Tenno Sushi is one of several Japanese restaurants in Little Tokyo that we frequent for lunch. It serves sushi rolls at half price during lunch, plus it also has several lunch combinations available for your palate’s enjoyment. On this particular day, we stopped by for lunch because we wanted to go to Beard Papa’s for dessert.
I ordered the Beef Bulgogi and Shrimp Tempura combination. It comes with miso soup, green salad, three pieces of California roll, white rice and some potato salad. That is a lot of food for under $10, which to me, is a great deal. The miso soup tasted so-so, it had several pieces of tofu, which also was ok, I prefer the soup at AOI. The salad was also ok, nothing memorable about it. I liked the California roll, which is a big statement, because I don’t necessarily like seaweed, but it was one of the higher points of the meal. The potato salad, in my opinion, was a disappointment only because it lacked the classic potato salad flavors I was looking for. I did, however, love the bulgogi; it was easily the star of the show. The tender, marinated beef, cooked with red and green peppers, sweet onions and mushrooms had a sweet, yet savory and meaty flavor. The tempura was also good, crunchy on the outside with the tender cooked vegetable on the inside.
The hubbs ordered Pork Katsu, which is breaded pork cutlet served with rice and tonkatsu sauce. It’s not the best katsu in town - I felt that although it was crunchy, the meat was a little too tough for my liking.
Overall, Tenno Sushi is a nice place in Little Tokyo to grab a quick bite. The prices are reasonable, service is friendly and food is decent.
Tenno Sushi, 209 S. Central Avenue, Los Angeles
http://www.tennosushi.com/