Since opening in March, Yakumi has built a steady following for fast-casual sushi in Toluca Lake. Once limited to takeout and dinner hours, the restaurant now has patio dining and recently added lunchtime hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Backed by Innovative Dining Group, which is responsible for southland favorites Roku/Sushi Roku, Boa Steakhouse, Katana and Robata Bar, Yakumi boasts a stylish patio and dining room, with clear attention to detail and aesthetic. The restaurant offers a strong but simple menu of a few kinds of sushi, rolls and salads from which to choose. They also offer wine, beer, sake, a few cocktails and some non-alcoholic drinks, plus mochi ice cream for a sweet finish.
We have long been fans of Sugarfish, and Yakumi is a great closer-to-Burbank alternative. The fish is fresh but cut a bit smaller and just not quite the same level of quality as at Sugarfish. We particularly enjoyed the salads – both the Cucumber Sunomono and the seaweed salads were delicious and well made.
The edamame is unsalted, so we added our own. In addition to the standard ponzu and soy sauces, some of the boxes included a truffle soy which was just not enjoyable to our palates.
The presentation of the takeout sushi boxes is top notch, with a colorful cardboard container holding all the items. However, it did prove a bit leaky with some of the salads. The accent flowers included inside were a very nice touch.
Yakumi is great for a quick and easy take away, with a separate window for online order pickup. There are a few off-street parking spaces, too. It’s particularly nice the restaurant has a lot of options for substitutions, lighter eating and smaller bites.
We really enjoyed our takeout meals from Yakumi and hope to enjoy a meal in the dining room or on the patio in the future.
Restaurant Info: Yakumi is located at 3919 Riverside Dr., Burbank, CA 91505. (818) 748-3040. Yakumi is open Monday through Thursday 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.. Friday and Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Yakumi receives: On The Marquee
myBurbank Ratings:
Tops In Town (Outstanding)
On The Marquee (Really Good)
Could Use A Rewrite (Average or Slightly Below)
Don’t Quit Your Day Job (Poor)
