Sushi Yama

The Carlsbad roll is to die for! I think I order it three times a week now! Don’t tell my husband.
Some of the other rolls are good but the Carlsbad roll is why I come here.
I do not like their soft shell crab. It’s breaded it’s not in tempura.
If you like music down stairs is usually pumping in Friday and Saturday.
Enjoy!

Aside from the bland sushi, the yakisoba is literally packaged noodles and cabbage.
I told the waiter that our Coke tasted flat and she just laughed.
She also used my card to pay for tip without my consent.
Maybe she knew i wasn’t going to give her anything.
The best part about this place is probably the lemons lined up at the bar.

This is my number one sushi spot! I get the same exact thing every time though haha. If you like spicy food get the spicy edamame and the Adam Ali roll. I’m OBSESSEDDDDD. So amazing! Nothing else really compares! Love it! =)))))

I was torn between 2 or 3 stars. The sushi is sub-​par. Not the worst sushi i’ve ever had, but certainly not the best. It’s the service that kills this restaurant. It took 20 minutes just to order drinks, another 10 to get them and order the sushi, and about 25 minutes for the sushi to come out. The location is so great and this place has a lot of potential, but I hate paying for service and not receiving it adequately!

Came here with a Groupon for $ 40 worth of food. The server informed us that because we had the Groupon we would not get their 50% discount on some rolls. It would be fine if these rolls weren’t overpriced and than discounted to 50%. We had to pay full price for these overpriced rolls. That meant that in the end with our Groupon, we saved a whopping 3 buck! WOW.
The service was good and the sushi was tasty but not worth the price we paid. $ 16 for a roll? Come on, who are you trying to fool with your 50% «discount»

This place has the worst sushi/​experience. My four girlfriends and I ordered some edamame as an appetizer, the order literally came with 5 pieces. Not to mention they were just plan, as opposed to maybe nicely salted or fried with some garlic. We then ordered the tuna sashimi. It game with 5 pieces, but it was literally the thinnest five pieces I’ve ever seen. We then ordered some rolls… which were HIGHLY mediocre. The spicy tuna roll we ordered was just way too spicy. The ONLY thing that ordered that was half way decent was the soft shell crab. This is friend though so I guess how do you really mess this up. The restaraunt itself is super small too so the next table over is literally right next to you and you can hear everyone’s conversation. I will never come back here.

Absolutely delicious! Shout out to Max & Saul for excellent service and introducing us to el chapolin! For those who love tangy lemonie flavor with spice, El Chapolin is for you.

TBH, I am not sure why everyone is giving such harsh reviews on this place.
I went here over the weekend for a post hike lunch and to use my Groupon that I got for Christmas. I went in already knowing about the restrictions on the Groupon — so there were no issues when the bill came.
The sushi was prepared fast, fresh, and delicious. Everything tasted excellent and the rolls were of good size and portion. The flavor was great on several of the selections we chose.
The only downfall I would provide to this review is that the prices were a little expensive and more than I would traditionally spend at my favorite local sushi joint down the road. I am sure this might be because of the location and how close it is to tourist type attractions and rich folks.
I would go back, but would consider the next visit during a happy hour or special menu time for reduced pricing.

Had a review for Taisho which Sushi Yama took over so I’m updating it and taking out a couple stars.
We still go here now and then but not really for the sushi. The nigiri and rolls just aren’t all that it’s sad to say. The fish quality doesn’t taste as fresh and the nigiri portions can be VERY small at times. I guess that depends on the chef.
We still love the location (usually entertained by karaōke downstairs). The patio is great for bringing our dog and we like enough of the appetizers to go now and then. But, whereas Taisho was a regular trip for us, because of the quality of sushi at Sushi Yama we hardly frequent the place anymore.

Took my hubby here on his birthday! LOOOOVE this place… we have marked Sushi Yama as «our go to sushi place»! I found some very cool new rolls, and will be repeating as soon as possible! The staff are beyond wonderful, attentive, and fun!
They have the best happy hour in North County, roll choices are great, prices very good, clean, and great patio option if you want to «see what’s going on downstairs and around»…
Guess I shouldn’t send such a good Unilocal,as the more I spread the word… the more crowds will come, and then I might not be able to get in without a wait… haha.
Honestly, if sushi is top of your list… I checked out the meat case… all items were so fresh, bright in color, rice was spot on for Japanese texture, and the staff were all knowledgeable of the entire menu and had great suggestions!
Thanks guys, we will be back soon! We also had plum wine for the first time, and now I have a new love!

While this location is set in beautiful downtown Carlsbad, there are times where this location does get a little awkward.
The first downfall is parking. There are a few spots in the the lot where you can park, but it seemed like majority of the parking spots were for an hour or just a couple of hours. This really bugged me just cause I didn’t want anything to happen to my car while I was having a nice lunch with a friend and catching up on old times.
Secondly, when we came here, it was in the evening. There are very limited seats inside, and it gets noisy. People talk really loud and if they are talking about inappropriate things (like the night I was there) it gets super uncomfortable when you’re having a nice dinner with a friend. There is plenty of seating outside on their patio area, but if the restaurant downstairs has a live band playing, forget about it!
I love me some good service from the wait staff. Being from the restaurant world for 14 years (yes, my parents had a restaurant, a sushi on at that) I like when the server is attentive and pays attention. Our server was great, lovely and friendly, but way over attentive. Every 5 minutes I felt like she was asking how things were going. Pretty sure my last bite of spicy tuna was the same as the one before that… and the one before that. Every time I poured a cup of tea and was done with a packet of sugar… she cleared it away right away. It’s ok for a little trash to be at my table. Don’t worry about it girl, clean it all at once.
The sushi here was ok. Nothing really stood out to me and nothing really wowed me. The service was nice, but a little much. Overall indoor/​outdoor atmosphere can get noisy at times, so make sure you pick when to come.

Excellent food. Service is great too. Sushi is more on Fusion style. Definitely I will come back to try other menu.

Great location, friendly staff but not so great sushi. I have a very big sushi fan and have quite high standards so I wasn’t very impressed by this place. The ginger and wasabi didn’t taste fresh and the roll I got with spicy tuna didn’t seem all that fresh either. It was fine but nothing great. I doubt I’ll be coming back here and next time I do, I probably wouldn’t order any raw fish.

The first thing I noticed walking in here was there was not 1 Asian worker, but daz cool! I don’t care, as long as my food is yummy.
I got the Tofu Bento Box. It came with 3 rectangular pieces of tofu with teriyaki sauce drizzled on it, scoop of white rice, vegetable tempura, salad, and 4 pieces of California roll. Yeah, it’s A LOT of food and I ate it all…
I was impressed with the food (esp. the quantity). The tempura was amazing: very crunchy! I’ve had soggy tempura before and would rather never have it again.
Our waitress was very friendly, but she didn’t seem to speak great English. I like that Coyote is beneath this restaurant so you can hear the live music. This restaurant is located in a very «happening» plaza of Carlsbad!

Sushi is one of my life’s simple pleasures. An itame can take fresh raw fish and rice and create visually stunning delicacies worthy of fine dining.
The clean restaurant has a sushi bar and both indoor and outdoor tables, is located near the beach and offers lunch and happy hour specials too. Every time that I dine here the servers are friendly and efficient and the sushi is fresh with generous portions. What is not to like?
The chef special sashimi plate at lunch came with 3 slices of hamachi, salmon, albacore and tuna, the artistic presentation with vegetables and lemon slices elevated this dish. I also enjoyed the cabo wabo roll with spicy hamachi, shrimp tempura and asparagus. The miso soup had a mellow finish and left me satisfied.
I have recently added Sushi Yama to my sushi rotation and look forward future visits.

The waitress Araceli was so freaking AWESOME! She was right on top of me whole time here in her customer service. I never had to ask for anything. AND, She even honored my Groupon even though I made a mistake. It was $ 40 for 2 people, not just one. But since my meal came out to $ 50 anyways, she gave me the credit. I will be back here again. Thank you Sushi Yama for the fresh and delicious food and your spectacular staff. You all are the best!

We have come here every year while staying at our timeshare and have Always enjoyed the food & service here, but WOW!!! What a difference! (In a negative way!) apparently there has been an ownership change since we were here last year… The food was awful! Nothing even remotely close to the meals we have enjoyed in the past… The only saving grace was that our server, Miranda was very professional and attentive!
Unfortunately though we will NOT return to eat here anytime in the foreseeable future…

This place was okay. Service has lots of room for improvement and quality of food could be elevated for the price they were asking for.
Coming from the Bay Area, this place was just fine. I say that if you really have a craving for rolls, this place should work fine.
Quality of rice used was eh, but flavors were alright. We will try another place next time we stop by Carlsbad for a visit.

This review is for today (4÷20÷2015 at noon); this place has changed so much from my last review I thought it deserved another chance. I am not sure if they have new management/​sushi chefs/​source of fish but the sushi I was served today was incredible. The fish was so fresh it practically melted in your mouth.
I had the following items:
VIP Roll
Spicy tuna, cucumber, topped w/​yellow-​tail, avocado, Serrano, and mix crab salad
Red Eye
Spicy scallop, avocado, cucumber, topped w/​fresh ahi, jalapeño and sesame soy aioli
I will be back for sure as this place has really impressed me for our local Carlsbad Sushi spots. Five stars !!

This used to be one of my favorite places for tasty sushi. I still enjoy it quite a bit, but it is slowly sliding down the scale of «yummy and worth it» toward «eh, let’s go somewhere else instead.» A few years ago, it was a fantastic night that included a Homeless Roll, Jalapeño Roll, and a few other selections from their specialty menu. Now, we go there for their Happy Hour and even that is becoming less and less of a draw. What do I mean by that?
The prices on everything keep going up every few months or so. This happened a few times to us, seeing our usual fare jump up a $ 0.50 here, then a full $ 1.00 the next time … until they finally did away with Happy Hour altogether and just called it their normal menu. Prices which were slightly lower than the original cost, but not enough to really get excited about. A full California Roll used to be less than $ 2.75, now it’s closer to $ 5.00 and doesn’t seem as full of crab meat as before. The Mixed Tempura lost a shrimp and gained a carrot, rising in price all the while. Fried Salmon Rolls disappeared from the Happy Hour menu, only to be replaced by a version that lost the fresh salmon and replaced it with a salmon and may mix that is exceedingly repugnant to eat. The list goes on…
Some stuff still excites me. The Rainbow Roll is very fresh and glazed with a very light sauce that is cool and delicious. The Homeless Roll is almost as good as it used to be. They have a Scallop Hand Roll that has become a mainstay of my regular choices. Everything is still VERY well made, expertly rolled and cut before serving.
But then you mix in slowing service, the steady decline of flavor and quality of the fish, a Happy Hour that is starting to sour from rising prices, and the Coyote Bar and Grill downstairs that plays corporate soft rock for aging dancers in too much make-​up and brass jewelry … it all adds up to a 3-​Star max rating that is closing in on a 2-​Star.
I miss my old Suchi Taisho.