Sushi Ota Review: Overrated Menu, Omakase & Reservation 2023

Sushi Ota in San Diego is a restaurant that has been making waves in the sushi scene for years. With glowing restaurant reviews and a reputation for offering some of the best sushi and omakase experience in the city, it’s no surprise that getting a reservation at this spot can be a challenge.

However, despite all the hype, I was underwhelmed by my experience at Sushi Ota. In this post, I’ll provide you with everything you need to know about the restaurant, including Sushi Ota menu, omakase, reservation system, and photos.

My review is completely honest and I will share with you why I think you should spend your money elsewhere.

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Fast Facts: Sushi Ota San Diego Restaurant

👉Address: 4529 Mission Bay Drive, San Diego CA 92109

👉 Location: Pacific Beach

👉 Meals served: Lunch/Dinner

👉 Options: Dine in, Takeout, Delivery

👉 Sushi Ota Menu: Japanese cuisine, omakase, seafood, traditional sushi rolls, sashimi, and other japanese cooked dishes

👉Parking: There is a small parking lot in the strip mall and street parking

👉Payment Options: VISA | Amex | MasterCard |

👉 Sushi Ota Reservation: You can make a reservation at Sushi Ota through OpenTable, but if you want to get a seat at the sushi bar for the omakase, you need to call the phone number (858) 880-8778

👉 The Owner’s Influence: It turns out that the restaurant’s founder and previous owner, Chef Ota, was the one who made the restaurant famous. However, since he has left and a new owner has taken over, the quality of the food and service are not the same. This may explain why my experience was not on par with the many previous positive reviews of Sushi Ota.

Sushi Ota Menu

Among the menu items for appetizers are the Green Salad, Seaweed Salad, Calamari Salad, Mushroom Salad, and Sashimi Salad.

For the entrees from the kitchen, Sushi Ota offers different options with fried or steamed rice, such as Beef Teriyaki, Chicken Teriyaki, Tempura, Vegetable Tempura, Miso Marinated Seabass, and Salmon Teriyaki.

The OTA “B” is a comprehensive meal that offers sashimi tuna, yellowtail, white meat fish, surf clam, broiled salmon, scallop dynamite, shrimp tempura, seaweed salad, spinach, soup, and rice steamed or fried.

Unlike most authentic Japanese restaurants in San Diego, Sushi Ota doesn’t include a complimentary miso soup with their sashimi and sushi combos.

From the sushi bar, there are different sushi combos and rolls available. The Sushi Combo is a mix of Tuna, yellowtail, octopus, shrimp, salmon, eel, white meat fish, and a California roll with imitation crab.

The Osusume Sushi is a chef’s choice platter of squid, tuna belly, red snapper, yellowtail, Spanish mackerel, salmon, surf clam, salmon roe, sea urchin, eel, negitoro, and umeshisoyamaimo.

The Chirashi is a large portion of sushi rice in a bowl covered with different kinds of raw fish such as tuna, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, octopus, surf clam, white meat fish, and eel.

The Deluxe Chirashi offers toro, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, octopus, sea urchin, white meat fish, surf clam, and eel.

The Tekka Don is a thin-sliced raw tuna over a large portion of sushi rice in a bowl, while the Unagi Don is barbecued fresh water eel over a large portion of steamed rice in a bowl.

For those who prefer nigiri and sashimi, Sushi Ota offers different options, such as Tuna (Maguro), Tuna (Blue Fin), Chopped Toro, Chu Toro, O Toro, Yellowtail (Hamachi), Yellowtail Belly, Kanpachi, Salmon, Salmon Belly, Halibut (Hirame), Red Snapper (Tai), Golden Eye (Kinme).

They also have Mackerel (Saba), Spanish Mackerel (Aji), Shrimp (Ebi), Sweet Shrimp (Amaebi), Giant Clam (Mirugai), Orange Clam (Aoyagi), Scallop (Hotate), Japanese Squid (Yariika), Eel (Unagi), Sea Urchin (Uni), Salmon Egg (Ikura), and Egg (Tamago).

Sushi Ota Omakase

Omakase, which means “I leave it up to you” in Japanese, is an authentic Japanese dining style where the chef prepares dishes based on the freshest and most exceptional ingredients available. This culinary approach is supposed to allow diners to experience unique flavors and textures in each course, making for a truly memorable meal.

Sushi Ota Omakase costs $130 and lasts about 90 minutes, where diners receive an extended chef’s choice of nigiri, sushi, uni, octopus, Wagyu beef, and desserts.

Sushi Ota Reservation Process

Getting a reservation at Sushi Ota can be a hassle. Because of the reputation from Chef Ota, you need to make a reservation way in advance or pick a really late/early time slot.

You can check availability on OpenTable, but if you want to get omakase at the bar, you must make a reservation through the phone number (858) 880-8778.

Sushi Ota Review

Omakase is supposed to be a unique and personalized experience, but that was not the case at Sushi Ota. While I opted for the Omakase experience, I found it to be lackluster and subpar compared to other sushi restaurants I’ve visited.

First of all, diners are seated at a tiny corner of the sushi bar while the rest of the bar is used to fulfill delivery orders. This made for an underwhelming experience as I found myself staring at unappealing slices of fish in plastic wraps instead of seeing how the chefs expertly create my plates.

While the ingredients were fresh, the flavors were not particularly exceptional or memorable. In my opinion, Sushi Ota’s omakase fell short of my expectations and failed to deliver a truly exceptional dining experience.

The fact that the chef was focusing more on fulfilling the delivery orders than catering to the guests who were dining in-house is definitely not what I expect for paying the hefty price tag of $130 (not including taxes, fees, and beverages).

Chef Ota is no longer at Sushi Ota

Born in Kumamato, Japan, Chef Ota honed his craft working in sushi restaurants in Kobe, Tokyo, and Osaka before moving to San Diego in 1982 and opening Sushi Ota in 1990.

Since then, Sushi Ota has become one of San Diego’s most beloved sushi restaurants. Chef Ota’s reputation draws diners from all over the country, and his omakase service is a popular choice.

However, Chef Ota is no longer at Sushi Ota. There is a new owner and new chief chef at Sushi Ota, which may explain why it no longer lives up to its reputation.

The Wrap-Up: Sushi Ota Review

As a food enthusiast, I have high expectations when it comes to dining out, and while the quality of food at Sushi Ota was decent, I didn’t feel that it lived up to the hype.

Overall, it’s an okay restaurant for those who want Japanese staple food or a casual lunch spot. However, if you’re looking for an exceptional omakase experience, there are likely better sushi places to visit in San Diego.

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One Comment

Tosh says:
February 26, 2023 at 12:22 pm
I was there not too long ago, I ordered the ~$50 nigiri set, and my experience lines up pretty much the same as yours. The order longer than expected and the gunkan-maki nori was soggy by the time it got to me. The seafood was fresh but didn’t blow my socks off, and the rice wasn’t as soft and pillowy as it should have been. Are there any alternative restaurants in San Diego you would recommend for a good omakase experience?

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