O Sushi Restaurant & Bar

O Sushi has the distinguished honor of being named the Worst Sushi I’ve Ever Had. I would happily eat grocery store sushi over this. Well, not happily but I’d still choose it.
I wasn’t even aware that sushi could taste so terrible. I was sad that I wasted a special night out at this place. Thank Harvard Gods that I could drown my sushi sorrows in some L.A. Burdick Hot Chocolate after.

Just plain good service and great sushi

I love this place! Great vibe, great décor, friendly bartenders, in a great area of Harvard Sq. w/​parking right across the street! Very intimate setting to enjoy one’s food in. They have one of the BEST Kalbi Beef dishes I’ve found in a long time! Only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because I’ve been here at least 3 times, and one of the waitresses (whom I have encountered twice) can be a little rude as far as rushing us to place orders and when to pay, AND even felt the need to mention that we should «remember to tip». Other than that, great food and service!!!

Unsung hero of Harvard square. Staff was completely accommodating to my dietary restrictions, our server sweet and attentive without being invasive. If you’re keto or GF they have a naruto which is not featured on the menu but is available.

Really horrible dining experience. Problems:
1) The waitress was extremely pissed off to be serving us. Smiling and being pleasant must not be in her job description. It was as if we were doing her an inconvenience for sitting down and ordering food.
2) Painfully long wait for below average sushi.
3) THERE WAS A HUGE BUG that landed on a table. A woman screamed and moved tables while the bartender tried to kill the bug. Not sure if he found it, but he did say out loud «I told him to keep that fucking door closed!»
4) I watched someone try to get a drink at the bar but this same bartender was too busy telling a story to the other bartender to pay attention to his customers.
5) We finally get our check and provide the waitress with a credit card to pay for it. She proceeds to enter the credit card details into her device AT OUR TABLE, and hands me the thing to type in the tip amount (WHILE SHE’S WATCHING). This is so unprofessional! How does this place not have a credit card machine? Print out a receipt and let me leave the tip without the awful waitress hovering over my shoulder. Really, really bad idea.
The restaurant was close to dead so I don’t see any excuse for such bad service. This place is clearly not managed well but gets business because of its location.
Will not be returning.

DELICIOUS! We got the gyoza, edamame, spicy tuna, and shrimp tempura. It was SO fresh. The service was quick and attentive. Loved it and will definitely come back.

Not too surprised this was one of the few places that was not all booked up for Labor Day weekend. The setting is nice, and it looks somewhat upscale, but the food is overpriced for its quality. I had the yaki udon for $ 14 and it tasted like the noodles were tossed in soy sauce with too much black pepper.

Slightly higher than average, but not quite upscale japanese/​korean restaurant. Like most sushi restaurants, they have sushi combos, main entrees, and a large cocktail list. The inside is modern nicely presented, but the large open windows didn’t really fit the theme.
Two of us shared the sushi dinner, hamachi appetizer, and cioppino fish stew
–Sushi dinner: 7 pieces of sushi + tuna roll. Every single piece of fish was REALLY fresh and delicious. I really enjoyed the quality. It came with salmon, snapper, yellowtail, shrimp, 2 pieces of tuna, and one other fish.
–Hamachi ponzu: a little on the salty side, but the dish was fine as it was. My brother liked it more than I did, but it was good to try. Not that impressive, but still had good flavor from the ponzu sauce that was a little thicker than I’ve had before
–Cioppino fish stew: I was actually really hesitant to get this because what I pictured didn’t seem that great. HOWEVER, this was my favorite dish of the night. It’s basically a seafood stew mixed in a tomato sauce and garnished with garlic bread. There were mussels, clams, and fish. The fish was my favorite because it was grilled first, so it was crispy on the outside but nice and flaky on the inside. The sauce was chunky with a lot of tomatoes and was flavored with garlic and other herbs so it didnt just taste like seafood in tomato sauce. It comes with rice, but that pairing doesn’t really go together because it seemed more like an italian dish, so more bread would’ve been better rather than rice.
Overall, we had a good experience here but prices are a little steep and I dont know if I would go without a groupon or discount.

So-​so. Cool vibe and good location. That said, the prices were too high (my small roll was like $ 14) and the portions too small — actually my lunch partner’s bento (which wasn’t technically a bento) was a generous portion.

I can’t really say I’m the most impressed with this place.
Pros: great location, decent sized menu, good cocktails
Cons: I judge a sushi place on whether I want to order sashimi or maki there. My favorite sushi places have such fresh, delicious fish that I get the sashimi. Places with just okay fish I get maki.
This is definitely a maki place, and not even a great one at that.
Finally, can’t forget about the horrible service and the fact it took me 30 min to get a single order of spicy tuna when it was dead in there.
Conclusion? This place looks like a super trendilicious date night spot, but don’t bother.

My husband and I have been on a local sushi tour for the last year or so, and O Sushi has emerged as one of our favorites. It’s a little pricier than some of our go-to’s, but in trade you get a more upscale ambiance. We’ve only been for dinner, and at night they have this cool projection going on that splashes light and images on the walls, sometimes showing actual Japanese movies, with the sound off of course. Very good sushi, sashimi and makimono. Full bar, and the staff has always seemed knowledgeable about both the menu and the bar choices. Once we were there on a Wednesday and the hostess and waitress made sure we knew that was their special Ramen night. Another time, our waiter brought my husband a free sample of two different saki’s to try when he wasn’t sure, and took the time to explain the difference. Nice people.
Harvard Square is notoriously bad for parking, but O Sushi is right on the 66 bus line. Delicious, nice décor and convenient? Sign me up for O Sushi!

Location: 5 Sat next to the window to get some sun.
Service: 3 Was ok, our server barely new anything on the menu. Took forever to get our food order and drinks.
Food: 4.5 we got the Maya on Fire which was ok, different texture. I’d get it if you want to try something different. I got the crunchy shrimp, my friends got Vegetable Tempura Maki & California which were delicious.
Would come again if just walking in the area but not a place I’d plan to go.

The waiter was very nice & understanding! The hostess knew where I wanted to sit becuz my daughter Cece take up so much space w/​the stroller. She sat us outside nice & cool out & have us room to breathe spaced out!
The spicy seafood soup was a too salty & the beef bulgogi is kind of bland needs more seasoning! The sushi is good here & I like hot sake w/​my chaser soda! Lol
The food was expensive & the dinner menu selection was small!

Food: ²⁄₅
Service: ²⁄₅
This is my second time coming to O Sushi; my first visit was probably around 2 years ago, and they’ve gotten significantly worse in my opinion.
The overall atmosphere has also changed; Before, it was a more class institution with perhaps higher prices but better quality service and environment. Now, it seems to have taken on the same feel as its neighbors at Charlie’s Beer Garden, as more of a fusion bar.
I ordered the Maya on Fire for $ 16, expecting a wonderful special roll that was not only generous in portion but also in appealing in taste. Too bad it didn’t meet either of these expectations. The roll is literally spicy tuna on top with a small dried piece of garlic and shrimp tempura inside. Not tasty or «on Fire» at all. More importantly, the roll was miniscule. It was 8 pieces, but they were practically the size of those tiny rolls you usually get for a couple of dollars at cheap sushi places. O Sushi needs to get their act together.
If I were paying for the meal, I would definitely be disappointed, but it was paid for by a student group so I guess I can’t complain about a free dinner.
At least the edamame was cheap ($ 4) and larger in portion (maybe even larger than my sushi!).

The best I could say about this place was that I liked the painting on the back wall.
My husband and I were walking through Harvard Square and kinda tired of our usual spots for dinner. He felt like sushi and we have passed this place a thousand times, always suspect since there never seems to be anyone in there, while other restaurants are packed.
Tonight, there were several people in there and we thought we would give it a chance. It’s a Tuesday night. How bad could it be?
Well, it started off with some attitude and we stood waiting to be greeted and eventually seated.
The menu surprised us for a sushi restaurant as there weren’t a lot of options. Our waitress was less than helpful. The sushi was meh. Tasted like week-​old rice.
Very disappointed for sushi in a prime location in Harvard Square.

Just went here tonight for dinner. It would be an understatement to say that I walked out disappointed. My friend and I literally had to walk OUT of the restaurant in order for them to finally notice us. Bottom line: would not recommend. Do not bother coming, unless you have a good three hours to kill over dinner, and you don’t mind a terrible service.
We came in around 6:30 pm, pretty hungry. The place wasn’t too crowded – we saw a few people sipping drinks at the bar (the bartenders seemed nice, though, and were in deep conversation with the customers), and only a couple of tables were occupied. But the waiter decided to sit the two of us at the bar area — at an awkward, tiny corner table where the two of us were sitting side-​by-​side rather than facing each other – even though there were plenty of seats elsewhere, such as along the windows, etc. Why? No idea. Whatever. Still, we didn’t make too much fuss about it, though, and ordered our ceviche and two maki rolls, and waited. And waited… And waited… And waited.
After about 40 minutes of waiting, I had to wave around a little to catch the attention of the waitress and ask her to check on our order for us, as we could see that other people who had walked in after us had gotten their sushi orders already, but we had nothing on our table except our chopsticks and water. The ceviche – phew – finally came out about five minutes later. It tasted okay – a good mix of salmon, roe, octopus, etc. in a martini glass in good dressing, but nothing to write home about, and definitely not a lot in terms of quantity. After we finished this little appetizer, it was back to the waiting game again. We waited, waited, and waited.
But alas, the two makis never came. We had ordered one Volcano Maki and one Snow White maki. Finally, after about 25 minutes of more waiting, we decided to leave. I asked for the check from our waiter, who began apologizing profusely, asking us to «wait five minutes», and telling us that «he couldn’t have us leave unhappy.» Well, it was a little too late for that. The check also never came, so I just paid cash for the ceviche, and the two of us walked out. And literally as we walked out, the waiter waved the little plate of the Snow White Maki (what HAPPENED to the volcano maki?) in front of our faces, but we were done waiting for the night and our sushi-​craving was long gone by then. We ended up grabbing dinner elsewhere afterwards.

I give O Sushi 3.5 stars but rounded down due to the service.
Service: 3 stars
Ambience: 4 stars
Food: 4 stars
Presentation: 4.5 stars
From personal experience and anecdotes, the service at O Sushi has declined this past year. We went on Saturday at 6:30PM, and the place was at capacity, but the restaurant was understaffed. Our waitress was curt and rushed, and we had to wait around 10 minutes for someone to bring a soy sauce dish for us and another 20 minutes for us to get the check. For the price, this is not the service you’d expect.
The ambience makes for a great date spot or place to have an elegant meal with friends. The price is steep for the quantity of food — the specialty rolls are delicious (spicy Maya roll is great) but there are approximately 6 pieces of sushi for $ 14-​$ 16. The salmon and crab avocado salad is delicious and absolutely beautifully presented. Warning: there’s a lot of tobiko, and it’s not actually a salad aka there are no leaves. I also had the tuna maki, which was simple but perfectly wrapped.
Would also recommend the volcano roll or the spicy Maya roll.
P. S. Why doesn’t O Sushi participate in Boston Restaurant Week?

We went here on a snowy night out of convenience and the fact that we hadn’t been there before. My friend got the Tonkatsu ($ 18) and I initially got the Tiger’s Eye Roll ($ 15). The Harvard Square premium is on full display here, as in I think this might be the restaurant with the highest location markup in the square. The tonkatsu was the size of my hand, which I think is slightly smaller compared to Porter Exchange. but could be polished off by a normal appetite.) The Tiger’s Eye roll was tasty (with a good fish to rice ratio of 3:2), but those eight pieces were tiny (probably half the size of a roll at Mixit). I ended up ordering gyoza (6 for $ 6) because I was still hungry — and yes, the gyoza seemed more like frozen Korean manjoo.
The interior is pretty nice (I think they’re aiming to be a date spot, which would also partially explain the prices…#signaling) and service was friendly, but it was also difficult to figure out who was taking our orders or the check, which led to a delay in our orders. All in all, we probably should have walked a mile in snow to go to the Exchange.

Was here on a Sunday at 4pm and it was extremely slow even for Labor Day weekend! Their was one waitress on for the entire restaurant.
The menu literally had white-​out on it and things crossed off which was a bit… strange. Not a very large menu at all.
I ordered the TNT and Seared Salmon Specialty Roll. Both were very good although I would say the TNT was really really good and had a nice heat to it.
The Salmon Roll was very light. Not heavy at all. I do feel however that it was missing something. Like a special sauce or dressing. Paired with the TNT it was a nice refreshing combo since the heat of the TNT was so powerful. The rolls could have been put together nicer as they were falling apart immediately. The sushi experience lacked a bit of luster.
I wish I had more options to choose from on the menu. I love deep fried sushi and unfortunately they do not have any of this type. If your looking for a variety, this really is not the best place.
This was my second time here and I had hoped for a better experience but it was much like the first (a year ago). Menu is small, restaurant itself is kind of boring. Experience was… meh!
The focus does not appear to be on the food but more on the night life that it must draw in. I’ve not been but I did see signage for the after hours.
I will choose somewhere else next time I am craving sushi!

I find it hard to believe that as of today (7.21.14) this restaurant is only 2.5 stars! We went for the first time yesterday and LOVED it. My love affair with Japanese food began at age 19 when I studied macrobiotic cooking which leans towards Japanese food.
O Sushi’s miso soup is very authentic with just the right amount of miso, seaweed and tofu. I’m so happy to finally have a Japanese restaurant of this quality in Cambridge now!
Our waitress was awesome; she noticed we needed help from a long distance away with only a slight nod of the head! She practically ran to us. Some waiters/​waitresses at other restaurants take FOREVAH to help unless you jump up and down! just kidding, not so bad, but still. LOL impressive here as I noticed other patrons here being helped, thank you!
We got The Bento plates filled with our chosen entrée, mine was shrimp with tempura vegetables, my husband’s was cod fish, plus a salad with delicious ginger dressing, steamed dumplings, mixed veggies, pickles, and rice.
The price is a little high at lunchtime for $ 14 per plate, but we oood and aaahd thru the entire meal. Be sure to get the 7 grain rice! and not the white rice.
We are going back soon with friends! I’m so glad this restaurant exists; I was waiting a long time! However, since the prices are a little high at lunchtime, we won’t go as often as we would like to. Unless we go light in a meal — good luck!