Maki Maki

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
That’s pretty much how I could describe this place in one word.
I had my birthday there. Big Mistake!
I made reservations and STILL had to wait. Lame!
My friends and I ordered a sushi boat. It was alright. Just a normal wooden boat with few selections. In my opinion, it wasn’t worth the price.
Also, there was more than 8 people in our group, so they automatically added gratuity. Eventhough, our server wasn’t anything to gloat about.
I’m usually very optomistic about japanese places, especially if I have never been there. But, this place was just too ordinary for the price.

almost all sushi in california is fusion. that is, california influenced japanese. or is it the other way around? no matter…
been going to this place for years now, though it has been in decline since its opening.
location: ⁹⁄₁₀
maki maki is located at the irvine spectrum, an outdoor mall located in irvine, ca. as far as outdoor malls go, this one is nice. the place is huge with many things to do and places to eat, one of which, is maki maki. upon arrival, the hostess welcomes you[and your party], usually in a snotty manner, which indicates that she’d rather be chatting with a server crush or the bartender. oh, southern california. anyway, the place is dark and quite spacious. there are many tables and usually no wait unless you come at the end of happy hour or during dinner on a friday/​saturday evening. some of the booth cushions are in disrepair, but i thought i spied some being replaced not too long ago. there is sushi bar seating for those eating alone or eating fast, although the sushi chefs are not japanese, so atmosphere suffers a bit. more on that later. if sitting outside, you get a nice view of a long fountain with kids running around and people milling about. the spectrum now gets more visitors per annum than disneyland. that can be a curse or a gift, as it depends on whether you like to people watch or not. i find it as free entertainment to watch the[very] desperate housewives of orange county running around trying their best to look like the trophy wives they did 10 years ago while chasing their unruly children around. the restrooms are adequate.
atmosphere: ⁶⁄₁₀
ouch. the servers are rude. the hosts are rude. the sushi chefs aren’t even japanese. i know. california fusion, right? for all the awards this place has won in the past, i wonder if those restauranteurs even paid attention to anything other than the extra stiff drinks they were fed on the house at the behest of the general manager. as before, the hostesses put on this air that they are too busy to deal with seating you. some are even reading books and sigh audibly when you enter. they don’t thank you when you leave. the servers are worse. sometimes you have to wait for 10 minutes JUST to ask for a pen to mark your sushi selection. right. and this is during the dead off peak hours of operation. i know, i’ve been there when it was only the 3 of us in the whole place and yet it took that long to order our food. top40 is playing, which is usually [c]rap and pop.
food: 6.5÷10
another ouch. why, do you ask, have i been gracing this place with my patronage for the past years? because it wasn’t always so bad and for the happy hour, it’s decent. for starters, they haven’t changed their happy hour menu for the years i’ve been eating there. however, their portions are getting smaller and the fish sometimes isn’t fresh. if color is an indication of freshness, some of you would vomit on sight of the rolls. raw tuna shouldn’t look tinged with brown. which is a travesty as spicy tuna rolls are my favorite. for happy hour, several rolls and nigiri are available for almost half off. if their maki maki roll[spicy tuna with outside deep fried] were made correctly[inside still raw] like before, i would bump up their food rating by 1 point. as it is now, some of their better rolls are the fried ones, since your food is going to be masked by cooking. the $ 1 chicken skewers are just that. the miso soup is served with a FORK??? it should come with NO utensils. the salad with their weird ginger dressing tastes like dirty maple leaves doused in ginger sauce. if you come during non happy hour, be prepared to pay too much for undeserving food. although i make one concession: the popcorn lobster roll is divine, though expensive. drinks aren’t too stiff, but not too watered down. though flagging down the barkeep is tiresome, even when it’s not busy.
bottom line: come here for a quick bite during happy hour[2x spicy tuna rolls + shrimp tempura roll = $ 10]. otherwise, stay away from maki maki unless you want warm raw fish with avocado coming out of every hole. i mean roll.

Had 3 hours to kill before dinner reservations, so fellow Unilocaler Mikolas S. and I decided what better way to kill time than to drink it away.
We arrived during their happy hour time (Wednesday HH is 3 – 10 PM, fyi) which was very fortunate. Sat at the bar and got a friendly and talkative bartender (I think his name was Mike). Ordered a Rainbow Martini ($ 4 HH price). DEEEEEE-​LICIOUS! If you’re a fruity, girly drink kind of person who doesn’t really enjoy the taste of alcohol, then the Rainbow Martini is an absolute MUST for YOU because it is exactly that. I also ordered the $ 1 Chicken Yakitori (chicken skewer), cuz for a buck I had to try it. The bartender warned me it was going to be small and he wasn’t kidding-​it was 4 bite sized chicken pieces grilled with 4 even tinier veggie bits (mushrooms and peppers). The size of the yakitori was less of a concern to me compared to the fact that the yakitori was COMPLETELY DRY. gross…

Solely based on happy hour foods.
Not so happy.
First off, completely misleading «50% sushi and rolls» — what they don’t tell you is that the offer only applies to about 7 kinds of rolls and 6 kinds of sushi. All those ones you salivate over with popcorn lobster, baked scallops, and other yummy varieties are no where to be found on this happy hour list. Just good ol’ California rolls, cucumber rolls and spicy tunas along with their deep-​friend counterparts.
The yakitori I got for $ 1 a skewer was quite meager — but hey — it’s what I expected for $ 1. But the chicken was TERRIBLE. It was like chicken jerky on a stick. I would have never handed over my precious dollar if I knew it was to taste like that.
Being raised in the U.S., my friends and I love our deep-​fried anything. We ordered the spicy tuna and Cali rolls that way — what a mistake! The tuna rolls were so overcooked, the tuna on the inside of the roll had begun to cook and what resulted was a tuna meatball, encased in rice with an oily crust. The California rolls were incredibly overcrusted and the resulting was like eating a corndog. All I could taste was crust and eel sauce. When everyone refused to take home the leftovers, I finally did, and *oops!* conveniently left them in my friend’s car :) my bad.

If you’re there to people watch, there WILL be a wait for the outside seating. I got there at 7:30 on a Friday and there was a 40 min wait, but none for the inside seating. Our table ordered the eel, spicy tuna and crunch roll. The crunch roll was the one that stood out the most for me because the soft shell crab tasted very fresh. Its a little pricey (apx $ 12 each on cut rolls) but might be worth going back for happy hr.
Note: Happy hour has 50% off but it ends at 6.

Grande & Majestic, but overrated & bland.
This sushi place is huge… HUGE. Located in a nice courtyard of Irvine Spectrum, Maki Maki doesn’t really offer to many choices for people who don’t want mango or fruit on every roll.
They don’t even offer miso soup or edamame for free!
Go somewhere else, please. Do yourself a favor and save $ 25/​person.

for $ 25 AYCE selected sushi and appetizer, it’s not bad, considering the price for their sushi isnt the cheapest either.
The choices of sushi isnt much but aside from that it the fish itself didtn taste quite fresh. The salmon was definitely not fresh.
The sushi rolls selection was alright. It was decent. But in the end it was just too many california roll filling w/​other toppings. so i just ended up ordering sushi only.
their appetizer selection was small too, but we did try their tempura sampler (one shrimp and three other veggies). I like their tempura, wasnt too oily and the batter was just right.
On to the service. itwas pretty bad in my opinion. Majority of the time our server was gone and the place wasnt even busy. I felt like she puposely hid from us so we couldnt keep on ordering our AYCE dishes. Cuz you knwo how it all works, once u slow down your pace you just get full faster.
In the end, we ate about $ 110 worth of food (per their regular menu price)… so it was kinda worth it in a way since we got the AYCE deal. But i dont think i’ll go back to this place again. It just wasnt that satisfying. i didnt leave the place feeling «MMMMMM that was good stuff»

Wtf are the WAITers and WAITresses doing if not WAITing on their customers?
Why do they charge so much for sub par food & service & ambience? I’ve had better quality sushi @ Sushi Box, a fast food place as big as the bathroom’s @ Maki Maki, located next to a 7 effing 11.
The only things worth getting here are the baked rolls (lobster roll is good). Other than that, you’re out of options. It was cool when I had friends who worked here because they were on top of their shit, but now that they’re all gone, no thanks! I’m willing to bet that the food court sushi place has better tasting sushi than here!

I went here only because the Spectrum is centrally located to our group.
First off the ladies at the check-​in desk were very rude and short with us. Then we were told a 30 minute wait to get our seats, and I look in and see nothing but empty tables.
This place is outrageously expensive for a sushi place. 4 – 7 bucks for 2 pieces of sushi, 5 bucks for a basic beer. My wife and I purposely didnt go crazy because we knew better.
The food was average to ok, but after the «customer service» expierience, and the costs I couldnt wait to get out!
Do yourself and your wallet a HUGE favor, dont come here until you abolsutely have to. There are a bunch of places that are half the price and twice the taste within a few miles of here!

The imposing façade of Maki Maki has stayed in the back of my mind as a possible dinner location ever since it was constructed back in the spectrum’s second expansion several years ago. Many restaurants have come and gone in the Spectrum’s 14 year existence; a restaurant that has kept its position and popularity for almost as long has to be doing something right. As the full experience (read: alcohol) can now be enjoyed by my of-​age self, I decided that now was as good a time as any to try it out.
Our party was greeted warmly by the hosts and seated at our table much quicker than I would have expected for seven o’clock on a Friday evening. The trendy neo-​Japanese architecture seems to have started fraying around the edges of this place, but it still manages to stay clean and comfortable.
The Super Spider roll, while very delicious, wasn’t enough food to justify its price tag. The chicken breast bowl was a cut above the average Asian-​bowl fare, and contains enough of the titular poultry and accompanying rice to sate the palate of the sushi-​shy. The tempura platter was by far the star entrée of the night. Light and fluffy batter enveloping massive shrimp and flavorful vegetables dipped in sweet tentsuyu– this is how all tempura ought to taste.
Our evening was finished with the Tempura Fried Green Tea ice cream. Before I go on, it should be known that I traditionally abhor green tea in all its guises– tea, soda, snacks, yogurt, etc. That said, I can now say that I have found a green tea I enjoy. I was like a child eating cake for the first time– my sense of trepidation soon crumbled into adoration, and I found myself fighting my dinner-​mates to get at the last tasty morsels.
The crisp evening air found me leaving with a pleased stomach and a considerably lighter wallet. If you’re looking for a nicer location and meal than the average carry-​out joint (and don’t mind spending quite a bit more change), give Maki Maki a try and taste why they’ve kept their place in Irvine for so long.

This place is located in irvine spectrum. Decided to check it out only because it was happy hour. The place decoration reminds me of geisha house but not as extravagant and not as dark feeling. There’s an outside row of seating which is nice if u want to get some air and listen to the street performers. You can also sit inside at the tables or in the booths.
Service. I noticed they tend to hire really japanese or asian looking girls. Cute girls. Haha. Anyways… service was pretty nice and friendly and she checked back on us just enough.
Now onto the food. I don’t know if it was just happy hour but the sushi rolls were really tiny and the kabob was decent. My friend go the fried green tea ice cream which was good. Overall the food was very whatever. I could live without this place and I would most likely not come to this place as a first pick. I only wish this place tasted as well as it looked. There aren’t any fancy rolls, just the typical noob sushis.

If you eat here and say you are eating sushi, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but you are not. What you are eating are different variations of the california roll. That doesn’t constitute it as sushi in my book.
The inside is nice in but as hard as they tried, it does’nt really have that Japanese vibe that I’m looking for when I go into Japanese restaurants. More cheesey uncomfortableness more than anything. It felt like I was in PF Chang’s. We order the sukiyaki and to my surprise, it wasn’t bad. I guess that’s what happens when you have low expectations. It was enough to feed two. It came in a huge cauldron. The broth was a bit too sweet. The meat was thinly sliced, but there wasn’t enough of it. Big cubes of tofu. It also looked like they harvested a whole field of cabbage and threw it in there. The service was adequate though. Heck it should’ve been, the joint was half empty.
The only way I’d come back here is to try out their happy hour and their 100 variations of the california roll, since sake makes everything taste better. Or it allows me to forget a subpar performance.
If you’re looking for an authentic experience, then don’t come here. If you are looking for the Chuck E. Cheese version, stop on in.

I hope this is certainly a wake up call but I hope the owner is reading this review. In fact, this should be a lesson like the true story movie where the apartment owner was sentenced to live in his apartment. The owner is required to dine in his own restaurant just to witness how badly this place is. I have ultimately one question to ask of the owner. How can an Asian establishment have served the most awful rice ever?
Kat L. and her sister and two cousins who were in town along with Marlon wanted to have lunch here for the AYCE sushi special for $ 24.95 which is an attempting offer. So I tagged along but was wondering if I might order something else. Kat’s sister was the nice one to ask the waitress and she allowed it because I was still a little under the weather. There were many sushi, rolls and appetizers ordered. I ordered the bulgogi bowl since it was the only thing appealing to me.
The sushi does look fresh, the appetizers looked great, you even get fried broccoli with the tempura selection. Not all the tables are occupied but it certainly took a long time for orders to come out. I’m sure there’s a likely excuse for the delay but when asking for more wasabi and tempura sauce, it’s just a pour and a motion of the hand before the delivery, right? That would be the next burning question. Half of the order for the group has arrived to the table and the bulgogi bowl has yet to be seen.
I now understand why they have a pot with the tea because refills are hard to come by. When I received my order, it looked good too. The bulgogi was sweet and tasty. Typically tender but at least it’s a hot dish. I started on the rice and it was hard. Not under cooked hard but like the order was sitting out hard. Then again, that’s also how you get hard rice because it’s cooked wrong. The group at the table asked me how mine was and I told them the rice was hard. The concensus was the same with the rice on the sushi. Now that’s a damn shame. How can you mess up rice in an Asian restaurant? At least the waitress was nice enough to tell us last call was coming around so if we wanted to continue to order, we must do this immediately.
Overall, the place was really nice, the décor is modern and you get cloth napkins like a fancy joint. Glad the sushi was AYCE and the cost was lower from all the sushi we ordered. I guess it would have been equivalent if we actually went to Todai instead.
My challenge to the owner is for your family and yourself to dine here yourselves. I want to see what you would say in your review. Such a dirty shame of a restaurant to be called a restaurant. I hope something changes for all diners’ sake. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
(by the way, how can you people click on None for the alcohol when clearly there is a bar with hard liquor behind the counter?) maybe that’s what is wrong with this establishment.

Cool spot in the middle of the spectrum. went for happy hour where everything was 50 percent off. Kirin and Sapporo could be had for 2.75 a pint which is a great deal. ordered the maki maki roll (because it was restaurant was called maki maki), some california roll that was deep fried… the name escapes my mind, and a tuna roll and like 4 chicken strip things. I would have to say for me a guest. those three rolls/​chicken things and 5 beers came out to 31 dollars plus tax and tip… alright deal.
As for the quality… i guess im not too sure about the sushi because ive never had sushi that’s been deep fried. the chicken things were tiny and i think flash deep fried so it was sorta whatever too. the beers came and weren’t as cold as they could be but still acceptable. service was pretty good. there were a good amount of waiters walking around and no one seemed to have a problem helping us which was really nice.

Bleh, bleh, bleh. Mediocre sushi, and horrendous service. Only been here for happy hour, when we were basically the only people in the restaurant and it was still hard to get any waiter attention. I think I’ve been here about 3 or 4 times, and every time it has been pretty bad.
I can’t remember anything special about the food. It wasn’t horrible, nor was it so good to make it memorable. All that I do remember was the bad service. One time the waiter was just plain rude, another time the waitress didn’t seem to understand anything we said and disappeared for the longest time, and it took 20 minutes just to get the check so we can pay and get out of there. There’s better happy hour to be had else where and better sushi for comparable price.

What is with all the negative reviews for this place? Any UCI student that comes here knows as a golden rule that this place is at its best during Happy hour. Cheap pints, half off most of their popular rolls, and a varied selection of other discounted eats, there’s not much to dislike. If you want GREAT sushi and rolls you go elsewhere (ie: Taiko or Ikko). Otherwise this place is perfect for a college student which is the majority of their customers. You can stumble away with a massive food coma for less than $ 25 (for two).
Seating may take a while so be sure to arrive early and it helps to not be picky insisting on an indoor seat, it’s perfectly alright to be seated outdoor since their heaters will keep you warm and toasty. Hey if your bored you can even watch the fountain area while waiting for your food. The quality of the sushi and rolls here is above average and will satisfy most people. Service is spotty depending on your waiter but usually attentive.
To be perfectly honest, this place is located in a mall and you should never expect much from mall sushi. Context goes a long way.

Happy hour and lunch time are the only times when Maki Maki is even remotely worth the price. During happy hour they have half off prices on some of their nigiri sushi and their rolls. During lunch, they have lunch specials ($ 8-​$ 12) with an all-​you-​can eat salad bar. The food here is pretty good, but nothing spectacular.
The one thing that sucks about this place is during happy hour their service is slow. One time I went there, our waitress brought us one of our entrees seriously like 1 ½ hours later after most of our party was already done eating. The waitress said that she would take that entrée off our bill. However, when we got our check it was still on the bill. When we talked to the manager, he said that we still needed to pay for it. WTF. Anyway, that night, we gave like a $ 1 tip.
Overall, good food, but be wary during happy hour when they’re busy.

So Angotei is closed on Sundays. I drove down from LA to get some Angotei and ended up shopping instead and going to Maki Maki.
One of the most delightful people that has ever entered my whole life lives in Santa Ana. His name is Brian. We have been friends and Foosball competitors since 1997. He is really a friend for life. What a perfect day… to drive down to the OC to chill with a friend for a decade while I am emotionally in this preseason of female bliss.
So…Maki Maki… it was okay. The rice melted in my mouth, the fish wasn’t very cold, and the rolls were too saucy. I love eel sauce, but it was on everything… ew! Too much. I prefer fresh sushi with out all the sauces. The environment was dark, with black and reds… it felt like a chain. Sorry guys, it just did.
Highlights…we ordered a bottle of sake and Sapporo!

Usually when I go to places (restaurants in particular) I have an informative review, this time because of my brain being fried from Final Exams and the whole bit… I shall recite a haiku about Maki Maki…
Maki Maki Good,
Cute girl pours water in cup,
Sushi make me full.

UPDATE: We are actually here right now (yes they have free wifi) and we didn’t know it was Happy Hour. In fact, Mondays they have happy hour from 3.30pm until closing and it is just packed with people. Selected sushi and rolls are half off and there is also a handful of appetizers and bowls (don) at really reasonable prices. Beer (Asahi and Sapporo — large bottle) are $ 5 and sake is $ 3. Tuesdays to Fridays happy hour is 3.30pm to 6.00pm. A total bargain if you want to scope it out. But beware of happy hour nights as it’s a real mad house. Other than happy hour, it’s not worth the price (yes I’ve changed my mind since my initial visit). Service is a hit and miss.
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Since we were unfamiliar with the area, we scoped out the Spectrum and decided on this place since it was Asian and it was right near where we parked. Turned out, the food was awesome! Maybe we were hungry, but maybe because it was what it was — fusion Asian cuisine. There was no pretense about how it was a Japanese restaurant, or a Korean restaurant etc. It was fusion. There was Japanese food AND Korean food and other stuff too. Décor is cool and trendy. The fusion sushi tasted great (although the traditional stuff was only passable) and salads were fantastic. The house salad was out of this world with this excellent carrot vinegrette. We also ordered a spicy soup and Korean short rib stew, both really good. Would definitely come back again if in the area! On top of that it’s also a wifi hotspot, so that’s a plus plus! You can write your review while you eat!