Shunka

Handsome had a show in Newport Beach and you better believe I’m going to tag along and have a little R&R on a waterfront resort. Handsome wanted to have some sushi for dinner last night and he asked me to search and I found Shunka! Handsome told me the best way to pick a sushi restaurant that he like would be by the pictures posted on Unilocal!Well, I searched and noticed that Shunka had some nice photos of sushi so we decided to head over there.
I called to make reservations and they don’t accept reservations. I was worried because it was a Friday night. I called and they told me there was no wait for a table at this time. 15 minutes later when we arrived there were at least 3 parties ahead of us… so not too bad.
We were seated quickly and there was so much to choose from. Handsome and his business colleague enjoyed the sushi! There was a separate chalkboard of fish from Japan. They were in heaven. They tried so many new things; however, handsome really enjoyed the Akamutsu. It’s a red fish that tastes like a white fish. He had two orders. He started out with very fresh live shrimp and quickly devoured the deep fried shrimp heads. He ordered the shishito peppers with bonito flakes on top. Next the bream sushi and then I got lost… he and his colleague were enjoying the sushi so much.
The waitress helped them decide what they should order and the boys enjoyed her selections. She even told them when to add soy sauce or not.
I’m not as adventurous as these two guys, so I ordered the dynamite. I’m going to say it wasn’t the best that I had, but I enjoyed watching the boys enjoy themselves. I really wanted the blue fin collar; however, they no longer had it. Oh well… maybe next time. Will we be here again! Yes, you better believe it!

Fantastic sushi restaurant. Over a dozen specialty fish from Japan. Preparation and service were all excellent. Will make every effort to come here any chance I am remotely in the area.

OMG — Wow!
My hubs and I sat at the sushi bar. The chef recommended tons of fish from Japan, and he served it up sooooo right!!! Everything he suggested we loved. The service was as good as it gets! We had a feeling it might be expensive, and it was. For two of us each only having 1 beer, it came out to $ 100. But it’s a nice place, and I don’t mind paying a little extra for having such an incredible experience.
The place is pretty small, so on the weekends and evenings it can get pretty busy and the wait time gets a little long. It wouldn’t hurt to stop in, write your name and phone number down, and then walk around outside while you wait.

Best Sushi! I have been going here since they opened and before it became popular. My secret was let out but the food and service have remained the same, excellent. The fish is always fresh, with a great selection and the owner and servers are very friendly. You pay for what you get and since the fish is always so good I have no problem paying a little more!
Highly Recommend!

I was really looking forward to this place but found it to be really over rated. I prefer Nana Sun and Ohshima. I found the fish here to be only average, service average, and prices WAY too high. My bill for two people with a bottle of sake was $ 190. Atrocious given the average quality of the fish.
Stick to Ohshima and don’t turn back. Nana Sun for average quality like this (perhaps better actually) and way more affordable prices.

I’m going to be the black sheep and say what’s on my mind about this supposed super, secret, highly-​rated sushi spot that doesn’t allow any photography inside the restaurant. The only other sushi place I recall not allowed to take any photos in a restaurant is Urasawa, and believe me when I say that Shunka is no Urasawa. In fact, Shunka kind of reminds me of a less commercialized version of Kabuki. Now, if you like Kabuki, then you most definitely should try this place instead.
They surprisingly carry different types of fish that are exceptional and fresh than most traditional sushi places, but when it came down to quality, taste and presentation, it failed our expectation. Generic is the word that comes to mind when I think of this place. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s not great either. Just your average, standard sushi place, hence the two-​star rating, «Meh. I’ve experienced better.»
We got the older gentleman of the two sushi chefs, and he wasn’t engaging like most sushi chefs we’ve encountered. He was friendly, though. We ordered live scallops, golden-​eye snapper, chu-​toro, o-​toro, yellow-​tail, ankimo, uni, mackeral, sea bass and blue crab hand roll. With those items, we noticed that the fish was stringy, rice was hard, and the flavor was bland. Their signature was using sea salt, which we did like, but it still didn’t separate them from any other sushi places. The most disappointing dish (surprisingly their highly rated one) was their sea bass, which they sprinkled with sea salt and matcha green tea powder. Why would you put matcha green tea powder on sea bass, for goodness sake. It wasn’t at all tasty. We ended up just tasting the powder and sea salt. We’re all for thinking outside of the box, but this ended up being a mere gimmick to trick us into thinking that it was a delicacy. Some flavors just don’t marry together and this was one of them.
If you’re looking for a great sushi place, then I suggest another. We drove far to try this place out due to the high ratings, and we sadly ended up having a mediocre meal for double the price. There are just so many astonishing sushi spots out there that are more deserving in quality, taste and presentation, that we really shouldn’t settle with mediocrity, right?
Décor — 4
Taste — 2
Service — 4

Came here on a Friday night, and was told the wait would be about ⁴⁰⁄₄₅ minutes for two. We left a phone number, went over to a nearby joint to grab a beer, a quick 30 minutes went by and we got the call to make our way back.
The restaurant is small, the lights are dimmed, noise level is average– not so quiet where you can hear your neighbor’s conversations, but not so loud where you can’t hear yourself talking. Overall, it had a comfortable feel.
My boyfriend and I both opted for the Omakase (Chef’s special). Omakase comes with an appetizer, 8 pieces of nigiri, chawanmushi, a hand roll, miso soup, and ice cream for dessert.
The sushi here is quality. Everything was super fresh and there is a wide variety of fish. Some of the standouts of the night: sea bream, kanpachi, blue fin toro (buttery goodness), and scallop. The rice was slightly warm-​room temperature (juuust right).
Service was also great. The pace of our dinner was close to perfect, it never felt too rushed and we were never waiting for more than a few minutes for the next dish. Our waitress was friendly and attentive. She checked up on us frequently and took the time to explain what was on our plate, when to use soy sauce and what not.
They don’t accept reservations so I recommend arriving right before they open if you want to avoid the wait.
This place well exceeded my expectations. I will be back!

I’ve come to find that the more intimate a sushi restaurant is, the more authentic the sushi. Upon entering the establishment, the small 12-​seat bar (approx.) & 4-​booth setup presented a promising happy-​belly future.
We arrived a few minutes after opening at 5.30PM and were surprised that 6 other customers were already seated and taking bites of delightful nigiri. We needed to get on their level asap and quickly grabbed two seats at the bar. I definitely recommend getting a bar seat to get customized recommendations from your Itamae (sushi chef).
Our culinary journal began upon receipt of a simple, yet symbolic, towel from our Itamae. The omakase seemed to be really popular at this joint but we weren’t too hungry and had a few items we definitely wanted to try that weren’t on the omakase. Instead, we requested for a ‘mini omakase’ with just 4 pieces of nigiri, a blue crab handroll, ankimo, and a chawanmushi.
More details to follow on each dish we tried to follow but let’s just say, happy-​belly achieved indeed.
— - -
Kanpachi (Amberjack) Nigiri: Mild-​tasting fish with incredible texture. This was my bf’s favorite.
Seabream Nigiri: Crisp-​textured fish perfectly rounded off by a tiny dab of yuzu paste. Very popular order here at Shunka!
Sea Bass Nigiri: The green tea salt adorning the top of this white mild fish really released complex umami flavors.
Scallop Nigiri: After diving through the outer layer of this mildly seared scallop, you’re left with a buttery melt-​in-​your-​mouth scallop. ‘Nuff said!
Chawanmushi: This steamed egg custard was so perfect on a cold, winter night. The texture was lighter than air and filled with well-​seasoned surprise ingredients. If you’re not a fan of bitter things, beware of the gingko nut hidden inside.
Ankimo: The steamed monkfish liver goes so well with zesty essence of the light ponzu drizzle. This dish truly is the foie gras of the sea.
Blue Crab Handroll: The blue crab, smelt egg, and japanese mayo really worked well together in this roll. So simple, yet satisfying.
We spent approximately $ 90 for food, green tea, tax, & tip for 2 people.

I think Shunka is overrated and over priced but their service is very attentive. Came in on a packed Friday night and got seated less than 10 mins. I didn’t want to take pictures because I didn’t want to get thrown out LOL. I had the following for tonights dinner.
2 California Cut Rolls ³⁄₅ they even use real crab but something was missing maybe the masago and some cucumber or something?
2 Dragon Rolls ³⁄₅ It’s ok nothing really stood out
Shunka Roll ³⁄₅ tasted not bad
Service ⁵⁄₅ even though it was packed and busy I got my drinks refilled and empty plates taken away
Red Bean Ice Cream Sundae ³⁄₅ Here is the Ratio for the Red Bean Ice Cream Sundae
20% whip cream
10% red bean ice cream
70% frosted corn flakes I think
Shunka is well know for their raw special rolls and other specials that they have on their menu board. Overall Shunka for me it’s was just ok i’m not a adventurous eater eating raw sushi and other raw things. This placed is packed & they have their own regular customers that goes there so they must be doing something right.

I came here with my wife to celebrate New Years Eve. I’m glad we did because the food was excellent. As we entered the dining room, we were warmly greeted by all the staff and chefs. It was a pretty cool feeling, because the restaurant was packed and they were all busy, but they all came to a halt to greet us. We sat at the bar and ordered the omakase which is the «fishes of the day» (~$ 40/​person). It includes 8 pieces of super fresh, melt-​in-​your mouth fish. The highlight of the night was the live octopus. It was my first time having live octopus and it was great. After finishing the piece, we were presented with a «Japanese popcorn», which was a deep fried octopus suction.
One interesting fact was that as traditional as the restaurant looked with its Japanese staff/​chefs, no cellphone policy, interior design, and décor; this place has quite a few rolls on the menu.
The staff was very polite and attentive. I will definitely come back to try more items on the menu. If you are thinking of visiting, I recommend calling ahead to check on the wait time. They don’t talk any reservations, but at least they’ll tell you if there’s a huge wait list.

Omakase was so delicious here !!! And on top of that everyone was so incredibly nice :) especially our chef that looks like taeyang.
I have to come back here now every time I come back to the OC.
Wished I had this back in San Jose :(

This place is pretty much amazing, the 16 piece o·ma·ka·se from chef Eiji was top notch! It takes a lot for a roll to win me over and the Shunka roll my wife ordered was pretty much amazing as well.
The waitress seemed a little out of sorts which was weird seeing how we were there during lunch so be aware, but hey it was o·ma·ka·se time so I had no hurry in me!
HIGHLY Recommend!

High quality sushi and funny chef staff, and as we let the chef add more and more pieces to the omakase the experience got better and better. Came in around 7 on a Friday, and there was just enough seats at the bar for me and two friends.
Pros:
+ The initial omakase wasn’t bad by any means, but it had more cooked items than I was hoping for which ended up in my group craving more pieces of sushi than we’d anticipated. The giant squid they had that night was a pretty big highlight.
+++ We asked the chef for another 7 pieces and those were amazing. Highlights were the Mejina, halibut fin, and scallop.
++ Complimentary grapes at the end were glazed in a sweet sake mixture that ended up being one of my favorite parts of the meal.
++ All the chefs were joking around and having fun, while taking sake shots throughout the meal. It was a very fun experience compared to the more intimate/​serious atmosphere at other sushi places.
Overall, the light hearted atmosphere in combination with the omakase that continued to get better 17 pieces in, made this one of my favorite sushi experiences.

Great sushi place!!!
I had a wonderful family dinner here, we did have to wait a while to be seated because we had a party of five and the place is kind of on the small side. There are only a couple of booths and few tables so it was easily packed on a Saturday night. The service was great although they did forget to bring us two Miso soups which was fine but then they ended up charging us for them which was not cool but it was all sorted out at the end.
We ordered the Shunka special roll which was amazing along with another one of their most popular rolls, Yum and Yum! We also shared some sushi, the salmon tasted very fresh and they were not stingy with the size of fish they were serving. The siushi chefs were very generous with the portions. The yellowtail, albacore, bonito and shirmp sushi was amazing. I was only slightly disappointed with the amount of wasabi that was put in the rice underneath the fish. It was just too much wasabi for me which overpowered the taste of the fish. I mean that’s why they give you a side of wasabi so you can decide how much wasabi you want to serve yourself… right? But the quality of the fish was pretty darn good so I will ignore the wasabi incident maybe I was just being too picky. This place is kind of on the pricey side but I think its worth it.

For those who don’t already know — this restaurant was started by the same person who used to be the head chef at Matsu in HB.
I wanted to be patient and take photos of every slice of fish that graced my space at the sushi bar, but I had no self control. Everything was gone within seconds. At least I still have the memories.
Our sushi chef, Eiji, was really friendly, knowledgeable and recommended a great variety of fish. I tried the bonito, kanpachi, tai, aji, toro, and itoyori dai. I can’t say I regretted any of those decisions, all cuts of fish were of superb quality. I’m not by any means a sushi connoisseur, but I will say that I was very impressed by the variety and quality of fish they had on hand. I’m planning on getting the omakase next time I stop by.
Honestly, for the quality of the fish, the prices weren’t half bad. As others have mentioned, there are places in LA that charge 50% more for the same quality of fish.
I recommend getting here before they open, otherwise there will be a wait. I watched this place fill up within the first 15 minutes after they opened their doors. Very impressive, I hope they are around for a while.

Go here, sit at the sushi bar, and get the omakase. If you have the dough to spend, you will not regret it! Everything is so delicious here and service is always great. Among my favorites are the toro, uni, engawa, and sea bream. But really though EVERYTHING is tasty! You won’t leave disappointed.

For some reason, majority of the Japanese restaurants are closed on Sunday? But not Shunka *thumbs up!* for feeding your customers everyday of the week!
9 omakase — $ 70each.
Make sure you sit in the bar with juro, he’s so funny and nice. His cuts are good hefty portion!
This restaurant does not take reservations, first come– first serve. I went at 8pm, there was no wait! Luckily had the chance to sit and be served by Juro! Woohoo!
(Sorry I was not able to take photos of the 9pcs of individual fish the chef prepped for us, my date was being a nazi. So I only got the pictures of what we ordered after the omakase was over.) Also they have a picture in the front door –no cell phone usage while dinning, funny.

Marvelous sushi created by a culinary master.
Costa Mesa has a new sheriff in town in regards to sushi and I believe I have found a new favorite for South County. I was seriously picking up everything that Shunka was putting down throughout my meal, the hype is so incredibly real. Since they ship in fresh fish from Japan, you get a taste of species uncommon stateside. Sure, you can order the common sushi fare but you would be missing the point and with the prices so reasonable ($ 45.00 lunchtime Omakase?! In OC???) you are almost forced to go all out. That is precisely what I did and I could not have left happier.
If you only order one piece of nigiri at Shunka, let it be the Kanpachi. The consistency and mouthfeel are end game material and the meat is laugh out loud fresh. If you only order 2 pieces of nigiri at Shunka, make the second the Red Snapper. Trust. The Toro Belly and Crab Hand Roll were also no joke. Okay, I didn’t eat a single bite I didn’t adore at Shunka. I am gushing here folks.
The temperature of the rice and seafood was perfect in each piece: A touch warmer than room temperature makes all of the difference in the world. It creates the perfect juxtaposition of soft textures and subtle flavors. Meanwhile Juro’s conservative «less is more» approach allows the clean flavor of savory fish to take center stage.
Oh, I almost forgot about their Spicy Tuna Roll! It is genre defining thanks to the use of actual red pepper in place of Sriracha (the difference is simply mesmerizing, sorry Sriracha-​heads). I will use Shunka as the standard to beat in the Spice Tuna Roll going forward, it was that good. More than half of the Omakase came with expert direction that forbade the use of soy sauce and all advice was sage.
It is with a heavy heart that I replace my south county favorite sushi haunt Nana San with Shunka, but Juro’s creations sure made it easy. Shunka is an OC legend.

WOW! YUMMY! Sushi here is so fresh and melts in your mouth. I must of took over an hour eating here when I was taking my time to savor each bite of sushi. I don’t remember all the sushi I ordered. I had some random ones with the help of the waitress who could tell me which ones are good by looking at the Unilocal pictures. One of of the sushi had a smokey flavor too. It wasn’t so smokey that I wouldn’t like it when I get picky with smokey or barbecue flavors. If it’s too burnt I will not like it and they made the smokey flavor just right.
I know I had the sea eel, salmon belly, mackerel and the rest they’re Japanese names so I would have no idea what sushi I ordered. All the sushi was very delicious. Some sushi had a little bit of wasabi. I suggest you don’t dip too much wasabi and soy sauce on your sushi when it can get a little spicy unless you like it very spicy. I like the lemon with green onion flavor on the sushi too when I like lemon. I had the green tea tempura ice cream for dessert the flavors were so good with the green tea ice cream and the ball of sliced banana tempura with the whipped cream it was too delicious that I stuff it down even though I was getting full ½ way.
This is the best sushi I had in my life and I love Japanese food even though I am Chinese I love Asian food. The restaurant has a Japanese ambiance that it always looks romantic when they put dim lights to make you feel relaxed except for the sushi bar its more lighted. I just may dine here more often just to satisfy my cravings for Japanese food. This place is a little pricey then the food is quality and fresh.

WhereTF have I been strikes again!!! I always see the ultimate Japanese playa Greg T checking in here, and I wondered what the allure was. However, I also saw that several of my yfs gave favorable ratings, esp my dining pal Van D. Shunka is located on 17^th off Tustin in Costa Mesa.
Omakase is the way to go at Shunka. We had 8 courses ($ 59/​each — toro, kanpachi, scallop, ocean trout, bonito, aji, Spanish mackerel, barracuda, Japanese sea bass, and Japanese uni w/​quail egg). There is no set menu. You simply tell the chef when you are satisfied. To wash it all down, we had a bottle of Dassai sake ($ 20). Dassai is a light sake that goes well w/​the warm weather, as well as the fish that is available during this time of year.
All of the fish was über fresh, the rice properly prepared (non-​sticky, slightly warm), and the fish to rice ratio was really good. In addition, the overall price of $ 59 was very reasonable: 5 Stars. Likewise, the sake was perfect for a hot summer night: 5 Stars.
Regarding the ambiance, it is traditional Japanese. The best place to enjoy is the sushi bar. Nonetheless, although the space is small, it does not feel crowded: 5 Stars. The service was excellent. Our sushi chef, Yuki was super nice. In addition, the waitstaff was very friendly and efficient.
Costa Mesa is home to some of the best sushi places in OC: Previously reviewed Angotei & Ikko, and newly reviewed Shunka. A definite must try in the area even though Greg T hangs out here — LMAO!!!