Hamamori Restaurant and Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

It's been ages since I've gone out for omakase it seems. However, my friend Kurt hit me up to try a new spot. Such great timing! In addition to that, a recent article from OC Weekly came out listing the top 10 sushi spots, so this dinner was destined to happen one way or another. As we went back and forth on the prime meet up spot, we settled on Hamamori for its convenience and the fact that neither of us have been.

Arrived on location at 6p to a slow evening, but it was nice to have the bar to ourselves. As we reviewed the menu, we started the evening with a taste of sake since we were indecisive on which to choose from. We sampled a choice of sweet or dry and settled on the dry to pair with our meal. To go with the ambiance, each pour is served in a champagne flute instead of the usual you see, so it sets the tone for a fancy meal ahead, in which I was eager to taste.

We inquired about omakase and the chef began the meal. With each plating, we were served two pieces at a time. The opening sequence was albacore with crispy onions and golden eye snapper. The chef made it a note to request no soy sauce as each was seasoned individually and made to complement the fish.

We totaled at 18 pieces: Sea bream and Blackthroat Seaperch. Wagyu Beef/Foie Gras and Lobster/Miso Salmon/Pineapple and Sweet Live Shrimp/Caviar/Lemon Zest Halibut/Foie Gras and King Scallop Bluefin Tuna/Bleu Cheese/Seaweed Sauce and Seared Yellowtail/Jalapeno O Toro and Shima Aji Eel/Foie Gras/Orange Zest Halibut Tempura Handroll Sea Urchin and Yellowtail

To conclude, the meal was spectacular and just what I was craving for. I could go for a little less foie gras since I'm not superbly wow'd by it, but it did complement most of the pairings that evening. However, I'm just a bit skeptical on pricing since I feel I could get something on par for a third of the price less. Still, it was a great meal nonetheless and I would return for a fancy meal every once in awhile, but it's not my...

It was my first time visiting the mall (and the state!), and needless to say, I was 1000% satisfied with my choice to eat here.

The food was great. I ordered the VIP sushi, and all of the sushi are very, very fresh. The hamamori shooter was interesting. The pork belly was amazing. It was my favorite, like, I literally closed my eyes to absorb the taste when I ate it because it was that good.

Besides the food, the most memorable thing I experienced while eating here was the service. The server recommended pork belly to me, but I was afraid I couldn't finish it because I came here alone. Then she said that she could cut it in half, as in, there should be 6 pork bellies, but she could serve just 3 for half the price. I really appreciated that. And as I said before, the pork belly was, indeed, amazing.

I was seated in the high table part, in front of the chef, so I could see them preparing the sushi. The chefs were so nice. They prepared the food and served them directly to me. I had some nice chat with one of the older chefs. He also made sure that I enjoyed the dishes and hinted the waiters to take my plates once I finished.

Overall, it was such a wholesome dining experience. Eating alone in a new place is scary and intimidating sometimes, but here, they treated me very well and made sure that I got the best food and service 🫶🫶

TL;DR: Amazing food, amazing service, much...

We had a horrible experience here, despite this restaurant’s stellar reputation and high-end feel. My father, who has an incredibly iron strong stomach, got food poisoning immediately after consuming not even all of an udon dish with zero seafood in it, likely due to staff error in poor seafood storage and cross-contamination. If someone else ate it, they may have ended up in the hospital, to put the severity in context. On top of that, the young chefs were chatting and snickering away rudely, were extremely unprofessional and left a horribly bad taste in my mouth. Our male server was also generally insincere and told us they checked the udon ingredients and all was fine (did you check the fish???? Did the chefs wash their hands???? And also how can you see bacteria like salmonella, bacteria that cause scombroid poisoning, vibrio, anisakis, etc, do you have a microscope back there??? Because maybe you should get one). This whole experience was extremely disappointing as we have come here before and had an amazing experience with respectful chefs and a friendly female server. I will not be coming back here willingly, and definitely not in the summer, and maybe you should think about it too unless you want to roll the dice on your health...