Nara Sushi

Great service but subpar food. It was more out of convenience I stumbled upon this place. Too bad the food isn’t anything exciting bc great customer service can go a long way. But sadly not this time. I got sashimi sampler ($ 10) and tempura udon ($ 12). Tempura not the freshest quality. Udon was a bit tough and I don’t mean chewy which could’ve been good. Sashimi lacked freshness.

This place is pretty big kinda, right across the street from the mall’s parking lot. Came in at around 8ish I believe and it wasn’t busy at all. Our server was attentive and he was very helpful. My friend felt overwhelmed a little by their menu and she asked him if he can break it down for her and he was very polite about it. We ordered their lobster crunch roll, TJ roll, and dynamite roll. Their lobster crunch roll could of been better. So I give it a 3.5÷5. Dynamite roll was great, ⁵⁄₅. And their TJ roll was delicious, I’m not sure if it was suppose to have salmon outside but it was still good, ⁵⁄₅.

Great quality food and very friendly and attentive service! It is a bit pricey but it is totally worth it!

It’s always a chill experience whenever I come here. Sweet & hard working staff. Haven’t tried their sushi yet, but 5 stars for their Spicy seafood Korean ramen (: I recommend the spicy miso as well, just perfect !

Super shyshi! Nichego vkysnee né ela, molodci tak derzjat! Objazatelno priidy snova, sdelali o4en bistro zakaz. Samoe prijatnoe chto né smotrja na to cho mi s moim parnem prishli pochti k okonchaniu raboti zavedenija, nas radi bili obsluzit. Otlichnoe mesto!

The service was on point very friendly and the food very good and the price is very reasonable. Made my day

Came to gaslamp for my wife’s birthday. We both love sushi and decided based off of reviews we would try Nara. While the service was alright, the waiter messed my order up twice after I confirmed it again and again.
After receiving our food the tuna was of very poor quality and tasted «fishy”(which means it is turning), the dynamite scallop roll was messy and lacked scallops. For being so close to the ocean and a main port it would be assumed that the restaurant would be able to obtain fresher ingredients. Very disappointed.

Initial reactions: underwhelmed. Wide assortment of other menu options (Korean-​based as well as Japanese). Clean environment.
I ordered the NARA Combination with an assortment of Nigiri and a roll for $ 16. The fish (white & red tuna, salmon, clam, shrimp) was falling off the rice. Pieces of fish were smaller than most other sushi restaurants I’ve visited. Salmon was missing the smoky, fresh flavor. Clam was tougher to chew, but kudos on having it available. We also had to ask for wasabi and ginger for the Nigiri. The roll was the highlight, wrapped well and with good texture.
Also ordered the seaweed salad. $ 6.50 which was fresh and great.
Ambiance was clean and waitress visited often.
Would have given 4 stars, but overheard a customer ask when his food was going to come in a frustrated fashion… our food came out relatively quickly, but beware of long wait times for food…

Prices are great. The rolls are tasty and creative. The atmosphere is nice. The dragon roll is my usual go to, but the eel is amazing.

Since RA sushi had apparently closed… We stopped in here for lunch. 2 of us.$ 50…way overpriced. only had edamame, Sapporo and 3 Hand rolls.

I come here so much
Can really see the quality of the sushi and the great atmosphere
My favorite crunchy and dragon roll has never tasted so amazing
The price is not THAT bad but i would never get tired of coming here

Rudest sushi restaurant I have been to any where in the world. You go by and there is no one in the restaurant period. The owner will judge your ability to appreciate what he has to offer. He would not seat our table of 8 and the restaurant was 100% empty at 1 pm on a Wednesday. We were well mannered and well dressed. Hmmm. Sushi down the street was packed. I think he may be in the wrong business.
Here is the answer the owner provided online. Really 60 people were denied service because they were only going to spend 20 dollars and have fun. UMMM that’s 1200 dollars. Better bring your wallet for the anchovy spewing owner. I believe that is discrimination not a right. Don’t know about you but when i go out to eat I want to have fun. If you are all business then this is your place!!!
Comment from Hosik B. of Nara Sushi
Business Owner
2÷19÷2016 We have the right to refuse service to anyone. We didnt have to cater to your mission games that you were doing. If 8 people come in for one roll we have the right to refuse the customers. It wasnt only you that came through. There was over 60 other people that came by our restauarant from your mission games. This is a business that we run, not a place for fun

They have such friendly service here :) me and my boyfriend were greeted by the servers and the sushi chefs. I always like it when the chefs say hi and thank you when you enter or leave the restaurant. My boyfriend wanted burger king but I was just not really into greasey foods specially when I’m preggers can’t really hold anything in. So we ended up here at Nara sushi! :) I actually work at a sushi restaurant hoping to see a ex– co worker here he wasn’t there though. But we ordered the fried calamari for appetizers and let me just say the mixture of the tartar sauce with the eel sauce was delightful! My boyfriend ordered a mango juice that amazing to him wouldn’t stop talking about it. I could see our server pouring it out and it seemed like some Japanese mango juice? (Not quite sure though!) He ordered the spicy tempura roll I couldn’t try it but he loved it! For $ 9! I ordered the chicken katsu bento box came with gyozas, house salad miso soup, rice and 4pcs of ca roll. I wasn’t really into the ca roll though but their chicken katsu is to die for! I definitely will come back to this place for their katsu and fried calamari! Overall good experience!

Just look at photos. All you can eat, super fast and delicious. Perfection.
Fish was beautiful, fresh.
The more elaborate rolls featured crab mix, naturally, but it was grade A sushi. I will be returning, highly recommended.

Really really good sushi here. I mean I have been to manyyyyyyyyy sushi places and it was really good. Had the garlic and regular edamame really good and fresh. Dragon roll was delicious. Alaskan roll was delicious also. Service was pretty good. Nothing more to say try this place. Pricing is legitimate.

Have worked downtown for a few years now — including working directly across the street — and walked past Nara many times wishing they would add an «all you can eat» to the menu. Well, my dreams came true just a few weeks ago! Saw a new sign outside proclaiming my heart’s desire!
Came in and after an hour of trying many nigiri and rolls, I left very full and satisfied. Everything was made expertly with the perfect amount of extras… just enough to enhance the flavor without overwhelming the fish. My orders were fulfilled right away and can’t wait to come back soon!

Been to two other sushi places in Gaslamp. This place is equal to all of them and is a bit cheaper! Definitely worth the trip down to it. Wasabi is on point. Sushi chefs are very helpful. Fish is fresh and also they will try their best to please you which I love. So far the best place. Go here

I drove down to SD to have food with one of my buddies. We drove from Point Loma to the downtown area, where we parked at Horton Plaza. It was a cold rainy night, and we didn’t feel like walking far to find a place. The first place within sight, just across the street from Horton, was a this sushi place. It’s been a while since we’ve both had sushi, so we decided to eat here.
As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with a warm welcome. We were seated immediately, and give two glasses of water. Being a fan of spicy food, I ordered their spicy salmon and their spicy tuna rolls. I asked them to make it extra spicy. Sure enough, when the rolls came out, they were very very spicy. This is awesome, because most other places do not make it spicy in spite of my requests. The rolls were big, and I can tell the ingredients were better quality.
The service itself was very efficient. The staff was all super friendly, and also gave us a warm farewell. I was very impressed, and I will return.

Unprecedented quality! Truly Amazing!!! Coming back anytime when in town!!!
The offer a lunch buffer option which holds the same quality standards … Hard to believe but true!

My family and I came here on December 25^th, 2015 (Christmas day) so mind you that may have affected my experience. We ordered sushi. It was ok, not bad but I’ve had better and it’s kind of pricey for just being ok. I know it’s Down Town and all but still it was expensive for sushi. Here’s where the fact that it was on Christmas may have played a part in the experience we had; it took a long time for our order to get to us… a LONG time. We finally got our sushi but something was missing… ginger, wasabi, oh and plates! We let the ginger and wasabi slide but had to insist on the plates. Lastly if you’re looking for a kid friendly place, I’m not sure this is the place you want to go. We had our 9 month old with us, another family had their very young child with them. They were using the high chair. The only high chair in the establishment. I do not recommend this place.

First off… not kid friendly! We went on Christmas and they only had one high chair which was already in use. So this tells me that they’re not really prepared for kids. Sushi wasn’t all that and they took forever to bring our food. Never did get any ginger or wasabi. Plates came a few minutes after our food. They never refilled our water or asked if we needed anything else. Lesson learned, we won’t be back.

Good quality food and friendly service. They’ll work with you on a food allergy, no problem, and happy to explain any dish. Sitting at the large sushi bar was fun and recommended if your a small group as the décor is why I didn’t give this a 5.

Try to make take out order. Wait staff was very friendly, but price of rolls are average $ 17~.
It’s pretty expensive, so I expect a lot (sushi ota, Hane sushi and Azuki sushi’s roll price is same price with Nara sushi)
But quality of rolls were just decent or low.
Not tasty at all and rolls were kinda small.
Try some appetizer also, it was not impact all.
Spend almost $ 100, it’s better go to premium sushi restaurant.

Had a great date night here
Alba-​Alba Roll, Crunchy Spicy Salmon Roll and the Crunch roll were all delicious. Good service also. Would recommend.

It’s okay, I was craving some beef Ramen and stopped here for a bowl as well as some Sushi. The Sushi was good, but the Ramen was overpriced and had two slices of what tasted like jerkey. The service was great and fast. If the Ramen was better I would have given this place 4 stars.

Came in to have some rolls before the show across the street at the Balboa Theater. Sat at the bar and service was quick. Had 3 special rolls and ²⁄₃ were good. Sorry I can’t remember what I ordered, I also had 4 beers.

A-​OK. random walk to the streets of downtown and was headed to barley mash to watch the game… As we walked by this place we suddenly craved sushi. Decided to check it out. greeted by two servers. ordered the lobster crunch and pink roll. it was A-​OK. looked more appealing on the menu. The waitresses were really nice.

Service was lacking, as previously mentioned by a few reviewers, and there were probably one other couple in the whole restaurant.
Props goes to the Sushi Chef — not only for his sushi skills, but for keeping the waitresses in check once he noticed the unnecessary wait to be served, need for more water and to provide the check in a timely fashion. He earned the tip of the day, and not them.

Service was lacking, as previously mentioned by a couple reviewers, and there were probably one other couple in the whole restaurant.
Props goes to the Sushi Chef — not only for his sushi skills, but for keeping the waitresses in check once he noticed the unnecessary wait to be served, need for more water and to provide the check in a timely fashion. He earned the tip of the day, and not them.

Randomly walked in from walking around the streets in downtown SD. The restaurant is huge, and luckily my friends and I got sat right away on a Friday night. I ordered a role and edamame. We also all ordred sapproro and sake for sake bombs. Nice staff and quick service. I recommend stopping in.

Food was okay. The service was really lacking.
We came at around 10pm. The restaurant was basically empty. There were more people who came afterwards.
I wanted to order the yogurt flavored soju but the only one that was available from the menu was the lemon. When I asked the waitress if it was nice, she couldn’t give me a response. She hesitated as if she had to remain silent. I would have been happy with a «it’s popular» or «it tastes like lemonade». Instead, it was an awkward fearful hesitation.
Another waitress came to take our order. We ordered gyoza, spicy garlic edamame, a bento box, and a rainbow salad. There were a few types of edamame: plain, spicy garlic, and sweet and sour chili. Again, when asked for a subjective answer as to which style the waitress liked best, she was unable to answer. Like her coworker, she hesitated and could not answer us. Pressing for some sort of advice or opinion, she finally muttered that the spicy garlic was the most popular.
My next gripe is with the timing and order in which our food arrived. The salad was NOT appetizer size. Even if it was, I obviously meant to order it as my main course as we ordered appetizers and a bento box for my fiancé. I fail to understand why my rainbow salad came out first, followed by the appetizers 5 minutes apart, and finally his bento box 10 minutes after everything else.
I placed the empty soda cup by the edge of the table. The waitress walked by 4 times without even noticing. She even came over asking if everything was alright. After the 4^th time, I lost patience and straight out asked for a refill. I wanted to tell her that the table next to us was also in need of a refill but I wanted to test her waitressing skills.
I don’t know if he was the owner or one of the sushi chefs, but he lingered around the other table asking if their sushi was good. Thank goodness he didn’t do that to us because I enjoy eating my meal interrupted– unless of course you’re coming to refill my soda.

Came to Nara’s sushi last night with my cousin. We ordered a few things to share.
Hot Sake
Spicy garlic edamame
Miso Soup
Salmon Lover’s plate
Stuffed Jalepeno (roll)
Yellowtail Nigiri, Masago Nigiri, Tobiko Nigiri, and Tamago Nigiri
The fish was nice and tender, def fresh. customer service was good, one of the gentlemen that worked there was very nice and personable. He really made my experience great. Only thing that went wrong was that one of the nigiri was misunderstood when ordered but I really didn’t mind since I got to make my cousin try something new and it was all delicious