Shunji Japanese Cuisine located near Santa MonicaRun by husband and wife Shunii, both very talkative.They almost kept interacting with the guests throughout the dinner. VerykindThe Omakase set meal price is 280$/per. There are 26 noodles in total on the day.Tao is the most filling omakase I have ever eaten. Even the chef said itIndeed, I had a lot of courses that day, usually about 22 courses, and the price/performance ratio was super high!My favorite is tomato tofu and cod liver toast (Picture 56)Shirako sushi is also very specialThe other two performances were also on par. However, I may have eaten too much at the beginning and was a little tired and full at the end, which made the impression of desserts mediocre.I still love this place and will visit again.Next door, there is Shunji's apprentice Miki's omakase room. I heard that the styles and tastes are different, so you can try it out!Shunji Japanese Cuisine located near Santa MonicaRun by husband and wife Shunii, both very talkative.They almost kept interacting with the guests throughout the dinner. VerykindThe Omakase set meal price is 280$/per. There are 26 noodles in total on the day.Tao is the most filling omakase I have ever eaten. Even the chef said itIndeed, I had a lot of courses that day, usually about 22 courses, and the price/performance ratio was super high!My favorite is tomato tofu and cod liver toast (Picture 56)Shirako sushi is also very specialThe other two performances were also on par. However, I may have eaten too much at the beginning and was a little tired and full at the end, which made the impression of desserts mediocre.I still love this place and will visit again.Next door, there is Shunji's apprentice Miki's omakase room. I heard that the styles and tastes are different, so you can try it out!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jim K.
Host was very unpleasant when one in my party was unable to attend due to a trip to the ER earlier in the day for the reservation. Most of the sushi was average at best and two pieces of sushi actually tasted bad. No way this should be a Michelin star restaurant.
Danny Leavitt
Deserves 3 Michelin stars.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tomato Tofu, Sushi Omakase
Connor Tumbleson
Very elegant and peaceful atmosphere with a very personalable staff. Took a few minutes of standing around to find the right door, but then we were set for the evening meal.I've never had fish that tasted so fresh. Sea urchin may not be my jam, but the rest was insanely good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sushi
Jonathan Y.
invited here as a plus one. super intimate and exclusive experience. each course is perfection agedashi tomato is a must!
Steve B.
awful, not great tasting and the chew-toro was more grisly than an all you can eat sushi buffet. I had to walk to the restroom to spit out the gristle..... Avoid it at all-to-much -cost.better places to go!
Jeng L.
Visited on my birthday on a Wednesday night. We drove across town from Alhambra to Santa Monica after work, I can feel my energy was drained to 50% capacity at 7:45pm. GUESS what?! Chef Shunji and Yuko lifted our energy right back up to 100%!No! Chef did not serve us crack, only good food and laughter. Please refer to photo for food as I am only going to write about dining experience.When looking to book on Tock, there are two omakase experiences, Chef Shunji (himself - 6 seats) and Chef Miki (7 seats).Mucho Gracious to my wife who booked the surprised dinner (the day of) for me at Chef Shunji's experience. My evening was beyond 5* on Yelp. I can't wait to try Chef Miki's as well.This is a rather unusual dinner setting. A table of 6 consists of three couples seems normal. However, one of the couple do not drink (alcohol) and nothing wrong with that, but they also requested no wasabi, which I start to empathize, Chef grated fresh wasabi and it was honestly one of the best highlight I had (to name a few), the couple also requested low carb diet, namely half portion of rice on nigiri.Furthermore, it was intended to be a 3 hr meal and they bailed out at 2 hr mark claiming they are already fed and need to go home to attend their baby. I am so sorry to both Chef Shunji and the two customers for such blunt requests and leave the dining experience to now only four customers.The birthday party pretty much only get started for me. I got to enjoy countless (ok, just 4) sakes, and rotate back and forth based on the course. It was so much fun!The two others are literally my new brother and sister, and we have scheduled our next meal together already, to simply have more good food and wine.Chef Shunji and Yuko, who I believe is already good friends with our common friend. He is a great tempered, kind individual with exceptional skill that I felt is the best sushi chef in town. Yuko is so approachable and I really enjoyed seeing how she serve dishes in the traditional manner.Hence, on what appeared to be an exhausted Wednesday night. We left Shunji high in spirit and ready for next culinary adventure with new friends. Thank you so much!
Helen Huang
My husband and I love Chef Shunji and his wife. We love dining at Shunji for the high art of food that we experience there.
My Bach
The happiest place on earth luckily offers one of the tastiest Omakase meals in LA! Shunji San, Yuko San and Miki San will be your most reliable sushi family
Had an amazing some 3 hour Omakase culinary experience. So satisfying. Sashimi melted like butter in my mouth. Everything was pretty perfect for me. So lucky to be able to finally dine here.
Tiffany L.
Kaiseki style with sushi that i was actually full with! I highly recommend this place and we had great conversations with the other guest and sushi chef. The theme was mushrooms so we had a lot of mushrooms in most of the dishes! I exceptionally liked the home made truffle icecream! 1. Red snapper sashimi 2. Fresh salmon eggs 3. Chawan mushi and trumpet mushroom and crab 4. Halibut and tuna 5. Abalone with abalone liver 6. Lotus root mochi with enoki mushroom 7. Golden eye snapper 8. Amber Jack kanpachi 9. Saba. Pike mackeral 10. Scallop 11. Salmon 12. Japanese barracuda 13. Aged tuna for 3 weeks for Boston tuna 14. Belt fish 15. Otorro 16. Sea perch - toro white fish 17. Cod melt fish roe risotto 18. Uni 19. Unagi 20. fatty tuna handroll 21. egg 22. Truffle icecream
Yoo Bin S.
Exquisite dining experience. Appreciated the variety in the course, and the attention to detail and precision of flavors were remarkable. Shima aji and kanpachi were my favorites. Shunji San's sake is also a must try.
Don Nguyen
Truffle ice cream. Not really a fan of truffles, neither is my wife, but we loved this dish. Second time here and this time for her birthday. What a treat! We were able to do the winter & now summer menu. It's funny how Chef Shunji coaxes complexity from what appears simply. Also, some of the best broths/dashi any restaurant I've had. Winter had an amazing clam dashi while today's experience had a brilliant, complex & clean miso with a fumet from the evening's fish bones then topped with a sharpness of fresh scallion. The omakase experience is really top notch. I will continue to ruminate over this meal. Highly recommend the house sake of you enjoy a light, refreshing sake with Asian pear notes.
Don Nguyen (NguyeningIt)
Truffle ice cream. Not really a fan of truffles, neither is my wife, but we loved this dish. Second time here and this time for her birthday. What a treat! We were able to do the winter & now summer menu. It's funny how Chef Shunji coaxes complexity from what appears simply. Also, some of the best broths/dashi any restaurant I've had. Winter had an amazing clam dashi while today's experience had a brilliant, complex & clean miso with a fumet from the evening's fish bones then topped with a sharpness of fresh scallion. The omakase experience is really top notch. I will continue to ruminate over this meal. Highly recommend the house sake of you enjoy a light, refreshing sake with Asian pear notes.
It was just perfect!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Shunji Japanese Cuisine located near Santa MonicaRun by husband and wife Shunii, both very talkative.They almost kept interacting with the guests throughout the dinner. VerykindThe Omakase set meal price is 280$/per. There are 26 noodles in total on the day.Tao is the most filling omakase I have ever eaten. Even the chef said itIndeed, I had a lot of courses that day, usually about 22 courses, and the price/performance ratio was super high!My favorite is tomato tofu and cod liver toast (Picture 56)Shirako sushi is also very specialThe other two performances were also on par. However, I may have eaten too much at the beginning and was a little tired and full at the end, which made the impression of desserts mediocre.I still love this place and will visit again.Next door, there is Shunji's apprentice Miki's omakase room. I heard that the styles and tastes are different, so you can try it out!Shunji Japanese Cuisine located near Santa MonicaRun by husband and wife Shunii, both very talkative.They almost kept interacting with the guests throughout the dinner. VerykindThe Omakase set meal price is 280$/per. There are 26 noodles in total on the day.Tao is the most filling omakase I have ever eaten. Even the chef said itIndeed, I had a lot of courses that day, usually about 22 courses, and the price/performance ratio was super high!My favorite is tomato tofu and cod liver toast (Picture 56)Shirako sushi is also very specialThe other two performances were also on par. However, I may have eaten too much at the beginning and was a little tired and full at the end, which made the impression of desserts mediocre.I still love this place and will visit again.Next door, there is Shunji's apprentice Miki's omakase room. I heard that the styles and tastes are different, so you can try it out!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Host was very unpleasant when one in my party was unable to attend due to a trip to the ER earlier in the day for the reservation. Most of the sushi was average at best and two pieces of sushi actually tasted bad. No way this should be a Michelin star restaurant.
Deserves 3 Michelin stars.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tomato Tofu, Sushi Omakase
Very elegant and peaceful atmosphere with a very personalable staff. Took a few minutes of standing around to find the right door, but then we were set for the evening meal.I've never had fish that tasted so fresh. Sea urchin may not be my jam, but the rest was insanely good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sushi
invited here as a plus one. super intimate and exclusive experience. each course is perfection agedashi tomato is a must!
awful, not great tasting and the chew-toro was more grisly than an all you can eat sushi buffet. I had to walk to the restroom to spit out the gristle..... Avoid it at all-to-much -cost.better places to go!
Visited on my birthday on a Wednesday night. We drove across town from Alhambra to Santa Monica after work, I can feel my energy was drained to 50% capacity at 7:45pm. GUESS what?! Chef Shunji and Yuko lifted our energy right back up to 100%!No! Chef did not serve us crack, only good food and laughter. Please refer to photo for food as I am only going to write about dining experience.When looking to book on Tock, there are two omakase experiences, Chef Shunji (himself - 6 seats) and Chef Miki (7 seats).Mucho Gracious to my wife who booked the surprised dinner (the day of) for me at Chef Shunji's experience. My evening was beyond 5* on Yelp. I can't wait to try Chef Miki's as well.This is a rather unusual dinner setting. A table of 6 consists of three couples seems normal. However, one of the couple do not drink (alcohol) and nothing wrong with that, but they also requested no wasabi, which I start to empathize, Chef grated fresh wasabi and it was honestly one of the best highlight I had (to name a few), the couple also requested low carb diet, namely half portion of rice on nigiri.Furthermore, it was intended to be a 3 hr meal and they bailed out at 2 hr mark claiming they are already fed and need to go home to attend their baby. I am so sorry to both Chef Shunji and the two customers for such blunt requests and leave the dining experience to now only four customers.The birthday party pretty much only get started for me. I got to enjoy countless (ok, just 4) sakes, and rotate back and forth based on the course. It was so much fun!The two others are literally my new brother and sister, and we have scheduled our next meal together already, to simply have more good food and wine.Chef Shunji and Yuko, who I believe is already good friends with our common friend. He is a great tempered, kind individual with exceptional skill that I felt is the best sushi chef in town. Yuko is so approachable and I really enjoyed seeing how she serve dishes in the traditional manner.Hence, on what appeared to be an exhausted Wednesday night. We left Shunji high in spirit and ready for next culinary adventure with new friends. Thank you so much!
My husband and I love Chef Shunji and his wife. We love dining at Shunji for the high art of food that we experience there.
The happiest place on earth luckily offers one of the tastiest Omakase meals in LA! Shunji San, Yuko San and Miki San will be your most reliable sushi family
Restaurantji Recommends
Had an amazing some 3 hour Omakase culinary experience. So satisfying. Sashimi melted like butter in my mouth. Everything was pretty perfect for me. So lucky to be able to finally dine here.
Kaiseki style with sushi that i was actually full with! I highly recommend this place and we had great conversations with the other guest and sushi chef. The theme was mushrooms so we had a lot of mushrooms in most of the dishes! I exceptionally liked the home made truffle icecream! 1. Red snapper sashimi 2. Fresh salmon eggs 3. Chawan mushi and trumpet mushroom and crab 4. Halibut and tuna 5. Abalone with abalone liver 6. Lotus root mochi with enoki mushroom 7. Golden eye snapper 8. Amber Jack kanpachi 9. Saba. Pike mackeral 10. Scallop 11. Salmon 12. Japanese barracuda 13. Aged tuna for 3 weeks for Boston tuna 14. Belt fish 15. Otorro 16. Sea perch - toro white fish 17. Cod melt fish roe risotto 18. Uni 19. Unagi 20. fatty tuna handroll 21. egg 22. Truffle icecream
Exquisite dining experience. Appreciated the variety in the course, and the attention to detail and precision of flavors were remarkable. Shima aji and kanpachi were my favorites. Shunji San's sake is also a must try.
Truffle ice cream. Not really a fan of truffles, neither is my wife, but we loved this dish. Second time here and this time for her birthday. What a treat! We were able to do the winter & now summer menu. It's funny how Chef Shunji coaxes complexity from what appears simply. Also, some of the best broths/dashi any restaurant I've had. Winter had an amazing clam dashi while today's experience had a brilliant, complex & clean miso with a fumet from the evening's fish bones then topped with a sharpness of fresh scallion. The omakase experience is really top notch. I will continue to ruminate over this meal. Highly recommend the house sake of you enjoy a light, refreshing sake with Asian pear notes.
Truffle ice cream. Not really a fan of truffles, neither is my wife, but we loved this dish. Second time here and this time for her birthday. What a treat! We were able to do the winter & now summer menu. It's funny how Chef Shunji coaxes complexity from what appears simply. Also, some of the best broths/dashi any restaurant I've had. Winter had an amazing clam dashi while today's experience had a brilliant, complex & clean miso with a fumet from the evening's fish bones then topped with a sharpness of fresh scallion. The omakase experience is really top notch. I will continue to ruminate over this meal. Highly recommend the house sake of you enjoy a light, refreshing sake with Asian pear notes.