I recently finally made a visit to Sushi Ota. It’s a popular sushi place in San Diego that has hundreds of positive yelp reviews and good recommendations from several of my friends.
It was quite crowded when we went, but luckily we had reservations. I had worried about parking in the Pacific Beach area, but Sushi Ota is in a plaza with a parking lot.
We started with an appetizer sample that was on the Special’s Board. I don’t remember what each one was. The one on the left was a type of squid salad. The middle was a grilled fish. The one on the right was a fried fish.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the menu.
For my entree, I chose the chirashi deluxe. I loved how pretty the chirashi box looked. It consisted of toro, salmon, yellow tail, surf clam, uni, eel, octopus, shrimp, and a few others that I forgot what they were. The fish was served on a bed of sushi rice flavored with sushi vinegar. There was also a small side of pickles which I really enjoyed and some fried fish. I loved everything on my plate and the fish was really fresh.
My friend chose the sushi combination B.
Future Husband chose the sashimi plate which looked really small compared to what the rest of us ordered. He was a little sad about the quantity. Being the good future wife, I shared my plate with him.
We were really happy with our first experience here. The service was friendly and the fish was fresh. It was slightly on the pricey side but it was good quality. I will definitely have to come back soon to check out the sushi bar.
Sushi Ota
4529 Mission Bay Dr
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 270-5670
My hubby loves sushi, I must take him there for the omikase, thanks for the tip, Daniel, and thanks for the lovely review and pics, kirbie
I’m sure your husband will love Sushi Ota if he loves sushi.
You must sit at the sushi bar. Justice isn’t served until you do. Just request “omakase” and you will be delighted. It is pricy, but guarantee you cannot get anything else in San Diego. It’s not worth going cheap on sushi, and being semi-satisfied. It’s pointless justifying saving maybe $20 bucks on a meal for lower quality items.
Thanks for the tip!
Oh I love the quality of your pictures! What kind of camera do you use. Your box of sushi looks so yummy! I love how now he’s future husband and you are future wife sounds so adorable.
For these pictures I used a Lumix GF-1. It’s definitely a pricey camera. It’s a compact version of a dslr. Not as great as a full dslr, but better pics than a typical point and shoot. You can read the rest of my cameras here https://kirbiecravings.com/photography-equipment
If you are looking for something not as pricey you may want to try the Canon s95. It’s a more high end point and shoot camera and takes good quality pics.
I wish I could afford to come here! So question, do you think it was worth EVERY penny you paid or could you have taken the money elsewhere and eaten just as well (and more for that matter!). Like that sushi place in encinitas you guys always seem to love (Sushi Kaito?).
The chirashi bowl looks so fresh and amazing (my only experience w/ chirashi is at Nozomi b/c it’s the most affordable and it’s actually pretty decent !).
FH’s sashimi looked ‘ok’. Aside from the price, did he like the taste? It looked a bit like something i’d get in prepared sushi section at Nijya 🙁
Nice post!
The sushi combinations weren’t too expensive. My chirashi was $25. The Sushi combo B was $21 and FH’s sashimi was $18. The sashimi was definitely fresher than most places serve. I haven’t eaten at the bar so it’s hard to compare how the sushi bar is with the sushi bar at Kaito. I do believe that Kaito is cheaper compared to Ota. So if I were to pick one, I’d go to Kaito and save some money. But I have heard great things about Ota’s sushi bar and the creative things they come up with, so I do want to try it out at some point. Oh I heard lunch specials on the weekdays are a good deal at Ota, if you are ever in the area you can try it out.
Looks great Kirbie! If you ever get to sit at the bar the chef’s will whip up some creative stuff in front of you.
My friend was telling me some of the interesting things he has eaten at the bar. I definitely want to check it out.