about the balsamic like sauce that was on it, other than it was interesting and masked the fishiness a bit. 2. Toro was great even though I am not a big fan of toro in general 3. Hirame / Halibut , was standard and good and doesn't separate one great sushi spot from another. 4. Bonito- this was EXCELLENT! 5. Kampachi was also great. 6. Asked for Yellowtail- He served belly which was good too, but would have prefered the regular hamachi 7. Butterfish- Nice miso-like sauce on top, but the fish was a little chewy. 8. Japanese Snapper/ tai - This was rather good and has no reason not to be when served with sea salt and lemon @ just about EVERY sushi spot in town right now. 9. Baby tuna was good, but hard to taste as it was buried in sauce. 10. Japanese scallop was great, one of the better items 11. Shima Aji- also VERY good. 12. Spanish Mackarel/ Aji- It was ok, no sauce served with it (should have had ponzu on top) This fish is the perfect example of a fish that should NOT be pre-sliced. 13. Orange Clam - This was DELISH, but it's good everywhere I have had it lately this season. 14. My GF had tamago, which i don't eat, but she RAVED about it. 15. Blue Crab HR- This was DELISH as well, and holds its own againt the best blue crab rolls in town. 16. Sweet Shrimp- The roe was yummy. The tail itself was yummy as well. My only problem here, is that it wasn't live, and served without the head at this point in time in the season, where it should be served like that. The bill for 2 with 1 glass of wine was $150 pre-tip. It was good, but I wouldn't come back. Rather spend another 10 % else where and get top shelf fish across the board read more

My favorite sushi place in LA. Best combination of price and quality. I've been going there for multiple years and the omakase consistently delivers. Always a "must visit" when I'm in town. read more

Checked this place out after a friend who owns a few sushi restaurants recommended it. I did the lunch special (double), which was $14x2=$28. Not too pricey, but not that cheap either for lunch. If you order the double lunch special, you get 2 pieces of 5 different fish and two Blue Crab hand rolls (you can substitute these for yellowtail or tuna I believe). All the nigiri was really good, though the pieces were cut very thin. This is good in a way because they melt in your mouth, but left us a bit full. The two hand rolls at the end were good for filling up, and the Blue Crab was pretty good, yet not out of this world. It reminded me a lot of Sugarfish, minus the atmosphere. And the prices are fairly similar ($30 for Trust Me at Sugarfish), so it's pretty much on par for a similar amount of food. Some of the fish and garnishes seemed a bit better than Sugarfish, while others weren't as good. Definitely worth trying and way better than it's exterior lets on. read more

I have been coming to Echigo for lunch for several years and the sushi is fresh and consistently good. Ask for the lunch special, where they serve a predetermined selection of sushi, including their fantastic crab hand roll! Ask for the butterfish sushi, which isn't included on the lunch special - it melts in your mouth and I can't seem to find it at other sushi bars. The only complaint I have is that the strip center location is a little dumpy and the restaurant could use a little remodeling work. read more

It's a sleeper sushi place that is on the second floor of a nondescript shopping center. I hear that the chef came from Sasabune, another great sushi place. If you're familiar with Sasabune, you'll know that their warm rice is their specialty, and that carries over here. It's not quite as expensive as Sasabune, but it's somewhat close in quality. It's not cheap either, but at around $50-60 a person, you're getting a value. It might not completely fill you up though as they serve one or two pieces a la carte. I heard you can get omakase too, so I'll have to try that next time. read more

I have been coming here for 15 years and have always been impressed by the consistently excellent quality of the fish. Of course, availability, weather, and Time of year affects what fish he serves, but this restaurant is as good if not better than any other sushi restaurant in the world. read more

the masters here make the best sushi in l.a. mmm...their fresh, melts-in-mouth fish on warm, perfectly seasoned rice!!! i can eat this everyday. this probably is not the best place if you never had sushi since there's no rolls and cooked food, but if you want to step up to the next stage, try echigo. this place also is a bargain for the quality. no decor, not the best japanese restaurant service, but for the sushi itself, it deserves five stars. read more

echigo echigo...what happened to thee? ever since sugarfish came into my life, things just haven't been the same between us. i had thought there would be room for both, but sadly, the last time really may have been, well, the last. an omakase composed of thin sad little slices of fish, an overly-mayonnaised blue crab roll (i even ordered two to make sure it was not my imagination...) - and since you have no miso, edamame or avocado, i'm really not sure what else you can offer me. read more

Today my long time food friend and I went to battle Sasabune and Echigo. We read a Yelper state that he prefers to go to these two places before he'd step back to Mori. My co-worker personally knows Mori-San, so I was double curious about this statement and I'm always up for a challenge so we were off. I have not yet been to Mori Sushi nor do I have allegiance to that restaurant. We had omakase which consisted of several more pieces than listed below: Butterfish Scallop Chu-Toro Halibut Amberjack Spanish Mackerel The Neta was actually fresh without any hints of excessive aging or identifiable faults. The main problem is that their rice is completely ruined by several things rendering the nigiri a big ball of over-emphasized flavors lacking balance, delicacy, consistency, color, character, similar to how a Kids meals taste. First off, to all my non-Japanese Yelpers out there, the rice at a good sushi bar should taste better than how my Zojirushi cooker at home cooks rice. Since in many instances Rice IS the main course in Japanese cooking, this does count considerably when judging nigiri since as a chef you are concerned with the quality of the Fish, Rice, and Presentation above all. If any of these fundamentals are off, you are off, and thus you are not fit to serve anyone but yourself. Composition: Out of the 8 or so pieces of nigiri each Shari had a different shape and was served with different quantities. This kind of inconsistency is confusing and faulty, since you can't tell if the Itamae san is skilled enough to form a consistent base of rice, or scoop consistently the correct amount of rice. Too picky? Not really. Balance in ingredients is important to any preparation, and matching the amount of rice for the amount of neta is part of the art. If your neta and shari are both fluctuating in size per nigiri, you are either not sure what size tastes good in the mouth, or you aren't trained enough on how much pressure you should apply to forming your nigiri. Both cases means you don't have enough experience to be un-managed by the head of the bar and you should not be a direct representative of your restaurant. Period. Taste: Too much rice vinegar was applied to the shari, and kept wrong, so the rice was as a result too moist. Moisture may be a preference, but the marination of the rice here was tinged with so much sweetness/sourness that it was challenging to taste the subtleties and many times the basic character of the fish. If you like this you have a problem. Nigiri is not supposed to be like Starburst candies. The subtleties that you may be killing with your pile of wasabi is what makes sushi incredibly enjoyable. I can taste that the neta was fresh. No arguing. Very good fish that they are using and I think this is why some people can tolerate the bad rice. But, the balance of vinegar/sugar conflicted with the natural sweetness of Japanese rice so much, it seemed like the chef dipped the rice in a separate sauce before he served it, but that's what he actually did for the neta. Read on. The main problem with the nigiri was the Ponzu Bukkake syndrome. For the nigiri that they flavored, or should I say dumped ponzu on, they completely disregarded the fact that the fish had a flavor all it's own. Warning, if a sushi bar serves too many pieces of nigiri with bottled/overpowering ponzu you should leave. This usually means that they are either not confident of the freshness of the fish, or unsure of it's lack of ability to communicate it's characteristic without extra flavoring so they are resorting to covering up the taste. In all seriousness, sushi is a showcase of the fish and rice in their purest form. Adding extra flavoring is done to color or extend certain flavors, but should be done sparingly or you will end up with Gumbo. Sushi is not a fusing of flavors. Each component should be equally recognizable, and with too much ponzu, the image becomes blurry. For each plate with ponzu, the top and bottom of the each nigiri was swimming in a teaspoons-worth of sauce. You may be saying, "I like the intense flavors". Well, for you Mr. Sushi eating intense guy, the intensity of sushi lies in it's ability to showcase exactness and natural warmth together. It's not meant to taste like the last 15 minutes of the Last Samurai. The warmth of the hand, the exactness of the cut, the precision of the flavor, the timing of when it's to be served, all of these elements make sushi so interesting to eat. The intensity of Sunburst and Skittles, after a Tommy Burger and Chilli Fries with a chocolate milkshake, may be better for you Mr. Intensity. If you want well controlled loving nigiri, don't go here. You may say "Well I've been to Japan and it tastes like this". I agree I've also been to sushi bars in Japan that taste almost as sub-par as this, but you know what, the rice was better. read more

Outstanding but I I still prefer sugarfish. Even the portions of fish are bigger there. Sugarfish's rice remains unmatched anywhere. As said in an Anthony Bourdain show where he was having sushi with the master who had worked in USA and returned to Tokoyo, sushi is 95% rice. read more

The warm-rice sushi experience is quite different that the usual, and as such, it accents certain qualities but detracts from certain others. I found that lighter fish such as halibut or snapper are quite overpowered by the warm, vinegary rice ball. It does well with othertypes however; I have been extremely pleased by the flavorful fresh shrimp, the sweet dissolve-in-your-mouth scallop (wow) and the perfectly textured (and not too buttery) toro. I also found the swordfish VERY sweet and tasty, and once ordered two extra pieces at the end of my meal. They usually have Shima-aji very rich in flavor. My main complaints lie in the portioning - some items are deliciously large, like the shrimp and the scallop, while others, such as the toro and the hamachi, are really small slivers of fish where I find myself eating only part of the rice so as to better enjoy the fish flavor (warm rice ball falls apart easy anyway... a good place to eat sushi with your hands). I also dislike the fact that orders are only ONE piece at a time, rather than the traditional Nigiri pair. Before I finish this though, I must mention the Blue Crab Hand Roll, which is always served at the end of the meal, and is absolutely fantastic. It's the perfect blend which really highlights the blue crab's taste and adds to the texture... ordering a second one is never a regretted decision. Definitely worth trying this place... I think everybody (except for california roll/fusion roll munchers) will find something that they are very impressed by, although they may be reluctant to pay the price for single piece orders of nigiri. Oh yeah, ignore the ambience, it feels like a hospital or office. But the food will make you forget. read more

What Echigo lacks in decor, it more than makes up for in melt-in-your-mouth flavor at a price you can afford. For those status-seeking see-and-be-seen sushi eaters, this is not for you. It's minimalist to the max, with clean lines in black and white and not much to look at. Stiil, I have always been skeptical about sushi places that charge ridiculously high prices because more aften than not, it's for too-thin slices of day-old fish. Echigo is different. The prices are resonable given the quality of the sushi, especially at lunch. For the lunch special, make sure you're not all that hungry because it's 4 lip-smacking pieces of sushi and a delectable blue crab hand roll for $10 (I think the price went up to $12 now), but you're not exactly going to be bursting at the seams when you're done. (A great snack if you plan on eating again in a few hours.) For the lunch omakase ("trust me" aka chef's choice) you're looking at dishing out 30-40 bones, for dinner 40-50. It's not a huge meal, I think 8 pieces and a blue crab hand roll, but you will savor every mouth-watering moment of it. I was a little taken aback because this restaurant actually serves its rice warm. The warmed rice, in my opinion, helps to pull out the more subtle flavors of the fish and complements its coolness. The only drawback to the warm rice is that in all of its vinegary goodness, it is not very sticky and if not transferred immediately from your chopsticks to your mouth, the sushi sometimes falls apart, which is disappointing, sometimes heartbreaking (if you lose all the rice in your soy sauce). The waitresses make sure to tell you exactly when you should not use soy sauce so you can fully enjoy the sushi as it was meant to be enjoyed, which I appreciated. Thinking about Echigo makes me miss LA. What I wouldn't do for a blue crab hand roll. If I were back, I would eat 5 of those suckers in one sitting. read more

I'll skip any comments about the lack of decor at Echigo simply because I couldn't care any less about the atmosphere so long as the sushi is good. Echigo is the perfect place for a nice lunch. With my sizable appetite, I can't imagine settling for just five pieces, although at $12 it's worth mentioning what a great deal that is. They also offer a lunchtime omakase for $31 which is the route I took. You get 8 pieces of nigiri and a handroll - usually blue crab, but because of my shellfish allergy, they were happy to substitute a tuna roll for me. The fish is very good, both in quality and selection. This isn't one of those places where an 'omakase' is really just a set of various fishes. Half of my selections were seasonal offerings - black snapper and skip jack were the highlights. So with fish this good, why am I only giving them 3 stars instead of 4? It's their rice. I was sincerely underwhelmed by it. First off, there's a little too much vinegar for my liking and it was packed much too loosely. I suppose there's a chance this could have been due to the circumstances at the time. They were quite busy and our waitress was shuttling orders to about 6 or 7 tables at a time. We were towards the end of the line so maybe the rice lost some of its form in this process, but I can't say. Regardless of the reason, there was practically no harmony between the rice and the fish. They do, however, have genuine freshly grated wasabi, which is quite nice. All in all, a very nice meal, although I will point out that Kiriko offers practically an identical lunch omakase (actually slightly better - 9 piecess and a handroll for $31) and I find Kiriko to be clearly superior. read more

Best sushi in L.A. Order the omekasa and let the chef take care of you. Halibut, toro, butterfish, baby tuna, kampachi, and the best crab roll in the world. I just left there feeling like I had a culinary massage. Go! read more

This is my favorite restaurant in LA. This place is for sushi purists, who like the taste of fish. In fact, there is nothing to eat there but sashimi, nigiri and hand rolls. I love sushi and I have to say that going to different places and getting the same old salmon, tuna, yellowtail, gets pretty boring. At Echigo, there is always something different and new on the specials menu, posted right next to the sushi bar. I love the Kumamoto oysters with a ponzu sauce. Their monkfish liver is warm and fabulous, and comes with a little extra piece on the side. The blue crab roll is the best crab handroll I have eaten. The bonito and baby tuna are so tasty. They have all the usual suspects that are great--albacore, yellowtail, tuna, eel, etc. I love the toro. As for unusual ones, we went yesterday and had needlefish and shirako. I've also been to Sasabune and the fish is comparable but Echigo is cheaper. This place is also fun because each piece of sushi comes on a different little plate and comes out to you one piece at a time. I think that enhances the enjoyment of the flavor of that one piece of sushi because that is all you are getting for a couple minutes. This way, you don't stuff your face full of sushi like I do when it comes out all on one platter. The staff is super nice and will tell you when to not use soy sauce if need be if there is already a sauce on the fish. In all, I love this place. It's everything I want a sushi place to be--a quiet place to talk to friends while eating the best tasting, unique fish. read more

great laid-back atmosphere and seriously high-end sushi. great price for authentic sushi, the place is clean and service is great too! if you have problem with warm rice, then try somewhere else and miss this amazing meal. just get over it, it's his style and it's WONDERFUL!!!! read more

Fantastic low-key sushi spot. I've had the omakase a few times for lunch and it did not disappoint. Amazing selection of fresh fish and prepared to perfection. Highly recommend! read more

Did not have avocado, did not have spicy mayo, did not have good rice, it fell apart in the soy sauce, did not have enough m salmon for the order. Was WAY too expensive. The service was horrible, our waitress did not smile once and she was like a black cloud of negative energy. Will never go back. They added 20% in writing on the check, said they charge 20% on parties over 6. We would have left 0%, probably something they've noticed so they just add it on to steal money from their unhappy costumers. Waste of time on a Saturday and waste of money. Don't go there! read more

mmm.. So yummy and fresh! They don't have too many places like this around Sac., where I'm living, so I can appreciate this. Echigo is a cute sushi spot on the second floor over a pizza hut in a small plaza in Santa Monica. I went for lunch on a bright and warm December day while visiting some friends in town. The service was quick and attentive, probably also because the menu is short and straight-forward. There are no frills: no tempura and no special sauce. I had the lunch special. Dunno if it changes daily but from what I remember it was tuna, hamachi, yellow tail, one I don't remember and then the blue crab roll. The first four are served nigiri style on warm rice with a hint of vinegar. Nice touch. The last was a warm blue crab roll with seaweed on the outside. Is there a technical term for that? Anyway, I was pretty satisfied, the special was $15, service was on point... so this place is legit in my book. read more

If you are into the warm rice / sugarfish style of sushi, this place is for you. I personally think it's exponentially better than SugarFish in terms of flavor and selection. Echigo also has one of the best Omakases in terms of value. Highly recommended. read more

The fish was fresh and tasty. The service and cuts of fish left something to be desired, especially given the price. The chef never told me the omakase is finish, he just kinda left me sitting there. I would probably not go back ever if it wasn't for how nice the ikura sushi and blue crab temaki is. read more

We had the chef's choice ($43/ea) and couldn't help but order more afterwards, even though we were full. It was just that good. I never knew fresh fish made that much of a difference! read more

Echigo is a fantastic little sushi joint that exclusively serves sushi and nothing else in between. Best time to come is when you get your paycheck. I ordered 4-5 sushi dishes which racked up to about 55-60 dollars per person. But it really was worth it to me. I really enjoyed my amaebi, spanish mackerel, red snapper, toro, salmon belly and yellowtail. But I would definitely say the winner is the blue crab hand roll. omggg. DROOL. The hand roll is really interesting (as well as uber delicious, oh wait did I say that already?) since its shaped like a cylinder and not like a cone. So it was fun to hold and of course it was fun to eat as well. Even before I finished my first hand roll I ordered a second one to our waitress while my mouth was still full of chunky crab bits. I will definitely come here again and again. Oh and I also heard they have a fantastic lunch menu option where the prices are much more reasonable. Definitely will try that next time! read more

Echigo has the feel of a small family run sushi restaurant while offering ample space to dine and fairly easy to get a table, we did the omakase at $46 per person and found it to very similar to Sugarfish with the warm rice cold fish, single piece of sushi with sauce already applied. The fish quality is excellent and most just melt in your mouth. I am not a fan of sauced up sushi, (I don't use soy sauce) but everything was very good. The service lacks the usual omakase experience with almost no interaction or explanation as to what you are eating from the sushi chef. Also it is fast, very fast, the entire omakase lasted 30 min and that's being generous. We supplemented with an order of butterfish, yellowtail and uni, all were top quality and melted in your mouth as the other yelpers state. I definitely like the place but would not recommend the omakase, sit at table and order what you want. read more

sadly disappointed. was here for dinner today with the bf and my brother. maybe it's a really bad day but two out of the 10 dishes they serve in omakase was good (the sashimi and the blue crab hand roll) oh and the miso soup i really enjoyed. all the rest was sad sad sushi, very fishy, mushy rice and quite honestly a bit hard to swallow. I had to finish each bite with ginger and beer. usually you only use ginger to cleanse your palate and I barely eat them. I had ginger almost after every bite. i mean how can you go wrong with toro? it was the worst toro i have ever had. what about butterfish? when I think of butterfish I think of it literally melting in your mouth. I almost gagged! the scallop- blah. the snapper- blah. nothing he served seemed fresh. i know the sushi chef/owner was listening to us complain as we sat at the bar, corner left, after each serving. he even saw me make a scrunch face after taking a bite, but he did nothing to compensate for the horrible sushi we just ate. we straight went to Leos taco truck right after because my bf was still hungry... very very disappointed and will never return. read more

no frills, no hassle. close to home. love the shrimp eggs and butterfish. and def the crab handroll.