A Review of the Hana Sushi Bar in West Los Angeles, CA

The Hana Sushi Bar on Wilshire Blvd. in West Los Angeles is an interesting locale for Eastern cuisine. Their food is delicious, including lunch specials, and original sushi preparations made daily. The lunch specials include bento boxes that have a choice of tempura or teriyaki meats/veggies, rice, salad, relished cucumbers, miso soup, and three pieces of sushi. The meal itself is very good, but they place Thousand Island dressing on the house salad, which does not match any of the other tastes. They also have a wide selection of drinks including a large selection of sake. They also have a list of customizable martinis available including a watermelon martini, and a lemon drop martini, and many others.

The atmosphere is similar to a pub, there's American music playing and usually Sports Center on the plasma TV behind the sushi bar, but the food is anything but American. If you're sitting at the sushi bar you can see the chefs prepare your rolls, wraps, or plain sushi however you specify, and in the same area they have the cook top where they make the tempura and teriyaki meats/veggies. It would be a more pleasant experience if the pots and pans they used weren't covered in heaping quantities of aluminum foil, making the kitchen area look much more dirty and disorganized.

Service from the wait staff is hit or miss; with their lack of bringing silverware with your meal or not refilling an empty drink. While the wait staff needs work, the men who make the sushi are much more pleasant to the customer. They're always in pleasant moods, and eager to converse with a customer on any topic if just to make the customer feel more at ease.

The prices can get a bit expensive at $6.50 for a California Roll, which doesn't help the fact that there have been plenty of online and firsthand accounts saying that the waiter has added money onto receipts after taking payment. The original bill could be $12.00 and come back before the tip as $15.00 without explanation, which makes it a much less desirable repeat destination. The customers vary greatly, from businessmen in expensive suits to young couples on a date in their jeans. Their sushi bar area is where the best service will be received, as sitting in a booth, and/or with a group of people, service will be slow. A great place to try once, but the wait staff ruins it.