Located a scant 5 minute walk from the Venice Beach sign, Restaurant Hama provides great, authentic Japanese food. Ordered a mix of sushi that I truly enjoyed. What's good always shifts...but the servers seem to have a good handle on what's great that day. I had the Wakame salad as well (I typically order it) but this one was the disappointment. Too much lettuce and the sauce felt creamier than more "gingery". The rest of the offerings however were spot on and authentic. Not the overly gimmicky sushi that one often encounters. Overall, a great place for sushi in Venice beach.

Now I know what you are thinking, why wouldn't a sushi restaurant smell like fish? But usually I associate fresh sushi with no fishy smell. It tasted ok, but the overwhelming fish smell got to me after a while and we had to end up sitting on the right side of the restaurant, away from the sushi bar. The staff seemed overwhelmed with patrons and was probably the reason they didn't come across as very friendly. Maybe just caught this place on a bad night, but there are definitely other sushi restaurants I'll go back to before I try this one again.