Hana Grill

Hana Grill
15301 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818-905-7312

A friend and I were going to meet at the Sherman Oaks Gallery for a movie.  We got there a bit early and figured we would get something to eat before going to the movies.  I was surprised that the Sherman Oaks Gallery doesn't have many stores anymore.  It is mostly a dining and entertainment venue.

Anyways, as we walked around we saw Hana Grill and decided to eat there.  It's a small restaurant with a few tables inside and, as the above picture shows, there are tables outside.  Hana Grill is a mini chain with a few other locations.  The only Asian person working was an older lady who maybe the owner.  Interesting!  It's basically food court food.  I'm not expecting much.

Shrimp tempura roll-$8.45. This was actually pretty good!  This is better than some regular sushi restaurant.  10 pieces filled with shrimp tempura, avocado, crab and cucumber.  Everything was fresh, except the shrimp tempura- which I'm sure is frozen.  But, the shrimp tempura was good, it even had a nice crunch.  They did add a bit too much sauce, but this was a good roll.

Service took too damn long!  There must have been at least ten people who got their orders before I did, and they ordered after me!!  Ok, most of them ordered teriyaki, but it shouldn't take about 10 minutes to make a damn roll, even though it was during the lunch rush.

The young lady who took my order wasn't friendly at all.  But, to my shock she was nice when she was wiping down my table, while I just got back from picking up my order.  She said something like "I didn't want to throw away the soy sauce, and napkins. I thought it maybe somebody's."  Why she just went through the motions while taking my order, who knows.  The other young lady behind the counter was nice.  She noticed I was standing there waiting for my order, asked me what my number was, and then, even went back to the kitchen to check.  

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the shrimp tempura roll.  Was it the best roll ever?  No, but a solid 8 on a scale of 10.  Which I think is pretty damn good for a food court restaurant! 

Nomura Sushi

Nomura Sushi
14622 Ventura Blvd Ste 207
Los Angeles, CA 91403
818-981-3844

Parts of Ventura Blvd. in the Valley have the nickname, Sushi Row, because there are some great sushi restaurants.  Nomura Sushi is a place I tried about 2-3 years ago and I remembered it being pretty good.  So, I was in Sherman Oaks, and decided to give them another try.

Located in a two story complex, Nomura is a small restaurant with the sushi bar along the left wall and tables in the other part.  Use your GPS because it is hard to find while driving, since the front signage isn't good.  They have a validated parking lot in the back or find metered street parking.

Tuna sushi and yellowtail sushi, $6.50 each.  Both pieces of fish were huge!! Both were pretty fresh but not top quality sushi.  There was also a very small amount of rice, which wasn't sticky, it just fell apart when dipping into the soy sauce.

Veggie hand roll, cucumber, avocado, gobo, sprouts, seaweed and mushroom, $5.50.  I didn't taste or see any avocado.  But, this was pretty good.  The sushi chef handled the roll to me without a plate, not what I expected!

Shrimp tempura roll, $7 happy hour price, $9.50 regular price.  This was a small roll, with a very small piece of shrimp tempura.  Barely worth the happy hour price of $7.  Unless this roll has more pieces at the regular price it isn't worth it.

Service was good.  I sat at the sushi bar and while no other customers came into the restaurant, I got my food quickly and drinks refilled.

I wouldn't go back to Nomura.  It wasn't as good as the first time I went there.