Jizake Sushi

Update — came back tonight (2 weeks later) and although it wasn’t as cray as before, we had equally if not an even better dining experience with my new favorite sushi chefs! Quality, service, and fair prices confirmed consistent. This time we tried the UFO ROLL (chefs concoction) and it was delicious. The guys still love to drink! Thanks yu-​ichiro and Taka see you guys soon!
I came here in a Friday night after deciding to explore south county for a new sushi spot. I was looking for an authentic sushi restaurant that serves quality plates. Reviews from Unilocal directed me here and I had made reservations over the phone for 7:45pm, the earliest time I could get being Vday weekend.
I opted to be seated at the sushi bar and was greeted with some sake by our chef yu-​ichiro. You can’t miss him, he’s the one wearing what appears to be space ship glasses jk lol. It looks like white Oakley prescription glasses.
My gf and I were at first caught off guard as we noticed that not only was this place popular, but there were absolutely no other Asian dining during our 3 hour visit. We’re not racist by any means, just that it was odd that such a good spot didn’t have other Asians that recognized the location to dine at (that night).
The sushi chefs are hilarious! They can drink… A LOT! Everyone including the entire staff were very nice and professional. The food was excellent and the prices are very fair. I will definitely come back very soon.

Having read some of the fellow Unilocalers’ reviews about this place, I thought I should dine here.
We got here on a Saturday night w/​o having any reservations. The dining area is somewhat small, so waiting for a table was expected.
After about 45 mins, we were sat at the sushi bar. We ordered the lollipop roll, the lemon salmon roll and the Hawaiian roll.
The lollipop roll was delicious and it looked pretty. It had salmon, albacore, tuna and avocado. It was presented on the bed of mixed greens. It was just too pretty to be eaten but I ate it and enjoyed every bite of it.
But the beauty of my dining experience ended with me finishing the lollipop roll. The lemon salmon roll tasted I don’t know ‘weird’. The sea weed was very ‘sea weedy’ if that makes sense… I don’t know, it might have been soaked in water for too long and it felt like a rubber. It was made with salmon with a piece of lemon on each roll.
The Hawaiian roll unfortunately had the same issue as the lemon salmon roll. I think there was something about the sea weed that made the rolls not sooo tasty and somewhat not pleasant to eat. The Hawaiian roll was prepared with spicy tuna with layers of albacore.
So obviously this was not the «best sushi in town» in my opinion. But again, you can be the judge of that after you dine here.

Yum yum yum!!!
Popped in after pilates last week and LOVED IT! They have a few non rice items such as the spring roll, the lollipops and moon light roll. The shishito peppers are also bomb.
It definitely seems like a popular place for locals. STOP IN! You won’t regret it.

This restaurant is a local favorite. They have a very dedicated customer base. The food seems well received by the regular crowd.
The staff are young and seem eager to please. However, we arrived early and were taken to a table in the back. We had to ask to be moved. The smell of Pine Sol was so strong that it smelled like a bathroom. I am glad it was clean, but they should clean much earlier in the day and air out the restaurant. The smell conflicted with the food.
I travel to Japan one or two times a year, so my view is skewed and based on very high expectations. So please keep my review in that context. We had several dishes. The sushi was one step above Ralph’s self serve counter. I ordered a combination dinner. The chicken teriyaki was good, the vegetable tempura, although covered with thick batter (not delicate Japanese style batter) was okay. However, the rice was absolutely awful. I have never eaten such gluggy awful rice. It was so bad, I was tempted to ask the chef how he could possibly serve it. They should be ashamed to place such a dish on their table.
I know they won’t miss me because they have a strong following. But if you have s sophisticated Japanese palette, give this place a miss.

Best sushi and sashimi in the area. Good family fun and a great sushi bar experience.

This is my favorite sushi place. The sushi chefs are very friendly and have good suggestions. For the best experience I sit at the sushi bar. The price is right for the quality of food.

Hands down best sushi I’ve had. I have dreams about the spicy edamame
Pizza roll is must!
UFO (U Find Out) is fun if you are adventurous. I was, and it was delicious!
I have tried a wide variety of the menu and I have NOT been disappointed once. :)

Came here on Jan 2 REALLY hoping to try this place. It was 12:30pm on a Saturday — 30 mins after supposed opening and found the doors locked with no sign explaining what was going on or why they weren’t open. Tried to call and no pick up, watched at least 6 other families try to go in for lunch as well, all with confused looks on their faces. Come on man! We just want some good sushi.

On terms of food– this place is EXCELLENT. Great sushi, good desserts. definitely a 5 star on terms of food.
Their service/​experience– eh 3 – 4 stars
i was there with my girlfriend for a little more than an hour and the only music they played was the happy birthday song on repeat for the WHOLE time. It got old after the 2^nd time played when there was no one in there for their birthday anymore but it kept rolling. Their servers were good but it always a new person coming over to check on us which was kinda weird, so some of our orders got confusing. pricing was average– about 7 – 18 bucks per sushi roll. Although there was a very wide variety of them. I love this place! Everyone was kind and welcoming– i come back often, but wish that they were open for lunch too! beware– they only open at 5:30 each nite. great little japanese place

The sushi is great here. The tempura is just above average. Service is great since the restaurant is very small to the point where the bussing staff annoyingly comes around to take your plates because they need your table. I think I’m going to have ongoing nightmares from the recorded birthday song that must last for at least 7 minutes. The noise level is unbearable here and the guy in the next booth was actually yelling as he was talking. May be back if I sit next to someone at the sushi bar where you can actually hear them maybe. Desserts here are nothing special. Fried tempura ice cream is one as an example.

This place is one of my favorite sushi places. There’s usually a line just before it opens for dinner. I suggest getting there when it opens because they fill up quickly. Service a great and plenty of sushi options although I’m not fond of sushi rolls made with cream cheese. Don’t really understand why the need to ruin the classics. A down side. As with most sushi bars, they pack you in shoulder to shoulder. A sacrifice for good sushi.

This place is next to my house but I did not know
I searched it on Unilocal
Food is ok
Service was the best
Price is SUSHi
I will be back

A-​MA-​ZING! I have a hard time going to any other sushi restaurant after my friend had introduced me to this a few months ago. Jizake has an amazing selection of sushi, with some unique menu items to chose from! Joe is the BEST sushi chef around! Staff is always energetic and welcoming, always efficient in service. I would recommend this location to all sushi, and non-​sushi eaters. Chicken and beef are also provided along with tofu. While the menu claims it feeds two, their boat feeds four to six people, without compromising quality. I used to go to Zen frequently, but now Jizake has my full attention! Love love love! If I could rate this location 10 stars, I would. They now have a new location in Costa Mesa and I cant wait to make my way over there to try it out, seeing if they will offer any new menu items! Two thumbs up, Jizake! Well done, once again. I am never disappointed with the location, service, food, and quality of atmosphere.

I really do enjoy this place, except for on the weekends when it’s EVERYONE’S birthday (singing) and lots of noisy kids. That cost them one star for ambiance. But the sashimi is very, very good. And, I think our tab for 5 adults, including booze was about $ 330 — so about $ 66 per person. And, we ordered a ton of stuff, most of it sashimi. Sashimi = why I can’t do AYCE. But then, I probably would never do that style of ordering in any case. Their lolipop sushi is one of my favorite sushi creations. It’s like a California roll with the outside wrapped in cucumber and secured with a long stick, hence the pop. Good stuff here.

LOVE THIS PLACE.
Ever since I went to Jizake, I can’t seem to go to any other different sushi restaurants! I love their customer service, the environment, and most importantly the FOOD! It is a little pricey, but as they as quality over quantity. I love the fact that their crunchy part in the crunchy roll is actually crunchy! I can see why this place is always packed! If I can give more than 5 stars, I would because this place is hands down the best sushi restaurant I’ve ever been to.

Great restaurants serve great food, that’s a given, but the icing on the cake, or in this case the wasabi on the sushi, is great service. I mentioned to the waitress that it was my friend’s birthday, with the only intention that she doesn’t let him get the check, but the she came back with green tea ice cream, candles, a funny crab hat and sang happy birthday! It was a good surprise and a real treat.
We had miso soup and edamame, butter fish, baked green mussels, sushi combination, and orders of yellowtail and escolar. Outdoor seating is very nice on a cool summer evening.

Really nice sushi! This place was poppin. Suuuuuuuuuuper popular and busy. Fish was fresh and restaurant had a nice lively atmosphere. They forgot our order of edamame but otherwise everything was great. Would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for good sushi in oc.

I have been recommending this place to everyone I know since it opened. Not inexpensive but the best rolls in town. Until. last Thursday night. It started with a simple Miso soup order. They brought my wife’s salad and forgot my soup. After I asked for it, they brought it within 2 seconds but COLD. It was obviously a bowl that must have been sitting around in the kitchen.
Then we order 3 simple rolls. The second roll took 30 minutes. The third roll did not come until we asked. Eventually, a very flustered manager delivered it. We would have ordered more but at that point it had been over 90 minutes in the restaurant.
I asked for the manager and explained that we have been going there for 5 years and wanted to know «what was up» tonight, hoping we just hit a short staff. A few excuses and no apology later, we left $ 1.00 tip and got out of there.

Just had dinner here and it was definitely better than I expected. On the exterior, it’s not the nicest place but I think they did a great job inside! We were quickly seated. The garlic edamame was a delicious appetizer and my favorite rolls were the «Try Me» roll and «Spring Roll». I also got the sushi combination which I really liked. The slices of fish were large which I liked, but I thought they could be a little thinner… I almost had to cut my yellowtail in half because it was big! Regardless, the fish was fresh and delicious. We ended our meal with tempura ice cream which was presented elegantly. I really liked this place and will be back! Joe was welcoming and greeted us with a huge smile when we entered and exited. My only complaint was that it was really loud and dark in there.

Carl wanted to try a new local place so I went on my trusty Unilocal app and this place came up. It is located in a small strip mall off Crown Valley by Niguel Road. It is pretty small.
I am glad to have tried it out for the first time last night as I did like it.
No doubt everyone was right about ordering the Spring Roll. It was great, especially paired with the Shishito Peppers which were some of the best I have ever had. They add a sweet soy sauce to the peppers. This helps offset the spiciness of some of the peppers.
The fish wasn’t fishy which to me is a good sign of freshness. We also ordered miso soup, the Fire Station roll and the Crispy Rice which was really good.
I tried their premium Japanese beer which was okay. I was expecting it to be better than it actually was.
Service was good and I was glad to see more waiters than I would expect for such a small restaurant.
The atmosphere is what you would expect for a local sushi place – somewhat loud, casual and fun. We will definitely be back!