Hamamori Restaurant & Sushi Bar

3.5 I’d say. Nice selection of fish and everything is done well. But oh man, is this place expensive. Would much prefer going to Ikko, Marusaki, or Ohshima at this cost. I think all in with three drinks total between two of us we were at $ 180.

The Omakase was fabulous… especially the scallops. There were two type both were delicious. The blue fin toro was top notch. They have 3 different fat levels for the blue find. The lowest one is like other restaurants blue fin.

We came here over the weekend to celebrate a college graduation of a friend. South coast plaza is known for having some pretty great dining places so I was anxious to try this place out. First impressions were overall very good, it is a very clean and elegant atmosphere. We had a rather large party of 12 people and they were very accommodating. The service was excellent. We even had a couple moments of being rather loud and clapping, and the sushi chefs behind the bar joined in. It was pretty fun.
Overall, the sushi and food were average. However, the selection of Saki was delicious. (I think we just about ordered every kind!) The overall atmosphere of the restaurant and the level of service definitely make up for the food in some ways. I would recommend checking this place off your list for sushi dinners.

Dining here is always a interesting experience. The décor is contemporary, ambiance is chill and they always have that nice lounge house spinning in the background. I started of with the Executive Sushi. With chef Taiki as the conductor, he orchestrated a symphony of flavors to my palate. A steady pace and gorgeous plating with an array of vivid colors is what I saw. Rich, buttery, mild, silky smooth textures is what I remembered entering my mouth. Next I ordered the Snake River Pork Belly. A thin crispy layer on the outside with a full fat flavor that melted in my mouth. Another dish I tried was the Tofu Steak. Light and crispy on the outside and nice and creamy on the inside. Baby Abalone was also on the menu. It was served in its own shell thinly sliced, delicate and tender. I always have a awesome experience here. Thats why I keep coming back. It works if you work it.

Been wanting to come here for a long time and now I can finally cross it off my to-​try list.
Came on a Monday, Memorial day, a little before dinner and sat at the bar. We knew it was expensive, so we picked something off the menu that would at least give us a wide range of items to try.
We ordered: VIP menu & 8 item sashimi plate
For $ 39 the vip menu gives you oyster mushroom salad, miso soup, and 8 different «fancier sushi’s», and ice cream dessert. The mushroom salad was a wash, just oyster mushroom and greens. The sushi they gave was: octopus, japanese sea urchin, toro belly, lobster, spanish mackerel, eel, and some other «fancier» ones that the other dish doesn’t get. Well, to me, I rather have the cheaper $ 29 plate. This fish here was okay. They weren’t super fresh, super tastey, just OKAY. Also the eel was the one I disliked the most. It was hard around the edges and just didn’t taste very good. I tried to find the omakase on the menu but couldn’t find it anywhere, also I forgot the name of it so I couldn’t ask. Plus, I’m used to a more personal touch with the sushi chefs than just them cutting the fish and putting them all on a plate for me.
The sashimi plate I like better. Price wise and fish wise. It had salmon, amber jack, bluefin tuna, yellowtail, halibut, octopus, and some other. This menu item also got salad and miso soup. So for an extra $ 10, I got the stupid oyster mushroom salad, icecream and «fancier» sushi. Ugh.
I won’t be back. I’ve had fresher fish in an establishment that was way more comforting, inviting, and real where the sushi chefs talked to you and was friendly. All this place had to it was the modern look, in a fancy mall, with male employees yammering on about their own crap. Totally agree with Grace C, all looks, but no substance.

The best thing we had here was the chocolate truffle dessert. The sushi did not feel very fresh, but it was tolerable. I would definitely stay away from the octopus and the calamari. The calamari is almost all fried bread and no actual squid, and the octopus is rubbery with no flavor. The pork belly was not bad.
Overall, mediocre food. I am not coming back.

Hamamori is located on the 3^rd floor of the Crystal Court houses places like the Apple Store and Ruby’s Diner. It is right next to that awesome bridge that links this part of the mall to the main SCP complex.
Hamamori is a pretty white décor. Everything is bright, clean, and beautiful. The presentation of the food was just as good too. My plus 1 ordered the udon soup with variety of tempura. The broth was very good and the noodles were perfect. It was served piping hot as well as the tempura. It’s a definite good choice if you’re feeling like having a soup.
I wasn’t very hungry, so I ordered a few pieces of sushi. A few tomago, an Uni & Toro, and a wagyu beef. There was nothing special done to the sushi. They were all very fresh and delicious.
For dessert we got red bean ice cream, a pumpkin flan, and mango mocha ice cream. Of those three, I really liked the red bean ice cream the best, but I’m a sucker for red bean… and ice cream. Hamamori was an excellent choice for our H dinner. They make you want to throw away your mediocre sushi.

We celebrated my mom’s birthday here yesterday and I was expecting a nice sushi meal but unfortunately they didn’t deliver. The food was just ok. I ordered a beef teriyaki to go for my husband and there was no sauce.
Probably won’t go back here. The homemade truffle was good. Our server was very attentive so I’ll give them star for that.
Will not recommend for sushi here

It’s been ages since I’ve gone out for omakase it seems. However, my friend Kurt hit me up to try a new spot. Such great timing! In addition to that, a recent article from OC Weekly came out listing the top 10 sushi spots, so this dinner was destined to happen one way or another. As we went back and forth on the prime meet up spot, we settled on Hamamori for its convenience and the fact that neither of us have been.
Arrived on location at 6p to a slow evening, but it was nice to have the bar to ourselves. As we reviewed the menu, we started the evening with a taste of sake since we were indecisive on which to choose from. We sampled a choice of sweet or dry and settled on the dry to pair with our meal. To go with the ambiance, each pour is served in a champagne flute instead of the usual you see, so it sets the tone for a fancy meal ahead, in which I was eager to taste.
We inquired about omakase and the chef began the meal. With each plating, we were served two pieces at a time. The opening sequence was albacore with crispy onions and golden eye snapper. The chef made it a note to request no soy sauce as each was seasoned individually and made to complement the fish.
We totaled at 18 pieces:
Sea bream and Blackthroat Seaperch.
Wagyu Beef/​Foie Gras and Lobster/​Miso
Salmon/​Pineapple and Sweet Live Shrimp/​Caviar/​Lemon Zest
Halibut/​Foie Gras and King Scallop
Bluefin Tuna/​Bleu Cheese/​Seaweed Sauce and Seared Yellowtail/​Jalapeño
O Toro and Shima Aji
Eel/​Foie Gras/​Orange Zest
Halibut Tempura Handroll
Sea Urchin and Yellowtail
To conclude, the meal was spectacular and just what I was craving for. I could go for a little less foie gras since I’m not superbly wow’d by it, but it did complement most of the pairings that evening. However, I’m just a bit skeptical on pricing since I feel I could get something on par for a third of the price less. Still, it was a great meal nonetheless and I would return for a fancy meal every once in awhile, but it’s not my go-​to sushi fix.

Amazing food. The price is well worth it. Cucumber tini is very refreshing. We enjoyed the sushi meal, vegetable tempura, salmon sashimi, prawn roll, and various «gems» which are their sushi specialties.

I always have a pleasant experience when dining in at Hamamori. This restaurant has such a unique selection of sushi called «gems» that come with a wide variety of add-​ons on top of the fish. The sushi that is served here cannot be found anywhere else.
When dining in here, I recommend doing the Omakase. The chefs really know what they’re doing and arrange the order of your fish very strategically, giving you a balance of rich as well as fresh flavors.
I highly recommend trying the Hamachi sashimi with Himalayan salt and the Pork Belly appetizer. The Uni shooters were also a favorite. Their Uni Toro is a must try, considering that both the Uni and toro melt right in your mouth. I also really enjoyed the Wagyu Beef and the lobster sushi as well.
I also appreciated the great service here. Chef Shimpei was extremely friendly, took very good care of us and gave us a wide variety of dishes. I recommend requesting him if you choose to do the Omakase. Nozo, our server, was also very polite and helpful.
The décor is very beautiful and elegant, especially at night, and the ambiance is very relaxing.
Overall, Hamamori leaves me very impressed and satisfied after my meal.

We’ve only passed Hamamori 100,000 times and last night we went in for dinner. We have been missing out!
We used to have a few fave sushi places in Newport Beach but had stopped going because the quality of sushi chefs had been watered down. If the chefs weren’t great, how could the sushi be great? Hamamori’s chefs were fabulous!!! Our sushi was top notch and gorgeous! We were in pretty early on a Friday evening and I’m sure it gets packed around 7PM. They had a nice Happy Hour menu. The restaurant is light and bright.
We are making this our new Friday Night Date Night place.

The only thing more annoying than over priced mediocre sushi is over priced mediocre sushi and shitty service! I came here right when they opened and at one point I was the only person here, but I was quite neglected. I did not like my waitress AT ALL! When she actually came around, she had no useful recommendations for me to try. I was in the mood to splurge, but she put me in a really bad mood when service was lacking…
CRUNCHY ROLL (Happy Hour $ 7) — This is the first time my rolls ever came out before my sushi. Sushi normally comes first so that you can enjoy it, since the rolls fill you up. The roll itself was okay, nothing impressive.
HALIBUT ($ 4.75/ 1 piece) — This Halibut is topped with yuzu ponzu, oroshi, chives and foie gras. The halibut itself was not too fresh… and I usually LOOOOOVE Foie Gras, but the acidity in the yuzu really took away from the halibut and the foie gras. I am not a fan.
WAYGU BEEF ($ ⁷⁄₁ piece) — This Waygu Beef is topped with Garlic Ponzu and Foie Gras. It would have been better if it didn’t taste so cold by the time it got to me. I feel like the waitress was probably slow getting me my order cause I was waiting for quite some time before getting my food.
FRESHWATER EEL ($ 4.75/ 1 piece) — This Freshwater eel was topped with foie gras. Not as delicious as it sounds… but I think this was the okay-​est.
SALMON ($ ³⁄₁ piece) — I’ve had cheaper salmon sushi with better quality.
YELLOWTAIL ($ 3.00/ 1 piece) — I love yellowtail but this one was nothing worth talking about.
I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the sushi, but this place could have still gotten a 3 star if the service wasn’t so bad! I rather go to Shunka or Ohshima for better quality sushi for about the same prices and Ikko has better Foie Gras-​Sushi combinations. The fancy ambiance alone is not enough to bring me back here.

Located in the building (used to be Crystal Court and is now SCP west, if anyone actually calls it that) across South Coast Plaza lies a sushi restaurant getting high praise and I just don’t understand it. Are those giving praise blinded by the somewhat «pretty» interior?! Have their tastebuds been dulled by all the booze they drank?! Sure, this place has better aesthetics than most sushi restaurants, but it doesn’t translate to better food.
I came here with a Unilocal buddy (Steve N; check out his review for a more thorough evaluation) who made rezzies for us at the sushi bar (ALWAYS sit at the bar!) and thought it would be a night of great food only to be sorely disappointed. We started with some libations while we patiently waited for our omakase. Each piece presented was beautiful, but not a single piece made me want seconds. Even after our second round of drinks, the sushi was average. Every piece was just a little, off? A few pieces of the nigiri had fish that was too cold and others had too many flavors going on. Everything tasted relatively fresh, but with all the «sauce» a few pieces had, it got difficult to tell.
Part of the fun in having sushi at the bar is getting to know your sushi chef, but ours was having none of it. He was all smiles when we first sat, but after ordering the omakase (which is what most sushi chefs want you to do!) his charm quickly faded. I always order the omakase at new sushi spots I try. It’s an easy way to taste and see what the chef has to offer. Maybe ours got offended or nervous when my friend asked questions about his technique? I know Steve can sometimes be perceived as a complete a-​hole (he’s not), but he was sincere in asking questions and I was vexed when the chef told him to write his questions down and they’ll be answered later. Wtf?!!
After 13? (I forgot to take pics of the first few) Pieces of nigiri, we knew it wasn’t getting any better and we had enough so we decided to leave and be disappointed elsewhere. Stop 2 disappointed him just like I told him it would. Lol
TL;DR: Average sushi with a below average sushi chefs personality set in beautiful glass interiors. You’ll be sitting there wishing the interior design matched the way your food tastes ;p

Great place for sushi in South Coast Plaza. Ambiance is calm and sushi is excellent. We ordered a tasting menu for lunch and it was a great experience. Good service.

Hamamori is located on the third floor in Crystal Court side of SCP. Sh*t. I don’t even know if people even call it Crystal Court anymore. Anyway, there’s been a lot of hype with Hamamori. I’ve been hearing good things about Hamamori from everyone and their mamas. Everyone swears by it like it’s the second coming of Christ.
I met a fellow Unilocaler here for dinner and we decided to sit at the sushi bar. I always try to sit at the chef’s table/​sushi bar so I could strike up a conversation with the chef. However, it seemed like a bad idea as Hamamori seemed a bit overwhelmed with work and talking to people at the bar. I’m not sure if he was offended by me asking about his technique and his favorite restaurants. He was all cheerful when he was boasting about his skills 5 minutes before when we were deciding whether to do omakase or the tasting menu. I was like okay. Show us what you got.
We went with Omakase to see what he was all about. It started okay then went to crap then went back to okay. The texture of his fish were rubbery and too chewy. The portion of the fish was palatable and it had the right about of rice to complement the nigiri. However, the rice on the majority of the nigiri was too cold, which was a big indication he doesn’t monitor the temperature of his rice. The only thing I thought was remotely good was the slightly cooked nigiri
Unfortunately, Hamamori was a mediocre experience from the omakase to sitting at the sushi bar. Overall, I thought most of Hamamori’s dishes were mediocre at best. I don’t think Hamamori is good just because he combines some high end items like caviar, foie gras, uni and «Japanese» wagyu with each other. I will give Hamamori this… They are a couple of steps above than Ohshima but that’s that much of a compliment cause Ohshima is garbage.

I Was running around OC all day and my buddy decided he wanted some sushi so we ended up here. It was my first time and I can honestly say it won’t be my last. Everything we ordered was super fresh and literally melted in your mouth.
We started with some Edamame and a nigiri mix. There was nothing special about the edamame but the sushi was top notch. I’ve tried sushi from almost every high end place you can think of and this was definitely in the top 5 if you ask me. The sushi was so soft I felt like I was trying to chew butter.
Second round, we ordered the albacore with crispy onions, spicy tuna with crispy rice, and scallop with shaved truffle. The albacore tasted so fresh and flavorful and is a must try if you come here. Every bite is packed with flavor, I could literally eat 3 plates. The crispy rice and Spicy tuna was filled with flavor and had a nice crunch, while the shaved truffle on the scallops definitely made me smile lol.
To finish up we had a couple halibut tempura hand rolls along with the some marbleized wagyu beef cook on a stone. The tempura hand rolls were amazing and they add some siracha for a nice kick. The wagyu needs no explanation, just try it and thank me later! Didn’t have room for dessert but I’ll be back soon lol…

I don’t know how to start this.
I don’t think I will one back here again.
The service: 2
The food: 3
They did not let us know what you guys don’t have. So we can plan organizing what we gonna eat. Sushi chef jut told us «let me know what you don’t like. Then I will make something» well I have specific mind that I want to eat… This is why I already asked what kind of option we have.
Second, even its Thursday, it looks like busy day. They didn’t take a dishes right away and they didn’t refill hot tea. Every time we have to ask to get menu, order, and drinks. (are you serious?)
I have been to many sushi restaurant but this place is way overrated! It’s better to go Ikko if you want to eat legit sushi.
I also wanted to have sea urchin, live shrimp, and truffle chocolate cake. They don’t have them because it’s out of season. I get it. But why could you just tell us what is out of season ahead? We just waste our time and it really pissed me off.

Beautiful, modern, contemporary setting with plenty of natural lighting, glass entrance and the ocean blue accents makes you feel like you’re swimming underwater with all the fishies.
Hamamori is a trendy but not fou fou sushi dining experience with great, friendly service and the sushi chefs are always smiling. Our party ordered an assortment of «gems» sushi off their speciality menu. Some of the sushi we got was toro with uni (seems to be very popular), crispy rice with spicy tuna, fresh albacore, and taiki. Can’t exactly remember everything that we ordered but I’d probably say that my favorite was the toro :) the slices of fish were fresh, thin cut and beautifully placed on top of warm sushi rice. Yummy yummy!
We also ordered some plates to share with the table: pork belly, fresh oysters, can’t remember the rest but my all time favorite was the yellowtail with Himalayan salt.
I would probably never come here on my own but since it was a client dinner with my company, I’LL TAKE IT! Now I’ll leave you with my assortment of sushi picture so you can drool all over your phone ;) enjoy!

This is some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. Really! We were meeting our cousins who has heard of this restaurant, which is in the southcoast plaza mall. I’m so happy they talked me into eating sushi in a mall;)
The décor was nice and modern, the staff was friendly and helpful and the sushi… Fresh, creative and fantastic. I’m lucky I don’t have this restaurant near me or I’d be broke.
Try the gems. The creative spin on these makes this meal like no other you have ever had. Seriously, don’t think about it. Just go for it! Each gem was different in its own way and all were special.
We even tried a few desserts and they were good, also. We were a group of 7. We did make a reservation. When we arrived, the restaurant wasn’t crowded, but when we left it was packed. Three generations loved this restaurant.
If I’m ever back in the area, this would be too on my list!