I can see why people would be upset about the ""bad"" service. Foodwise this is the closest thing to AUTHENTIC high end sushi in LA that I have experienced. I have been living in Tokyo for 20 plus years.
I visit LA several times a year for business and was very surprised when I was taken here. Kind of on the expensive side and they are NOT very friendly but that is no different from many snooty places in Japan.
Sushi Sushi would fall into the snobby Sushi category in Tokyo where they are not very friendly and the customer is expected to rely upon Itamae san's (Sushi chef's) expertise.
I have been to Sasabune, Sushi Roku, Matsuhisa, Katsuya, etc. since my clients use me as a barometer for Japanese food. Those places are fun and have decent food but are more glitzy and Western. Nothing wrong with that since they do great business.
If you go into Sushi Sushi with those expectations, this is not the place for you. They definitely have a preference for Japanese (speaking) clientele which shows in the change of attitude when they realized we were from Japan.
Concerning wasabi and shoyu, this is consistent with high end places here in Japan as well. Firstly, it's not common to ask for more/extra wasabi. You can ask for no wasabi but it is uncommon for Japanese to ask for extra wasabi when eating sushi.
Some of the more delicate cuts have a ponzu sauce or rock salt so as to NOT overwhelm the flavor of the fish meat.
If you ordered Kobe/marbled beef at a restaurant and asked for A1 steak sauce or ketchup, you would get a disapproving look. They would feel you are killing the flavor of the meat.
Putting so much shoyu on your sushi that the rice breaks apart or having nearly green with wasabi is considered how non Japanese eat Sushi. So the people at Sushi Sushi were probably offended if you ask for either or both.
Anyway, food here is very good but expensive but probably not for everyone since they are definitely not warm and fuzzy which is who they want to present themselves, as a place for only ""serious"" sushi eaters.
Worth trying but if you don't enjoy it, there are plenty of other places to spend your hard earned cash in LA.
P.S. I find Matsuhisa very mediocre for the prices which is also why there are NO Japanese menus or Japanese customers.
That's my two yen!
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