Will Sushi Ginza Onodera Immediately Become LA’s Priciest Sushi?

Worldwide restaurant star Sushi Ginza Onodera is opening imminently in Los Angeles, with a scheduled arrival sometime early next month. The high end restaurant chain, with outlets in Hawaii, Paris, Shanghai, and New York City, plans to upend the current sushi status quo in the city, and could well be on that path after securing a Michelin star for their East Coast outlet, which just opened in May.

The massively popular Sushi Ginza Onodera is known for their high-end omakase menu, serving wild-caught fish using a direct import line straight from Japan. The price for the multiple-course premium sushi menu hovers at about $400, but at least according to some is absolutely worth the price tag. For this seventh global location, chef Yohei Matsuki will be on hand serving diners nightly.

The West Coast iteration of Ginza lands on what is surely the hottest corner in West Hollywood right now, underneath EP & LP at the intersection of La Cienega and Melrose. The space is going to be super elegant and slim though, with just 16 seats around a long L-shaped bar designed by And Yo & Co. The plan is to run hours Tuesday through Sunday to start, reservation only, for dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. Last call on seats will happen at 9 p.m. those nights, giving diners a chance to be properly paced through their meal.

So how will Sushi Ginza Onodera fare in Los Angeles, a city known for its plethora of quality Japanese restaurants? It’s pretty unlikely that with a North American Michelin star, just a few seats, and plenty of global dining cache that the place falls flat on its face, but still: Can Los Angeles handle another sushi spot at this price point? The exquisite Q Sushi in Downtown does decent business operating in largely the same stratosphere, while other options like Shibumi (which isn’t sushi-focused) keep earning tons of praise from diners and critics alike.

On the other hand, there’s certainly room in the ultra-luxe market now that Urasawa seems to have disappeared. Expect to be able to find out for yourself if Sushi Ginza Onodera is worth the hype by next month.

Sushi Ginza Onodera
609 N. La Cienega Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA

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