Watami Sushi

Came here for dinner tonight. The place is a little hidden as it is all the way in the corner of the shopping center, by the postal annex. The décor inside is homey and a bit dated, but in a charming Asian home kind of way. Between two people we ordered the fuji roll with salmon (there was also the choice of tuna for this dish), Chicken Katsu with curry, and the fujiyama roll.
The fuji roll is not cut up like a traditional roll, but presented kind of in an egg roll style. It’s a hot, cooked roll (I believe they deep fry it because there was a crunchy batter around the seaweed). The salmon inside is cooked. A rather creamy dish, good for people who are fans of baked rolls with spicy mayo type sauce.
The Chicken Katsu Curry was pretty unique tasting. It had peas, carrots, and onions, which I usually don’t see in traditional japanese curry. It also came with a small salad (the salad had a sweet and tangy mayo like dressing, tasted a bit like the mayo on shrimp and walnut chinese dish) and miso soup (I really enjoyed this as it was not overall salty and was a nice way to whet your appetite). The chicken itself was really crunchy, but on the thin side. Wished it was meatier.
Finally the fujiyama roll which has spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, fish roe, and eel sauce and some crunchy bits. I think I enjoyed this one the most. All the ingredients really meshed well together.
Overall, I think this is a great neighborhood sushi place and very decently priced. I noticed that they have a list of several lunch specials that seem like a great deal so I’ll have to come by again to try it sometime.

We got the bento plate and 2 roll special with soup. Great service and very friendly. My wife enjoyed the Hawaii roll and my mom in law liked the Alaska roll. The food is good and the portion was enough to fill us up with leftover to take home. You can’t beat outstanding service, and this place had it. Prices were reasonable.

Good, substantial, sushi and service — and no ridiculous 40 minute wait like the other three places we tried before finding this little gem.

Excellent dinner.
We ventured here after trying to get seated at another sushi restaurant in Scripps Ranch. So glad this was our back up plan and should’ve been our first choice!
We had the Green Dragon Roll, Fujiyama Roll, Salmon Sashimi and fried ice cream. All excellent!
Restaurant is very nicely decorated with Japanese Cherry Blossoms painted along the main wall, plenty of seating and
Service was prompt and pleasant.
We’re definitely coming back

I was already to eat sushi with my co workers only to see that the place was not to sanitary. The lady had on gloves and was preparing food then walked around with the same gloves on, touching money taking orders and everything, and then walked right over to the sushi bar and touched more food with the same gloves! So needless to say we left.

I’m giving them 3 stars because of their friendly service. Food wise? Probably 2 stars. They are not real Japanese restaurant, and the décor is way too outdated.
My friend and I had their 2 sushi roll special that came with soup. They were just not good. The fish was fresh enough, but served at a room temperature. Kinda scary. Sorry, won’t go back.

AMBIANCE: The place is very nicely decorated. A very cute place. There’s cool asian music playing in the background. It’s overall an intimate place with dimmed lighting.
SERVICE: AMAZING! The whole staff really tries to remember you and greet you by name when you come back. Smiles everywhere. Raymond the waiter is always very accommodating and nice, Andy the other waiter is great too. Everything comes out pretty fast and drinks are refilled often.
FOOD: I usually come for the bento box lunch special. A dollar cheaper than dinner’s bento. You get quite a lot of food for how much you pay. The bento comes with a salad, miso soup and rice. You can pick either 2 or 3 items to include in your bento box. I’m always full with 2. I’ve tried the salmon and tuna sashimi, as well as the California roll, tuna roll and katsu chicken. The rolls and katsu are decent, nothing too special. The sashimi on the other hand, I really enjoy. You get thick slices and it taste so fresh! I also had friends who ordered the fried rice and it’s a lot of food which they enjoyed!
SIDE NOTE: If you want to save more on your meal, they sometimes have coupons sent out in the mail.

This place is amazing!
Their hand rolls are awesome, fish in every bite (instead of a piece of fish on top of a cone of rice).

Nice sushi restaurant in San Diego. My search continues for good sushi in San Diego. This place was definitely good.
Let’s get into it!
Ambiance:
The restaurant is well lit, very clean, and smells good (which for sushi restaurants can be hit or miss sometimes). It’s more of a sit down restaurant style sushi place rather than a sushi bar. However, of course they do have a bar if you prefer.
Service:
The service was excellent, though I think they were trying so hard to give great service that they were confusing themselves. We had 3 servers tending to us. Nice people.
Food:
We got several rolls. The umi roll was really good, I got a spicy scallop hand roll that was ok, and we got the big Apple roll which was really really creative and pretty darn good. We had some other rolls as well that we enjoyed.
The mochi dessert was freezer burned though, they promptly took it back and asked if we wanted anything to replace it, but we were full so it was ok.
Overall:
Definitely one of the better places in San Diego, worth a shot!

good food, good service, reasonable prices.
We had the 3 item Bento box (lots of choices) which included soup and salad. Very good value.

I went here with my boyfriend on a Saturday night. I got a spicy shrimp roll and a bento box. My boyfriend got a bento box.
My spicy shrimp roll was good, but my bento box was just alright. My boyfriends bento box came out with some wrong items, but he enjoyed his food (he typically does).
The prices are reasonable, but they charge service charges/​tip without stating it on the menu. So we didn’t leave any additional tip since their service wasn’t anything special.

Extremely clean and family-​friendly sushi join that excels in kind service.
The Bento special for lunch is highly recommended; you can pick any combination of 2 – 3 their standard menu items for it. For example, I chose a Philly roll, Veggie Tempura, and Salmon sashimi to go with the included rice, soup and salad. For $ 10.50, that’s a steal.
Their speciality rolls are impressive, the Dragon Roll in particular stand out with a large Shrimp Head on the front. The cuts themselves are very fresh.
The atmosphere is very friendly and the whole left wall looks like a hand-​painted Hanafuda card with the black branches and cherry blossoms. We went on Father’s Day and the waiter gave us a complimentary novelty cup.
The location seems terrible for business, tucked away in a neighborhood business plaza away from most main roads, but the customer benefits by being able to enjoy a quiet atmosphere. Tip them well!

Nothing fancy but solid basics, good prices, comfortable atmosphere. But the best part is the friendly and attentive service. Very nice example of a neighborhood sushi place.

Not bad. Certainly not the best though. The red Dragon roll, although scary, was delicious. The pizza roll was kinda weird. Usually those are my favorite but this one had a weird mouth feel. The seafood dynamite roll is not a roll… beware. if you’re expecting a line of little circles like every other roll that is not what you get here. It was okay tasting (I liked the sauce and the sesame seeds) but you eat this with a spoon, I feel like it should have been called a pie or cake. The iced tea was very fruity and I was not told that when I ordered it. I think a small fly/​gnat flew out of the soy sauce bottle but I can’t be sure. The waiter said when we ordered the seafood dynamite «oh no you don’t want that it’ll take too long like 15 minutes» I found that odd. isn’t it your job to keep us here longer so we order more food and drinks? Anyways. Don’t expect amazing but it’s pretty good considering the location I guess.
The employees said «thank you» like wayyy too much. Got annoying after the 30^th time

Sashimi was great, better than most places around here. Good prices and excellent service.

I am a very picky eater and hard to please, especially when it comes to sushi. My biggest pet peeve is when my sushi falls apart, but here everything was so well prepared and fresh!
My 3 favorite things about this place:
1) it’s never crowded. My boyfriend and I have come here on Friday nights and it there was plenty of room for us to sit.
2) the workers become familiar with you quickly and serve you with respect. (Normally I feel uncomfortable when I can’t understand what people are saying and are a paranoid that they’re talking about me) but this place makes you feel very welcome.
3) last, but not least, the food is so delicious. I can’t believe that this place has been open for 9 years and I have just recently discovered it! There is freshness in every bite!
I will definitely keep coming here!

Didn’t really know this place existed but I see them trying to get their name out through mailer coupons.
Ambiance is alright. A small cozy place with a sushi bar and TVs. The décor and carpeting makes it feel a little outdated.
Food. We ordered 3 rolls: Red Dragon, Lion King, Tiger roll. Price point was around what it should be ~$ 8. But the quality fell short to me. I picked up each piece and the seaweed would fall apart. Not really well made or good quality.
Service however was great. Very attentive. Filled our waters frequently. Took our orders promptly. But during our whole meal there was a worker/​maybe even owner? He was standing against the sushi bar and looking at everyone the whole time a few feet from our table. Little uncomfortable.
If you do come, look for the 20% off coupons online/​mail.

Watami Sushi is excellent. The restaurant is incredibly cute and very clean. The service is attentive and patient. The sushi was absolutely delicious! We enjoyed the cobra roll, that was full of flavor and perfectly proportioned. We will definitely come back!

Watami recently remodeled (December 11^th 2014) and it’s quite impressive! The great food keeps coming! The people are so nice and the atmosphere is great. Great for a romantic date/​birthday/​quick lunch, which ever it is they leave you wanting to come back for more. The nice thing is that (if you ask) they let you customize a roll! I would highly recommend coming here to any and everyone!

I found it! A hidden gem. What’s my prize? Fantastic food.
My friend and I first went to Kappa Sushi, but they were closed. Luckily, we found this place nearby. We actually had to call the place because it was tucked away in a plaza I had no idea existed, and we couldn’t find it.
We sat down and studied their extensive menu. I ordered the Ninja Roll and a protein roll (forgot the name, but it was the Havana wrapped in seaweed instead of cucumber). My buddy ordered the Yummy Roll and Scripps Ranch Roll.
The Ninja Roll was basically a California Roll with the addition of salmon and tuna on top. Crab, cucumber, and avocado inside; rice, sesame seeds, raw tuna and salmon on the outside. This roll tasted as expected. Nothing spectacular, just your typical sushi roll you can depend on.
The protein roll was the best roll out of the four. It arrived on a beautifully arranged platter with a decoration of mustard and oyster sauce (well, it tasted like oyster sauce). The tuna, yellowtail, and salmon inside were delicate and tasted really good. The crab was a wonderful substitute for rice. I will come back to this place just for these.
The Yummy roll is a baked roll. I’m not the biggest fan of baked rolls, but I gave it try, and it was pretty good. The spicy crab in it did give it a little kick, but tolerable for most. The Scripps Ranch Roll was delightful as well. I couldn’t remember much about the one piece I tried, but the picture I took of it shows chives and tiny fish eggs on top.
For dessert we ordered mango mochi. Did you know that mochi is an American creation? My friend divulged this fun little fact while I ate his half of the last piece. Outside is sticky rice coated with powdered sugar; inside is smooth mango ice cream. It was soooo good. I could have eaten a dozen!
While the prices seemed to be below average, we noticed that this was evened out by the slightly smaller sizes of the rolls. For the quality, the prices ended up being average. However, the presentation on some of the plates was above par. I yelled «Wow» a couple times when certain orders arrived; they were gorgeous.
Maybe the plates were a feast for the eyes due to the fact that the sushi chef was a woman. That’s right, A WOMAN. I don’t think I’ve seen that before. This woman can sure make some delicious and beautiful sushi!
I am so excited to find another great neighborhood sushi place. I will be back soon!