Keep an eye on that last bite

IN a city where a restaurant is considered a classic if it manages to hang around for more than a decade, 56-year-old Sakura on Centinela Avenue is a miracle of longevity. After all these years, this Japanese American restaurant is still so busy that the long-standing reservation policy holds: You can’t make a reservation unless you’re a party of six or more. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you come early or you come late, if you’re three or four, there’s always a wait. Every table is taken. All the time.

How many restaurants in greater Los Angeles can claim that kind of attendance? Sakura’s fans are fiercely loyal. Prices for sushi and sashimi -- or just about anything else on the menu -- are incredibly reasonable. The service is some of the most pleasant and efficient I’ve ever encountered. Owner Janis Toya may have something to do with that. She worked here as a waiter for 14 years and became the fourth owner in 1999. Most nights you’ll find her functioning as a kind of uber-server, taking down names, making sure everything in the dining room flows smoothly and that no one is kept waiting longer than necessary, even if she has to clear a table herself.

The drill is this: You go inside, give your name and the number in your party, and then squeeze onto the bench facing the crystal-clear aquarium that divides the two sections of the dining room in half. Enjoy the koi water ballet. Or saunter back outside and grab one of the chairs set there to accommodate people waiting. You watch the cars come and go, slowing in front to let out a passenger while the driver looks for a parking spot on the street. Standing, two fathers barely out of their teens bounce their babies in their arms, talking sports, while a couple of French graduate students talk politics. Two guys ride up on mountain bikes and chain them to the streetlight pole.

When a group leaves, we wonder if our party is up next. Stealing a peek in the window, we get pleasantly hungry as we watch two student types work their way through a giant sushi combination platter.

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Worth the wait

THE first time I went to Sakura it was after 8 p.m. and my husband was so hungry he was getting cranky. When Toya told us it would be a half-hour wait, my husband looked around at all the people waiting for a table and wanted to go somewhere else. I countered by pointing out that it would take longer to drive somewhere else and park. Toya overheard us and reassured him we’d get a table in a half-hour -- possibly sooner -- and he gave in. She was as good as gold. In 20 minutes, we had our table, and a primo one too, one of the generous booths along the wall.

There’s something about this place that’s so reassuring, so familiar and diner-like, that you want to stay and eat, whatever the wait. It’s not that the food is the best Japanese food to be found in L.A. It’s good and it’s abundant and a terrific value, but no one dish stands out as heart-stoppingly great. But in its very untrendiness, in its warmth and soul, and democratic scene, Sakura is a unique neighborhood restaurant.

The area has changed dramatically since Sakura opened. It used to be surrounded by a largely Japanese American neighborhood, but now sits across the street from a carniceria and a mariscos joint. And though many of the original customers have moved on, others who came as kids are still coming and a new crowd has found the worthy old restaurant.

Higher-end sushi restaurants might charge $18 for two pieces of bluefin tuna. Here, the tuna is not so highfalutin, but very decent nevertheless, and when they do have bluefin on special, it’s usually $7.50 to $8 for two pieces. Rolls, of course, are even less expensive and look to be among the most popular items.

Sakura’s sushi is what I’d call rustic and hearty. The fish is cut in thick, generous pieces and simply slapped onto the rice. The rolls are loose and a little messy, but tasty enough, especially considering the price. Spicy tuna works.

But I like the ume shiso the best, stuffed inside with sour pickled plum and shiso leaf, a really refreshing combination. As for the sushi combination plates, you can get 30 pieces, which includes some rolls, for $34. The sushi-nigiri on our plate one night includes tuna, salmon and cooked shrimp tail. There’s so much sushi, four of us can’t finish it. But looking around, I see some guys polishing off vast trays of it.

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Home-style dishes

SAKURA didn’t begin to serve sushi until the ‘70s, the owner tells us. Before that, the menu was mostly sukiyaki, rice bowls and familiar home-style dishes of the Japanese American kitchen. Most of those items are still on the menu.

To start, there’s a nice list of appetizers. I like the oshitashi, boiled spinach with bonito flakes, or the chilled tofu in dashi broth topped with slivered scallions. Tempura is a bit heavy and oily, but watch out for the appetizer tatsuta age, small pieces of fried chicken served with wedges of lemon. Three of us pounced on it one night, practically starting a chopstick war to get at the last few pieces. The crust is crisp and golden, the chicken inside hot and moist. I can picture sneaking away with a few takeout orders of this to enjoy some night in front of the TV. There’s also a refreshing seaweed salad and a gently spicy calamari salad that has wisps of seaweed mixed in with the lettuce.

Other dishes I’ve tried and liked include a respectable black cod marinated in soy and sweet sake and broiled yellowtail cheek, though the kitchen tends to cook it well past the medium-rare stage.

Toya’s husband, Sam Nitao, is a wine buff and has put together a small, spare wine list that includes Laurent Perrier brut and Caymus Conundrum, which go with the food just fine.

In trying to offer something for everybody, Sakura’s menu may be trying to do too much. When I ordered green soba one night, I was disappointed it was so, well, dull.

Some people save a room for the typical mochi ice cream. But nobody is going home hungry.

And Sakura is so homey and down to earth, and the service so friendly and gracious, that once you settle in at one of the slightly frumpy but comfortable booths you may never want to leave. I guarantee you’ll want to come back.

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virbila@latimes.com

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Sakura

Rating: *

Location: 4545 Centinela Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 822-7790.

Ambience: Down-home Japanese American restaurant with red Naugahyde booths, a fish tank divider and a diverse crowd of hipsters, senior citizens, young families and more.

Service: Friendly and helpful.

Price: Appetizers, $3.50 to $9; main courses, $10 to $16.50; combination dinners, $12.50 to $19; sushi and/or sashimi combo, $14.50 to $34; desserts, $1.50 to $1.75.

Best dishes: Boiled spinach with bonito flakes, seaweed salad, spicy calamari salad, tatsuta age, ume shiso sushi roll, sushi combination platters, black cod marinated in sweet sake.

Wine list: Minimal. Corkage fee, $15.

Best table: A booth in the front window.

Details: Open 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 5 to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Beer, wine, sake and soju. Street parking.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.