San-Sui

Sansui means mountain & water in Japanese and as such the patio has picnic-​like bench seats & planters of verdant bamboo that remind me of the Take Yabu/​bamboo thickets found among the hills of Japan. Above, the signage touts that it is specializes in «Japanese country cuisine», but that was eons ago under another owner who did come from a rural district in Japan. (Toshi, sorry that I did not come to Sansui under your ownership when there was authentic Japanese country cuisine.) Looking at the menu now, there is almost no vestige of Japanese country cooking. Basically, Sansui now is a pastiche of the top 10 favorites of what non-​Japanese would consider the sine qua non of mostly faux or Americanized Japanese food. However, at least my order was well executed. The interior is typically minimalist Japanese in a vein similar to Shiro, the Japonais Francais restaurant in South Pasadena, but on a smaller scale.
The two waitresses were courteous yet perfunctory. No idle chit chat here in an attempt to create a more friendly, informal atmosphere. They came up for my drink order, and since the menu was vague on the offerings of Hiyazake/​cold Sake (sah keh), they brought the two bottles, one of which was Nihon Katana made by Hana no Mai in Shizuoka prefecture. It read Cho– Kara Kuchi/​super dry. I knew & the waitress too that Nihon Katana was the better of the two. Interestingly, when I ordered the Sake using Japanese specialized Sake terms, they were completely in the dark which indicates that they had no inkling of the Japanese language. The Nihon Katana has almost neutral bouquet & an almost tongue numbing dryness & hit of acidity that would serve as a good palate cleanser to most fried foods as well as refreshing the palate for more seafood. The finish is light fermented soybean scent with a touch of Sugi no Ki/​Japanese cedar.
I ordered the Popcorn Lobster Roll since I read the review by my Unilocaler buddy Dan L who recommended this «fusion roll» that hailed from Japan via New Orleans or at least Southern Louisiana. I thought $ 13 was a bit exorbitant, but when I saw it coming, the amount served with the time involved to make it made it seem reasonable. You can order the roll with the California roll w/​the usually fake crab meat, mayonnaise, avocado filling or the spicy tuna that has Sriracha hot sauce that is a bit sweet & garlicky and a touch of mayonnaise. I opted for the spicy tuna in an inside out roll meaning the rice is on the inside with the Nori/​black seaweed paper on the inside. The Tempura battered crispy lobster pieces were well fried in sweet fresh oil, and the «eel sauce» was not too cloyingly sweet which added a nice offset to the fresh oiliness & spiciness. The addition of Tsuma/​Japanese Daikon radish ‘pasta garnish’ was a good addition in adding a watery texture to refresh the mouth after the eel sauce, mayonnaise, sriracha.
The patio does have a meditative quality except when the traffic noise intrudes from busy Hillhurst Avenue. Service is understated & unobstrusive. However, it was odd that after I was seated on the black painted hardwood bench seat, a couple came in later & were offered Zabuton/​seat cushion while I was not. I looked at another table who were seated before me, and I notice they too had Zabuton. I was left cushionless. Probably an oversight on their part, but it did not leave me with a feeling of being an honored customer. 3 Unilocal stars for the ambiance, food, and service.

Such sad news. San Sui is now closed forever. Spoke to Esther tonight. My 4 year old was in tears because she will miss Esther so much. Esther was the heart and soul of this place. We will miss the sushi but will miss Esther more :-(

Ate there ⁶⁄₁₉ and got food poisoning from mishandled sushi. Beware!

Never eaten here but I walked by to run an errand and they just had a hose running full blast with no one around and judging from the gutters it looks like it was doing that for a good while. I walked up and called someone out to please stop wasting water because we’re in a draught and they said ok. Walked by a little later and there was the hose again, full blast, unattended. I’m all for supporting local business but come on.

NIce, quite little Japanese spot on Hillhurst that has the option of some outdoor seating. Small tables type of place. This isnt one for big groups at all. I like the intimate vibe of the place. It’s a good date-​night spot. I enjoyed the albacore. I also liked the seared ahi. The soft shell crab roll and the salmon skin roll were also tasty. The chicken teriyaki was decent. Prices are a little higher than I expected. Not sure why that is. It would be the perfect neighborhood sushi joint if the prices were just a little bit lower than they are. San-​Sui is still a good place to go to now and again. Service was decent. No complaints here.

The service is extremely friendly and welcoming, and pretty quick as well. The quality of the sushi is also very good, the portion sizes were also decent. My only complaint is the price, although the quality and service are 4 stars, at $ 15-​$ 17 average for a specialty roll, they were relatively expensive when compared to restaurants like Shogun or Kabuki. Maybe it’s the real estate, I had a similar experience with another restaurant a block down. To be fair, this was a good experience, but bang for the buck, I probably would stick to my favorites.

Good food and service. Ambience is cozy and homy, really a good place to eat with your loved ones. Love their tempura ice cream.

I find no reason to go back to this place. It was so bland and just meh. It wasn’t even bad because there’s just no taste. I thought it was just me but even my friend who eats anything and not picky at all, said the same thing. We ordered the fire fire fire salmon sushi roll — blah. I got the chicken teppanyaki and my friend had the salmon teriyaki, both bleh. Maybe it was an off night for them, I don’t know, but we’re definitely not going back =/
I do like the patio area. I hate giving bad reviews but I was disappointed at this place and i love Japanese food!

The outside patio is absolutely adorable …
Can’t believe that I’ve been living in Los Feliz for over 30 years and didn’t know about this place. It’s very discreet from the outside … The patio is definitely the selling point of the restaurant. The inside is a bland and boring. The sushi was good … No complaints there. We enjoyed our visit. Would definitely come again.

Most of customers would like the patio as a kind of romantic ambiance… but what else? Food was ok, but there was no sushi bar and the food was not like traditional flavor. it is not the reason I gave only one star, though.
The worst thing? I guess she is a head waitress very kind to customers, but it was very unpleasant she was yelling at another waitress treating her like a slave. Her voice is very high tone, so anyone can hear it even in noisy crowd. No matter how unprofessional the server’s skill was, yelling her was not nice way for her to work in good mood to serve other customers, and yelling in front of customers was not professional, either no matter how nice to customers and how long she has worked there.
Good service is not only for customers, but also for workers each other. Please don’t have two faces like that. It seems creepy and fakey. It was very unpleasant to stay hearing her cranky voice. Whether customers understand Korean or not, they know if they just talk or yell. No wonder why servers are exchanged all the time.

This is my FAVORITE sushi restaurant by far!!!
The Vibe: Private, quaint, authentic, and personal
The Crowd: Usually mixed, couples and small groups, I’ve never had to wait to be seated
Seating: Indoor and Outdoor, I prefer outdoor… sooo cute!
Service: Is excellent! The waitresses are super sweet and patient and always make great recommendations.
Food Suggestions:
— Los Feliz Roll
— Spicy Yellowtail Carpaccio– mmmmmmm
— ANYTHING and EVERYTHING because its all very fresh
Hope you enjoy!!!

Truly been dying to Unilocal this place. I like how the sign says San Sui and then underneath it, it says Japanese Country Cuisine. It makes no sense in the way I like. The sushi is my favorite in Los Angeles and the world. Salmon roll that stays on my mind; my first look at the house salad made me frown sweetly with admiration and adoration like seeing my first born walk into kindergarten independently. Ideal dressing, the most delight flavor a light dressing can hold. Beautiful patio and small and quant dining room. I like the windows. Also, the last time I ate here, a silver-​haired father was playing word games with his academically advanced young daughter. I would play instrumental music instead of radio, to make the place

This place has a great atmosphere, really good food and great service. Japanese style fried chicken, garlic albacore roll and uni with raw quail egg are my absolute favorites here. Uni with raw quail egg is not for the faint hearted but I am a connoisseur and it doesn’t get fresher than this. The sashimi is outstanding as well.

I started eating seafood last year and loved coming here… the patio is really cute. My husband and I were going several times a month… UNTIL…2 weeks ago we both got food poisoning after having dinner here. Food poisoning is never pleasant, but getting it from raw fish was a special kind of awfulness. Ugh. Now I’m off seafood forever and sad I’m too afraid to go back.

We went to San Sui for some sushi, and it didn’t disappoint! That being said, there were some opportunities for improvement. Here goes:
We got a nice table in the corner, and proceeded to order drinks. My boyfriend got a Sapporo, and I went for a cold sake. She asked if i wanted filtered or unfiltered. I am not a HUGE saki drinker, so I asked which is the ‘normal’ one at which point i received something that tasted like the sake I’m used to with condensed milk poured into it. I took a few sips, and couldn’t drink anymore. It was the first time i ever had a drink that I literally couldn’t palate.
We ordered a million rolls, and they came out piece mail which was great for trying each of them and enjoying the voyage. One of the rolls I ordered was supposed to be grilled scallops, but it came out as two seaweed pockets, full of little raw scallops covered in fish eggs. Again, I tried one, and again, i literally couldn’t palate them.
What made me sad was that the service wasn’t attentive enough to notice. Between the two of us, we spent over $ 100 on sushi. It wouldn’t have killed them to check up on us from time to time. The saki was $ 4. Wouldn’t it have been worth it for them to make sure I had something I liked? When I told them I didn’t care for it, they didn’t really seem to care.
That being said, if you come here, and go the safe route, you’re in for some mind-​blowingly delicious sushi. It was quite a lovely treat aside from a few small deductions.

If you want to take your loved one out to dinner and impress them take them here ! Such a quiet and beautiful restaurant. My boyfriend and I sat inside then moved to the outside patio ! So romantic ! The waitresses were so nice and the sushi is SO FRESH! We had the garlic albacore, popcorn lobster, soft shell crab, and the double albacore. They were all delicious. Will be coming back very soon !

Food is fine/​good. Service is a little slow but fine. Prices are average/​a couple dollars overpriced per roll.
The saving grace for San-​Sui is the patio which is cute as hell and takes this restaurant from 3 stars to a solid 4. If the weather allows it, and we’re in la so the weather almost ALWAYS allows it– so you have no excuse, bring a date here.
If the patio is full– leave. If it’s not full (which it shouldn’t be because this place is surprisingly empty) grab a table and get ready to have your date be wowed.

FOOD
— — — -
I tried the gyoza, popcorn lobster roll, and combination lunch (with chicken teriyaki option).
The gyoza was decent, but not particularly mind-​blowing.
The popcorn lobster roll was actually quite good, and was easily the tastiest thing I ate there — can’t recommend it enough.
The combination lunch included a pretty high-​quality salad, very appetizing tempura, white rice, seaweed, and chicken teriyaki that was not quite mediocre, but definitely bordering on it (is it bad that I’ve had better chicken teriyaki from Yoshinoya?).
I’d say that the menu pricing is probably somewhat on the side of «above-​average», especially for the quantity/​quality of food served.
SERVICE
— — — — –
The single waitress that was working when we dined here was very friendly, attentive to refilling my friend’s tea, and even made some small talk with us.
So, solid marks for service at San-​Sui.
PARKING
— — — — –
I was able to easily find a metered (1 hour max) spot on the curb across the street.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –
Both indoor and outdoor seating are available, and the seats are comfortable.
The interior of the restaurant is clean and easy on the eyes.
CONCLUSION
— — — — — — —
All in all, I feel San-​Sui is worth giving a try if you are a fan of Japanese restaurants, and happen to be in the area.

had another delicious dinner with friends here. i had some sashimi combo that had a TON of food. sashimi, tempura, teriyaki (your choice of chicken, salmon or beef…), some of those spicy pickled side dishes, salad and miso for $ 24 or so i think. i even had enough to bring home, though i ate that within 2 hours afterwards as i crashed on the couch!!!
shared, family style, some eggplant dish and a some sort of baked tuna roll which was delicious. my two friends and i had a delicious and nice time. the lighting was a little blaring for a low-​key saturday night… and i didn’t realize last call is 9:45 pm so when things started feeling like it was shutting down i suddenly felt rushed. but maybe this is a sleepy part of los feliz, i dunno!!!
anyway food was good. we all enjoyed ourselves. i could see one neighboring table in a rush kind of grousing about slow service. and i thought service was perfect and great until 9:45 last call and even though they said take your time, i suddenly didn’t feel like we had the luxury to linger and lounge. but next time i’ll just come earlier keeping that in mind.
anyway i loved the food. this has always been a reliable and good place to come to.

My friend and I were in the mood for some sushi but we didn’t feel like branching out from the Los Feliz area (aka, we were too lazy to drive anywhere). We had gone to En Sushi before and left pretty disappointed. Because of that we ended up at San-​Sui.
We showed up around 7pm on a Tuesday night. The inside was completely empty but the patio was almost full. The night was beautiful so we sat outside anyway. The first thing we noticed was that the patio was dog friendly. It’s weird how few Los Feliz restaurants are dog friendly, especially because it’s such a big pedestrian area.
The menu has the typical Japanese stuff (sushi, sashimi, tofu, etc). I was pretty hungry so I decided to get the California roll (I’m white, I know), tuna roll, and avocado roll. The California rolls were good as always. I love me some crab! The avocado roll was okay, but the rice was warmer than room temperature. It didn’t really matter I guess because there was no raw fish. The tuna rolls were good. The fish was cold and the rice was sticky. After I finished the California roll I was pretty much full. I only finished about half the tuna and half the avocado rolls because there were so many.
San-​Sui has a really great patio area with lanterns and heat lamps hanging overhead. No smoking signs posted around the patio are good additions so you don’t have cigarette smoke blowing in your face the whole time. The two ladies that were working were both really nice, too!