Zooma Sushi

This discreet seaside sushi bar used to be one of our favorites. It’s covert location contiguous with its exclusivity drew a local Malibu crowd. Robert Downey Jr., Adam Sandler and Nick Nolte, were regulars here along with the usual menagerie of rockers and their paramours. Laird Hamilton along with his beach babe Gabi Reese were likely to drop in anytime, beach hair and all .
Fresh, buttery, spicy, sweet, crunchy, slimy nigiri like sea urchin and sweet shrimp, paper thin sashimi embellished with jalapeño and complex sauces, fiery Ganja roll, lobster roll, plump shrimp tempura roll were consistently fresh and flavorful. The chefs themselves were longstanding fixtures behind the wood hewn bar along with the rest of the staff and patrons. Lead chef, a gregarious Japanese Eric Clapton doppelgänger knew and interacted with hungry, cheerful patrons. The festive patio strung with garden lights and warmed by gas heaters was always a happy place to enjoy a communal meal .
But the halcyon days of this restaurant seem to have dissolved into anonymity and solitude. The energy and quality that once defined this venue have vanished replaced by new ownership (or so it appears ‚) and inferior quality. Portions are smaller than ever and prices that were already steep are higher.
With so many other choices in this arena I’m sorry to say we no longer seek out Zooma sushi for our weekly raw food fix. Sad because to me it’s the end of an era when days were defined by sunshine, sandy beaches and young, joyful children.

Worst service ever!!! On a busy Saturday, we were moved from our seats twice, the waitress had to take our order twice they lost the 1^st order, top of that they brought the wrong food item, and there was item that we wanted but they were out. Very disappointed. I understand that they were busy but what sushi place isn’t but no not the employee would crack a smile.

My boyfriend and I live in Westwood so we thought Valentine’s Day dinner in Malibu would be fun but we thought wrong. The wait was awful for the food and then we got the food. Immediately it didn’t look good, the sushi rolls were messed up and half made. It looked like someone threw it together in the back. Sometimes presentation isn’t everything but when we finished our meal we weren’t satisfied at all. It was over all the worst sushi I’ve had ever. Even worse than stuff we buy at Ralph’s. I for one am okay with paying a lot for good food but one 4 piece lobster roll was $ 19. That’s outrageous for how awful it tasted and how small the pieces were. We spent $ 80 for 4 rolls, and calamari. The cost was outrageous for how awful the food was. Save yourself a trip and long wait and don’t go here.

This is a local spot. Definitely a place to frequent if you live close by. You’ll enjoy the ganja roll, Vegas roll and more! Sitting at the sushi bar is enjoyable and gives a more authentic feel. Enjoy.

Zooma Sushi is one of my favorite restaurants. I have been coming here since I was little. The staff is very friendly and the food is amazing. The best items on the menu are the California Salad, the Fire Roll, the California Roll, the Shrimp Tempura Roll, the Lobster Roll, and the Green Tea Ice Cream.

This place is a total scam! My friend and I chose to have dinner after a day at the beach. We knew because of the Malibu location it would be pricey… However… they don’t list ANY pricing for their sushi at all! Makes us wonder if they choose to just set whatever price they feel depending on the day or the clientele. It was a hand– written ticket: (So nothing is entered in a system. No prices on the menu except for a few appetizers and drinks. There was not even pricing on the board behind the sushi chefs! I have never been to a sushi place where there was absolutely no prices listed for rolls on menu or on board. Nothing!
The worst part was when we went to pay the bill, using both our credit cards, to split right down the middle,…they over-​charged us! The hostess took forever to run it which we found odd. When she dropped off our receipts we noticed it was completely wrong and over charged us Each by $ 12. She waited,. seeing us discuss this,.we flagged her back over and she goes… «Oh did I divide it wrong???» As if this happens a lot. Again we found this suspicious since there was also no pricing at all! It took her over 15 min to correct the issue.
Everyone has a calculator on their phone! I am a bartender and I know that if I have to split a check, I use a calculator! This place made no sense.
The sushi was average… The baked crab rolls were good, however I’ve had waaaaayy better sushi and knew what I was paying for.
Do Not eat here! It’s a total scam!

A little overpriced for sushi, but comparable to other local cuisine options the price is extremely fair and the fish is fresh! The patio makes for a great option on beautiful days like today. Will be back!

Great sushi great price great service ! Right by the beach, this place is awesome ! The service is fast and friendly and the food is fantastic! ! A little expensive but well worth it !

The reviews are accurate… The service is bad. The prices are high. The place looks cheap. And the chicken isn’t «amazing.» Buuuuuuut who cares? Because the albacore is 10 stars.
The albacore is the only reason to come here. And that’s a pretty good reason. The garlic ginger sauce is paired so perfectly that you will want to order more albacore to finish your sauce and more sauce to finish your albacore.
If anyone asks where to get good sushi, I will recommend this place. Good sushi is all that you get though.

It seems like Zooma Sushi doesn’t get quite as much attention as other sushi bars in the area, surprising since they’ve been around forever. But truly a solid choice for dinner. I’ve had more than a few delicious meals here.
Generally stick to the more traditional sushi items here, but love the yellowtail kama, salmon skin salad, scallop handroll, and the unagi.

Amidst a sea of sushi joints in the LA area, Zooma sushi is one of my favorites. Sitting at the sushi bar is always a treat and I’ve never once had a bad dish at this restaurant. After paddling out at Zuma, Staircase, El Pescador, or County Line surf spots eating at Zooma is always a treat. The nigiri is always fresh, the rolls are great, and their «dynamite» is not to be missed!

Decent food. Bit of smell in restaurant so so on freshness (little fishy). Service great right next to cantina Mexican so wife cam eat w/​e. Would come back hopefully little fresher.

I’ve been wanting to try their sushi for the longest time ever! And since my friend hasn’t tried good sushi, we were up for the adventure together to try something new =)
So, we decided to share 3 rolls.
But before that, when we got there, service was excellent. We were immediately seated at the sushi bar, right next to the koi pond. Even though there were no outdoor seats available, we had two gracious hosts who took our drink orders immediately. I chose water and hot tea while my friend got a coke.
OK, so back to the food. All were yummy!
The first roll we tried was the king crab roll, which was delicious and creamy, just lightly creamed.
The second was lobster roll with a vegetable, I think asparagus. Very simple and good.
Finally, we split the shrimp tempura with spicy tuna and jalapeño on top. This was called Fire Roll. For me, this was my favorite.
Dinner was very delicious and reasonable. I don’t know why other reviewers complain so much.
Next time, I would love to try their desserts!
All the servers & the chef constantly asked us how we were doing & sent the bill when we were done. They never rushed us, they even asked me if I wanted more hot tea.
I really dig this place. It isn’t too crazy crowded, food is excellent, and service wonderful.

lived on th point for years and had stopped going here, weak sushi. Went last week and wow. Excellent sushi and interesting selection. yellowtail was awesome as was black snapper. went again tonight to see if it was a fluke and it wasn’t, good again. I am sold.

Food is pretty good, but the SERVICE is HORRIBLE! They consistently forget our rolls, drinks, and take FOREVER to charge our credit card. They are friendly, but I just prefer to skip it.

The sushi was just ok. My wife had the Chicken which they describe as «Succulent & flavorful». It was like charred leather. Service was horrible. How is this restaurant in business.

The sushi was delicious! Every single thing we ordered was wonderful. The green salad was good, but expensive and the greens needed to be cut into smaller pieces when you are serving only with chopsticks.
Service was friendly but pretty spotty. We weren’t offered water and I had to ask two or three times for it. The deck faces a parking lot, but it’s awfully pleasant. It felt like a neighborhood joint, and it was really a delightful meal.
it was definitely not a perfect value. We spent $ 30 each for a modest amount of sushi and a small bottle of saki on special.

Sooooo… chef was great, friendly and food was very tasty! BUT place is so poor: plastic glasses, cheep drinks, no music and even if the good is food and usually I don’t mind to spend money for something really tasty, this place is too expensive.
We spans over $ 30 for 3 sushi.

Thought this would be a good choice. Sadly service, food and especially the price made this a major dissappointment. Two rolls we tried both recommended by the server, 1^st Zooma Roll very fishy taste, Albacore was definately old/​frozen. 2^nd was spicy tuna jalapeño shrimp roll-​cant remember the name taste was OK, nothing special though. The big shock came when the bill arrived 4 rolls, 2 of each was $ 65.00. WTH???
Server as barely there and forgot our drink order and gave our credit card to the wrong table.
Overall this place was a huge disappointment.

I really wanted to like Zooma, but the place is iffy at best. I really don’t understand the positive reviews either, but oh well.
First, the menu is entirely too confusing. There was three menus and the main fish list didn’t list price. I am not one to complain about the price of sushi, but not listing prices is annoying when there was a significant price difference between Sushi and Sashimi. I ordered Amber Jack — props for having it — the sushi price was $ 7 and the sashimi price was $ 14 — both for two pieces of fish.
Also tried the lobster crunch. There was so much tempura batter on the plate I couldn’t even taste the fish. Also tried the tuna roll and there was nothing special about this one — taste like grocery store sushi.
Overpriced and not great quality. Oh well.