As I mentioned in Part 1, shortly after my lunch visit, Roddy arranged an omakase dinner for DH and I. Ogawashi advertises on their menu that they offer omakase dinners starting at a price point of $45 per person.
There are several sushi chefs working the bar, each with their own style. We had Chef Matt, and one of his many talents is his hand carved vegetable and fruit decorations. I have to say, this was one of the most beautifully meal presentations we’ve ever experienced, thanks to the fruit and vegetable carvings, which Chef Matt had done in advance earlier in the day. Each plate was prettier than the next and I only wish I had better lighting to capture the details of some of the carvings.
Rather than go into detail about each dish, this post will mainly share the photos of all our dishes and I’ll share my general thoughts about the meal at the end of the post.
Pickled gingers and vegetables
Imitation Crab and Cucumber Salad
Sashimi Boat (Hamachi, salmon, tuna)
White Tuna
Albacore
Halibut
Octopus
This was my favorite of the decorations. The wings actually sort of flapped up and down when you moved the plate.
Fried Smelt
Seared Beef Sashimi
Smoked Salmon
Saba
Monkfish liver
Fried Shrimp
Tuna cocktail
Live Squid
Oysters
King Crab Legs
Jalapeno Salmon Sushi
The chef showed his sense of humor, calling this one his “girlfriend”
Dessert Platte (Apples, Oranges, Ice Cream Mochi)
We had a good and very filling meal here. The fish was fresh and we were told by the owner that our omakase meal would have been priced around $100 per person. We had a nice time talking to the owner, Mr. Yi, who is a Korean business owner who really enjoys Japanese food.
As a personal preference, DH and I still prefer the more traditional Japanese sushi bar settings. While we enjoyed the food and the fish was fresh, none of the raw sashimi particularly stood out. There weren’t many raw fish options outside of the standard ones and we missed the delicate flavors of some of the more rare fish as well as more simple nigiri courses that we usually get when we sit at a sushi bar. Our favorite dishes were actually the cooked ones (crab legs, fried smelt, fried shrimp, tuna cocktail).
That being said, I think a lot of it is a personal preference. We did enjoy our meal here and I definitely have friends who I think prefer this place over some of my personal favorites. While this wouldn’t be my first choice for an omakase meal, it is a place I’d recommend to people who I think would prefer more this style of sushi and it’s somewhere I’ll likely visit again with certain groups of friends. If you do want to try out their omakase and want to have the beautiful carvings we had, I would definitely recommend asking to be seated with Chef Matt for your omakase meal and maybe request in advance since he does most of the carvings earlier in the day. Another nice thing about this place is that the omakase is not limited to the bar area. You can have a private party upstairs with a large group and have an omakase meal.
As indicated above, we were guests of the owner, thanks to Roddy of Rodzilla Reviews. Our meal was complimentary, but no review post was requested and my opinion, as always, remain my own.
Ogawashi
1100 5th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
I love doing omakase dinners at sushi bars – I just love the element of surprise with every forthcoming dish =) Love the carvings!
It is fun! Though can get quite pricey. I’m not so fond of the element of surprise of the bill. lol. Though I guess you can always specify up front how much you are willing to spend.
Wow, those dishes are beautiful! I like how the fried shrimp are posed… put in a blue backdrop and they could be underwater!
Haha, yeah! I really liked how the fried shrimp were posed too. Plus they tasted delicious.
Thanks for deciding to share! Fair assessment and great pictures!
The plates were so beautiful. It would have been a shame not to share them after all the work put into those carvings.