Zenbu Sushi

Live in LJ and believe or not had never been to Zenbu, luckily as I discovered I had not missed a thing. A friend I had invited was embarrassed to tell me it smelled like urine until I commented on it. The bench where I sat was filthy dirty. The sushi was not even mediocre. Thank goodness it was happy hour and I didn’t pay the ridiculous prices on the menu. This place needs to clean up and get a new chef.

:-(We rode our bikes to Zenbu La Jolla today for the usual Happy Hour, but sadly, it was being gutted. I’m pretty sure I just jogged by it last week and it was still there. I’m not sure if the existing owners are renovating or it’s going to be turned into something else. So sad it wasn’t there and I couldn’t get my lava roll fix today.

The freshness and quality of the sushi/​sashimi at Zenbu is, in my opinion, unsurpassed in La Jolla. Although I won’t eat this, they do get fresh live Uni if anyone’s interested. Another nice thing about Zenbu is it’s not very crowded lately, it used to be in it’s heyday, but now you can usually find a table on a weekend without a reservation. Even better, they serve hard alcohol, so if you’re not in the mood for sake or wine, they have top shelf tequila and many others.

If I could give this place 10 stars, without a doubt I would. Johnny, the head chef, made beyond amazing sushi tonight. He seriously has a talent. Never looked at the menu, just trusted him and he made a delicious meal.
It is pricey, but I didn’t mind one bit. The quality of the fish was great, unique dishes without skimping out on the fish.
Can’t wait to go back.

The Coastal Beauties babes checked out Zenbu in La Jolla for happy hour and we give it 5 Stars! The happy hour menu was full of variety and very affordable. The staff was knowledegable, helpful, friendly and funny. They offer happy hour specials on rolls, saki and our favorite, miso soup! Our waiter recommended their TDF Roll which was To Die For– absolutely amazing!

Holy Crap. You rich? Go for it. But still, rich people like to be greeted at the door and made to feel welcome right? If that’s the case AVOID this place. We walked in and no one (not the bartender or the wait staff) said hello. So we stood and read the menu for a moment and saw $ 17 spicy tuna roll and UP from there. Jesus H. Christ. That’s insane. So we went to Shiku Sushi on Prospect where the service is amazing, prices are reasonable, and the fish is outstanding.

We ate at Zenbu tonight which was always a favorite in La Jolla. I think the place needs work. We had a bad piece of fish which was taken off our bill. I found the entire restaurant a bit rundown since our last visit. Perhaps management should take a look at food quality and overall setting… it needs an update.

We came here on New Year’s Eve with a group of friends. We started off by ordering the shishito peppers only to find out they were out of them. This sort of set the tone for the rest of the dinner. I tried accessing their menu on their website but I got «Not Found» error when clicking the Zenbu logo at the bottom of their menu page (
). When I finally got to the menu, I found it was incomplete. No mention of the wasabi-​seared tenderloin I ordered that night.
Overall the meal was very pricy. $ 100 for two. My wife had two drinks which were not strong by any means. I had one Sapporo. We ordered two entrees and some edamame since they were out of shishito peppers. I had to ask for napkins, utensils and our candle on our table was out of wax and couldn’t be lit. Yeah I know these are little things but I think restaurants should pay attention to detail especially when we’re paying a premium. My tenderloin was cold. I mean refrigerator cold. Maybe it’s supposed to be like that but with the word «seared» in the menu description I would think it should at least be warm. Our group of friends were not very satisfied with the meals or the prices. I actually had to order food at the bar (Herringbone) we went to next since I was still starving. Mind you I paid $ 100 at Zenbu.
Won’t be coming back I’m afraid. Go to Sushi on the Rocks if you’re in La Jolla.

First impression: Looks legit. Second impression: ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME?
Listen, rice is not meant to be used as a sponge to lop up the «whatever» sauce you want to put on your «exotic» rolls. I got two rolls off their «happy hour» menu and both had so much sauce on the plate, the rice was saturated. SATURATED WITH SAUCE. A sushi roll is supposed to be complimented by the use of sauce, not overwhelmed.
If you like your sushi washed out with sauce, then this is the place for you.

Pretty awesome place. Sushi is A+ good as it gets. Can be a bit of a scene and service can be up and down but overall still my number 1 place for sushi in SD. Got a cool vibe to it. North county might be the best one.

DO not go here if you are looking for quality raw fish, but this is a good place for rolls. Hamachi was decent, bluefin was a bit off, Uni was fishy and worst of all was that the Toro was chewy.
Service is really slow, and requests were disregarded until third time.
I did sit at a table, and in hindsight, i should have sat at the Sushi bar.

Loved our sushi dinner, friendly and courteous staff.
The sushi chef prepared us a lovely salad with grilled asparagus and avocados.
I had the yellow tail which was lovely with yuzu…
Small and intimate and it was just what we needed that night after a busy day of gallery hoping and viewing lots of impressive works art in La Jolla…

Zenbu’s very own Zenbu roll, Surf n’ Turf roll and well, Luke had the fancy one I can’t remember what the name of it was but it was fiercsssely fantasssstic! The rolls weren’t tart or grainy, they were subtle and delicious of course with the added wasabi and ginger for a good kick, you can’t go wrong! Our server was very informative and I doubt it was a sales pitch instead more of her own salivating taste of Zenbu by experience. The rolls she suggested were indeed fantastic! Went well with our good libations and strawberry mochi and some chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream concluded the night and I must say the quality time with company was indeed the highlight of our visit to Zenbu.
Thanks Luke & Karen for an awesome weekend!

I REALLY wish I could have given Zenbu a better review. We live by the Cardiff one but ended up strolling the streets of La Jolla and wanted to just drop in…
First impressions were awesome… intimate and lounge-​lit décor made it feel swanky. We sat at the sushi bar because service is usually much faster, more interactive and fun to watch. Asked about drinks right as we sat, which was okay but we weren’t ready… waitress came back 15 minutes later to see if we decided… what a wait… and refills took just as long even with me putting my empty glass on the bar top. err…
Sushi selection was all very similar. I always look for good varieties in their specialty rolls and did not find one I really wanted to try. Got one anyways and it was okay. My gf got some edamame that had salt crusted on the top layers and non on the bottom pieces… I didn’t know we were supposed to mix to distribute seasoning ourselves…
I’m a sushier. I eat it almost once every two weeks and for a swanky/​hip/​pricey sushi joint, I expected much much much better service and far better sushi.
The price of this okay meal could have afforded me two excellent meals at Kaito.
Disappointed.

Zenbu came in highly rated in the Frommer’s guide book we scooped up on our visit to SD (from NYC) and it didn’t disappoint. We came in to have a leisurely romantic dinner so I honestly can’t speak to noticing if we had speedy or slow service. I CAN speak to the quality of the food and thought it was fantastic. Here’s the breakdown on what we ordered:
Trying to target some West Coast local catches we were steered toward Hamachi and Halibut by our server. We started with the Hamachi collar, which actually was a lot of food for price. It was a really meaty cut of the fish, dense and full of flavor. Rich and delish. We followed with another Hamachi appetizer w/​jalapeño and ponzu topped with micro greens. This was much lighter and more subtle but nicely balanced. After that we had the Mexicali roll which didn’t need a drop of soy sauce — it had a perfect balance of super fresh fish and herbal components. Another subtle taste profile but really well done.
I do agree that it’s pricey, but I actually felt like we got a great value for price. The quality of the ingredients and flavors really stood out for us!

Sushi was great, and our service was solid. I didnt experience the problems that others on here have posted about. I would have given 5 stars except that this place is overpriced. I know that I am in La Jolla so everything costs more, but Ota, Harne and Azuki are not that far away and are all equally as good for your money.
If your hell bent on eating Sushi in La Jolla, I would go no place else.

This place has terrible service and is over priced.
I know it is in downtown La Jolla, and should be pricey; however, go spend your money at one of the other better sushi places downtown.
I went here with my roommates and we received our food (6 rolls) after 45 minutes of ordering (the restaurant was not full). We could see the sushi chefs and they were sooooo slow at making the food. It also took us 45 minutes to flag down our waitress to get water refills. This is not an exaggeration.
In the end, they gave us a free roll which was nice; however, there is no excuse for having to wait that long for water or to even be able to locate our waitress.

This place is ridiculously overpriced for what you get. However, you can have a decent meal if you come for HH which is every night from 5 – 6 pm. And the HH applies to all appetizers, drinks, and rolls.
We started with a couple of miso soups, which was tepid but delicious! We ordered a number of rolls and one hand roll. None of them stood out to me. The tuna hand roll was just barely edible. I didn’t want to be rude so I ate most of it, but it was definitely not fresh. The minute our server put the plate down I could tell there was something wrong with it. The color was dark red. It didn’t taste fishy, but it wasn’t good either. We also had spicy hamachi roll, unagi roll, cucumber roll, soft shell crab roll, and regular tuna roll. The tuna roll was actually fresh and pretty good.
Our server was awesome! He was cordial, prompt, and professional. My bf is very picky when it comes to service and he was really happy with our server!
FYI, the HH does not apply to hand rolls.

I had some excellent meals in here a few years ago and decided to drop in for Happy Hour and some ½ priced rolls.
Well, I’m glad they were half price, actually, I would have been happier if they were ¼ price, which would have been a reasonable value. I just could not even imagine paying $ 19 for a so-​so roll. But, for $ 9 it’s reasonable, not a value, but reasonable.
If they were fantastic, then I would be glad to pay the half price, but they were just average.
The service was suspect. I think if you are an attractive, young female, you should not get a pass on not knowing anything about serving. I would much rather have someone who is knowledgeable, positive and professional. Others may disagree and just want something nice to look at.
Calamari was decent, tempura was good and hot, the rolls were decent and the service was the main issue. That can be fixed.

Located in the less touristy areas of downtown La Jolla, Zenbu is a swanky little restaurant in the corner of a small shopping center. Our large group would not fit in the regular dining room so we were escorted to a private dining room at the other side of the center and was even provided our own server. With the interesting people to chat with and the high end décor, I looked forward to a really classy meal. Unfortunately, I was totally wrong about the food.
The table started off with edamame which were surprisingly small and extremely dry. A little taken aback by such a beautiful restaurant, the little soybeans would be only the beginning of the food woes. I went with their salmon hand roll and scallop hand roll. For $ 5 each at happy hour, they seemed like a sensible choice for a small bite before shooting off to the next event. Both rolls were really tasteless and uninteresting and the rice was poorly seasoned, and I had to add quite a bit of soy sauce and wasabi to make them taste like anything at all.
The food here is obnoxiously expensive and it’s ludicrous how much it costs to order even the simplest rolls. Their simple hand rolls ranged between $ 4 – 10 for happy hour and that’s laughable anywhere and, near as makes no difference, $ 20 for a spicy tuna roll? No thanks. The service was uninterested at best and our orders took all night to receive, and even then there were many mistakes. My glass stayed pretty much empty the whole night and without the stimulating conversation, I would have been completely unamused with the experience. In fact, I kind of felt like Zenbu was a total poseur restaurant and definitely don’t plan on coming back.
Food: ³⁄₁₀
Service: ²⁄₁₀
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: ⁷⁄₁₀