Sushi Kinoya, Long Beach

Okay, I'll be frank. One of my biggest pet peeves are Korean owned sushi joints-- or even worse, Chinese owned ones. So when I walked into Sushi Kinoya, even though the decor was lovely (very modern, clean, and nicely decorated), I was a bit apprehensive because it was obvious that it was a Korean owned establishment. However, it was not that bad, especially for a Korean owned place, and the service was really great.

I made a trip down to the LBC to meet my friend Richy for lunch, and to do my dry cleaning (don't ask). He lives by the beach, and my dry cleaners is inland, so we decided to drop off the dry cleaning first and find eats after. On the corner of Bellflower and Stearn, Sushi Kinoya is a recently opened Japanese place.

Right when we sat down, we were greeted with miso and a Tsukemono mixture with octapus and pickled seaweed, which was very delicious and a perfect way to start a nice lunch.

We like to grub, so we ordered a few different things. I had the Salmon Teriyaki Bento (which came with miso, salad and a 4 piece california roll, along with a 5pc spicy tuna roll. Richy ordered the sushi special which included six pieces of sushi, a tempura roll, and then ordered a dragon roll on top of that.

The sushi was not bad. It was pretty fresh. I noticed, however, the pieces of sushi were sliced really thin, which was somewhat of a disappointment. My spicy tuna roll was okay, more Korean style than Japanese style (no mayonaise), and my salmon was a little dry and over sauced.

I was, however, impressed with Richy's dragon roll, because the fish atop the K-rab roll looked really fresh and were cut into much thicker slices than in his nigiri. The presentation was also really nice, the roll was served on a banana leaf on a very nice platter.

The prices were fairly reasonable, his lunch combo was 9.95, and the additional dragon roll was $8.95. My lunch special was 12.95 and I'm not sure how much the spicy tuna roll was.

We each had a diet coke, and I was disappointed that their diet cokes came in cans, which meant no refills, and besides, fountain soda tastes better, so that was a let down.

All in all, it was not too bad, and I wouldn't mind going back.

Sushi Kinoya
5521 E Stearns St

Long Beach, CA 90815

(562) 598-8169