KazuNori

THE. MOST. PERFECT. LUNCH.
That statement sums it all up. It’s quick (minis the time in line), it’ll leave you and your stomach feeling content with life, and ultimately, it’s consistently delicious.
I enjoy the bar seating approach which they embrace. Being located in DTLA, that «quick bite» atmosphere works incredibly well especially during the work week.
The 5 hand roll set is all I need to feel perfectly full; however, I’d throw in a 6^th if the yellowtail isn’t their «daily hand roll» since I love me some hamachi.
Fresh and delicious. Every single one. Every single time. It’s nice knowing that you can confidently enter a restaurant knowing you’ll leave more than satisfied. High quality fish, FREAKING AMAZING sushi rice, crisp savory nori… 15 seconds of utter happiness for every roll.
And Free Refills on Matcha Green Tea? You’re too much.
**Nori will start to get soft after 10seconds… Take your pictures fast!**

Legit! I’ve always loved hand rolls, but never had a go to place for them. KazuNori is the original hand roll bar and it is the best! Same owners as Sugarfish so you know they’re bound to be good. Seating is all bar style and you seat yourself. Ordering is simple with premade selections of 3, 4, or 5 hand rolls.
Turnaround time is usually pretty quick, since you come in, order, eat, and leave right away. I’ve never waited more than 20 minutes for a seat.
Parking is tough in this area of downtown LA and I usually end up paying $ 10 to park in a lot nearby. Well worth it to eat here though!

This place is the real deal. The real-​MUDAAFUCKIN-​deal. If you prefer quality with the bare essentials over the frivolous decorations that distract you from what really matters (taste), than this place is for you. You sit around the people that are making your rolls. They make a roll, wait for you to finish it, then make you another roll. This continues on until you’ve had your fill. I ordered 4 rolls with an average appetite and was very pleased with the amount of food in my belly. The seaweed was crisp, the rice warm, the fillings fresh and chilled. The combination was perfection. While I was eating my meal, I couldn’t help but smile. The meal literally made me smile. I can’t say that often. The simplicity of the dishes were beautiful and the taste was extraordinary. The price was just right and seeing as how we arrived early, we forewent the long lines. But even if we hadn’t came early, the line would be worth waiting in.
Order up.

I feel like the seating system could be better. When we arrived on a Saturday morning, there was no wait. We grabbed whatever seats were available and since the place was empty-​ish, we didn’t sit right next to people who were already sitting (thus, leaving a space in between us and them). Once you order, you’re not able to scoot over to help accommodate diners that may need that extra seat that you’ve left empty. So, that seat stays empty until a single diner fills it or you or the other party leave. I think they need a host.
The food is great. Same quality as Sugarfish and I love Sugarfish. I got the 5 roll combo and while it was satisfying, I wanted more. Like, 100 more.

Such an interesting concept for a restaurant! Everything here is designed to be quick; no hosts guiding you to your table, no fancy dishware, and they even include the tip into the final payment amount so you don’t have to do any mental math. And this is all for good reason; they wanna get you in and out as fast as possible so the people waiting don’t have to stand outside for too long. And frankly, I think it’s quite genius.
I got here at around 8pm on a Wednesday evening, and managed to find a metered parking spot right outside (but it was free because it was past 8 YAY). The line went straight out the door, right to where the curb met the street. My friend and I got in line, knowing we’d probably be waiting a while, so we each set off on a mission to get some cupcakes at Big Man Bakes next door LOL. I think we waited a total of about 30 minutes or so I think (but I’m not sure, I wasn’t really keeping track), which wasn’t bad considering how many people were in front of us. While we were waiting, we took the little paper menus stationed at the entrance and marked down a set of 5 hand rolls for each of us, which was $ 17.50, much more affordable than I was expecting!
When we sat down in front of our paper plates and disposable chopsticks, the server behind the counter took our order forms and served us water in plastic cups. Know that I’m not stressing the disposable serve ware for any reason other than to really emphasize how efficient this whole system is (no time and manpower wasted on washing dishes — and for you eco-​freaks out there, all the stuff they use is the organic biodegradable kind). One by one, our hand rolls are served onto the piece of paper that lies between us and the sushi chef. Each roll comes out with warm rice and crispy seaweed, so DON’T WAIT to eat your roll, otherwise the seaweed will be soggy! Of the five I had (toro, salmon, scallop, blue crab, and lobster), my favorite was definitely the salmon. The fish was very fresh and flavorful, but not so overpowering like the scallop and crab was, though they were still incredibly delicious. I’m currently drooling as I write this review just thinking about it.
I wouldn’t say I felt full at the end of the meal, but the spacing between each roll was enough time to deceive myself into thinking I didn’t need to eat more. The payment process was super easy; you walk up to the register to pay, and like I mentioned before, they calculate tip for you so you don’t have to, which gets you out the door super quickly. I think we were done in about 30 minutes or so, so don’t come here expecting for a fancy sit-​down two-​hour-​long meal. However, if you are in the mood for some high quality, simple flavors, KazuNori is your spot.

Tried this place last week, and I love this place!
I definitely would come back. Compared to Sugarfish, I think I prefer Sugarfish. But that’s because I wish they had halibut in a hand roll here :(
First, the line can seem long when it reaches out onto the sidewalk. But don’t worry, I think the line went by pretty smoothly. Keep in mind that most people that come here are usually in groups of 2 or people come solo. I wouldn’t recommend coming here with a group of 4+ people on a busy time. The ambience is dim, and kind of romantic in a way. When you are in line, as you get closer to the front there’s a menu that you can fill out and hand to the chefs after you are seated. The seating is kind of like first come, first serve. So when there’s an open seat, you can go there once they clean up the counter. Each person’s order is linked to their seat — so don’t ask for people to move around for you, because they can’t once they have ordered.
Now onto the food. Each piece comes out one by one (just like at Sugarfish), and the pace of the ‘food delivery’ was great since I never waited more than a minute for the next piece. I loved the halibut sashimi (same flavor as the one from Sugarfish — which is my favorite there!). But more importantly, for the handrolls here I love the salmon, scallop, and lobster! Room for improvement? Not really, everything tasted delicious and fresh! But I would love to see more on their menu. :)

So blown away with Kazu Nori. Whether it be their price point or the quality of the food, everything here was fantastic. Came in on a weekday and there was barely a wait, so we say ourselves down rather quickly. I love that the seating is so fast casual for a restaurant of this type. Basically stand in line until the next available spot opens up in the U-​shaped sushi bar and you just seat yourself.
The menu was great because I didn’t feel like I was bombarded with way too many options. Everything was so simple and you just mark off what you want on the menu and hand it to the people working there as you’re seating yourself. I got the five handrolls and it was amazinggg. Every single one of them was delicious, but my favorite was definitely the toro.
I think my favorite thing about Kazu Nori is the way it’s run. Everything is just so quick and efficient for the quality of food that it makes for a great dining experience. I love the concept of the bar type seating that allows you to be in such close proximity to the sushi chefs, because it allows for every single menu item ordered to be so very fresh. The handrolls have the most perfect breakdown– crispy nori, super freshly made rice, and fish that’s chilled to a nice cold temperature. YUM! Definitely has become a favorite sushi spot in LA for me!

My friend and I came here right when the place opened for lunch and we still had to wait at least 20 minutes for seats to open. For a weekday lunch this place sure was crowded. Gave us the reassurance that this place must be good. The line is self formulated and you seat yourself. I actually really liked this system!
Already being a huge fan of Sugarfish, I had high expectations for this place. We opted for the 5 hand roll set which consisted of the daily special (yellowtail), salmon, scallop, blue crab, and lobster. I was a little bit disappointed that the toro was not included on the hand roll set :(Also, I was a little worried that 5 hand rolls weren’t going to fill me up, but I was actually full!
The rice was warm and perfectly seasoned. The fish was super fresh except for the blue crab roll. I had the blue crab at Sugarfish and did not like it one bit so I should have expected it to taste somewhat similar here. It was far too fishy for my liking. Definitely my least favorite roll on the menu. Other than that, the lobster hand roll was to DIE FOR as well as the scallop roll surprisingly. The yellowtail and salmon hand rolls were simple, but delicious. I loved how the chef presented the rolls at the pace I ate and made everything right in front of us!
Overall, great food and service! Can’t wait to come back :)

BEST.HAND.ROLL.EVER!!!
I mean, how simple can you get?! You just stroll in, grab a seat, eat your delicious hand rolls, pay, and go. The entire process took me less than 30 minutes. Looking for parking in DTLA probably took me longer… lol! Parking was a B. No joke. Theres metered and lot parking btw… but good luck actually finding a spot on a curb…
So we came for DineLA and the menu consisted of:
Toro hand roll: sooo good! The warm rice and soft chilled toro literally melted apart in my mouth. I forgot to even use soy sauce since it literally breathed it in…
Cucumber hand roll: thin strips of crispy cucumber… very refreshing.
Blue Crab hand roll: the meat was soft but couldn’t remember much about this one.
Salmon sashimi: small chunks of fish in their special soy sauce… tasty!
On the side we ordered oyster sashimi $ 6.50…they were so yummy in the ponzu sauce!
The line moved super fast I think because everyone eats like theres no tomorrow… I felt bad even taking a moment to sip my water after I finished my last roll. It was like get up and pay already… theres people waiting…

First hand roll bar that I have ever tried. I’m not even sure these really exist? A friend and I waited for 10 minutes in their line at around 12pm on a Friday. I guess there is always a line here since there is such limited bar seating (looks around 20 customers at a time). Well the wait was definitely worth it, which maybe due to the fact that I wasn’t too hungry.
We ordered from the DineLA menu. For $ 15, we received salmon sashimi (fresh, sweet and served in a light sesame/​ponzu sauce me thinks) and three handrolls. The handrolls included a cucumber roll which was good but its just cucumber. I really love the sushi rice here — slightly warm and sweet. The food just wasn’t enough so I ended up getting another roll — a Japanese gooey potato roll. The texture was so strange, but if you like how slimy okra is then you would enjoy this as well. My meal ended up costing just a little under $ 25 for 4 rolls and sashimi which I was happy to pay since the food was good. If you want more food, go to an AYCE sushi place instead. The rolls here are quality, but also trendy.
There are hooks underneath the bar. Ladies! You will need to utilize those since it gets a bit crowded. Place your bags below. Elbow room is scarce. The décor is simple, modern, minimalist, «Japanese-​ish.» Pay at the cashier, not at the bar. Newbie mistake I made. Street parking is easy to come by if you show up early enough, but it will still cost you a few dollars in the meter.

I just finished eating down the street with some friends when I walked by and decided that I would be hungry again so I could eat here. Haha. Yes, that’s how I roll. I just eat and eat and eat.
FOOD — 4.5 Stars: The food here was really good! I ordered the 5 roll order. This comes with one of their daily specials (toro or yellowtail), salmon, scallops or cucumber, blue crab, and lobster rolls. I also ordered a Toro Roll as well since Yellowtail was the daily special. Everything was delicious!
The sushi chef makes everything to order and will give you one order at a time. The 5 rolls (or 6 in my case) might not seem like a lot, but it adds up.
My favorite was probably the Yellowtail, Toro, and Lobster due to personal preference.
I had a iced green tea, which was delicious. They not only kept refilling it, but asked us if we wanted a refill and provided a lid and a straw so we could take it with us.
As you probably noticed, I docked ½ a star for food, which is why I didn’t rate them 5 stars. One roll had a fish scale and another had a crab shell in it. Not too pleasant when you’re wanting to eat and then you get an unwanted surprise.
SERVICE — 5 Stars:
The staff was friendly and attentive. They’re quick to get you in and out. So, if there’s a long line, don’t fret. It will go pretty quick.
ATMOSPHERE — 5 Stars:
This place is pretty small and everyone sits around the sushi chef as if it you were sitting at a bar. It’s pretty laid back and great for a casual date or eating with a couple of friends.
Because they rely on a quick turnover of customers and since it’s a small place, I wouldn’t recommend this for large groups or if you want to sit with someone for an extended period of time to chit chat.
RECOMMENDATION:
Everything I ate was delicious and I would definitely come back here again. If all goes well next time, I’ll definitely update my review. However, if you’re walking by, just drop in or even grab some food to go!
Oh and keep in mind that the price includes tax and tip. So, it makes paying simple!

I came here on a Friday night with my girl friends. Waited in line for about 10 minutes. The restaurant is really dark inside. I ordered one blue crab hand roll, because I’m usually not a sushi lover, and my friends ordered the 5 piece roll. The roll was pretty small, and had 70% rice and 30% fish. Although the roll tasted pretty good, I just don’t feel like this place gets you your money’s worth. One roll was about 5 dollars and plus the 16% gratuity, it turned out to be 6. And theirs turned out to be 23 for five rolls.
It was a good experience to try something new, but I won’t be returning in the future

I love KazuNori! Thank you to my friend Erika for telling me about this place! I was in DTLA with my friends and we were looking for a place to eat nearby & checked my bookmark & KazuNori popped up. I was never a fan of hand rolls. As a matter of fact, I never really ordered hand rolls, ever. But now, I am a fan! Or well, at least a fan of these hand rolls. So anyways…
We arrived right before the rush got there, yay! The place is pretty small. There’s bar seating & an outside dining patio. I didn’t really check out the outside patio so I’m not sure how that is but at the bar, there’s probably around 20 – 30 seats. So if you get there during their peak hours, the wait can take a while. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait that long.
This place is known for their hand rolls so I highly suggest just getting the hand rolls if you are dining in. My friend & I made the mistake of ordering toro cut rolls w/​our order after one of the server suggested us not to. We definitely should have listened to him. Anyways, so they have a set menu. 3 rolls, 4 rolls or 5 rolls. Or you can order sashimi or individual hand rolls. I got the 4 rolls for $ 13.50 and it came with their daily special, bay scallops or cucumber, salmon & blue crab. The sushi chef makes the hand rolls right in front of you & gives them to you ONE AT A TIME. They are not going to give you your other roll until you are done w/​the one you have.
Onto the hand rolls, OMFG they were DELICIOUS. The nori, rice & fish were sooooo gooooood. The nori was crunchy. The rice was warm & tasted just right. And the fish, especially the salmon *drooooooool*
I will definitely be visiting this place again. I’m writing this review at 1 in the morning & I want some now. But anyways, I will definitely be back!

Unilocal challenge 2016 (¹⁹⁄₁₀₀)
I was VERY impressed by this place. Located in historic downtown LA, we paid $ 10 for street parking. This place is a hole in the wall «seat yo self» handroll bar. We got here around 7:30pm on a Friday night and I thought the line was long but it was even longer when we left!
We came for the DineLA option. $ 29 for a side of salmon sashimi and six handrolls: toro, scallops, shrimp, yamaimo (yam), crab, and lobster. The fish was almost the best quality I’ve ever had. They give you the perfect amount of rice that goes with the first and the sushi rice was not too sweet. The handroll just melted in your mouth! It was amazing.
They also sell Sapporo beer or Ozeki sake. Service was great as a first timer even though there’s only like 30 seats at the bar. I would love to come back sometime soon! It was such a great experience!

This is like the in n out of sushi.
Want something quick, fast, and tasty.
Come on down!
Arrive 15 mins before opening so you won’t
be stuck lining up to get in.
But I think it will go fast because people were in and out, literally.
The sushi chefs are boxed-​in one huge squared counter as customers sit outside the perimeter. Definitely not your traditional Japanese style tatami seating that’s for sure.
I like how they wait for you to finish each handroll before serving you the next one (just like Sugarfish). Only then will they start making you your next handroll which means the gohan IS soft and warm which is how sushi rice is suppose to be, not cold and hard.
We ordered the popular item on the menu which included–
5 handrolls, one of which is their special of the day.
Toro salmon — amazingly buttery!
Scallop — uhmazingly tasty!
Blue crab — ummazingly delicious!
Lobster –ahhmazingly yummy!
Toro — simply uhmazingly!
And hot sake to drank ofcourse!
Everything was fresh and we were extremely pleased and satisfied even with the service.
Can’t wait to return !
Why 4 stars? Because they don’t validate!
#ty#Ninong#Jojo

This place is a MUST TRY!!!
So I’ve been hearing about this place for a long time now and since it’s a part of dineLA I decided it was the perfect time to try it out.
I went around 8 PM on a Thursday night and the wait wasn’t too bad. The place is really small but it’s part of the ambiance. It’s basically a huge round table with the the sushi chefs in the middle. I wouldn’t really say the place is good for groups since everyone sits next to each other rather than across. And if you aren’t a graceful eater, which Im clearly not, it can get a little awkward shoving a hand roll in your mouth when you accidentally make eye contact with the people across from you.
Now for the best part, the FOOD! For dineLA we had a set menu so we got the salmon sashimi and 6 different hand rolls for just 29 bucks a person. My favorite hand rolls would have to be the toro hand roll and the crab hand roll. So if you aren’t doing dineLA definitely order those two! The waiters are super nice and the rolls come one by one. They recommend to eat the rolls as soon as they place it in front of you so the seaweed is still crisp against the warm sushi rice. I would also order the iced green tea if you enjoy that!
Overall I would rate this place as a 5 for the amazing food, the convenient parking, and the super friendly staff. It’s only been about 5 hours since I had it and I’m already trying to plan my next trip!

Lives up to all the hype I’m happy to say
Just like sugar fish but only with hand rolls
4.5÷5
Great overall experience and stellar food
Favorite rolls in order
1. Lobster — sooooo tasty fresh sweet tender
2. Scallops– cool creamy fresh delicious and SILKY
3. Blue crab, and yellow tail tied. Excellent
So… It’s a self regulating line but it moves pretty fast! So just hang tight cuz the line can build up
I absolutely love the counter service it is just so lovely
My only qualm is that it is really dim and the disposables are flimsy

KazuNori comes from the same owners as Sugar Fish. If you haven’t been to Sugar Fish before, it’s basically a chain of sushi restaurants in Los Angeles that serves sushi in a McDonald’s style fashion (you pick menu 1, 2, or 3, and it comes out quickly). It’s decently priced fish, for decent sushi, although not the best sushi, and definitely not the worst.
My bf and I wanted to get sushi right before his flight at LAX. We were running short on time, and so we chose the to-​go option of KazuNori. It was perfect for our situation. They had tables for us to eat outside, we were in a rush, and they said they’d be able to get our food out within 5 minutes of ordering.
We were looking at the to-​go menu to order — just FYI, the handrolls are just for the sit-​down portion of the restaurant, and the to-​go option is hand-​cut rolls only. After looking at the menu, the set choices of 1, 2, 3 were not too exciting. They were basically all the same thing, with one small variation from each other. I didn’t feel like lobster, so I opted for the Toro, Scallop, Cucumber, and Blue Crab rolls. You get 4 hand-​cut pieces of each (total of 16), for a total of $ 14. The rolls were bigger than I expected, and we felt satisfied after. On the way home, I thought I was going to get hungry later in the night, but didn’t.
Just a brief breakdown of the fish — the toro was not a slab of fish cut for us, but rather the kind that is chopped/​mashed up in pieces, then that mix is spread into the roll. It was alright but nothing special. Cucumber roll was simply a cucumber roll — nothing special, but good. Blue crab was a little too salty for me, but my bf really liked it. Scallop was actually my favorite — it was the only one in the bunch that had actual pieces of the scallop, versus all chopped/​mashed up. Rice was pretty good for sushi rice, as well as the seaweed.
Service was nice — very fast, it really did only take 5 minutes to get our food! The outside was getting cold (5pm in January), but they turned on the heat for us per our request. The food came in a very cute, organized box. Had little plastic containers for the ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce all ready to go.
I’d come back, but definitely for the sit-​down restaurant. I guess if I were in a rush downtown, then to-​go would be nice too! Not the best sushi I ever had, but definitely decent for its price point.

HAND ROLLS ONLY!
I came here with my best friend who is obsessed with this place. This is unlike any other sushi bar I have been to! It is literally just a sushi bar, in a U-​shape, where most of the service is done by you. This restaurant is no frills, focusing strictly on the hand rolls, which I appreciate. You are paying for premium hand rolls without the premium price!
SERVICE
1. Seat yourself when a space is opened. (I came at 9:00 PM, so there was no wait).
2. Decide which set menu you would like to order on the paper menu.
3. Sushi is placed on paper, eat on paper plates, and drink from plastic cups.
4. Pay at the cash register when you are done. (Service charge already included in the bill).
4-​HAND ROLL MENU
+ YELLOWTAIL
+ SALMON
+ BAY SCALLOP: My favorite!
+ BLUE CRAB
They give you a good ratio of sushi to rice, as they do in premium, traditional sushi restaurants. The rice is warm, the fish is extremely soft, and the nori is crispy and slightly salted. I loved every roll that I had and they spaced out each roll within a couple minutes of each other so that each roll could be savored!
tips
* Come in a pair, as it will be hard to talk in larger groups with this type of seating arrangement.
* Order the 5 hand roll combo! The added lobster roll is usually $ 7.00, but on the set menu it is only an additional $ 4.50.

KazuNori has perfected fast sushi without sacrificing quality! I came here last night with some friends a enjoyed the 3 hand roll meal (~$ 10) with an addition of salmon sashimi (~$ 7). The three hand rolls were yellowtail, bay scallops and blue crab. The rolls were all perfectly made and require no soy sauce (in my opinion) as all the components of the hand rolls were high quality and expertly made. The rolls were all so delicious but my favorite was the scallops hand roll — the scallops were sweet and perfectly dressed… MUST GET.
Really awesome place to stop in for a quick, high quality bite.
TIP: Come in small groups (2 – 3 people max) for quicker/​easier seating.