Sushi Roku

This place is amazing. I came here the first time with my family. My family ordered sushi and, of course, I ordered the filet mignon. In terms of plating, it was ok, but in terms of the food, it was delicious. The steak was cook perfectly and I had no difficulty cutting it. The balance of the food was also good. The creamy mashed potato, combined with the salty sautéed garlic beans went perfectly with the meat glazed with sweet teriyaki sauce. I usually hate teriyaki sauce too.
The second time, I visited with a friend and it was impressive compared to the first visit. Décor had changed and the atmosphere was perfect for romantic dates or simply dinner with friends. I ordered spicy scallops and another shrimp roll and they were great. Normally I eat a lot of sushi but these two entrees were enough to fill me up.
My 3 P’s
— Palate: ⁵⁄₅
— Presentation: ⁴⁄₅
— Plating: ³⁄₅

Was really looking forward to come here for sushi. Unfortunately it did not live to my expectations. The service was somewhat slow for a not so busy restaurant. Orders were way to spread out as well.

This place is fire. I’m a huge fan of sushi and as a fisherman and cook who can prepare his own catch in sushi or cooked mediums, I can really recognize the quality of the fish here. I’ve eaten here every week since my first visit. Everyone I’ve introduced to the place love it. The happy hour is legit. I can’t speak much to the steaks or land fare, but anything fish has been outstanding. The presentation and plating is on point. I can’t speak to the crafted cocktails either since I get only jameson or an old fashioned, but I’ve seen lots of smiles around the bar. Definitely worth checking out. Get the kabobs. All of em!

This location is nothing like either the LA or LV locations… sometimes that’s meant as a compliment, in this case however; it is not.
The happy hour is great, great for food, great for drinks, terrible for atmosphere and ambiance.
The bar itself feels more like a bar on the peninsula. Bro, bro, bro bro bro. gently down the stream…
I wish the offered happy hour on the patio, at least then you could avoid the Tuesday at 3 drinkers and do some decent people watching.

Amazing! My boyfriend and I were on our way to another restaurant in Fashion Island and we spotted this place. We love sushi so we decided to give it try. The hostesses up front were both very friendly. We waited just a few minutes for them to get the table ready. Even though we didn’t have a reservation.
I started with a Far East Mule specialty drink. So good! Definitely coming back for another one of those for sure!
We had the yellowtail sashimi which melted in our mouths. So delicious! We got the Kobe beef skewer with black pepper sauce which was super tasty but the portion is only 1 skewer. We wished it had been at least two. The baked lobster roll was spectacular! A bit pricey at $ 20 but totally worth it!
The toro jalapeño was very good but it could have used a bit more spice.
We wanted one more roll so we got the spicy yellow tail which was light and had a great spicy sauce, a perfect end to our meal.
The atmosphere was very nice. Dimly lit with nice décor. Our sever, I believe her name was Amber, was very sweet. Quick service and with a smile!
A great way to start our Valentine’s Day weekend!

Came here the day after new years and was impressed by our dinner service. Being a small chain I didn’t expect much (although boa steakhouse is apart of this group), but was glad to have my expectations succeeded.
Super modern inside and great spot for a date. Very attentive staff who seemed not –so hungover, thankfully.
Ordered a delicious sake flight with Kirin to start.
We had hamachi sashimi, blue crab roll, fried brussels sprouts (must have), albacore, and tuna.
Honestly nothing was extraordinary or noteworthy for sushi, but it was definitley very good and hit the spot. A bit pricey.
Would definitley return soon

Okay, I eat out more than ANYONE I know and this is THE BEST Sushi joint in OC, bar none. I’ve brought sushi Chefs from other Newport Beach spots and they all agree, ROKU is the BEST.
Service… the staff is ridiculously accommodating and professional. Nik the bar manager, Kelly and Will are great behind the bar and the management, Chris, Cody and Eiji are the crème of the crop. Class and style all around the house.
As far as the food, it’s 5 star. It’s not sushi on a conveyor belt, it’s a hot location at Fashion Island with beautiful people serving the best sushi around. That being said, it’s a bit expensive but we’ll worth it.
To those reviewers not sharing my opinion, please allow me to buy you dinner here at Roku, I think you’ll agree with me once you’ve come back.

I have eaten here for dinner. It is a trendy chain — but the quality of the ingredients is consistently good at all of them. I have eaten both lunch and dinner and two other Roku locations — Old Pasadena and the one on 3^rd Street in West Hollywood. The overall family of branches is a little more authentic and experimental in a solid way than one would expect from a small chain.
Everything I have eaten here is good. Some of it, like the Chirashi, is very good. But every time the check came I was shocked at the cost… Sushi Roku is friggin expensive!
When I go to a fine independant Sushi place with a real chef, like Mori on Olympic on the West Side, I expect to pay $ 100 per person. But at Sushi Roku — even $ 60 per person I think is out of line.
So — the long and short of it is — if you have the money — you will be very happy with everything you order at any Sushi Roku. But if you watch your dollars and want a lot of bang for you buck, there are equal places that are cheaper, or amazing places that are only a little more expensive.
I give it a 5 for quality food, but a 4 for value.

I had a reservation here at 1 PM but because of the busy weekend here at Fashion Island, I was a little late of 5 minutes. The hostess in the front was very nice and welcoming and sat me right away. When I was seated, I got Will as my server and he was a cool guy! He was very helpful and recommended a few of their specials that I can try next time with more friends.
The sashimi here is very fresh and precisely cut. They’re more of a high class sushi restaurant than the ones that are family owned. The atmosphere here is very modern. They have tables on the booth or tables with chairs on the walls which are very comfortable as well. I not only care of their food freshness but also the level of comfort! That’s because how can you enjoy your food without sitting comfortable???
The pricing here reflects their selection of food, service, and store furnishings. I’ll come back again!

This place could be a lot better. Not only do they have a great location in Fashion Island, but it’s a beautiful, open restaurant space with a lot of potential. The decór is outdated and kind of dirty. The service was sub-​par and the food was overpriced for what it was. I live for sushi and eat it about three times a week, but after I ate here, I had to go back to my normal sushi spot for dinner just to get rid of the horrible sushi aftertaste this place left me with. I saw that a lot of people complained about the pricing for the food and after eating there, I understand why.
FOOD: 2 stars.
I ordered the salmon sushi, the Popcorn Shrimp roll, and my sister had the Spicy Tuna Crunch roll (basically, a tempura ST roll). The food was really bad… my roll was pretty empty when I got it and I was shocked that this was considered one of their «signature rolls». The salmon sushi was the only good thing about the lunch, to be honest. Too much rice, in my opinion, but it’s rare for restaurants to have the perfect fish-​to-​rice combo. The roll that I ordered was seriously bad. It was just tempura shrimp with jalapeño with white sauce inside of it, wrapped in rice. I asked the server about it before ordering and she neglected to tell me about the sauce (I really do not like any sauce on my sushi), or that it wasn’t very filling. Overall, just really boring and really overpriced for what it was.
SERVICE: 2 stars.
Our sever was too busy with the large party of 10 professionals next to us to pay any attention to our table. Took forever to order or to even ask her a question about the rolls. Nowhere on the menu does it list what comes inside the rolls, which is a problem for a lot of people. I’m sure customers would appreciate if there was some sort of list that had the fish and ingredients in each roll on the menu. Not to mention, the rolls did not get delivered at the same time. I got my sushi first (normal), 7 minutes later my sister got her roll, and as she was finishing her roll, I finally got mine. It took the server awhile to notice my roll was missing.
LOCATION: 3 stars.
The location is really nice, especially because it’s in Fashion Island. The inside could use an update or some nicer decór. Plenty of parking outside (across from Fleming’s).
TL;DR version: don’t waste your money coming here. You can spend the same amount of money less than 2 miles away and get higher quality sushi/​rolls. Service was unreliable and unhelpful.

The sushi was on par with other good sushi spots — SOTA, Shunka, etc. Much more expensive though.
There were a few things that were disappointing about our experience here. Two minor suggestions and one major bummer. Leaving this all here, as I never received a response after sending it in an email to the restaurant group.
1.) When I came into the restaurant, I walked up to the hostess stand, smiled at the two host staff who were standing there talking to each other, and said «Hello!» There was no response or eye contact. It took me saying «Hello!» twice more before I was acknowledged.
I think it is good practice to greet guests as soon as possible to make them feel welcome. If they were in the middle of something, they could have said «Hi there! We’ll be right with you!» Other than that, they were very kind — just not very attentive or aware.
2.) I ordered a cocktail with mint in it. The mint leaves had brown edges. Herbs with browned leaves shouldn’t be put in a cocktail. Probably best to use fresh leaves or trim the browned edges if it is to be served to a guest.
3.) I witnessed one employee (a manager, maybe? tall woman with red hair in a pony tail, not dressed as a server or hostess) berate another employee right in front of our table. It was extremely unprofessional, and I was embarrassed for everyone involved. It was so uncomfortable to witness. A jarring distraction to our dinner, to say the least.
The employee who was berated had been cleaning up some liquid that spilled on the ground, and had left for seconds to grab another towel when the manager almost slipped on what remained. The way she treated this employee made me never want to come into this restaurant again. I do not want to support that kind of treatment of other human beings.
If employees need their behavior corrected — it should be done off the restaurant floor, away from restaurant guests and with respect.
In an ironic twist, I later passed by a table this same woman was pouring water for and had to step around liquid on the floor that she walked away from. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess everyone makes mistakes!

I’m giving them another chance for lunch, but for now I’ll give them 3 stars.
Service:
Really great. Our waitress remembered my mom & brother. They’re really quick to refill water, but hey guys, we’re in a drought, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but just refill it less. No one drinks that much water unless they’re part mermaid.
Prices:
$$$. Get your money’s worth during lunch. I don’t think anything was really worth it. You have to remember the location this place is at, so… hope y’all got dem dollah billz. I’m sorry I’m talking like this.
Food:
Appetizers are really good & creative. There was a table of ladies next to us who were really freaked out by the dehydrated mushrooms in the kale salad, but I liked it. The skewers were also good, but very salty.
You would think that because their appetizers are generally more creative than the average restaurant, that their sushi would also be creative. Look at the Unilocal photos, y’all because they’re not. It’s disappointing. Their rolls are just rolls. Their $ 20 (!!!) lobster roll was so uninteresting with its 5 pieces, I couldn’t believe they were charging rich white people $ 20 for this. You guys could at least decorate the plate or something, add a little more flare to it. It doesn’t need to be pretentious, it just has to add to the dish & actually be good. A lobster roll with asparagus & baked mayo on top is so lazy. This roll was a straight up scam.
All of their other rolls we got (toro, spicy scallop, & yellowtail) were standard. They weren’t interesting & they were comparable to ones you could buy at a grocery store sushi stand, but at room temperature.
The best part was probably the dessert though. Mom & I got the Zen S’mores, while my brother & dad got the banana flambé. Their take on s’mores is one of the most creative ways I’ve eaten s’mores, so props! If you’re taking someone out for a dessert date, I’d highly recommend the Zen S’mores. Tiny campfire included.
Environment:
Beautiful restaurant, but I’d expect nothing less from a place located at Fashion Island. Great place to blow your money on a date. Hope he/she’s worth it, yoooo!

Sushi Roku. This establishment is very beautiful! Such a nice restaurant. They had bonsai trees & only Asian inspired décor. A great place to take your significant other. So onto the food. I came here in search for Japanese food with a twist. Someone told me they had this short rib Chinese 5 spice marinade with whipped potatoes and I was intrigued so of course I had to check it out. This place did not disappoint. The sushi and other dishes were good! We also ordered seaweed salad — please avoid this dish. It’s around $ 10 just for a regular seaweed salad you can buy at the supermarket; nothing special. All in all, it’s a bit Americanized for my liking but a great experience.
Is it my fave sushi restaurant? No. But would I come back here? Of course! Come here with a group of friends or a date night and have some sake!

A few weeks ago my friends and I visited Sushi Roku at the Fashion Island mall. Much to my surprise it was so delicious. Their speciality roles were so light and fresh, and the ambiance was amazing.
I like that this location is in the fashion island mall because that means it is baby friendly which is a requirement for us these days.
The restaurant is beautiful and is located right outside of the mall so parking is pretty easy. We will def be back! Service was a little slow, but I think that’s because they were so busy but the waitress was very nice.

This is a nice place to go to if you’re trying to impress a date or find yourself stranded at Fashion Island with a sushi craving.
The ambience is posh with dark colors and throwback hip hop/​pop playing in the background. The outdoor seating is relaxing and if it’s cold, they have heat lamps.
We started with large bottled Kirins ($ 10) and a large hot sake ($ 10) to share. Overpriced drinks are expected but if I had known how overpriced, I would’ve done a cocktail instead.
Food-​wise we had the Miso Glazed Popcorn Shrimp Tempura ($ 18) which was a small portion but the miso glaze was tasty. We also had the Spicy Pork Belly Fried Rice ($ 16) which was mostly rice. The pork belly was good but there were only two small pieces. Luckily there was also a fried egg but we were still left with a lot of spicy rice.
We tried two of their rolls, the Crunchy Spicy Tuna ($ 14) and Shima ($ 18). The Crunchy Spicy Tuna is a fried roll, not a roll with crunchy tempura on top. It was okay but nothing special. The Shima is shrimp wrapped spicy tuna and avocado. This was the better of the two and tasted fresh.
I wasn’t blown away by the food here. Nothing was bad, but nothing was good enough to justify the prices. They do nice presentations though and the customer service is top notch. I would maybe come back and give their happy hour (3−6pm daily) a try.

Came here yesterday for a late lunch. My friend and I ordered 7 small plates to share.
Pros: Fresh tasting sushi, superb service, and beautiful restaurant.
Cons: Overpriced
I throughly enjoyed everything I ate. I also had the steamed shrimp dumplings and and Chilean sea bass skewers. My friend ordered the spicy tuna roll and crab fried rice. Everything was fresh but I did not think it was worth the cost.
Overall, great experience but by no means is this a place you can frequent often.

The food was decent, but this place overall was a poor value proposition.
They are located in Fashion Island and the place overall has a nice ambiance to it. We went for Sunday lunch and the place wasn’t too crowded. The service was good, we were waited on quickly.
The food is decent, I tried the Hanami and the Executive Bento for lunch. The Hanami had a type of fish, I’m assuming tuna, on top of a crunchy piece of rice (?) and it was quite good and delicious. The Executive Bento had a piece of seasoned fish that tasted okay, some sashimi, a piece of yakitori which was rather mediocre, some tempura which was okay, and some green beans and pickled cucumbers.
The meal overall was okay, but the price for what we got wasn’t all that great (it was about $ 19-​$ 23 for the bento and like $ 15 for the Hanami which had 4 pieces). I could have gotten a much better meal at a better price point at say Kappo Honda.

Fashion Island now offers superlative traditional sushi, but at considerable cost.
The latest opening in Innovated Dining Group’s portfolio (the group that brought us BOA, Katana and Robata Bar) finds itself perfectly situated in Newport Beach’s Fashion Island, perhaps the one place in OC that $ 10.00 pairs of nigiri will not be scoffed at. Or will it? Of course the interior is lavish, pristine and gorgeous and the service follows suit: these plate costs almost demand it.
I stopped for a light lunch and ordered 3 pair of sushi: Mauro, Sake and Tako. All three were masterfully prepared and looked like pieces of art on my plate. The tuna, salmon and octopus meat was laugh out loud fresh and sat perched on top of little rice beds that were just slightly warmer than room temperature creating a supreme mouthfeel. I went very easy on the soy, the seafood was far to fresh to accidentally mask. I was extremely satisfied with all of the nigiri offerings I sampled.
Based on sushi alone, Sushi Roku keeps up with anyone in the area. Yes, Nana San, Bluefin and Shunka too. The only caveat is the sticker shock. Six pieces of sushi set me back $ 30.00 after tip. I am not usually one to quibble over plate costs but I have had an entire omakase that was within range of this price point.
Let’s face it, I will return, but hopefully it will be on the dime of someone else.

My brother and I weren’t very hungry after having big lunch earlier in the day, but we both wanted something light to snack on for the evening. With sushi on our minds, we decided to make our way out to Fashion Island for a late dinner.
With an 8:30 reservation, we arrived to a packed house that was bustling with patrons, but seated in the outdoor patio within a few minutes of checking in. The interior is absolutely stunning with dim mood lights, bansai trees as dining room dividers and a cherry blossom mural as the backdrop to the sushi bar.
We started the evening with a round of drinks. For the first, my brother and I shared a large bottle of Orion beer as we got acquainted with the menu. Once we put through our orders, we continued the night with cocktails for my brother and I, Far East Mule and Bulleit Bourbon Old Fashion respectively.
The first dish to arrive to our table was the Roku Crudo. It features six types of sashimi paired with its own seasoning for each individual bite. I’ll walk you through each one!
Bluefin tuna with nori and wasabi. Presentation was neat and beautiful, but the addition of the dried seaweed added nothing except for a platform for the wasabi to sit on. Wasabi was very light and the bluefin had a nice subtle flavor of tuna.
Sea Bream with chervil, slice of radish and a few sprinkles of lava salt. I would say sea bream is comparable to a halibut, but with a meatier texture. The addition of the ingredients were like palate cleansers and refreshing against the lightness of the sashimi.
Sockeye salmon with pickled wasabi stems and red tomato. The salmon was a bit on the fishier side as opposed to the usual buttery silkiness. The wasabi stems added texture and although slightly pickled, it didn’t overwhelm the palate.
Octopus with fingerling lime pulp and yellow tomato. The fingerling limes didn’t have a lot of juice, but the texture of the pulp added a bit of pop to the chewy octopus.
Yellowtail paired with serrano chili. Standard. Silky with a pop of heat, but nothing outstanding.
Albacore with rice crisps and a garlic aioli I believe. There’s also grated radish soaked in ponzu sauce.
The portion is small, but serves well as an appetizer and introduction to the style of sushi they offer. Since we weren’t superbly impressed with the pairings nor the amount of ingredients the sashimi was swimming in, we decided to stick with appetizers for the rest of our meal.
Shishito Japanese Peppers. Holy moly, these were spicy! The peppers themselves vary between mild and medium, but these left my mouth on fire after each pepper. They were nice to snack on throughout, but I wished they were a bit milder.
Aji Amarillo. Jack mackerel topped with ginger and wasabi stems and presented with a citrus dressing. The cuts were much smoother and had a buttery finish without the pungent taste of a saba mackerel.
Uni Udon — Japanese style sea urchin pasta. Instead of the round and thick udon noodles, these were flat like fettucine pasta. The sauce is very creamy and heavy with butter, but the addition of sea urchin bits was a nice touch. Can’t go wrong with uni!
Filet Foie Gras & Asparagus Skewer glazed with sweet miso. At $ 14 each, these were quite interesting. The asparagus and foie gras was encapsulated by a slice of beef. The foie gras was extremely creamy and a burst of fatty goodness with each bite, but could have been easily missed if you were not paying attention.
We finished up our meal with desserts. My brother opted for the chocolate molten lava cake. Rich and very chocolate-​y, the molten cake lives up to its hype once again. If you love chocolate, this would be your ideal dessert.
Our server mentioned a few new items that has yet to be established on the menu. In time for the holidays, they will be adding a Pumpkin Spiced dessert and Peach Cobbler. I opted for the peach cobbler. Baked to order and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it wasnt too sweet with a fair share of crust to peaches. It was a nice way to end the evening.
What was supposed to be a light evening snack became a bigger meal than we anticipated. Favorites of the night were uni pasta and peach cobbler, but I’m not sure if those two would warrant a return visit. To summarize, Sushi Roku relies heavily on presentation over craftsmanship. Although beauty captivated our attention, we were not given a lasting impression for sushi.

Oh Fashion Island. As much as I hate going to the mall, especially that one, I’m also never one to turn down a new sushi restaurant, so here I find myself at Fashion Island. Is it worth the trip? Absolutely!
Open and spacious, Roku is laid out in a very clean and simplistic way that doesn’t make you feel like you are at a mall. There is plenty of seating both indoors and outdoors, and an indoor patio seating area with big windows and plenty of natural light coming in.
The fish is overall excellent: fresh, good cuts, and melts in your mouth! Service is also good, although there are some kinks to work out. The kid who cleaned up my table dropped the soy sauce and splashed everywhere, and he was genuinely apologetic, but I didn’t notice that some got on my clothes, which I’m a little annoyed about because I’m pretty sure the stains won’t come out. Also our waitress assumed that the change from the cash we gave was a tip and kept it all (and it was a tip, but I just hate it when the waitstaff make that assumption).
Other than that though, everything was perfect. Pricing wise, it is a little high, but the quality of the food is on point so you are getting your moneys worth. They do have pretty decent lunch specials too, for about $ 20 for a sushi or bento box combo, so do try to take advantage of that!