Kiriko

great authentic sushi spot in LA. Definitely coming back!

This place is a very small joint and they take reservations so make sure to make one because the wait was rather long. The quality of food is good but the price is a little high. The place had average service though.

Four stars for the egg custard foie gras and the blue crab hand roll!!! Uni, scallop are what you get at this price, nothing exceptional. But the egg custard is amazing!

been wanting to try the lunch omakase here for awhile, finally got around to it over the holidays. Overall fish was top notch but some of the dishes were left on the counter too long b4 being expedited to our table. I think it may have been a 4 star dining experience is we sat at the sushi bar as we requested. The sashimi/​sushi omakase didnt come with uni so we ordered santa barbara and hokkaido uni so we could try them side by side, def the highlight of the meal. Came to about $ 90 a head, not bad.

If you’ve tricked yourself into thinking that $ 300 is ok to spend for two people on ten single pieces of sushi, then this is your place. The sushi was good but not exceptional. The service was decent from the sushi chef but the rest of the wait staff were slow, scattered and inattentive except when it came time to drop the bill. Also, here’s a little translation lesson for whoever is reading: om-​ak-​ase = give us the most expensive market price items that you have and charge us what ever you want to. Average rating at best.

My favorite sushi restaurant in Los Angeles hands down for over a decade. I moved down to OC a few years ago and each time I come up to LA, we make it a point to visit Kiriko and each time it reinforces my ranking.
During my decades long career as investment banker and business executive, I have tried many well-​regarded sushi bars in SoCal, NYC, SF and Tokyo and this place is still my favorite given the exceptional commitment to the best quality food and drinks, attentive and personable owner/​staff, the creativity of the seasonal dishes and the ambiance which provides for a great comfortable dining experience.
Ken, the owner is one of the few certified sake masters in the US and his creativity and mastery of taste makes his food incredibly delicious. Sure most well-​regarded sushi restaurants have fresh fish and it tastes great but he and his team are able to create some dishes that stand out and stand the test of time.
Beyond the solid sushi, some of my favorite dishes include: calamari soba salad, fried chicken, soft shell crab, blue crab hand roll, assorted pickles. Speaking of their fried food, they are the best at it. I went to Tokyo this past summer and went to the best tempura spots including Tenichi Tempura and none were as good as Kiriko. They’re level of execution is world class. Sounds hyperbolic but true to my taste buds. For sushi, it’s all great and they usually have a few pieces of the orange clam muscle (thing that connects to shell) that is delicious.
To end the meal, they have homemade desserts including the honey vanilla ice cream with Okinawa sweet red bean which is a simple and delightful pleasure.
They are located in the Olympic Collection which is on the northwest corner of Olympic and Sawtelle. The center has ample underground parking so that’s rarely an issue. They take reservations (fortunately) and you should make one since they are usually pretty busy.
Another solid proof point for me is when a restaurant is open for a decade plus with still strong ratings then you know it’s something special.
If you find a better sushi restaurant, let me know.

I requested a sashimi only omakase and the chef did not disappoint. Great variety of very fresh fish. They do have unique Japanese fishes that they will showcase if your adventurous.

This is the REAL-​DEAL authentic sushi that Japanese people LOVE. Every visit never fails to make everyone satisfied and contented! And literally everything from food, people, great service, and environment is PERFECT! It makes me feel like I’m in Japan with the warm and welcoming environment.
Although it’s a bit on the pricey side, the quality and taste is just so worth it! If you’re going to complain about the price, go eat some fake Americanized cheap sushi.
Anyway, this is real delicious and high-​quality Japanese food that will not fail to satisfy anyone’s taste buds! Go give it a try, you won’t regret it!

Came here for the omakase lunch on a Saturday and were seated at the end of the sushi bar. We weren’t given hot towels at the start of our meal, though we saw other people were given them (maybe they were regulars and towels aren’t given at lunch). Courses were as follows:
Salad
Red snapper
Tuna and fatty tuna
Japanese grouper and wild baby yellowtail
Japanese barracuda seared and Spanish mackerel
Squid and home made smoked salmon
Crab hand roll
The food was served in a timely way, with big smiles and warmth from the chef. Tea was refilled often, and the food was very fresh and delicious. Excellent meal!

Very nice atmosphere but the quality of the fish is quite low for the high prices they are charging. Their Toro is very lean, no fat, and they still charge «market price» for it.
Overall expensive place for basic sushi, definitely a pass

Found this restaurant on the best restaurant on Sawtelle list. It might be the best sushi place on Sawtelle but certainly not the best within the 10-​mile radius of Culver City/​Palms. Given the price, there are really better options such as Sakura Japanese Restaurant between Culver City and Marina Del Rey and Sushi Gen in Palms. Both are cheaper and offer the same level of good fish. Sakura gives you much bigger pieces of fish, fresher, and better rice. By the way, apparently Kiriko takes reservation and most customers come with reservations. So if you come at a regular meal time without reservation, expect to be turned away by waiters. So obviously, this is a pretty popular place in the area. But honestly, I’m only impressed by the smoked salmon mango.

We found Kiriko on one of those «best sushi lists». It was a little disappointing to be honest, but still a solid sushi joint on Sawtelle with good fish quality.
I will say that the mango wrapped with salmon was great albeit pretty expensive.
Make sure to call ahead for a reservation on weekends or you might get turned away.

Fresh fish, chefs knew what they were doing. Good. Bit pricey, but reasonable for the quality.
Most memorable was the (house) smoked salmon sampler, which showcases different variants of the fish and preparations (photo).

It was karaōke night and my bf suggested we get a nice dinner beforehand. Kiriko was across the street from the karaōke place so we decided to go there.
The sushi chefs were friendly and nice. However, the overall dining experience was underwhelming and a bit overpriced compared to other nearby casual sushi joints such as Sushi Tsujita, Shunji, Hide Sushi, and Irori, to name a few. So what went wrong?
1) Even though the restaurant was 90% empty, they sat us next to a couple at the sushi bar leaving us very little table space for our dishes.
2) Because there were only 2 other parties, our food came out quickly. We had to ask them to slow it down because we were still working on the first 2 dishes and there was no room to put another dish.
3) Even though it was not busy and there were 2 – 3 waiters standing around, it took minutes for them to clear our empty plate. We already had very little table room to work with so that was a bit irritating.
4) The blue crab salad should have been listed under appetizer instead of salad because the portion could fit in one’s palm (see pic). Due to the portion, I felt this dish was overpriced.
5) The wild baby yellowtail sashimi was mediocre and was $ 25 for 5 pieces — again, overpriced.
I’m being generous with 2 stars because the sushi chefs were nice and talented and the Hokkaido scallop carpaccio was the only joy I got from dining here.

Everything was honestly just okay.
This was supposed to be a late birthday dinner for my sister but she ended up paying for her own bill !! Doh!
I would pass and go elsewhere. But their lunch chirashi bowls look dank.

Lovely place! Great sushi. Everything was fresh. The portion of the ankimo was generous, but I didn’t really quite like the bready Tamago. I was expecting more the normal kind… But, I came here with 3 other friends, we all ordered different things, and we were all satisfied. Will definitely come back here again. The price point is also very reasonable for the quality of food and service.
Parking is in the garage at Coco’s, validated free for 1.5 hours. What’s not to love?

I just got back from Tokyo a week or so ago, aa d went with my friends to Kiriko, jonesing for Japanese experience.
It is different than Tokyo– most sushi restaurants don’t have other items like Tempura, etc, but they did. It was excellent– fresh, top notch.
I had the $ 19 sushi special (I thought they had restaurant week, but they didn’t). It was all very fresh, a good variety including blue fin tuna, and was outstanding. I was very happy i ride red it and loved it.
Can’t wait to go back.

I was still in my 20’s the last couple times I visited here. Wow, I aged…: /
I remember they had this amazing seared toro sushi so I asked my husband to take me here after many many years…
We had omakase which was delightful. Scallop served with nori was superb even though I don’t really care for scallops. Scallop lovers might go crazy for this dish. Furthermore, anago and egg were to die for!!! They were top notch perfection, making me drool just thinking about them now.
What I enjoy the most at Japanese restaurant beside having exceptional food is interacting with the chefs. Unfortunately, on that day, the owner/​chef Ken-​san was working in the kitchen and the chefs at sushi bar were very cordial, but also very reserved. Perhaps it was because 1) that was their style of serving, 2) they were too busy, 3) we weren’t the regulars here, or 4) simply because they thought we were annoying customers. I don’t know which reason, but kind of left me unfulfilled not able to chat with them.
But it is just me being peculiar, definitely worth a try if you enjoy traditional Japanese food.

For around $ 18-​$ 20 at lunch w/​their specials, this is a good deal for sushi.
One thing I liked about Kiriko is that you can swap the spicy tuna in the Sawtelle sushi special for regular tuna.
It is about 8 – 10 pieces of sushi but the fish is all pretty fresh. You don’t get any rare pieces of sushi but the regulars like salmon, tuna, albacore, and yellowtail were all good.
I also have to bump up their rating because they were so calm dealing with my obnoxious former boss during our recent lunch meeting here.

The second to worst omakase experience of my life. Made a reservation for 6 people a few days prior and they had me put down a credit card and have everyone order omakase. That part is fine.
We got there at 8 and was seated at a table, not the bar. That was half fine. A lot of what makes the experience is interacting with the chef and watching him put together various dishes, but I understand that 6 is a lot to accommodate for, especially since the place is small.
The service was slow and our waiter was unexpectedly impatient with us. He took our drink orders in a hurry and was always quick to leave after introducing the dishes. On several occasions, my sister managed to get his attention in time to ask how we should eat it. With most of my omakase experiences, the chef would suggest us to use soy sauce on some, or to eat the fish in a certain order, but not here. In fact, it irked me that although we ordered the omakase aka chef’s choice, the main chef was just standing there behind the bar not doing anything for a majority of the time. It would have been nice to see him more involved.
The quality/​taste of their food could be rated anywhere from 0 to 100 (real quick, lol). The best was the foie gras over steamed egg. Thank the heavens that the foie gras ban has recently been uplifted. The worst was the yellowtail/​lobster dish (wayyyyy too salty. My entire table was saying it would have been better served over rice to balance out the saltiness.
Also, there was no ginger til the very end, which was weird because isn’t that usually how we’re supposed to clear our taste buds?
$ 950 for 6 people. I’ve attached photos of all the food we got, plus a bottle of sake that was $ 70. Not worth it.