Sushi Asakura

Cute charming place. Simple decore. Open 5 – 9 tuesday-​sunday. Super simple menu, not many optiins. Only about 8 «fancy» rolls. Very fresh fish. Fried squid was tasty. Really authentic.

So Glad I came in. I was hesitant bc of location and look BUT GREAT sushi. Some of the freshest salmon I’ve ever had! Awesome futomaki roll! This place is simple and authentic!

This place is definitely family owned and I respect them for that but the décor is outdated the menu is way way too limited and it wasn’t really good quality. It reminds me of old school sushi before there was a place on every corner. Not our cup of tea and when I asked for a roll which I knew they had all the ingredients for the server said no. Not a place to go on a date either!

I came here on a date. The service was great and the good was delicious. I will be back

Best fish in Camarillo. This is a quiet low key sushi spot. They have a limited variety of rolls and sake, but what they do they do better than anyone locally. Try the blue crab roll or the salmon. I personally don’t like salmon, but will always eat some here.

BEST authentic sushi i’ve ever had, probably one of the best in VC. Super fresh sushi and sushi rolls. you should notice their sushi fish to rice ratio is amazing because they give you a huge piece of fish rather then a lot of rice and a small piece. got the triple combination w/​california roll and 2 piece sushi (salmon and tuna). posted a pic on here of it too!

Really fresh sushi. I am kind of a sushi snob and I must admit, this was perhaps the best sushi I’ve had here in Camarillo. Excellent!

Our go-​to sushi place. You won’t find fish more fresh or savory than at this place. The dill salmon is my favorite. They don’t do a lot of saucy rolls or crazy concoctions. They stick to the basics and do them extremely well. No frills sushi!

I’ve been an Asakura regular and I can now vouch for the authenticity and quality of the nigiri served here. A nice selection of obscure fish despite camarillo’s desire for half price drenched rolls. This place sticks to its guns.
The Dill Salmon is amazing. Order off of the board and you’ll have a lovely evening.
The low ratings come from people who think they like sushi but actually like rolls drowned in eel sauce.

The food is 4.5 stars but the service is 1 star. This is a great Japanese owned restaurant. The sukiyaki is good, combos, sushi… But I just like alittle better service. I ordered the beef sukiyaki and them they came later that they are out of beef? My gf order beef teriyaki and they had that? I don’t know about that and the refills were slow or really non. We had to ask for them them and then wait. But definitely we like this place when we are in the area. Pricing is kind of higher than la but good quality food.

When you’re out in Ventura County, you are limited to the number of good Japanese restaurants in which to dine.
I happen to be in the area visiting my folks and we all went out to dinner at Sushi Asakura. It’s located in an outdoor mall which is prevalent in these parts. The restaurant is Japanese-​owned so I was hoping to get some savory plates here.
The restaurant itself is fairly modest in size on the inside with a comfortable ambiance. We were given a pot of wheat tea which was somewhat weak in taste and flavor and not as hot in temperature as I prefer my tea.
We then proceeded to order and they seemed to have all the basic dishes found at a Japanese eatery. I ended up ordering the Sukiyaki Comb which came with a pot of sukiyaki which consists of thinly sliced beef, tofu, clear noodles and green onions in a slightly sweet broth. This is awesome over rice and is one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It also came with a small side of pickled cucumbers, a small bowl of rice and a side salad.
The salad was plain being just ice burg lettuce but I did think the miso dressing had a nice flavor. The sukiyaki itself was just okay in terms of taste. I thought the broth could have had a little more taste to it in that it could have been a tad sweeter but I guess I can be thankful that it’s a «low-​fat» version of the dish with less sugar. However, I wasn’t too keen on the pickled cucumbers because they actually used American cucumber instead of Japanese cucumber which made the pickles a bit soggy and flimsy instead of firm and crunchy like it traditionally should be.
All in all, as I said, you can’t really be picky when it comes to eating in VC and based on the limited offerings in the area, I’d say if you’re looking for a place to grab some Japanese cuisine, this would be a decent option. All the other reviews seem to be hyping up the fresh sushi which I didn’t have so I’ll probably have to try that some time in the future.
Prices are just a little on the high side for what you get but then again, beggars can’t be choosers.

Visited on 22 Mar 2013 for lunch. Ordered combo #8, sushi & teriyaki beef for $ 11.50. Left unimpressed & hungry! Beef was overcooked, sushi was good but small portions & rice was not enough too. First & last visit! $ 11.50 is too much for too little food. PS I’m not a big eater — the portions were just too small.

4 stars: Yay! I’m a fan
Two words for you: Spanish Mackerel.
Enough said, right there.
If that doesn’t resonate with you, then you may not really appreciate this place in Camarillo versus the overabundance of pseudo-​Japanese sushi places that litter this town.
Don’t come here and order some fusion rolls with avocado. You can get those at any random Korean sushi joint.
Think outside the box and see what’s on the board. If the above two words are on the board, see to it that you order some.
This is a quality sushi bar in Camarillo. Very unexpected.

As another reviewer stated, I was also looking for an authentic Japanese sushi bar.
Several of my old standbys are gone (including the one that used to be at this location) and Sushi Hanada in Oxnard is the only other real Japanese run bar I know of.
(But he can be a bit of a prig.)
The nigri sushi here was not bad, but the portion sizes in the spicy scallop roll were very stingy with a ton of rice to compensate. The owner/​chef did not seem to friendly even though they were not busy at the time.
The ginger tasted strange and the rice had too much sugar. They did not offer any Miso or an appetizer with the ginger and wasabi.
I’ll stick to Masa’s tataki bowls down the street or I Love Sushi in Ventura

Finally — the fifth Japanese restaurant I’ve tried in Camarillo is the real deal!
Since I missed connections with my lunch buddies today, I went to Sushi Asakura by myself. The newspaper clipping pasted in the window mentions the chef/​owner by name, so I was encouraged right away to know he would be the first Japanese chef I was to encounter in my new stomping ground.
My chirashi was good except that the salmon was giving off a slight fishy odor, telling me it should not have made it onto a customer’s table in raw form. So, one strike against them. At $ 17.50, it was pricey for a lunchtime offering, too, especially considering the akami and saba were average quality.
The akamiso soup was a nice touch — not the generic stuff served by local competitors, which probably comes out of a freeze dried package. A worthwhile low/​no cost improvement would be for Sushi Asakura to switch out the artificially colored gari for the natural type. Few customers would notice or care, but I’ll bet some of their most loyal customers would appreciate that. I wonder if they freshly grate wasabi at dinner time, at least for favored regulars…
I’ll go back at dinner time, sit at the sushi bar and administer the nigiri test.

…unacceptable for a sushi restaurant in Cali. Yes, it is not located in the heart of Little Tokyo or Gardena but come on…
My friends wanted sushi badly so one of them Unilocaled to find this place after shopping at Camarillo Outlet. I wasn’t expecting much but deep down I thought «it can’t be too bad… I mean we are still in Cali after all.» WRONG!
Got in there, received menu but not sushi menu. It took 10min for us to get the sushi menu after request and distilled water with one ice afterwards. The sushi menu is TINY and pricy. For 3 of us, we paid $ 80 + tax and tip.
— Tuna = you know that block of bright red tuna you see frozen in a freezer at a supermarket? the worst quality
— Salmon = thin, fishy… you can get way better salmon at Mitsuwa
— Uni = it was ok but gush… what a small portion
— Spanish Mackerel = my friend said that it tasted so weird that she felt sick
— Hamachi = it definitely wasn’t the quality we were used to… it tasted and smelled like it was on the borderline.
— Scallop roll = tiny pieces… we asked for spicy (+$ 0.50) but nothing… they gave us a tiny portion of spicy sauce but really? (It’s so sad when a restaurant doesn’t care anymore.)
Oh the rice… never had sushi rice that soggy, tasteless, and warm! My friend couldn’t pick up some of his pieces since they crumbled down. Kabuki does a way better job… which is pretty sad…
Trust me, if you want sushi, take an extra 30−40min and drive down to Little Tokyo or Gardena
* Location = convenient after outlet shopping in Camarillo
* Food = never had such bad sushi since I moved back from AZ
* Service = not acceptable for such a small restaurant with 3 waiters.

Would definitely return. The people who own this place are definitely genuine Japanese and their dedication to an (literally anchient) cuisine reflects.
A no frills, to the point type a place where their focus is what is being served rather than a gimmicky name to catch your attention. Let the food speak for itself.
While pricy, I would definitely return for the quality of the meal I had here yesterday.
Yellow. Tail. Trust those words and you’ll get full – I mean go far. :)

Simple, traditional, excellent!
Items that deserve special recognition:
Dill salmon nigiri– marinated in wine and dill, a specialty of the chef That breaks tradition with subtle flavors. A must have.
Engowa– halibut fin with shiso and salt. He asks if you want this style or if you prefer a ponzu preparation. I am not a huge fan of ponzu, but I love the shiso thing.
Saba– 5 stars
Rice was just right.
On this day, I was the only customer for a 12:30 lunch, please go try Asakura and forget about that stupid rainbow roll!

So I just had lunch here. You definitely can tell the joint is family owned. Very pleasant and attentive people/​staff. The restaurant is quaint, which I like.
When I walked in there was no one there which made me nervous considering I went during rush hour lunch. A few here and there trickled in while I was eating.
Overall the food was just okay, which really does hurt me to say because they were all so very sweet. I would not go out of my way to eat here again… but if I was in the area I might…

Update ¹⁰⁄₂₀₀₉
People this place is authentic sushi, not a place to get fancy rolls or hip Californian creations. If you enjoy the real thing, sashimi (aka — raw fish) you will LOVE this place. You would being doing yourself a disservice to just order ordinary rolls at this place. Sit at the sushi bar and don’t order from the menu, look up at the fresh fish board on the wall behind the sushi master and order from there. If you MUST have a roll go for the ankimo hand roll or the blue crab hand roll. Or try something really amazing and go for the Dill Salmon Sushi! My mouth is watering…
Update — Just added a photo of the most amazing mind blowing sushi I have ever experienced! The fresh albacore is seasonal so if you want to try it I would go now!!! Incredible!
Sushi Asakura is amazing, mind-​blowing, and tucked away in a nondescript strip mall in the middle of Camarillo; only experienced, true sushi lovers have found this «hidden gem»! The sushi chef Asakura was trained by the best in LA and now his place is a true testament to the LA sushi dynasty which began back in the 70’s.
There are so many items that are worth mentioning and trying when you go; Dill Salmon sushi (it will leave you speechless), Ankimo with Sumiso sauce (melts in your mouth), Shishito (little fried peppers served as an appetizer), Saba (insanely good), Halibut Fin with Shiso Leaf (get it when he has it!!!), and the other items mentioned in previous reviews are sooo yummy!
Seriously, this sushi bar has got to be one of the best in America and no one knows about it! If you like the real thing you will not be disappointed with a visit to Sushi Asakura — I go all the time!