Wabi-Sabi Sushi & Solana

We sat at the bar.
Far right, next to the accordion glass doors. AK adjacent.
Attentive service, delicious food. Perfect night.

This is one of my absolute favorite places to dine out in Venice. I really love what they’ve done with the remodel. Food is great, love the atmosphere and would def recommend it for anything from a date to a big group dinner and anything in between.

This place is so bad! We walked by on a Saturday night cause we live down the street, we knew it was bad before but gave the new look a shot and wow! It actually got worse, the sushi chef looked depressed, had an am/​pm coffee cup next to his station, yup you read that right…
so we ordered the cirashi bowl and it was soooo disappointing words can not describe! I want my money back, I want my money back, I want my money back !!! It wasn’t traditional, it wasn’t good, it tasted old, and cheap, it’s like this place is a cover up for some deeper secretive behind the door thingy, it’s so bad something must be going on
If you live in the area and looking for a sushi spot go to irohi in Marina del Rey .100 000 times better and I feel guilty trying this crapshoot over that
The end

Wab-​Sabi is awesome! I love the happy hour here, fresh fish too! The staff is great as well :)

Took a walk down Abboy Kinney with some friends and we decided to stop here for a drink. The décor is gorgeous, open air, and there were about 10 people at the bar and one bartender. It seriously took 30 minutes to get our drinks, and only 3 out of 6 came. The bartender was talking to a customer (exchanging email addresses) and taking drink orders but not making any. I finally went to complain and he came to our spot and very condescendingly told me he was the only bartender and busting his ass. Had plenty of time to chat with customers and stand around. Took a total of 45 min for all of us to get our drinks. They brought us some edamame as a sorry. Thanks. Needless to say I will not be stepping foot in this place again.

I stopped in for a couple of drinks (sake, asahi beer), which were fine (I mean, how can you screw that up? Open, pour). I also ordered a couple of apps: shrimp wontons and kurobota sausages. Both were clearly out of a box. The wontons were the 99c special pre made empty, tasteless wontons made worse by deep frying them. The sauce was an embarrassment to even hakujins. The sausages were also pre made but fine. Then again, how hard is it to grill them for a minute?
$ 10 each! I guess I really paid $ 0.99 for the food, $ 3 for the labor, and $ 6 for a donation to the owner’s kids’ college fund.

Fantastic food and a really good happy hour menu! The servers are really great and the food is just quality and it’s just that simple.

Had a fantastic meal there last night! The place has a very nice design flare, done by the guy who did Gjelina and Ysabel and the service was perfect. Very attentive and helpful when ordering. Devil roll and Lollipop rolls were AMAZING. Eggplant in miso glaze is what I dreamt about last night and the cocktails were perfect. I’d say Wabi Sabi, Gjelina and Tasting Kitchen are the three must go to spots on Abbot Kinney. For sure.

They completely redid this place about 5 months ago I learned and I randomly stopped by tonight. Great drinks and awesome sushi. I love that they go light on he rice. Excellent quality and cuts of the fish. Check out the pics. Highly recommended.

This is my favorite sushi spot in Venice! They just remodeled and there’s always a very comfortable and casual vibe. #californiacasual I usually sit at a table but tonight I sat at the bar and Angel, our server was … An angel :)… Lol I had to!
Aside from the great service the FOOD OMG THE FOOD!!! For appetizer I had the yummiest most butteriest miso soup and a delicious seaweed salad. The seaweed salad is definitely an acquired taste! Vinegary with lots of crunch.
I was adventurous and tried the Sadie roll for my entrée… So yummy with a side of spicy mayo! Get the Sadie roll!
AND AS IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH… I got crème brûlée for dessert and honestly I’ve been to many very fancy French restaurants in my day and the crème brûlée at Wabi Sabi wins! Perfect amount of crunch to custard. So delicious with a perfect serving of fruit on the side.
I will be back very soon! Thank god I live in the area

Love this place! Great atmosphere, friendly staff and incredible food provides you with a 5 star experience each and every time. Highly recommend.

Definitely the best Happy Hour in Abbot Kinney. The recent renovations make this place even more airy, beautiful, and welcoming. The menu is delicious and the staff so friendly and courteous. Child friendly and yummy desserts. They serve lunch now too!

Really 3.5 stars is about right, just can’t quite give a 4 star review.
Lovely hostess, Baby Bird I think is what she’s called. Good bar tenders (just make sure the soy bottle is full when given to a client-​I know it’s difficult to tell cause it’s not see through).
I enjoyed the ambiance of the place, but if you try to look/​be high class, then the food should match. Especially if you are charging as much as you are.
My California roll seemed to have come out of a package and one of the bites had –what felt like –a rock in it– it was so hard I had to immediately spit it out. The people who brought me my dishes first brought me out sushi instead of sashimi yellowtail, then tried to give my overlooked spicy tuna on crispy rice to the group next to me.. .
All in all not worth a $ 60 meal for the quality of food at this nice looking place. Though service was fast, it was inaccurate.

I had a girls night out here last night. Er wait, I’m a dude… But still! One can dream.
Anyway, me and two friends showed up after calling and learning there was no wait. We were quickly seated and drinks were ordered. The drinks showed up in under five minutes. Delivered by hostess who seated us.
Appetizers ordered.
Five minute turnaround.
More drinks.
Five minutes.
Repeat.
Mind you… The place sat us quickly, but there were plenty of other customers. I was amazed at how attentive the staff were and very happy with five minute for stuff!
So… Anyhow… We ordered ALL the food. Sashimi:
Halibut, albacore, yellowtail, bluefin, multiples of each. Tako.
Tiger roll. Unagi hand roll. Chef choice roll. Miso.
More more more…
The cuts were solid and brilliant. The sauces garnishes and various accoutrement were amazing.
I was here with two little girls! I couldn’t believe how much we ate… And with literally no complaint about quality or anything else. At one point we received an albacore sushi instead of sashimi, and a regular large hot sake instead of a purple haze… They didn’t fuss us at all about it… Just left the items there and brought our proper orders.
Our waiter’s name was Matt.
He looked like the love-​child of Chris’s Pratt and nowadays Ricky Gervais. He was kind, amazingly efficient, and all around a proper badass.
I recommend this spot! That’s hard to say… Being that it’s erected on the (now gentrified) burial site of my once beloved AK neighborhood!

SO disappointed in this restaurant. I don’t intend on coming back. Overpriced food for horrible service. Stay away!
I came in on a Tuesday night without a reservation. We were seated immediately towards the back of the restaurant. I admit, the restaurant is spacious and has a trendy ambiance with its dim lights, cool music, and large bar. It is the perfect sushi restaurant for the Venice crowd.
In regards to food, I was unimpressed.
FOOD:
We ordered their miso eggplant to start things off ($ 10). So ridiculously overpriced! The eggplant came in two ways — marinated in miso and lightly batter fried. Meh. The miso ones were so sweet and overly seasoned. They were also super squishy too. Then you had the ones that were fried that were flavorless.
Then we got two orders of sashimi: the halibut and albacore. My favorite out of the two was definitely the halibut. It was thinly sliced and topped off with yuzu. The citrus was the perfect complement to the halibut by adding some acidity and freshness. The tang was just what it needed. Albacore was mediocre. It wasn’t as good as the one offered at Katsuya but more memorable than the other dishes.
I also got an order of their salmon nigiri. The salmon was a vibrant orange color that was visually appealing; however, way TOO much rice. I was actually shocked to see how much rice they offered compared to the tiny piece of salmon. The rice was also cold and too vinegary for me. A complete no-​no when it comes to sushi.
SERVICE:
Where to begin… First of all, it took us forever to even get a glass of water. Then our server neglected us to even welcome us or present us with menus.
What astounded me the most was the fact that almost everything we originally ordered, they were out of. I was looking most forward to my favorite thing to eat at sushi, the blue crab hand roll. And they told us they «just ran out of it». wtf. Then, we ordered two glasses of their house pinot grigio. After waiting around for about a good 20 minutes and watching our server talk to other guests and walk right by our table, I got sick of her crap that I flagged her down. By the way, our appetizers were already at the table at this point. I asked where the drinks were and she said they ran out of the wine. UHHH… why didn’t you tell us that earlier? Then my mom ordered a glass of their prosecco, which they were out of as well. If you have a full bar at your restaurant, HOW could you possibly be out of various types of liquor?!
Only good thing about this experience was that they comped our drinks. Hallelujah! Overall, I just found that the servers were incompetent and lacked to provide attention to any of their guests. They were all so slow. I would much rather spend more money on sushi and get better service.
PARKING:
Valet only.

Dessert sampler was amaze-​balls! Mochi balls (red bean just okay, mint and chip yum (I am biased this is my favorite flavor ice cream, green tea and vanilla I didn’t sample), deep fried tempura bananas, best thing on the plate, brownie square topped with ice cream, can’t go wrong here.
Miso soup, some off the menu roll with spicy tuna wrapped in salmon and avocado (yummy, but not all pieces had salmon and/​or avocado = lame), and tuna sashimi… all pretty standard. Fresh and delicious.

I came here with a friend on a Saturday night since it was walking distance from where she lived. We decided to come here for our sushi cravings.
I’ll start with what they did well since I think my night essentially climaxed there. They did a great mushroom wonton ($ 12) with stir fried pea tips, shiitake mushrooms, and grape tomatoes as condiments. This was amazing. Not authentic since both wonton and pea tips are Chinese, but very good. The only thing that could be improved is the aesthetic. It comes with 4 wontons and two of them were «broken.» It’s only 4 wontons, let’s get it together.
Here’s what’s mediocre. The sashimi I had was very good. $ 18 for 6 pieces (tuna, yellowtail, albacore, and salmon). It was fresh and buttery, but the tuna still had gristle and was tough to chew. All the pieces were cut into different odd shapes. (Hourglass shaped tuna, square salmon, trapezoid albacore) I’m being a little picky, but what happened? Did someone forget to sharpen their knives tonight?
Furthermore, the shishito peppers ($ 9) were topped with a flavorless tobiko. To add insult to injury the shishito was grilled with NO seasoning. How about some salt?
Here’s what’s not worth coming back for.
1) the service was spotty. They forgot our saki, forgot to shake before pouring. Took awhile to get our orders in and our food. The only good part was the busboys who were seamless and changing and clearing our plates.
2) the portion to price — you’d think that with the price you’re paying you’d get some decent sushi that at a decent portion. Not the case here. They’re only good for rolls which is kind of sad for a neighborhood that’s barren of good Japanese places.
3) the food. If you have a nice bottle of saki and the aforementioned appetizer, perhaps your night could have been better than ours. But avoid for dinner.
Oh and they’ve got nice décor. All I can say is this place failed to satisfy my sushi craving. Miserably.

Yay I had an amazing date night here. Their strawberry jalapeño margarita had the perfect amount of kick and the udon was chock full of perfectly cooked seafood and had an amazing broth. Chirashi bowl on point, spicy yellowtail on point, their gyoza came with this creamy tomato sauce that I stuck my soup spoon in and kept tasting like it was soup. The waitress recommended a sasmini special with shiso leaves, lemon and salt so tried that too and though it was really well done. Rainbow roll, pretty typical. I don’t know how to rate it other than the fish was really good quality without being fishy, would melt in my mouth without feeling mealy and was vibrant in colors.
They kept getting our tables mixed up so we would get food that wasn’t ours and were just like, get it together. But at the end of the day, one of the better sushi dinners I’ve had.

Wabi-​Sabi. More like… Dusty-​Wusty.
Now, I understand that wusty isn’t a word and for that I will fake apologize like Joey in Friends. «I’m sorry!»
Also I apologize for the weekend whoa autocorrect WHOA. No one should ever apologize for the weekend. You take it back!
I don’t even know how to start here. Obviously. What I am trying to say is that if you go here in the near future, check out the big painting on the left wall just as you enter, maybe 10 feet from the host desk. Paintings don’t usually suffer from dust accumulation. This must be a special painting. It had a layer thicker than a [insert thick thing here]. Also, I will never ever say the words «insert thick thing here» again. JFYI.
The sushi was OK. Nothing special really, in my opinion. Prices were not that bad… though the menu listed the hot sake at $ 5 and it was $ 9. I had three bottles. That led to $ 12 of excess charge. Mikey no likey.
Don’t worry, I ubered home. That cost me $ 7.38. That’s less than the excessive sake charges if you are paying attention. And if you’re not, then what exactly are you paying? Probably too much for sake, too.

I was wandering down Abbot Kinney and saw Wabi-​Sabi. I am a sushi fanatic so I had to stop. Being gluten free, sushi is always a great choice.
I was seated at the sushi bar immediately and the staff was very attentive. I ordered a chirashi bowl (my stand-​by) and was very pleased. The fish was fresh and delicious with a beautiful presentation.
When I’m back in Venice, I will be eating here again!