Japonica

The Baseline

The Baseline: For Sushi the fish needs to be fresh, the presentation must be good, there must be a selection of accompanying offerings, and there are unique offerings. Food: Loved the rolls the night I came here. First a spicy tuna roll is my “judgement roll” for a sushi restaurant and it was an above the baseline roll. The tuna was substantial and the spicy was enough and the roll held up to my chopstick holds not breaking apart. My other selection was the Dungeons and Dragons roll that was a Natural 20 for flavor and consistency. The eel was well prepared and the tuna was tasty. Also was able to try the ramen which had a good noodle pull and the broth was well bodied. The spicy edamame was a great starter and I wished I had finished the beans so I could have used the sauce for my roll dips. The Smoked Soy Sauce that Japonica offers is a nice unique add from the restaurant. If you need a beer to pair with your meal then order the Japonica rice ale which is brewed locally from the El Segundo Brewery nearby. The food was great the night I visited. Service: Had great service the night I came Frank and the staff were accommodating, engaging, polite, and were able to give good suggestions as it was my first time here. Ambiance: The restaurant is well themed for Japanese sushi and is located in downtown El Segundo. The restroom was decently clean and the space has a decent flow but the arrangement of tables line up galley style against the kitchen (aka there will be traffic walking by on a busy night). Overall it is an above average location so it is a great place to come for an evening.

Brent

Excellent Sushi I love their tuna combinations, super high-quality fish, excellent service great vibes always busy & carry out is nonstop. All good signs. The service at all locations is consistent i personally prefer the one in El Segundo.

brian inamine

A wonderful dining experience. Excellent unagi bowl. The eel was moist and well seasoned. The veggie tempura was crispy outside and tender inside. The salad was fresh. Our server was efficient and pleasant.

N U

Solid happy hour time near the airport. Came during memorial weekend, and it was not crowded. Nice private parking for the restaurant. Also, many street parking is available. My server is super sweet and on top of it. Overall, a good choice in the lax area

Mario Winston

Hands down the best sushi I have had in a very long time. Amazing dishes and great service. It was a perfect night to sit outside, sip plum wine, and enjoy some wagyu beef cooked at the table. 1st time here, definitely won't be the last.

Sam S

Fun traditional sushi with a twist. The flavor profiles are inviting and refreshing. Would like to return to try more. Very warm staff and overall service. Revisiting this place I got the Cilantro TanTan Ramen this time and absolutely loved it, the. sushi was also next level with the baked salmon and the bluefin warrior, both slappers! STILL holding down the fort and I noticed they expanded to other locatoins.

One of my favorite sushi spots! I get the Jessica albacore which is definitely the best roll on the menu (in my opinion) The spicy edmame + the crispy tuna which never disappoints. Also a classic spicy tuna hand roll that has that perfect crunch. I love everything about this spot and will always come again!

Kensley Gray

One of my favorite sushi spots! I get the Jessica albacore which is definitely the best roll on the menu (in my opinion) The spicy edmame + the crispy tuna which never disappoints. Also a classic spicy tuna hand roll that has that perfect crunch. I love everything about this spot and will always come again!

Brian McCullough

just hit up this sushi spot and it was straight-up awesome! The rolls were crazy good, super creative, and delicious. Service was on point. everyone was chill and made the vibe perfect. The smoked soy sauce was a nice. Already hyped to go back for more!

Decided to give this spot a try while picking up a family member from LAX, and we are overall pretty satisfied with the options and seafood! We are pretty spoiled with the sushi we have around in Orange County, but this place had some good rolls and appetizers! The Miso soup and the edamame were as expected and had great flavor! The edamame needed a little salt to have an extra bite to it, but it had a good flavor and tasted fresh! Miso soup stayed hot after the hour-long drive back home, and I was thoroughly surprised and very pleased with the overall taste and amount. As far as the rolls, I would have liked the rolls to have a bit more variety to pick from as their "Craft Rolls" since these are more of what the chef comes up with and picks. The Citrus Sakura was one that I think needs some attention as the flavor was lacking the lemon zest, which made it taste a lot more bitter than zesty with the salmon. Maybe add a sauce? As far as the Kyoto Kryptonite and the Bumblebee Tuna, these were awesome options because of the sauce. They were good by themself, however, the sauce was needed and made the rolls that much better. Overall, not bad! Would still recommend giving it a shot and see how you like the rolls. not a bad place at all, but not the best place I have had, that's all! Sweet, short girl at the front greeted me with a beautiful smile right off the bat, and I appreciated her friendliness as soon as we walked in, even during a busy night! The place was poppin' and had a lot of traffic going in and out. Seemed to be a good local spot with good music and sports on!

We have eaten rather a lot of Japanese food. 2 things set this place apart: 1) a unique mix of flavors in their rolls that you won't find at typical Japanese Restaurants and 2) the smoked soy sauce. This may not sound appetizing but it is actually excellent - so good that we bought a (pretty expensive at $18) bottle to take home as we use a lot of soy sauce in our home cooking. This is a unique, delicious flavor that will go well with a lot of Chinese & Japanese food. The 1-2 combo make this restaurant well worth a visit. Also, they have a good selection of Sake, a bonus with their flavors. The reasons for 4 stars vs 5 stars: The fish itself is good quality - not the best we have ever had, but in the top 25%. The cuts are rather small, not the smallest but definitely not the most generous. Food presentation is quite good, the staff is quite friendly, vibe is rustic with 80s-90s rock hits. Overall, definitely recommend this place for an interesting twist on Japanese fare.

I’ve been to this location twice now. Service has been very good both times! Our first visit had a large group and service was very quick and servers were attentive. Second visit was a small group and all was good. I am not a fan of sashimi but they have lots of other great options. The tantan was very good both times. The brussel sprouts are amazing and everyone in both groups loved them. The sushi rolls all looked amazing. Prices are reasonable and didn’t break the bank!

I came to Japonica for dinner with my fiancee - we had try it before with doordash and the food was really good. So we decided to try the dine-in. The food is really good, fresh fish and good flavors combinations on the roll. The service was friendly, but some waiters were a bit distracted. I’ll be coming back to try new dishes.

Mitchell Neller

Decided to give this spot a try while picking up a family member from LAX, and we are overall pretty satisfied with the options and seafood! We are pretty spoiled with the sushi we have around in Orange County, but this place had some good rolls and appetizers! The Miso soup and the edamame were as expected and had great flavor! The edamame needed a little salt to have an extra bite to it, but it had a good flavor and tasted fresh! Miso soup stayed hot after the hour-long drive back home, and I was thoroughly surprised and very pleased with the overall taste and amount. As far as the rolls, I would have liked the rolls to have a bit more variety to pick from as their "Craft Rolls" since these are more of what the chef comes up with and picks. The Citrus Sakura was one that I think needs some attention as the flavor was lacking the lemon zest, which made it taste a lot more bitter than zesty with the salmon. Maybe add a sauce? As far as the Kyoto Kryptonite and the Bumblebee Tuna, these were awesome options because of the sauce. They were good by themself, however, the sauce was needed and made the rolls that much better. Overall, not bad! Would still recommend giving it a shot and see how you like the rolls. not a bad place at all, but not the best place I have had, that's all! Sweet, short girl at the front greeted me with a beautiful smile right off the bat, and I appreciated her friendliness as soon as we walked in, even during a busy night! The place was poppin' and had a lot of traffic going in and out. Seemed to be a good local spot with good music and sports on!

Matt Peters

We have eaten rather a lot of Japanese food. 2 things set this place apart: 1) a unique mix of flavors in their rolls that you won't find at typical Japanese Restaurants and 2) the smoked soy sauce. This may not sound appetizing but it is actually excellent - so good that we bought a (pretty expensive at $18) bottle to take home as we use a lot of soy sauce in our home cooking. This is a unique, delicious flavor that will go well with a lot of Chinese & Japanese food. The 1-2 combo make this restaurant well worth a visit. Also, they have a good selection of Sake, a bonus with their flavors. The reasons for 4 stars vs 5 stars: The fish itself is good quality - not the best we have ever had, but in the top 25%. The cuts are rather small, not the smallest but definitely not the most generous. Food presentation is quite good, the staff is quite friendly, vibe is rustic with 80s-90s rock hits. Overall, definitely recommend this place for an interesting twist on Japanese fare.

Stephen Bolish

I’ve been to this location twice now. Service has been very good both times! Our first visit had a large group and service was very quick and servers were attentive. Second visit was a small group and all was good. I am not a fan of sashimi but they have lots of other great options. The tantan was very good both times. The brussel sprouts are amazing and everyone in both groups loved them. The sushi rolls all looked amazing. Prices are reasonable and didn’t break the bank!

Casual Japanese spot with sushi and ramen options. Came here for dinner with some friends and were able to walk in without a wait on a weeknight. Indoor and outdoor seating available. There’s limited parking available in the parking lot but street parking is also available. I ordered the miso soup and Japonica fried chicken for a light meal, and they were good. You can easily opt to do a family style meal here. The chicken was hot and crispy, with a good amount of pieces.

Shanelle S

Casual Japanese spot with sushi and ramen options. Came here for dinner with some friends and were able to walk in without a wait on a weeknight. Indoor and outdoor seating available. There’s limited parking available in the parking lot but street parking is also available. I ordered the miso soup and Japonica fried chicken for a light meal, and they were good. You can easily opt to do a family style meal here. The chicken was hot and crispy, with a good amount of pieces.

Brendan Mulvaney

Nice restaurant in El Segundo. The waitstaff was on top of it for sure. Always checking in on us, food and drinks came out right away, even when it got busy. Has both indoor and patio seating, which was very nice. Small parking lot adjacent, but a bigger lot around back. The food, however, was just ok and was pretty pricey, even for the area. The spicy edamame was good, the rolls were just ok, not bad just nothing to write home about. The nigiri was ok, but even the “upscale” night didn’t hit the spot.

Really wanted to like this place and it's not bad but It's far from exceptional IMO. They have some unique items but I found the tastes only medocre. The staff was great, however and nice that they have indoor and outdoor dining but it's a weird layout.

As much as I was excited there was a somewhat-new restaurant on Main Street in El Segundo, I was pretty disappointed with the actual sushi. Atmosphere: 5/5 They have both indoor & outdoor seating, both of which are a good mix of modern, clean, cute, and casual. They also have a large parking lot with free parking. Service: 5/5 They checked on us multiple times and turned up the outdoor heaters when asked. Food Taste: 3/5 Note, it’s not bad fish, no one got sick, but there were bad flavor combos. Miso Soup: This was good, $2.99, and came out right away. All of their ramen dishes are miso based, so it’s understandable why their miso soup was delicious. Beef Tantan: Get this ramen dish ($15.99) and you won’t regret it. The only good entree we tried. Final Fantasia: Avoid!! I ordered this $17.99 sushi because it said Chef’s Choice and had a lot of fishes I typically enjoy, but it was the worst flavor combo I can remember. Bluefin tuna, yellowtail, Scottish salmon, kanikama, cucumber, sweet onion yuzu ponzu, micro greens, and soy paper. It was missing either the tuna or salmon because there were only 2 of the 3 fish listed on the menu in the dish, and I couldn’t taste the yuzu. It was my bad that I didn’t realize kanikama was imitation crab, but regardless it really did not go well with the other flavors. When the waitress came back part of the way through me eating it, I told her I didn’t like it and she asked if we wanted something else instead, so we ordered the spicy tuna roll instead. I thought she was taking this roll off our bill because we said we disliked it, but she did not. Spicy Tuna Roll: Avoid!! Who puts sriracha on a tuna roll to make it spicy?! I’m not sure if they were trying to be unique and creative, but this is not what anyone at our table of 5 expected. We had to scrape off the sauce after trying it on the roll the first time and being severely disappointed. Please, find an authentic spicy tuna recipe and stop ruining this dish. Spicy Tantan: Avoid if you can’t handle extreme spice. Out of the 5 of us at the table, we all tried it (some with high spice tolerances) and it was unbearably and unpleasantly spicy. We could hardly eat any and left most of it in the bowl - a waste of $13.99. There should have been a serious warning. We enjoy spice, but this was ridiculous.

Erin Kelley

Really wanted to like this place and it's not bad but It's far from exceptional IMO. They have some unique items but I found the tastes only medocre. The staff was great, however and nice that they have indoor and outdoor dining but it's a weird layout.

Meagan McCall

As much as I was excited there was a somewhat-new restaurant on Main Street in El Segundo, I was pretty disappointed with the actual sushi. Atmosphere: 5/5 They have both indoor & outdoor seating, both of which are a good mix of modern, clean, cute, and casual. They also have a large parking lot with free parking. Service: 5/5 They checked on us multiple times and turned up the outdoor heaters when asked. Food Taste: 3/5 Note, it’s not bad fish, no one got sick, but there were bad flavor combos. Miso Soup: This was good, $2.99, and came out right away. All of their ramen dishes are miso based, so it’s understandable why their miso soup was delicious. Beef Tantan: Get this ramen dish ($15.99) and you won’t regret it. The only good entree we tried. Final Fantasia: Avoid!! I ordered this $17.99 sushi because it said Chef’s Choice and had a lot of fishes I typically enjoy, but it was the worst flavor combo I can remember. Bluefin tuna, yellowtail, Scottish salmon, kanikama, cucumber, sweet onion yuzu ponzu, micro greens, and soy paper. It was missing either the tuna or salmon because there were only 2 of the 3 fish listed on the menu in the dish, and I couldn’t taste the yuzu. It was my bad that I didn’t realize kanikama was imitation crab, but regardless it really did not go well with the other flavors. When the waitress came back part of the way through me eating it, I told her I didn’t like it and she asked if we wanted something else instead, so we ordered the spicy tuna roll instead. I thought she was taking this roll off our bill because we said we disliked it, but she did not. Spicy Tuna Roll: Avoid!! Who puts sriracha on a tuna roll to make it spicy?! I’m not sure if they were trying to be unique and creative, but this is not what anyone at our table of 5 expected. We had to scrape off the sauce after trying it on the roll the first time and being severely disappointed. Please, find an authentic spicy tuna recipe and stop ruining this dish. Spicy Tantan: Avoid if you can’t handle extreme spice. Out of the 5 of us at the table, we all tried it (some with high spice tolerances) and it was unbearably and unpleasantly spicy. We could hardly eat any and left most of it in the bowl - a waste of $13.99. There should have been a serious warning. We enjoy spice, but this was ridiculous.

We've eaten here twice. The first time was probably more of a 3.5 Star experience. Service was a little slow and the food was above average but the server was nice and the restaurant was clean with a clean, easily accessible bathroom The second time we went definitely a 1 Star affair. There were two empty stools at the bar and I asked if we could sit there. The 'host' asked us to put our names in the tablet and she'd seat as ASAP. We put our names in and were the first group on the list. We waited :13 minutes....all the while, the x2 Barstools at the bar remained empty. A group of x3 people came up to the door and a server said she'd seat them right away. My partner spoke up and said, 'our names are on the tablet' and the server just smiled at her. I spoke up and said, 'what she means to say is that our names are on the tablet and we've been waiting for over :10 minutes and that group you're about to seat just showed up....AFTER us'. The server smiled at us, said, 'okay', then sat the party of 3 So I will never come back to Japonica. Not a huge loss for them since I didn't go there often BUT I will do my best to steer business away from them and toward the other Japanese restaurants in town that seem to want to seat all their customers

Overall 2 stars, we ate here tonight and asked for house sake. It was $26, TWENTY SIX dollars for HOUSE SAKE. Be warned! Do not ask for anything from this restaurant without checking their prices. I OBJECT TO HOUSE SAKE BEING THIS EXPENSIVE, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN VOLUNTARILY DISCLOSED THAT IT WAS THIS COSTLY.

We stopped to eat there and they do not cater to vegans/vegetarians much. They have one vegetarian roll. I ordered a salad, which was good and that roll The roll was horrible. It came with sea weed, even though I ordered soy paper, it was very loose like rolled by someone who doesn't know how to roll. The avocado was like guacamole, mushed and tasteless. I returned it. It was unconsumable.

jason

Overall 2 stars, we ate here tonight and asked for house sake. It was $26, TWENTY SIX dollars for HOUSE SAKE. Be warned! Do not ask for anything from this restaurant without checking their prices. I OBJECT TO HOUSE SAKE BEING THIS EXPENSIVE, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN VOLUNTARILY DISCLOSED THAT IT WAS THIS COSTLY.

Schirete Zick

We stopped to eat there and they do not cater to vegans/vegetarians much. They have one vegetarian roll. I ordered a salad, which was good and that roll The roll was horrible. It came with sea weed, even though I ordered soy paper, it was very loose like rolled by someone who doesn't know how to roll. The avocado was like guacamole, mushed and tasteless. I returned it. It was unconsumable.

Stoopid Six

We've eaten here twice. The first time was probably more of a 3.5 Star experience. Service was a little slow and the food was above average but the server was nice and the restaurant was clean with a clean, easily accessible bathroom The second time we went definitely a 1 Star affair. There were two empty stools at the bar and I asked if we could sit there. The 'host' asked us to put our names in the tablet and she'd seat as ASAP. We put our names in and were the first group on the list. We waited :13 minutes....all the while, the x2 Barstools at the bar remained empty. A group of x3 people came up to the door and a server said she'd seat them right away. My partner spoke up and said, 'our names are on the tablet' and the server just smiled at her. I spoke up and said, 'what she means to say is that our names are on the tablet and we've been waiting for over :10 minutes and that group you're about to seat just showed up....AFTER us'. The server smiled at us, said, 'okay', then sat the party of 3 So I will never come back to Japonica. Not a huge loss for them since I didn't go there often BUT I will do my best to steer business away from them and toward the other Japanese restaurants in town that seem to want to seat all their customers

Alex v

I was driving to work and call that place to order sushi for pick up. The person who answered call told me that I need to order online, I explained to him that I’m driving and can not place order online. He rudely told me that is not his problem and hangs up. I been to this place so many times, from now on I’m not spending my money there.