If you want cheap so-so sushi, there’s Oji on Colorado and Aikan on Green Street.
Depending on what part of Pasadena you’re in, there’s an argument to be made for Ichijiku in Highland Park. At least in the casual/affordable/good QPR genre.
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Oh, if I want cheap, so-so sushi, I have a LOT of local options, LOL!
Thanks for the reminder; I haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. Do you know if/when they’re opening up for indoor counter service? I’m so over take-out sushi, even if I go no further than the outdoor patio there.
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That’s a good question! Haven’t heard about them re-opening indoors, though they are doing a pretty booming patio business.
I think before we get down to Sugarfish, there is Osawa. But they’re only doing limited-menu patio dining at the moment. Battera and other specialties not available.
My husband ate at Osawa’s patio recently and said the sushi wasn’t as good as in pre-pandemic days. Hopefully quality will improve as we edge back towards normal operations. I’ve had some very good sushi there, but very pricey for what it was, and what I really want is a little neighborhood sushi-ya rather than jack-of-all-trades.
We had takeout chirashi from Sushi Karen last week. The fish was fairly good. Planning to try their takeout omakase in the near future. It is nice to have a decent local place for takeout sushi in the current environs.
Good to know, thanks!
tacos poncitlan is returning to pasadena on allen south of old sasoun bakery (which is itself undergoing renovations but still open for business using the southern most entrance of the building) but still north of the school.
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Drove by here the other day but it was already closed…So…Lee’s chicken hoagie or Torino? Which would you suggest if you had to choose?
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Not Pasadena but Yui in Sierra Madre is excellent. $20 nigiri lunch is quite fine. We go at least once a month.
Very nice Japanese flavor.
lee’s chicken hoagie. and tell shahan barry says hi.
and avail yourself of the complimentary assortment of homemade pickles.
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their minds will be blown if they knew they are serving two different secret asian man…
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Lol…
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I’d wondered about Yui–thanks for the rec!
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Anyone been to Saso yet?
Thanks, JL!
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Well, I tried Sushi Karen for a sit-down dinner indoors (no sushi counter right now), and I’m afraid I can’t recommend it. I think I’ve gotten spoiled.
I ordered their “omakase” which was nothing more than the chef’s selections of half orders of sashimi and nigiri from the standard menu. Two sashimi dishes, 9 pieces of nigiri, nothing from the kitchen (except the amaebi head tempura), nothing off-menu. And nothing at all special. I ordered an oshinko roll and miso soup to finish. Total for food was $65.
The fish itself was “industry standard” for the price point, ranging from tasty enough (hotate, unagi, Santa Barbara uni–but $11.50 for a single piece!) to okay to mediocre (mealy, bland kanpachi sashimi–I think it sat in its citrus marinade too long). None of the fish was actively bad.
Service was not attentive. The restaurant wasn’t busy–a two-top and me–but after each order was brought out, my empty plate sat there until the next plate came, only at which point the dirty plate was removed, even though the wife half of the team wasn’t doing much else.
My issue wasn’t so much with the neta, or even the lackadaisical service, but with the shari. It was awful. Mushy and bland; at times it was all I could do to swallow it. Funny, until fairly recent years, I (like many self-proclaimed sushi-lovers, I suspect) didn’t pay that much conscious attention to the rice, but experience–and, I have to say, FTC education!–has taught me to take note and appreciate it. And I found nothing about Sushi Karen’s rice to appreciate.
Maybe it was an off night. 65 five-star Yelp reviews (plus one four-star and one one-star) gave me some hope for a pleasant experience (I know, it’s Yelp, but still…). But it wasn’t, and I just can’t get past the shari. I appreciate mom-and-pop enterprises, and I know it’s really hard for restaurants right now, and I want to support such places, but I won’t be going back.
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