Ocean Sushi

I have to second the other review — lots of rice and not much else. And what I got, I didn’t care for. The Hospital roll could put you there; the dumplings had an odd taste and my partner wasn’t crazy about his rolls either. The atmosphere is nice enough — clean, hip design attracting a mixed, noisy crowd right in downtown Hilo and good prices, but not even worth the $ 25 we spent. I have to pass on the food; would never come back here.

Great place if you want more rice than sushi. Decent prices to get filled up on rice, but not really a good value if you really want a substantial amount of fish meat. Disappointed and won’t be returning.

Super ono food at super reasonable prices! I’m hello, does it get better? I had the tempura platter and the Mermaid and Hospital Roll and everything I ordered was perfect. I ended dinner with fried Mochi Ice cream and deep fried fat boys!!! Yum yum yum

My best friend first took me to this place for lunch and I loved it. I then told my husband about this place and he soon wanted to try it. My favorite roll is the hospital! Its soo good! My husband and kids loved it. Not to mention they have a huge menu with more then just sushi.

My mother and I just ate here because we love sushi even though we had sushi the night before. In my line of work, I travel the world, so I have tasted sushi from all over. I have to say, this was the worst sushi I have ever had. Wasn’t fresh, the rice was stale and when you looked inside the roll, there was barely anything and mostly all rice. The fish didn’t taste fresh. I did not enjoy myself at all. It was a waste of calories, waste of money. Granted they were about to close after lunch, but that is no excuse to have any less quality food at a restaurant. I used to work at a Japanese restaurant and to guarantee customer satisfaction we made everything fresh and would stay longer just to have people come back and rave about our place. The servers were nice and helpful, but that is only one portion of the business. The most important (the food) greatly lacks

Fresh amazing sashimi. No alcohol served, lol. So many sushi places were closed especially a block or 2 closer to the bay. This was worth the ½ block walk in the rain.

Horrible service and food. The sushi rolls is mainly rice. The curry is not even curry. Half a star.

Had dinner there last night with a few friends. Food was good and filling. There was a lot of people so it got a bit noisy…

Good, but not great, sushi. Generous portions and a decent overall value. We were from out of town and really hungry, and upon asking a local for a seafood restaurant recommendation, this place was recommended. Definitely not somewhere I’d seek out again, but if in the area again and others wanted to go there I wouldn’t say no.

Ocean sushi is my favorite sushi place! Not only is the food delicious, but the prices are reasonable, making this a frequent spot for me to grab lunch or dinner with friends– even during the week.
All of their rolls are really good, my favorites are the spider crab roll, hospital roll, and the bay city roll.
Their tempura and unagi don are also great! My boyfriend says their chicken katsu is 5 out of 5 stars.

If you desire long waits, poor service, and awful Japanese cuisine, Ocean Sushi is a restaurant for you.
I’ve consistently dined here for 12 years and never have my entrees arrived less than thirty minutes after I ordered. The service has consistently been bad throughout the years, and every time I leave the restaurant, I promise to never come back.
My worst experience was finding a live cockroach under my table. Since then, they moved to another location and renovated their settings, But I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens again.
The sushi isn’t the best. The rice has no taste, and I doubt all their ingredients are fresh. As for the katsu dishes, the meat just falls apart, and the portions have always been large. The udon is plain, and it has been inconsistent throughout the years.
I’ve only dined at this restaurant for its affordable prices and its social atmosphere. Ironically, I’ve always regretted spending money here.

«I’ve never really wanted to go to Japan. Simply because I don’t like eating fish. And I know that’s very popular out there in Africa.» ― Britney Spears
Ocean Sushi Deli is a place that I have gone to since I was quite young. I can’t say I was always one for sushi, but upon trying it a little while back, my opinion of it did a complete 180. Part of that can be attributed to the quality of sushi that is served by Ocean. While not breaking the bank, they manage to serve a very clean and fresh variety of sushi. Presentation is nice, and the quality of the fish has always been good in my experience. My personal favorites are the Big Island and Rainbow rolls.
While sushi is obviously a huge part of what Ocean Sushi Deli brings to the table, it is certainly not all that they serve. My go-​to dish when I find myself there is the chicken katsu curry. It’s a dish that you can always trust to be delicious. Crispy fried chicken katsu covered in ample amounts of golden curry. It’s hard to beat! Ocean Sushi also has an assortment of different bentos and entrees available to order at any time of the day. I mean, if a person went in there and didn’t find anything that they liked, I’d be more inclined to believe that there’s a problem with them, than with the restaurant itself.
Ocean Sushi has also gone through a recent location change. It may only be across the street from where it was previously, but let me tell you: it makes a world of difference. While the older location felt a bit like a dive, and could often times become a little warm and uncomfortable, the new location is the polar opposite. From a comfortable climate, to fresh paint on the walls with nice lighting, the new location for Ocean is a delightful place to sit down and eat.
As a side note, Ocean Sushi will even do call-​in and pick-​up meals, which is really even more reason to love them.
Long story short, this place is really great and always has been, and there’s more reason now than ever before to give them a try, so do it!

Note: I avoid posting bad reviews, but I am writing this in the hopes of an owner or manager seeing it.
Aesthetics. The laminate floors are hollow, giving the impression that the staff is stomping around. First table we sat at had a wobble, so we scooted over to the next closer one, which was on a slight incline. Harsh bright lights only do the job of illuminating the shoyu puddles, rice, and shrimp tails that bespectacle the floors. :(
Service. Water & Menus were prompt. Menu is easy to read. Server that came to take our order had an ipod shuffle clipped onto his shirt, with one earphone in. Very unprofessional. :(
Food. We ordered shrimp tempura, sweet potato tempura, chicken karaage, tonkatsu don, unagi don. Tonkatsu don was swimming in sauce, a little on the sweet side. Unagi don was topped with nori, sesame seeds, carrots, cucumber, and katsuobushi. The katsuobushi adds a nice visual element, but the strong taste drowns out the flavor of the unagi. Sometimes less is more. Im giving this place 2 stars on the account that the karaage was decent, and the tempura was battered and fried properly. :)

It was alright. Suggest making reservations before anything because you’ll end up waiting up to 30 minutes. It was super busy. We had a party of 7. After finally being seated, we didn’t order for another 15 minutes. The wait for our food was even longer. When it finally came the sushi was tasty, udon broth was great. We were there about 2 &’ a half to 3 hours &’ most of it was spent waiting lol.

Waited 45 minutes to be seated. Waited 15 minutes for service. We drank all of our waters before the food came out. They didn’t even bother to notice that our glasses were empty we had to tel them. Good was ok. Came in big portions. I don’t plan on coming back anytime soon. I honestly I rather just go to genki sushi.

I’ve lived in Hilo for 18 years and this is still (and always be) my favorite sushi place. Even back when they were known as Tsunami’s, this place has always delivered excellent food and at a price that won’t burn a hole in your wallet. Rolls ranging anywhere between $ 4 – 9, Ocean Sushi can’t be beat. My stomach capacity for sushi is relatively small in comparison for most so my meal usually costs no more than $ 12 (plus tip, always tip your servers, people!) for two rolls, miso soup, and shrimp tempura.
I don’t really stray from the cheap rolls, dining on a college budget, but from what I’ve seen from others’ orders, you get your money’s worth. Some of the bigger dishes are still relatively cheap for the amount they are serving.
The place itself is a little beat down but it’s always clean and that’s all that really matters to me when at an eating establishment.

3.5 stars!
We really wanted sushi/​Japanese food, so we came to Ocean Sushi. Their menu is huge and they offer lots of kinds of special rolls and nigiri, and also chirashi. They also have non-​sushi things, like udon and bento. If you are more of a visual person, they have a menu with pictures of their rolls, which is pretty useful.
On the back of the sushi menu, they have a whole bunch of combinations named after letters of the alphabet, so like Combo A, Combo B, etc, and they’re different combinations of special rolls or maki rolls. As you get closer to the bottom of the menu (and the alphabet) the combos get bigger, with more pieces of sushi, obviously for bigger parties, or for really really hungry customers.
We actually ordered the Combination U, which came with 2 Volcano rolls, 2 Downtown rolls, 2 Rainbow rolls, and 2 Big Island rolls, for a total of 48 pieces of sushi. We thought that sounded like a good deal. We also got an order of the gyoza, the nabeyaki udon, and a Mermaid roll. This was a LOT of food. Maybe too much food. The rolls we got as part of the combination came out on this large tray. The Volcano roll is basically a CA roll topped with tobiko and spicy mayo. The Downtown roll has chicken tempura on the inside. Their Rainbow roll just had ahi and salmon with avocado on the top (I’m used to a few more types of fish or even shrimp in other Rainbow rolls). And the Big Island roll has ahi, avocado, macadamia nuts, and spicy mayo. The Mermaid roll (ok, honestly I only ordered it because it was called mermaid roll hahaha) had cooked scallop and shrimp on the inside and topped with tobiko. I liked the Big Island roll with the ahi and the mac nuts — I thought that was a good representative roll of the island. The Rainbow roll was good too, but I guess I was expecting more different varieties of fish. I didn’t like the Downtown roll — the chicken was fine, but I don’t like it in my sushi. I didn’t realize this is what is was when we ordered it. The Volcano roll was good too but it wasn’t as spicy as I had hoped. The Mermaid roll was cute — they shaped it in a way that the shrimp tail looked like a mermaid tail. Creative! This roll was ok too — the scallop was slightly rubbery.
The gyoza was not tasty. The udon was massive — a giant bowl of noodles and veggies. And it came with a side of tempura. I thought the udon was not bad. You get a LOT of food for the price. One of their special rolls here is like $ 5-​$ 6 on average — in CA it might be $ 8-​$ 9. It was pretty busy too for a Tuesday night. There were constantly people coming in and out. It never got full, but there were a lot of people between the two rooms that make up the restaurant.
The service here was AWESOME. Everyone who works here looked young — like they were all in their early 20s. The sushi chefs in the open kitchen looked young. The cashier looked young. All the servers looked young. This place gives off a hole-in-the-wall-but-we’re-young-and-hip vibe. The servers were all SUPER nice. They were really patient with us while we decided what we wanted and in answering all our questions and requests (like extra bowls and helping us identify the sushi we had just ordered). Like the other reviews say, don’t expect too much with the interior. There’s not much in the way of décor or ambiance. It’s just white walls and tables and chairs. But that aside, overall, the food was fine, the price was right, and the service was excellent.

Good sushi with no frills at prices I wouldn’t find back in NY. Had made a reservation for 15 ppl — a team of hungry monsters — and we all left stuffed. I enjoyed the hospital roll (tastes so much better than it sounds), big island roll (love the much needed crunch from macadamia nuts), bay city (warm scallop roll with cheese and mayo that reminds me of this appetizer in Chinese restaurants). Not the best sushi I’ve had but decent sushi for a good price — more rice than fish on some of these
Love that this place is swarmed with locals!

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING! For ~$ 20, you can get enough sushi to feed 2 people really well. This place is located on a creepy, dark street in Hilo near where the Farmer’s Market is held, but has a lot of seating over two rooms. We got take-​out both times and it’s usually about 10 minutes if you order there. We got there as late as 8:55 (they close at 9:00) and they still took the order. This place was so good we had it two nights in a row. Four faves –
Bay City roll — some kind of cheese and mayo topping on a scallop roll. While that might sound rich and gross it was absolutely delicious and we had this roll twice.
Big Island Roll — my favorite. With seasoned crushed macadamia nuts.
Hamanako roll — complex and interesting. Unagi with cream cheese and zesty radish sprouts.
Mermaid Roll — Also a scallop based roll (loved these because they’re hard to come by) with tobiko
Great deal, unique rolls, but not for the ambience if that’s what you’re looking for.

Went here for lunch.
It’s seat yourself. Server asked me if I was ready, I said I wasn’t and needed a couple more minutes. Server just walks away not acknowledging that she heard me. Rude.
Ordered the 7 piece ahi sashimi, manhattan roll (smoked salmon, avocado and kaiware), and rainbow roll (the usual salmon, ahi, etc).
Eh. The fish was defnitely fresh. But the sashimi, such small slices! Not worth the almost $ 8! The two rolls I got… where is the fish!!!
This place needs to step it up in their rolls. Less rice, more fish! How about, better service?