Sushi Huku & Robata

Been following jay and the gang for many many years! The move to a bigger spot was awesome!!! Great décor, great ambiance, AMAZING displays. Love seeing the boys Danny, Edgar, and Taka! Always a smile and a laugh! Love my girl sunny too. Chris is a hoot as well! ALWAYS remembers what we like! ALWAYS offers new tastes! LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU GUYS!

I had Sushi at this place 3 years ago, when visiting my cousin in San Marcos and I can say for sure that this is the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life. I still have the picture of the food In my Instagram. The look of the food is as good as the quality of it. I live in LA now and have been trying to find a sushi place like this place, here in LA. They have a huge selection of different types f sushi. My favorite was «Rainbow».

Great sushi with excellent service. You can tell that they really care about their customers here. You can tell there are a lot of regulars as well.
There is a huge selection of different types of sushi rolls. My favorite was the Shrimp Killer roll (shrimp outside with shrimp tempura roll inside). The Vegas roll and Hawaiian roll are also good if you are like me and like the basic California roll with a little extra.
The parking lot isn’t too busy. Prices could be better but I think the quality and service makes up for it.

Very good experiences here today!!! Foods were excellent as well as the services. The place was very clean and price was affordable. Thumbs up !

The sushi is fresh fresh fresh! We were seated right away and the service was outstanding. Chef Eddie customized our orders a bit since we love our jalapeños. Super appreciated that. The owners are sweet and love the kids. We are are on our way right now for our albacore. Can’t wait!

Boyfriend’s choice for his birthday dinner. Made reservations, telling them of celebration. We have dined here several times before.
Asked foodserver if Sonny and Jay were there to wish bf a Happy Birthday. He said they were in the back.
Beef was so tough, my dad was unable to chew it.
Service was good, but both the male and female had ZERO personality. I ordered a Sapporo. We asked if my dad could have a sample to see if he liked it, the female foodserver said that he could taste mine. Seriously? I had to ask the male, he brought my dad a sample and we then ordered the beer.
I inquired again if Sonny and Jay would be able to come out and say hello and extend a birthday wish, «oh, they’re gone.»
There are a lot of restaurant choices. $ 88 for 3 people and never even one simple «happy birthday».
Service is only good when the owners are on the floor.

This place came recommended to us by a local friend and I’m glad we listened. The atmosphere is casual and not quaint like some other sushi spots but on this particular night it was only about the sushi… and the sake. We had a number of different rolls and all of them were fresh and very good. Our waitress recommended a sake, which ended up being fantastic and a perfect pairing for sushi. If you’re up for a casual night and craving sushi then you should consider checking this place out.

Very sad to be writting this about one of my former favorites. I attempted to give them one last shot for a to go order. I Called in and the guy that took the call was condescending. Bad taste #1. I had to repeat myself multiple times. I get there to pick up my lunch order (20 mins), not ready ok. Sushi chef says 2 more minutes. Meanwhile my co workers order is done. We were on same order but separate checks, why mine took 10 minutes longer than me was beyond me. Service was less than satisfying and I will not be returning to this establishment. I have attached a picture of my lemon roll to show what poor quality the sushi chef used when making this roll. I am sure he saw my frustion of having to wait. His 2 minutes transposed to 10 minutes. Picture speaks for itself.

Just came to the new «sushi huku & robata» after going to the regular «sushi huku» since 2012. Right off the bat I see the prices of the rolls gone up at least $ 2. Definitely bummed out about that but I figured the sushi will at least keep its quality like before. I was wrong, I ordered the Marcos roll and the salmon on top was not completely covering the roll like before. Back then the salmon would cover the top and the sides, the fish now only covers the top.

I also ordered the Tonkotsu ramen and it was sub-​par to the ramen places on convoy. They only gave bean sprouts and red ginger and didnt even give me the full egg, just half lol. The service was really lacking also. I asked for an extra spoon and the waiter’s body language was putting me off because it looked like he didn’t wanna do it and was lazy. And to top it off the waitress was sleeping and didnt even refill or ask how was our food. Will probably not come here again.

I wouldn’t return here again, for three simple reasons:
#1
Like other reviews said before me, the service here is hit or miss. This place is understaffed, and we came on a busy packed night with only 3 servers for the whole restaurant. This tells me that the owners are too cheap in trying to control their overhead costs. It took 10 min to take our order, and none of the servers seemed happy to be there (either that, or they were overwhelmed by how busy it was).
#2
The food is just not good, plain and simple. Every piece of fish I had tasted previously frozen, and although I don’t have high standards for my sushi here in north county, it’s bad even for this area. Even the uni tasted bland. It’s obvious that they don’t flavor the rice at all, so it’s not even sushi rice. It’s Tabu Sushi Bar down the street from here has similar prices and better quality tasting fish.
#3
This place seemed confused about what their specialty was. They’re trying too hard to be both a sushi place AND izakaya-​style (aka Japan street style food). Sadly, the food here falls short on both ends. They need to focus on one or the other, because it’s just mediocre all around. If you’re looking for good sushi, there are better areas around San Marcos

We came for here for dinner tonight. It was pretty busy, but we were seated immediately because we were a party of two. Upon being seated, we were given menus and had our drink orders taken. We were seated snug in between two other occupied tables as well. It took about 15 – 20 minutes to get our order taken.
I ordered the miso ramen, and my boyfriend had the ninja and California roll. All of the food was well put together and very tasty, but the reason why I’m giving them a 3-​star rating is because of the service. No one EXCEPT the owner (very attentive Asian woman) actually checked on us to see how we were doing after the food was brought to us.
We were not offered a water refill until she came by our table to ask us if we were doing okay. As she presented us our check, she kept apologizing for having us wait, etc. I totally respect her diligence to keep us satisfied.
The other waiters did not make eye contact with us whatsoever. Great food, but mediocre service from the waiters.

Bluefin Tuna melts in your mouth like butter!
Try the 2014 or San Marcos for some other favs w Salmon.
Spicy tuna hand rolls or phenom too!
Oh yea, drinks are yummy too: P

I can’t live without good sashimi so when I moved to North County, I found the closest sushi joint. This seemed promising and (spoiler alert) I’m glad I found it. We came during lunch on a weekend and it was relatively empty. The server was extremely nice and tentative and she came back swiftly when we were ready to order. The order came with soup and salad which came out quickly after she took our order. We ordered off the lunch menu, I got the sashimi plate and boyfriend got a sushi plate. Both orders came relatively quickly (10 – 15 minutes).
The sashimi was fresh (not the freshest I’ve had — but good) and it didn’t taste frozen. The cost was reasonable and I will definitely back to get my sashimi fix.

I took my wife to Sushi Huku for a weekend lunch as she loves real asian food where as I usually eat the Americanized version. Sushi Huku offers daily lunch specials that are reasonably priced around $ 7-​$ 10 which include 1 or 2 food selections from a list, miso soup, a small salad, and rice. I ordered the lunch special with the teriyaki chicken while my wife ordered one of their ramen dishes and also ate the sushi from my combo. Portion sizes were pretty good for the price and our service was excellent with our water being refilled before our glasses were ever empty. My wife enjoyed the food and is interested in trying more of their sushi next time. Sports were playing on Saturday if you want to catch a game. The restaurant is located near Habit Burger Grill has a good amount of parking.

Been here a couple times now and left both times feeling pretty satisfied. I’m not quite sure how to review Sushi Huku since there’s nothing about the place or food that blows me away, but there’s nothing I didn’t like either and i’d come back. if i were talking to a friend about this place it’d probably go something like:
«how was sushi huku?»
«oh it was pretty good»
«recommend?»
“sure“
Anyways, what we’ve had:
Handrolls: standard. spicy tuna and scallop were both good.
Ramen: not as salty as other ramens in SD (some would say it’s not as flavorful)
Rolls: all the ones we’ve tried have been good.
Haven’t tried any of the robata/​skewer things
Everything’s decently priced and the service is good — one of the guys could probably crack a smile or not look miserable but he serviced us just fine lol.

My husband and I love this place. We’ve been eating here for the past 5 years. It’s not the closest sushi location to our house, but the drive is a no brainer. The fish is ALWAYS fresh, and the prices are reasonable. Love that it’s small but still can accommodate a good crowd. The service is always great and very family like and we never have to wait very long if not at all. Love love love the new location and modern upgrade. New face but the same good food and good service.

Some of the best sushi I’ve had lately!
I came here for dinner a few weeks ago on a Saturday night and with no wait and had the option to pick where we wanted to sit.
Upon being seated, kicked off the dinner with some draft beer and sake, great way to start off with cold refreshing beer on a warm evening!
As for the appetizer, ended up trying the WOW! Fried Salmon Skins. so AMAZING! This had the right amount of crunch and flavor and was perfect as crunchy toppings to add on top of the sushi later as they tried taking the plate at times, I had to be like nope not yet still working on this app! haha ;D
SUSHI:
–Valerie Roll: Deep fried Philadelphia roll
–Eel Roll
–PJ Roll: Albacore on top of Shrimp Tempura roll with Cream Cheese
For dinner, the *Valerie Roll*, *Eel Roll*, and *PJ Roll* came out in decent time and I was definitely impressed with the quality and freshness! These rolls were sooo tastyyyy!
I love this sushi spot… it’s a great restaurant, sweet service, and now one of my faves :))

Came here for the first time the other day and was pretty impressed! To start, the waitress suggested that we try their bluefin tuna handrolls, apparently a special for the day. SO GOOD. Melt in your mouth good. I was trying to explain to my husband later that day why I thought it was so good and the only thing I could think of was «fishy butter». I quickly realized my words weren’t accurately portraying the pure beauty of this handroll, to which he responded, «I understand what you’re saying. It was delicious and amazing.» Believe me, it was worth ordering.
That being said, the rest of our meal was good– the Vegas roll was tasty, the spicy tuna was a bit too spicy (and not in a «I don’t like spicy things» way, but in a it was taking away from the taste of the roll itself way), and the salad was perfectly average. Overall, a good meal with great service and reasonable prices. I’ll go again gladly. And order six bluefin tuna handrolls.

Rico el roll de ostras perfecto no muy salado, pero el roll de pepino con pez me gusto pero muy muy picante el atun que llevo dentro.

Taste– ****
Service– ***
Ambiance– ****
Parking– *****
Sushi Huku & Robata is repping Sushi in North County, hard. Great place for sushi, but as the name suggests also for robata/​robatayaki. Robatayaki is magic on a stick, it’s perfectly grilled meat skewers cooked BBQ style over charcoal. Not many Japanese restaurants in SD many options for robata, but this place has the works. There are so many delicious options, but I really love the pork belly. It’s so fatty and delicious, a perfect appetizer before the sushi. The sushi rolls are fresh and well balanced. Solid place to eat.

It’s a nice sushi restaurant. We’ve been here twice, once at the old location, once at the new one. We had a decent experience both times. Honestly, the pickings are kind of slim in this part of North County, and Sushi Huku is a nice little gem that me and the wife will visit whenever we are in the area, and are getting hungry.
The Robata addition is nice, although we mostly still come here for the sushi. It’s reasonably priced for the quality and we always have a good meal here. Since they opened the Robata portion, we ordered a few things from the Robata menu (pork belly and mushrooms). This review is for a visit about 1 month ago, so I guess all I can say was that it was ok, not super memorable.
I ordered a chirashi bowl my most recent visit. The bowl was an ok size for the price. It wasn’t enough to fill me up on its own though so I added an extra couple nigiri on the side (saba and hamachi, my 2 favorite).

Sushi Huku is a pretty cool little sushi joint located right in the heart of San Marcos. You can tell that this place is a new and recent remodel as the paint and furnishings are all new and fresh. Came here on a Friday night and they weren’t too crowded… Ordered a couple of rolls and each of them were pretty tasty, can vouch for the rainbow, ninja, lobster and albacore sashimi. The Tate was pretty good, seaweed seemed a bit chewy then I’d prefer, but the overall experience was pretty solid. I would likely revisit this location to get some more sashimi and some ramen.
Pros–
Decent location
Easy parking
Nice menu
Cleanliness
Prompt service
TVs
Cons–
A bit pricey
Seaweed chewy
Limited beer selection

Hm… I’m not so sure about the new Huku. We were regulars at the old place and it felt cozy and local. (We went to the old one for at least 11 times in the past year.) I understand they got busy and needed a bigger place, and the modern, updated décor was nice, but it didn’t feel like we’re going to a local business anymore. It had too many TV screens and became more Americanized, not that it was Japanese to begin with because it’s operated by Koreans.
Décor aside, the food was just okay. The fish didn’t seem to be as fresh as before. My bf’s theory is that now the restaurant got bigger, they had to buy more ingredients in case they run out, so stuff might not be as fresh as before than if they were buying smaller batches. Who knows but the theory sounds logical.
We of course ordered the robatayaki items since that’s what the new fuzz was about! Will not order anymore, total disappointment. The chicken gizzards were the most chewy I had and they were under-​seasoned. I spit out one and told our server, but nothing was done. I probably should have flagged down the manager or someone higher up. The pork belly was highly rated so we tried that too. It was chewy for my standard. Pork belly is the easiest cut to work with and I don’t get how it could be chewy. I didn’t finish my skewer either. We’re glad we didn’t order any more skewers as the disappointment would probably have grown even more.
That was not a good start, but at least we still enjoyed two of the three rolls we ordered which we had before in the old location. The baked LOBSTER!!! roll was delicious and creamy. It’s full of mayo, so if you’re a mayo fan like me, get this! It tasted like langoustine lobster to me so I’m not sure if that’s real lobster. The spicy king cobra roll was still spot on, flavor-​wise, with crunchy soft shell crab on spicy California roll. However, the roll wrapping skill had gone down since we first started coming here as the rice doesn’t wrap around the nori and it fell apart easily in my chopsticks.
The raw fish we had was not too fresh. The meat looked dull and lackluster. They did a really good job making all the sauces so they covered up whatever unfresh fish they had anyway.
Great job on the sauces, but the skewer cooking was subpar. We walked past the table with ramen ordered and the bowl didn’t look too appetizing either.
Service was quite attentive. Servers came to take our order fast and food was delivered fast. There was just a bit of hospitality and warmth lacking in the restaurant. It’s like the servers were all temps and they weren’t at ease, but we’ll give it some time and come back and see what happens.
We will still come back for another shot since we used to be regulars. We hate to see our regular restaurant going downhill… We also know what rolls are good and if we’re craving them again we’ll definitely stop by. But overall, there is still a lot more room for improvement before I can give a 5 stars. I shall write an update review then.