Lava Sushi

If I could give half a star I would. I placed an order for a gathering,(in the morning) which the order requires immediate payment because it was supposed to be delivered. Needless to say I received a confirmation for my order and about an hour before the food was supposed to be delivered,(afternoon) it was CANCELLED! What a predicament I was placed in. I called several times in hopes to just pick up my order, and each time I called no one answered so I was going to leave a voice message but the voice mailbox was full and I couldn’t reach anyone and this was during business hours!
Not cool. It’s just not worth it.

Clearly place is going out of business and they are trying to milk everyone for their last and final payments via catering and events. They’ve posted on Facebook that are having water line issues yet
Didn’t change hours on Google or anything. I’ve showed up twice to use gift certificates that expire at the end of the year and the business is closed… I’ve called and called no responses. Poor service, poor planning, doesn’t deserve even a one star.

BLUF: this place is definitely worth the price, get the traditional rolls. The bar is great, lots of sake choices. I have never had to wait on a table.
So I have been going to this place for some time now and have been since it first opened. While at first I was rather Luke warm on the place, good quality fish for a high price seemed like something to go on my meh list. However as I continued to come back I found the hidden gems of the menu.
While they have the typical American style roles they have a selection of simple traditional items that are exactly what I like (please do get the Negi Toro roll if they have it in stock). While a bit on the pricy side the quality of fish makes up for it to a point.
The bar is what seals the deal with this place, mixed drinks are relatively inexpensive and tasty. The bar has drinks and beer for whatever you are in the mood for, including a wide selection of fine sake.
Do enjoy this place.

My new favorite sushi restaurant. I am very cautious when it comes to eating sushi, but this place is unreal. Does not smell fishy here whatsoever. Sushi is so fresh it feathers in your mouth. I eat sushi at least once a week. Prices are great considering the quality of the freshness. I can’t wait to come back again! And very soon too.
Th staff is great too and the chef come to our table to make sure everything was to our standards. The owner is super nice too!
Everyone has to try this place now!
Still has not disappointed in the quality and service and did I say quality of the fish!!! I get so excited knowing I come to eat here.

We had a work happy hour here last night and everything was AMAZING! The sushi chef made us the most beautiful and delectable sashimi plate I’ve ever had. The sashimi was thinly sliced (some places cut it way too thick) and super fresh! We tried the popper appetizer and that was super yummy and creative.
Great wine, sake and beer options (we had it all)! They actually offer half off of bottles of wine on Wednesdays which was a smoking deal. Our service was fabulous, too! I will definitely be going back.

The place looks nice. The sushi was just sushi. We ordered the typohoon roll, dragon roll, and spicy tuna roll. For appetizers we ordered fried gyza and ahi poke. The sushi is def more expensive than sushi places so be mindful of that.

SD local —
Basic rolls and specialty rolls — ***2/​5*** I can give individual reviews but, to be honest… they were all Mediocre. The red dragon specifically was disappointing. Instead of pieces of Tuna layering the top it was covered with mush scrap tuna. I worked at a well respected sushi restaurant for 3 years and I am well aware of what that scrap mush Tuna is.
Sadly we’ve become accustomed to cheap sushi. I will pay $$$$ for good quality sushi but it rubs me the wrong way when a restaurant charges more but has the quality comparative to sushi deli.
If you sell cheap sushi, own it and let your cheap sushi flag fly. Don’t be a poser!

We went on a Friday night. We figured the atmosphere would be buzzin and would have some good vibes. it was dead. However, the service was on point. Super friendly and attentive.
The food… ehhh, not so much.
The menu is pretty weak, the food is overpriced and the sushi really wasn’t very good. I hate to bash on the place so much but there really isn’t many pro’s to speak of. If you listen to my suggestion, I’d go elsewhere. There are plenty of good food spots in the area.

So I have to edit the review again. I wanted to like them, I really did. I had a terrible experience in the restaurant about a year ago, didn’t even get to try the food and posted the details. The owner offered me a $ 30 credit to come give it another chance. A year later I finally did. I guess they have a new owner. While the food was good, I was premature in giving them an updated rating. They didn’t stand behind the offer. They gave me $ 4 off my meal. The food was good, but the owners really need a lesson in working with the public. I came back and gave them a try, the manager or owner was there and didn’t check in with me and didn’t honor the $ 30 credit promise.
Food is over priced and mgmt/​owner doesn’t stand behind good customer service. Too bad. Again, I really wanted to like them.

We checked this place out because we had a groupon (thanks to Unilocaler Amy S), and decided to go all out and order a bunch of food. We got two appetizers (edamame, squid), four rolls (salmon skin, mango jalapeño, spicy tuna, shrimp tempura), and a salad.
The rolls were all very tasty, with the exception of the salmon skin, which was a bit bland. The mango jalapeño was surprisingly good – it was fruity, but also a bit spicy, definitely worth trying. The squid was delicious (according to my husband, I opted out), and the portion size for the edamame was huge!
Our waitress was extremely friendly, but the kitchen was moving very slowly when we were there, even though we were one of three tables in the entire restaurant. It was a bit unnerving actually, and odd too since we got our appetizers last.
Also, they have a pretty great happy hour. Good prices, would be a great date night on a budget type restaurant.
Finally, the atmosphere. Very cool. We went at 6pm, so it was still light out, but as it got darker, the restaurant got way cooler – try this place out for dinner instead of lunch.

Love the Lava Lounge! Great food, great drinks, great service! Trifecta!!!
On the weekends they have really good music so you can chill and dance and actually have a place to sit. Winning!!!

One of the worst sushi experiences ever! Service was so RUDE! I went to visit San Diego hoping to experience a great atmosphere, and walked into this restaurant hoping for good sushi, not only did I get treated bad, the food took 45min just to bring out a Miso soup, it doesn’t take that long to pour soup into a small bowl!!! Waiter came with a pitcher of water, since we asked for refills about 20times and spilled half the pitcher on the table and asked, if we still wanted to rest of the water on the pitcher, and never did he clean up the spill! Honestly people beware!!! I had to speak to the manager but he wasn’t there, and decided to speak with the head chef, and the funny part, the table across from us was also complaining about their service delay!
Worst $ 98 spent! McDonald’s has better service.
I wonder how this restaurant still stays in business.
Improve on your service and management, you’ll be in my prayers! GOODLUCK people !

Got the mini assorted nigiri. Liked it all except the mackerel. fish seemed really fresh, was delishious, but rice could have been a little fresher (it was cold, almost like it had been frigerated so a little hard). Edamame was generious and happy hour $ 2. Have me a free sake bomb for checking in! Service was very friendly.

This was one of the stops for Taste of Hillcrest, it was love at first bite. Went back again for dinner during ‘Dine Out — San Diego’ event. They have a pretty extensive and expensive Sake menu… premium stuff!
We had several sushi rolls and all were very tasty, fresh, and nicely presented!
Although the restaurant was packed we still had great service and our server checked on us often. The interior is nicely done, the furniture and lighting is great! Great vibe!

I bought the groupon (totally worth it) on a whim and got a laugh out of it. My husband said «where are you taking me??!» as the whole street was sporting a rainbow flag and the sushi place was next to a gay strip club dubbed «The Dirtiest Show in the World». It was just so random!
Great atmosphere inside– spacious and well decorated. They’ve got a full bar also. Portions were generous. Waiters were friendly and professional. The wait wasn’t long at all. The sushi, however, was so-​so. Nothing too incredible about it. Even though I had a good experience, I will most likely not return.

Not worth the groupon.
15 min to get drinks.
40 min to get 2 sushi rolls. (Oh and our refill which we were waiting for with empty glasses for at least 20 min)
And another 15 to get the fried rice (1 hr to get a small plate of fried rice — seriously?!)
Staff ignored us — we even couldn’t get their attention twice after trying to wave them down since they ALL were looking at the ground when walking.
Bartender was supposed to be our waiter but he ignored us. Staff tried to cover for him saying he was busy but he never made drinks for the 2 people at the bar, just kept chatting with them.
WORST SERVICE EVER!!!
Never coming back again.
Only reason this place gets 2 stars is because the food was decent. I can only assume that is why they are still in business.

Food was good! The server was also good! For appetizers we had garlic edamame (my favorite) and miso soup was okay! My roll I would go back for is the sin city and the crab roll!
The service coming from the kitchen was a little slow! There was not a lot of people, but I noticed only one cook in the kitchen! It was Monday maybe that’s why only 1 cook not expecting to be too busy…
Parking was not to hard to find in the area! Took us 5 min and was right in front…

Decent spot. Build out was good, menu had lots of great options and all of the food we got was tasty.
I’m surprised this spot isn’t busier on a Friday night.

Went here for Burger week. I feel weird writing a review for a burger at a sushi place but here goes. Burger patty was a little overdone. But the bread and garnish were good. The fries were delicious, and who would have known how good they taste with that spicy mayo! I really liked the whole ambiance of this place and I should prob return some time for sushi. Hope things work out for them bc it seems like a cool place!

Fresh fish has never been so delicate & sweet to the tongue.
Tasting the mango yellowtail roll is like sitting on your favorite beach on an island, wind streaming through your hair, & every organ in your body on high alert.
It is that good.
My boyfriend and I also tried the Spicy Scallop roll which was yummy as well as the Red Dragon roll. The albacore sashimi was a hit. The garlic edamame was a great way to start off dinner in addition to the $ 1 Sake Bomb offer on Unilocal.
Our server was Aaron who was easy on the eyes and made wonderful recommendations.
The ambience, however, is quite loud esp. with the music that it was hard to hear our own conversation when we were not busy stuffing our faces :)
I also only gave it four stars b/​c the lavatory when I visited was sloppy & flooded; there were no yellow caution signs, & it had the feel of a bathroom at a bar when it is 2am and the place is shutting down.
Otherwise, the food & service are a good pair but they could work on the sanitation of the lavatory areas, encouraging their staff to check-​in on a regular basis so that it does not detract from the overall dining experience.