Midori Sushi - Studio City

E: Hungry? You definitely won't be when you leave.

Regardless of your opinion on sushi buffets, Midori Sushi has to be on the short list of the "safe" all-you-can-eat establishments. Four reasons:

1. All sushi is made to order. None of it sits on a buffet line, withering, melting, rotting or spoiling. Also, no one is picking at, coughing on or spitting on the food.
   
2. It feels like you're eating a real restaurant, instead of at a buffet. Waitresses bring out beautifully arranged pieces of sushi on platters. It's always nice when the food looks good, too.
   
3. Great selection. The menu (lunch and dinner) includes some hot items like tempura, gyoza, mussels and fried calimari. But the good stuff, nigiri and maki, is the majority of the menu -- and rightly so. Isn't that why you're here?
4. The food actually tastes good. Don't expect spectacular, fireworks or OMG moments. But you can be pleasantly surprised, pleased and satisfied.
   

The waitresses say that you only get an hour to order and eat. They practically threatened us with the time limit when we first arrived. However, they're quite lenient and never made us feel like we over-ordered or overstayed our welcome. We stretched our dining experience to nearly 2 hours. The rolls were delicious, especially the soft shell crab roll (not pictured). The albacore and ono nigiri was especially good that day, too!

Honestly, if you're really hungry and you want sushi, come here. You'll definitely get your money's worth (for lunch at least) if each person orders at least soup, 1 roll and 3 orders of nigiri.

Midori Sushi
11622 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604

Katana Ya - San Francisco

E: After a long wait, we finally were able to return to Katana-Ya, a tiny Japanese restaurant near Union Square that serves sushi and ramen. Our first encounter with Katana-Ya was more than a year ago. Although I had entered with no expectations, my perspective on ramen was completely changed after trying their pork broth. Sweet, light and extremely satisfying, it was like no other broth I had ever tasted. Since that first visit more than a year ago, all subsequent ramen broths are compared to this one.

Our visit to San Francisco in October was long overdue. Would Katana-Ya live up to the great expectations built up in our minds for so many months?

Yes! The noodles were the perfect texture -- firm and eggy. The shio soup base was just like I had remembered it -- sweet, light, rich and decadent. Does ramen get any better than this?

R: I've only been here a few times, but it's already become a destination spot. When I know I'm heading to SF, I make sure to include Katana-Ya in my plans. The place is small and cozy. Luckily, we didn't have to wait this time.

I don't have to look at the menu much because I've already targeted my favorite order - miso ramen and curry rice. The curry has great flavor and the rice is cooked to perfection (mainly, not too dry and firm. I like soft rice on the wet side). And the ramen is excellent. I tend to lean toward miso soup base. I'm just a big fan of miso. And this soup is worth sipping 'til the last drop. The noodles are excellent too. Definitely a satisfying meal that lives up to expectations, and a hidden jewel in this city.


Katana-Ya
430 Geary St
San Francisco, CA 94102

Yashima - Covina

E: I discovered this small Japanese restaurant on Yelp. It's on a street I often drive on, and the restaurant is across from Golden Bowl, a beloved chicken teriyaki fast food shop. Yelpers raved about it. I was instantly curious and also a bit skeptical.

E: We started with an order of nigiri - salmon, yellowtail, albacore and bass. I had never tried (or even seen) bass nigiri before. Every piece, except for the albacore, was bland. The salmon didn't have its usual full flavor and creaminess. The yellowtail had the slightest hint of flavor, and the bass was forgettable. The albacore, on the other hand, was excellent. It was extremely soft, fresh and had excellent flavor. YUM.
R: The sushi was unremarkable, and it was hard to taste the difference between the different types of fish.

R: The meat used in the chicken teriyaki wasn't the best quality. The sauce was flavorless and watery.

E: We ended the meal with a rainbow roll, which was topped with salmon, tuna, shrimp and a white fish. The fish was all right, nothing special. But the roll and the crab mix was very tasty. The avocado was perfectly ripe and the crab mix had a deliciously fatty taste. Mmmm... Mayonnaise.
R: The roll was the best item we ordered.

E: Update! A few nights later, we returned to Yashima, and it was such a disappointing experience. On our second trip, R ordered the oyako-don, one of his favorite dishes, but was sorely disappointed. The egg omelette included foreign objects (zucchini, mushrooms, fish cake) and the sauce was spare and bland.

We also had a different waitress who was brusque, not very friendly, and didn't seem to be interested in our questions. I had asked her to check on the price of one of their items, and tell me before she placed our order. She never turned. Fortunately, the dish was the price I thought it was when we received the check, but she left us wondering for the longest time.

It was such a contrast from our first visit; our waitress (one of the owners, we think) was very friendly, very attentive and liked to chat with us! She told us that she is a first-generation Japanese and her husband, originally from the Bay Area, is a third-generation Japanese American.

R: I have no interest in returning to Yashima. The hospitality at our first visit was very good, but the reason you return to a restaurant is for the food. Since both of our visits didn't have very good food and only one visit had good service, we won't be going back any time soon.

Yashima
236 E Rowland St
Covina, CA 91723