Ikko Japanese Cuisine

Lunch Review!!!
Ikko is the best spot, not just for a sushi lunch, but the most exquisite and healthy place to get lunch in Orange County as lunches should be refreshing so you can be productive for the remaining hours. However, this is not the place to take not just your ignorant & inexperienced coworkers but also your rude, unintelligent, uncultured, culturally insensitive, ignorant, and possibly racist Irvine/​Orange County boss who thinks that the El Torito Grill has the «most amazing Mexican food EVER!» yet wouldn’t dare eat at any of the 1000x more authentic taquerias in Santa Ana cause she thinks it’s «unclean and too ghetto» while she resides in a predominantly White & conservative community such as Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo and San Juan Capistrano (i.e. «The Housewives of Orange County» type and their d-​bag husbands and kids). Otherwise, the authentic sushi that Ikko offers would be «too advanced» for the likes of these stereotypical Orange County corporate managers/​workers; further adds to how amazingly authentic and delicious Ikko is while also being a hidden gem among OC dining enthusiasts, and it’s a place to bring your «in-​group» of coworkers who gets it and also a place to impress your actually cultured boss if you’re lucky to have someone like him/​her in this area.
While the full sushi and non-​sushi dinner menu is offered during lunch, they actually offer set lunch menus that start out at around $ 15 for a basic noodle (soba) lunch with accompaniments. Otherwise, they have such refined chirashizushi (scattered sushi in one bowl) that would be difficult to find elsewhere, especially those places that serve f***in’ «rolls», that start at $ 25 and go up to $ 45 depending on the variety and where the seafood’s from (such as seafood based in Japan). My favorite chirashizushi aside from their Premium one that has a variety of fish and shellfish from Japan ($ 45) is their Hokkaido/​shellfish Chirashizushi ($ 35) that has the finest Santa Barbara Uni, and with the rest of the shellfish and other seafood that resembles Hokkaido cuisine such as Ikura, Scallop, Smoked Salmon, and all of those goodies. All of the set menu comes with an appetizer salad and side dishes, including miso soup (the real, authentic kind made from scratch and wholesome ingredients instead from powder, the instant kind). If lunch is the only time you can make it to Ikko and you really want to enjoy what Ikko is known for, then splurge on the sushi menu where the bill can come around $ 60. FYI, you can order sushi items as just one piece since most sushi places has their orders set at 2 pieces, including Ikko but they’re willing to make an exception as they’ll assume because you want to order a variety.
Although they do offer chardonnay, something that most older people like to drink during the day because they’re trying to escape work mid-​day while also having to deal with kids (i.e. the hellraisers) and a spouse they’re bored with later in the day, Ikko is known for their spectacular and diverse sake list that covers a wide range of flavor profiles (clear-​tasting and fruity, to floral, to smooth & silky, and to being extremely dry and alcohol-​intensive). Sake, or Nihon-​shu (lit. Japanese alcohol) as the Japanese truly call it, is so underappreciated that it is a truly amazing experience to enjoy; drinking refined and truly authentic sakes from Japan while enjoying the most authentic sushi in Orange County where a good amount of neta (sushi toppings) come from Japan as well. Once again, this is one of the most authentic sushi restaurants in Orange County where people from all walks of life and backgrounds should be welcome to enjoy, except the close-​minded ones that go «eww, what the hell is that?»; they should just leave the moment they read the «No California Rolls» sign at the front of the door.

Came here last night for dinner and we sat the bar.
Food:
Oysters with ponzu sauce were good but I did not like the one with white balsamic espuma.
Foie gras was seared and served on a taco chip.
Spicy tuna on fried eggplants dish was very good. It is my favorite at this restaurant.
Yellowtail carpaccio was a very disappointed. I ordered this dish at this place many time before. Today, the sushi chef was using the end part of the yellowtail and it was awful.
The fried calamari was not good either.
Sushi: tuna, tuna rolls and the Bonita were all excellent.
Service: it took them the chef to prepare the food but waitress did not come to check on us.
Parking: plenty in the lot

I came here with my family for dinner on a Sunday night. I made a reservation at 630, and we got there on time. Ordered the food at 635, and it took exactly one hour till the first piece of sushi arrived on my plate for the omakaze course.
Not even once did any of the servers came and told us that they were running behind. I gave them the two stars for the quality of the food, it was pretty fresh and decent. The sushi chef was very messy, and definitely unfriendly.
We will probably start going to Hanare Sushi instead for omakaze.

Located in a plaza just behind the Camp on Baker!
I made rezzies for my friend and I at the bar, but you don’t need one for a weekday. There was only one person dining when we arrived at 6:30 on a Tuesday. No time to get turnt up this Tuesday because they rushed through our omakase meal in less than 30 min. What’s up with the assembly line for sushi? One guy cuts all the fish for your entire omakase meal then passes it to another guy who slaps it onto some rice and very lazily puts it in the plate in front of you. Barely any interaction with the «chefs» beside the lazy mention of what fish was put onto our plates. Shouldn’t an omakase meal be deliberate and thought out? This place makes what should be a leisurely enjoyable and enticing meal feel like a sushi fast food joint. Eat quick and get out! No time for dilly dallying when they serve you each piece of nigiri before you’ve had a chance to put the previous piece in your mouth, let alone try to savor and enjoy.
After our 9 piece nigiri, we opted to leave and go elsewhere. Neither of us were full, but who wants to stick around in a place you’re not wanted or feel welcome?!
What we had…
Chutoro
Yellowtail
Cherry Salmon
Black Seabream
Sea Bass
Chicken Grunt/​Isaki
Red Snapper
Spanish Mackerel
Salmon Roe/​Ikura
Raw Octupus/​Tako
Only interesting piece was the Isaki which neither of us had tried before. Cherry Salmon and Chutoro was good, but not good enough to come back here. Quality was on par with other «top sushi» rated restaurants in OC so go there instead!

The owner used to worked at Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills, Nobu Malibu&Nobu Las Vegas.
Defanately good: D
I used to work here please believe it: N

12 piece sushi omakase with 3 appetizers, egg chiwashi, and dessert for $ 80. Yes Please! I’ve never done anything but omakase at Ikko, the items change a little every time, and it’s always a pleasure. Some of my favorites are the uni, foie gras, and tako with black truffle, the tenderest octopus ever! Usually raw octopus is a little chewy and therefore not my favorite, but the chef promised this one will change my mind about tako forever. And it did.
Reservations are easy to get if you book the earlier times, 5:30 — 6:30 ish.

Beautiful restaurant and very good atmosphere. Both staff and chefs were pretty serious and not super friendly, maybe thats the style of the restaurant.
Lucky me, my friend was buying dinner, and the budget was «whatever…» so we got the Sashimi + Sushi Omakase. The sashimi was beautiful and presented well, however the selection was not worth the price tag. Toro was ok, pity it had spots of blood left in the meat.
Then we were greeted with 8 different pieces of nigiri, the comb of warm rice, fish and sauces did not disappoint. We enjoyed every single piece. We then each ordered 3 more, raw octopus, needle fish and egg. Funny thing, these last 3 pieces were the best out of all.
The egg was simply … amazing! I can eat. 10 orders of that.
We end up spending about $ 7 ~ $ 8 per piece of sushi.
Will go back again for sure! but probably won’t do the omakase.

A small place, easy to miss if you didn’t know where to look.
Ambience is nice, service is good but a bit cold.
The food is excellent — the duck was excellent: flavorful, tender, moist. The nigiri was comparable to the best in the west side, and some of the ネタ neta like the Japanese squid, uni, and mackeral were exceptional.
Given the quality and taste, the price was more than reasonable.
This was my third visit, the quality and taste have always been consistent.
Highly recommended.

So nice place for Japanese Sushi & Japanese Fusion style.
No~ CA Rolls in here !!!
Cherry Salmon Sushi & Marinated Albarcore Sushi & Damago Sushi & Crap meat Sushi & Crab Gratin & Salmon Totilla are all Amazing in the World !!!
Nice place for Couples & Close Friends with Dinner Here !!!
I always drink Japanese plum Wine (Ume Shu) on the rock or wine.
Have Good Time Here with Jazz Music !!!
Ikko is master chef owner’s name.

Just finished a wonderful omakase lunch! Everything was fresh, delicious, and beautifully presented.
Only downside? One server working the entire, albeit small, restaurant. Therefore, service was a bit haphazard during peak lunch hour.
Other than that, I can’t much complain. I’d definitely come back to splurge on good sushi :)

One of the best sushi restaurants in Orange County. The sushi chefs are masters of their craft. Trust the chefs and go omakase; you can’t go wrong. My favorite bites are the cherry salmon, foie gras with miso cabernet, golden striped amberjack and the Kobe beef. The rice is cooked perfectly where each kernel is delicate and flavorful. Reservations are a must! Ichiban!

Best Sushi in this area.
There are no Califonia Roll.
There is nice jazz music from speaker.

This place is confused. Finer dining sushi restaurant right next to a loud bar/​Club thing in a dark plaza.
Decided to splurge on the sashimi omakase.
It was overall very good & filling. I found a small fragment of a bone in one of the cuts of sashimi and almost cut the roof of my mouth with it.
When I notified the server, she brought it to the chef and brought back a different fish. I said that I still wanted to try the same fish — just without a bone in it. She assured me that it was probably not a bone because the fish was very big and it was impossible or very improbable for a bone to have been found.
I think that’s what she said. I didn’t understand much of what she said, actually. She had a very thick accent (I can only assume, Japanese). The two servers were talking and giggling all night instead of being attentive to their paying customers.
Whatever. Why would I make up that there was a bone? I spit the fish out. Not to be impolite but because there was a bone! Geez.
So that’s my bone story.
Like I said, the rest of the food was good. I particulary enjoyed the fatty tuna.
Husband got the regular omakase (not the sashimi version. The entrée was very small…)

After doing some research on where to take the girlfriend for her first time having Omakase, I decided to give this place a shot. In addition to the countless number of reviews and an average of 4 stars, the sign outside the place that states «We do not carry any American Style Rolls» had me sold. It’s a pretty tiny but cozy restaurant and would highly recommend making reservations ahead of time, especially if you’re trying to do Omakase at the bar area. Fortunately, seating wasn’t an issue when we went on a Thursday night around 7 and were seated right away at the bar.
My first and only experience with Omakase was in San Diego, where the chef literally kept serving you item after item until you told him you were content. So it was a bit of a surprise to me when checking out Ikko’s Omakase menu that they had various types of meal plans. For instance, you have a subcategory where you have a dollar limit of $ 60, $ 80, or $ 100 and each one would consist of varying plates from starters up till dessert. There’s also a subcategory where you can pick sushi, sashimi, or sushi & sashimi Omakase which entitles you to as much sushi, sashimi, or both as you desire… or till your credit card gets maxed out at least.
My girlfriend opted for the $ 80 Omakase while I went ahead and went straight for the sushi Omakase. Overall, I’d say we both came out pretty satisfied and she truly enjoyed her first experience with Omakase. With her $ 80 meal and my total of 16 pieces of sushi, the total bill came out to be around $ 160; which, with everything considered, is pretty damn good for a legit sushi restaurant.
Sushi Omakase: With this Omakase, you’re going to have to order AT LEAST 10 pieces. Won’t be a problem though if you’re coming in with a hungry stomach. The quality and texture of the fish is something I rarely experience, and for the most part they just melt in your mouth. They also put the soy sauce and wasabi on each piece for you which brings a more enjoyable sushi experience to you seeing that you won’t miss out the taste of the sushi from it being soaked in soy sauce. However, I did feel like the amount of wasabi put in each roll was a hit or miss. At times I felt that they did a great job in getting that perfect balance, and at others my nose felt like it was going to be crying all night from the wasabi. I ended up with a total of 16 pieces and each piece averaged out to be about $ 4.30 by the time the bill came. For
$ 80 Omakase: (NOTE: items described below are only a portion of the full course meal)
–Home-​made Sesame Tofu: It looks interesting… a bit like dessert to be honest. However, when I tried a bite of it, my first impulse was to swallow it all and wash out the taste with tons of ginger and water. It had a bit of a funky texture and the overwhelming taste of the sesame did not sit well with my taste buds. Definitely something I would skip.
–Blue Crab Ceviche w/​Crispy Tube: Presentation of this starter reminded me of an eggroll if it was much smaller and had no end pieces. The moment you pop these things in your mouth (they are so small you literally can pop it in your mouth and eat it in one bite), you’ll be smiling. The crunch of the exterior reminds you a bit of fortune cookies and the crab ceviche was nice and creamy. Wish they gave more of these and replaced the tofu with it!
–Chawanmushi Steamed Egg Custard: The soup base is literally made with Uni and it totally caught me off guard. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, the egg custard that was in it was just as good since the uni juices were most likely absorbed into it! Be aware though that this soup is extremely hot (temperature wise), and even more so when you try to jump into the egg custard.
–Sous Vide Poached Cod Fish: First time having sous vide… I can’t really explain it besides it being short of heavenly. The fish was so moist and tender that we had a really hard time picking it up with our chopsticks! Once you’re finally able to get it in your mouth, you’ll realize and ask yourself «why can’t all fish be this so delicious?!»
–Roasted Rack of Lamb: Wasn’t the worst thing I’ve had, and they definitely did a great job in cooking it just right. However, I don’t really see how this would be a good fit for an Omakase meal, or Japanese cuisine at all. If anything, it feels more fusion and we now know why some people were a bit upset with their meals when they expect nothing less than legit Japanese Omakase and not Asian Fusion food.
–Rose Ice Cream w/​Rose Petal Tempura Topped and Rose Sugar: Again, presentation is superb and Instagram worthy! Sadly though that’s as far as this dessert will go. The moment each of us had our first taste of it, we had that instant reaction that it had too much fragrance going on and tasted like we were eating frozen perfume. To be honest, it’s a bit of a disappointment after an overall great meal to end the night with something sub-​par.

I came through with Van D. to grab dinner. We were presented with a couple of options but ultimately went with the $ 100 one. I was pretty hungry so I figured an 8 course meal would be wonderful lol plus we felt it was our obligation to Unilocal to aim for the highest choice to get the best possible experience. Usually I like to write a story but being that this is an 8 course meal I’m gonna dissect each course.
The Starter (⁵⁄₅) — The salmon tartar was extremely tasty and the half shell oyster was just as good. The monkfish liver’s texture was the best and the flavors immediately brightened up my palate.
The Appetizer (⁵⁄₅) — The seared home-​made foie gras pâté was absolutely stunning with its presentation and its flavors. It came with this incredible sauce too that just made the dish spectacular.
Sashimi (⁴⁄₅) — I thought the sashimi was pretty good too. The fish would have been amazing had I not been to other places before that has served it more fresh to me. Still this dish was pretty tasty… plus I get to use soy sauce, jk.
Salad (³⁄₅) — This dish was some kind of potato salad. It was good but I just felt it was so random and didn’t live up to the prior dishes in terms of flavor or design. It was a fusion gone wrong to me but a nice attempt.
Soup (⁴⁄₅) — For the soup we had the chawanmusi which is a steamed egg custard w/​sea urchin sauce and black truffle. This was a nice change of pace and was very soothing. Its warmth just creates great balance to the overall experience.
The Entrée (⁴⁄₅) — I didn’t like the fried Japanese whiting fish. That part of the entrée was just plain and bland to me so its really 2.5 for that but the Roasted Duck with blueberry and red wine sauce was the clearcut winner of the two. 4.5 for that dish with its tender duck meat and flavorful texture.
Sushi (3.5) — I probably would have given this a 4 had I not been anticipating this part of the course only to be let down a bit. Don’t get me wrong, its quite good but again it wasn’t as fresh and not all 6 pieces were a hit to me. The highlights were the uni, toro and file fish. With just about half being pretty good and the other half being somewhat good I wasn’t really impressed but you definitely get your moneys worth because it does fill you up like a motherf… I agree with Van D., Shunka is definitely the way to go.
Dessert (⁴⁄₅) — For dessert we opted for the Rose ice cream and black soy bean vanilla ice cream. We took a couple of bites of both and concluded that the rose ice cream was just simply more refreshing than the other one, which personally I thought was a bit too sweet.
Overall this was quite a good meal but just wasn’t great. There were a couple of dishes that weren’t up to par with a few ones that actually did stand up. However service was really good and the ambiance was lovely.

Lately I’ve been exploring many different Omakase sushi restaurants with my various sushi loving Unilocal buddies and my journey has brought me to Ikko. Ikko has a $ 60, $ 80, $ 100 and unlimited omakase options. I was contemplating the $ 80 option but my Unilocal-​migo Truong T. wanted to go all out and get that $ 100 option! This is an was an 8 course meal that includes a starter, appetizer, sashimi, salad, soup, entrée, sushi and dessert. What fatties!
Starter — 4 stars
The starter includes a king salmon tartar, monkfish liver and half shelled oyster. The monkfish liver was definitely my favorite among the three. The oyster was definitely the most lackluster since I usually love oysters. Nevertheless a great way to wake up our senses before a rather large meal.
Appetizer — 5 stars
Foie Gras!!! Yumm!!! Probably my favorite dish of the night. This seared home-​made foie gras pâté with miso cabernet sauce was served over a fancy chip of some sort. The flavors were amazzzzzzing! I can eat this stuff all night!
Sashimi — 3 stars
Five pieces of assorted sashimi served in a beautiful clear circular object with ice underneath to keep it chilled. The presentation was beautiful, but the sashimi pieces itself were quite the disappointment. The fish was not as fresh as I hoped for and it left me feeling a bit worried for the sushi portion of the meal.
Salad — 3.5 stars
I kept taking more bites since the taste was so strange. This salad was definitely not what we were imagining. It was a mushroom and sweet potato salad with potato sweet potato dressing, purple potato powder, fermented curry spice and fried lotus root on top. Sounds good!!! Well Truong T. didn’t even care to finish it. We call it… too much creativity! It appealing to the eye, but less to the taste buds.
Soup — 4 stars
Luckily we came between summer and fall so we were able to pick between their summer soup or their fall soup. We went with the «Chawanmushi,» a steamed egg custard with sea urchin sauce and black truffle. Yumm! I love steamed egg and I love Uni! It was hot and steamy and I had chunked of sea urchin bits in every bite. Yummm!
Entrée — 3.5 stars
The entrée came like a land and a sea with a roasted duck on the left and a fried Japanese whiting fish on the right. I was rather impressed by the roasted duck, it was very moist and flavorful. On the other hand the crumb breaded fish tasted like something I could microwave in the frozen section topped with tarter sauce.
Sushi — 3 stars
6 assorted pieces off sushi: toro, file fish, king mackeral, bonito, abalone and sea urchin. The sushi here was less impressive than other places I’ve been to. The cuts of fish were small and the quality of the fish itself wasn’t too fresh. It did not leave me wanting to come back for more. I recommend Shunka or even Ohshima over this.
Desserts — 4 stars
We were given a dessert menu to choose from so we picked two different desserts to share. We decided on the Rose Ice Cream and the Black Soy Bean Vanilla Ice Cream with Kuromitsu Syrup and Kinako Soy Bean Powder. I think we both agreed that the Rose Ice Cream was the better one between the two.
What a gluttonous meal! I loved the foie gras so much but everything else was a note or two below expectation. Sadly Ikko did not make the cut for re-​return.

I checked Unilocal for sushi restaurant ideas in the Costa Mesa area near my hotel room and Ikko had me at first hello. Well more like first sign. The fact that they don’t serve those Americanized rolls like other sushi restaurants was a big winner for me. I’m not a fan of cream cheese in my sushi. They also don’t provide a side of wasabi or a bottle of soy sauce either. I will explain this later.
Apparently, they have a fall menu so we decided to check it out and ordered quite a bit of food. We started off with the salmon carpaccio and it was amazing! So creamy and flavorful. The next thing we ordered was the welk clams cooked in a sake broth. The clams were perfectly cooked and we drank the broth like water. The next thing we tried were the fish bones and fish skin chips. Yes, it sounds weird. But it was to die for! They were perfectly crispy and it was a great snack to munch on. Next came the oysters with Tabasco. These were decadent. If you love raw oysters and Tabasco, you should not miss this dish.
Okay now onto the sashimi. We got the clams, the Kobe steak, seared Ahi tuna, fatty Blue fin tuna, salmon with pickled radish on top, and the eel. Very delicious. ALL OF THEM. I don’t usually eat eel at sushi restaurants. BUT! The eel tasted so fresh and not frozen like some other places I’ve had. We ordered another order!
The quality of the fish at Ikko is the best I have ever had. The cuts don’t come out cold but at a perfect temperature a little above room temperature. The way it should be. The reason why you don’t need extra wasabi and soy sauce is because all the sushi/​sashimi already includes the perfect amount of each. The flavors mesh so perfectly well and it’s balanced.
Dessert — try the Rose ice cream. This is so light and fragrant that it was the perfect dessert to end the night.
And surprisingly, I didn’t leave here miserably full even after ordering all that I ordered.
Tip: We made a reservation. And you should make a reservation. We saw a few walk-​ins that were turned away due to the restaurant offering limited seating and reservations tend to book up quickly. We luckily were able to call at 5 pm and get a reservation for 7:30 pm the same night.
Definitely a MUST when you’re in the area.

Came in with high expectations and left happy but not ecstatic. It’s a good omakase but not worth the price in my opinion. They offer several price options and I took the middle ground with the $ 80 course (came out to $ 100 with tax and tip). I wanted to be seated at the bar but even on a random weekday, the place is pretty packed for dinner.
The server’s were not super warm since I was eating alone but I appreciated being able to enjoy my meal in peace. Plus, they were really attentive. I can’t say it’s the most comfortable place to eat by yourself though.
Omakase (they give you a printed menu which is helpful since I didn’t have to take notes). Omakase itself would be a 3.5÷5 (considering the price) but service and atmosphere made me round up to ⁴⁄₅.
Starter– Trio of items: (Overall: 3.5÷5)
1) Homemade Seaweed Buckwheat Noodles and Yuzu Espuma with Edamame Tempura: Clean taste with a nice butteriness from the edamame.
2) Amberjack Carpaccio with Tofu Kanzuri Sauce and Seaweed Beads: Very interesting texture from the beads and a light carpaccio.
3) Duck Rillette: Surprisingly dry for a rillette. Not very flavorful.
Sashimi– 5 pieces (Overall ⁴⁄₅) Fresh, served nicely, just wasn’t super impressed with the selection of fish.
Salad: Summer Veggie Salad with Corn Dressing and Basil Oil (Overall ³⁄₅) Was more like a palette cleanser but everything I had up to this point was so light my palette didn’t need cleansing yet.
Soup: Chawanmushi w/​Uni Sauce and Black truffle (⁵⁄₅) OUT OF THIS WORLD deliciousness. Rich and flavorful on so many levels. Made this dinner.
Main Dish (2 items):
1) Fried Japanese Whiting Fish w/​Semolina Red Shiso Pickle Tartar (²⁄₅) — Fish was dry. The sauce was mild and tangy but as a whole it just wasn’t great. It’s blasphemy to say this but I think I’d rather save my money on this one and get some fish sticks and tartar sauce from the store…
2) Simmered black pork belly with balsamic and apple ginger (³⁄₅) — Sauce was great with a ton of flavor (though the ingredients had a very western taste which I wasn’t really feeling that day). The kurobuta was actually a bit dry which was disappointing.
Sushi (6 assorted pieces): (4.5÷5)
Tried my best to hear the waitress/​figure out what each piece was so I can’t say this is 100% accurate. I think I had uni, hirame, sea bream, kinmedai (golden eye snapper), and bluefin tuna. All of these were great. The little extra flavors they put on them were balanced perfectly. No extra wasabi needed. Great rice flavor too.
Dessert: Rose Ice cream w/​rose petal tempura and rose sugar. (⁴⁄₅)
Perfumey (in a good way) and every last bite really just SCREAMS rose. The tempura was a great touch too.
Overall, it’s a good modern style omakase but there are other places I’d rather go to for an omakase of this cost. There are still a lot of items I’d like to try though so I may be back!

One of my favorite sushi places in OC. They have the freshest selection of sushi. It’s a small whole in the wall joint, very intimate setting and low key which I love.
Favorite items:
Sea bream sushi
Salmon sushi
Cherry Salmon sushi
Blue fin sushi
Chicken pâté liver top with quail egg
Sweet shrimp
Salmon on tortilla chips
They do not serve specialty rolls but they are consider a fusion sushi restaurant. It’s a very small whole in the wall sushi place by The Camp. It’s very intimate and low key which is why I love it.

Super fresh and authentic sushi!
If you drive on Baker past the Camp, you may easily missed this small restaurant. It’s in the same plaza as H&T Salon which you’ll easily see on Baker.
The restaurant is very small and looks very authentic from the outside wooden walls.
The sushi comes out already seasoned with soy sauce and wasabi. They put a good amount of wasabi which is a bit strong for me but good. I had salmon, tuna, eel… The salmon had a thin slice of radish on top and it just melts in your mouth. The eel had a sweet sauce but not overly sweet as most places.
I also ordered some unique appetizers such as the tuna carpaccio with yuzu sauce and wasn’t crazy about it, it was a bit too sweet. The poached salmon came with foam and eggs on top and it was interesting. The salmon was semi cooked, very smoooth but I also wasn’t crazy about it. Next time I’ll just stick to the sushi.
For desserts, they do have unique ice cream flavors such as rose ice cream with rose petals but I opted for the black soy bean ice cream which had a delicate flavor with a sweet syrup.
The sign outside summed it up: no American rolls here. Just fresh sushi… and with that comes the price. It’s definitely a bit pricey but the quality doesn’t disappoint.

The sign on the blackboard outside its door proclaims that they don’t offer American style rolls, but they do have some amazing dishes on their Spring menu, which far outweigh «American» rolls any day. Ikko has been a place I’ve been curious about, but finally no more! I met up with my friend Kurt and my brother to dine here for dinner as soon as it opened at 6pm on Saturday and of course, we sat barside.
We sat at the corner of the bar and got ourselves situated. We decided to go with unlimited omakase. There were two types of unlimited omakase meals: 1) the standard mix of sashimi, nigiri; 2) mix of sushi and hot kitchen plates. For the typical omakase, the chef usually serves 24 pieces during this meal, but our server asked us if we had a preference so we said to start with 15 and we can decide from there.
The omakase meal began with a set of sashimi. Fatty tuna, sea bream and spanish mackerel. Each cut was clean on the palate and the spanish mackerel was the most memorable. I haven’t been the biggest fan of mackerel in the past, but its complexity has made an impact on me the past few times of having really amazing pieces.
For the rest of omakase, we had seabass, amberjack, black snapper, sea urchin, snapper, bonito, seared black cod, chicken grunt (isage) and a few outstanding pieces described below.
Toro was such a fatty piece that it was essentially falling apart on the rice, but that first bite was something I could barely comprehend. The rice was warm, perfectly balanced with the vinegar and paired so beautifully with the fatty oils of toro. It was almost overwhelming, but I was excited for the meal to come.
Cherry Salmon with pickled radish. I haven’t seen this served anywhere else other than Ohshima, so it was a pleasant surprise! The pickled radish was really great to give it texture, but a bit too much for the cherry salmon, which I thought overwhelmed the fish with its sourness.
Fresh spot prawn with an option for soup or fried for the head. We all went for the fried head so that nothing goes to waste. The prawn was amazingly fresh, so much that it wiggles as you slowly bite into the tail. That’s how I measure freshness, lol. Chef also topped the amaebi (sweet shrimp) with the contents of the head before tossing the heads to fry.
This is how I want to experience squid ALL THE TIME. We were surprised at the softness of the squid that my brother, the guy who rarely ever wants to sit at the bar, asked the sushi chef about the squid. The pieces have been dipped into hot water for a few seconds and then served. Although not cooked, the heat softened the squid so it’s more malleable and easy to chew. My brother gave him the thumbs up and the chef cracked a smile.
Foie gras. I was most intrigued by this as it was lightly seared. However, I found it mostly distasteful. The raw liver had a strong metallic flavor and the texture was mushy.
Although that was the last of our omakase, we still had some room for more, so we ordered off the Spring menu. Octopus suckers with ponzu ($ 4) and beef tongue with miso demi glacé.
For dessert, we each got something for ourselves. Rose ice cream, green tea mochiko cake with yuzu honey and vanilla ice cream and a coffee affogato with black sesame ice cream.
An omakase meal is an experience at Ikko and one that’s taken quite seriously with a pretty hefty price tag. To split among three people with a bottle of sake and two bottles of beer included, it rounded out to about $ 350 for the total bill not including tip.
They carry a decent selection of imported fish from Japan and a small list of domestic fish, so Ikko takes a lot of pride in maintaining the availability of Japanese fish, although I’m not completely sold on their pricing. I can get so much more interaction with the chef and an outstanding meal for a fraction of the price with beers/​sake included elsewhere. It really depends on how you want to experience omakase and whether you want to connect with your food or the creator.
What I found surprisingly delicious was the Spring menu, an extension to what the sushi bar offered and hot kitchen items. I even contemplated coming back just to explore the menu offerings, but that will have to be another day until I recuperate from my trip, haha. Reservations are strongly recommended if you plan to sit at the bar during dinner, but you can always try your luck if you come at opening.

Avant garde. Intense. Must try.

Came here for the second time last night and our experience was unfortunately different from the first…
Service was good but the sushi quality and food presentation was not a 4 or 5.
We opted to order sushi vs the omakase option. Last time we we’re here we had the seared kobe beef sushi, which, can you really go wrong with this?! Well. it did last night. It was waaay over seared and it was completely cold! This tells me that the chef seared it, was sitting on the cutting board for a while and then served. we were super disappointed. AND it didn’t look like it was seared with a torch but on a pan! Idk, it was not quality.
Second complaint is the chef’s chopping skills.
We ordered the wild arugula pear salad and the pears were cut horribly. No consistency in the slices and super jagged. I’m sorry, if I’m paying over $ 200 on a sushi dinner I expect quality sushi.
We concluded that Oshimas in Orange is definitely the better option and for less!