11043 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 479-7636

Hamasaku is located in a strip mall in West Los Angeles and it has gotten the image of a Celebrity Hangout with cutting edge sushi innovations. My reason for visiting Hamasaku was to sample their “Omakase”, which loosely translates into “trusting the chef” to serve you the best ingredients in often times unique dishes.

The first thing I noticed about Hamasaku was the lack of focus on the actual sushi bar. The bar seemed to shrink to the background in a room full of white tablecloths and crystal stemware. It almost seemed like the contractor had screwed up and installed a sushi bar in a Contemporary American Restaurant and the owners just stuffed it full of Japanese chefs in an effort to play it off.

As it turns out, those chefs behind the bar were churning out orders for the whole place while the kitchen was relatively lifeless. The sushi bar menu had all of the expected nigri and rolled items, but the main menu boasted an assortment of hipster rolls with various mayo sauce concoctions and fried crumbles. I quickly looked away and asked for the omakase.

The first plate was an Albacore Salad which was cool and refreshing. Unfortunately, the albacore was poorly sliced and most of it had the “straight from the can” feel. At least the flavor was that of fresh albacore.

Number two was a Soy Paper Wrapped Crab Dynamite. I admit that it tasted great, but how could it not? It had generous amounts of crab doused with a spiced mayonnaise sauce wrapped in a crepe-like sheet of soy paper. I immediately forgot that I had gone to Hamasaku for sushi.

The third course was a Nigri-Style Seared Toro. At this point I was fiending for some “real” sushi, and the Toro was just what I needed…that is before it hit the pan. Despite my original disappointment, this thing really delivered on taste. The slight char was not overwhelming and I really enjoyed the unique flavor.

So, by course four, I wanted to start making use of the golf ball sized dollop of wasabi and ginger on the wooden sushi tray in front of me. I mean they placed it in front of us as soon as we said “omakase” and I was getting really confused about when it was going to be incorporated into the meal. My stomach was nearly full from pseudo sushi creations and I had not yet tasted any fish. So, course four is when I realized that this wasn’t about to change. There were three pieces. Yellow tail, baked crab and a spicy tuna mix which were each on their respective wrapped soy paper bases. The trio was drizzled in eel sauce and tempura crumbles. Again, the flavor was pretty good, but it was a Top 40 Hit. Catchy…but no substance.

Number five was the Fried Crab with Salmon Roll which our sushi chef affectionately called a “special roll”. This is the first plate that didn’t taste good. It had some kind of sausage in it which gave the whole roll a hot dog flavor.

After all of this madness, I felt entitled to try one piece of unadulterated seafood. I ordered the sea urchin and drooled as the chef scooped mounds and mounds of uni on the seaweed wrapped rice. Then…right before serving, he gave each piece a squirt of wasabi cream sauce! It didn’t kill the taste of sea urchin (which was very good), but just the act confirmed what type of sushi bar Hamasaku is.

For all I know, they may have high quality fish and seafood, but they sure try and hide it well. When I sat down and ordered omakase, I expected the freshest fish served up in the chef’s own creations. With the exception of the Seared Toro, it missed my expectations. Also, despite many omakase experiences costing much more, the $60/person price was a bit much considering the amount of actual sushi grade seafood which was served. My final opinion is that omakase at Hamasaku does not showcase fresh fish or creativity well enough and diners are better off just ordering from the menu.

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Tags: Sushi · Los Angeles · Restaurant Reviews · Food ·