Gaba Sushi

Easy online ordering and pick up. Staff super sweet and quick! You have to try their rolls!

This location is very convenient for a lunch pickup (online ordering is an option). I have tried both sushi and a gaba bowl. The gaba bowl was excellent (I don’t understand reviewers complaining about price — I ordered a large bowl ($ 10) and was pleasantly surprised.
On the other hand, the gaba rice does not really work with sushi rolls.
The fish is nothing spectacular but all in all an enjoyable experience. Closer to 3.5 than 4 stars.

It’s incredibly tasty lunch, but you have to think of it as a Fusion cuisine rather than sushi. The flavors were great, but the fish was definitely only mediocre — without the strong sauces the fish would be pretty bland.
All this would be fine for me, but the big strike for me was that the marketing was incredibly dishonest.
First – the whole premise of the restaurant is that the ingredients have increased GABA, but GABA doesn’t cross the blood-​brain barrier, meaning that when you digest it, it ends up in your bloodstream, but never makes it to the brain to cause the effects that’s advertised on the walls of this place. There’s been significant research that have been unable to show any effect from orally administered GABA.
Secondly – they have a lot of marketing around sustainable ingredients. But looking just a bit deeper shows that this is misleading. For example, they openly advertise that their yellowtail is from Japan (implying that they’re fresh and sustainable!). Yellowtail (also known as amberjack) is a terribly managed fishery in Japan, with the vast majority being farmed in net pens, which have highly adverse environmental impacts and health concerns.
So summary of this place is that I like the food, but it ends up selling you a good feeling of healthiness and sustainability that’s unfortunately not supported by evidence.

Neat place! I’m generally kind of a sushi purist, but the bowls looked intriguing — plus, I have a Thing about cucumber, which is unfortunate, and most of the limited sushi rolls sounded delicious, except cucumber. :(But the Gaba Bowl was quite yummy. The fish was a bit tasteless, hence the docked star, but as a whole the flavor was still really tasty. I’m a sucker for sauces as well, so the little sauce bar was especially fun. Very reasonably priced — I got the smaller-​sized bowl and a spicy miso soup (also delicious) for under $ 10, and it was more than enough food for a hearty lunch. It’s also nice to leave a quick, inexpensive lunch feeling like I just ate things actually resembling Food, versus greasy processed slop.

Love that I can get sushi with sprouted rice rather than white rice. Innovative rolls, fresh quality!

I’m not sure why this place has any reviews below three stars. I work in Pioneer Square, and every time I’ve come in, the service has been fast and the food has been great. I’ve only tried the Gaba Bowl, and it was so filling and tasty (especially with the wasabi aioli!!!).
Haven’t tried any sushi specifically, but if you’re in the area around lunch, definitely go. Only bad side is not a ton of room to sit (but there is plenty of places around the square to sit and eat).

I love their bowls! They sprouted rice is really delicious and tastes healthy. I love amount of the seaweed and edamame, it’s enough to fill you up for sure. The fish was pretty good too. They also offer you miso soup as you wait for your food. The only issues I’ve had is that I ordered through Eat24 but they don’t actually take orders from them anymore so just go in or call your takeout order.

Meh, sushi is ok. Good option for the lunch.

Good place to grab lunch during the week. Ordering is easy and straight forward. Not the best sushi I’ve had but still pretty good. Usually with convenience you get lower quality food, not the case here.

Another decent lunch spot.
For the price you pay, you get good amount of «sushi». The fish I thought were pretty fresh. I ordered some salmon based and tuna based rolls and both were good.
I love brown rice but I am just not used to it in maki sushi… it didn’t really take away from the experience but it didn’t really add much.
The place appears pretty clean when you walk in but the seating area was not very clean… I had to wipe my eating area before I put my food on it. Employees didn’t really look like they wanted to be there but, I didn’t really care too much (they don’t have table service).
Again — solid lunch spot. I consider this like a… better Rice N Rolls
They take Amex

Nice healthy change up from the usual lunch options. Good quick sushi. Modern upbeat environment, friendly staff.

I have been here multiple times, both eat in and take-​out. I prefer take-​out as seating is a bit limited. I always get the Gaba Bowl, so I can’t rate the restaurant on much more than that, but when I find something I like, I tend to stick with it. I love the unique flavors and it keeps me coming back.

Westernized concept. So WHAT. Why the moaning. Can’t people innovate in this great nation? Where is your damn lunch shop with 2 locations biatch? My problem is the texture of Gaba rice. It is heavy. Probably why the sauces do well. 3 stars. I grew up with brown rice soapbox hippies.

Lovely little to-​go style sushi place that has nice healthy variety. Love the sprouted rice, and my favorite is the Gaba Bowl. Can order online and pick it up, convenient for lunch working nearby.

It wouldn’t call this the freshest or greatest sushi but I still like to come here for lunch when I’m in a rush and want to eat something lighter and on the healthier side (sprouted rice is better for you!). It’s kind of expensive but I guess it’s the price of not bringing lunch to work…
I usually get the gaba or salmon bowl, which I would both suggest! If you’re in a rush and want to avoid the line that there sometimes is during lunch hour, you can order ahead online! It’s really convenient. Service in general is pretty fast though.
I like their sauces. They have a myriad of sauces to choose from or mix and match!

Rice bowls with sushi on top at very reasonable prices — good cheap eats in Pioneer Square. While there’s a fair amount of sodium, it’s low fat fare, and the price can’t be beat.
I’m a fan — great place for folks working in Pioneer Square to grab a reasonably healthy lunch at a good price.

Update! I’ve kept coming here since I wrote my last review and the food has not changed it is very good! Well, my roll today is actually breaking apart less than I recall?
Anyway, I’m upgrading the rating because the food is still delicious and I tried the seaweed salad and I am in love! yum!

Very expensive for very very saucy and unauthentic sushi. They only have 6 different roll option to pick from. All very similar, and not emphasis on the fish. Rather on the avocado and aloi. My co-​worker described eating the sushi here was best to use a spoon…
If you really need sushi and in pioneer square, I guess it works. But I would travel somewhere else for actual sushi and sahami.

I got this delivered one day through
so I can’t speak to the interior, service, or anything in the physical store, really.
I had a vegetarian Gaba Bowl, which was a bed of sprouted rice & quinoa, with edamame, seaweed salad, mushrooms, wasabi, ginger and maybe a few other small things (carrots?) tucked inside. I was kind of expecting the rice to be warm and the toppings cold, but everything was the same cool-​to-​midrange temperature, which only makes sense for delivery. Even if they were two different temperatures, by the time they got to my office they’d be one temperature!
It cost $ 9.00 and seemed very good size for the cost (I am a small eater, though). I ate the whole thing! I enjoyed the texture of the quinoa-​rice, and it seemed very healthy, while also being filling. Would buy again.

Stopped by today to sample some of their sushi, and I think they’re off to a great start!
The space is simple and clean. I like it. I was kind of tired of sitting, so I was happy that they had tables (on the wall) that were tall enough to allow me to stand and eat.
I was a little thrown off by the menu because I looked at their website earlier today, and was expecting to be able to order sushi by the piece. Turns out they haven’t launched that option yet, so they just have a board of their current rolls. After a brief discussion with the cashier, I ordered the Mermaid Roll (and they let me get an extra yellowtail piece instead of avocado). The sushi was very good! It was fast food, but it was good fast food. I hope they keep the quality up.
A couple of gals that work near-​by also stopped by, and inquired about their hours. Right now Gaba is open 11am-​3pm, and I was happy to hear that they plan to test out extended hours in the future.
Bonus: If you check in on Unilocal (while offer lasts), you get a free miso soup! They have a «regular» and a «spicy» option.