Sushi Chitose

Redondo Beach

Sushi Chitose is an unassuming little place.

Full of casual South Bay'ers inside.

Raw oyster! Huge, but sliced in thirds.

Ahi tuna, red snapper, salmon, yellowtail. Not bad.

Albacore, amberjack, snapper. 2nd kind of snapper, one was red, one was Japanese?

Ikura and uni atop halibut. Quite an innovative way to serve uni!

Deep fried sweet shrimp head-- make sure to request this, so much better than in miso soup.

Ama ebi (live sweet shrimp) and scallop. Mmmm.

Finished off with blue crab hand roll, unagi, and tamago-- some of the better tamago I've had.

Don't quite get the love for blue crab but this was pretty good.

16 items including ice cream for $45. Outstanding value.

Number 28 on LA Eater's mid-2015 list of best sushi restaurants in Los Angeles, plus Pearl and Chris have been raving about it for years...

Finally decided to go to this unassuming little place off PCH before it got too popular!

Was it worth it? That's harder to say. If your primary goal is value it's an incredibly good deal for a fixed-course sushi menu that includes a uni/halibut nigiri, an ami ebi (live sweet shrimp) complete with deep fried shrimp head (if you request it deep fried, otherwise it's served as soup) nigiri, a pretty decent blue crab hand roll, a starter of a gigantic raw oyster, and some very, very good tamago to finish things off. 16 pieces including ice cream for $45 is hard to argue!

That said it wasn't the best I've had, and the omakase is more of the same for everyone who orders it in the entire restaurant as opposed to a true, at-the-bar-only custom chef's choice experience.

In the end the value is incredible and it's well worth a visit, just make sure you have realistic expectations for your $45-- if so, you will be very, very pleased!