I was surprised to find a yakitoriya so close to me. I often travel to Los Angeles / Torrance to find a izakaya that had a decent yakitori. It was delicious, so I'm bringing the spouse and coworkers (many who've been to Japan to enjoy)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sylvia Lan
The service at Sumiya Japanese Charcoal Grill was friendly and efficient, even though the restaurant was packed with customers. I had high expectations after seeing so many glowing reviews, but unfortunately, the food didn’t quite live up to the hype. The flavors and execution just didn’t stand out compared to other yakitori spots in the area.
I visited at around 8:35 PM on a weekday night, so it’s possible the kitchen was winding down for the night, which may have affected the quality. We ordered several skewers — chicken thighs (sauce and salt), tsukune (meatballs), gyutan (beef tongue), kalbi, jumbo pork sausage, and hotate (scallop) — along with an ontama rice.
Most of the grilled meats turned out a bit dry, and the seasoning felt uneven. The hotate skewer was the standout — perfectly tender and nicely grilled. Unfortunately, the other items lacked the juicy, charcoal-flavor I was hoping for.
The ontama rice was also disappointing. I’ve had an excellent version at Gaku before, so I was expecting something similar, but this one missed the mark — the flavor and seasoning just felt off.
That said, I might give Sumiya another try earlier in the evening to see if the experience is different when the kitchen isn’t close to closing. The service and atmosphere were great, so I’m hoping it was just an off night.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Yong Park
I love it when the Japanese dude was the grill chef, now the Mexican bro serve me full raw liver that give me stomachaches entire night.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 4
Gustavo Arias
The food is good and it arrives relatively fast, I really liked the chicken hearts, the beef tongue and the grilled squid!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Junior
I had the best dinner 🍽 Meat skewers were tender just the way I like it. And the Gobu fries were different but I enjoyed them 😋 My 1st time and I give it a go! Im definitely eating here again!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Charlene Mae Millare Taa
I love this restaurant. I usually get the chicken skin, shiitake mushrooms, and raw squid/octopus with wasabi. I honestly think this place has gotten much better over the years. The first time I had it was almost 10 years ago. Back then, I would get the donburis (rice bowls). Their raw squid/octopus back then was a lot spicier and I could only eat a bit in between bites of other dishes. This time, they added seaweed and it wasn't as spicy. I was actually able to enjoy it more and almost ordered another portion. It was perfectly balanced. I liked it before when it was punchier but now, I love it even more. Highly recommend this place even though their prices have definitely gone up over the years.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
J B
food is always great here but today the mackarel had a lot of bones, i couldn’t enjoy it as much.
Kate Smith
I love it here - the food is SO good, service is quick and gracious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ngoc Tran
Nice charcoal grill place. We love the duck breast, chicken wings, hearts, and oyaki don.
Maria Bongco
Love everything they served but my favorites are the duck, tongue, and kalbi. While most of the servers don't speak English, they were polite. We were a group of 9 and were celebrating birthdays. We lingered a little bit longer. It's a busy place. They told us nicely, that they have 3 more groups to sit. Reservations can be done through yelp.
i saws two elder lady with glasses not treating that innocent man with respect
Service: 1
Chieh-wen Chen
One of my favorite
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jiacheng Liu
The taste went down quite a lot… sad…
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Nicole D.
The food here is delicious and rivals skewer places that I have visited in Japan. Everything tastes fresh and flavorful, and you can tell that a lot of care was put into each dish. The dining area can be crowded as it isn't too big, but we were able to get a table on a weekend dinnertime with only a 15 minute wait.
I definitely recommend the skewer bento set so you can try a bit of everything!
I was surprised to find a yakitoriya so close to me. I often travel to Los Angeles / Torrance to find a izakaya that had a decent yakitori. It was delicious, so I'm bringing the spouse and coworkers (many who've been to Japan to enjoy)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The service at Sumiya Japanese Charcoal Grill was friendly and efficient, even though the restaurant was packed with customers. I had high expectations after seeing so many glowing reviews, but unfortunately, the food didn’t quite live up to the hype. The flavors and execution just didn’t stand out compared to other yakitori spots in the area.
I visited at around 8:35 PM on a weekday night, so it’s possible the kitchen was winding down for the night, which may have affected the quality. We ordered several skewers — chicken thighs (sauce and salt), tsukune (meatballs), gyutan (beef tongue), kalbi, jumbo pork sausage, and hotate (scallop) — along with an ontama rice.
Most of the grilled meats turned out a bit dry, and the seasoning felt uneven. The hotate skewer was the standout — perfectly tender and nicely grilled. Unfortunately, the other items lacked the juicy, charcoal-flavor I was hoping for.
The ontama rice was also disappointing. I’ve had an excellent version at Gaku before, so I was expecting something similar, but this one missed the mark — the flavor and seasoning just felt off.
That said, I might give Sumiya another try earlier in the evening to see if the experience is different when the kitchen isn’t close to closing. The service and atmosphere were great, so I’m hoping it was just an off night.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
I love it when the Japanese dude was the grill chef, now the Mexican bro serve me full raw liver that give me stomachaches entire night.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 4
The food is good and it arrives relatively fast, I really liked the chicken hearts, the beef tongue and the grilled squid!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I had the best dinner 🍽 Meat skewers were tender just the way I like it. And the Gobu fries were different but I enjoyed them 😋 My 1st time and I give it a go! Im definitely eating here again!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I love this restaurant. I usually get the chicken skin, shiitake mushrooms, and raw squid/octopus with wasabi. I honestly think this place has gotten much better over the years. The first time I had it was almost 10 years ago. Back then, I would get the donburis (rice bowls). Their raw squid/octopus back then was a lot spicier and I could only eat a bit in between bites of other dishes. This time, they added seaweed and it wasn't as spicy. I was actually able to enjoy it more and almost ordered another portion. It was perfectly balanced. I liked it before when it was punchier but now, I love it even more. Highly recommend this place even though their prices have definitely gone up over the years.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
food is always great here but today the mackarel had a lot of bones, i couldn’t enjoy it as much.
I love it here - the food is SO good, service is quick and gracious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nice charcoal grill place. We love the duck breast, chicken wings, hearts, and oyaki don.
Love everything they served but my favorites are the duck, tongue, and kalbi. While most of the servers don't speak English, they were polite. We were a group of 9 and were celebrating birthdays. We lingered a little bit longer. It's a busy place. They told us nicely, that they have 3 more groups to sit. Reservations can be done through yelp.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Food looks amazing... can wait to try it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
i saws two elder lady with glasses not treating that innocent man with respect
Service: 1
One of my favorite
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The taste went down quite a lot… sad…
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
The food here is delicious and rivals skewer places that I have visited in Japan. Everything tastes fresh and flavorful, and you can tell that a lot of care was put into each dish. The dining area can be crowded as it isn't too big, but we were able to get a table on a weekend dinnertime with only a 15 minute wait.
I definitely recommend the skewer bento set so you can try a bit of everything!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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