Sushi Tenno

Last Friday we all had to work, except for B who was on vacation, that biotech! We decided to go somewhere close by after work, and well, Little Tokyo was close by. Well this isn't the Little Tokyo I know of anymore....its crowded, parking was difficult dispite having paid parking structures, there are so many yuppies here you'd think that it was a college town, except these yuppies have money. You would never know there is a recession if you hang out here...

So Sushi Tenno is located on207 S. Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012. It is not very traditional, in fact, I would dare to call them fusion Japanese food. They had these big lanterns hanging out front, but inside was fairly modern in design. We had arranged to gather at 7 pm, but it was closer to 8:20 when we assembled(I am such a sucker). Anyhow, E decide to bring a couple of extras with her, one of which is only a tad bigger than a worm, the other one was a teenager, we will ignore the worm and call the teenager extra R. We were quicky seated, no waiting at all. The waitress immediately ask and served us drinks. Z and T were not in the mood to drink so they had hot tea, E and R had soda. They did serve Japanese beer(canadian really), sake, and cocktails.

We ordered mostly various sushi's and rolls. The interesting thing about this place is their hot food selection. We had ordered suimai and tenpura udon as hot food. With all the sushi and those, it was plenty of food. I tried to target basic fare sushi as I was teaching the teenager his roots(yes hes of Japanese decent), the products they used were fresh, their wasabi was way too white washed though....the service was not too good however. First they gave us a cup that was cracked and leaked tea...ok so the waitress might have not known...it was easy to miss. Ok how do I excuse her forgeting our hot food order? Both the suimai and udon never came, I had to question her about it.... For Japanese, service like this is embarrassing, but I will forgive her, she was cute, a homely kind of cute...sorta >) The suimai came and you can see that they hand wrapped these, they are not the prepackage JFC stuff, very cool. The Udon came and I wanted one, it was literally boiling in the clay bowl...and I had to try it, I really like that soup stock they used. This was what udon should have been.

Overall

Parking***********************************C+, for a Friday night, it was difficult to find, even after paying it was difficult

Environment******************************B+, the place was simply ok, nothing too thrilling. The + was for the toilet, yes finally someone imported smart toilet seats.

Service***********************************D+, hey it wasn't good, the plus is for her being cute...sorta

Food*************************************A, as far as fusion Japanese goes. Lots of creative rolls and special cut sushi, dragon roll, tiger roll...stuff you would not find in Japan, but they do taste good.

Drinks***********************************B, interesting selection plus cocktails.

Price*************************************B-, 20+ dollar a person is to be expected, for big eaters, bring big wallet.