Katana Sushi

We came by this classy mom and pop sushi place for a nice dinner. So glad we stopped by!
The service was prompt and the rolls were delicious.
My girlfriend and I got the Ex-​Girlfriend roll which was bomb! And the Seaworld roll which was wrapped in cucumber was so fresh!
My favorite by far was the uni sushi which was incredible.
We definitely give thus place a two thumbs up!

awesome service, great sushi, comfortable environment. perfect for sushi on the reg. oh, and fabulous ramen.

Average to above average sushi with great done in specials on rolls. Excellent lunch choice.

Spent my Sunday night with my friend in town having sushi here. I’ve been coming for years but don’t frequent anymore. Completely new staff. We sat at the bar and our chef was not the least bit interested in serving us. Our waiter showed up one time and never checked back. I told the chef, who’s name tag was in his pocket, I wanted to order the baked mussels. He told me I had to order through my server. Well we never saw our server and never got to order more drinks or the mussels. I won’t be going back again. It was something I won’t put up with or Suport.

Very surprised that this location only has three stars, as our lunch experience was VASTLY superior to the normal mall sushi locations in San Diego.
Parking was easily accomplished in a large lot, which at the time was fairly well filled in.
The restaurant is a very large, clean and modern room, with a nice high-​tech feel. Happily, the majority of the staff were Japanese, which is thematically correct, and adds to the overall authenticity.
The first thing that stuck out was the specialty roll menu, and on that menu, the Lobster Tail Roll ($ 18.95)…lobster tail, snow crab salad, cucumber, avocado, rice and a butter/​dynamite sauce over top, with some sort of black masago on top, not sure of species. It was delicious, and would be a hearty appetizer for two (as in this case) or a meal for one. The roe and cucumber give a welcome crunch, and the different flavors easily stand out while chewing. Would get this again in a heartbeat!
For the entrée’, I chose the Deluxe Bento with bulgogi and sashimi ($ 2.00 extra) for a total of $ 13.95. This included miso soup, a small salad, two delicious chicken filled gyoza, white rice, a generous portion of bulgogi and a dish with three pieces of salmon, two pieces of tuna and three pieces of what was probably yellowtail. All very fresh, served at the right temperature and very tasty.
Our server was very polite and made sure that our drinks (organic black iced tea (couple bucks, I think) were filled, our table was cleaned quickly when we were finished with our meal, and our bill was presented when requested.
Overall, this was an excellent lunch experience, and I look forward to bringing my wife here for dinner to see how the restaurant changes as the day wears on.
Ambiance/​Cleanliness-​very clean, very interesting décor. The sushi bar actually looked like a lot of fun, and if with a party of three or four is something that I would try. 4 stars
Service-​No complaints, we were well taken care of, fed quickly and never ran out of a refreshing beverage 4 stars
Food-​Truly excellent, not the best that I have EVER had in San Diego (that would be Sushi Ota), but perhaps the best «Mall Sushi» restaurant that I have recently eaten at in San Diego. Inventive menu, fresh and well prepared ingredients, everything in the right proportion. 4 stars

I ordered vegetable tempura and gyoza. I got udon and gyoza, both of which were mediocre at best. This feels like bad airport food that people visit out of necessity.

OMG. First time here and I’m pleasantly surprised, satisfied and full. Will be back. Our waiter Andrew was phenomenal as well.

Met a client here for lunch. Great place for private or business meetings. Quiet. Food is excellent. Lots of televisions.

Good selection and quality sushi, good service. Yummy no-​rice rolls. We’re regular customers and these guys keep quality and service on very stable good level, not cheap though but quite reasonable considering what you get.

I came here 6 times after today thats it they are sooo rude and unfreindly I miss Ming Court and hope they get out of our area soon. We deserve better. I bought guests here once again tonight because they wanted near by sushi and just the worst experinece. I once got very sick food poisoning here a year ago. I should know better.

Came here with my co workers and we ordered our food with our waitress. Our food started coming out and some of our meal was wrong. When we brought it up to her attention, she didn’t even want to deal with us in regards to it. She didn’t even say, «I am so sorry about that, I will fix that right away.» Nothing. She didn’t seem too happy about serving our table and didn’t seem like she wanted to be there at all. I also got the caterpillar roll and it had so many small and big bones in it, that I couldn’t even finish my roll. Very disappointed in that part of my meal.

We had dinner here on a weekday. It was busy but we were immediately seated.
Overall the food is good. They have a variety of food options including sushi, BBQ meat, hot noodles, and appetizers. The restaurant was packed with kids so not an ideal place for date night.
The reason for docking some stars is their lack of customer service and communication. We came here hoping to use our $ 5 coupon we found in the local magazine and was told that we couldn’t use it. First of all, we presented the coupon before we ordered and our waiter ensured us it was valid. Then when we got our check they said the coupon could not apply because we got «discounted» items. Our waiter never mentioned that.
Instead of giving this place 1 star I gave it 3 stars since the waiter was prompt, our order came out relatively quickly and the food was decent. It would help if the hostess smiled and greeted customers when they come in.

Decent food. Horrible service.
We got seated and for the first few minutes a waitress walked around asking all the tables around us if they were doing okay, but made no effort to ask us for our drinks or even acknowledge us.
Finally after ten minutes, one server came to us. And only to ask us if we could move to another table because a big party was coming. We moved and had to ask the lady if she’d take our order. The whole time while taking our order she seemed very annoyed. She tried memorizing our order at first and then starting writing it down halfway through and repeated some things wrong, so we corrected her.
The quality of sushi was average. The portion of tempura was okay. But one of my orders never even came and the other one came out wrong. We constantly had to flag them down for their attention when the restaurant wasn’t even that busy.
Somebody needs to remind these servers that service is just as important in a restaurant as food quality. Maybe you guys would get better tips if you hired more attentive/​friendly staff.
Side note, none of the chefs or servers were actually Japanese.

Warning! This place is rude.
RUDE!
Quick aside, and then I’m going to get straight to the point.
I gave one star because though not everything was terrible, the end experience was so appalling that it totally ruined any good experience for us. Also if you think it’s a one-​time fluke, it is not, it could happen to you. Read on to understand why.
I’ve never been to a restaurant before that demands a tip! Oh yes, they did.
***After reading other reviews, it appears this is not their first offense of chasing people for a tip, or even a higher tip if they felt it was too low.
At the end of the meal we were waiting to pay for about 20 min. Finally someone came close enough for us to ask for the check and in the whole bustle of trying to get out my father in law forgot to tip.
Only he didn’t realize his mistake until the waitress so helpfully chased us outside after having left the restaurant to tell him. And the way she did was the most confusing, rude and embarrassing way.
Rather than be direct she said:
«Excuse me sir, did you enjoy our service tonight?»
Confused why they are asking us after we have already left we said:
«Um the service was fine»
She replies: «Oh because you only signed the receipt, you did not leave a tip»
We were still very confused what was happening.
She stood there for about 5 min repeating that if they gave good service why didn’t we tip?
So we gave her a $ 10 to go away, but BELIEVE me that’s the last amount of $ they will ever get from us!
Which is a shame because it’s super close to our house– but that was embarrassing, confusing and RUDE!
I mean who has the audacity to ask you in front of your entire family, why you didn’t tip and wait around until you change your mind?
Luckily we were with family, but can you imagine if you were on a date and you forgot to tip and now your waitress is confronting you in front of your date? How embarrassing.
— — — –
Other than the very rude experience:
Good:
The specialty rolls were good, not the best we’ve had, but very satisfying.
The server we had also did her best to help us find gluten free options, although they did not seem to have had this request before.
Mediocre:
One server brought us a list of gluten free rolls, but then our actual server contradicted several of those saying they weren’t gluten free. She was helpful and patient with us, but it was confusing to get contradictions.
You would think in the 21^st Century every restaurant would understand they need a gluten free option prepared and know what that is. I mean this isn’t a hole in the wall, which brings me to my next point.
This is a pretty nice, classy dinning place, not your average sushi hole in the wall, but even so the prices were a bit high.
I would have accepted the high prices and the confusion over gluten free had they maintained quality service the entire dinner.
Here’s the WEIRD part.
From the time we came in to the time we got our food our service was fast, attentive and polite.
As soon as we finished our food they disappeared .
We did not get our check. After 20 min we had to ask for it.
Then of course we paid and they did not ask anything such as «how was the service?»
Then we left and that’s when it went really down hill and they chased us down.
(Who knew a restaurant’s experience could get worse after you leave ?)
So on the positive side, if you do forget to tip they’ll let you know. Sadly it will be publicly and in the most un-​enjoyable way.
I would give 2 stars because the food was good, but then I thought I have no desire to go there AT ALL because they embarrassed my family on my little brothers birthday!
And 1 hr later we are still talking to one another about how embarrassed we felt!
So anything good they did was ruined by the audacity of this girl and I sadly can’t give them any benefit of the doubt because this waitress did not act alone. She wasn’t even our server and we saw her speaking with the manager so we know she had the rest of the staffs support in her decision.
Enough said. Don’t go there.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — —
**I’ve been reading the reviews here which are 4 – 5 stars and many people are complaining that others are being «too critical» of this restaurant. Ridiculous!
I have read the 1 – 3 star reviews and they are all legitimately upset.
For example– a mothers whose young daughter went to dine with a friend and was chased down for tipping only 15%
A business woman who paid over $ 100 on a meal for her client who was asked to leave before they could finish half their meal in order for the restaurant to close, when the restaurant themselves took too long to prepare the food.
A regular customer who was confronted by the manager for not tipping a waitress who was rude and gave poor service all night.
In all these situations no apologies or recognition was given on behalf of the restaurant.
It’s not a one time offense. The management needs to learn about customer service.

It’s a hit or miss whenever we come here. It’s across the street from our apartment so it’s hard to not go here when we want sushi. We came during one of the busier timeframes and was reluctant to grab a spot at the sushi bar. I forgot the names of the sushi rolls we ordered but they were both on the 50% off dine-​in special. Both were very good. My BF also ordered a miso soup and edamame. Those were subpar. The edamame was underdone and the miso soup was pretty much just broth. Can’t complain too much because those weren’t our main courses but a little attention to detail would have given this place a better review.

You KNOW an ethic restaurant is good when you walk in and its full of their compatriots.
Our server (for a table of 10) was excellent, always alert and on top of things (forgot his name but had this really cool thick black rim glasses)
The foo was very taste and creative. The green tea was real green tea.
I read a lot of the reviews here and there should be an algorithm for «demanding, unreasonable people», that’s all im gonna say

It was so great sushi that I ever had.
«Ex-​boyfriend» was the best.
It’s kind of roll but it does not use rice in that.
It makes roll very delicious.
I will recommand here to all of my friends: D

I’ve been here a few times but only now I’m remembering to write a review. First time I had one of their lunch bentos. Very nice, not sure what else to say because it’s just a typical bento box you can get at any Japanese restaurant. Second time I had yakisoba, which I thought was not very flavorful…
Today I had their awesome sushi combo: a rainbow roll and an eel and avocado hand roll. I liked the taste, as it is pretty good, and I feel like for a restaurant in San Diego this is a reasonable price. I’ve never tried their hand rolls before but I’m glad I did! I’ll definitely be ordering more of those in the future.
The atmosphere is good, slightly dim, but I like that. There are servers busy everywhere so it’s easy to wave one down and they’ll come to you immediately if you need anything. I thought it was nice how some of the employees interacted with regulars. Makes the place seem a lot friendlier and a suitable place for friends to get together.
I am saying $$, but there are plenty of the «normal» sushi you can get for $ 4-​$ 10, and I believe my recent meal was $ 11.25. There are quite colorful dishes you can get for $ 12 – 14, however. They also have a nice kids menu and a variety of beer, wine, and asian drinks.

This is by far one of my favorite sushi places in all of San Diego. I was a bit skeptical when it first opened because the other sushi places in the near vicinity are far below average. When Katana first opened they were pretty quiet and were offering most sushi at 50% off naturally to get people coming. I thought that was a bad sign but I was definitely mistaken.
They are located in a very small shopping mall. There’s plenty of parking and I’ve never had a problem regardless of the time of day. It’s just above the Del Mar Heights Shopping Center so you can go and see a movie if you want after dinner.
The restaurant itself is quite nice with plenty of booths and a nice sushi bar. They have flat screen TV’s above the sushi bar and always playing the latest sporting event. Take out or dine in, the food is fantastic and the fish is always very fresh. They always have a list of rolls that are on special price that day, usually about 50% off if you dine in and about 40% off if you take it to go. And now that I’m a regular, I frequently call in my order and pick up before going home.
They have of course the typical rolls and sushi you would find at just about any other restaurant with some of their own special rolls and concoctions. The staff is very nice and as they get to know you, they do treat you a bit special.
There are many great sushi places in San Diego so I wouldn’t say you have to drive all the way up here for this place, but if you are in the area or going to the Cinepolis theater, I highly recommend this place. If you live in this area, there is NO other better sushi restaurant.

Very tasty! I did not eat much so I can’t give more than 3 starts but what I had was very very good and I will come back to try more.
The place is good but too dark to me.
The service was OK and the price reasonable.
The soup I had was good, I recommend to have it with something else because by itself is too little.
The sushi I will definitely recommend is Ex-​Boyfriend, fan-​tas-​tic!