Otoro Sushi

Otoro is probably the best japanese/​sushi joint inthe santa cruz area. You cannot beat their lunch special of $ 9 for a 2 item bento box. It’s an extra $ 2 for sashimi, which I think is still a great deal. It says 4 pieces of sashimi, but they usually hook it up with 6. Their fish isn’t the best, but it’s still better than any other place in the area. They also don’t charge for brown rice substitute, another plus!!!
I’ve only been to dinner once there, it’s a tad more pricey for dinner $ 15 + for an entrée and $ 25 for the bento box of 3 items. But food is still filling and good quality. A moth also flew into my friend’s bowl and they gave us complimentary fried oreos and took the entrée off the bill. That just shows how great the service here is and how much the waitresses care about the customers expericence at the restaurant.
Def my favorite spot in the Santa Cruz/​Scotts Valley area!

Great Sushi! We had three rolls and they were more than enough for the two of us. We ate the lot and were very satisfied. Our drinks were refilled promptly and it was obvious the staff was observant and attentive. You can see the chef working and he was very focused and obviously takes pride in his work. We will definitely be back!

SERVICE: Pretty good. The sushi comes out in good time and the waiters are very friendly. One important detail to note is that the sushi chefs there have been the same ones there for a while. Unlike the sushi places closer to the UCSC campus, the turnover rate is low here.
FOOD: Fresh. The fish is served at slightly colder than room temperature which can often times deliver stronger flavors. I think the most intriguing thing about their fish is their unique selection of sushi rolls. A must-​try is their Surf n Turf. Now hear me out. The inside has real crab and shrimp tempura. The outside has a thin strip of medium flank steak. I’m typically not a huge fan of cooked sushi rolls in general but this one cannot be passed up!
ATMOSPHERE: Clean! Tables and booths are spread apart nicely to give families their privacy. There are TVs too so you don’t have to worry about missing the game while you’re trying to impress that pretty girl with your culinary class. That’s right, you took her for sushi – you classy. Give yourself a high five, you did good.

Yaaaaaas! One of my favorite sushi restaurants ever! The service is always very friendly, and the food is EXCELLENT! My favorite rolls are the popcorn lobster, the Baja, and the surf n turf roll! We always come here for a work celebration.

Disappointing, given the current rating. Quality of fish was low! The sashimi platter had decent salmon, but the hamachi and maguro had poor texture and flavor. Miso soup very so-​so.
Appetizers of gyoza and Asian zing wings were good. Rolls were tasty. Service was okay.

Delicious sushi and awesome lunch menu! Super fresh fish. Nice ambience too and very clean. Service is prompt and courteous. Love it!

My go to place for a chirashi bowl when I’m in the area! Sushi in Santa Cruz is not that great, in my opinion, compared to San Jose, but whenever I’m craving sushi, I go to Otoro! The bento box is extremely filling for $ 25 during dinner and it comes with ice cream of your choice for dessert! The sushi rolls are super yummy and there is a wide range of cooked and uncooked rolls so people can choose what they’re feeling that day. The lunch special is pretty cheap for a sushi place and is usually my go to for lunch if I am craving sushi. The service is great and it is extremely clean! There are TV’s for all the sports fans out there! I would recommend placing a reservation if you have a party bigger than 6. They are always open to splitting the check when I go with friends to make it easy for us to pay according to our orders. I have never had to wait during dinner time to be seated so don’t worry about the wait! The servers are super nice and will respond quickly as well as fill your water when you’d like! :)
–1 star because sushi is expensive :(

It is really not worth the average of 4.5 stars. Fancy, clean, a bit high end style restaurant. I guess that is why they charge for $ 2 tea while other sushi restaurants normally give you free. They never bothered to come again to fill the tea cup until I waived at the end of meal. It is not they are busy cause it was only half full on a week day at 1:30. The Sushi rolls just average. So I don’t know why it gets so high ratings with not so impressed service.

Service: very attentive and accommodating! My mom can only eat white meat chicken and they made it for her! They won’t let our ice teas get
more than half way empty before refilling it!
Food: fish is very high quality and fresh! Blue fin tuna is delicious as is the uni and everything else!

I stumbled upon this place for lunch on my way to Santa Cruz and I was pleasantly surprised! You have to give a sushi place credit for fresh fish and not just deliciously ornate [American] sushi rolls and Japanese fusion dishes.
I had to try the Otoro, of course. It was melt-​in-​your-​mouth awesome, fresh, and simply prepared as it should be. They know what they’re doing.
This will obviously be part of my Santa Cruz trip routine.

So far best sushi place in SC county. They actually served my wine in a real glass. I ordered to go which is usually a no no in my books. But their sushi held up and still tasted fresh even hours later. Kept in fridge of course.

Ambiance and service are only so-​so (the restaurant is located in a strip mall, so… yeah), but the quality of the sushi is surprisingly high. Delicious rolls, and the sashimi is fresh. Even the ginger and wasabi are top notch. Definitely worth a visit. Note that wait times can be substantial on weekends.
FYI, numerous former employees report that staff is treated poorly (tips are not evenly distributed, management is unfriendly), but I am not docking stars for behind-​the-​scenes drama. Still, it’s something to consider.

My wife and I came here for a quick bite before going to a play. The lobster roll is DELICIOUS! Curious staff too.

Fresh fish aficionados, rejoice. This may be the best sushi spot in the greater Santa Cruz area.
Highlights:
The ladykiller.
Consider this lady killed… What a frickin perfect appetizer bite. An avocado slice on top of hamachi, on top of spicy tuna, on top of tempura shrimp. They’re like tiny freight trains of taste and texture.
Salmon skin maki/​handroll.
If you don’t fux with salmon skin yet, check yaself. It’s crunchy and umami and so, SO good.
Hamachi belly nigiri.
Self-​explanatory.
The ‘sushi burrito’ with spicy crab in place of rice also deserves honorable mention.
(I’d recommend dipping in your wasabi soy though, no more spicy mayo needed).
My only gripe is that they lightly torched the hotatagai (scallop) nigiri. Why? Anyone? I prefer the creaminess of it when it’s fully raw.
Overall, consistently 9.5÷10 sushi experience.
Thank you, Otoro!

YOU GUYS LET ME DOWN!
I was excited to come here due to the great reviews.
I ordered:
Salmon Nigiri-​the salmon was not normal, and for the worse. It was dry.
Lunch Bento Box– Beef was cooked medium and was so dull. The extra teriyaki sauce was bland. It came with icy cold broccoli and a chunk of cold carrot (Wtf). The salad pieces were too large (too many issues to mention). The tempura wasn’t great, if anything the flavor tasted like flour. The dipping sauce was boring as well. I never eat the rice, and today I ate half of it because the portions here are so small and the rice tasted better than anything else!!!
Then at the end I was waiting around for about 10mins for the check until I got up to pay.
Seriously, this is not a 4.5 in any way. Get something else. Even Whole Foods sushi is a million times better.

I was given a mental day off because I worked the entire Thanksgiving weekend. It’s a little funny because it seems that exempt employees never get a full day off. I answered to a few emails and phone calls that day but it was nice to not commute to San Jose.
Took Gavin to watch Good Dinosaur again. I swear, I will be the first to purchase that movie when it comes out. After the movie, it was time to grab some lunch. Not because this place was a bookmark to begin w/​but I was craving for some sushi.
There is a kid’s menu. I think they run about $ 8 each. For $ 9, you can order a regular bento (2 proteins, a soup, a salad, and fruit) and add sushi to it for $ 2 more. I ordered the chicken and salmon bento for Gavin and I to share just so I can order the Lady Killer. It is killing me that I forgot what’s in it. I also ordered tuna. Seems like a lot of food, right? Well, it was but we cleaned it.
No remorse.
The miso soup was fragrant and flavorful. Too bad Gavin stole it. He seems to steal my starter soup no matter where we go. The Lady Killer was killer. I was stoked that I did not have to share it! It was delicious! The bento box is huge. A great bang for your buck. The chicken was tender and juicy. The salmon was new to me (my first time having salmon) but I probably wouldn’t order it again because it came w/​the skin and that freaked me out. The tuna was soft. it melted in my mouth ever so nicely.
Wish I ordered desserts.
I will definitely come back to try their no rice sushi!

Been dining here with my family for several years.
Restaurant has an elegant ambiance even for lunch. Staff is attentive and helpful.
Japanese food dishes, from miso soup to tempura to sushi rolls to bento boxes to sukiyaki, has superb consistent restaurant quality food. A bit pricier than other Japanese food restaurants, but we keep returning when we are in the Santa Cruz area.

NOM NOM NOM
Tried this place out after bringing some family & friends to visit the Mystery Spot…
I recommend:
— lobster popcorn roll
— jalapeño bomb
— burrito roll
— seafood udon

Otoro is probably the best sushi restaurant I’ve ever been to. The fish is always fresh, and the variety of rolls as well as the presentation is top notch.
It’s delicious, but the salad dressing on the house salad is a breath buster.
A few of my favorites are the firecracker roll, summer roll, hamachi hand roll, and (this is one of the few places that has) halibut (hirame) sashimi.

Went to dinner here with my ex-​husband, his sister, my daughter and my son. My ex and his sister swear by this place, and my daughter says another place she goes to is better… if it’s better then this, I might die from sheer DELIGHT! LOL
This place… Otoro Sushi… you’ve stolen my heart. I’ve been dedicated to Sushi Pier 2 in Reno for a very long time… but Otoro, you win!
I can’t even remember all of the amazing things we tried, food just kept flying at us, with so many colorful and beautifully laden dishes… but the one thing that still stands out, is their baked muscles. O.M.G. BECKY!!! Those muscles… I want to go back and eat them again. Right now!
I tried raw oysters for the very first time… then got laughed at because I didn’t chew them. Are you supposed to chew them? LOL EWWWW!!! That’s like doing a quail egg shooter and popping the yolk in your mouth before you swallow. NO! Let it slide right on down, and it’s delicious. Anything more, and you’ll have to count me out! LOLOL
But the food… I regress. Their food is so amazingly fresh and innovative. I love the rolls we got, that have Poke on top, two of my favorite things all in one plate. Sushi with Poke. AMAZING! Everything we had was so tender and so sweet, so fresh and beautiful. What a difference it is, having fresh sea food.
Thank you for an amazing dinner, Otoro, and for keeping the sake flowing while we enjoyed our meal, and finished our Celebration of Life for a recently passed friend. xoxoxo