Daiko Japanese Restaurant & Jerry-San’s Sushi Bar

Great place.
Quality food.
Been coming here for over 10 years, never disappoints.

One of the best sushi experiences outside of NYC.
The sushi quality in this place is unparalleled. There’s a sensation when perfectly cooked sushi rice comes together with high quality fish that makes you roll your eyes and sit back in ecstasy; umami. Jerry hits it every time.
This unassuming place in the parking lot of the Nissan dealership is a treasure in the rough. I’ve compared the sushi experience here with those of Sushi Nakazawa and Sushi Yasuda in NYC, it may even approach Masa. While not fancy in its décor, Jerry can truly deliver masterfully made sushi course after course. His creativity is also on display with things that I rarely see elsewhere like herring roe, or pickled baby octopus.
You can’t love this place without talking about Jerry San. He’s behind the counter 6 days a week. He is friendly, and welcoming. And he will remember your name and your preferences after one meeting. (Eating fish is good for memory!) I no longer order when I sit at the counter, food just appear in front of me! It’s this seamless blend of a casual welcoming atmosphere and high quality sushi that makes this place great.

The sushi and sashimi appetizers were very good. We also ordered a sushi and sashimi platter and two rolls to go. The take out order was very good too. The one thing they need to improve on is the quality of the to go chop sticks. They all were very splintery and did not separate properly. Otherwise we recommend this place.

Delicious and fresh sushi and sashimi. Edamame was perfect. very good service and prices were reasonable too. Can’t wait to go back to try different things.

Very good food. Very well priced. Enjoyed our first visit here and will definitely be back.

A gem for those who enjoy good food, that not EVERYONE knows about. All the sushi I tried was pretty good, and the prices were very fair as well. Will be coming back.

The sushi was pretty good for the price. I asked for spicy tuna and asked for tempura flakes and instead of mixing the flakes in with fish, they just put it in next to it in the roll which I thought was a little weird. The spicy crab was alright really not very good. Their eel and avocado was incredible. The server kept trying to get us to order food we didn’t want that was much more expensive and he was very pushy with it.

First time eating here. I got a spicy tuna roll and an eel and avocado roll. Everything was very tasty and the tuna was fresh. Very well priced too.

Never disappoints ! Have been coming here for over 10 yrs and still my favorite sushi spot in the area. Jerry always remembers your preferences and has awesome recommendations. Truly a fun environment. Rinchen and Jerry always amusing and easy to talk to if you’re sitting at the bar. Fresh fish and have never had anything here that I didn’t like. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Excellent, out of the way restaurant that we’ll definitely be going back to enjoy again & again. Our waiter, Hidicko, was excellent, friendly, courteous, & expeditious

Jerry-​San — what the hell happened?
I discovered Jerry-San’s (aka Daiko) around 2003-​04. The food, the service, and even the atmosphere were a pleasant, unexpected surprise. I came a bunch of times over the next couple years, with the food consistently satisfying. Had a distinctly poor service experience during my last trip in that stretch (the waiter got annoyed that we ordered a second round of sushi, which was perplexing because that is pretty customary at sushi restaurants), but nothing major.
After not living in the area for years, I didn’t come here for a long time.
Well, I finally came back here recently, and I’m sorry to say Daiko has fallen far from where it was a decade ago. The rolls were the most rice-​packed I’ve ever had at a restaurant, and were therefore terribly bland (check out the pic I uploaded). My favorite variety of sushi, mackerel, was possibly the worst I’ve ever had. The one caveat I’ll mention is that Jerry-​San himself wasn’t here (it was a weekend afternoon), but that’s no excuse for us being served bland, rice-​packed rolls.
I can’t disagree more vehemently with the recent series of 5 star reviews. This was a very good restaurant at one time, but it’s not anymore.

Best sushi anywhere! All the food is great and the prices are reasonable. Both of my children grew up on this sushi and now we go there with our granddaughter. This is the gold standard of sushi for us!

My boyfriend and I found this place randomly on our way home from work and it’s now our favorite sushi spot in New Haven. The crunchy spicy tuna roll — YUM!!! We will only go here for sushi. Love it.

Best sushi in Connecticut, hands down. Highest quality fish that can be found. The mackerel (Saba) is especially unique, and the jumbo rolls are phenomenal. Much more reasonably priced than any other restaurant with comparable quality. Tip: always sit at the sushi bar. The owner and his partner are super friendly and entertaining. Once you go a few times, they will begin to remember your name and preferences and welcome you back with a big smile!

Jerry-San’s is my favorite restaurant, hands down. Great sushi, great Japanese food, and Jerry-​San is a wonderful host. I went with some friends recently, and Jerry-​San made us the most beautiful sushi boat, a real work of art. It’s off the beaten path, but SO worth the trip to West Haven.

Excellent sushi, haven’t had a bad roll here. I try to vary what I get, but I have to always get a spicy tuna roll. We visit about every other month, for work birthdays and the like.
And yes, the outside looks rundown, but I’ve found that many of the best sushi restaurants look bad on the outside, but are great on the inside.

Best sushi around! Always fresh! Not sure what the bad reviews are eating.
I have given up trying other sushi bars because my wife and I always say shoulda gone to Jerry’s.
Though Don Asian in North Haven has got me curious. We will see…
Sake Bomb!

Since I hold the Sake Bomb record on this place… I am somewhat swayed to holding this place up high. Jerry is as friendly as you can get at any sushi establishment, The baby octi is a must! and Eel with Avocado are some of my favs. Make sure to try the spicy mussels! — Jerry will do as many sake bombs with you as you wish, some you pay for and some he takes care of. Good selection of fresh fish, anytime I am back up in CT I make this a sure stop! This is more of an entertainment and camaraderie experience while sitting at the sushi bar than anything.

I can’t say I love it here, but I understand the devotion of all the many regulars. Though it isn’t terribly clean or well-​appointed, Jerry-​San is certainly welcoming and knowledgeable about the tastes of his regular guests. It’s always nice to go somewhere where everybody knows your name.
The sushi was nothing great, prices were average, and the service was reasonably attentive. To be fair, I didn’t order any of their many special rolls because they all included ingredients I just wasn’t looking for in sushi (like raw onion?)

Wow quite the spread of reviews. One star seems pretty harsh, but five stars for Daiko seems like an exaggeration.
We tried the sushi for two, uni and a shrimp tempura roll. The side salad with carrot ginger dressing was excellent. Other than that, the sushi was okay. Not great, not bad and the price was middle of the road. There is nothing that is particularly memorable, either good or bad.