I just can’t win. My life is tightly scheduled, so when a restaurant proves unready for review, it’s a huge setback to make time to get to another before column deadlines come around. I have other places to go, people to see.

Sushi Murayama, on the third floor of 808 Center, presents the opposite scenario. It’s one of the few restaurants to open as an instant hit, thanks to chef/owner Ryuji Murayama’s sterling reputation at Tokkuri-Tei. His first solo restaurant is packed, which left me struggling for reservations. It’s gotten to a point where Murayama has had to open early to accommodate more diners. That’s how I was able to squeeze in for omakase one day, with the promise to leave in an hour.

Murayama’s biggest draw may very well be the chef himself. He’s more local than Japanese, so you don’t have to worry about language barriers. In another life he might have been a comedian, as he keeps jokes coming while welcoming each guest as a longtime friend. In the age of the celebrity chef — which places more importance on talent than guests — he brings the one thing to the table that others have forgotten in recent years: hospitality. He leaves guests feeling good, and that positive vibe carries over to the entire experience.

The restaurant has a decent-size izakaya menu, but it’s the sushi that stands out, and the chef’s $75-per-person omakase menu is a good place to start for those game to try anything. It will lift you out of ahi mode to try many other types of fish.

Relationships built with suppliers over his many years in the biz mean Murayama has access to some of the best seafood in town, and it’s not unusual to see vendors popping in even during meal service to make additional deliveries.

Considering I had an hour to complete this menu, Murayama eventually put out 10 selections at a rate of one about every six minutes. That’s some speedy work. The type and number of selections vary with availability of fish and shellfish, and perhaps your enthusiasm level. If you’re gushing over every dish, the chef might want to keep the praise coming.

Costwise, this broke down to $7.50 per selection. If you were to go the a la carte route for sushi, the range is $5 for tako; $8 for hamachi, ikura or scallop; up to $20 for ootoro; and $27 for black tiger prawns.

The presentation is more fish market vendor than artisan, but few would complain about the huge slabs he layers over rice, including a generous cut of premium chutoro, the tuna’s fatty underbelly.

Next up was hirame, or fluke, topped with crunchy engawa, or fluke fin, for extra texture. It isn’t often that engawa shows up on the table, so I felt privileged. Mura­yama dusted the serving tray with snow-mimicking salt, a reminder that winter fish from Japan are at their most voluptuous state of fattiness. That little touch of salt was all this fish needed.

We marveled over sake, or salmon, topped with ikura, making sure not a single morsel of the pearl-size roe went to waste.

For a change of pace, Murayama next introduced skewered abalone that had been marinated four hours in a secret sauce that likely included soy sauce, mirin and awabi kimo, or abalone liver, for the stinky brininess prized by true seafood aficionados.

Other fish offered were shimaaji, or striped horse mackerel, and vinegared saba that had been prepared kobujime style, blanketed with a thin sheet of translucent kelp for extra umami, then dotted with sesame seeds. It was my favorite selection of the evening.

The chef also presented black tiger prawns from Vietnam that had been butterflied and torched to deliver a grill-quality exterior and sweet interior. The size, flavors and textures put it on par with a lobster tail.

Last to arrive were the hand rolls, one a grilled scallop simply wrapped in nori, followed by a cone of rice, negitori and minced takuan that brightened the fish.

I left more impressed than on a first visit during which I took the izakaya route and learned that fried is not a forte. Shrimp used in tempura ($13.50) is plump and sweet but more flaccid than crisp. Next time I’ll try the smaller koebi ($7.50).

And for $16.50, serrano poke was no revelation. It was just standard poke sprinkled with the sliced peppers.

Whet your appetite with an uni shooter that’s almost too much to take in with one gulp, with its layers of fish, negi, ikura and quail egg. At any rate, I prefer to pluck at the morsels one by one for full value, rather than chugging without tasting them.

I did enjoy mirugai (geoduck or giant clam) prepared two ways, sashimi style ($30) and sauteed in butter ($15), the former briny and crunchy, the latter sweet and chewy. Again, true shellfish aficionados will prefer the sashimi. The latter I could keep shoveling in my mouth like popcorn or candy.

Dessert options are natto ice cream ($7.50), yuzu sorbet ($5) or black sesame ice cream ($5.50). I was relieved they were out of natto ice cream. The yuzu sorbet runs bitter, so the best choice for me was the goma ice cream covered with its thick double sesame sauce the color of tar. It’s a wonderful thing.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.