Matua’s Sushi Bar and Islander Grill

I ordered the Philadelphia roll and the California roll. As mentioned in a previous review, the salmon in the Philadelphia roll is cooked. Have not ever had it that way and much prefer it raw, as I imagined it would be. I’m sure that had I asked they probably would have given me the option to make it raw. Aside from that the sushi was totally on point. Excellent portions to where I should’ve invited someone to share my order with me. The California roll’s crab tasted so good and I felt like they gave a good ratio of insides to rice roll. Overall I will definitely be returning. They have a bar inside as well and the atmosphere overall is just very relaxed and friendly. The minus one star is due to the cooked salmon and also I used their bathroom and there were holes in the wall with which they simply shoved toilet paper in to fill. I personally have some caulk at home and so it seems it is just pure laziness as to why they didn’t at least just fill the holes instead of sticking what is so obviously toilet paper into them with little tufts sticking out.

I ordered a bunch of different entrees (all the kelaguins, ribs, chicken, sides) to go and all were approved by my family. I have also ordered party trays from them too. Would have been 5 stars but location was hard to find, and parking lot is isolated and not well lit (pretty much sketchy as others have described). The workers are very friendly and they offer delivery so that makes it very convenient to order dinner or party food without having to go there! Recommended for their great food!

This spot was such a breath of fresh air. You come and in are welcomed by the friendly staff and the island music in the background just gets you hooked! Came here with my mom, brother n his girlfriend. We ordered the Chamorro combo, the Hawaiian combo and the first burrito on the menu (forgot the name), All of which were so different and delicious! The chamarro had some yummy ribs, the Hawaiian had the tastiest chicken EVER and the burrito was like a dream sushi made into a huge roll. We were checked on by all the staff working there and loved how helpful they were with a smile. Highly recommend this place… Can’t find a complaint even if I wanted to.

This is my daughter and her husband’s favorite joint, so when I visited they had to take me here. Looks like kind of a hole in the wall place, but it’s super cool! Right away the staff was really friendly and helpful. To get a true taste for this place, we got the Kahlua pork, Huli Huli chicken, fried potstickers, and a steak Ramen bowl. Everything was so ridiculously good, my favorite was the chicken and cucumber salad. Prices are very good, especially considering the portions you get! After we had been there for a while, it seems like all the tables filled up fast. This really slow down our service, but I know they had been bombarded! Now I know why my daughter and son-​in-​law come here a lot!

5 stars to the workers for putting up the Warriors game on, lol!
Location: This hidden place was a little sketch to find. Once you see the «Hi Ball» bar on E Street, they have a «Matua’s Sushi Bar & Islander Grill» sign right outside that directs you to the parking lot behind the building. Came here during broad daylight so the parking lot wasn’t as spacious but enough for customers who are there to drink & eat. I thought you’d have to walk to the front of the Hi Ball building, but there’s a small sign that directs you to Matua’s from the lot.
First thing came to mind as I entered through the door was a bit confused. You’re coming into a bar thinking you’re here to eat. As told by our waitress, the bar that you first see as you enter in is not with Matua’s but the customers are welcome to drink there & bring their drinks over to Matua’s & vice versa. Keep walking in & you’ll see Matua’s sushi bar & tables set up. Not gonna lie, I felt a little uncomfortable coming in that made me 2^nd guess if this was the correct place. Until you see Matua’s was when I felt at home.
Ordered:
— Chamorro combo (Guamanian dish)
— Udon noodles
— deep fried spam musubi
— Yakisoba stir fried noodles
— chicken kelaguen with tortillas
Vibez: Island vibez! Food was great, portions were huge, service was sweet, & islander vibez all around. They sell apparel that rep Guam & Hawaii. Copped a Guam shirt for $ 21. They also advertise local islander festivals, eats, & concerts.
When you have family that’s from Guam, they start conversing with the waiters/​waitresses how Guam was home for 6 years & this place brought back memories! Mahalo for the service.

Wow! These guys know how to cook. Loved the beef and Chicken kellaguan, the ribs and red rice. So many delicious plates to name. And the service is excellent and most important it’s quick. Come hungry because you will be treated to a huge serving that packs all kinds of good flavor.
You will not be disappointed!

I have finally been to Matua’s aftering ordering twice from Eat24.
Getting to Matua’s was pretty tricky. Waze got me to the destination where the Matua’s sign is posted but you’re left wondering if you should go through the bar parking entrance to the back parking lot. Once you park, you’ll notice a sign at the bar entrance which points to the right. Don’t worry, just walk into the bar and you’ll immediately see Matua’s to the right.
We were greeted and seated immediately with menu’s to peruse. We already knew what we wanted to order but this time, we opted for the Islander sampler plate.
The Islander Sampler plate came with wings (tangy in taste), shrimp patties, lumpia and empanada’s. It was a good sampling which the wings and empanada’s were my favorite. My wife and I both ordered the same plate which was the Chamorro Combo. The Dad’s Ribs were char and full of flavor! The chicken kelaguen was really good especially when its dowsed with their spicy finadene sauce. The red rice and potato salad were usual. There were plenty of people coming in for dinner as well as plenty of pick up orders happening. The service was excellent where two servers were checking on us periodically.
What I like most about Matua’s is that they have a full sushi bar with plenty of custom rolls to choose from. So if you’re feigning for some Chomorro food and also crave some sushi, Matua’s hits the mark.

Our fave go to place for ribs and keliguen. Portions are large and full of flavor. For those with a hearty appetite the Chamorro combo is a must try. Can’t wait till they find a bigger place to move into. Sharing a building with the sketchy dive bar next door is not doing them justice to be able to showcase their excellent food. Although we do love playing pool in the bar area…

Pro’s:
Chamorro Combo: Ribs, Red Rice, Chicken Keleguen, Mac salad etc was as good as my Chamorro family makes. Sushi and musubi was as good as my Hawaiian family makes.
Con’s:
Parking entrance is a quick tight right turn. Please becareful. You can easily get into a head on collision here. If dining for dinner. The parking lot is spacious however not lit. Safety issue and concern here. So when leaving I’d highly recommend using your cell as a flashlight and or be aware.
Also bit of a strange set up. Entering from the parking lot you enter a Divey bar and rice paper Shoji walls divide the Divey bar to the restaurant. Island restaurant equipped with island Heat. It’s hot up in that mug. They need better ventilation, air circulation or just aircon. Con’s are all aesthetics.
Overall food is good. Felt like I was back home on Oahu. Staff are all lovely, service great.

Guamanian/​chamarro food is pretty hard to come across in the SD area; I mainly go to Guahan Grill up in Oceanside for my fix but tbh it’s far af, so I wanted to try this place. While it’s not as great as Guahan, it’s a solid ⁴⁄₅ stars. The place is kind of hard to find — we parked in the parking lot of a doughnut shop, and the restaurant is in the same building as a pool hall. Came here for dinnertime, and even though there was a good amount of people, our party of 6 was seated within 10 minutes.
FOOD. The pork ribs marinade was delicious and juicy. The chicken kelaguen had a good balance of lemon, soy sauce, and vinegar. I wasn’t too crazy about the red rice though; something about the taste was just too bland and didn’t have that «kick» that other red rices have. Overall, great place! If I’m ever down south, I’ll stop by!

Being a resident of south San Diego i’ve heard nothing but good things abut Matuas. If you’re craving something different from your normal tacos and burgers i’d highly recommend coming here.
I just recently went here for the very first time. For having such high reviews Matua’s fits your epitome of hole in the wall amazing food restaurants. (Because it literally is.) At first you might get confused when you park and arrive here. The restaurant is actually inside of half a bar. … You’ll see what i mean if you come here.
Our waitress and the staff were great at customer service and made sure we had our food, seating and drinks set up. (Make sure you check in on Unilocal you get a free drink with entrée)
AS for the food… My friend and I got the Chamoro Combo: (Uncle frank’s pork ribs and chicken kelaguen served with red rice and grandma rosie’s potato salad.)
FYI: portions are big and a combo is usually good to share. The kelaguen was delicious! I also have never had red rice before so it was a good complement to my meal. Overall, i wasn’t disappointed in my food even though the pork ribs were a little dry.
I’d recommend this place if youre looking for something different with decent portion sizing and affordable.
Recommend: Kelaguen and Red rice!

We did really like this place until this morning. My three year old just woke me up with painful diarrhea after eating the teriyaki chicken from the kids menu last night. I am livid. I will never, ever order from this place again, and I will make sure everyone with ears hears about this. I can handle food poisoning, and so can my husband, but don’t you dare make my child sick.
Don’t order from here. They can’t even make their food safe for children.

This was our first time here. All the appetizers & main dishes were delicious. We ordered the Hawaiian Combo, Chamorro Combo, Teriyaki Beef Plate, Shrimp Goyza, Mizo Soup. Omg the food is amazing!!! This place beats Chamorro Grill for sure!!!

Just amazing, you really cannot pass up this place!
My boyfriend and I were looking for a new place to eat. Low and behold we ended up on Unilocal as always! It never disappoints. We read all the good reviews and saw the pictures and determined we NEEDED to come check this place out. NO REGRETS whatsoever!!!
First off, the customer service was amazing. I feel terrible for not remembering our servers name but he was just the sweetest. He let us know what we’re the more popular dishes and was just really helpful in general.
Second, the food. Oh my god. I ordered the tidal wave roll and it was perfect. My boyfriend ordered a chicken plate but I don’t remember the name. It was a sweet chicken and just DELICIOUS!
Overall, I recommend this place to anyone who’s looking to eat some delicious food. You won’t regret it!!!

This area was a hole in a wall since it was combined with a bar. Plenty of parking in the back but what throws you off is how to get in lol. But it wasn’t a no brainer finding the door since the sign was right before your eyes.
Food was delicious! Happy hour 3−7PM Monday through Friday. Service was great! The food was brought out in a timely matter. Our waitress was sweet and always checked up on us.
Must try the Huli Huli chicken the marination on the chicken was amazing. I might add the macaroni salad was good along with their red rice. You have the option between red and white rice and I was stoked. I’ll be back again!
Ps, check in on Unilocal and you’ll get a free soda drink!

Finally got to try this place over the weekend, and I had a really great time. At first we walked in from the back parking lot and was surprised by the bar/​pool table setting, but once we found the restaurant portion (behind the barrier), it was all festive and cool. Lots of TVs, so there’s plenty to watch along with the themed music. Staff was super friendly and we were checked on lots of times. Menu has a good variety to choose from, so my cousin and I ended up trying a lot of things. Ended up getting some hot tea (in a tea kettle so many cups worth), the BBQ ribs (very delicious and with a unique sauce) plate with rice and macaroni salad, shrimp fried rice (good, but wanted a tad bit more shrimp), spam musubi (amazing), teriyaki chicken wings (so so delicious), and the tidal wave roll (tasty and a bit refreshing). Had an excellent time overall, and would love to come back soon.

Been coming here for a while now and during my first visit i was not pleased. After a few visits Matua’s grew on me and i like some of their dishes. I honestly don’t like the Mac Salad as I’ve tried a lot of mac salads around SD and Hawaii.
I’ve had the Kalua Pig, Kelaguen and Huli Huli Chicken. All three dishes were good. I’ve had the saimin and i wasn’t a fan.
Service is alright. They have one server who talks too much and tells us how she eats her food. I just ignore her and continue to eat my food.
Overall, I’d return as often as i could. I still need to try the sushi.
Tip: Parking in rear and you walk into a bar. Matua’s restaurant is towards the right.

I normally don’t like going out to eat Chamorro food only because I’m also from Guam and we usually make our own chamorro food plus most Chamorro places are overpriced for what it is. I just gave this spot a try bc we got a deal on living social. This place was in an interesting location. Parking is in the rear and Matua’s was inside a bar/​lounge.
The menu looked good bc they had a variety of items to choose from along with sushi. We ordered shrimp patties which were alright. It didn’t have a lot of shrimp in it and I had one piece tgat didn’t have shrimp at all. The empanadas is what I came here for so that was good. For my main entrée, I ordered kalua pork which came with red rice and mac salad. The mac salad wasn’t too good. It didn’t really have much taste. I still like L&L’s mac salad better. But the red rice and pork kalua was delish. I also asked for finadene and donne dinanche on the side. Their dinanche was a bit different but Def gave some spice. My bf got the chamorro combo which came with red rice, ribs, mac salad and chicken kelaguen. Everything was good just not the mac salad.
Overall I think this place beats the other 2 chamorro restaurants I’ve been to here in SD. Service was great. I’d come back for some empanadas!

Came here for an early dinner after coming from the Chula Vista mall. My husband has a coupon from the Entertainment book for buy $ 30 worth of food and get $ 15 off. Not bad for a coupon.
As you enter, there is a private parking lot for this place. We walk in and it is a hole in the wall place. We were greeted hello by the locals who were near the bar area. The bar area was the first thing you see if entering from the back.
We seated ourselves since the nice girl told us to sit anywhere. If you check in on Unilocal,you get a free soda but we were not allowed to use both coupons, so we saved it for later and got the $ 15 off a $ 30 total. I went with the sampler platter which consisted of chicken wings, egg rolls, empanadas and shrimp patties. When I took a bite from the chicken wings, I saw blood oozing out which grossed me and my hubby out. I mentioned it to the nice waitress and they replaced it with new ones. To me, that is a bad start to my meal. They were super nice about our small complaints. I also ordered teriyaki chicken with white and red rice. Chicken was a tad dry but tasty. The red rice was good but a little greasy. Out of this whole meal, I enjoyed the shrimp patties and the remade chicken wings that were brought out. I really wanted to like this place but the food did not impress me.
The customer service and people were nice but I honestly don’t think I can return after seeing the blood in my chicken. Hubby wasn’t impressed either. They misunderstood his order. He asked if there was tuna in the Mac salad and the waitress thought that if there was tuna in the potato salad. Hubby got his Mac salad with tuna in it. Hubby doesn’t care for seafood! Oh well! At least the customer service was good!

Came here with a groupon and thinking yay another Guam restaurant that i hope would alleviate homesickness. The location didn’t help that but the food somewhat did.
First off, the location. It’s in old chula vista if i am correct, which means the hood. It’s not a fancy place and is shared with a bar that seems to be a hang out for the oldies. Parking is right at back so that’s nice but if you are coming from the 5 slow down and find the turn into a gated area. The building is a bit run down too. The service though made up for the lack of appearance of the restaurant. Friendly, always checkup on guests, and was helpful in offering favorites, popular items, and explaining to my not from Guam boyfriend the Guam dishes.
The food was good just still not blown away with how it’s done like back home. I’m beginning to think that really it may be the water or charcoal we use at home that make it taste so good. Because this is the third/​fourth restaurant and all are contenders (Matua’s and Guahan Grill mainly) but just aren’t quite like it. A must get here is the combo with the red rice, kelaguen, and uncle’s pork ribs. The ribs were fatty, grilled perfectly, and tender. We also ordered one of their specialty rolls — Da Braddah Roll Inside: spicy tuna and cucumber. On top: seared ahi, avocado and red tobiko, finished with ponzu sauce and sesame seeds. Fish didn’t taste fresh more like sitting out but otherwise okay. Stick with the Guam foods options i suggest.
Tip: Make sure to ask for finadene (a spicy, sour, lemon, soy sauce, onion dipping sauce). The spicy one.