Sushi Nishi Ya

The server is not attentive and takes forever to get anyone’s attention to even order a drink much less ordering food. Kinda on the ride side.

The sushi is simple, delicious, and very authentic style. It’s my new favorite place in town. Seats are limited, so make reservations if you want to secure your table.

Excellent, highest quality fish- very generous omakase. Wonderfully friendly and amiable owners/chef. Don’t let the location and low frills location fool you: the atmosphere is casual but the sushi is serious.

The fish was good but each peice was very small. I was not full when I left.

Hands down the best sushi around. In a class if it’s own. Don’t let the strip mall or modest interior fool you. The fish is extremely fresh and perfectly cut. My 9 year old son (who is a young sushi connoisseur) loves it and it’s our favorite sushi restaurant. Be sure to order the Toro, Snapper, and halibut. They are the best (though my son will tell you that the blue crab hand roll is his favorite). Don’t expect rolls or American style sushi. This place is legit Japanese. It’s a hidden gem. I’m almost hesitant to post this as I don’t want my favorite sushi spot to be over crowded. You are in for a real treat!

Best sushi I've ever had in my life, quality is outstanding! Highly recommend Nishi Ya for the best omakase

Sushi Nishi-ya offers one of my favorite omakase dinners in the city. The preparations are delicious. Chef Kenji will just ask what you don't like and then stay away from that as he prepares the meal. The opening dish is a house specialty, tuna with a small bed of seaweed and sprouts drizzled with a velvety miso sauce that hits like an umami bomb. The closing dish is a crab hand roll. Everything in between is just wonderful. Chef Kenji is really good at augmenting the flavors of the fish with specific sauces (snapper and saba are standouts) or a thin piece of translucent seaweed draped over fresh and smoked salmon. The rice is well done - slightly sticky but still granular - and the ratio of rice to fish is excellent and biased in favor of the fish, allowing flavor to speak with the rice as a scaffold that does not overdominate. If available the uni dish allows comparison of the sweetly oceanic flavor of Santa Barbara uni with the more intense Hokkaido version. Snow crab and shrimp are lightly glazed with a sweet syrup and rested atop a slice of lemon. Massive oysters are serve in the shell, bracingly cold and submerged in ponzu and green onion. You will never leave hungry, because once the standard meal is done he will keep preparing plates until you tell him to stop. On the furthest iteration I have gone with the menu, I ended up eating catfish eggs, which I had never tried before. The sake list is small but serviceable: 300 ml bottles of producers like Onikoroshi, Kikusui, and Hakkaisan. Wine by the glass and ice cold beer also available. Sitting at a table allows you to order a la carte, but bar is omakase-only. I have never sat anywhere other than the bar and I don't plan to...I'd prefer to leave myself in the hands of the master. Parking: The place is in a small strip mall with a liquor store, nail salon, and Russian Cuisine restaurant. I somehow have never had a hard time finding a parking spot. For omakase I tend to prefer a 630 reservation and it is always easy around that time. Kid-friendliness: My wife and I took our three kids - aged 12, 10, and 8 - and sat at the bar for a full omakase. Our kids eat everything and totally loved the meal ("best of my life" was heard multiple times on the way home). There was no issue with bringing the kids, except for Chef Kenji asking if there was anything they didn't like. This is probably not the best way to introduce kids to sushi, but if they are already fans, they'll love it and the place will welcome them.