Taka

Truly delicious and prepared by a properly trained and well experienced Japanese sushi chef. It was a wonderful experience sitting at the sushi bar, even if it was by myself. I would definitely return!

Very big rolls, it’s tasty! Thanks! and rolls with scallops so so, my boyfriend wasn’t satisfied. Maybe we will comeback again

Best sushi in San Diego. Chefs are knowledgable about their food. Freshest of fish everyday. Excellent service every time.
They make an extra effort to make sure take out orders are fresh upon pick up (i.e. No soggy hand rolls yay!) And for California roll fans, FRESH CRAB – none of this imitation crap.

First and foremost, Taka is the best Japanese Sushi Restaurant in Downtown San Diego PERIOD. You’re a fool if you don’t stop by at lease once a week to understand the word FRESHEST & Hospitality TAKA Sushi is all about. I’ve only been here since the 24^th of May and I do have to say this, «I’ve become a big fan of TAKA» I even went out my way to get them some Hibiki Whiskey for them on the house. It’s that good people. Wake-​up and smell the freshest and hospitality you will receive from the waiter and staff there. Yes, it’s a little expensive but think about the hard labor work they have to do in order to provide fresh seafood items. Nothing in the restaurant is old and age. My name is Keiki and I am there everyday because only eat seafood items and don’t eat meat (chicken, Beef, Pork especially etc) I’d love the sake there and the miso soup is to really love with all your heart. Each time I am there and I’m about to have a bite, I want to cry. It’s that damn good where my stomach is thinking it’s back in Osaka, Japan. I will be there today and everyday until June 1^st. But please everyone take the time to eat real quality food for a change. On my last day, I try not to be sad about leave San Diego and not able to continue to have such delicious meals from Taka. I’m going to miss everyone that works at Taka and the owner. Very sweet and lovely people and that what makes me sad. But one thing is for sure I will be back in December to hangout again and as you see the photos, I made some good friends and felt like home.

Really really wanted to give it A five-​star. Fish unbelievably fresh seaweed salad to die for. Never had a seaweed salad with four different types of seaweed pretty outstanding. They just need to work on the hostess and some unique rules in this place would be a 5

Great sushi, extremely fresh, all of the chef’s are Japanese which should tell you enough.

I came here hoping for some great sushi and was very disappointed. The fish was not fresh… The spicy tuna and spicy yellowtail were very old. They also lacked flavor.
To their credit this place has good service, but the sushi didn’t match their level of service. In fact, this was the first time in a long time I didn’t want to finish some of my rolls.
Hopefully this was just a bad night for these guys…

I am Japanese. A master made a mistake to explain a price of Uni/​sea urchin and shrimp, but I had to pay different additional fees which was twice.
They would be Japanese, but they lost the most important Japanese mind. I cannot agree that they called Japanese restaurant, it is a shame, just thought to be sushi bar. Also, a green tea costed $ 2, I have never experienced to pay tea with money. Unreasonable expensive/​cheating sushi, unfortunately… They are not a honest Japanese restaurant. Please care about yourself!

Really enjoyed the Tuna Tar Tar. It was artfully prepared and had a bonus Quail egg on top!

Taka Restaurant, our Go TO favorite Japanese restaurant when we come to San Diego 2 times a year. I call in advance, reserve my table and always reserve my Uni. We had Friday, 7:00 p.m. dinner reservations, when we arrived at 7:00 we were told by the hostess that our reservations were at 7:30. When the hostess noted my extreme annoyance she showed me someone had changed it, but she quickly told me not to worry and did seat us. Sooo I don’t know what that was all about.
Martin our server for the past 5 years we’ve been coming here recognized us and took very good care of us as usual. We ordered Sake, Edamame, Hamachi Sashimi, Salmon Nigiri, Uni Nigiri, Tuna Nigiri, Smelt Egg with Quail Egg Nigiri, Shrimp Tempura Roll, Hamachi Kama, and a Chicken Teriyaki. All excellent!
Service and food excellent as usual.

Excellent quality fish. Best traditional sushi in gaslamp. The place is on the small side, but it was comfortable. Definitely make a reservation before coming in. We had the chef’s choice of nigiri, and I loved every bite. The portions were good sized. The prices are on the higher side, but you get what you pay for. I would return again.

I ate here twice in the last 5 days during a visit to San Diego. Sat at the sushi bar both times and was taken care of by Hiro-​san. I ordered omakase (sushi and sashimi) and both meals were absolutely superb. The fish was outstanding, the uni was delicious and some of their cooked preparations — crab’s legs and black cod, were also exceptional. This is no-​frills, top quality sushi at its very best. If you want mediocre budget-​level sushi, go somewhere else. Taka Sushi is the real deal. The servers were all excellent, and Hiro-​san was fun to talk to. I will definitely be back during my next trip to San Diego.

amazing. real sushi! None of that mayo stuff. crazy pricey. $ 150 per person with high end sake. but for me at least, worth every penny. we went crazy. but I’d think it’d cost at least $ 75 per person. Still to be able to order in Japanese and the quality of the bluefin Toro and uni was amazing.
if I lived here, it’d definitely be a once a quarter stop. I’d go broke if I brought my kids but I would. they had ankimo steamed at the shop. They had Yama imo and natto as well. two thumbs up!!!

Taka was everything we were hoping for in a restaurant this past Saturday, which we thought was deserving of a 25% tip. However, later we found out that Taka charged additional tip on a two-​person dinner without our knowledge.
At this point, it doesn’t even matter what our experience was like, or how good the food was — that’s just wrong. There are many other great Japanese restaurants in the area worth visiting without this bitter taste. Regretfully, we won’t be making it back to Taka or making any recommendations for this place.

The service here was impeccable. We showed up at 7:30pm on VALENTINE’S DAY and the lovely lady hostess did everything she could to get us a table, she really jumped through hoops and shuffled things around for us. The waiters were so on point, they knew their stuff, they were anticipatory of every need. The minute my fiancé set down his drink empty the waiter was already there replacing his empty glass with a new one.
The food was delicious, fresh and well prepared. The sushi chefs were friendly and skilled.
I cannot praise this place enough and I look forward to going back.

Cool smallish spot in the gaslamp area. Great service and fantastic sushi. Loved the uni, toro, yellowtail, and just about everything else.

Very fresh fish and excellent service. Definitely not the cheapest option for sushi in gaslamp but by far the best. Special baterra and spicy tuna tartar are perfect along with a mix of sushi. Service is on point and very friendly.

Hiro our sushi chef treated us to a view of his expertise on carving a lobster tail and the torso still moving after it lost its tail. Fresh, delicious, and beautiful presentation of the pieces. I’m just in town for a convention, but this place worth a visit on its own. Busy even on a Monday night, can’t imagine how packed on a weekend! Make reservations! Excellent cuts and friendly.

If you like all raw sushi, this might be the place for you.
They don’t have a big selection for cooked sushi so it was kind of disappointing given how many stars/​reviews it had.

Dayymmmmnn that uni doe!
Dropped in with no reservations on a Saturday night. It was busy but there was a couple that left so we came up!
Recommend:
Toro
Uni
The uni and toro came with shiso leaf, fresh wasabi, and a mixture of fresh seaweed.
We also the philly roll. The rolls here are pretty big if that’s your thing.
Its expensive but you’re paying for quality.

The sushi is extremely fresh here. I couldn’t believe that the omakase was for $ 45! The food was amazing. Thank you Unilocal for showing me around where to eat in San Diego (one of my favorite cities). I love the service, ambience and the food hit the spot for some sashimi cravings. Love it! I will come back when I’m back in San Diego.

Service was really good. Food was good. Price was not good.
A business associate and I stopped in for dinner, had seaweed salad (not your normal type, a plate of four varieties… All good!), edamame, two 8 oz Asahi and two platters (Omakase sashimi and nigiri, very fresh/​tasty) with about 10 – 12 pieces on each.
Then received a $ 127 bill. Sorry, that is just ridiculous pricing and there is no reason for it. I left hungry and regretting our choice to eat there.
Would like to rate two stars, but our server/​service was really good. This is a price issue only.

Fantastic. The fish was so fresh. Beware the rolls are filling. One roll is enough with an app for dinner. The miso soup w crab, agedashi tofu, rainbow roll were my favorites. The restaurant takes reservations and since its small would recommend calling in advance. Everything about my dining experience here was great. The waitress thankfully stopped me from ordering an extra roll which I appreciated because I couldn’t even finish the one I had after the appetizers.

Amazing sushi. So good. I came here during a trip to San Diego and was not disappointed. The place is cozy and clean, the service excellent. The sushi… fantastic. It is fresh, served promptly, and delicious. The sushi chefs here are very good. I recommend asking for the specials, for example the special snapper we had was divine. Highly recommend!

SOLID.
My close friend brought me here on a Friday evening, with a reservation for 2 at 7:15 PM. I wasn’t sure what to expect but my friend said that this was his favorite restaurant here in San Diego… so he wanted me to try it with him!
Bold statement! But I was ready for the challenge!
The place was small, and we circled around for a good 5 minutes before we gave up and paid $ 20 for Valet parking. WORTH IT! DO IT! Especially on a Friday night!
The décor of this place was definitely classy yet casual at the same time. I love that the sushi chefs were wearing crisp white tops and a tie underneath their white sushi coat. And SO MUCH FRESH FISH!
We arrived late to our reservation, but they still had our seats! We were quickly given the menu and asked what we wanted to drink.
SO MANY OPTIONS. My friend told me to order away and that’s exactly what I did!
I ordered:
–1 miso soup (tofu, green onion and seaweed) $ 2.75 /​/​Standard, but a big bowl and nice presentation! The soup was sitting there for a good 10 minutes and I was surprised it was still hot.
–Tuna sashimi (8 pieces, $ 17.75) /​/​HUGE SLABS. MUST GET!
–Yellowtail (8 pieces, $ 18.75) /​/​YES. GET!
–Halibut (8 pieces, $ 17.75) /​/​Definitely fresh, but a fish that I personally don’t like.
–Salmon (10 pieces, $ 17.75) /​/​HUGE PIECES! Delicious. 10 pieces?! Be my guest!
–Egg nigiri (2 pieces, $ 4.00) /​/​The perfect sweetness, and huge pieces! Yummy!
–Scallop nigiri (2 pieces, $ 5.00) /​/​Ehhh. alright! But didn’t blow me away.
–Shrimp nigiri (2 pieces, $ 5.00) /​/​We got two orders of shrimp nigiri. YUM! I think we may have gotten the sweet shrimp, but either way… WORTH!
–sea urchin (2 pieces, $ 11.50 and up) /​/​We got two orders of uni. If you like uni, this is definitely fresh!
–Spicy tuna tar tar ($ 11.50) /​/​A bit too salty for me… but a good appetizer!
–Soft shell crab ($ 11.00) /​/​The crab itself was tiny, and it had a lot of coating. But still crunchy and yummy!
–Baked black cod fish ($ 9.50) /​/​YES!!! I got the appetizer size for this, just to get a taste of the fish. Not too sweet, and the perfect juiciness. MUST GET!
–Fresh oyster ½ shell (3 pieces, $ 7.00) /​/​HOLY. I’ve been missing out on life… oysters are life!
–Edamame ($ 4.00) /​/​Standard, and a pretty big bowl!
Pros:
–Nice atmosphere! Upon entrance, you have a Asian-​American fusion atmosphere. I LOVE IT! And seemed hip, modern but classy at the same time. Definitely a good place to get together after work or even on a fancy date!
–Good service! Besides a little mishap with trying to add an additional chair for a friend who just came to chat with us, our waitress was super nice!
–Great selection! For the size of the place, I am in awe of the selection they are able to pull off! They have a few amount of entrees which tells you something, right? That they specialize in their fresh catch!
–Pricey but worth it! Quantity was great, and it seemed like everyone was enjoying their meal!
Cons:
–NOT real wasabi. :(It’s still out of the jar, so it’s not as spicy as I want it to be. I would think for the price I’m paying for amazing sashimi, I would get real wasabi from the roots.
–It’s a Friday night… and I understand it’s busy. But we were not acknowledged for a good 20 minutes, as we waited for the star of the show: the nigiri.
Tips/​Observations:
–Make a call tor reserve beforehand! It will save you waiting time!
–Parking is horrendous here… so carpool! And figure out a parking game plan if you want.
–Definitely get sashimi if you love fish served in the most minimalistic way! Save up, kiddos!
Overall, loved it! I had a great talk with my friend, accompanied by great food. Felt a little out of place since most people here looked like they were already in the work force but hey– can’t stop me from having a great time!

Awesome place to eat sushi in the San Diego area especially they have Japanese sushi chefs that does traditional sushi. It’s hard to find a parking so I give it a 4 star

Fresh stuff comparable to the standalone sushi shops in Japan!
The chefs all speak Japanese and most were trained in Japan for +10 years (obviously).
Couple of notes here:
Make sure to put reservations beforehand.
You may end up getting seats outside.
A little pricey but worth it in my opinion.
Don’t be mad if something like shrimp was not available — that’s totally up to the fish market. Shrimp shortage is everywhere:(
Downtown parking is semi sucky. But. That means you can walk around downtown after your visit here too!

Assez déçue par Taka, annoncé comme un incontournable de la cuisine japonaise sur San Diego. L’Homme n’aura pas la même version car nous n’avons pas commandé la même chose. Lui s’est régalé à né pas en laisser une miette. Moi beaucoup moins. La raison est toute simple: j’adore les makis et les sushis mais je suis allergique aux poissons et aux fruits de mer. Pas franchement pratique et vous me direz: forcément c’est un frein ! Quand on dit sushi on pense forcément à la jolie tranche de poisson dessus. Et bien pas forcément ! Il y a beaucoup de recettes végétarienne, au poulet, au boeuf Wagyu… à expérimenter. Je pense notament à un resto japonais que j’ai fait au début de nos vacances à San Francisco et qui avait un petit (mais joli) choix de sushis/​makis sans poissons à la carte (avis à venir d’ailleurs).
Du coup, chez Taka j’ai été limitée de chez limitée. J’ai fini par prendre des makis avocat (classique) et des makis californiens concombre/​avocat (et en bonus du tofu sauté). Pas folichon, pas franchement bien fait (mauvaise tenue) et pas franchement bon. Au final une note assez salée pour deux (plus de 70 $) et un seul rassasié.

Must pour les sushis à San Diego
Découvrez les poulpes et les anguilles c’est une tuerie
Attention aux prix mais c’est la Californie d’aujourd’hui
Super soirée dans le cadre professionnel avec un spécialiste du lieu
Vivement recommandé

We came in just before the dinner rush with a reservation. They sat us immediately and took our drink order. Drinks came quickly then we ordered the Dynamite for an appetizer. BEST DYNAMITE I’VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE! I get this all the time at sushi restaurants and by far this beats every single one I have ever had. By this point the waitress started to not pay attention to us. Then we ordered the Spicy Tuna Roll, Rainbow Roll, Philadelphia Hand Roll, and Eel Sushi. Yum! They were above and beyond my expectations. Once we finished the waitress just brought us our bill and didn’t ask us if we wanted anything else, which we did… I thought that was extremely rude! We still wanted Mochi Ice Cream but she never came back to us again. Another server ended up taking our check for us so we could pay… I can’t believe that happened… A+ food with C– service…

We found a pice of plastic on our dragon roll!!! Then I told them about it and they just apologized and did literally nothing about it, in fact it still on the plate.
The food was okay to good nothing special! I think it was a little bit over rated.
To be honest I did walk in 20mins before they close but come they’re the one who let me in and welcomed me.
The service was bad, our food took too long, and the fact that they did nothing about that plastic wrap.

This place has excellent sushi! Thy maybe a little pricey but they were worth it. It also has a pretty good atmosphere. The sushi chefs were fun to talk to and the other patrons that visit on the regular were really nice as well. Wound up having a good conversation with a complete stranger which is pretty rare at most restaurants but felt very nature here.
Definitely coming back next time I’m in San Diego.

Probably the best sushi option in the Gaslamp district.
Everything I had was good. They have a couple of small outside tables as well, which are nice if you want to people watch, which I guess is what you do in the Gaslamp district.