O2 Sushi

The yellowtail was fresh and the sea urchin was sweet. The spicy tuna hand roll had the right amount of spice. Good spot.

We ordered kampachi, ankimo, salmon, snapper, mackerel (with deep fried tail), scallop, toro, uni, blue crab roll, and tomago. The sushi chef gave us extra pieces on the side for most of the dish, and even gave us a sample of the ankimo of the day. We’re not used to ankimo sushi (because the texture of liver is heavy), but since the ankimo he carried was soft and creamy, it actually worked. We also don’t normally order salmon and kampachi (real hit and miss at certain spots) but the kampachi and salmon he carried were surprisingly good. Everything else was okay– nothing out of ordinary to mention.
Only bad thing I have to say like about this place (which is a personal preference) was that he used way too much soy sauce… so much that some of the rice even fell apart from being saturated with it. In the past, I would have docked the sushi chef for it, but this soy sauce shenanigan seems to be the going trend in Pasadena. Hence, I don’t blame him because, a) I could have easily told him not to (but didn’t), and b) like Yoshida, he’s probably used to making it this way due to the people he’s normally used to serving. I ended up refilling my green tea three times, and downing my sake super fast. Now to think of it, I guess that’s not so much of a bad thing, eh?
Décor — 3
Taste — 3
Service — 4

I found this tasty sushi restaurant here on Unilocal.How do you find a great sushi place in Pasadena on late Wednesday night? Look no further. Greeted warmly as soon as we entered and given a seat at the sushi bar. The scene is authentic and the sushi rolls just kept coming. We kept ordering and ordering because it was so good, fresh, and delicious. The two sushi artists behind the counter are unique and made us feel special. What did we eat? Look at the receipt I’ve uploaded. Everything we had was delicious. Will definitely return. Recommended!

I honestly don’t know how this place has 4 stars. We walked in and there was only one person in here. Every sushi place I’ve ever been to with 4 stars has more than one person in the restaurant at 9 pm. We decided to try it anyways. Ordered 3 rolls and 2 hand rolls. The spicy tuna cut roll was very good. The baked blue crab roll was very fishy. The albacore roll that everyone kept talking about on Unilocal was disgusting ! Disgustingly sour and way too fishy. Tasted as if the albacore was taken out of a can. It was so bad ! I looked up from our table to where the sushi chefs were and the chef was drinking beer all by himself while making our rolls. I really, really, really, wanted to like this place but the sushi was bad.

To the eyes, this is an unremarkable linoleum sushi joint, but your wallet and your mouth will thank you for not judging by appearances. Very high-​quality, inexpensive sushi. Quick service. The «Seared Tuna Sashimi with Japanese Salsa» appetizer was perfectly composed: the warm tuna’s richness offset by sharp red onions, in a combination like a ceviche. The standard maki were big and tasty, and my spicy tuna hand-​roll was crisp and crunchy on the outside with a generous scoop of fish in the middle.

I used to eat here maybe once every two weeks for lunch, service is great, sushi chefs are nice.
Pricing is good, sushi was excellent. Nice casual for dinner as well. The boo enjoyed liked it so I know I’m not crazy.

Okay sushi, extremely slow service at the BAR!!! Two hand rolls should not take 25min for a place at 50% capacity.

Great little sushi place! I loved all of my food — although I wasn’t sure how to eat the firecracker shrimp, lol. Everyone was very friendly and attentive. All of my food was absolutely delicious and fresh. I’m hittin’ up O2 Sushi next time I’m in Pasadena :)

While not being spectacular, this place has a lot of perks. Pasadena roll is one of them. And chefs are extremely friendly!

Really enjoyed our meal here! Came around 4 on a Saturday afternoon. It was real quiet, just one other table.
We ordered the salmon sashimi, and Alaskan roll. Both were delicious! The ice green tea was good too!
8 pieces of sashimi was $ 16, pretty expensive… Otherwise it would have been 5 stars.
Still recommended!

Before going to the Griffith Observatory my boyfriend and I stopped here to get dinner and we were pleasantly surprised with the fast seating and good food. We got the albacore roll, Philadelphia roll and went for something new and got the fresh eel and liked all of it. The only con was the parking, we ended up parking at the Paseo

Found this place on Unilocal (duh, how else do people decide where to eat nowadays?) for dinner with a couple friends on a random weeknight. We ordered a TON of food, and ended up getting beer for 50% off. If I heard the server correctly, that happens when you order more than 20 dishes. The fish was of pretty good quality. We were able to finish most of what we ordered which, again, was a lot. I’ll have to keep this place in mind when I’m craving sushi!
FYI: The restaurant is located across the street from Paseo. Don’t be dummies like us and park all the way in Old Town. :P

The owner is BJ, he is funny and accommodating. This place is walking distance from work. Lunch special ends at 2pm on weekdays. Their lunch special chicken cutlet is a cant beat price and is good, hard to complain for $ 6.99. It comes with miso soup, salad, chicken (two layers!), rice, and a dumpling. Haven’t tried dinner yet.

Visited this place with my girlfriend, who just loves sushi
I was confident enough that she will be satisfied with O2 sushi after I heard about this place from sushi lover sister who lives in Pasadena.
And yup, I was right she was more than satisfied!
After I asked the chef to give us the best that they have, we were served with variety of sushi that were not on their menu!
One that I was so damn impressed was Hamachi sushi with spicy yuzu sauce.
It was just perfectly aged and went so well with the sauce.
Hamachi was just aged for the perfection that it was so soft and melted in my mouth, leaving sweet and umami taste behind.
My girlfriend and I didn’t expect to find this top quality with the perfect skill of aging fish in Pasadena.
We were search for the best sushi place and we did find several but this place was near my home and a lot cheaper than other places.
We will definitely come back! And recommend to other people

This was place is A-​Ok! I’ve been to better sushi bars in the area. This place is a little pricey, given that, I’d spend the same amount at an AYCE Sushi bar and get more.
I ordered the Spicey Tuna Hand roll which was small (compared to other places) and the Salmon and Tuna roll which was good. Also, the poke-​ahi tuna was not bad either.

Pretty good quality Japanese food for a more pricy cost. Their nigiri quality was very good! We loved their cuts of salmon on the first set, and reordered it– however the second batch was actually partially frozen still which made it a bit unappetizing.
Of their specialty rolls, the Pasadena and Alaskan rolls were quite good (both were takes of salmon and spicy ahi together). The Dynamite roll was tasty and not too oily, but nothing special.
Overall good Japanese food but just a bit pricy for what you get. Also getting charged $ 1 for each person’s hot green tea was a bummer.

Simply the best Sushi in Pasadena. I come here at least twice a month. Chef BJ is the best there is in Pasadena as far as I can say (and I love sushi).
His creations are always fresh and flavored with delicious delicacies prepared behind the sushi bar.
Don’t take my word for it, go enjoy O2 for yourself. You won’t be disappointed. And if your wallet has some extra bills, go omakase.

We ordered albacore sashimi and we got a ponzo marinated albacore.
Asked our waitress if there was a mistake. She said that their albacore sashimi comes out marinated in ponzo sauce. What?! Their sashimi menu is misleading as it does NOT specify this major detail.
Their rolls are overly salty and service is so so (but if you’re Caucasian, they will go far and beyond to please you). Décor is cold and empty.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS! Delicious sushi!
I had been craving sushi and this place definitely fulfilled my needs.
BUT the food was not to die for.
1 — good choices but smaller amounts of fish. I had to order more to get full and still ended up leaving feeling hungry. (Mind you, I already eat in small amounts so if I say this doesn’t really get you full, you’ll know I mean it.)
2 — décor and seating wasn’t anything extraordinary.
Regardless, staff was really friendly. They were helpful and very sweet. They were top notch on customer service.
All in all, it was pretty good sushi, PERFECT for lunch time or a smaller meal. But if you’re looking to actually have a full course meal, this place isn’t the best.
Go lunch time for sure! Go somewhere else dinner time.

Not the fanciest place in Pasadena, but the staff is friendly & laid back. BJ owner/​Sushi Chef is always cordial, good natured with a sly smile. He’s with it in a knowing manner that if he weren’t married with kids, a businessman, chef, he would most likely be an A-​1 hipster somewhere in the bowels of Korea Town hanging out part of the time at one of Roy Choi’s jiving joints & drinking Korean So-​ju at some cool hostess bar. However, he’s not, and he can make some interesting, mean Japanese style Edomae (eh doh mah eh) Sushi & Maki/​rolls.
I already have my favorite places to go for Japanese style Sushi such as Mako Sushi in DTLA & Kimagure so I asked BJ to make dishes in the Korean style which involves more uses of sauces incorporated onto the fish meat itself as well as other non-​Japanese inspired Crudo.
1) Chu– Toro, basil oil, jalapeño, red onion: Thinly sliced medium fatty tuna glistening with green-​tasting, herbal basil oil that added a plant muskiness to the heavier fatty, meaty Chu-​toro with a sulfurous funky sweet onion accent. This seemed more influenced by Italian crudo, but I forgot to ask BJ if Koreans prepare fish in this way.
2) Kampachi/​AmberJack & Hamachi/​yellowfin tuna touched with Kochujang which is a fermented sauce made with the base ingredients of red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt. Variations also add jujube fruit, pumpkin, sweet potato as well as honey to sweeten the sauce. BJ’s version of Kochujang was a little more acidic, less viscous, sweeter, bright dark red. Unlike the Japanese Sashimi style that may use a light Yuzu citrus to freshen & lighten the meaty fish flavours, the Kochujang makes the fish meats more laden with an earthy substantial fermented meatiness that would be an ideal pairing with the stronger, more vodka-​like Korean So-​ju.
3) Timbale of Miso/​chile paste inflected Sashimi of Tai/​Japanese Red Snapper, Hamachi, Kanpachi with an admixture of nutty, smoky sesame seed oil, and the more green herbal basil oil. BJ didn’t have Korean Miso paste so he used the Japanese Miso paste instead, but the execution was in the Korean style which again showed the earthy, smoky, piquant, strong vegetal scents.
Since BJ specializes more in the Japanese Sushi style, he didn’t stock a wide range of Korean condiments to give me a full spectrum of what Korean style Sashimi can be so we returned to the Japanese menu:
4) Kuruma Ebi/​Japanese Imperial prawn was fried in a light Tempura batter. The meat is denser bit more chewy, less pasty than the typical «Ama Ebi» of Santa Barbara with a light sweet sea minerality.
5) Sushi of Uni/​sea urchin & Ankimo/​liver of Lotte or Anglerfish: The Ankimo is prepared very similarly to the French Torchon de Fois Gras in that the liver is twisted in cloth to create a cylindrical shaped «sausage» & steamed. It is then sliced to form a round on which raw Uni is placed. Nice strong flavours of sea brininess of the soft unctuous Uni marry with the pasty gamey liver flavour & its meaty iron tinged minerality. A nice rich, heavy ending for all the sensory receptors needed to satisfy all gustatory cravings at least for the evening.
1 – 5) Because most of the meal was Korean based, I opted for So-​ju since it has the huge power to clear the palate of the associated earthy, rich, heavier flavours. My assumption is that Korean cuisine & So-​ju have evolved together and so is more of a natural pairing. Just as Japanese cuisine has more natural affinity to Sake (sah keh) although the Japanese do made Sho-​chu– (show chew) which is very similar to So-​ju, but I believe the Japanese have made Sake for over 2,000 years making it a more venerable pairing.
BJ & the two other chefs are good hosts, and so for those Sushi cognoscenti who want a more personalized approach where the Sushi Chef can size you up & pull out all the stops for a more sophisticated Omakase (oh mah kah seh) style, be sure to sit at the Sushi Bar. The near proximity to the chefs is essential for clear, unambiguous communication so necessary for more memorable Sushi. Good solid 4 Unilocal stars if you know what you like & want from the Sushi universe.