Kula Revolving Sushi Bar

More like a 3.5 star rating.
As with most revolving sushi options, you never know what the quality of it is and how long it’s been sitting on the conveyor belt until you’ve already consumed it.
My favorite was the red snapper with yuzu. A great sweet fish with a wonderful citrus flavor to it. The quality of it was fairly good, although I saw it pass by us several times in the course of 40 minutes. The red snapper needs more love.
They also offer uni and toro cuts (although for the price of $ 2.24, you only get 1 piece since they are considered premium.
The salmon belly, salmon with umami oil, and garlic ponzu salmon are all solid.
The rolls were hit or miss. Some seemed like they were sitting too long and didn’t get a whole lot of loving.
The crispy rice ones were the worst, since they weren’t crispy at all.
But really, it’s cheap and it hits the spot. AND, it’s better than Sushi Stop.

I used to be obsessed w this spot, but The quality is not as consistent as before now that it’s so popular, rolls are sometimes tiny and not well constructed, sometimes they roll around forever and get all warm & soggy. It’s still one of the
Better revolving sushi bars in LA. The wasabi is super sharp & biting here. They need to offer low sodium soy sauce. You’ll have to wait for a seat most nights between 7 and 9, but come earlier and you’ll get seated no problem.

For the food itself this place does not warrant 5 stars, but at $ 2.25 a plate – who’s complaining?!
Process:
Come by, write your name down on the podium outside. Wait. They call your name. (My favorite part) And as soon as you sit down, you can start eating!!! YUSSSSSSSS NO WAITING TO ORDER NO WAITING TO GET YOUR FOOD HGLDHGDHKGAHGH U GET EVERYTHINGZZZZ.
So when I come here I don’t opt for regular nigiri cause lez be real, at these prices those fishes aint top notch. I love indulging in rolls with sauce and the hand rolls are GREAT here. Those have to be ordered with the waiter because they don’t come on the conveyor belt or else they become soggy.
Wasabi: yes, the wasabi looks weird. Yes, I think it’s probably cheap wasabi. BUT be aware, if you get enough of it inside your mouth, you will cry shameful tears. This happened to me last night!
Get the seared salmon.

FOOD POISONING ALERT! Not worth your time nor money. You know the saying, «you get what you pay for» well that does not apply here. On the contrary, It’s priced cheap which is still overpriced for what you get.
You could not pay me enough to ever get me to eat here again. Their sushi is questionable. I’ve had better store bought sushi, at the 711 taste wise. (Desperate times)
Anyhow, the service was exactly what you pay for neither more nor less. If you run out of water, don’t assume that they will come by and ask if you would like for water. Get up and flag them down. Other wise they only other time they will come by is to give you the bill and get their tip.
I drove here from my boyfriend’s house which is in New Hall after reading all the fake hyped reviews on here. (that will dislike my review) Well now, I went there on a Thursday evening a quarter to seven, the wait time was about 10mins. So fairly quick to be seated. Although, It did begin to get very busy right after 7pm. I can’t imagine any of those people waiting the hour wait being a frequent customer.
Everything that I had tried tasted like it was a week old. Their spicy tuna wasn’t spicy but instead salty. Everything was just off. On the bright side they sure are generous on their rice proportions. And it will cost you $ 2.25 per rice serving! To end this story short, I ENDED UP GETTING FOOD POISONING AFTER EATING AT KULA REVOLVING SUSHI BAR! and I have a strong stomach, this is the first time that I have ever had food poisoning. I highly recommend that a food inspector checks them out sometime soon.
I will stick to my regular spot for now, Sushi 661 in Santa Clarita, which is a bit of a drive but it’s worth every second. After all, time is money.
Now, It is so out of character for me to be so negative and hostile towards a bad experience. I would normally say «it’s life» and move on. But in those case I don’t agree. This this experience (don’t forget that I payed for) is okay. I do not want anyone else to have to go through this horrible experience. Kula has destroyed my week by taking so much of my energy and time.
I WISH THERE WAS A NEGATIVE STAR RATING.
STAY AWAY FROM KULA. GO ELSEWHERE, ANYWHERE ELSE BUT HERE. IF YOU HAVE TASTE BUDS AND COMMON SENSE THEN YOU’LL THANK ME.

Kula = quick, tasty, and affordable sushi, plain and simple. Here, they serve conveyor belt sushi, just like in Japan. In general, Kula Revolving Sushi Bar restaurants are great for a casual sushi fix. This review is for the Kula located in Sawtelle Japantown, West Los Angeles. It’s on the bottom level of Sawtelle Center, a compact, U-​shaped shopping center.
After spotting this restaurant on a recent visit to LA, we decided to return and have dinner on a subsequent night. It’s an easy, convenient option. My first visit to a Kula was in 2012 at the Little Tokyo location in downtown LA (
). While the sushi wasn’t mind blowing or high grade, it was fresh and satisfying enough. I left a happy camper and had the same pleasant experience here.
If you’ve never had conveyor belt sushi before, ordering is easy. As soon as you’re seated, you can immediately start grabbing whichever plates of sushi you want off the conveyor belt. When you’re finished eating, your server will add up the number empty plates at your table to calculate your bill.
At only $ 2.25 per plate for most plates, you have to temper your expectations. This is good, basic, and reliable cheap sushi. Over 28 standard nigiri options are offered plus special seasonal nigiri. 28 options doesn’t mean 28 different types of fish. Instead, Kula serves up the same type of fish in different variations. For example, they have regular sake (salmon), soy sake (salmon marinated in soy sauce with a garnish), seared salmon with Japanese mayo, garlic ponzu salmon, and umami oil salmon. That said, there is still a decent variety of nigiri to choose from, from tamago (sweet egg) to shrimp to conch to octopus.
Kula’s nigiri is typically sold in pairs except for the more expensive fish such as the toro (fatty tuna belly) and special nigiri. The special nigiri that were available when we visited were bluefin toro, himi-​buri (premium yellowtail), kishu-​ume (red snapper, a different version than that found on the standard menu), yariika squid, and akashi octopus. Non-​nigiri specials included seared wagyu beef and baked golden sweet potato with vanilla ice cream. All specials were priced at the same $ 2.25 per plate except for the potato-​ice cream dish which sold for $ 3.20.
In addition to nigiri, other sushi traveling around on the conveyor belt include up to over 22 different rolls, over 14 different hand rolls (sushi rice and other ingredients wrapped in a cone-​shaped roll), and 10 different gunkan maki (sushi rice cylindrically wrapped in seaweed with ingredient (s) on top). I’m a traditionalist and prefer nigiri and maki, though I think hand rolls are pretty tasty too (they just fill you up faster).
Sides, desserts, and drinks can be ordered off a menu. Examples of sides include items like gyoza dumplings, fried chicken, crispy rice, salmon and yellowtail cheek (both at bargain prices for small pieces), edamame (soy beans), takoyaki (fried octopus balls), and even ramen and udon noodles. Dessert examples include sesame balls, cheesecake, daifukumochi (Japanese rice cake with sweet filling), vanilla and green tea ice cream, mochi ice cream, and warabimochi (dessert jelly). Again, most of these items are $ 2.25 each with the exception of dishes like the yellowtail cheek ($ 4.80) and noodles ($ 3.99-$ 4.99). Drinks include both alcoholic (Japanese beer — Asahi & Sapporo — and sake) and non-​alcoholic. Hot and iced green tea FTW.
I enjoyed my dinner which consisted of the following 16 pieces of nigiri and maki: uni (sea urchin, 1), mackerel (2), salmon (2), ikura (salmon roe, 2), tuna maki (4), toro (1), squid (2), and hotate (sea scallop, 2) plus a side order of crispy squid. I liked everything. Even though this is value-​priced sushi, the chefs don’t skimp by giving you small, sub-​par slices of fish and excessive amounts of dense rice. Instead, they give you thick, succulent slices of fish on top of appropriate amounts of vinegared sushi rice.
The uni is a great deal. It’s creamy and savory and just as good as most of the uni served at mid-​tier sushi restaurants. Same goes for the ikura. On the other hand, you do get what you pay for with the toro which isn’t melt-​in-​your-​mouth buttery, but not awful either. The squid I had came with tails intact. That was different. I really liked the hotate — smooth and plump. The fried squid was surprisingly delicious, composed mostly of bundles of tentacles, which I like.
At this location, free, limited parking is available in the shopping center’s surface lot directly outside the restaurant. If no spots are available, you can park in the center’s underground deck for a fee. Kula will validate one hour of parking as long as you spend $ 10 or more (which shouldn’t be a problem). If you don’t want to deal with parking in the deck, plenty of free street parking is available in the residential neighborhoods just west of Japantown.

Great sushi for the price! I can’t rate it much higher since I don’t think it’s worth a 40 min wait… and the servers are a bit rushed.
But they are nice and while they may forget what you’ve ordered sometimes, they end up asking you again and getting it right
The best part is that this place generally is self-​service, so you don’t really need any help from them. You just pick up the sushi you want and eat it and go.
$ 2.25 a plate, not bad at all! Can get full for ~$ 20 a person. $ 25 with tax/​tip.
Parking isn’t easy in Sawtelle, but they have a lot here. Good luck with street parking!

Fun experience but inconsistent, mediocre-​to-​questionable sushi.
Some of the dishes were good like the baked salmon with Japanese sauce sushi and the baked scallop with Japanese sauce sushi. It was almost like a guessing game whether or not the sushi you’d pick would be tasty, would taste fresh, or taste like it had been sitting on the conveyor belt for awhile.
The ultimate nastiest sushi dish was the salmon with umami oil. OMG — it was the nastiest, saltiest thing I have ever tasted. My boyfriend thought I was overreacting so he shoved the whole thing in his mouth but immediately regretted it when he began choking on all that saltiness. The only explanation for this awful dish is that someone in the kitchen messed up and poured WAY too much oil or messed up the oil recipe to begin with. Unfortunately, that was one of the first dishes we picked off the belt and it literally started us off with a bad taste in our mouths.
Luckily, other dishes like the salmon belly and tuna sushi were good. The service was great at first but then we became neglected towards the end, having to ask for a green tea refill multiple times.
Overall, it’s a very mediocre place with mediocre sushi.
— TIP: If you’re on Sawtelle, definitely go to SushiStop instead for better quality and consistency of sushi dishes. You will thank me.

Kula is a great place to get a quick and affordable sushi meal. The price makes trying many different things guilt-​free. Today I tried the red snapper with yuzu for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. I may just add it to my regular rotation!
Tip 1: A good way to save money is to get full off of hand rolls. My personal fave is the tempura hand roll, made with real crab and fresh-​out-​of-​the-​fryer tempura.
Tip 2: This place is a safe, no-​nonsense place to eat alone. The environment is relaxed and no one makes you feel bad about having sushi for one :)

We decided to have a carefree fun night on Sunday. With the Golden globes going on at the Beverly Hilton, most of the streets were blocked from us going anywhere. So we just drove around it and end it up close to Sawtelle. knowing that it would be hard to find parking and all, we said to ourselves that we will keep driving till we find parking then we would eat at the restaurant closes to our parked car. So what do you know, we found parking as we turn into Sawtelle from Olympic on the street (Sunday is FREE, yay!) We parked in front of Daiso and the closes restaurant was (you got it!!) Kula. Since we’ve been to Kula in Torrance, we knew what we were expecting, conveyor belt raw fish. However this Kula is a bit of a disappointment compare to the one in Torrance (we gave Kula Torrance 4 stars).
Luckily there wasn’t a line when we got there. We were seated immediately. However the place got filled up very quickly. So we took the following plates in these orders: scallop, crab meat, 2 uni (s), tempura roll, ama ebi and tamago. All and all just 8 plates. Why just 8 plates? Though the raw fish were ok, we know right a way that these were not as fresh as they’re suppose to be (Not bad, just that we’ve gotten spoiled over the years with the freshest fish in sushi restaurants). Out of 8 plates and 7 kinds of sushi, the best was the tamago because it tasted like it was made fresh that day. The worst was the uni (it tasted like it was a few days old. Even the color has turned a bit).
At $ 2.25 a plate (8 plates) and 2 hot teas ($ 2 each), you do the math. It was so cheap that we decided that we will go to the next closes restaurant and eat again, LOL. So directly across the street the closes one is Tatsu Ramen. Since we’ve never been and it’s rated pretty high on Unilocal,so we decide to leave Kula and head to Tatsu for some CARB!!! (so bad!)
So, 2 stars for the great prompt service, 1 star for the ok fish and 1 star for taking my credit card (hide sushi, please take note!). Minus 1 star for that weird tasting and strange brownish green wasabi. So 3 stars.

If you are looking for fast fresh and easy sushi, Kula is the place to go. If you are a sushi connoisseur then keep on going. Kula is consistent if nothing else. They have high volume so tend to have fresh fish up all the time. I tend to stay away from the more adventurous items there unless I order them made to order.
The UNI there is yuck. The salmon is perfectly fresh as is the yellowtail.
Would I go back? As long as I have children that love sushi, I will because you cannot beat the 2.25 per plate price for the quality anyplace.

Ok. I know this place has cheap deal with sushi but they still have average fishes. I come here often when I want some sushi but have not enough time. Crispy rice sp tuna is my favorite and tempura udon is also awesome. Sometimes they have Uni which is my favorite (its not the best but for the price, its the best). Its not a luxury sushi restaurant of course, but compare with the price, I think this place is still awesome.
Service was decent too.

Blech. Mediocre sushi served with less-​than-​mediocre service. Two wait staff roams this cozy revolving sushi shop, and as it approaches dinner time it seemed to have gained a third.
But aside from filling up water, requested items take a century (measured in biased restaurant-​based-​times). We were seated after a table was cleared from the junk of the previous occupants and we started to dive in. No water, no wait staff for at least 5 – 8 minutes to ask us what we wanted to drink. Sure 5 – 8 minutes might not be long, but imagine having waited there without any clear signs of plates or follow up greeting after being seated.
We were not offered wasabi or soy sauce upon receiving our saucer cup. I had to ask for it and then proceeded to wait another 5 minutes for one dime size chunk of «wasabi» to be shared for 4 people. I didn’t realize I encountered the wasabi-​Nazi (reference to the soup Nazi from Friends). Upon giving us our wasabi I looked around for the soy sauce to which I ever so lightly dip my nigiri into.
Guess what? No soy sauce on our table either. First attempt at flagging down a wait staff was everything shy of obnoxiously raising my hand straight into the air and waving, but to no avail. So I spied a ceramic container on another table that most likely could have been the soy sauce container; since I sat inside the booth, I sent forth my aged mother to retrieve the longed-​for soy sauce.
Voila! That was the story of how I received my soy sauce 15 minutes into the linner (between lunch/​dinner) service. Since I haven’t eaten anything that day, I literally just started to eat my nigiri sans the soy sauce, and sans the wasabi I normally put a little on top of the fish.
So my mom and her friend also ordered udon, and they wanted to share it so they got a separate bowl. When my mom requested a spoon you know what she got? She got a plastic to-​go spoon for udon served in a restaurant. Absurd!
I took this trip into this part of town even though I could have went to any other sushi restaurants in The Valley, because this place had a revolving sushi belt. That was it’s only selling point for me.
I have had quite a few and they were mainly in the OC, particularly Irvine where I went to college. I have always had a good experience with revolving sushi belt restaurants because of the fast-​pace split decision of what I want to eat, but this restaurant’s service killed my hopes of finding a good revolving sushi belt in the Los Angeles area.
Someone please help me find one; one that does not neglect you during non-​busy hours!

REPEAT CUSTOMER
The customer service is always excellent. Get there early, as their is usually a wait late in the week and weekends. I love the conveyor belt, it’s like a choose your own adventure.

So i love the idea of kula at all other locations but this one. The food is the same. Pretty mediocre sushi all around for a cheap price so no real complaints. Although its not actually THAT cheap if you eat a lot. Better going to a regular restaurant that gives you a whole roll.
Anyways, the two stars is primarily on how the seat people. They dont really arrange according to party size so they consistently seat parties of two at large tables while the bigger groups wait endlessly for a table to eventually open up. The parties of two get filled into the bar seats because large parties cant sit there as they wait forever for a table. Like… Not smart at all. Not recommended for parties. At all.

I’m not a huge fan of this place. I came here for lunch with a coworker and I was highly underwhelmed. I am obsessed with sushi too so that is saying a lot. I used to tell my friends that if I was trapped on a deserted island the one thing I would bring is a lifetime supply of sushi. Just not from Kula.
I’ve been to revolving sushi restaurants before but this one was just mediocre. The raw sushi pieces didn’t look fresh and the cut rolls were sloppily put together. One of them fell apart before I could even reach my mouth. I honestly kept letting dishes go past me for minutes before picking one up.
The only good thing about this place is how cheap it is. We ended up paying $ 24 for our whole meal but that might be because we didn’t feel like eating anything at all. Sad day.

One of the better Kula out there.
If you’re lucky, you get this cute attentive server Jessica. You can tell it’s her because of her smokey eyes. She quick in movement, refills waters, and super nice.
Get all the Salmon ones, like the ponzu one, etc. The seared beef is tasty too!
My favorite is the hand-​roll for 2.25? Can’t beat there
All Dishes 2.25 cheaper than the market sometimes!

In my last review I said I would stick to non-​conveyer belt sushi places but I found myself in Kula again for a quick sushi fix.
I’ll have to round up to 3.5 stars. I gotta say it is a good and fast way to try new iterations of sushi whether that is the tuna yukhoe (tuna and egg yolk) or the crispy rice with spicy tuna.
This time I got a booth and primarily ordered off the menu rather than grabbing from the belt. I think that makes a big difference in terms of quality. Sometimes you want the quick and dirty with sushi and Kula is just that.

Here goes my 100^th Unilocal review of 2015…
Haven’t tried revolving sushi since I first tried some conveyer belt sushi place in OC with ex-​coworkers and got sick after… (maybe that’s why they are ex coworkers now? Haha). Anyways. After a long day, hubby suggested sushi while driving home. Since we were in low key mood, we stopped on Sawtelle corridor off the 405 on the spur of the moment. There was a long line at Hide Sushi. Walking by Sushi Stop, I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of conveyer belt sushi given my one experience a few years ago. I then recall reading about Kula and figured we’d stroll down another block.
Got our name down on the list when we arrived and sat down ready for the wait. Think we waited around 45mins or so. We got a booth that was very comfortable. Wouldn’t have minded the bar either. We checked «any» seating.
I was at first hesitant, examining the belt offerings and seeing some not so ‘fresh’ plates. We first ordered some hand rolls, real crab and spider. The rice was still a tad warm and tasted yummy. My fav was the spider hand roll, enjoyed the crispy fried soft shell crab together with the real crab bites. Only complaint is the hand roll was kinda half filled, with the half bottom end of the cone empty. Guess can’t really complain for $ 2.25 a piece.
We tried a bunch of plates, eying what look fresh. Most of the sushi cuts were pretty much on the thin side. But then again at $ 2.25 for 2-​pc sushi… hmm… I would rather come here than get store bought sushi at TJ’s, Costco, etc. A bottle of Saporo to share paired nicely with our sushi bites. This was far from a first date type of sushi place but nonetheless a good find for a super casual sushi nite out. Would be fun to bring the kids. So far, so good… tummy feels okay. So, we may be back.

How I feel about this place is really just ‘you get what you pay for’. By no means is it the best sushi I ever had but more like if I’m craving quick sushi for no apparent reason (and don’t wanna pay too much) I would make my way down here bc it’s in my proximity. The moving belts are fun and you get your food instantly!
With that being said, don’t be intimidated by the line to go in bc we usually get called in pretty fast since some people who signed their names end up leaving due to so many other distractions in the plaza lol.
My favs here thus far are the umami oil salmon and eel rolls. The mini salad dish (I don’t know the name) was pretty good too and balances out the heaviness of the sushi. I’ve had the udon (which is super cheap at $ 3.99?) and I remember it being just okay but nothing spesh.
Mochi ice cream was alright – if you’re craving it, but I would just save my dessert quota for another stop (bc so many yummy desserts on sawtelle duhrrrr). I’m in love with the hot green tea here though! It has a hint of a toasted rice taste and for $ 2 you get unlimited refills. Goes perfectly with the sushi.
Service was nice and attentive though sometimes it took longer to check back bc they’re so busy. I always leave here feeling like I’ve come out of a buffet which can be good or bad… I plan on trying other locations of kula.

I love conveyor belt sushi bars. This one was nice since each dish had a cover over the plate. Each plate is the same price.
The restaurant is smaller and limited seating. However we got there early before the crowd.
Service was good. You can place your order for plates or choose off the conveyor belt.
The location isn’t bad, it is situated in a tiny shopping plaza that hosts other asian spots loke a karaōke bar, Daiso shopping and small stores. Parking is limited.
Not a bad place over all. I would go back again.