SUSHI KISEN
ADDRESS: 1108 S Baldwin Avenue, Suite B6, Arcadia, CA 91007
WEBSITE: https://sushikisen.com/
I will admit that whenever I had gone to sushi restaurants, I was always more prevalent to order sushi rolls (maki) rather than sashimi or nigiri. But within the past year, I’ve definitely started to notice that my taste was changing a bit, starting with getting introduced to handrolls (see Yunomi Handroll and KazuNori). Solely focusing on nigiri for a meal was definitely another step for me, and that’s exactly what my friend Michele and I did when we went to Sushi Kisen down in Arcadia.
Michele had heard about this place from her sister and brother-in-law, mostly regarding their wide selection of different nigiri options and the quality of the seafood. You could tell that the chefs and staff at the restaurant were very respectful about the craft of sushi making; it was the first restaurant I’ve been where there is a section on their menu talking about sushi etiquette.
For nigiri, one entire page of their menu was dedicated to listing out the 40+ options that they offered. There were things that I didn’t even know were options when it came to nigiri, so that definitely made trying to choose a bit daunting for a nigiri novice like myself. We knew that we were wanting to do the salmon (sake), medium fatty bluefin tuna (chutoro, which they were known for), amberjack (kanpachi), and scallop (hotate). But beyond that, we asked our waitress Ryo for any of her recommendations, and she was more than happy to provide us with some. We added on the sea perch (nodoguro), golden eye snapper (kinmedai), and halibut (hirame). Each order of nigiri came with two pieces, and that was more than enough to get us started, along with our plate of vegetable tempura as well.
It sounds like there is typically a wait here to get a table, especially on the weekends. We ended up coming here on a Monday night, so it ended up being less crowded, but we still waited probably about 15 minutes before we got seated. The dining room itself was a pretty good size, and there is also a large sushi bar setup in the place as well. This is where you can go for their omakase, but in order to sit at the bar, you have to commit to an $80 minimum for the nigiri you’ll get. Michele and I tried to do a walk-in for omakase on a separate visit, but they ended up being fully booked for the evening. So word to the wise: if you’re interested in omakase, it’s best to call and reserve three to four days in advance.
Each piece of nigiri came with a small dab of wasabi in between the fish and the rice, which definitely helps to provide a strong punch of flavor. Because the nigiri did not come with sauce brushed on top, I decided to dab a little bit of soy sauce onto the top with my chopsticks before eating each piece. We started off with the plate of four, going for the sake first, then hirame, then hotate, and kanpachi to finish the plate.
The thing that really struck me was just how fresh all of the fish was, and you could really taste the subtlety of each individual piece’s flavors that made them different from each other. Of all of the items on that plate, however, the hotate was the one that I liked the least, with the texture just being a bit odd for my taste. But once we moved on to the next plate of nigiri, that was when things really turned up to the next level.
Our next plate represented our most expensive items from the menu: kinmedai at $16, chutoro at $16, and nodoguro at $26. For how ridiculously good each of those pieces of nigiri were, I would happily shell that out again without hesitation. The chutoro was practically melt in your mouth, and it was a perfect level of smoothness that mixed really well with the bed of rice. The kinmedai was a really mild flavor, and had a slightly sweet finish to it. The nodoguro also had more of a fatty texture to it, but there was a slight smokiness to its flavor profile that really complemented the entire bite really well. It was definitely Michele’s and my favorite plate of nigiri of the night, hands down.
With the plate of Ryo’s recommendations knocking it out of the park, we decided to consult her once again when it came time to ordering our second round of food. She recommended the jack mackerel (shimaaji) and barracuda (kamasu), along with a special off-menu item of halibut fin (engawa). We tacked on two sushi rolls of the kanimi (blue crab meat) and negitoro (fatty bluefin with green onions) to help round things off.
If you had asked me when the day started if I’d see myself eating barracuda, I probably wouldn’t have even considered it. But I decided to branch out and was glad that I did, as the kamasu ended up having an even deeper smoky flavor than the nodoguro, except as a slightly more meaty fish. The shimaaji was also a really smooth fish to eat, with a more delicate flavor. The engawa, however, was definitely really rich and oily; I don’t know if I would have been able to do two pieces of those back-to-back. As finishers, the sushi rolls had some nice flavors to them as well, with the blue crab containing a subtle sweetness and the negitoro providing a slight umami flavor mixed with the bite from the green onions.
My experience at Sushi Kisen definitely made me into a nigiri believer. I now find myself actually looking at the sushi section of Japanese restaurant menus as opposed to completely breezing by them when ordering. Am I still into the sushi rolls? Definitely so, since I like the different creative combinations of flavors that come about with those types of dishes. But I definitely do find myself craving quality nigiri sometimes, and Sushi Kisen has set the bar already pretty high that might not get topped for a little while.
Let’s now take a look at the Sushi Kisen Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Assorted Tempura **
Mix between vegetable tempura and shrimp tempura.
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Scallop (hotate), pictured top left
** Halibut (hirame), pictured top right **
** Salmon (sake), pictured bottom left **
** Amberjack (kanpachi), pictured bottom right **
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** Medium fatty bluefin tuna (chutoro), pictured top **
** Sea perch (nodoguro), pictured middle **
** Golden eye snapper (kinmedai), pictured bottom **
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** Jack mackerel (shimaaji), pictured top left **
** Barracuda (kamasu), pictured top right **
** Halibut fin (engawa), pictured bottom **
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** Negitoro (pictured left) **
Sushi roll with bluefin tuna mixed with green onions.
** Kamini (pictured right) **
Sushi roll with blue crab meat.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Sushi Kisen:
Food: 5 / 5
If you are a place that is aiming to specialize in nigiri, offering over 40 different options to choose from is not a bad start. The quality of each of the pieces of seafood was very clearly evident, with the natural flavors from each piece of fish really able to shine.
Atmosphere: 4.75 / 5
The interior had a really nice ambiance and thoughtful layout for the sushi bar wrapping around common to two sides of the restaurant, while the rest of the dining tables were separated through slotted wooden dividers. I also liked the bright lighting inside the restaurant, which definitely helped to highlight the food both at the sushi bar as well as at your table.
Service: 5 / 5
Our waitress, Ryo, really did a great job with helping us throughout our meal, and her recommendations for other nigiri for us to try really helped to elevate our dining experience for sure. She was really attentive throughout the entire meal, and stopped by often to see how we were liking the different nigiri along with making sure that we had everything we needed for our meal.
Price: 5 / 5
Depending on what items you choose from, your nigiri items are going to range from $6 all the way up to $28, but a good majority of them are in the $8 – $20 range for two pieces. Given the quality of all of the fish that we had, however, I think those prices are definitely something I’d gladly go for again.
Overall:
19.75 / 20
(99%)
Categories: Restaurants, California
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