Gaba Sushi

It just tastes bad… The ingredients are not fresh. And most of them are vegetable or tofu.

I came at around 7:30 on a Thursday. The restaurant was empty. I ordered a salmon bowl. It took about 10 minutes. When the food arrived it didn’t look like the picture on the wall. The salmon was drenched in a sweet sauce that was overpowering. The salmon itself tasted old and dry. After a few bites it hit the spot. Not the good spot. It hit the spot that made me want to puke. I didn’t want to be a jerk so I tried to eat some more but I couldn’t. I told the waiter and he gave me a refund and said my next meal there will be on the house. Next time I go maybe I will give them a better rating.

I went here for my second time because I got a groupon deal. The first time, I enjoyed my meal and I can say so again for my second time. I think both times I got the gaba bowl because it’s so good! And it tastes so healthy too!
There was only one girl working when me and my sister came to eat but she was pretty fast! Great service! Water and drinks are self served in the back.
They have happy hour all day if you sit at the bar. $ 2 off sushi or a bowl. We couldn’t use that because we already had a groupon. I didn’t really try their sushi yet except for one time that I tried some from my friend’s plate. It was pretty good! I definitely need to come back for their sushi!

Gaba sushi is affordable and quite delicious and unique. This restaurant in the U District is rather a hole in the wall and was completely empty upon arrival on a Tuesday night but had dine in and take out customers stroll through later. The menu is not extensive and the kitchen is not large but my friend and my Gaba Bowls were filling, fresh, and very unique. I appreciated the sprouted brown rice and quinoa base (albeit there was a bit too much base for the proportion to the rest of the toppings), the shelled edamame, sashimi, and unique sauces. Plus that seaweed salad was stellar! They offer lots of specialty sauces and condiments to chose from too at a station which are fun to play with but not really necessary with everything on in the bowls. The side of miso soup was also very warm and delicious.
I enjoyed my bowl a lot and thought it was a great value and rather healthy dinner but I was a bit envious of the sushi rolls that walked by me. They were large and beautiful and I believe had more fish than our bowls did, which might make sense then that the rolls are priced higher than our bowls. And we did order the small bowls. I’m not sure how the proportions change between the small and large bowls that are offered. Good for the price, maybe not a place I’ll go back to unless I am in the area again.

A very nice little restaurant for sushi and Japanese food. Set of all, they have seemed salad! Tried their gaba bowl and it was awesome.

I got a Groupon for this place and decided to check it out. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. I’ve had better sushi.
First, the rice they rice they use is a special «sprouted» brown rice which some people are not used to and may not like. I did not like it very much as the flavor was overpowering and the texture was kind of squishy. I ended up peeling some of the rice off of my rolls.
However, I still thought the rolls were pretty good. I liked the Pink Flamingo one a lot. I also got the seaweed salad which I enjoyed. My friend got the Gaba bowl and he said was fish was great.
In terms of service, I think it was fairly slow. They only had two people serving the customers — taking orders and making the rolls. We ended up waiting a while for our food.

Decided to come here for lunch with my friend after work. We got there around 4:10? I think? And there was a sign that said «will be back 4:30». So we left and walked around the ave. came back around 4:30 and they still weren’t open??? We waited again until 3:50 and YES! Finally open.
Service was ok, the people working there were nice. There are different combos that you can order; my friend and I both decided to «split 10» which is having five pieces of two different rolls. Rolls were okay. Brown rice was a little too sticky and was sticking to the plate. Bad boy was TINY! definitely not what I was expecting. Mermaid roll was eh; the salmon was old And a little tough. My favorite was the tiger eye. For some reason the salmon was better? I don’t know.
Will definitely keep this place in mind for lunch

Innovative, modern, healthy and fun! Gaba Sushi has pretty good quick food for a good value.
We came here for a late lunch on a weekday. I found out about Gaba Sushi through Groupon, so figured why not give this place a shot. It has a pretty prime location right next to Chase on the Ave in University District.
The restaurant is clean and brightly decorated with a modern flair and cool ceiling lights. We were the only customers at 2pm lunchtime on a Friday. Hopefully they pick up more business to stay alive!
The service was friendly and helpful. The girl working answered our questions about the menu and took our orders. She then went to prepare our meals. The food was ready in about 5 minutes, nice and quick.
Now onto the important part: the food!
Gaba sushi uses a sprouted rice that tastes great and has a higher level of vitamins and enzymes. They also mix quinoa into their sushi rice, which adds a nice crunch of the quinoa.
Gaba Bowl: I loved this dish!!! It was like a chirashi bowl, but even better! I absolutely love sushi served with mango, and these guys executed well. The ingredients include: Gaba rice mixed with quinoa, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, 7 spice tuna, tobiko, mango, avocado, seaweed salad, edamame, green onion, red onion, cucumber. sesame, sweet soy glaze.
Tiger Eye Roll: crab topped with salmon, green onion, tobiko drizzled with wasabi aioli. We ordered this roll along with the #2 combo that also came with nigiri and 2 sides. We picked seaweed salad and a Jones soda.
There are various sauces you can select by the side table. I tried the mango sauce (loved it!) and wasabi aioli. My husband got the standard spicy mayo.
All this great food for only $ 20 ($ 12 with the Groupon deal, what a steal)!
I personally loved the sushi creations and enjoyed the Gaba sushi rice. For those who prefer a more traditional sushi experience that served normal white sushi rice, you might not enjoy this style. If you appreciate new ingredients and flavors of sushi creations, then you might love this place.
Get ready to bus your own table, as there is a section to leave your dishes when finished. I also heard if you sit at the bar, they will give you $ 2 off. Hey, why not?
Parking is available on the street, and you have to pay the meter to park in that location.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience at Gaba sushi. I especially loved the Gaba bowl. I can’t wait for next time to taste more Gaba goodness.

A lot of people start off their reviews with «I wanted to like this place but…» and I’m about to as well.
They have all day happy hour. HELLO. All day — $ 2 off. This speaks to me on an emotional level. But is it too good to be true? Kinda.
They have a very simple menu and a few different combos which I enjoy because I’m super indecisive when it comes to picking rolls! However, only one really stood out to me and then I just went ahead and picked another one that I thought I would enjoy for the 8 piece split combo. I ended up ordering the Flaming Crab and Pink Flamingo.
The presentation is on point, but the taste = womp womp thumbs down. The fish was okay. They use sprouted rice to make their rolls which has a different but off-​putting taste. You know when the only word to describe someone’s style is «unique?» I feel like this is the same thing ’cause like ok Gaba I appreciate your «modern» and «inspired» sushi but sry it still doesn’t taste good.
Seattle is spoiled with fresh fish and great sushi joints so skip this one and move on to the next.

TL;DR a fantastic twist on sushi
How much does a $ 10 pseudo-​chirashi bowl suck???
Not much… actually…
Disclaimer: Errbody’s entitled to dey own opinions, but ima say yr opinions can suck the dicks of mah opinions.
See, ya gotta curb yo expectations when you see the gaba bowl priced at $ 10, when most chirashi bowls be dancing around the $ 18 – 25 range. When you see dem raw fishes swimmin on da rice, you know yr in for something different.
What’s even better, if you sit at the bar (the side counters), you get $ 2 off yr meal. ALL DAY ALL DAY.
They got a bunch of other rolls on the menu too. Apparently the place is headed by the same chef that headed Japonessa and Umi Sake House. If that means anything to you, you’ll know dat it means this ain’t gon be yr typical sushi. We talmbout rolls with sauces and carzy dynamic flavors.
Gaba Bowl CONTENTS: Gaba rice & quinoa, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, 7 spice tuna, tobiko, mango, avocado, seaweed salad, green onion, red onion, cucumber, cilantro, sweet soy glaze.
There are about 4 – 5 slices of fish in there, one of each of the types listed above. The 7 spiced tuna is seared and AWESOME. Everything else tasted fresh, but ain’t gon be the best sashimi you ever had.
HOWEVER, it’s the rest of the ingredients that elevate the meal. Sushi traditionalists FOH! Dey gots a huge chunk of mango in there, a couple slices of avocado, and a side of seaweed salad in there. WTF? Got dat flavor potpourri goin on in da bowl.
The leader of da bowl is the foundation. It carries it. It’s a mix of sprouted brown rice and quinoa. It adds da balance of substance to the rest of the meal, which is overall very light. Now, you might be wondering, «WHY NOT WHITE RICE?» Did you read what I wrote earlier? «Sushi traditionalists FOH!» Gaba (germinated) rice is one of the fastest growing rice products in Japan.
To add insult to injury for all y’all traditionalists, there are sauces on the side you can add to flava flav yr dishes: a couple I noticed were mango, and jalapeño citrus. dayum, son.
I LOVE this mixture of gaba rice and quinoa, and I actually prefer this over the regular white rice they put in traditional chirashi bowls. The «Gaba» rice apparently can «maintain balance in the brain and to prevent Alzheimer’s disease… [and] can have the following benefits: lower anxiety, increased sleep cycle for deeper rest, lower blood pressure, and other improved cardiovascular functions.»
Basically, you eat dis, and you got a freakin vigilante in yr body doin werk!
Overall, the meal was light, refreshing, but fulfilling.
With all these physical benefits, you can do werk yoself, and bus yr own tables, you lazy ass.
Strong 3 to a Light 4

More like a 3.5 but, I’m curious about their other menu items.
I ordered their regular-​size Gaba bowl and opted not to sit in the front area for their $ 2 off HH pricing (the space was full, besides).
It only took a few minutes before my bowl was delivered to me. I’ve heard the cashier call out numbers though, perhaps you only get your food delivered to you if you’re seated in their immediate vicinity.
As others have mentioned, there is very little fish. There are 4 – 5 slices of fish, different kinds of fish, they are just ok. There is a lot of seaweed salad, which I love, so I have no complaints on that portion. Having edamame in the bowl was interesting, so I’ll take that as a plus. There was maybe a quarter of avocado and one thin slice of mango in the bowl. Oh, and a scoop of the most tiny cubes of cucumber I have ever seen.
The rice is mixed with quinoa which is interesting, in the visual and textural sense. Sprouted rice is brown, a bit heartier. I liked it. There is a glaze that comes with the bowl which was pleasant, but I did use the wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce as I would with sushi.
I still felt kind of hungry when I finished my bowl, but after some time, I felt… satisfied. It’s just the right portion for someone who is feeling a bit peckish, and not starving.
The space is very stark and clean. You self-​serve waters, chopsticks, and napkins and bus your table when you leave. There were individual diners in the space with me, and it was quiet and respectful. I didn’t mind a quiet lunch, but if I’m not in the mood for that, I would certainly do a take-​out order of their bowls or possibly rolls (since they do half rolls, very cool).

I was searching for dinner and was feeling overwhelmed by the U district options! I literally told myself «I will eat at the next place that catches my eye» and it turned out to be Gaba.
I walked in to fresh décor and good music. The menu turned out to be unusual, and not at all what I was expecting for sushi. It all seemed complicated and expensive. The cashier helped me find a vegetarian roll and I paid my almost $ 10 for 8 pieces.
Was it worth it? Mmmm, not really. The roll was unexpected. It had mango and an almost pico de gallo mixture in it. Prettier than it was tasty.
I don’t think this is my thing. While it was interesting food and decent taste, it was only mediocre. I thought. But maybe it’s just me.

This is one of the newer sushi places on the ave and it definitely brings a unique twist to sushi.
The sushi rice is not your typical kind of sushi rice. First off, it’s sprouted rice so it has a healthier feel to it. The texture is a bit harder and has a more nutty feel like brown rice. There is not a huge menu selection of rolls but they do have a few. All rolls are the same price and you can either get 8 pieces or 10 pieces. You can also split a roll and get two different kinds of rolls (4 or 5 pieces) each.
Mermaid — Comes with edamame hummus & tofu, topped with tuna, salmon, seared 7-​spice tuna, yellowtail, spicy tuna, avocado, mango, cucumber, and tobiko. The inner hummus and tofu is really interesting. The tofu has a bit of an odd texture to it and I think the hummus flavor is almost invisible. The pieces of fish are good sizes and have a nice fatty feel to them. There isn’t enough sauce that is really combining all the flavors together so this roll didn’t stand out too much.
Pink Flamingo — Comes with salmon, topped with tuna, pico, onion, sesame and drizzled with citrus aioli. If you are a tuna lover then this is definitely a good roll for you because the tuna is very prominent in this roll. Unfortunately, the pieces of red onion are very, very strong because they are raw. Within the first bite you can just taste red onion and tuna. It’s not too bad of a roll, but I felt that the other ingredients couldn’t stand out because of the strong flavors.
Hungry Caterpillar — Comes with unagi, topped with avocado, tobiko, cucumber, sesame and drizzled with soy glaze. This is one of the better rolls that I had. The avocado on this roll was spot on! Perfectly ripe, smooth and a hefty slice. The unagi piece was a bit on the small size but I could definitely taste it. It almost reminded me of a dragon roll but less unagi and sauce.
Tiger Eye — Comes with crab, topped with salmon, green onion, tobiko and drizzled with wasabi aioli. I think this was my favorite roll out of all of them. The crab was creamy and tasted fresh. They don’t use imitation crab here. The salmon piece was fatty and worked well with the rest of the roll. The wasabi aioli is delicious and adds a little kick to the roll.
Gaba Bowl — You can get this in a regular or large size. It comes with Gaba rice & quinoa, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, 7 spice tuna, tobiko, mango, avocado, seaweed salad, green onion, red onion, cucumber, cilantro, and sweet soy glaze. The thing that turned me off about the Gaba bowl was the texture of the quinoa and rice. It clumped and stuck together. There is also a ton of seaweed salad that is hard to mix through the bowl. I think there should have been less seaweed salad and a bit more fish. The cilantro tasted good but when I bit a chunk of it, I wasn’t a huge fan of the powerful flavor. The fish in the bowl are fresh but I just wish there was more. Overall, the bowl has a lot of flavor going on. I added some wasabi aioli to kick up the flavor a bit.
I enjoy the sauce station with all the little cups and caps for you to take home if you order take out. I also enjoy how they have all the lids to the to-​go containers so you can just pop them on. Plastic bags are also sitting there ready for your use. It’s really convenient and the set up is good. However, service was a bit slow, especially with only two people running the thing. It took some time for my rolls to come out but I at least knew they were being made to order. Presentation on these rolls were beautiful and modern. There wasn’t any music playing in the place so it sounded a little odd and quiet. They have a clean atmosphere and happy hour is every day (dine at the bar and get $ 2 off your bowl or any roll!). I used the coupon from the survivor guide and received $ 5 off my purchase of $ 20+. This made my total for everything float around $ 22.
Wishing Gaba Sushi the best of luck on the ave for business! I may be back if I’m craving this unique type of sushi.

Food: 4 stars
I absolutely love their Gaba bowl! It’s healthy and has a bit of everything (raw fish, veggie, seaweed, edamame, quinoa, .). I don’t know, I think it’s quite healthy even for someone who’s on a diet!
Price: 5 stars
What can I say? This place is quite cheap… I mean, 60 cents per nigiri sushi? Cmon… haha. With the $ 2 dollar off deal, my Gaba bowl was not even $ 6~ sweet deal, isn’t it?
Ambiance: 3 stars
We sat in the bar area for the $ 2 off every sushi/​roll, and it’s not that bad. The restaurant is quite clean and somewhat empty. It is somewhat strange because people that walk by the restaurant will stare at you occasionally. The place is pretty empty, so it’s kind of weird at first.
Service: 3 stars
This place is totally self-​service. They give you your food once it’s done, and that’s it. I didn’t bother paying tip, and I didn’t expect any kind of service at all.
Overall: 4 stars
I’d come here again because the food is pretty good, but I do think sitting in a very empty restaurant is pretty weird. I think maybe ordering to-​go is a good option (?).

Been meaning to try this place after reading about it in Zagat’s as one of 20 new spots to checkout in Seattle.
The buildout is really nice — clean, trendy, and attractive. Always a fan of new places increasing the visual vibe of The Ave… but Gaba Sushi is not just a pretty face on University Way… the food also mirrors the establishment.
I opted for the Gaba Bowl and Hot Kiss 8 piece roll. The sushi was good, much better than a lot of similarly priced and available options in the area. However, I loved the Gaba Bowl and would definitely come back for it again and probably go for a large bowl instead of a regular instead of getting a roll. It was fresh, light, well balanced, and really so good I may pop back tomorrow for another bowl. It contains Gaba rice & quinoa, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, 7 spice tuna, tobiko, mango, avocado, seaweed salad, green onion, red onion, cucumber, cilantro, sweet soy glaze — but you can also go vegetarian on it which I know my wife will likely like.

Really interesting twist on a typically bastardized food genre. Most sushi places aren’t traditional Japanese completely so that argument is old, ladies and gents. Gaba’s not trying to be traditional nor hip — just something different entirely.
I have to watch certain types of carbs for a medical condition and this type of rice is good for the gut and healthy to process in the body sugar-​wise.
Will return often.
The mermaid roll is the best for variety. And the tiger eye when I ordered it, had some of the freshest roe I’ve had in a while.

I’d give this place a 3.5 stars if I could. Gaba is fairly new to the U-​District. I believe it opened just a couple months ago. I“m happy to see that there are more sushi options on the Ave aside from couple teriyaki/​bento places that serves mediocre sushi.
No Gaba is not the best, but they do deliver. I always opt to get the Gaba Bowl which is like a chirashi but with qunioa, seaweed salad, couple sashimi slices, mango, and wasabi all for $ 6. It’s actually not that bad, and for the price I’ve enjoyed it couple of times.
It aint no musashi, but if you only got an hour before your next class, try stopping by Gaba and getting the gaba bowl!

I wish they just made sushi, like sushi.
I don’t understand why they have to make rolls with all these weird flavors and condiments on top of it.
Whatever happened to just salmon on rice?
3 stars because rounded up. The ingredients were fresh — I think, I can’t really tell for sure due to all the crap on top of it.

If you are looking for a new fresh sushi option on the Ave, Gaba sushi delivers. While the space is somewhat small and limited, the décor is modern, clean, and fresh. There are not too many eating options but there are several sushi rolls and bowls to select from.
Most notably, Gaba’s sushi choice is a modern fusion that uses fresh and healthy ingredients. Everything from the quinoa to the seaweed and sprouts just screams fresh and healthy flavors. I definitely enjoyed their Gaba bowl which was packed with fresh sashimi, quinoa, soy beans, and several kinds of fruit. I also tried two of their rolls which were equally as delicious and plated very nicely. The miso soup they have is fairly straight forward but they do have a spicy miso version as well.
With all this, the bowls run just shy of $ 7 and the rolls (8 PC) around $ 9. For the quality of sushi, it’s a pretty good value on the Ave.

I’m normally cautious of a $ 7 sushi meal, but today my try-​a-​new-​restaurant instinct overpowered my don’t-die instinct, so here I am.
GABA is gamma-​Aminobutyric acid. It’s supposed to have some sort of murkily defined but probably positive effects on health and mood. It’s found in sprouted brown rice. That’s the gimmick that Gaba Sushi has built their name and menu around. Fish takes a back seat here, relegated to overly complicated rolls. The U District menu has a streamlined menu, with none of the nigiri options offered at the Pioneer Square location.
I got the Gaba Bowl — various kinds of fish, seaweed salad and a bit of tobiko, on a bed of sprouty brown rice and quinoa (white rice is also available). It comes with a generous splash of some sort of sweet brown sauce. The sauce made it impossible to tell whether the fish was any good, which I guess was the intention. I liked the seaweed salad well enough; it’s basically just seaweed, edamame, sesame seeds and some sort of dressing. Along with a bowl of spicy miso soup, this made a lightish but adequate lunch.
This is basically food court quality sushi, but they sell it for food court prices, so I guess I can’t complain. I’ll be sure to update my review if I end up dying of fish-​ebola or whatever else lurks in slightly iffy sushi.