Sushi Kimagure

Very yummy.!! One of the best sushi joints in Pasadena. If you like fresh and interesting, this is the place to go.

Got the Hana course. Had high expectations but very disappointed!

Chef Ike is know throughout Los Angeles as a «Master Chef». You mention his name to other sushi chefs and they just nod their heads in recognition. He talks you through the meal and your wants. If you are looking for A+ quality sushi, a fun atmosphere and a GREAT meal– this is the place to go.

Got the $ 150 chief special. The food tasted good but for $ 150 I only got 5 nigiri sushi (seared salmon, unagi, crab, uni, regular scallop). I then ordered a few extra pieces after the set was over, after ordering 3 – 4 extra pieces, the chief was obviously unhappy and gave me a hand roll (which obviously means that he wanted me to stop ordering)
For $ 150/​person I was expecting a much nicer service and more nigiri sushi since that’s what I was there for. The sushi that was being served aren’t even anything special (unagi, scallop and salmon?)
Also, I was there for over 2 hours because the main chief didn’t give the sushi chief fish to make the sushi I ordered.
There is no doubt that the fish was fresh, but I am very unhappy about the wait and chief’s attitude toward the end.

Originally we would like to make the reservation for sitting on the bar, and the guy said we might have a high chance to be seated too. But u fortunately, we were seated on the table :(
The yamakasi style in restaurant does not very impressive, the sushi was ok, nothing much special to compare with those sushi restaurant in J town. I give 3 points for the quality of meat. The rest came with the menu was ok. The good one so far were the toro and monkfish liver. Other than that, nothing special to spend such high amount of money. With that set menu from $ 72 to $ 95, I didn’t see how different the sushi this restaurant has. Will think if it’s still worth trying next time :(

Omg! Just shut up and take my money!!! Order off the set menu! May be pricey but you will not regret it! I’ve worked in 5 star sushi restaurants and this exceeded my expectations 10 fold!

This will become a staple and favorite for sushi places. I highly recommend this place if you love sushi and sashimi. Chef Ike was awesome and fun. As far as people complaining that something is expensive, well if the quality is there then its worth the expense, this is raw fish and it should be the highest quality so it should melt in your mouth. Also its necessarily not Omakasa, you can order from the chef directly if you sit at the sushi bar, just be polite and nice and he’ll craft the best sushi for you. If you sit at a table then Omakasa is your option from the menu.

The seaweed is crisp, the rice is cooked perfectly and the fish is fresh and wonderful! Love love love this sushi restaurant!

Japanese friends of mine recommended this place as one of the only places in America they like. They took me there one afternoon and we sat at the counter. The chef serving us was a bit of a comedian. They ordered for me so I don’t know what it all was, but it was excellent. I remember the large shrimp sashimi was one of the best. I recall that the bill was at least $ 50 per person. Very enjoyable though.

Warning… spoiler alerts, super expensive! Anyways let’s get on with this review.
First of all this will be my first $$$$ review, so I’ll try and be as fair as possible. The stuff I’m writing will not knock it down stars because I’m not sure if that’s how things are in $$$$ places like this.
So anyways, first the good… this is by far one of the best sushi places I have had in America. Sushi is my favorite food, so I’ve had a lot of it, even on places out of the state and country. So for a place to get me to say that is quite a feet. I could put this in the top 3 easily… why? Saying it’s fresh is an understatement, the fish melts in your mouth, the ingredients and flavors are so simple yet refreshing and delightful. Whether I ate the tuna, salmon, scallop, shrimp, etc. I pretty much said «wow» on almost everything… even their vegetables on the side. What the heck.
Also respects to their service and the chefs. Not only was the service good, they even messed up our order. Yes that should be a negative, but how they handled it is what counts. They put Wasabi in our sushi when we asked for none, so they apologies, gave us a new place of sushi, and the chef who made the mistake apologized and admitted it to us it was him… what chef does that now a days? None, that’s how many… ok I’m sure it’s happened to some of you… but you get what I’m saying. It’s rare, so respects to that chef.
The only real negative I can say, if this is even a negative, is I wish it wasn’t set menus and it’s super expensive. First the set menu, you can only pick from 3 things in the menu, which I didn’t like cause it eliminates freedom of what I want to order. But i do know of other restaurants who also only have set menus, so that’s just how things are here. If you’re fine with that, then cool. The other is the price, like jeez man. The price I paid for 3 people was equivalent to a new game system. Like a Wii u or ps4 status. Wow… yeah even when the bill came I said wow, not just the food. Again I’m not gonna knock it down cause, you know, $$$$. So that’s probably how most $$$$ restaurants are, and since it’s my first time in a place like this. I can’t compare to see if the pricing for what we got was fair or not… let me know if it is.
Jeez my reviews are getting longer and longer, good or bad. So let’s wrap this up, amazing sushi, great service, and will make a huge dent in your wallet. If you make bank, then you can come here more often than me that’s for sure. But for me, once a year or so is good enough… until I make bank… here’s hoping. 5 stars.
New and updated review below.
(Ok sorry about this, I had to lower this review because I can now compare this restaurant to another… and yeah here it feels like a rip off. I still stay true to my above review, but now that I know there is other sushi equal to this quality and with a much better price range, there is no real reason for me to come back. It’s still really good and quite an experience. It’s just that now that I know there are better places or at least equal quality with more reasonable prices, there’s no reason for me to come back… I’m gonna get pegged for this watch.)

Ike San is the best. The food is exceptionally fresh. Ike San and his staff are super friendly. There’s so much food. The omasake menu is very diverse, from sushi, sashimi, tempura, steamed eggs, grilled fish and more sushi. The tempura is perfectly fried. Ike San advise you how best to eat the food. Great find in pasadena.

I finally came back to try the matsu and I am really impressed. Chef ike was also extent friendly and entertaining. He cracked jokes throughout the night from start to finish. There matsu serves a great diverse combination of salad, sashimi, sushi, tempura, grilled fish, soup (chawanmushi) and fruit. The salad, sashimi, and sushi were exceptional. The salad was a mixture of ebi, salmon, octopus and scallop served over a bed of seaweed and crispy glass noodles. Everything was extremely fresh but my favorites were the amber jack, toro, uni, scallops, and seared salmon.
Sushi kimagure is a gem in Pasadena and a must try for sushi lovers.

Came here a few weeks ago to celebrate my birthday and my parents’ wedding anniversary. I have been here once before, so I knew what to expect. But I definitely forgot how much food you get! With an omakase dinner, I typically feel sated, but at Sushi Kimagure I left feeling absolutely stuffed! If there is a next time I will probably go with the Hana (6 course) and not the Matsu (7 course).
We made reservations but it wasn’t too crowded… two separate groups at the bar when we arrived and three tables of two came in after us. We experienced quick, attentive service. It always feels just a little too chilly inside. so if you get cold easily, make sure to bring a jacket!
I LOVE the seafood salad (first course) and the sashimi (third course). I have mixed feelings about their dessert. It’s fruit — and not the sweetest most amazing fruit you’ve ever had, just regular fruit. But even if they had the perfect dessert, I probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy it because I would already be so full. The other courses are pretty good, but not mind blowing.
Not perfect, but overall, an enjoyable dinner experience.

Note: this place is for the Sushi Purist/​Sushi Snob. No sauces, crunchy, fushion/​Americanized style of sushi. Also, its Omakase (I’ll leave it to you) style, meaning the chef picks everything out for you; you just decide how much food you want.
On a Wednesday night, got a call from husband to make reservations for a party of 4, and I was craving good sushi, so I decided to try this place; was able to get reservations at 8:30pm.
There is a parking garage underneath the restaurant and the first 90 minutes are free. Restaurant is located right by The Luggage Room and Metro Gold Line stop.
We were a few minutes late, but our table was ready. Excellent. The restaurant has only a few tables and seats at the sushi bar; hence, reservations are important. On a Wednesday night, all the tables were taken, but there were still a few seats left at the bar. I liked how there was a good amount of spacing between the few tables. The décor is simple & minimal.
I started with a bottle of Michinoku Onikoroshi Sake. Very good.
The menu had 4 levels of pricing. I attempted to order the Chef’s special (which had a range around $ 150), but it was out. So 3 members of our party opted for the Matsu ($ 95, Seafood Salad, Broiled, Sashimi, Fried, Sushi, Soup & Dessert), while 1 member opted for the Sushi ($ 72? Small Appetizer, Sushi, Soup & Dessert).
Everything was fresh and delicious. The Stand outs to me?
Toro
Unagi
Red Snapper
Ikura
Uni
Ankimo
Everyone in the party loved the Seared Salmon
Finally, the Matsu was too much food for me. The Fried portion was Tempura, but I wanted to skip that completely.
Service was fantastic. They were attentive and great about explaining what everything was. I also loved how she would give specific instructions of «No soy sauce» on certain items.
Finally, Chef Ike San made sure to come to the table to greet us. Fantastic.
I probably would have given this place 5 stars had I been here with Sushi Purists. Also, it was very expensive.

My boyfriend is the biggest sushi fan I know. He had been bringing up this place for the longest time because it is on of the top ten sushi places in SoCal. So the other day he made a reservation and we were able to try it out.
We both got their ‘Matsu’ course-​this course includes salad, broiled, sashimi, soup, fried, sushi, and dessert-​which is $ 95 a person. With their other courses adding up to $ 78 a person… I just decided to go all out and pay the $ 95.
I thought it was worth the money. The food was fresh and tasted amazing. I especially enjoyed the Spanish Mackerel and the Eel. The fried portion was amazing as well. The salad was cool, refreshing, and very tasty. The soup was great. My boyfriend especially loved the Toro and the bass. He also enjoyed trying Uni (sea urchin) for the first time (it wasn’t included in the course so we had to order it on the side… although I don’t believe we were charged for it)
The sushi chef (and owner) Ike is very well known and he definitely knows what he is doing. He even cut everything in half for me… it’s like he knew I’d struggle with eating everything whole haha.
We didn’t expect to get full but we were definitely satisfied by the end of the course.
We ended up spending near $ 215 for our lunch but I can see myself coming back to splurge again… we’d probably just order the sushi by the order rather than paying for a full on course to save some money.
My boyfriend absolutely loved this place so I know we will most definitely be back.

Came in the other day for my birthday dinner with the hubby. We had been dying to try SK for a really long time, but were never able to get a reservation.
We got the Sushi Omakase prix fixe menu and the Hana Omakase prix fixe menu (both were $ 68). The Chef was kind enough to cut the sushi in half so that we could sample from each other’s menus. The highlights of the evening were the: Toro, Grilled Octopus, and Chawanmushi. But the BEST thing of the evening was the Seared Salmon! It just melts in your mouth and has this amazingly delightful smokiness to it. The price is very reasonable for the quality of food that you get. Another highlight of the evening was getting to meet some of SK’s regulars. They are definite foodies and are a blast to chat with.
The staff here is also amazing, everyone was super informative and polite. There is a good amount of street parking and there is also a parking structure.
Definitely a must try!

I was sitting in the corner facing the off white wall, next to a handicap sticker, staring at a crooked painting of a Japanese woman wearing a traditional Kimono. Listening to Mingus over the speakers I felt a bit uneasy, as if I was suddenly in one of those abnormally awkward, compact restaurants buried deep in the urban mass of a hyper-​dense city, where Mingus was the only form of sanity I could hold on to. Then suddenly I realized I did not give a damn where I was as long as Chef Ike-​san was there.
Kimagure is far from having the bells and whistles of a fancy restaurant that you would normally fork over $ 68 a meal for… but who cares? The Omakase menu is very clear and concise and will force you into an obsequious tance to Ike’s commands for eating the sushi his way. To me, that was A-​OK, considering that I knew from the moment I could smell the Grilled Octopus I was in for something significant. I won’t even go into the Bluefin, Albacore, Yellowtail, Salmon, Clam, Miso, or any of the like for the sake of brevity, but rest assured, this sushi is amazing! Hands down. Umami.
When we walked in we began speaking with the group at the table next to us when one arbitrarily blurted out that this was the best sushi she had ever had. Bold statement for such a hasty introduction. However, I now agree with you random stranger lady: this is probably the best sushi I have ever had as well… so what’s next? Off to Sushi Nakazawa in New York? Or off to the motherland of sushi for Sukiyabashi Jiro?
Not only is Ike-​san considered possibly one of the most legendary LA sushi chefs, but he is very pleasant and apparently loves children, or so our waitress told us as she offered my daughter candy, compliments of Ike.
I look forward for my return to Kimagure and salute Chef Ike-​san in the meantime. It’s truly a pleasure to have him in Pasadena. Cheers to Sushi Kimagure!

Since Luggage Room was super packed, we decided to walk across and try this sushi place to see if they have any availability. It was about 9pm on a Wednesday night so they had a few tables open. The sushi bar was completely packed, though.
There are only three options to choose from on the menu and all three are omakases: sushi ($ 68), hana ($ 68) and matsu ($ 90). They also have a separate sake menu that ranges from $ 14 +. For house sake, it’s $ 5 for small and $ 8 for large.
We got the hana and matsu and they gave the following:
1. Salad, including pieces of scallop, tuna and shrimp (same for both)
2. 3 types of sashimis (3 pieces each for hana) and 4 types of sashimis (2 – 3 pieces, including toro, and blue crab for matsu)
3. Fried tempura (matsu only)
4. Steam egg soup with mushroom, ginkgo, shrimp and fish (same for both)
5. 6 sushi (scallop for hana and uni for matsu)
6. Plate of fruits and half a mochi for desert (same for both)
Overall, great place for people who prefer the traditional type of sushi without the use of ponzu and soy sauce. Definitely not for people who prefer the fancy Asian-​fusion taste and plating. The quality of the fish wasn’t the best but still better than most commercialized places. The house hot sake was warm and smooth.
We’re definitely coming back.

Kimagure, truly minimalist Sushi restaurant where superior quality & exacting preparation of food is the main thrust & of utmost importance, not the décor. In the Tokonoma/​alcove hangs a Japanese scroll: «Ike wa iu Sushi: Umai sakana wa itsumo Kimagure.» Ike (the chef) talks about Sushi, «Good tasting fish are always capricious or unpredictable.» With probably well over 40 years of culinary experience with a sharp eye & nose, Meister Chef Ike is not going to be fooled so easily as to choosing a fish that is inferior.
1) Sashimi of Chu-​Toro/​medium fatty Bluefin Tuna & Shima Aji/​yellow jack: Chu– Toro was dusty rose pink which showed the red meat was interspersed w/​uncountable specks of rich fatty subtle Umami which made the meat soft, velvety, melt-​in-​your-​mouth. Shima Aji was silky but toned in having a bit of firmness w/​a soupçon of meaty sweet sea minerality. Chef Ike did a bit of Japanese knife artistry by quickly & deftly cutting a leaf into an artistic decorative piece to use as a non edible garnish.
2) Seared octopus looked as though it were brushed w/​a bit of Katsuo Dashi/​bonito broth infused Sho-​yu/​soy sauce for a meaty Umami & then seared over fire. The octopus meat was specially prepared so that the meat became exquisitely soft & pillowy while at the same time the searing caused the meat to have a bit of a chaw as a textural contrast. Best octopus I have ever had in this particular style.
3) Shio Kara is lightly fermented salted squid which in the hands of amateurs tastes extremely salty & rank, but in the hands of Chef Ike, this Shio Kara is lightly salted & fermentation is delicate w/​some kind of herb that gives a lightly refreshing undertone. Excellent accompaniment to Sake (sah keh).
4) Aji (horse mackerel) was left w/​part of its shiny blue, silver outerskin showing to contrast w/​the light dusky rose, light white pink flesh. Aji is rich in fat & slightly fishy in a good meaty way since it may have been aged so grated fresh ginger w/​a nice aromatic heat & the funk of chopped green onions added to the stronger flavour of the Aji.
5) Hamachi was light colored a pinkish white w/​touches of rose. It was not near the belly so it had a slight fresh, sweet meatiness without the added oily richness.
6) Tai/​Japanese Red Snapper was of utmost freshness w/​an edging that had the striped red skin pattern & the inner flesh being amazingly translucent. So much so that you could see the green Shiso leaf underneath this thick piece of fish. This kind of translucency denotes extreme quality & freshness. There is a subtle sweet ocean minerality & delicate meaty Umami that makes Tai the king of the white flesh fish.
7) Aoyagi/​surf clam was still alive so that when Chef Ike playfully slapped it, the clam meat squirmed in involuntary movement. Strong yet pleasant ocean sea breeze sweetness w/​a snappy soft texture. Richness without a cloying aftertaste.
8) Seared Fatty Salmon was seared over a pre-​heated Ami/​gridiron. The salmon meat was slapped onto the Ami & sizzled loudly for only 10 seconds leaving a crisscross burn pattern. The seared salmon was scooped up & immediately placed on Sushi rice garnished w/​a bit of chopped green onions in rapid hand motion.
We were told before that to get the right effect, we would have to eat it within 10 seconds of being served. Obviously, this will not be served at the tables. Warmth of the seared Salmon sent the fatty meaty aroma straight into the nasal cavity for a pungent sensation. The fat melted in our mouths to create a soft, pillowy texture that dissolved, countered by the sufur laden green onions. Nice bit of showmanship.
9) Uni/​sea urchin was from Santa Barbara processed by a third generation Japanese American who knows how to process Uni to preserved its freshness & sweet, sea mineral flavour. Plump well defined pieces of Uni topped the Sushi rice surrounded by an Obi/​belt of dark Nori/​seaweed that doubled the taste of the sea.
10) Anago/​sea eel was not of the dense, heavy kind but airy & almost ethereal. It was dressed w/​a bit of thickened, sweet «eel sauce». This sweet dish signaled the end of the Omakase meal.
11) Fruits in Season were slice of last of summer season watermelon, juicy Valencia orange, crunchy Nashi/​Japanese Apple Pear, Kyoho– grapes tasted like light Muscat wine.
Ordered Japanese green tea to conclude the Omakase w/​a healthy dose of green plant based phytochemicals & clear my palate w/​the mildly acidic & tannic tea. It’s so refreshing being at a Sushi bar where the Sushi chef doesn’t take himself too seriously & has the personality to create a friendly, amiable environment.
Like Chef Mako of Mako Sushi in Little Tokyo, Meister Chef Ike is quite a character. 5 Unilocal stars for impeccable Sushi that requires much culinary knowledge & great finesse. This is amazing Classic Sushi that will probably not be around too much longer. Come & enjoy while the opportunity still exists.

My boss had been raving about this place. How he was first introduced to Chef Ike San when he used to run Sushi Ike in Hollywood and basically followed him to this place. In fact, he dines here once a week for lunch. Which shows some serious dedication as we work in Studio City.
To my surprise, he invited me to go along with him in one of his weekly lunch outing.
Situated in the Del Mar Station, the outside of the restaurant was quite unassuming and plain. I found the inside to be the same.
Chef Ike San and the food certainly made up for the lack of warmth in the décor and then some.
I couldn’t list all that was prepared as it was a lot and I was rather busy enjoying myself. But here were my favs:
Seared Salmon — He warned me beforehand that I will need to eat it right as soon as he serves it. Doing so preserves the texture and taste. I did as I was told and boy, that morsel just melted like butter in my mouth
Toro — Always a fav. Great quality.
Mackerel roll — finely chopped with cucumbers and green onions
Smoked Salmon Skin
Overall it was wonderfully prepared with quality ingredients. Chef Ike San himself was warm, cheerful, and engaging. I was just mesmerized watching him prepare.
I left feeling pampered. I highly recommend eating at the bar and getting the chef’s choice.
I will definitely be back once I need more pampering. Plus I hear they have good grilled octopus.