Kakurega — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

A excellent sushi restaurant for Japanese-style (individually hand made pieces) vs American-style (long rolls sliced) sushi. Had a 仕事納め get-together to start off the New Year's week holiday and went all out with delicious sweet shrimp, uni, oysters and more! Sampled the range from the most basic to the more pricey dishes to test what Kakurega's good at. Everything - except the karage - disappeared quickly and happily! Well made, tasted fine, and an easy $230 for two with beer! Now, that's not expensive when you consider that we planned a year-end celebration treat with many of the more expensive dishes. There's quite a few choices that will happily fill you for less, so you can eat dinner here for two under even under fifty. The karage was the only pedestrian choice, but with Tenkatori nearby specializing in making very delicious karage, can you fault a sushi restaurant - of course not! The parking is ample for the small restaurant, easy to access on Fair Drive or Newport Avenue. Decor is plain. A sushi counter to the left of the entrance, the rest filled with a few widely spaced tables. Not the splashy decor of the now closed Kitayama, but a spot you don't need to dress up for. The board above the sushi bar lists daily fresh seafoods - do ask about prices if you're not after expensive delicacy check surprises like fresh sweet shrimp for $18 per, which was delicious. Oysters were fresh, tasty, and a dozen happily vanished in no time. Oyster selection is small versus a dedicated oyster bar like at the oc mart mix, but perfect for adding to the range of seafood you can select from at Kakurega. Service was efficient, accessible. Do keep in mind last orders must go in about 40 minutes...

What a hidden gem! I've been here twice now, and both visits have left me genuinely impressed. My most recent trip was on a Friday evening: we were seated immediately at one of the open tables, and our server whisked away our drink orders and returned with them in no time.

To start, we shared garlic edamame and tempura. For mains, I chose the Three Kings Cut Roll and a spicy tuna handroll, while my friend went with the Three Kings Roll II and the Lollipop Roll. We also both enjoyed a comforting bowl of miso soup. Our waiter was gracious and attentive as he patiently answered all our questions and timed each course to perfection. Every bite was delicious: crisp vegetables, fresh fish, and rolls that melted in your mouth. As sushi aficionados, my friend and I agree this ranks among the best sushi we've found in the area.

Although the restaurant was fairly busy, the interior remained quiet, and the dim lighting created a peaceful, inviting ambience. With its exceptional quality and unbeatable prices, this spot has definitely earned its place on...

I've been to a lot of sushi places, both authentic, non-authentic and fusion and there are plenty of good places, but, I have to say, this place is also added up there. This place is really authentic and is a place you can easily miss since it's near the street. The place probably doesn't hold over 20 people and is quaint, with a bathroom that's on the side of the building, but none of that takes away from the quality of the food, the service, cleanliness and overall Japanese hospitality that this place holds.

Everything that we tried here was simply exquisite and great tasting, that there isn't anything you can say that's not good or terrible. We did really loved the crunchy salmon handroll to the point that we ordered maybe five or so of them, they were that good. We also got most sashimi items as well and, like I said, we were not disappointed. If you have some money to spend on sushi,...