Leona's Sushi House in Studio City Review (Score: 7)

Location: 11814 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604 (east of Laurel Canyon by a smidge)

As you drive by Leona's Sushi House on Ventura Blvd (Studio City), it looks like it's been plucked out of Beverly Hills or a cool part of Venice. It's a valet situation with excited, well-dressed people arriving and exiting. The inside features vast, velvety indoor seating and swanky outdoor seating. The tables are small and close together, but it makes for an entrancing, let's-get-wild atmosphere. Unsurprisingly, waitstaff are buzzing around and come quickly.

About five minutes after ordering our food, the early dishes came out. Great miso soup and excellent spicy garlic edamame. I love a Japanese place that knows how to play the hits. Only five minutes after that, our entrees and sushi arrived. I can't believe I'm about to write this, but the food almost came out too fast. No joke, within ten minutes of sitting, everything we ordered had arrived. The sushi was what you'd expect from a solid Japanese restaurant. It neither overperformed nor underperformed. The cacio e pepe udon, a dish amongst several that make the menu intriguing, was very flavorful. It's probably $5 too expensive, but hey, who's countin'?! In fact, I think that the cacio e pepe udon is a perfect microcosm for Leona's itself: fun, bold, fresh... and slightly too expensive.

Final thoughts: This is an elite date spot. Tons of action, tons of stuff to talk about. Grab some drinks, order in waves (the waitress said it was okay), and enjoy a nice night out in the Valley's Beverly Hills. But NO, this does not dethrone Taisho.