Sushi Masu

3 words.
Oh My God!!!
Finally. A Japanese restaurant with Japanese employees, who understand what it means to run an excellent sushi bar!!!
8 stars!!!

East of the 405, this is my Go-​To for sushi.
Call in, and get a reservation before you stop by.
The sushi is fresh, and high quality. They have live sweet shrimp and great salmon and toro at this small shop.
Food 4.5÷5
Service ⁴⁄₅
Price ⁴⁄₅

Just wanted to update. This place is still the best and most authentic sushi in LA. I am a real snob when it comes to Japanese food. Masu is a master and the food is outstanding!

5 star for food, but the service makes it four stars in total. The butterfish grill is great. I ordered toro green onion roll, uni, seared salmon and blue fin tuna sushi and they were all excellent. The uni is not as pricey as other places, but still of good quality.

This is one of my very favorite sushi places. The sushi is always excellent and top-​quality, and the price is reasonable. Chef Masu is very friendly, and makes the best sushi. The cuts of fish are first-​rate, and portions are perfectly sized (many high quality sushi places give very small portions of fish – not so at Sushi Masu). I have been a customer for nearly 20 years, and enjoy taking friends and family members here for special occasions. Highly recommended!

Beautifully prepared simple, classic, sushi. No fancy $ 15 rolls, but quality sashimi, rolls, salads, and appetizers. It is a very quiet, small, space focused on quality products.
The tuna salad was divine as was the specialty crispy rice.
Excellent service!

Wow and wow. I was a little weirded out as I walked in and there was no menu and the chef was already asking me what I wanted. It’s ok since I speak please and thank you as well as restaurant Japanese so I just started ordering. The service was out of this world! The chef as well as two waitresses made sure everything I wanted was handled. The sushi was unbelievably fresh, wow. The selection of fish is awesome relative to the other LA places. It’s an adorable little place and reminds me of any number of quaint places in Japan. It is however very very traditional Japanese and I can see why that would offend the culturally unaware. I have no doubt if my husband had been with me that they would have treated him with deference and me like a ghost. The bad reviews I read were mostly from people who wanted a traditional American experience out of a traditional Japanese resturant —why why why do you need everything to be the same and run by American standards?
If you want to feel like you are in Japan with even fresher fish, come here. If you want your (pinching nose) California roll with faux crab meat and you want it fast fast fast, go the local «spaghetti, Chinese and sushi» resturant that is probably run by a 4^th nationality where you can feel superior for living in LA.
Love the service, absolutely love the preparation, and wow fresh! I will be back with friends next time.

Salmon was buttery delish (2 orders), toro was perfect, yellowtail, amberjack, uni. Blue crab soy paper hand roll, scallop with yuzu, cooked butterfish marinated with miso sauce, and we loved our chicken mushroom soup served in teapot. Hiroshi was our awesome sushi chef. First time here and will be back!
Sake — Hakkaisan $ 37 per bottle
Meal came to $ 150
A night out with my hubby, a yummy Thursday night splurge.

This place is NOT fresh!!! At least on Friday nights.
You can like my pictures but they don’t necessary taste good!
I eat a loooot of sushi/​sashimi, and I know what tastes good/​fresh. Even from looking at their fish behind the glasses you will know they are not fresh because they lost elasticity and can’t stand straight.
WORST OYSTER EVER in a Japanese restaurant (usually they add flavor to it so you don’t smell the rotten fishy smell/​tast)!! Super super fishy， in a bad way… It’s not fresh and 4 costs $ 15 when he told me it was $ 5 for 4 in the first place (they said $ 5 price was for sushi when they charge me) you can have way more delicious ones in Sushi Nishi in calabases.
I’ve got my separate comments under the pictures, so I will stop here. One last thing, this restaurant knows that people living in the area don’t know much about good sushi, and a relatively pretty plating will get them good reviews.

Wow, so after reading all the other bad reviews I feel a little less bad, and know I’m not the only one treated like complete dirt. This review isn’t really based on the food– it’s based on the service.
I had a Dr. Appointment and in a hurry to grab a quick lunch. When I walked in I was behind about 6 business men. They were greeted with so much respect and seated immediately. Then when the waiter got to me she literally just stood there and strained at me with a dirty look for almost one minute, and finally said «Yes? What can I help you with?» I told her «I’d just like to eat…» She pointed at the table in the very back and told me to sit. I didn’t listen to her and sat at the table towards the front which we were sitting in front of.
I waited ten minutes for her to take my order so when she came all I ordered was an avocado roll because I was rushing– as I said this isn’t about the food. Another ten minutes went by and she asked me again what I want to eat. I told her I already placed my order. Then another 35 minutes went by!!! My sushi never came. One avocado roll may I remind you. But about 20 fancy rolls for the businesses men in back of me did arrive!!! Wow! They couldn’t make my one simple roll before making about 20 fancy rolls? I was ready to walk out when it finally came. I reminded her I asked for eel sauce. I was almost done with the roll when it came.
Also the sushi chef kept asking the woman at the bar, next to my table if she wanted more stuff to try. She was clearly wealthy and he kept offering her more stuff. I watched her eat like 20 dishes while i waited for one roll. I guess money talks.
I had also asked her if the parking validation was free and she said «yes of course» but it was only covered for the first 20 mins of that catastrophe.
I am still so saddened by the way I was treated. The waiter truly ruined my day, and took a chunk of time i couldn’t get back on my day off.

First time I was there I was there on a date with my husband and not to mention that my husband been going to Masu San since he was 16 and he is now 38(omg! I just revealed his age…)
Masu San perform and delicate some of the fine sushi skill. The rice amount the knife skill.
If you like, as I always love to do I asked him to just go ahead with the sushi flow for me (omakasen)
He delicates every detail of the flow from the fatty toro to the lightly salty amberjack~
your pallet will thank you and you will go home with a smile on your face.
But, gotta be patience with him tho. The food do come out slow sometime if the place get busy.
Other then that please go give it try!

We walked in to this establishment on a Friday evening without reservations but were promptly seated at the sushi bar. The rules at the sushi bar were simple: no cooked food is allowed, order directly from the sushi chef.
Our chef was only familiar with Japanese names of fish. There was a board enumerating a short list of «recommended fish» but it’s not exclusive of what the restaurant has in stock. You can ask the chef for what you like. During the hour we sat at the sushi bar, we had the hamachi, kohada, ankimo, hotate, sake, escolar, and ika.
Visual presentation was just okay, but the absolute fresh seafood made up for it. Our chef laid fish centered on top of the shari, following the old school traditional technique. He went go easy on the toppings, just enough to provide complementing flavor to the fish. The neta was not overly sophisticated with Japanese ingredients, I wouldn’t consider it to be «over the top». The only sauce that our chef used was a dab of tangy yuzu applied on top of the hotate, which was my favorite of the night. It was as soft as butter and the sauce was a pleasing mouth refresher. Runner up was the kohada, a remarkable fish with its beautiful shiny skin intact. It had a tough meaty texture compared to the other fish I had, but was still yielding after a little chewing. Masu’s kohada appeared to be mildly vinegared and garnished with some sweet pickled ginger which contrasted nicely with salted sesame seeds.
Unfortunately, I found the service to be slow, inattentive, and at times even non-​existent, which does not exemplify the typical smooth dining experience at Japanese restaurants. There were two sushi chefs, two servers, and a kitchen helper. When we wanted to ask for refills or request the bill, neither of the servers were available for at least 20 minutes. One of the servers was camped in the kitchen for a very long time for reasons which remain unclear. It was frustrating.
Maybe ordering at a leisurely pace was a bad idea, because halfway during out meal, the chef became overwhelmed with orders and had to ignore us for an extended period of time. Then I noticed that he was preparing large size to-​go orders and packing them in boxes. It’s unfortunate that a $$$ restaurant allows take-​out, because it slows down the service to dine-​in customers.
I’m willing to give Sushi Masu another try on a night that is less busy, like Wednesday, as the chef suggested. The prices were reasonable and their fish selection was a tad bit wider than most Westside sushi bars.

I enjoy sushi every now and then and this is definitely still one of our favorite spots– a little pricey but always good and that for me is important regardless the cost.
Came here for Mothers Day and we were not disappointed, as usual.
My kids ordered because they know I enjoy most everything,
Our bill was over $ 100, not including tip, but we were satisfied and happy!
The sushi chef sent over a wonderful fruit dessert creation we all shared, on the house for Mother’s Day. And as we were getting to leave, a single Mothers Day carnation… it was so nice!

Came here with 5 other people for a birthday dinner. The place is quite small with 5 – 6 tables and seating at the bar and almost all the seats were packed when we arrived.
Appetizers:
Agedashi tofu– each order comes with about 3 pieces. Tofu was fried perfectly and the saltiness of the sauce complemented it well.
Monkfish liver– Again, the order is quite small so its only good to share with about 3 people. It tasted quite good, but I wish the texture was more soft and fragile.
Sushi:
Usually when you’re debating between sashimi or rolls the deciding factor is whether you want to be full when you leave the restaurant. As my group was relatively large, we opted for the latter.
We ordered about 8 rolls that had 6 pieces each. The rolls averaged about $ 12 with the exception of the (what I think was called) the Dragon Masu roll which was $ 25. While the rolls all tasted good, they were really really tiny.
The servers were attentive and got our orders out relatively quickly.
Overall:
In retrospect, for the money we spent, it would have been better to have order their sashimi (especially since that’s what their known for). That being said, I do see myself returning to see what else this place has to offer.

This is one of the best sushi places in the area! We especially love the Uni and the salmon. You can spend a decent amount here sometimes, so it’s not cheap. But it’s not expensive either so I would consider it a bargain. If you get the sweet shrimp, you’ll see it prepared fresh where the head is detached and moving so if you’re squimish, don’t get that one. Otherwise, just about everything here is good.
It’s a small place so it can be full during the weekend. But it’s intimate. Good for dates. Parking is a pain in the area. In other words, try to come early and on an off time/​day like Tuesday.
The sushi chef all the way at the far end is super nice! We enjoyed hanging out with him as he prepared our sushi.

I went to Sushi Masu for the first time yesterday for dinner, specifically for the toro. I was able to find street parking easily so that was a win! When I entered restaurant, there was a lot of seats available at the bar and open tables. My boyfriend and I sat at the bar because you’ll get a better experience cause you can have the sushi chef make suggestions.
Sushi Masu gives generous sashimi slices, but I think it is a bit pricey. My boyfriend and I ordered:
–2 orders of toro (2 pieces per order)
–2 orders of red snapper
–hamachi
–grilled butterfish
–bonito
–albacore
–campachi
We ordered nine orders of sashimi and the total was $ 105. I think this is pretty pricey compared to other places for omakase. Although the sashimi and service was good, I probably wouldn’t come here again for dinner, but only lunch.

Great lunch spot and excellent lunch deals. The store is kind of hidden on the street. The restaurant is pretty small.
My coworker got the mini chirashi + udon/​soba + soup + salad combo for $ 8.95 which I think is a great deal. I got the $ 12.75 chirashi sushi but I wish I got the combo instead for variety sake. My meal was delicious!
I also got green tea ice cream for $ 1.50 and it was so creamy and spot-​on good!
Service is good.
I highly recommend.

Food: 5
Sushi Masu does straightforward, traditional Japanese food. No frills and not particularly innovative but executed perfectly. That’s fine by me.
My friend and I both ordered omakase, and I think what we got was fair for $ 70. The meal started off with a teapot of chicken, mushroom, and spinach broth. Simple but delicious and perfect for a cold winter day. Our omakase plate included about 18 perfectly fresh items per person, including toro, ikura, uni, yellowtail, amberjack, and mackerel.
* Note: They put wasabi in their nigiri sushi, so make sure to tell them if you can’t handle the wasabi!
Another friend got their udon. Hands down the best udon I’ve had in awhile. They use a delicious dashi broth with perfectly cooked noodles. I like the fact that they let you pick your tempura (2 proteins and 2 veggies).
Service: 2
Waitstaff was nice but totally incompetent when it came time to split the bill. Granted, we wanted to split the bill about 7 ways. However, they should have been honest about their difficulties splitting the bill for us, and no one would have complained about it being put on just 1 or 2 cards. Instead, they took a little over 45 minutes attempting to split the bill (which, by the way, my friend later did in bout 5 minutes using a pocket calculator). It would have been less damning if they actually succeeded in the end, but they ended up just charging all of it on my card, which is fine. Just don’t waste so much of my time.
Ambiance: 5
It’s a little Japanese restaurant located on the outskirts of Westwood. As a result, you won’t find many UCLA students, and you can enjoy a quiet dinner with well made sushi.

Checking in because I’m back in LA !
Masu has not gone down in quality at all. I get a feeling that some of the bad reviews are due to poor knowledge in how each fish is actually supposed to taste.
But everything was delicious, extremely fresh, the toro and halibut fin were amazing and the seasoning on par. I just came back from Osaka and Tokyo and I was expecting Masu to be an underdog but it was just as good! He knows all about the fish and never stops to tell me about what he managed to pick up at the market on Thursday. Masu had everyone in the whole restaurant laughing today cracking jokes !
The wait staff was extremely attentive, refilling my tea the moment it was empty and making sure to serve on the right, always bowing. Can get used to this for sure.
And finally the comped fruit at the end is always a treat. To receive a gift like this and not be charged speaks to how this business is run
Also — FYI, if you are comparing this place to across the street they are complete different ball games.
xxxx
N

I was in the Westwood area, and felt like sushi for dinner. Saw their sign on Westwood Blvd while driving. I didn’t have reservations, didn’t check Unilocal either, but I decided to walk into this sushi place without having any pre-​knowledge about them. The front door had very plain looking; not fancy at all. I sat on the sushi bar and then saw Samurai swords hanged on the wall. Very cool. I was ready to find out how their sushi would be like.
I told the sushi chef what I wanted. He said, «hai (yes)» with the typical tone that a Japanese sushi chef usually has, and made me tuna, salmon, and sweet shrimp.
Sushi was simply delicious. Fish was very fresh and had its own flavor. The chef also sliced fish on the thicker side. I was able to enjoy the flavor and texture of the fish very much.
We ordered some rolls as well. The rolls looked great. I also asked the chef to make uni and mackerel nigiri for myself.
The quality they offer in this sushi bar is high. Fresh and authentic. I do like this sushi bar. This is a type of sushi bar that I want to come with sushi snobs. The chef was very professional, and sushi was fresh and delicious. I would like to come back soon. 5 Stars.