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    LA Hwaluh

    4.1 (52 reviews)
    Closed 3:00 pm - 10:00 PM
    Updated 1 month ago

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    a plate of salmon and vegetables
    Ann M.

    We came on a Wednesday night. First off, for those that seldom frequent ktown for food, the plaza is tiny. The parking is triple parked. When I got there I was so confused but there wasn't any street parking so I stuck my car in a spot. What happens if the two cars parked in front of me needs to leave I wondered. Well the restaurant had scrap paper at the counter for you to write your cell # to place on your windshield. If someone u blocked in wants to leave, they will call u to move your car which totally happened to me mid dinner. So my friend and I went outside to do musical car shuffle. If you aren't used to reversing in tight spots in your car, you may have issues. Now for the food. The menu on the wall is in Korean but they gave us an English menu once they realized we weren't korean. Everything was super fresh. We got the $200 combo that feeds 3-4 and ordered an extra salmon roll. There was so much food we couldn't finish it all. We saw the owner come and net up a big halibut for our sashimi. The meat was so good with the diff dipping sauces. All the raw seafood we had were fantastic. At the end of the meal, we got some very very spicy noodle with fish, kimchi soup and burnt rice porridge. Overall it was a delicious experience.

    Menu 10/3/22
    Fang Of H.

    One of the best places in ktown for korean style fresh sashimi. A very, very much of a hole in the wall place that has been around for 10+ years. Smallest size fresh sashimi (only) is $115 and smallest size sashimi combo (including abalone, other seafood, uni rice, spicy soup etc) is $129. Plenty of food for a male + female, maybe a little bit small portions for two males. A Korean couple running the business. There are about 5 tables even though this place specializes in take outs. Service is not the fastest but it's not slow either. Overall, a pleasant and comfortable dinner experience. General table setup is concise but all dishes are extremely delicious and fresh, everything from appetizers to the main dish (fresh halibut sashimi) and spicy seafood soup to top it all off. **They do NOT sell alcohol but have glasses ready for you if you bring your own. Make sure to buy some from the local Korean markets or the liquor store next door in the same plaza. I honestly really like this as your bill comes out significantly lower if you are a drinker (if you don't drink when eating Korean style sashmi, there would be something wrong with you anyway). Only con is that the menu is only written in Korean, so it would be a naturally difficult experience for non-Koreans.

    J P.

    This is the best/freshest Hwae aka Sashimi you will get in Koreatown! This is a place where it's best for to-go orders. It could be hard to find parking if you are dining in but I always am satisfied with the quality of the fish they use. Everyone complains about the price but you will get the freshest fish for the money you are paying for.

    A combo $99
    Bokyoung Y.

    Sashimi is super fresh! The sashimi price is crazy after pandemic, i was looking for some reasonable price sashimi. The small combo is all over $99 in koreatown including this place, i gave it a try. I never satisfied with the smallest combo in any sashimi place but this place. The side dishes are not many but they serve mauntang(spicy fish soup) in A combo. The fish was so fresh, i love they serve sashimi on top of ice tray for to-go order! The sashimi amount was big enough to feed two people. Next time, i want to try bigger combo with more seafood combinations! I will def go back.

    Uni rice
    Sunny M.

    Had take out: la hwaluh combo 1. Came with so many side dishes. Sashimi was fresh. Abalone and oysters tasted fresh as well. Uni rice was delicious! Didn't get any fried fish but that's okay. Parking. During dinner time it gets pretty hectic in that plaza. Small parking lot. I normally go there to do take out so not an issue. Food is always packaged very well. Will keep going back for more!

    Cali roll part of the combo
    Young Kyung K.

    Don't get me wrong the price and the portion was AMAZING! But this is the one place I wouldn't come too often even with their affordable prices. I saw that they used to have an English menu but that's gone and the only "menu" they had was on the wall. My mom an I ordered the "LA hwal uh combo" which translates to LA live fish combo. It was $74 it comes with a small plate of halibut, sea squirt, abalone, fresh oysters, California roll, uni rice bowl, and spicy fish stew at the end. Usually these combos at other restaurants are $80 or more. The price in my opinion was absolutely amazing! The cuts of the halibut was thick and it was very fresh. Abalone and seasquirt was prepared as soon as we ordered!! :D yumm The uni rice bowl was a bit small.. I did see that the customer base was filled with regulars and they were getting different dishes as us but... that's just something you can't really complain about hahha our uni bowls put together was ONE of the uni bowls on the table next to us :( haha It seemed like the whole family was working that night. The dad on the sashimi, mom with the side dishes and the son with the serving, but I couldn't help but sense that they weren't happy with what they were doing. They didn't smile one bit and none of them cared to ask if their food was any good. I'm very supportive of small, especially family owned, businesses but ...they really made me sad to be eating there. The place isn't great to be honest, it's very run down and ... if you don't walk in to eat there you might actually think they are out of business. BUT they still have A.. so it's okay I'm sure everything's clean haha!! BYOB!! WHAT RESTAURANT HAS BYOB for free no corkage and they are more than willing to bring you shot glasses and beer glasses when you do bring your own alcohol! Would I come back? not too sure but ...it's definitely worth the money here!

    Nicky N.

    What can I say? You get MORE bang for your buck! This place is a hole in the wall with the BEST QUALITY seafood. FRESH! FRESH! FRESH! For only $8 you can get the most fresh buttery uni in a bowl. Uni bowl has perfect amount of sesame flavored rice with 3 different types of caviars, seaweed and sesame seeds. Don't forget they offer FREE condiments consisting of quail eggs, kimchi, pickled dikon, egg soup and soybean. It costs me between $10-12 for live uni (sea urchin) at Redondo Beach but here I'm paying less and it tastes DELISH! Serves was kind of poor. They didn't even ask us what we wanted to drink nor offered us water. Live sea creatures in their tanks:) I must come back to try the live shrimps and oysters.

    Oysters and sea squirt on one plate. Octopus Salad and the Abalone with side dishes shown
    Susan N.

    Update: They had UNI for me!!! And it was AMAZINGGGG so I've decided, I will only come here for UNI! Had the combo again and I'm whatevers on them. I just want UNI UNI UNI! --------- I was just here a few days ago. I believe the yelp hours are wrong. The menu says they open from 3:30pm to 11pm but yelp says 11am to 11pm. I arrived on a Sunday around 6ish pm. Didn't understand much of the menu..ended up ordering the combo for 2 and sadly disappointed to find out that they didn't have any UNI left! I was so incredibly disappointed. I was set on cleaning out their UNI inventory! It's odd that they ran out so quick if they opened at 3:30pm. How can they run out in just a few hours? Anyhow, the lady said they would substitute it for fresh sweet shrimp so I guess that was okay. You know I'd rather eat an ocean of UNI instead! Food wasn't bad for the price. Best combo prices compared to other similar Korean seafood spots around. Combo for 2 included a bunch of side dishes, small plate of Halibut sashimi, sea squirt, abalone, 2 oysters, boiled quail eggs, octopus salad, lettuce and other greens to wrap the sashimi with, 2 sweet shrimps and their heads fried and served later, and 4 pc California roll. Thought the meal was over but the lady came out with another tray of food which I thought was for another party. Turns out it was for us! The finisher was fish stew that had the Halibut fish bones and extra fish meat along with veggies and tofu in it. Stew came with a fried mackerel fish and hot plain rice soup for each of us to slurp on. It was nice to finish with something warm. I'd say food is quite decent. The restaurant itself was run down but oh well. I don't judge by the place. It only fits 5-6 small tables. Tiny place!. There are worse places. If food is good then all else doesn't matter! I'm coming back tonight for my UNI. They better not be out again! Will update rating if UNI is AMAZING....dun dun dun

    Connie T.

    I have been back a few times and have been able to order without calling my Korean friend. Win! They have A, B or C orders of halibut sashimi, for 2, 3 or 4 people, respectively. I believe A starts at $55 and goes up. I am told these come with just a few side dishes. You can also get combos. $65 for 2 people, $100 for three. You get a lot of side dishes with this - edamame, corn, quail eggs, abalone, oysters, spicy tuna roll topped with halibut, sea squirt, rice porridge, baked eel (sometimes), variety of kimchee type items, UNI BOWL, grilled mackerel and I'm sure I'm still forgetting things. You get the halibut sashimi with the lettuce leaves, sesame leaves (gyen-nip), miso, garlic and jalapeno. You finish with the spicy seafood soup. The seafood soup is a winner. It has big, substantial chunks of fish, and usually a sac of fish eggs. Nice flavor. While my friends debate whether they like the halibut better here or Hwal A Kwang Jang, the soup is clearly better here (much more fish and substantial ingredients in general). The $65 combo comes with one uni bowl. They are so good we always order extra so everyone has their own ($6-7 each, I don't remember which). And we always add on a pound of amaebi (sweet shrimp) - $35, and ranges from 5-8 shrimp, we've found. The shrimp is so fresh (fished out of the tanks when you order) and the heads are delicious. BTW - the liquor store that shares the parking lot does have beer, wine and soju, but no sake. So you'll have to get that elsewhere if that's what you want with your sashimi.

    Clara L.

    small spot BYOB the food is fair but not as great as some other spots in ktown service was also very spotty many times, the waitress sat down to drink/eat with regulars which is cool but not when we're sitting there waiting for our food also ran out of a lot of items

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    4 months ago

    I have been here last 5 years. It is fresh always!! And nice service too. If you like live fish, you must visit here

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    7 months ago

    Sashimi is fresh but the others was so so.... not worth the drive all the way to los angeles from san jose...

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    Cool place. Really enjoyed the food.

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    Sushi Enya - Los Angeles

    Sushi Enya - Los Angeles

    4.3
    (1.8k reviews)
    2.6 mi
    $$

    This has been on my bookmarks forever! My wife and I walked in, no reservations and they seated us…read morepretty quickly. Excited as I was, I'm glad we came here, Michelin star says it all. One of the best sushi spots I've had a in a while actually. We didn't really do any appetizers and went straight in for the fish. Started off with a couple of hand rolls, we did the crab hand roll and O toro hand roll. Crab hand roll wasn't as impressive, I've had better to be honest. I didn't let that experience ruin it for me because the toro hand roll was delicious. I think they add a piece of mint and it complimented the hand roll. Very crunchy nori wrapper and good rice to fish ratio. For our sushi we started with chu toro tuna, salmon belly, and halibut. Super fresh melt in your mouth quality. Halibut was interesting with the truffle, first time definitely won't be the last. We ended it with red snapper and black snapper. Absolutely amazing, I think the black snapper or the red snapper was slightly charred. It was so good. To say the least, this restaurant was worth it!

    The place was packed and loud with music, adults, and kids. I knew what i wanted and ordered but…read moreentire service took nearly an hour and i didn't order drinks or dessert. Super slow. Nice of the chef to switch out roe for halibut for me on my omakase. However, probably the worst omakase I've ever had. No creativity, nothing felt premium, chewy fish, flavors didn't mesh, and half of it was salty. The miso soup wasn't scorching, which i appreciated at first but that meant the last few sips were fairly room temp. The real crab handroll was good. If the price point was $35 sushi set I'd give 5/5 but this is supposed to be premium omakase. I've been to other Sushi Enya locations and had good experiences, so this was very disappointing. Stick to the rolls and nigiri.

    Photos
    Chef Jeff adding the truffle on our special handroll. Stop by Sushi Enya in Los Angeles for the freshest best tasting sushi!!
    Chef Jeff adding the truffle on our special handroll. Stop by Sushi Enya in Los Angeles for the freshest best tasting sushi!!
    Sushi Enya Pasadena & Los Angeles Downtown
    Sushi Enya Pasadena & Los Angeles Downtown
    Sushi Enya

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    Sushi Enya
    Sushi Gen

    Sushi Gen

    4.3
    (4.6k reviews)
    2.8 mi
    $$

    Holy Moly! Best lunch I've had in a while! Came here on a…read moreWednesday, 15 minutes before opening only to find a long queue of people already waiting! Had no idea it was going to be this busy on a random Wednesday. But this place is truly a gem! People come here for the Sashimi Lunch ($26) which is an absolute steal considering the quality and amount of food you get! Note: to get the sashimi lunch, you must sit at a table (not the counter). It comes with miso soup, side of pickled veggies, tofu side dish and the pièce de résistance the sashimi platter. They run a tight ship here and understandably so; they want to take care of all their customers waiting. Needless to say, everything was fresh, delicious and most importantly filling. I tend to eat a lot and I left feeling full and satisfied! The Gen Z kids sitting next to me couldn't stop talking about "how low key everything was fire, like seriously, bro" haha I can't.. but I have no doubt I will be back. I'm just mad it took me this long to come. Well worth the wait!!

    There's always a debate about who has the best sushi in the area, but after eating at Sushi Gen, I…read morehonestly think this place deserves to be at the top of that conversation. From the very first bite, you could tell the quality was on another level. Every piece of fish tasted unbelievably fresh--like it had just come off the boat a couple of hours earlier. It's rare to find sushi that makes you stop mid-bite just to appreciate how clean, buttery, and flavorful it is. The salmon sashimi absolutely melted in my mouth and was one of the best I've had in a long time. The tuna was just as impressive, rich with incredible texture and freshness. Every roll and every piece of nigiri was prepared with so much care that it reminded me why I love sushi in the first place. You can really tell they take pride in the quality of their ingredients, and it shows in every bite. The experience went beyond just the food. The atmosphere was warm, welcoming, and had the perfect sushi spot vibe. I wish I could remember our server's name because they were fantastic--giving great recommendations, making us feel genuinely welcomed, and showing us so much hospitality throughout the meal. Service like that makes an already amazing meal even more memorable. Sushi Gen absolutely lived up to the hype, and I already know I'll be back to work my way through the rest of the menu. If you're looking for sushi that truly stands out, this is a place you have to experience.

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Sashimi Dinner
    Sashimi Dinner
    Sushi Deluxe

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    Sushi Deluxe
    Oomasa Restaurant

    Oomasa Restaurant

    3.8
    (1.6k reviews)
    2.7 mi
    $$

    Oomasa Japanese restaurant was a good choice for our dinner. We had a group of 15 with 2 kids so we…read moresat towards the back of the restaurant which was nice. Our food orders came out a little sporadically so a few were done before the last ones even received their dinners. Strangely enough theyneven ran out of rice so a few had to wait until the rice was done cooking. Service was a little slow but ok, no real complaints. The Japanese village shops have their own parking structure which offers 2 hrs free with validation, nice benefit. Parking is full so take that into consideration when making plans.

    Saw many good reviews on yelp so figured I decided take my family here to try for the first time…read more As soon as I walked in, first thing I immediately noticed was a stench inside the restaurant. It was definitely not what I've expected or ever experienced in a Japanese restaurant. We were quickly greeted by the staff and be seated by the wall. The upholstery of our seats were torn. The area where we were sitting was a bit too dark and could definitely add more lights for customers to see their menus. After giving a look at the menu, our server asked if we were ready. I said it's our first time so we need some time to look through the menu. She replied ok and left. We mainly ordered sushi items. Servers brought over each item one at a time. When I almost finished mine, my family is still waiting for theirs. You do see the staff walk by the tables constantly. However, I would hope the servers would ask how is everything and if we need anything else. Overall, sushi tastes fine. I probably won't be back given the experience that we had.

    Photos
    Inside of restaurant
    Inside of restaurant
    Ika geso (fried squid legs) with spicy mayo.  Delicious!
    Ika geso (fried squid legs) with spicy mayo. Delicious!
    Oomasa Sushi Counter

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    Oomasa Sushi Counter
    Hama Sushi

    Hama Sushi

    4.1
    (1.8k reviews)
    2.6 mi
    $$$

    Absolutely amazing. I've said this a few times about other places but Hama might just be one of my…read morenew favorite sushi restaurants in LA. I don't think I've come close to finding another place quite like this that can match the vibe, menu, team, and sushi like you find in Japan, especially at a place like Toyosu market. For those who have been to Daiwa Sushi, this reminds me of it so much! I stopped by Monday around 1:15 and the place was still packed. They close at 2:00 before dinner but people still came in right until the end! I didn't get the name of the waitress or sushi chef but they were both so incredibly kind and attentive! And I loved hearing everyone speak Japanese! (even though I don't!) I think I ordered half the menu and it came out under $100, for the amount of sushi I ordered along with the taste and quality, you really can't beat that for LA sushi!! Some of my favorites included the sweet shrimp and the fried head that came later, the toro sushi that comes as chutoro and otoro, the toro cut roll, salmon belly, salmon, kanpachi, halibut, albacore, spanish mackerel, and red snapper . . . so basically everything I ordered was my favorite!

    Hama Sushi is a great place to visit on a weekday night if you're after fresh sushi without an…read moreinsane wait like Sushi Gen. The prices are very reasonable for sushi and the Chefs at the counter are a great vibe. Parking is validated and can be found in the village parking structure. Keep in mind that the restaurant is a bit small though, so my experience of "no wait" might not hold true for weekends!

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Combination B
    Combination B
    Spicy tuna hand roll

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    Spicy tuna hand roll

    LA Hwaluh - korean - Updated August 2026

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