Sushi Damu

Of all the sushi places I’ve been too, this is by far the worst place I’ve been too. I came in hungry, but we only made it to the first round of sushi. For being all you can eat, the quality of the food is god awful. I was recommended this place by a friend and sadly to say this place was a disappointment. Service was great the the sushi is a thumbs down. We got our plates of sushi pretty slow. For every dish that we got, it took about 5 – 10 mins for EACH plate. Any other places that I’ve been too, would have done it a lot faster. As we were eating, our first plate of sushi was quite good, but as each plate started coming, it with from 100 to 0 REAL QUICK! The last sushi that we ate was the uni and OMG it was so masty to the point where my friend had to spit it out. The uni was so nasty and did not taste like uni. After eating it, we lost our appetite and couldn’t eat anymore, even though we were hungry. Would I come back??? Hell to the No!

It was our first time trying out this place and we got to say it was a disappointment. My boyfriend and I regretted coming here in the first place. We ordered the baked mussels and they were cold. Also, we ordered the yellowtail collar at the very beginning on our first order and it didn’t come until an hour later. Once we got the yellowtail collar, the bottom was all burnt and it was dried. The sushi we ordered were warm (which they were not supposed to). The piece of rice was overly sour and the fish did not taste fresh at all. We had the uni sushi too and it didn’t look fresh. The fried tofu was cold. The calamari rings were soaked in oil. They were wayyyyy too greasy.
I don’t think either of us will ever come back here again…

Run. Don’t walk. Run away from this place. Damu was hands down one of the best ayce sushi spots around but now that’s just stories of the glory days. Like the once formidable Lakers, Damu was known for quality and a high standard despite its popularity. Now all the fish isn’t fresh, uni was literally brown in color, appetizers came out cold, and half my sushi order wouldn’t come without any explanation as to why. Sushi rice was poorly packed and nothing really looked appetizing when it came to the table. You know it’s bad when you don’t even bother taking photos of the food. I can’t even give them the benefit of the doubt for the lousy service because I came with a small party after the lunch rush. It even took them 10 minutes to seat us and 2 other parties despite there being more than enough tables to at least seat people.

I WISH I COULD GIVE THIS PLACE A ZERO OR EVEN A NEGATIVE STAR, BUT DAMN YOU Unilocal! This place used to be my hubby and my favorite sushi place, but today, it was exceptionally bad. So bad that I don’t think we will ever come back in the future. Let me start from the beginning.
Came in after the lunch rush, there was a short line, but we got seated like 10 mins later. When we got to the table, we noticed that the table was completely wet, with our order paper half soaked and unusable. My husband and I actually had to take turn wiping the table ourselves as the waitress stood there and waited to get our drinks order.
Fast forward to the food. We were starving, so we ordered a bunch of food. The appetizers came first, which included baked mussels, shrimp tempura, and damu wontons. The baked mussels was not hot at all, almost borderline cold. The mussels were not «attached» to the shells either, which made me feel slightly uneasy, like there was a possibility that they were reusing the shells. Shrimp tempura was cold and soggy, and just very unappetizing. The only good thing in this entire meal is their damu wontons, which were fresh, hot, and delicious.
Next, our first round of sushi came, and they were just as horrible. All the sushi were poorly made. The rice was bigger than usual and warm, making all the fish on top warm as well. Lukewarm sushi is just not good at all. The rice was also not squeeze tightly, and every time we picked up a sushi, it just fell apart. Besides the quality of the food, they also messed up our order and didn’t give us more than half the food listed on it. That just blew my mind! The chefs just had to follow the paper and make our nigiri sushi, and we even made it easy because no rolls were ordered on the paper yet, but nope, they still got the order wrong.
Since we were still hungry after our less than half round of sushi, we decided to order some cooked rolls/​hand rolls, other appetizers, and a wee bit more sushi. They can’t mess up their cooked rolls that are supposedly made to order right? WRONG! The spider roll and salmon skin hand rolls were soggy and greasy. The agedashi tofu actually tasted decent and was hot, but for some odd reasons, they used thinly sliced tofu instead of chunks. The absolute worst has to be the uni sushi. This is an all you can eat sushi place, and I honestly do not expect them to serve me top grade uni, but at least serve uni that looks clean and safe to eat? Well, this is definitely not the case. The uni was darker brown than usual, and has even darker brown blotches. I should have not eaten it, but being my uni-​loving courageous self, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and ate a piece. I ABSOLUTELY REGRETTED MY DECISION! The uni was not fresh and has a weird after taste. As I am writing this review, I cannot stop thinking about that one piece of uni sushi, and the possibility of getting food poisoning.
Regardless, I believe this is the last time we will ever visit this place. This is definitely the worst sushi experience ever, and my husband and I both left this place unsatisfied and worrisome. I honestly wish we didn’t have to pay for this meal because this is an absolute waste of $ 60 for both of us.
I 100% DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE!

This is my 2^nd time coming here and this is one of the better AYCE sushi places. I’ve been to a few where the quality is sacrificed. Great fish to rice ratio. They don’t try to skimp on the good stuff. Their garlic edamame is a must order. We ended up ordering 2 of these and might have even gone for more had we have not been in a time crunch.
Sushi Damu has a good selection of spicy tuna based rolls/​sushi so that was great. Most places typically have a huge majority where it’s a california roll base and that gets bland. Prices are affordable too.
The staff provided great service. And the meal was topped off with some green tea ice cream.
There’s plenty of parking on the street or near the restaurant.

6÷21÷16 went with my brother. Got here 9:30pm. We both ordered the 3 item combo. Miso soups came at 9:40pm and was very salty. California roll (part of 3 item combo) came separate around 9:45pm. The rice on the California rolls were soaked in vinegar (overly sour). Server came around 9:50pm and came with a single bento box with the wrong order. It’s 10:00pm now, still waiting on both of our bento boxes. Server came at 10:05pm to hand us our check. Still did not receive our food… Finally received food now 10:07pm.
Tldr: took far too long for (correct) food to come. Food was mediocre, service was slow, and it was ridiculous that they gave us our check before our food even came. Would not recommend.

Today is over 110 degree and the chef does NOT ever close the door of the fridge for at least almost an hour of me sitting in front of him. I wonder how fresh and safe these sashimi could be! Good luck to me and my family.

This place used to be my favorite. The last 3 times I came here were bad experiences.
Wait was an hour. (Expected) what wasn’t expected was when I sat down and it took 20 minutes for servers to take my order, another 1 hour and a half for my first round to come out. Terrible service. Very very slow. As I watched other tables get seated after I had already ordered, they still got their food first! Service was so bad.
Uni is never fresh here. It looks shriveled and old. They no longer serve oysters.

Extra! Extra! eat all about it. AYCE joint hidden behind the back end of the movie theater. My experience was just that, the back end. My review is not bash this place everyone loves but to tell my personal experience. Ive been to a couple of sushi spots in my time and I remember having it served room temperature not cold. My personal thought, the sushi here is mediocre. Only because I had dined at Hamamori a week prior. I think I deserve a pass on that note. The rice had lost its texture and was a little starchy. The miso soup was bland not salty and had no green onions. The rolls are decent but I was here for the ayce. The service was okay being Father’s Day and all. When you first walk into this place you have to squeeze yourself into a corner just to put your name on the waiting list. Next time I want to carb up, I will give this place a thought.

Warm fish on warm rice? No thanks.
Servers also need to be more attentive to basics of service, like providing menus and soy sauce holders without being asked.
Ambiance carries a hip and modern vibe which we really liked initially but food and service couldn’t keep up.

The sushi is good. the deal, even better. $ 25 roughly for all you can eat sushi, and if you don’t want all you can eat, the rolls are decently priced just like any other sushi joint.
Personal favorites: salmon sushimi, the fireball and the West Covina. Also, their garlic edemame is fantastic, as well as their gyoza.
Service is great, our waiter was very personable. Definitely with the moolah.

Prob one of the top AYCE spots in this area. $ 20.99÷24.99 pricing.
Good:
Salmon
Unagi
Lanagaristo hand roll
Baked Jen Jen roll
Sunomo salad
Rice portion on fish
Service
Television quality
Service
Meh:
Tuna
Uni
Tempura
Baked mussel
My diet progress
My current libido
Will be back.

First there was Midori Sushi, then there was… about 1000 other AYCE sushi spots. Sushi Damu is another on the list. I’ll give them props for using not too much rice on their sushi. I’ve been to other spots where it feels like they have a piece of fish over a brick of rice (okay, maybe that is a slight exaggeration), but Sushi Damu has a great sushi to rice ratio. The sushi itself was very good — it seemed fresh and I didn’t get sick afterwards which I always fear when I stuff myself with copious amounts of raw food.
Servers here seemed very nice, but the place was somewhat understaffed so it could be a while before you get your servers attention. The inside is trendy looking, with plenty of TVs showing sporting events so that you don’t have to talk to anyone at the table. Decent amount of parking outside or park at the nearby structure.
Free mochi or just regular ice cream at the end. Way to go Sushi Damu. Keep up the good work.
tl;dr — Good AYCE sushi spot that doesn’t try to fill you up with rice.

Dined in at Sushi Damu ~1:30pm on a Saturday with some friends after hearing about it by word of mouth. After being to two other similar type of all-​you-​can-​eat sushi buffets, more specifically, Sushi Asahi in Riverside and A.Y.C.E in West Covina, I will base my review off of my opinion on how the three compared.
Ambiance– Personally, I was impressed with the set-​up of Sushi Damu. As opposed to A.Y.C.E., which is a compact restaurant with very dim lighting. For people with vision deficits like myself, I prefer to have adequate lighting to be able to read the menu. Can’t read, can’t order right? I also prefer enough room to move around rather than maintaining an uncomfortable slouched, elbow-​tucked position while eating. Sushi Damu was lively and spacious with perfect lighting for you people, like myself who enjoy taking pictures of their food. Sushi Asahi, although lively, is a bit too noisy for my taste unless it’s a happy hour or birthday occasion as their happy hour drink menu is super cheap!
Overall Ambiance Ranking:
1. Sushi Damu
2. A.Y.C.E.
3. Sushi Asahi
Food-​Presentation of the rolls was on point. Anyone with a camera and amateur photography skills like myself would be able to produce aesthetically pleasing photos by simply capturing the sushi in the lens without all the necessary intricacies of an experienced photographer. After all presentation is everything right? WRONG! Upon arrival of the Damu Roll, my friends and I were very impressed by the presentation of the roll. However, the roll tasted like a ginger and wasabi wrapped in paper. I was, however, particularly impressed with the Salmon Lover Roll, which is a no-​brainer for all the Salmon Lovers. The sashimi was impressively fresh for an all-​you-​can-​eat sushi buffet. In regards to the menu however, Asahi wins by a longshot as they offer much more variety.
Overall Food Ranking:
1. Sushi Asahi
2. Sushi Damu
3. A.Y.C.E.
Service-​I would have given this restaurant 5 stars. However, service was remarkably slow. We were not given water refills until after specifically requesting them. I did not specifically keep track of the time that we had to wait between ordering our rounds, but I would like to say it was roughly around a 5 minute wait every time.
Overall Service Ranking:
1. Sushi Asahi
2. A.Y.C.E
3. Sushi Damu
All in all, I was impressed with this all-​you-​can-​eat buffet. With some minor improvements in service, I can envision this restaurant being very successful. I would easily rank this sushi buffet 5 stars, but until then, the 4 stars will remain.

Let’s cut to the chase: Is it delicious? Yes! Is it value-​packed? Yes! is it the best sushi Southern California has to offer? probably not. Is it worth it? of course!
Craving sushi… lots of sushi over Valentine’s Weekend, we decided to search for the best reviewed AYCE Sushi we could find. We decided on Damu simply because it’s right next to the Edwards Cinema but we’re so glad we made that choice.
Less than 30 minutes after the doors open, the entire restaurant was packed. And it’s not hard to see why. Considering any specialty sushi roll averages $ 10-​$ 15, spending $ 25 for AYCE Sushi is a steal no matter how little you eat.
Pricing:
Monday through Friday lunch 11:30AM to 3PM is $ 20.95
Dinners and All day Sunday and holidays are $ 24.95
Less than 9 years old are half price.
All the selections were fresh and delicious. Here are the reasons Sushi Damu stood out to me:
— Their rolls are not just variations of the same things. Too many AYCE places disguise their fancy sounding specialty rolls with basically a plain California roll + [fish] whether it’s tuna, salmon, or tuna/​salmon or avocado…
— They don’t try to stuff you with white rice. We were pleasantly surprised at the fish to rice ratio with every sushi order. Even the sashimi salad was packed with large pieces of sashimi!
I think everyone has their own favorites but the selections that stood out to me were:
— Damu Roll
— Jessica Albacore
— Jen Jen Roll
— Langostino Lobster handroll
— Sashimi salad
— Uni is limited to 1 order per customer (fairly standard practice at all the AYCE sushi restaurants). I was mildly surprised by how relatively fresh the uni was. It’s not surprising when you consider how fast their turnaround is given the popularity of the restaurant.
— and of course… lots of tuna and salmon orders!
We really appreciate how sweet the staffs are. They come around at a timely interval to refill water and check on our orders.
There’s a tiny sign in the corner of the restaurant that states that they will not offer oyster anymore. I saw some other Unilocalers have commented that previous customers got food poisoning… well, at least now that’s not a problem anymore.
I would definitely come back here again… and hopefully with a large group so that we can try all the different selections! Sushi Damu is the King of AYCE Sushi!

Service:
Great for the most part. They keep forgetting things and parts of our orders but will give them a break and try to understand as the place is jam packed during a holiday weekend.
Cost:
$ 25 ayce. Not bad when they are fresh with plenty of selections.
Food:
Fish is pretty fresh and less of that old fishy scent or texture which is always a plus. My favorite was their albacore and yellowtail sushi. The tuna and salmon next. Their seaweed salad was yummy but a bit on the sweeter side. The garlic edamame was a first as most places just serve it boiled with salt. Good but a bit on salty side. Spicy tuna salad was good. I can keep going on and on. So generally, there wasn’t anything not good here. So enjoy it.
One thing I didn’t like is they limit you to one dessert per person too. I usually get mochi ice cream plus a scoop of ice cream at other places. Guess its a good way to control my fat and sugar intake.
Ambiance:
Love the dark and dimmed environment. To top it off, club like music… cool.
Parking:
Usually plenty but again on a holiday weekend… we had to park faaaar faaar away.

This is probably one of the better AYCE sushi places I’ve been to. For a weekend dinner it’s $ 25 a person. The fish quality is decent and I enjoyed the salmon and yellowtail. Tuna was not very fresh. Agadeshi tofu was so good and the tempura was fried well and piping hot! Hand rolls were a miss for me but they give a very generous portion of avocado in each.
Service was fast, considering how packed the restaurant was. They did forget my ginger but it was quickly remedied. Sapporo is cheap here and my friend and I shared a pitcher for only $ 8.50. Such a great deal. Would come back again!

3 rounds total. Friendly but slow… Very slow service.
Sushi: Izumi Dai (Japanese red snapper), salmon, tuna, albacore, uni
Specialty rolls: Jessica albacore, Jen Jen roll, cucumber roll, shrimp tempura, Damu roll (pretty edible pink soy paper)
My fave was Jessica Alba-​core roll (albacore wrapped over avocado) I’m all about that multipurpose experience — puny and tasty.
Appetizers: agedashi tofu, garlic edamame, calamari ring
Salads: sashimi salad
(Before 3pm) Lunch 20.95
(After 3pm) Dinner 24.95
Wouldn’t drive out specifically for this, but only if you’re in the area, modern hip place for ayce.

Ayce sushi. M-​f 20.95 pp for lunch, m-​f 24.95 pp for dinner, sat– sun and holidays 24.95 pp whole day.
For an ayce sushi place, you get a good amount of choices. You get to pick sushi too, which most ayce sushi places don’t allow. They also have Uni Sushi, but only one order per person. Still worth it because they put a lot on top of each.
Don’t go for the hand rolls though because the seaweed isn’t crunchy. However the lobster hand roll was good because they put a good a mount of lobster meat in there.
Plenty of parking across the street in the parking structure.

For $ 25pp (weekends and dinners) you can get your ayce sushu fix. A little pricier than my usual spot AYCE sushi but a contender in the battle of stuffing yourself with sushi. There is plenty of seating and looks like they can accommodate large groups. We opted for an early weekend dinner at 4p with no wait.
Highlights:
–One order of uni (2 pc) per person included. Half of our 12 pieces were delicious and fresh. The other half were questionable
–Best nigiris of the night were salmon and yellow tail. Not too much rice. Unagi was yummy too. Tuna was okay.
–Salmon lover roll was a great play on textures.
–Sashimi salad. I can eat like 10 of these. So light and refreshing without a strong dressing.
Fun fact: avoid fried rolls or rolls in general if you want to make it for the long haul!