Q
Sushi restaurant · Downtown Los Angeles ·
Omakase-only Japanese meals with pristine sushi in a brick-walled setting
![Q by Q [Official photo]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66289138/sushi.0.jpg "Q by Q [Official photo]")
Omakase-only Japanese meals with pristine sushi in a brick-walled setting
"Q Sushi is a very traditional, omakase-only restaurant that’s different from the 17 million other sushi restaurants in LA. Instead of a strip mall location, this place is on a busy stretch of 7th St. in DTLA, and instead of Robert Downey Jr. wearing sweatpants in the corner, you’ll find businesspeople in suits and couples on anniversary dates. You’ll also find incredibly high-end fish. Q sushi is ideal for when you want a big-time sushi experience involving simple cuts - not shrimp heads or still-moving scallops. The windowless room is quiet, calm, and pretty fancy. There are a couple of tables up front before you reach the 10-seat sushi bar - which is where you’ll want to be sitting. Just one guy works behind the counter, slicing fish, patting rice, and handing you piece after piece of sushi. Overall, this place creates the impression that you’ve broken the space-time continuum and somehow ended up in a sushi bar in Tokyo. photo credit: Jakob Layman Dinner at Q requires some planning and emptying out your Mr. T piggy bank. There are only two seatings a night, and there’s only one thing on the food menu - a $300 sushi omakase experience. That said, every morsel was absolutely overnighted from Japan or perhaps Santa Barbara, and you can also have a bit of a say in your meal here (if you want it) - the quiet, friendly chef is happy to accommodate an irrational fear of uni. Q is a worthy stop on your mission to conquer as much of LA’s great sushi as possible. It’s a huge step up from your neighborhood go-to, although the meal itself will not be quite as life-changing as places like Sushi Park, Nobu, or Go’s Mart. We would only recommend coming here if you’re working your way through an omakase bucket list, and have a committed appreciation for outstanding, simple fish. Food Rundown Omakase This is the only option at Q Sushi, which includes 19 or so courses of sashimi and sushi. What particular fish you get depends on what’s at the market, but expect an oyster to start, three or so sashimi dishes, and then piece after piece of sushi ranging from bluefin tuna to sardine to trout, and most likely, some uni at the end. photo credit: Jakob Layman" - Jess Basser Sanders
"A downtown sushi restaurant that lost its single Michelin star at the 2024 awards ceremony." - Rebecca Roland
"By now, sushi veteran Hiroyuki Naruke has served high-end sushi in Downtown Los Angeles for well over a decade, first opening in 2013. When the Michelin Guide returned in 2019, it earned a star (Naruke held two stars at his own sushi restaurant in Tokyo prior to coming to Los Angeles), placing Q in the highest echelons of omakases. Without much reasoning, Q lost its star, but hasn’t lost its luster on the counter, serving a nearly 20-0course meal for dinner with 7 or 8 seasonal dishes followed by 11 or so nigiri pieces for $300 a person. Lunch is a brisker, more reasonably priced affair for $150 and 13 total courses." - Matthew Kang
"Q Sushi is a very traditional omakase spot on 7th St. in a windowless, but very calm room. You’ll find fish that’s flown in from Japan daily, businessmen sitting at the bar drinking sake, and a single sushi chef who’ll hand you every cut of fish himself. It’s expensive - you’ll pay $165 for 19 courses of sushi - and doesn’t involve anything particularly unusual, but this is simple sushi done at the highest level. Q is a nice spot for a fancy night out, especially if you’ve made it your personal goal to try every good sushi place in Los Angeles." - jess basser sanders, brant cox
"I read that Q Sushi in Downtown lost its single Michelin star this year." - Cathy Chaplin