FAST FISH SANSAI JAPANESE GRILL GETS YOUR MEAL OUT QUICKLY WITHOUT COMPROMISING QUALITY.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

QUICK AND FRESH Japanese-accented fare at low prices is promised and, most of the time, delivered, at the new SanSai Japanese Grill in Woodland Hills, the chain's first Valley location.

Occasionally, the wait seems longer than at similar fast-food outlets, but since the majority of the food appears to be prepared from scratch, a little extra time is understandable.

You place your order at the counter and pay for it immediately. Your assigned number appears on your receipt and you wait to hear the staffer announce it on the microphone.

If you're eating at one of SanSai's tables, you carry your food to the one you've commandeered earlier. If you've ordered food to go, you gather it up and take it to your car.

Generally speaking, you get plenty of food for your money with almost all dishes priced under $10.

Basically, the SanSai kitchen serves up salads, sushi, grilled steak, chicken, shrimp and salmon plus a trio of soups.

Would you believe eight gyoza dumplings in a dashi-style clear fish broth flecked with mushrooms, green onion and seaweed, enough for a small meal for $5.99? Three of us shared it one day as a starter.

As for salads, you may not have to pick one as a separate dish because there are three salad options included with many of the dishes, usually the house sumi or oriental salads plus an off-menu cold pasta salad.

The most intriguing and, as it turns out, most satisfying salad is an a la carte item, SanSai's spicy sashimi offering ($8.99). It's also the most expensive.

But it's still a bargain. Sashimi of tuna, salmon, yellowtail and red snapper arrives as a heaping arrangement of baby greens with cucumber, green onions, radish sprouts, sweet pepper, cilantro and tomato tossed in a honey-mustard vinaigrette. Dig around and you'll be surprised at the number of fish pieces you'll find per order.

On the other hand, the shrimp salad ($7.99) has exactly eight shrimps of moderate size, firm but rather flavorless, in a somewhat similar salad enhanced with avocado and dressed with wasabi vinaigrette.

SanSai smartly makes its sushi roll orders ($5 to $8) into a meal by adding one of its three salads (your choice) or a miso soup. It certainly does a pretty good job with its softshell crab rendition ($7.99).

I wasn't particularly enamored though, of the seafood spring roll ($3.99 for three). I liked the attractive, crispy rice noodle shell, but wasn't impressed with the shrimp and vegetable filling.

However, SanSai seduced me another time with its curried chicken rice bowl ($5.99), the curry an effective and medium-spicy, tasty mixture with chunky potato, onions, peas and carrots, and the chicken nice and moist.

Also on the plus list: a new item of spicy pork loin, recently made available as an entree plate ($7.99) with rice, two salads and a vegetable brochette of onion, mushroom, zucchini and sweet peppers (red and yellow).

The pork, showing respectable juiciness, also receives a boost from teriyaki saucing and a garnish of green onion and sesame seeds.

And for a fine noodle dish with steak (or, if you prefer it, chicken) try the yakisoba here ($7.49 or $8.99).

The SanSai wheat noodles are thin and delicious, cooked with cabbage, onion and bell peppers. And the lean, tender meat is USDA choice, hand- trimmed.

At these prices with these portions, you can't go wrong.

And if Woodland Hills isn't that convenient, look for SanSai to open additional outlets soon in Oak Park, Sherman Oaks and Westwood.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com

SANSAI JAPANESE GRILL

Food: Three stars - Value: Three stars

Where: 20042 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills.

Phone: [phone].

Web site: www.sansaiusa.com.

Food type: Japanese.

Meals/hours: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Cost: Everything under $12.

Credit cards: AE, MC, V, Discover.

Patio dining: No.

Parking/valet: Shopping center has free self-parking lot.

Full bar: No alcohol.

Takeout/delivery: Takeout only, no delivery service.

Reservations: Not taken. First come, first served.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2) The Sushi Special Box, above, is one option at SanSai Japanese Grill in Woodland Hills, where manager Didier Mendez, right, and his staff work to create satisfying dishes with a minimum wait.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News