SEI

I absolutely loved this place. From the welcoming staff to cheeky sushi chef Tomo San, everything was great. They know their fish and they truly aim to have you walk out happy. The price is reasonnable considering the quality and it is a bit of a local secret so enjoy!
P.S Tomo San, the sushi chef, is fabulous.

Quick service– I had a great lunch bento box with teriyaki salmon and spicy tuna rolls. Green tea was tasty, miso soup was not too salty, and the salad dressing was a nice peanut sauce. I would definitely recommend it as a lunch: nice range of options with different entrees.

I was craving for sushi n found this place. The food was very fresh n rather authentic. Everything s decent for a JP restaurant. A good option if u want a JP bite in Pasadena ^ ^

Forgot our order for 40 min. Wasn’t crowded at the time and we were very visible from the servers and the manager. Apologized, yes, but not much else besides. Never returning to the place.

Great little spot in Pasadena if you’re looking for good sushi, fast service and friendly faces! I came on a Friday night while it was fairly busy, but our food still came out really fast. Great sake selection, as well. A must try!

If you’re looking for a super authentic Japanese taste, look no further than SEI. Portions might be a little on the small side but everything is super fresh and super tasty. Staff is really friendly and everything comes out fast.

Top notch sushi shop in Pasadena!
Love their appetizers :)
Gotta try their sushi if I’m in the area again.

What a Great Place! The food is incredible… You can taste it’s fresh flavor. Sei has a good neighborhood friendly feel.
I have enjoyed the Chef’s Plate a number of times. It has always been unique and satisfying. The Master Sushi Chef is warm and personable. Let him surprise and satisfy your fresh seafood addiction. You won’t be disappointed.
A nice addition to this area.
Patrons are friendly and a good mix of ages.
Staff knows what good customer service is all about! A great experience awaits you here. The Barbecued Eel alone is worth the trip. Look forward to my next visit…

The black cod fish is AMAZING!!! so rich, flavorful, and so fresh. You will remember this taste forever… The bento box is my favorite because it offers a wide variety of the best things here recommended by the chef: the sashimi, meat balls, tempura, black cod fish, and it comes with salad, miso soup and ice cream at the very end! Perfect for a delicate fancy little meal!!!

Don’t call it a come back!
Okay call it a come back and it’s great! New sushi chef with great food. Tomo did a great omakase and the service was great.

Truly a hidden sushi gem in Pasadena! This place never ceases to amaze me. Great service, Tomo the sushi chef never disappoints! The quality of sushi exceeds expectations. I can literally eat here twice a week. I highly recommend their sashimi, extremely fresh. Anyone and everyone I have sent here loves it. If you liked Japon this spot just got even better
Only negative is the tv plays the same sea clip over again lol.

I usually do not rate a restaurant because I am lazy… but experience here was terrible, so I wanted to share with everyone. Sashimi had some bones and I almost choked myself, I have never had this experience at any other restaurants in America, of course, in Japan, too ! Salmon sashimi was too fatty at least the one served to me. Overall Menu was over priced for the quality. (crunchy roll $ 16 ?!, I did not order though) My friend and I also had a cod, but it was undercooked, and tooooo oily. For the service, Japanese old man (since I heard he spoke Japanese) was checking the service with other tables, but he ignored us !! How come he could be polite to American customers only ??? Japanese community paper says the authenticity of this place, but as a Japanese born and raised in Japan, this place is a fake.

I walked in on a Sunday eve, first time here with my wife and we both had a great night here!
Very fresh seafood! Chef Tomo San, Eddie was amazing! All the dishes I ordered were beautifully presented with quality taste!

This place is has some of the freshest and most delicious sushi! I recommend getting chef choice — Omakase to get freshest and best quality sushi of the day. The waitress was really sweet!

My first step to taking a trip to Japan starts here. They have a lot of authentic Japanese, vegetable based sushi on the menu, and we got schooled on how to read a more authentic menu. Now we know what several of the terms mean, i.e. kampyo (dried gourd, an important sushi ingredient) and natto (fermented soybeans): We tried both, and they tasted very good. The chefs have 30+ years of experience in Japan, so they know what they are doing. A bit on the pricier side, but you get what you pay for: quality sushi, a higher end ambiance and a very friendly staff. We made some new Japanese friends, and enjoyed our chat with the chef. Must try: the Pasadena roll $ 18, one of their most popular options.

This place used to be Japon Bistro. It was forgettable then and it remains forgettable now.
Overpriced sushi (and it’s served by the individual piece). Bored sushi chefs. Absolutely dead atmosphere. The one plus was that the waitstaff were very friendly and attentive. But for the same cost (in fact, even less), you can get far better sushi at Sugarfish.

We were exited to try this sushi but came out extremely disappointed. Sushi roll selection was poor, we ordered 3 rolls only because I’m allergic to shell fish and the third roll took over 20 minutes. We were done eating and still no roll. Overpriced for bad service!

I read about this place and was curious to try a or any sushi places in Pasadena for the first time. I took BF for the pre-Valentine’s Day celebration. When we arrived at the entrance of the place, a guy was standing outside of the restaurant which gave us the impression that the place needed business. It’s odd to me as most authentic sushi restaurants don’t pull a stunt like this. We booked a 6:15pm seating for the sushi bar. We were asked by the waitress to sit at our reserved seating which was in the mid-​section of the bar. The bar was empty but the tables were pretty busy. After we sat down, it’s obvious the 2 sushi chefs seemed to be overwhelmed. The system was a bit messy and 1 of the chefs threw us an attitude on how to place orders. The servers were a bit inexperienced too for a «wanting to be upscale sushi restaurant.»
Ambience: it’s my first time, nonetheless I’m able to tell that it’s trying way too hard to be upscale. The sushi bar was constructed in a way that you’re not able to see the fish and how it’s made. The sushi chefs were literally making the food like robots. To me sushi is an art: how it’s being made and how it is presented. While we were eating, on the other end of the restaurant a screen fell to the ground and sounded like it may have hit one of the customers at the table.
Food: we ordered pretty much all the nigiri’s and I wasn’t too pleased. The sushi was made in a rush. They didn’t taste orgasmically amazing, just mediocre. I only enjoyed the Dassai 50 Junmai Daiginjo Sake throughout the whole meal.
Parking: Pasadena is all about street parking or the parking garage so that’s a negative for me versus valet.
Overall: We ended up offering each chef a glass of sake to show our token of appreciation (despite of the earlier mess and attitude). After this meal, I learnt that Pasadena isn’t the place to go for sushi. I was a bit disappointed as the media raved about this place. The beat to this place was a bit off, something just didn’t feel right. I’m a fair customer so I still gave a huge tip for mediocre service and food.

I’ve been here twice now since they’ve «reopened.» And it’s very good.
The fish (I usually get the sashimi or chirashi bowl) is very fresh. Good quality fish. But the rice could use a little work (very bland) and the portions are kind of small. Also they use powdered wasabi which granted many sushi restaurants do but the quality of the stuff here falls short.
Overall it’s good lunchtime sushi for the price. I prefer it over Sushi of Naples (also in Pasadena). But it’s definitely no where near as good as the sugarfish by sushi nozawa that recently opened — but of course that comes with the high price tag.

This place use to be called Japan Bistro. I was confused and thought they closed for good but then they reopened with a new name but came food so that’s good.
I was craving grilled salmon. It came out kind of dry so I request teriyaki sauce on the side.
Customer service very attentive and welcoming.

I tried a lunch special since I live close by. However, I was not satisfied with the food for the price. Service was okay, restroom was clean, and Miso soup was very tasty with awsome salad dressing, but Tempura was overly fried, and tempura batter coating was too stiff with a smaller portion of vegetables. Overall, food was too salty, and salmon was not cooked enough. There was no free parking, and no Wi-​Fi service, but I am fine with that because I do not drive, and I do not stay longer. Lastly, I heard the middle aged man (owner or manager?) yelling at the server in front of customers. It is not pleasant to share. Does it worth a try spending more than $ 12??? You will find better Japanese restaurants in Pasadena!!!

Staff and chef all very friendly and detailed. Had omakase at the bar and LOVED the black snapper dish where the chef made into 4 different dishes-​sushi, sashimi, baked with fried fish skin (awesome with sake!), and soup! Fishes are fresh, right amount of rice to fish proportion for sushi, reasonable pricing, got to try new fish I never had at other sushi restaurants. Would go back and see what new dishes/​fishes chef comes up with!
And not your normal sushi bar counter because it doesn’t have the fridge up front it’s just a clean sleek stainless steel bar!

There are not many japanese restaurants in pasadena.
I really enjoyed my sushi dinner at «Sei».
My friend and I have tried a couple of appetizers (such a salmon carpacio, sashimi salad, miso yaki black cod) and a set chief’s omakase sushi. The quality of fish was very good, everything was fresh and tasty.
The interior is simple but nice.
The staff is very friendly and the prices are affordable.
I give «Sei» 5 stars and I’m planning to be back.

I was looking for a new local Japanese restaurant with some curry and tonkatsu entrees, so I wanted to like Sei and wouldn’t base a bad review on the waitress’s failure to provide menus (or even acknowledge my husband and me) the first, second, or third time she walked by us. The waitress later indicated she was new, so I also wouldn’t base a bad review on her inability to answer questions we had about menu items. But after the waitress asked other staff what came with the sushi dinner and informed us that it included 10 nigiri before I ordered it, it’s hard to understand why I ended up being brought a sashimi dinner. And I still don’t know if the waitress was wrong about the sushi dinner including 10 nigiri or if the sushi dinner I ultimately was brought incorrectly included 9 nigiri.
I’m getting ahead of myself though, as before the no-​nigiri-​but-​sashimi sushi dinner was served, my husband was brought his tonkatsu entrée by another employee. It’s at that point that another employee, perhaps the manager, apologized for us not yet having been brought table settings. And it’s also at that point (after receiving our first entrée) that we were told that we should already have been brought our miso soups. In isolation, any of these incidents could be excusable, but none of this is what motivated me to post a review.
It’s not even the hair my husband discovered within his tonkatsu. I really should have taken a picture, as it wasn’t a hair that fell onto his plate but a hair embedded into the breading of the pork. My husband doesn’t like to make a scene, so we quietly informed the other waitress who seemed like she had at least some experience about the discovery. She looked at the hair, asked if i wanted to order something else, said she would reduce our bill, and took the dish away.
The bad review really isn’t based on the hair. It’s based on the response (or lack of a response). I can’t believe we weren’t even asked if we wanted a replacement. True, the waitress indicated she’d reduce our bill, but that seemed an absolute minimum requirement since she took the dish away before it could be consumed (or photographed for your benefit). No one stopped by to apologize, not even the lady who apologized earlier for service issues.
That was it. I had finished my sushi cautiously. No one stopped by to say anything else. Nothing. Not even a normal check in. My husband got up to ask someone for the bill. We paid. We left. We probably won’t ever return.

3.5 stars but rounding it off to 4
This used to be Japon Bistro but under new management since mid 2015.
Salmon skin salad
— salmon skin tasted so good and I didn’t feel as guilty enjoying it since it’s a salad. [~.~] Whatever works, right?
Yellowtail carpaccio
— it’s now how they customize the food based on your preference. We like spicy carpaccio so they added more spice to it. Fresh fish with a kick; can’t beat that.
Baby octopus
— this used to be more flavorful with less batter. This dish was the main draw for me and I was bummed out it didn’t taste the same anymore but maybe this is fate’s way of telling me to stop killing baby squigglies. Oh, well.
They also offer chirashi so I might be back for that.

It’s my first time dining here. My experience here was exceptional. The chef, Tomo, is an amazing chef. Be careful, he is a very blunt man. But dont take it to heart!!! He is passionate about his food and prepares it the best way he knows how (which is the best!!)
The ankimo, unagi, anago, ikura, sweet shrimp, sea bream and salmon skin handroll were all so fresh with amazing flavors. You can tell this place takes sushi very seriously. And please, eat the sushi the way it is and how it’s prepared. Chefs know best and makes the way it’s supposed to be. Don’t modify it or drench it with unnecessary sauces.
The staff here is all professional and the service is top notch. I came here with certain expectations but they definitely surpassed it! I am coming back with my fiancé. Be prepared to have me as a regular Tomo! :)

— chirashi was freshest i’ve had for the price, good number of pieces, and the tuna was even a little on the fatty side. if they can keep this standard up for the price it will be great.
— its a bit dark but has some atmosphere going on
— service was prompt and good

4÷19÷2016:
–they’re still OK but certainly the freshness has gone down somewhat over the past few weeks. I think they’re on par or maybe a little below Matsuri now.
previously:
— chirashi was freshest i’ve had for the price, good number of pieces, and the tuna was even a little on the fatty side. if they can keep this standard up for the price it will be great.
— its a bit dark but has some atmosphere going on
— service was prompt and good

My Coworker/​Bff/​love and I came here to have our Christmas dinner. The interior is simple but really nice still. We sat at the bar and ordered omakase which is one of my favorite things to do. I don’t like to have to pick and choose and live with my decisions/​regret from not choosing something else. This took the guess work out of ordering for me. I don’t think I saw it on their menus but it is offered. The fish was fresh and the pieces came out fairly quickly. I can’t pick which was my favorite.
We had the sashimi salad which was huge and packed with tons of diff kinds of fish. We also had the miso cod (I forgot what type of fish it was) but it beautiful and flaky. I was so stuffed by the end of the meal and the waitresses were so great with taking away plates and making sure our tea was always filled.
Unfortunately they didn’t have our favorite sweet shrimp or uni! They must be hits if they were out on an early weeknight.
Still, 5 stars because of the service and fresh quality of fish.

Pasadena is just not your destination for sushi. I’ve lived in this city for 10+years and never found a good spot. Saw SEI under «hot and new» and wanted to give it a try, but right when I walked in I knew I wasn’t going to like the food. I came here on a Saturday night and the restaurant was completely empty. Only one other couple was sitting next to us at the sushi bar. That’s already a bad sign right? I’m not sure if this place is actually new, or they just changed their name and it’s under new management. It used to be another Japanese restaurant but i don’t think it ever had any business. Anyhow I think it’s weird that you can’t see what the sushi chef is making behind the bar. The bar is built higher and is closed off instead of having transparent glass like traditional sushi bars. So you’re sitting there wondering what the chef’s making and whether the raw fish looks fresh. I tried several sushi here and they were all just ok. Not bad but not amazing either. The fresh uni was enjoyable though. For $ 13 or $ 14 I thought that was a good price for a decent amount of uni. I definitely wouldn’t come back since there are better options for sushi in neighboring cities.

Cozy place with friendly staffs! Many traditional Japanese dishes. Easy location! Parking garage is right behind the restaurant and close to Pasadena City College! Many yummy dishes on the menu and omakase style special order is also available!!!

I usually don’t do reviews, but when I do, it has to be really good. If you want a great experience, get «Tomo» to be your sushi chef. He is the best, with the greatest personality.
It was past their closing time and he willingly took us in for a late night dinner. Although he had much preparation to do for new years day, he joyfully sacrificed his time for us!
Tomo is the best.