The Forkstrike 25, Sushi: LA County's Highest Score Is in Redondo Beach
The highest sushi score in Los Angeles County this week belongs to a room on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach.
Japonica Redondo Beach sits at 97, ahead of Hollywood, ahead of Little Tokyo, ahead of every omakase counter on the Westside. It leads the Forkstrike 25 for sushi, scored on the last six months of reviews as of October 19.
Before you read down the list, here is what that number is and what it is not.
This List Is Built From Reviews, Not From Meals
No critic ate at these restaurants to produce this ranking. Nobody from Forkstrike, and nobody from Food Journal Magazine, sat down at a counter and worked through a menu to arrive at these numbers. The Strike Score is calculated from publicly available review data over a rolling 180-day window, weighted so recent opinion counts for more than old opinion.
That makes it a measure of what diners have been saying lately. It is a real and useful thing to know. It is not the same as a verdict on which sushi in Los Angeles is best.
A room that was extraordinary in 2019 and is coasting now will show it. A room nobody has reviewed in six months will not appear at all, however good the fish is.
How 19,076 Restaurants Became 25
Forkstrike shared the full funnel, which is worth printing because it explains most of what you are about to see:
19,076 scored places in Los Angeles County
525 of them sushi or omakase
85 cleared 40 or more reviews read inside the window
45 sat in the $$$ or $$$$ band, or cleared 300 reviews read, the rule that lets a packed neighborhood room in
39 survived the no-chain rule
37 after one seat per brand
25 shown
Two familiar names drop out at the brand rule rather than on the food. KazuNori and SUGARFISH are excluded as multi-location brands, and Forkstrike was explicit that this is not a judgment on quality.
The Names You Expected Are Missing
Scan the 25 and notice who is absent. The Michelin-listed omakase counters, the chef's-name rooms where dinner runs north of $200 and the reservation is the hard part, are almost entirely gone from this list.
That is the method, not the cooking. A twelve-seat counter running two seatings a night generates a small number of reviews. A 40-review floor over six months is a bar those rooms struggle to clear, while a ninety-seat restaurant clears it in a few weeks. Review volume tracks capacity at least as closely as it tracks quality.
The same mechanism produces the other surprise here. Two all-you-can-eat rooms, Jackpot Sushi & Crab at 96 and Sushi Fuego at 95, both sit above Sushi Gen, the Little Tokyo institution that lands at 87 with close to 1,900 lifetime Google reviews behind it. Forkstrike is not asking which room has earned the most respect over the years. It is asking who is making people happy right now.
Read the list with that in mind and it gets more interesting, not less.
The Forkstrike 25, Sushi, Los Angeles County
Scored on the last six months of reviews as of October 19, compared with the October 13 reading. Each name links to its Forkstrike profile. Where no trend word appears, the place does not yet have enough recent movement for a verdict and the score stands on its own.
Japonica Redondo Beach, Redondo Beach. 97, Steady.
IKI Ramen + Sushi, Hollywood. 97, Smoldering, $$$.
Sushi Aria, Sherman Oaks. 96, Steady, $$.
Jackpot Sushi & Crab, East Hollywood. 96, Steady, $$$.
Sushi Nigiriba, Culver City. 96, $$$.
Azai Hand Roll Sushi, Beverly Grove. 96, Steady, $$$.
Sushi Fuego, Santa Fe Springs. 95, Striking, $$$.
AKAMI Sushi, North Hollywood. 95, Striking, $$$$.
Kaiyu Sushi, Van Nuys. 94, Steady, $$$.
Sushi Roku, Pasadena. 93, Steady, $$$$.
Kanpai Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill, Los Angeles. 92, Striking, $$$.
Umito Sushi and Ramen, Los Angeles. 92, Steady, $$$.
Sachi Sushi, West Hollywood. 90, $$$.
Tsukiyo Sushi, Los Angeles. 90, Steady, $$$.
Sushi Kyo, Monrovia. 89, Steady, $$$.
Osawa, Pasadena. 89, Steady, $$$$.
Oji Sushi & Sake Bar, Pasadena. 88, $$$.
Sushi Gen, Little Tokyo. 87, Steady, $$$.
Kirin Sushi & Grill, City of Industry. 87, $$$.
Waka Sakura Gardena, Gardena. 85, Cooling, $$$.
Sake2Me Sushi, Cerritos. 84, $$$.
Noma Sushi, Santa Monica. 84, Steady, $$$.
Sushi Enya, Marina Del Rey. 84, $$$$.
Takami Sushi & Robata, Downtown Los Angeles. 84, $$$$.
Katsuya Brentwood, Brentwood. 83, Fading, $$$$.
The Week's Climbers
Across the whole sushi set, not only the 25:
Sake2Me Sushi, Cerritos: 79 to 84, up 5
MYA Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge, Glendale: 78 to 83, up 5
Lit Sushi & BBQ, North Hollywood: 61 to 66, up 5
Aikan Sushi & Ramen, Pasadena: 79 to 83, up 4
SushiStop, Hollywood: 69 to 72, up 3
In And Out
Sake2Me Sushi in Cerritos and Katsuya Brentwood are new to the 25 this week. Two rooms that would have made it last week fell out, one on score and one on review count. Forkstrike left those two unnamed.
Katsuya Brentwood is the one to look at twice. It enters at number 25 carrying a Fading trend, which means it did not climb into this list. The list moved down under it.
What Is Next
Seafood follows next Tuesday, in the October 30 issue.
About The Data
This week's sushi cut was provided to Food Journal Magazine by Forkstrike, which scores restaurants using publicly available review data over a rolling 180-day window, weighted for recency. This edition covers Los Angeles County, scored as of October 19, 2026 and compared with the October 13 reading.
Qualifying rooms carry 40 or more reviews read in the window and sit in the $$$ or $$$$ price band, or clear 300 reviews read. One location per brand, and no national chains. Neighborhood labels and the confirmation that each restaurant is currently open were checked against Google Business Profile on October 20, 2026.
Food Journal Magazine has a working arrangement with Forkstrike. We did not visit these restaurants for this article, and the scores and rankings are Forkstrike's rather than ours. Every score is public at forkstrike.com.
Comments