Fishlips Sushi Truck

If I could give a 0 star rating I would. We hired Fish Lips for our wedding and it was absolutely awful! On my wedding day, I woke to find an email from her confirming a menu we never discussed. There were items added and most importantly, some sushi was removed. She insisted on selling hand rolls which neither myself or my husband like. We finally caved in on the morning of the wedding. Next, she was 2 hours late to the reception. We wanted food served from 7 – 9 and she showed up at 7:30 without any food prepared. She asked for another 5 minutes to prepare food, but took 30 minutes. When she finally opened the window, she took 6 orders and then asked for no more sushi orders. My husband ordered a roll he never received as did many of my guests. My aunt was trying to work with her so I could enjoy my reception, yet at one point she refused to speak with my aunt and asked someone to find me. At the end, she still wanted us to pay full price. I waited a week for an apology and never received one until I contacted her first. I truly thought having a food truck would make for a great wedding and this truck turned it into the worst nightmare.

This place USED to be good, but since it changed ownership the quality and service have PLUMMETED. It is not worth the wait or the cost. I’m so annoyed with myself that I just ate here today when I had promised myself I would boycott this place. It reinforced my disappointment in what this sushi truck has become. A note to rationalize my poor choice today… I chalk it up to convenience since the lunch truck is at my work today, and I forgot my lunch at home. Anyway, I saw that all of the hot items/​bowls were crossed off (unavailable) except for the chicken teriyaki bowl (blah). When I asked why the sushi lady said they weren’t «ready» today with all the hot foods. What??? This is your business, not some unforeseen situation thrown upon you. Seriously?!? That is such a bogus excuse and should have been my clue to turn around and scavenge an apple from my colleagues for lunch. Again, I made the poor choice to continue with my order of 3 hand rolls… a crunchy roll, spicy tuna, and yellowtail. $ 3 each for a total of $ 9. Ok. Fine. Fast forward 34 MINUTES later. still waiting for my food along with several similarly disgruntled lunchgoers. The number before mine was called at about minute 34 of my being there… and then the number after mine and the number after that. Wait… what?!? Where’s my order? I go up to the window to inquire about my missing order and am met with complete confusion. My order had been skipped or lost of something so I provided it again… and no apology from the worker. Again, I kick myself for wasting my lunch time WAITING for food that wasn’t even being made. Finally about 3 minutes later (so 37 minutes after placing my initial order… mind you there were only about 4 or 5 people in line so not the kind of wait one would anticipate with a short line and uncooked food) my number was finally called. They verbally read what hand rolls SHOULD be in the box (this only gets better from here, folks!). I let them know I’d been waiting 37 minutes, and their response was, «Oh, maybe it’ll be faster next time.» That’s a TERRIFIC and very appropriate response! I can’t think of anything more customer-​centric they could have said or done! [Insert massive sarcasm HERE]. I responded, «There won’t be a next time» and walked away with the environmentally-​unfriendly Styrofoam box of hand rolls. By this time I’m famished and eager to eat despite my lunch break now being in the red (thanks, Fishlips!)…only to then discover that the hand rolls have pretty much NO FISH (they’re all rice!?!) and 1 of the 3 is the wrong hand roll. Instead of getting a crunchy hand roll it was a California roll. The amount of yellowtail in the yellowtail hand roll was laughable. I’m being completely honest when I say that the three of us at the lunch table were laughing at the paltry amount of fish. It was one small sliver about half an inch in length and about 6 centimeters in width. The rest of the hand roll was rice. Ummmm… what?!? The amount of spicy tuna in the «spicy tuna» hand roll was equally laughable, and then the third roll was completely flubbed because it was THE WRONG ROLL. What happened to my crunchy roll? Isn’t there supposed to be a tempura shrimp in the roll? There was no tempura shrimp. Only pollock («krab») with mayonnaise… so a California hand roll…90% rice, 10% «krab» mixture. My annoyance peaked when I realized that I only had 4 minutes before needing to be on a conference call so I couldn’t go voice my frustration/​complaints to the sushi truck folks. So I’m out $ 9, hungry (I can’t eat that much rice with no protein in a hand roll so I ended up throwing away about half of what I got) and, as a betting woman, am fully expecting to be vomiting within the next few hours due to some horrific food poisoning. Please do yourself a favor and BOYCOTT this awful establishment! The kind Japanese gentlemen and woman who used to own this truck were great. They sold good sushi in a timely fashion, orders were accurate, and they were customer-​centric. The new owners are a joke. Be a patron elsewhere to somebody who actually takes pride in their product and delivery. You will thank me later.

I’ve been eating at Fishlips since 2010 but I haven’t been back in a few months and here are the reasons why:
— Recently (the last couple of months or so) they have had new chefs. I don’t know if this is the reason why but the rolls have been smaller.
— The menu is slightly different menu and more limited
— They always take entirely too long from the time when you order until when you get your food. If you’re not there right when they open, you can easily wait OVER 30 minutes to get your food. Their wait time has always been horrible, but I’ve overlooked it because I liked this truck.
— When they’re at the Karl Stores location, they have a separate line for employees who work in the Karl Stores building and they take orders from them first. So basically they can cut in line.
I don’t think it’s fair that there are two lines but they probably have a deal with the building in order for them to park there.
So, I have not been back.

I have enjoyed getting sushi from this truck for years and thought I should finally post a review.
The food has been consistently good enough to keep me coming back. It may not rank up there with some of the brick & mortar places I’ve gone to but I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to compare it to grocery store sushi offerings. That’s just ridiculous. For reasons I won’t go into here, I think I’m a good judge of sushi. The quality this truck offers is suitable for the price. Their rice bowls are also pretty good so if you aren’t in the mood for fish there are several other options available.
The service is pretty good. The lines can get pretty long (a good endorsement by itself) and the food prep time can take a while so plan on getting there early. You can call/​text in your order, which is cool.

One of my favorite food trucks. Quality food at a good value. Temari/​crunchy roll set is great as is the chicken cutlet bowl. Whatever sauce they serve with the chicken cutlet bowl is über good.
If you see this truck across the street, it’s worth jaywalking for.

I liked this food truck! Very polite, great sushi, awesome service at window. I have nothing bad to say. Everything was great about this truck!

Is it safe to get sushi from a food truck?! That’s what I hear all the time, until people see me eating it and try some for themselves and then they’re sold!
I was a little skeptical at first, but I am now a true follower of the Fishlips truck. Lucky for me, it’s near my work every Monday and Friday. This place makes damn good sushi, super fresh and super tasty. My favorite is their shrimp crunch (tempura) roll. I will usually get that with either the spicy tuna roll or the combo set that includes 4 – 6 pieces or sushi.
This place is better than many sushi restaurants in the area, fresher, tastier and cheaper too.
Note: Make sure you double check your order because sometimes they make mistakes and give you the wrong roll.

Unilocal INSIDER TIP FROM DOREEN (AKA AZN PERSUASION): Their hand roll offerings have changed slightly.
*****
They now only have certain handroll flavors based on their inventory each day. A lot of my faves were not avail today. :(The fishlips roll was also unavail bc it is a special roll. They also do not have miso soup until winter time tho the menu does not say that. If you like dessert they offer tofu donuts which is new to me… Trying large spicy tuna set roll for the first time, at $ 9 that is cheap! :)

«Meh. I’ve experienced better.» sounds about right.
I tried their California roll set ($ 7.45) and it was just ok. The California roll was average and the ball shaped sushi was cute and small, but I need my lunch to be filling. I was left hungry and unsatisfied shortly after my meal. For the price, Fishlips’ sets aren’t worth it and the taste is unremarkable.
I won’t bother coming back despite the convenient location.

I’m impressed by this truck… normally I wouldn’t trust sushi from a food truck, but this one does it right.
They have a temari option which is like a little ball of fish and rice that’s bite sized. Super cute/​cool idea! I usually get a combo of spicy tuna and california roll. Why? Because it’s dirt cheap and their rolls are HUGE. I’m FULL off of 8 and that usually never happens.
They have a lot of options posted on their truck — but don’t forget to look at the actual menu they have right under the ordering window. They have even more options for rolls and appetizers that they don’t heavily advertise on their truck with pictures.
If this truck is in the area, check it out! The prices are AMAZING and the rolls are really filling and good quality.

I got Belly Full for $ 8.95!
Ordered Spicy Tuna Roll Set that comes with a roll and 5 – 6 pieces of sushi. Hella tasty and prepared fast and always fresh. I will definitely be on the look out for this truck on the mean streets of LA, or I could just wait for the next First Friday in Westchester. Im gonna try the Chicken Cutlet with brown curry sauce next time, it smelled amazing.
If you see the truck and have a 10 spot burning in your pocket consider Fishlips! *muah*

I’m usually a little skeptical of mobile sushi. There’s just something that doesn’t ring right to me. Maybe it’s the mental image of «roach coach» and «fresh fish» being pairing up that doesn’t jive together.
But I decided to give Fishlips a try, via the recommendation of Emily S. After checking their schedule (they predominately stay west of the 405 close to the beach cities) I saw that they were posting up a few blocks from my office in Downtown LA so I decided to give it a go.
I ordered two of the rolls. They were served on supermarket sushi plates/​containers, however, don’t let the looks deceive you, this is not your supermarket sushi quality.
The rolls were thick. Both actually tasted really good and the cuts were fresh. Not too much rice either, just enough to keep the roll together — more fish and complimenting items than rice. The two 8 piece orders were plenty to fill me up for lunch.
The order:
Long Beach Roll — shrimp tempura, wrapped with avocado, cucumbers, and pepper & then topped with white tuna and green onion, covered in a ponzu sauce drizzle. Nothing major, but the tempura batter could have been a little thicker. The taste was over powered by the rest of the flavors going on and would leave tempura fans wanting more.
Spicy Rainbow Roll — has all of the usual suspects in the standard rainbow roll, but has an added a slice of white fish. Due to the width of the roll, there’s more spicy sauce added than what you would find in average roll. Almost on par with the proportions you would find in a hand roll.
This truck surpassed my expectations — there aren’t many food trucks that make me want to join Twitter just to see where they are at. If I see Fishlips on the street, I just might have to pull a U turn and get in line.

I’ve tried this truck once before, and was disappointed in it (or maybe the 30-​minute wait I had in line and for my food had something to do with it). It was back at my work today and I decided to give it another try.
I ordered the small crunchy set from the friendly guy at the window, which was just over $ 7. Not too bad for fresh sushi. There wasn’t much of a crowd so it was ready in less than 10 minutes.
The small combo came with 4 pieces of a crunchy (with shrimp tempura) roll, and 5 «temaki» pieces (balls of rice topped with fish). Mine were salmon, tuna, shrimp, eel, and yellowtail, a great assortment.
I was actually more impressed than I thought I’d be with sushi from a truck. I remember it being a long wait and skimpy on the fish last time, but this box was much different. The fish on the temaki was thickly cut, making a good ratio to the rice. I liked the way that the rice was slightly warm and loosely packed. The crunchy roll was excellent, slightly warm and with a good crunch and combo of flavors, although I wish I could add more eel sauce! I liked the way you could see everything being freshly made in the truck window.
Another thing I liked was that you could order temaki balls in sets of 2 or hand rolls, for about $ 2 to $ 3. I always appreciate places that let you buy a snack or small meal instead of around $ 10 for full combos if you aren’t that hungry or just want to try it out.
This was a pleasant surprise, and I’ll be back!

With steady stream of positive reviews on Unilocal,I came across this sushi truck on the UCLA campus wondering if their fame was more about the substance or just plain lip service. The line to the window has already dwindled by the time I got there, and the truck was well staffed with a TV displaying a rotation of photos of their menu items. With everything looking delicious, their menu also lists the calories of their food by the piece.
My order of Rainbow Roll ($ 7.95) came with California roll topped by avocado, tuna, yellowtail, salmon, eel, shrimp, and ponzu sauce. Filling the core was imitation crab that tasted light on the mayo, and the pieces of organic cucumber were crunchy to give signs of freshness. I also tried their yellow tail, salmon, and tuna temari sushi, which is similar to nigiri with the exception that their Koshihikari rice was tightly rolled into the size of a small ping pong ball. The yellowtail and salmon were decent but cuts were a bit sloppy with white lines on the fish going in discrepant directions on the edges. I thought the idea of having temari was cute and something that only a food truck can pull off.
For a food truck, I feel it was more realistic to weigh my experience against the pre-​packaged sushi meals that are found in stores and supermarkets. The quality of fish was decent without a sign of deep refrigeration, and sushi rice was rolled tightly and delicious. My meal was nicely presented in separate black sushi containers with a tiny serving ginger and wasabi enclosed. This is not a Sushi Sasabune in a truck but the food wasn’t bad either.
Service was very pleasant with a smile and they also accept credit card for payment. I thought the price was fair and it’s a decent and convenient eating option that is fresher than the pre-​made sushi meals in stores and supermarkets. After some reflection this is how they’re rated in the end:
1.) Quality and freshness: 3 stars
2.) Creativity and presentation: 2 stars
3.) Quantity and substance: 3 stars
4.) Accessibility and affordability: 3 stars
5.) Service and ambiance: 4 stars
3 stars for the overall experience. I will definitely be back for more.

I just went to Pennsylvania and Stewart (2 blocks away from where I work) for this Sushi truck and it’s not disappointing at all!!! Met Keisha and Virginia there as they work across the street.
The sushi is really authentic and fresh, and they made it based on ur order, that’s why it took a bit longer. I luv my order of Spicy Roll Combination and it came with 4 spicy tuna and 5 Temari for $ 6.95, I’ve never seen Temari so cute and yet it’s so good…
I can’t wait for the truck to visit the area again, gonna order some more for sure!!! and luv the fact that everyone that served u in that truck are Japanese as well… it helped with the authenticity of the sushi…

I first saw this truck earlier this year in Little Tokyo. I wasn’t too fond of the idea of having my sushi rolled up into a ball (temari is what they call it) so my friend and I declined a free sample and went along our way.
Then today my sister informed me that this truck was going to be in my area for lunch. Luckily I was planning on having lunch with a friend and craving sushi at the time, so I suggested going here. The line didn’t seem so long and we were able to order our food pretty quickly. The prices weren’t too bad
. I ordered the large California set while my friend ordered the large spicy tuna set. I wanted to order an extra yellowtail temari but they ran out! boo-​hoo!
We actually waited a long while for our food. I would say at least a good 20 – 25 minute wait. We finally got our food and was surprised at the amount or rice they used for their rolls.
-
. The California roll was just ok, my friend thought the spicy roll was ok too, they use a lot of rice for their rolls. The temari pieces were also ok, I think I liked the eel piece the best. The pieces of fish they used were pretty small but it was fresh.
I just read their Twitter page and it was nice of them to apologize for the long wait: «But sorry take time for serve. We did not expect that much sushi lover arond here. Next time, don’t worry will be half of your wait time!!»
So that was nice of them…3.5 stars and maybe I’ll try them out again the next time, but I’ll just stick to the rolls.

One of my favorite food trucks! Their crunchy set with round Temari Sushi is delicious.
And they play Bob Marley while you wait for your food… can’t be more perfect than that!