Sushi Sorafune

…so.expensive. it’s not worthy. Around 7pm I went there with my friend however we were only people in the restaurant. and my friend and I order Uno ban, dinner box ($ 19 each), six piece spicy yellow tail roll ($ 7). those were not bad but all the fish skin were peeling off. While we were eating, one of waiter stand right next to me and kept staring me until I finish my dish. …so.expensive. its not worthy

I’m not surprised this restaurant closed. It was expensive and the sushi was just ok. I ate here three times, but it didn’t impress me much, so I haven’t been back in about two years.

I heard this place closed down. I am very sad… :(
I loved the Chirashi bowl here. It was such a large portion, its almost silly not to share with someone. I’ve gotten by own before and I had a very hard time trying to finish it. The fish always tasted very fresh and even the rice was pretty good. For $ 30, you got a bowl of seafood heaven.
The place was very tiny but I never saw a lot of people in there. They were located at the corner of a small street so I’m surprised they didn’t get more visitors.

I was craving for sushi for a long time, so I found this place near by my place to try. I was very surprised to see a decent sushi place in monetery park and I wasn’t expecting it at all.
We ordered a chirashi bowl, salmon roll (we asked for it) & sorafune roll. Chirashi bowl was HUGE! It was definitely enough for 2 people to share. The top section was filled with fresh fish with nice decoration and bottom section had rice. I liked the freshness of the fish. Rolls were pretty good too. Especially the sorafune roll (a shrimp tempura, some sashimi inside the roll and topped with spicy tuna) was pretty big and also had a lot of fresh fish inside, too.
I admit that the fish quality is better than most of sushi places around here. However, $ 30 for chirashi bowl (even though it was HUGE) and $ 18 per roll is little too pricey to me.
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Food: 4 stars
Service: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars

CHIRASHI BOWL IS THE BOMB! The chirashi bowl was ginormous! I decided to share a bowl with a friend since I know that a typical chirashi bowl is pretty bit itself but I didn’t know it would be THAT BIG! Anyway, it was well worth it for $ 30.00. The presentation itself was really nice, there’s 4 pieces of salmon, 4 pieces of tuna, a few pieces of octopus, spicy tuna, and many more. Rice is on the bottom section. (comes in two section– top is sashimi, bottom is rice. rice is sweet too!)
Rainbow Roll — the fishes on top of the rolls are really thick
Spicy Tuna Roll — Thick tuna fishes inside the rolls with their spicy creamy sauce
Overall, this place is good and legit! It’s not nicely decorated like other japanese restaurants but this place is clean! Also, it’s a little small so there might be a wait if you come during their busy hours or days…
Their sashimi is really fresh so you can’t go wrong!

I finally found one decent Sushi restaurant by my house!
This place is tiny, if i am not mistaken… I believe it’s running by a cute older Japanese couple.
Frankly speaking, I was a little bit hesitant when I first saw the price on the items without knowing how they would look like.
I ordered the spicy tuna cut roll and the dinner box (sushi with beef teriyaki). The fish quality was decent, however, I feel like the beef teriyaki was a little bit over-​cooked, it was a little chewy. But I feel the price for the sushi box was a pretty good deal. I normally not much a fan for Saba (they are quite fishy), but I feel this restaurant prepared it well enough to remove the fishy taste in the Saba.
I will definitely return to this place for a second try on their other dishes.

I visited this place last night with a friend, as we had been planning to catch up for a long time. Originally, we decided to get Half & Half, which is basically down the street, but then realized we were hungry for actual food (more like craving raw fish)
It was 9pm and we decided we didn’t have a lot of options for sushi, so we found Sorafune, which was a few blocks down from where we were
Finding the place itself was somewhat awkward; although it’s on the street corner, it’s a small street and was poorly lit. Nevertheless, we found the place and were excited to be able to eat!
— FIRST IMPRESSIONS: the place inside looked quaint, clean, with a modern feeling to it. However when we tried to open the door, it was locked. Both my friend and I were seriously confused because the sign next to the door clearly stated that they closed at 10. At this point, a cute, old Japanese woman runs out and unlocks the door for us, so I guess they weren’t expecting any more customers for the night (which turns out to be true since we were the only ones in there from 9 to closing)
OH YEAH! and they have a July special where if you pay with cash, you get an additional 10% off your meal!
— FOOD: 1) Chirashi (~$ 30): 23pcs of sashimi (listed on the menu) pretty good, but I’ve definitely had better. Some cuts of fish tasted a lot fresher than others, which was kind of a disappointment since I’m a HUUUUGE sashimi fan. The sushi rice itself was pretty well cooked. ³⁄₅
2) Spicy Tuna Roll (~$ 7): somewhat pricy for a small roll, and granted it was SPICY, but the fish didn’t taste very fresh. The spiciness alone overpowered the taste of the fish, so it was meh. 2.5÷5
3) Spicy Albacore Roll (~7): I didn’t like this roll at all, so my friend ended up finishing it. Can’t really say much about it, except that the fish tasted REALLY WEIRD (not the usual albacore taste) and somewhat pungent? ¹⁄₅
— SERVICE: The little old lady was very sweet. She constantly refilled our water and was attentive (well I would hope so since we were the only ones there)
— OVERALL: I probably wouldn’t go here again, since there are so many sushi joints around the 626 area with better, fresher cuts of fish (for less too). Our bill came to about $ 45 w/​o tip, since we paid with cash and got the 10% off deal

I should have revised this a year ago, I hope my previous post hasn’t led too many astray since then.
it’s gone downhill fast. Once upon a time their Chirashi was excellent, both in quality and value. Along the way, they started using poor quality or leftover fish instead. We thought the first time was an anomaly, but after five exactly the same experiences we stopped coming at all.
I’m sad because the owners are delightful, hard working people but bad is just bad, no matter how you bite into it. Ordering the daily specials was better, the quality was still pretty good but the Chirashi was inedible.
Can no longer recommend.

Overall, Sorafune serves up decent sushi. I wasn’t overly impressed, as I think nearby Taihei trumps them out of the water. Based on taste and texture, I wouldn’t grade their sushi at an A+ but fares better than a lot of the sushi spots in the area.
Spicy tuna roll — One of the few places that uses a lot of spicy mayo. I have to complain when restaurants don’t make their spicy tuna spicy enough. If I wanted a tuna roll, I would’ve ordered a tuna roll. Sorafune definitely makes it with a kick here.
Sushi — Hamachi: Very pale pink flesh but something about it tasted a little off. Eel: Toasted with just a bit of crunch on each end. Too much eel sauce drenched which made it too sweet.
The restaurant is very small and we had the pleasure of sitting at the sushi bar. We were able to watch the owner work his tail off. He drives from NoHo at the butt crack of dawn every morning to the fish markets so he can hand-​select his inventory for the day. Very nice guy with a lot of heart.
Their menu is very limited so if you have others in your party that might be persnickety about eating fish, you might want to go somewhere else.

What is up with the sudden 20% tip that’s added to your bill? We were a party of two! I would normally give them that much anyway but I don’t appreciate when it’s just added on as a matter of routine. That’s so presumptuous.

Best sushi I’ve had in my life.
I like sushi a lot, however, I think it’s completely overpriced for what it is. More so, than any other food.
Save your speech about how delicate the rice/​vinegar ratio has to be. How skilled the chef’s hand needs to be, blah blah blah! I’ve made coq au vin from scratch… THAT shit takes time and skill!
I digress!
This sushi restaurant is a tiny blimp, in Monterey Park. Have your navigation on full blast, and you still might miss it. However, if you find it, you’re in for a treat.
Their fish is so incredibly fresh. Their creations, are very original, and because of that, I had questions, and the staff was more than willing to answer with a huge smile. They were genuinely excited to tell us about how to eat certain things.
Sorafune isn’t cheap, however. For two, without alcohol, we EASILY racked up $ 75 worth of food, and we weren’t even full. This goes back to my original point though.
Still, food was terrific, the staff was incredibly helpful and attentive!
I’m definitely a fan!
Food: 4
Ambience: 3
Service: 5
Value: 3

chirashi is solid,
but i really want to try a place that includes ankimo and uni into their chirashi. but don’t get me wrong, their sashimi is fresh and it’s tasty.
their spicy yellow tail roll is very dinky, but it tastes good, but i feel it was overpriced.
fried oysters were a hit for me, i even got my bf who doesn’t eat oysters to enjoy it!
service is good.
this place doesn’t really stand out for me, nothing to write home about, so i probably won’t be back.

I think I scared the employees with my bottomless pit of a stomach. Came here for a solo date with myself:
miso soup: Normally I hate this stuff (scarred for life thanks to Costco), but this was not too salty with a lighter taste of miso than I remember… that being said, it was actually pretty good.
Salad: Refreshing. They don’t use the creamy dressing that most Japanese restaurants force us to eat, which was a nice change.
Chirashi: Giant plates! Rice was nicely cooked. I love all the little tidbits they give you… it’s almost like a sampler of the restaurant rather than a Chirashi bowl! Everything was pretty good, but I had a bone or something inedible in my mackerel (whatever fish it was with the skin on). That whole portion of fish was veiny/​something in the middle I could chew… it also tasted a bit fishy to me. I had another fish where I also had some chewy pieces, which bummed me out a bit.
Overall, it was a nice meal. I think the fish is fresher at Taihei (color looks better and fish is cut thicker), but sushi sorafune is not a bad place to go to for a WOW! factor when you get your chirashi bowl. Just watch out for random bones or pokey things in your mouth.

Hands down BEST SUSHI I’ve eaten in a long long time!
I honestly don’t know how they do it, but it’s as good, if not slightly better than my MANY of the sushi bars I ate at in Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka). As for other sushi bars in LA, quality-​wise, it’s way up there near the top for sure!
Special Chirashi ($ 29.95)
–Sake (salmon)
–Hamachi (yellowtail)
–Tai (red snapper)
–Maguro (tuna)
–Saba (mackerel)
–Tamago (egg)
–Scallop Mayo (bay scallops, mayo, masasgo)
–Red Crab Claw
–Tako Sunomono (octopus salad)
–Kara Kani Salad (spicy crab salad)
**Picture:
**
Notes: The FINEST QUALITY fish. The salmon, maguro, saba, and hamachi just melted in my mouth. The tai with yuzu was as tender as tai can get. For 30 bucks you seriously CANNOT go wrong with this chirashi, I shared it with my gf and it was great! You get about 30 pcs of sashimi plus all these little salads (scallop mayo, tako sunomono, etc.)
Uni — Sea Urchin ($ 12)
–MOUNTAIN OF UNI!!!
–Nearly double the uni you get at other places hence the price.
–Rich, subtly sweet uni heaven right here!
**Pic:
**
O-​Toro — Fatty Tuna ($ 12)
–WOW! Buttery melt-​in-​your-​mouth goodness
–Average market price, amazing quality toro!
**Pic:
(on left)**
Hon Maguro — Blue Fin Tuna ($ 10)
–LOVED this almost as much as o-​toro
–Less buttery but super tender and flavorful
–Reminded me of a chu-​toro, very nice!
**Pic:
(on right)**
Service was fantastic! They were attentive, quick to change out dirty plates for clean ones, remove old plates, and refill tea/​water. They were always around though we never wanted for anything, they knew exactly what we needed before we had to ask, love it!
The chef is a real master! From his choices of fresh quality fish, to his knife skills, to his presentation. He’s one of the best I’ve seen yet he’s very humble and kind. He was most helpful when I asked him about what he recommended.
The restaurant itself is brightly lit and very clean, albiet simple. It’s not trendy, or pretentious, or moody, or hip. No flash, just quality sushi/​sashimi! I can dig it!
If your bill is over $ 50 and you pay with cash, you get 10% off your bill. Just ask them and they’ll take it off!
If you’re craving authentic sushi and sashimi that rivals the best of Japan, look no further than this Japanese owned and operated hole-​in-​the-​wall in the most unexpected part of Monterey Park! You won’t be sorry!

Randomly one night, the bf was craving for sushi, we were in the Monterey Park area and didn’t want to travel far. So we decided to just have whatever closest sushi place nearby. And we found Sushi Sarfune!
Been here a few times and the bf and I are hooked! Whenever we are here, we would order the Chirashi bowl/​box, a Philadelphia roll and our drinks.
The Chirashi comes with 23 pieces of sashimi: 6 tuna, 4 hamachi, 5 salmon, 4 shiromi, 4 saba, egg, sunomono, diced scallop & shrimp, spicy tuna & madago. Warm rice topped with shredded sea weed and pickled ginger on the side. ALSO! Small salad with citrusy gingery dress and a miso soup. All that for $ 29.95! Its pretty much a steal! The fish was so yummy and fresh. It seems like each time we get it, it taste better.
As for the Philadelphia roll, its very good here as well, I like their most compared to all the other sushi places I been to. The cream cheese is nice and soft, doesn’t feel cold, like it was just taken out of the fridge when needed. A generous amount of salmon was included and the scallion onions was nice touch. Very yum, would totally recommend to try. I believe its about $ 7.95 for a cut roll, I think? I don’t remember, too busy thinking about eating it.
Customer service here is excellent, you can never complain, the waitresses would check back with you on the regular base and keeping you informed of when you order will be ready. They also make sure you are happy and taken care of as well.
I never sat at the sushi bar area, but I do see that the chef (the older man, who has an ear piercing, very cool I must say) would make small convo with his customers. He seems to have his way with his customers, cracking random jokes here and there. You would hear his customers laughing with him.
I also found something very interesting, the bf is a huge fan of sake *ahem. And when he was ordering himself a sake (YES! himself his own sake!), the waitress asked us what size he wanted, the size options are: small, large or extra large. Interesting right? There is no medium?! Well, I found it odd, maybe its just me.
Daily specials is always posted on the board below the TV, I believe its a list of what the freshest item that day. If you read the board closely, you will see a discount. 10% off for $ 50 purchases IF paid in cash. Pretty much a tax free meal. Always a plus to get a discount.
Parking is small, located in the back, if full, you can always park on the street, resident area. Restaurant itself is small as well, a bit crowded I mean, its small cosy, there is walking space, but it still too close. You can hear the other table’s convo, and I heard some weird stuff, so yeah, I rather have the place be more spacious if possible.
Oh oh, one last time, before I forget, don’t follow the arrow sign on the door, always throws us off. The first door facing the small street WITH the arrow sign on is the entrances, the door facing Garvey is not. Ha ha, so embarrassing trying to open a door that wouldn’t open. Awkward much.
All in all, I love this place, would totally go back on the regular base to get my sushi fix, but really really wish this place was much bigger.

MMMMMM!!! Still been having my sushi cravings, so, I had to twist my friend’s arm to go with me. & I’m so glad we did!
WOW! The fish is soo fresh!
We ordered the chirashi, squid fries, & a scallop roll.
The chirashi was very good & very fresh. We were surprised at every turn. The sushi chef kept hiding stuff under the radish… move some things around & we found egg, pickles, & scallops. It was like a treasure hunt!
The squid fries were yummy! The batter had a great flavor & crunch. I dipped mine in ponzu, mmmmm.
The scallop roll was actually very good, & I don’t normally eat raw scallop.
The cutest part of the night was the coke bottles! I forgot to take mine home :(
Our server was very attentive & polite.
I’m so glad to have found this place thanks to Unilocal!It was a wonderful experience. One of the better sushi places around.
Yummilicious!
TIP: If the total is over $ 50 & you pay cash, you get 10% off! :D

3.5 stars.
Sorafune was on my list of places to try for awhile … mainly cuz I’m in SGV quite often and there’s usually not a great selection of sushi.
The place is small & cozy, perfect for a small gathering.
There was no wait for dinner at 6:30pm (weekday).
Sauteed Orange Roughy — I’ve never had this before, but it was chewy and a little tough to come apart. I’m not sure if it was supposed to come that way. However, it did come with large portions w/​the combo — so that’s a plus.
Soft Shell Crab roll — I was disappointed to see the roll was actually a California roll with small pieces of soft shell crab. I was hoping for a hand roll, I guess. Dressing it up in CA roll makes it taste like it’s the same as a fake crab cali roll…
We ordered a few more items to split with the fam. mostly sushi pieces which were fresh and had nice warm rice on ‘em. Sorry, can’t remember what we had but know that they were fresh.
I’ll definitely come back again… and probably order their charisi bowl (the thing looks huge!!)
The overall meal was good, I’d have to come back again to re-​asses if it’s higher than 3.5. The service was really awesome and I really like the whole mom & pop feel to this place. =)

Like wow. I’m a self professed sushi snob, it’s been a long time since I’ve been impressed with a sushi place.
I’ll be honest, when I first walked up, I was a bit concern. No way such a small place can be good. Lo and behold, it was.
The chirashi was an impressive site. The dish was prepared masterfully. Each piece was sliced perfectly. It was colorful, had height, a variety, and large. I couldn’t finish it. And the taste? So fresh, it melted in your mouth.
Here, take a look for yourself!
Arrive early, seating is VERY VERY limited. The décor was sparse, but had elements of nice design. The service was okay. It’s on the high side for the area, but I think worth it. There’s 10% discount for cash payment, interesting. Our party was 4.5 people it barely cracked $ 100.
At the end, it’s 4.5 stars. A must try.
Thumbs up, Karate Kid style. As always, let me know what you think!

I came here since two of my friends wanted to try it out and I certainly don’t mind exploring a Japanese restaurant close to my home with raving reviews. I was hoping to find a great neighborhood restaurant so I don’t need to drive to Little Tokyo for good sushi.
The four of us shared most of the items we ordered, including crab claw, live octopus sushi, ankimo sashimi, Chirashi and some sushi+sashimi combo.
The place was so overpriced that I really paid around $ 25-​$ 30 to eat a few pieces of mainly tuna, salmon, some average mayo-​mixed spicy tuna/​salmon, and blend sashimi (white fish or squid), the most blend ankimo (they don’t use ponzu sauce here) ever, one little piece of live octopus sushi, one tiny piece of crab claw and less than half bowl of rice.
Having eating nearly all types of sushi available in the States except blow fish, been to the best Japanese restaurants as well as cheapest low end restaurants, I find paying about $ 30, eating mainly basic fish and leaving the place half-​full ridiculous.
It’s true that the fish was very fresh, but it does not worth the premium.
I didn’t order my usual favorites — uni, toro, amaebi since they were too overpriced. To give you an example, I recall a pair of amaebi was around $ 26 on their menu while I can get a pair of the same California LIVE shrimp at my favorite sushi restaurant in little Tokyo for around $ 12-​$ 14. The difference of that alone can pay for my gas from home to Little Tokyo. I don’t think I have ever seen an average or above average Japanese restaurant charge that kind of price, unless they are in very expensive neighborhoods. And we are talking about a Japanese restaurant in Monterey Park! I was definitely tempted to call Matsuhisa the next day, asked for the price of their amaebi and see how much cheaper is Sorafune…
Last but most worth mentioning — the wait was ridiculous, we waited close to an hour for the Chirashi since we ordered and they only have a couple of tables in that restaurant. That also covered the time it takes to drive to Little Tokyo — BOTH WAYS at night!
Overall — BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. Quality is good, yet not worth the wait or price. If you are the type that eats mostly salmon, tuna and rainbow roll, and don’t mind paying a few more bucks, you will still love this place.

The people who are running the place seem to be Japanese. +1 for that. (No offense to Chinese or Korean-​owned Japanese restaurants, I’d just rather eat Japanese food made by Japanese people).
The bf ordered the the dinner combination with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi. It also came with miso soup, salad, rice and 1 gyoza. The sushi was pretty fresh and the miso soup and gyoza were tasty as well. Unfortunately, the salmon was a bit too dry.
I ordered the sashimi dinner, which also came with miso soup, salad and rice. There were 5 types of fish: tuna, salmon, albacore, yellowtail, and mackerel and about 4 pieces of each type. At about $ 1 per piece for good quality fish, I felt like the price was pretty fair. The tuna and salmon were especially delicious. I found the mackerel to be too fishy for my liking, but perhaps others appreciate its original flavor more. The presentation was beautiful and the portion size was generous for dinner.
Since we paid in cash, we got 10% off, yay! The total including tax and tip came out to $ 51 for 2. Not too shabby for so much fresh fish.