Yamakawa

We had a 7:30 reservation. Upon arrival, we were standing at the narrow entrance of the restaurant for 10 minutes before anyone paid attention to us. Mind you, this is a tiny restaurant. About 800 square feet at most. We finally got seated after 10 minutes, but were not provided menus. About 20 minutes after being seated, we had to flag down the other waiter to ask for menus. Another 10 minutes passed, and we had to flag down yet ANOTHER waiter to ask to order drinks. There were 2 waiters. We felt very unwelcome and grew tired of having to beg them to pay attention to us. The food wasn't bad, but we had to ask for everything! Menu's, refills, sauces, napkins, utensils, EVERYTHING! They didnt have enough sense to realize what was missing on our table. We felt liek we were invconveniencing the waiters by dining there. \r And to top it all off, at the end of the evening, the owner came and started to clean up after us before our bill had even arrived. One of my rolls did not have avocado in it as promised, but i had decided to keep quiet about it, but after he started being so rude, I pointed it out to him, and told him that he should deduct the avocado price off my bill since there was no avocado. He grunted and nodded, yet he still did not remove the charge. We were so frustrated and angry by then, I just let it go and paid the enormous $260 bill just so we could leave. VERY uncourteous, VERY rude, and the WORST service I have ever received in my life! Andy Garcia was also dining there that night(Apparently he is a frequent diner there) and he had no trouble getting service. nOT nice. VERY rude. I DO NOT recommmend going there.There were 2 parties that walked in while we were there, and were also ignored. One of the parties just left. I wish i had done the same. I would have saved myself $260! DO NOT GO THErE! Owner is soooo rude! Pros: Food is not bad, but overpirced. Cons: Understaffed, inattentive, rude & no manners! more

Now known as Sushi Yuzu, this was by far the most unpleasant sushi experience we had. It took us 10 minutes to get seated to our reserved table (it's such a small place we had to call for party of 8) and stood up front with the kids forever until someone finally seated us. Then it took another 25 minutes for them JUST to give us our menus, because the 3 waiters they had were busy circleing around And Garcia's table. The food, which wasn't all that big of a deal (most of the sushi was room temperature) came out 5-7 minutes at a time so by the time we received our last order, we were already full. The final straw was when the owner approached our table and firmly asked us to control our kids because my toddler had made a mess below his high chair (which we were already planning to clean prior to our departure). He came back a second time and mumbled some more stuff when my 2 year old dropped and broke the soup spoon. Although there were other kids there (especially on Andy Garcia's table) he kept eyeballing us and we felt so umcomfortable, we left with no dessert and treated the kids to Baskin Robbins instead. I won't even go back there on a date night! Pros: Mediocre Sushi at Mediocre Pricing Cons: Service Was Awful more

The old Yamakawa Restaurant prior to the new owenship was a great place for sushi. Decent price, fresh fish, and delicious food altogether. The now club like atmosphere and lack of sushi bar is a disgrace. The mother and son team that used to own and run the business are highly disappointed with the new changes. The mother retired and the son pursued a career in the automobile electronics industry. Goodluck in finding a new Sushi place to go to. more

This used to be our goto neighborhood sushi joint for several years. Not the best in the area, but really good, very reasonable, and a great staff. We were casually friendly with the mother and son owners and always felt really welcome. \r \r After being gone for a while, we stopped in on an early Sunday evening for dinner. First I noticed the total re-design which is a complete mistake (as mentioned by previous reviewers) which replaced the simple but warm atmosphere with some kind of doo-doo brown paint. The sushi bar was replaced by a sake bar. We asked the waitress what had happened and she told us the place had been bought. She had obviously been getting this question a lot.\r \r I literally wanted to cry at this point. It was like going back to your childhood home and discovering it had been replaced with a 99 cent store. Instead of following our instincts we decided to stay. The food was god awful. Nothing tasted right. The miso soup was horrible. we had one cooked roll because we were afraid of anything raw from this place (especially as there was not a Japanese or asian person anywhere and the sushi is prepared out of sight).\r \r No doubt the owners had their reasons to sell (running a restaurant is hard work), but I feel 100% betrayed by the new ownership. They took a great neighborhood joint and turned it into an affront to Japanese food. This place will be gone (hopefully) within six months. Cons: atmosphere, terrible food more

Oh my goodness, I thought I was the only one who felt this way. The place is so ugly now. The food was bad. The service is worse. And that great menu is gone. I really miss the Yama Special (simply one of the best rolls on the planet) \r \r If anyone knows where the old owners went please post it. I would fly across country to eat there again. Pros: Great location Cons: Too many to list. more

My sister and I had dinner here tonight and it was awful. The restaurant was recently remodeled and is under new ownership, per our waitress. The interior walls are painted black and the sushi bar and friendly sushi chef no longer exist!!! I used to frequent Yamakawa's because they served delicious food at reasonable prices and had excellent service. Their menu is entirely different now. The prices are significantly higher, and the quality was extremely poor. The ""chicken teriyaki"" tasted like a dry, boiled piece of chicken with sauce skimpily poured on top. The tempura was terrible--the shrimp were small, vegetables thinly sliced and there was nothing Japanese about the batter. The miso soup was watery and even the plain white rice that came with our meal didn't taste good. In fact, my sister and I were the only Asian people in the whole restaurant (even though it was not crowded at dinnertime). By the end of our meal, we were the only ones dining in the restaurant and no wonder! We caught a glimpse into the kitchen and saw non-Asian chefs preparing our ""Japanese"" meal. This was the WORST MEAL I have had in awhile. I left completely disappointed and very much miss the way Yamakawa used to be--a friendly neighborhood Japanese restaurant that was consistently good. My experience was made even worse because I had taken my sister out as a thank you for a favor she had done for me and we left feeling horrible about our meal, the price we paid, and the hunger we still felt after we left! An elderly Asian couple walked in as we were about to leave and, upon overhearing them comment to each other that ""this place has changed,"" we informed them how awful the food was and they abruptly turned around and left after thanking us profusely for letting them know. Do not waste your time or money here, it is definitely not worth it. A one-star rating is generous. Pros: Nothing Cons: Awful food, awful value more

Yamakawa in Toluca Lake used to be one of my favorite places to go for sushi, and even the occasional celeb sighting. This is true, no more. The place has totally changed... rumor is new owners have recently taken over and the changes are quite clear. They painted the walls black, lost the sushi bar (thats right! A sushi restaurant with no sushi bar!) , and have installed bright neon lights around their new sake bar. I don't know what the new owners were going for, but a good sushi place clearly wasn't their goal. The sushi is not as good as it used to be, and it was a little too warm for my taste. The rolls looked like they were thrown together, cut unevenly, and easily fell apart. I don't know who their sushi chef is, or even he is actually is sushi chef. My guess would be ""no."" All the charm that came with walking into Yamakawa is now gone. While we were sitting there, we saw several people walk in, then turn right around and walk right back out. I wish I had made that same choice. The prices are still good, but it's too bad the food isn't. Pros: good prices Cons: the sushi and the darkness more

Probably the worse sushi place I have ever been to. My friend and I were in the area and too lazy to drive up to Ventura to go to good places like Sushi Dan or Matsuda so we decided to try this place. First of all the rolls were so badly made. Second there was barely any fish in there. I walked out paying a lot of money for bad food. I would highly not recommend this place to anyone who likes good sushi. Terrible...Nippon is right accross the street and is not bad for a quick bite. Pros: Good location Cons: BAD sushi. Very small pieces of fish and badly made roles. more

Yamakawa restaurant has everything you want in a sushi bar: fresh sushi, coziness, friendly staff and consistent quality and low prices. The sushi chef, Eddie, surprises you with delicate and tasty side dishes and remembers how you like your sushi and sashimi served. There is a shabu shabu bar, full Japanese memu ( order the tempura) as well as a private tatami room for parties. Nice local crowd of regulars gives the place ambiance and honest cheer. Group arrangements easy to make. Highly recommended. Pros: Inexpensive, Good parking, good atmosphere more

This is a good restaurant for Sushi and Japanese dishes. The chicken Teriyaki is great. Their green tea is also very good as is their ice creams. The only thing that's a downer for me is that they do not have Tonkatsu on their menu. Overall though, a very good place to eat. Pros: Sushi, Tempura, Chicken Teriyaki, service Cons: No Tonkatsu, Limited parking more

I like everything about this place. The ambiance, the food, the service and very affordable. The fish are fresh and tasty. more

Small and sometimes a bit crowded, this place has a great lunch menu. It is very affordable and you get plenty of food. One of my favorite Japanese lunch places in the area. Pros: good food, fresh Cons: small, parking more

The sushi here is very good. Always fresh and served by very friendly wait staff. Their rainbow rolls are fantastic, and their shrimp tempura rolls are the best I've had in a long time. Their tempura is also very crisp and tasty. Check out their lunch and dinner specials; they have a nightly dinner box special for $9.95 that includes your choice of sashimi or teriyaki and has rice, salad, a dumpling, soup and tea included. more

great sushi and hard to find real crabmeat excellant service very friendly more