I expected so much more out of this spot since Chef Nakazawa is a michelin star sushi chef from New…read moreYork but sadly, it just didn't hit the mark.
I ordered for pick-up at 11:30 and the initial notification from the restaurant stated my food would be ready by 11:45. I knew parking would be bad so I left a little early and at 11:24 I received a message saying my order was ready. If this was almost any other type of cold food, I think it would be fine to let the food sit and wait. But for hot foods or sushi like this, a 20 minute jump in time isn't great for someone expecting their order at least at 11:30 so although I appreciate my food being ready sooner, it's not always a good thing.
The other issue is the kitchen or pick-up area. HiDozo Van Nuys is in a ghost kitchen set up with a tiny lobby and no signs or directions on whether you're even in the right space because you don't know which restaurants are here. I had to deal with 5-6 food delivery drivers that didn't know their heads from their asses and just hung out in the lobby. There is one girl working that is very sweet and trying to manage it all but this just isn't an ideal pick-up location.
I ordered the Deep Dive box $54 along with an order of chu-toro $8 and unagi $8.
There is no question that the food looks stunning and the presentation is exceptional. The bags and boxes are all high quality and better than what you typically find for takeout from Sugarfish.
Sadly the actual sushi presented a mixed bag of feelings.
I started with the tuna sashimi which was cut perfectly and tasted great, then moved onto some of the nigiri including the hotate, salmon, albacore, and hamachi. The fish is all absolutely delicious, buttery, rich, tender, and flavorful.
The issue comes down to the rice. The rice is pretty dry and bland. It's also clear that nobody is hand forming this rice. It looks WAY too perfect and symmetrical, and every piece looks exactly the same. Even the most skilled sushi chef with decades of experience could not get sushi rice this exact every single time. So I did a little digging and videos on their Instagram don't show the rice ever being formed by the chefs. It's always ready and the chef simply takes it from one hand, adds the fish, and forms the fish over the rice, never once actually making the rice himself.
Before I moved onto the tuna nigiri I had the unagi and although soft and buttery, it was ice cold and clearly not charred or grilled. For $8 (which mind you, is the same price as the chu-toro) I would've expected quality at the level of the chu-toro. As for the tuna nigiri they were all fantastic. At least, the fish was. The rice was still meh. The tuna, akami, toro, and chutoro were all buttery, soft, and you could definitely tell them apart. But sadly, once again, the rice was not great.
Here's the kicker - the rice in the futomaki roll was actually good. I wouldn't doubt that the fresher rice is kept and used for the rolls because the texture and bite was so much better. The minced tuna was a delight and this was one of my favorites here.
Overall, with the price of $70 before tax, it would be nice if HiDozo actually focused on the rice considering a chef of this stature wouldn't and shouldn't neglect the key component of sushi. Any person with a spec of food and cultural insight knows that "sushi" means vinegared rice so the toppings are a second to the rice and don't have to be fish or seafood related. But still, this isn't a place I would revisit or recommend.
