Echigo

I have been on a sushi kick ever since, well, I crashed my ship here and landed in the desert. For those of you that have been reading my reviews, you already know all about this. For those that haven’t yet… yeah. I crashed it. My bad.
But it’s all good! Because places like Echigo exist and I get to eat here now. I came here with a friend that I met recently, let’s say his name is Caleb (because his name is Caleb). When we walked in, there was only one other party there. Jason Biggs and his wife.
Now, on Nilbod, everybody hates American Pie but strangely, everybody loves American Pie 2. So it was with indifferent feelings that I sat near him. In the end, I decided to not flex my alien tourist muscle and ask for an autograph. I just let the guy eat his handrolls in peace.
Here’s what Caleb and I ordered. I will list it all out so you can emulate us. All you have to do is turn into an alien and meet a guy named Caleb. Or if you are a guy named Caleb, you just need to meet an alien. But let the alien order. That’s how we did it.
1 toro
2 negi-​toro
1 albacore
1 yellowtail
1 red snapper
2 salmon
1 scallop
1 uni
1 butter fish
1 tamago
Then we ordered some more:
1 salmon
1 scallop
1 uni
So, there you have it. That’s what Caleb and I ordered. Don’t order what Jason Biggs ordered. You may be happy… or you may find yourself fornicating with an apple pie while thinking about Shannon Elizabeth. Having done both of these things in my life, I would stick with the Echigo order I listed above.

Did not have avocado, did not have spicy mayo, did not have good rice, it fell apart in the soy sauce, did not have enough m salmon for the order. Was WAY too expensive. The service was horrible, our waitress did not smile once and she was like a black cloud of negative energy. Will never go back. They added 20% in writing on the check, said they charge 20% on parties over 6. We would have left 0%, probably something they’ve noticed so they just add it on to steal money from their unhappy costumers. Waste of time on a Saturday and waste of money. Don’t go there!

Amazingly fresh, delicious and authentic. Omakase had a great combination of different fish and sashimi and a crab roll to top things off. Only other thing I ordered to start the meal was some miso soup.

Hubby wanted to grab a few sushi since we were in the area. Kampachi wasn’t bad but the fish was on the hard side. Halibut was soaked in soy sauce which I didn’t care for. Salmon, mackerel and red snapper was good, nothing amazing. I just hope we won’t get food poisoning from eating sewage tasting uni. It was the worst uni I EVER had. Seriously I hope we’ll be ok.

Tried the omakase at the bar. This is the worst omakase I had since living in LA so far. I moved here from NYC about a year ago and most sushi I’ve had so far was pretty up to par in its freshness and flavor but this place. First, I felt like they butchered the fish with a really dull knife as the sushi pieces were jagged and edges were not neatly sliced. Then all the sushi pieces came on top of soggy rice. The rice batch they used was cooked with too much water and it was almost like having fish on top of rice soup almost. I won’t be returning. There are much better options!

I dream of returning to Echigo every day! This is true Sushi in its purest form. It’s my favorite place in all of LA and beats the others hands down.
Don’t expect mayonnaise or spicy sauces or avocado. Echigo is true traditional sushi with the most perfect rice and flavors.
Sit at the bar and enjoy Omakase, you won’t be disappointed.

I was in town today and visited my buddy and his daughter for lunch. He was in the mood for sushi and ended at this place. We had omekaze 8 pieces @$ 40. The quality is average, the hirame (halibut) did not taste like halibut and more like squid. The cut quality is mediocre. Unfortunately, this is not the place for me. Should gone to Sushi Gen for the price

Echigo is definitely a great place to check out if you’re in the West LA area and in the mood for great sushi. One dish I would highly recommend are the blue crab rolls. It is true that this restaurant usually does not have rolls and serves traditional sushi, but the blue crab roll is my personal favorite. I also recommend the stuffed squid, which is squid stuffed with blue crab. As for the actual fish, you can’t go wrong by ordering the salmon, kanpachi, hamachi, and monk fish liver. Service can be spotty depending on your server, but that should not stop you from coming here to enjoy the food.
Overall, I still love the quality of the fish here, but I loved this place when you could just stop by and pop in. Over the last few years, the popularity and demand of this place grew… which prompted a necessary reservation in advance to get seating nowadays. I’m definitely happy for them, but I enjoyed it more when the cuts were bigger and more affordable to the average consumer.

The food quality you receive, it worth $ 1. Cucumber roll smelled like fish, I ordered yellow tail and Eel, it came as sashimi, it was not sushi roll. A small piece of fish, $ 7. Plus they do not have edamame and Tempora.

Echigo had been on my list for a while but I knew the bill could get pretty pricey at dinner so have been putting it off, that is until I heard about their lunch special!
The $ 14.95 lunch special includes five pieces of sushi and a blue crab hand roll and overall I was very pleased. Fish cuts weren’t the neatest but the flavor and quality of fish was spot on. It’s not a huge lunch but it’s a perfect light lunch and I appreciated the large amount of wasabi and ginger delivered with the first piece of sushi.
The five pieces if sushi included albacore, tuna, salmon, yellowtail and one other that now escapes me. The blue crab handroll was smaller than most, but the taste was excellent.
Reservations are not necessary for lunch. Mostly a business lunch crowd. Parking was easy in the lot below.

Omakase (in a Japanese restaurant) is a meal consisting of dishes selected by the chef. If you have self-​inflicted dietary restrictions, as I do, having someone else select what you put in your mouth is a bit uncomfortable –but fun for me at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a bit of uncertainty — just know, if omakase consist of other types of meat besides seafood and if I am dining out with you –you’re welcome to eat it for me.
Restaurant wasn’t overly packed for a Friday night, had a overall casual vibe-​nothing fancy (although, my new friend mentioned it has gone through renovations). It is located upstairs in a corner strip mall and service was adequate. We didn’t have to wait too long to get seated at the sushi bar.
Omakase here at Echigo is all seafood– Thank heavens. I was so engulfed in the conversation with my new foodie friend, that we both are unable to recall the order of sushi! Okay, I admit –I did a Unilocaler FAIL, but I remembered to take pictures! (see my pics below).
Although, I can report that everything melts in your mouth-​so incredibly delicious! The rice has a delicate smoky/​salty to it and is a bit more sticky (which was fine with me). Some pieces already had wasabi and the chef will make recommendations when soy sauce is not needed. My new foodie friend chose a dry sake to complement our meal and we had Asahi beer as well –alcohol is the added culprit to the poor recall of the sushi order as well (Ha!).
I have no clue as far as how much this meal with break your bank, as my generous new foodie friend took care of everything –just trust me that it is worth it. If you’re in search of amazing sushi this is one place worth a visit and your foodie friends will love it here.

Congratulations! Rated #1 on Eatery!
Very deserving. Sushi is delicious– the chefs dedication to quality, preparation and presentation is apparent.
Excellent reataurant!

Great spot!
Hidden in a strip mall, this place is pretty simple but serves up delicious fresh fish. My favorite was the salmon but I enjoyed everything I had.
The décor is basic, nothing special. The staff is nice and the service is good.
I will be back.

The fact that this place is on my block is very dangerous. Amazing sushi lunch for $ 15 ($ 14? Something like that) — 5 pieces of sushi, and a blue crab hand roll. Not the most filling, but does the trick (at least for me).
Have also been here for dinner omakase. We also ordered a couple more items than what the chef gave us, and it came out to around $ 70 a person (including drinks). Definitely a nice night out, but better priced than some other places around here, and the food is great.

I swear sushi «joints» are the only type of restaurant that can get away with charging $$$$ but open up in strip malls. So I sometimes have a tough time rating these places. Come expecting zero atmosphere or bells and whistles. This is «purist sushi» in the most literal sense. The rice is perfectly cooked, you will find it served with one moist fresh piece of fish as sushi. it’s not cheap but it is good.
No spicy mayo, no specialty rolls, no cut rolls. But as you leave you just may wonder if this really is the way sushi is meant to be served… it’s pretty damn good.

Eichigo made me realize what a fresh Ikura is suppose to look and taste like! Went there two time already with my boyfriend and every time I have been such a great experience. The service was also wonderful. Their Ikura and uni is the best I’ve tried so far, uni’s consistency is like a ripe mango!
The rice!!! It was warm and firm. Great taste.
Everything about that place is solid.
Also, their echigo beer goes great with the sushi.

The blue crab hand roll that everyone raves about is very creamy and delicious. The sushi itself is not bad. They use warm sushi rice, which is probably the reason why it kinda falls apart when you pick it up with chopsticks. Instead of regular soy sauce, what they have is something more similar to miso. Echigo serves traditional Japanese sushi.

I don’t know what happened to my beloved Echigo.
I used to come here all the time when I lived in Brentwood years ago. At least once or twice a month for a few years. Last time I was here was about 7 years ago, so it’s been a while, but I still remember how much I used to love their sushi.
I wanted hubby to walk down memory lane with me so I dragged him here last weekend, and we had the omakase at the bar. Price-​wise, it was $ 49/​pp, so totally reasonable. We got white fish sashimi, toro, halibut, scallop, skipjack, kanpachi, kinme snapper, amaebi, butterfish, and blue crab roll. Out of all these, I only enjoyed kanpachi, amaebi, and blue crab roll.
The knifework was really poor, the sushi chef didn’t interact with us at all, he had a helper that would baste the sauce/​seasoning and hand the sushi to us without any fanfare. Scallop had a fishy aftertaste, salmon wasn’t even included in the omakase, and I found the butterfish too fatty. In short, I didn’t have any sushi-​gasm moments, and I was left unsatisfied.
I’m not sure if it was an off day, or I had a different palate years ago, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back… there is just too many great sushi restaurants in LA to go to a mediocre place. Lack of ambience doesn’t bother me at all, but I want a little better omakase experience than what I had at Echigo. Too bad.

Overall: Don’t be deterred by the $$$ Unilocal pricing. Their $ 15 lunch set and a few additional orders of their many interesting, varied selections will set you back $ 30, but you’ll leave full and satisfied. Definitely get their Monkfish Liver, which has a foie gras-​like texture.
Food: 4
Lunch Set ($ 14.99) includes 5 pieces of nigiri sushi and a blue crab hand roll. It’s not the cheapest sushi joint, but this is a deal in comparison to their normal prices where the cheapest plate of nigiri sushi is $ 5. The fare is standard with tuna, yellowtail, white fish, salmon, and albacore. The fish is of good quality, and the sauces and garnishes complement it well. However, the rice was warmer than it should be in some pieces, and one began to crumble in my hands before I could pop it in my mouth. The albacore was delicious but it was drenched in sauce, and the white fish was cut poorly. I hope that this is a result of our late entrance rather than reflective of their normal food because I had high hopes. However, if it is a result of us coming in last minute, I am highly disappointed that this affected the quality of what they sent out.
Monkfish Liver is poached in store and topped with a miso sauce. In store steaming makes all the difference. It’s served still warm, and it’s more buttery and smoother than any of its counterparts. In fact, I’d dare say it almost resembled foie gras.
Service: 4
It’s hard to get bad service at a Japanese restaurant, and they graciously took us in even though we came about a minute before they closed at 2 pm. We had to order food all at once because they were taking last call orders. Food came quickly, one after the other, and lunch took about 20 minutes all together. I’m not complaining because I had to be somewhere by 3 pm, but I did feel like the speed at which food came was a result of their desire to have us leave so they could close up. This did NOT show in their service; they were polite and professional. However, it may have shown in their fish.
Ambiance: 3
The restaurant is a unassuming plaza with treacherous underground parking (the ramp down is steep and winding and the spaces are tiny). The restaurant itself is clean, but it’s sparse with white walls and minimal decorations. Perhaps not the right place if you want to impress your eating companions with food and ambiance, but none of your foodie friends will complain if you take them here just for the sushi.

Echigo is one of the best places for omakase AND reasonably priced! Everything was delicious. I wasn’t a big fan of sushi but after eating here I converted… I won’t go into detail for each fish cause the menu can vary… Just know that everything was delicious from start to finish. The sushi rice is perfect. Blue crab handroll is AMAZING. Please don’t use soy sauce and offend the sushi the chefs.