It’s easy to pick a fight with friends in LA about the best tacos, or Thai food, or kale salads in the city. But best sushi? That’s an entirely different debate. Ask for the ten best sushi joints, and you’ll get 25 different answers. And then there’s the price—sometimes you just can’t drop $150 on a Wednesday night nigiri outing. So what affordable places are actually great? And which expensive spots are worth the price of admission? We’ve got the answers.

These are the best sushi restaurants in Los Angeles, organized in priced tiers, ranging from under $75 to over $400, so you know exactly how much you’ll be dishing out on any given night. Consider it your complete guide to making sense of LA’s sushi spots.

$75 OR LESS

For Tuesday night sushi cravings (and you're maybe wearing sweatpants).

If you’re solely on the hunt for great sashimi, head to Hama. You’ll notice signs around this busy Little Tokyo bar that warn, “No teriyaki, No tempura, No noodle, No rice alone,” so don’t bring your non-fish-eating friend who orders four rounds of gyoza. A la carte and set menus are available—the latter includes various sashimi, miso soup, and a basic California roll that does the job. The a la carte menu offers more wiggle room for sampling, including buttery uni nigiri, a seared albacore sashimi platter with citrusy ponzu, and some excellent toro that is somehow both delicate and beefy in flavor. Plentiful options aside, the best part about Hama is that it offers affordable but high-quality fish in a casual, intimate setting.

Come any day of the week (except Mondays when they’re closed) and you’ll find a sizable crowd of parents, hip Gen-Zers, and grandmas running errands waiting in line outside Sakae Sushi. It’s a cash-only, family-run shop that’s been open since the ’60s, hidden behind an office building in Gardena that serves simple handmade sushi. Get a box of seven pieces for about $10, wrapped up in beautiful white parchment paper and a green bow, so you can try each kind of sushi on the menu. There are bright yellow tamago maki enveloped in a fluffy, sweet egg blanket and tongue-curdling sabazushi, a bite-sized piece of pickled mackerel placed on a mound of vinegared rice.

Lunchtime sushi bargain-hunting is a game that is not easily won. Unless, of course, your path ends at Sushi Gen. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anything about this Little Tokyo institution you’ll dislike, but if you go for lunch and don’t get the $23 sashimi platter, you’re doing it wrong. Just get there early—lines form well before opening. At dinner, said sashimi platter bumps up to $32, but we’d recommend you head right to the bar and go to town on their a la carte sushi options instead.

LA Guide

The Best Restaurants In Little Tokyo

Just when you think you have LA figured out, remember that there’s a sushi bar inside a fast-food burger joint in Northridge, and it serves some incredible raw fish. Right next door to the CSUN campus, Got Sushi? is a pilgrimage everyone should make, solely to realize that it doesn’t take hundreds of dollars or a prime spot on La Cienega to get first-rate sushi. There’s no omakase here, but the menu is large and full of every sashimi plate, cut roll, and daily sushi special you want. Our usual move is to sit at the bar and let the chefs pick their favorite cuts for us.

Walking into Chiba, the massive sushi restaurant in North Hollywood, is like walking into a sushi social club. No matter what time of day you come, this multi-roomed restaurant will be filled with birthday parties housing specialty rolls, solo lunchers making their way through the omakase, and booths of little old ladies sipping tea and complaining about their husbands. But Chiba is more than just a scene—they serve some of the freshest fish north of Ventura Blvd. If you’re coming in solo or with another person, sit at the bar, where the chefs will gladly inform you which nigiri is especially good that day.

The phrase “affordable sushi omakase in Beverly Hills” may seem like an oxymoron, but Sushi Tama isn’t here to mess around. Nigiri hovers just under the $6 mark, and for $60, you can order their 10-piece omakase sashimi set. It’s a heavenly mix of fish, including ikura that bursts in your mouth, silky scallop hotate, buttery otoro, and uni so creamy, we thought we might need to bust out a Lactaid.

Open since May 2022, Haru is an excellent option if you’re craving sushi in Westwood—and not in the mood to give any more of your money to KazuNori this month. The tiny shop on Westwood Blvd. is takeout-only at the moment, but service is efficient and everything comes packaged looking like a work of art. The menu has everything from bento boxes and carpaccio to specialty rolls and a daily sashimi board, but our pick—particularly during lunch when it’s $30—is the chirashi bowl. Filled with 12-15 pieces of premium fish ranging from toro to raw scallop, it’s the perfect treat-me lunch without burning too big of a hole in your wallet.

LA’s South Bay has a number of great, affordable sushi places, but one of the best bang for your buck is at Sushi Chitose, an omakase spot in Redondo Beach. It’s $75 for the 15-piece omakase, which includes high-quality cuts of fish, a piece of toro, and a great miso soup appetizer. Be sure to call ahead for a reservation—this place fills up quickly.

$75-$150

For date nights, dinners with friends, and whenever your parents want to take you out for a nice meal.

If you don’t live in the SGV, making the drive to Arcadia can be daunting. But strip mall spot Sushi Kisen warrants a trip. A relative newcomer, Kisen is run by a chef who spent years at Sushi Gen and Shiki in Beverly Hills. Dedication to detail is apparent in the balanced vinegar-seasoned rice and pristine seafood that has been aged in traditional Edomae style, highlighting lots of seasonal fish like skipjack tuna and goldeneye snapper imported from Japan. There’s an $80 minimum to sit at the blonde wood bar, but spending that much will get you a kingly meal and the focused attention of whichever skillful chef is slicing the goods that day. Otherwise, opt for the dine-in sushi sets that go for $19.50 at lunch and $33.50 at dinner. Both are fantastic deals.

One of our favorite spots for straightforward, high-quality omakase, Sasabune is pretty old-school. But in the LA sushi way—which means warm rice, stern instructions not to dip in soy sauce, and everything else you’ve experienced at Sugarfish. For around $100 or $140, you get a bunch of tuna, salmon, hot butterfish wrapped in nori, and a crab handroll to finish things. Sasabune is our sushi old reliable—we keep coming back.

Sushi Note is a wine bar/sushi restaurant hybrid—a dream combination that’s somehow still pretty rare. Whether it’s your first time or your 14th, order the Whole Note omakase. At $140, this isn’t the world’s most affordable omakase, but after eating 12 pieces of high-quality sushi, edamame, miso soup, a starter, a handroll, and dessert, you’ll feel like this meal has more than earned its price point. Then make friends with the sommelier, who will happily course out all the wine you need.

Sushi Fumi is a place that makes sense for pretty much anyone, at any time, for any occasion. This plain-looking storefront in the heart of La Cienega is no longer the hidden gem that it once was, but despite the crowds, it’s still one of our all-time favorites. While you’re going to want to put a few of their sashimi platters and cut rolls on the table (especially the moon roll), we recommend sticking almost entirely to their daily specials. The amberjack, yellowtail belly, and toro are some of the best you’ll find in the city.

You’ve no doubt stumbled past Jinpachi on a late night out in Weho and wondered what actually goes on there. Well, we can tell you—really, really good sushi goes on there. Jinpachi is one of our favorite sushi spots in Central LA and it starts and ends with their omakase: quality, crowd-pleasing cuts of fish in a calm atmosphere. It’ll run upwards of $100 (or more, it's billed at market price), so if you’re looking for something more affordable, their $28 eight-piece is also excellent.

There are few things better in life than an efficient omakase: when you can slide up to a sushi bar, watch the chef masterfully assemble a blur of nigiri, then head out in less time than it takes to get your car washed. Nozomi, a long-running Torrance sushi bar, excels at this kind of meal. At lunch and dinner they offer an omakase that hovers around $80 that includes 10 pieces of nigiri and a toro with green onion roll, prepared by chefs who are focused but friendly. The fish selection here is the best in the South Bay, so along with standards like toro and seared albacore you’ll often find snow crab, surf clam, mackerel, and halibut. This is a great place to load up on Santa Barbara uni, too—apparently the owner married into a family that runs a sea urchin delivery company and gets first dibs for his restaurant.

Most of the time, ordering the omakase at a sushi restaurant is a no-brainer. One exception is Matsuhisa, where we’d advise you to skip the multi-course set menu and just order a whole bunch of nigiri. Yes, it’s expensive, but the quality of fish you get at Matsuhisa is second to none. This place is best when you sit at the sushi bar, order piece after piece of sushi (preferably off the specials board), and contemplate what life was like before you had golden eye sushi that costs more than a shot of tequila—and seems way more worth it.

$150-$250

For when you’re in the mood to ball out, impress a client, or just achieve personal sushi glory.

Compared to the high-end, once-a-year sushi spots on this list, Matsumoto is probably the one you’ve heard the least about. And that’s exactly why a meal at this tiny strip mall spot in Beverly Grove is so exciting. Matsumoto is one of LA’s premiere sushi experiences and yet it still feels like a complete secret. You don’t need a long-standing reservation or a lengthy IMDb page to get a seat here. Just head to the bar, let chef Matsumoto know your likes and dislikes, and be whisked off on a tailor-made, 18-ish course omakase. Prices vary based on available fish, but you can generally expect to pay around $180.

This high-end sushi bar in Woodland Hills exemplifies dining in the Valley in the best way possible. Although the energy here is laid back and casual (you can almost guarantee there will be a table of small, loud children with their parents), the food coming out of the kitchen is absolutely top-notch. The chirashi is one of our favorites in the city, packed with creamy uni, sweet and succulent scallops, and fatty toro that has so much marbling, it almost feels like butter in your mouth. Combined, it’s a dish that resembles a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, or this scene from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. In other words, an instant classic. Not up for a trek to the Valley? Brother's Sushi has a second location in Santa Monica.

When it comes to nigiri, Sushi Takeda hits Little Tokyo’s sweet spot: traditional and luxurious, minus an excessive price tag. Compared to flashier spots like Sushi Kaneyoshi or the crowd-pleasing Sushi Gen, Sushi Takeda’s subdued approach is easy to overlook. Hidden away on Weller Court’s third floor, you’ll find a $110 lunch omakase (dinners range from $140-$280 per person) that’s fairly fancy and ideal for special occasions. Take a seat at the light wood bar. Cold towels are dispensed. And despite the thumping house music played in the surrounding shopping plaza, the energy here soothes, as you watch the chef nimbly shape then plop pieces of sea bream, saba, and otoro nigiri onto the stone in front of you with the rhythm of a metronome. Hypnosis is to be expected.

Some of the best sushi bars along Ventura are stripped-down, casual experiences, but when you’re looking to pretend like you didn’t notice the price of the toro sashimi, go to Asanebo. The high-end strip mall spot has a warm, wooden interior and excellent premium-grade sushi. If you’re a first-timer, we recommend going for the $200 omakase, which will get you every signature dish on the menu. The smaller option offers 14 pieces of sushi plus a handroll, appetizers, soup, and dessert for $140.

At the original Sushi Nozawa in Studio City, Chef Nozawa was such a stickler that he earned the nickname “the Sushi Nazi” (kind of like Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi”), but luckily this omakase-only space at the back of the Beverly Hills Sugarfish has dialed the craziness back a bit. You still take what you’re given to eat, and can only eat at one of the two 10-person seatings (God forbid someone is running late), but you probably won’t get kicked out just because the chef doesn’t like your look. It’s all worth it for the 22 courses of familiar and unfamiliar, always excellent, sushi.

Shin Sushi is exactly what you’re looking for in a once-a-year omakase spot—incredible, hard-to-find fish prepared in interesting ways, and a memorable experience that’ll tide you over until the next time you decide to drop $200 on sushi. The chef, Take-san, will chat with you the whole time you’re there, ask you about your favorite football team, and offer his own predictions for the upcoming season. Then he’ll get busy making you a fantastic, fresh meal, including in-season standouts like freshwater trout from Nagano, sea eel, and Mexican uni.

Getting to Go’s Mart is probably a journey no matter where you’re coming from, but trust us when we say this sushi bar next to a dance studio in Canoga Park is always worth driving the few extra miles. With bright orange walls, fluorescent lighting, and white-tiled floors, eating here feels a bit like you’ve stepped into a janitor’s closet, but one that happens to serve some of the highest-grade sushi in town. There’s not a physical menu to speak of, just a daily specials board hanging in the back, but the real move is to ask for the omakase. Most days, your check will go well above $200, so Go’s certainly isn’t your once-a-week sushi stop, but if you’re looking to experience one of LA’s great omakases, this spot is worth every penny.

$250+

For when you’re a ruler of a country, a Powerball winner, or just sold everything you own to go live in Patagonia.

Morihiro should be on every sushi enthusiast’s to-do list, and on your mind whenever you wonder, “Where should I take my hard-to-please mother on her birthday?” The crown jewel of Atwater Village, Morihiro is fine dining at its best—the $400 omakase at the sushi bar can go head-to-head with the biggest names in LA. We prefer the slightly cheaper $250 table omakase here, though: a rapid-fire journey that bounces between traditional nigiri and creative seasonal dishes. It’s the best way to try everything that Morihiro has to offer, like silky tofu cubes draped in soy sauce, Japanese abalone on the gleaming half shell, and perfect mounds of uni. Request the freshly grated wasabi for an extra kick. On past visits, we’ve had sea bream, red surf clams, fatty tuna that melts like butter, and the chef’s personal favorite, silver-skinned kohada, or gizzard shad.

This omakase-only spot in the Arts District is $350 per person (before tax and tip), which is a financial undertaking for just about everybody. But if you’re in the market for a splurge-y meal or celebrating a Powerball win, 715 Sushi is a very exciting place to do it. For starters, the food is exceptional. The menu changes almost daily, but you can generally expect about ten meticulously built pieces of premium nigiri and ten small plates ranging from belt fish tempura to surf clams in a creamy miso sauce. Secondly, there’s a youthful exuberance inside 715 that makes a night here feel less like you’re in an upscale omakase spot and more like you’re hanging out with a group of friends who happen to have a sushi bar in their apartment. 

Shunji has a way of injecting a little levity into the very-serious-omakase-experience (small talk is encouraged, for one). This mellow, blonde wood sushi counter in Santa Monica that seats just a dozen serves an omakase for roughly $250 or $280, depending on whether you book with chef Shunji or his longtime co-chef (don’t worry, both are great). A meal here starts with a few seasonal small dishes, but the pyrotechnics really kick off when the parade of nigiri starts. From aged marinated tuna to subtly seared seaperch, the fish here melts on your tongue like a popsicle on a hot day, and the tender, vinegar-kissed rice tastes like a hug from a long-lost relative. And we can safely say that the toro handroll with crisp, toasted seaweed at the end of the meal transports us to another dimension. Given that Shunji is far from the only high-end omakase spot in town, we’d send anyone here who wants an incredible night of sushi without feeling like you’re at a silent meditation retreat.

At $400 per person, Sushi Ginza Onodera is one of the most expensive dining experiences in LA. We’ll let you decide if you ever need to drop that kind of money on one meal, but what we can say is that every bite of food at this West Hollywood sushi bar is exceptional. And considering the price point, that’s exactly where the bar needs to be. You’ll eat around 23 courses ranging from uni and caviar egg custard to gold-crusted abalone to a green tea dessert served in a martini glass. The service is equally impeccable with the waitstaff moving around the tiny space with the grace and fluidity of a lyrical dance troupe. And yet, there’s also plenty of quirkiness, like when the servers periodically stop by with an iPad and scroll through Google images of the fish that you’re currently eating. It’s charming, but also really helpful and educational. Sushi Ginza Onodera is a complete experience from start to finish, and one that if you’re down to spend money, you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Sushi I-Naba is like the Rainbow Road of seafood restaurants—simply put, it’s not for beginners. Upon entering, you’ll be ushered to the bar and inducted into the Secret Society of Sushi. There are chirashi bowls served in shiny, lacquered boxes, plus an omakase featuring ​​symmetrical cuts of ultra-fatty bluefin toro and golden eye snapper. But you're here for the omakase, a $280 journey executed by the slightly serious, extremely knowledgeable chef waiting for you at the finish line.

Full disclosure, we haven’t had the omakase at Sushi Kaneyoshi yet. Reservations to this hidden Little Tokyo sushi bar are hard to come by, no matter how many times we set an alarm for the first week of the month (and for the month after, and the month after…) We have however, had their excellent premium chirashi bowl, packed with hard-to-find cuts like sea trout, horsehair crab, blackthroat seaperch, and shiro ebi, or white baby shrimp. Are those little gold flakes on the top? Absolutely. What about two types of caviar? You got it. This box should be on every self-respecting raw fish fan’s to-do list.