Sushi District — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

TL:DR: For real, don't skip this place! Unassuming outside, lovely + clean inside, and absolutely FANTASTIC FOOD + service. (No, not paid reviewer or friend of the biz.)

PREFACE: Our family LOVES sushi and Asian food. So we have become rather picky when it comes to giving out high praise. We were visiting family and having a bit of a vacation, which is how we came to Sushi District. We travel A LOT, so we have had food and sushi nationally, in every state but HI + AK, from expensive to the cheapest in price, to fancy restaurants to food trucks and grocery stores etc.

SERVICE, ATMOSPHERE, AND GENERAL: This was our first time here and we arrived just after lunch time and the staff was amazingly attentive and made sure we had anything and everything we needed for our time. Drinks were kept full, ice quantity was just right, and every drink tasted fresh and like you'd want it too. (Unfort, we had several instances on this trip at other places where the water tasted bad or even smelled like wet dog. NOT here though....such a relief!) I LOOOOVE that they use aluminum cups because its one of the few truly renewable, recyclable, and reusable materials outside of glass. I love that the kids did NOT get plastic cups either and the straws were fully compostable. They have a pretty large menu and I really dig that they have a picture of nearly all their sushi options on it and the description of contents. We love to try new and "old faithfuls" when we go out, so having pics and info is really nice to try new things and not get rolls that are too redundant in flavor profile.

FOOD: Easily the BEST sushi we have had in YEARS! 20/10. Our kids got dumplings/gyoza and teriyaki bowls too and those were equally fantastic. The dumpling sauce should be bottled and sold nationally and put everyone else to shame. Seriously. The teriyaki sauce is EXACTLY the flavor and consistency of the ideal sauce from your mind too, which is really hard to find (often places are too bland, too thin, too thick, too sweet...). Each cooked item was perfectly cooked, no joke. No burnt chicken bits anywhere....only lovely caramelization and unctuous flavor (without bitter or burnt parts, which kids universally seem to hate, but is so easy to burn when it comes to sweeter sauces). The sushi though...really everything...but the sushi I would happily eat everyday if we lived in CA. One of the most flavorful Cali rolls I've had in years, probably ever. Tempura batter was crisp, light, flavorful, and not greasy...exactly the qualities when you think "perfect tempura." We had 4 rolls in total: 2 raw, 2 cooked. The raw rolls were a gorgeous rainbow of fish color, ultra fresh, and so super tasty. I'm not a huge raw fish fan, my partner is, and I usually only try 1 piece of each raw roll just to say I tried it, but these were so yummm that I actually wanted more, for the first time EVER. The rice on the sushi and in the bowls were perfect in consistency and taste. I often dislike when a place uses too much vinegar in their rice that its noticeable. (My taste buds are not a fan of vinegar flavor even 1% in my rice.) This had 0 of that issue....the rice for sushi was wonderfully sticky, 0 vinegar flavor or smell, and the bowl rice was fluffy and both flavorful and well/properly cooked and stored (as in no underdone or dried out bits).

I swear I could go on and on for days about how great it was, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration. (And no, I don't know the owners or staff and I wasn't asked for or paid for this positive review.) So I will leave my review at that. The only CON might be that the parking lot, with so many restaurants in the area, was a bit cramped and full, but we still found a spot. If we had been in the area longer, it might've been nice to try the chicken next door because it smelled yummy, but I'm ULTRA glad we didn't go there because Sushi District...

Shunka was closed so we saw this place across the street with a4.8 rating and figured it would be a good second option. The staff is over the top amazing and really helpful. I'd give them half or even a whole star for the service.

Unfortunately the sushi was not great. The rolls were okay but the rice was a little undercooked and the fish seemed to be fresh but over refrigerated. The sashimi was cut very thick, maybe a half inch thick. Although we appreciated the quantity, I couldn't bite through the tuna, even with two hands holding the other end. Since the fish quality is medium, for the same quantity I'd suggest cutting them a quarter inch thick and giving double. Due to the staff I'll be back, plus I always give every restaurant a second chance since everyone has an off night.

PS The quantity of takeout orders was absolutely astounding there must have been someone arriving for pickup every 5 mins minimum. I'm unsure if that's because Shunka was closed and they were dealing with the additional clients, or if this is standard. Either way it seemed the amount of takeout may have affected the quality of the...

We went here for dinner. The atmosphere and service for dinner was okay at best, but I was mostly surprised at the incredible blandness of the flavors. We ordered four different rolls and I'm not sure what's worse: that there were no distinguishing differences in flavor between them or that there was almost no flavor at all. Have you tried bland sushi rolls, because I now have, and I don't recommend it. Drowning the rolls in soy sauce helped me for a minute by at least bringing some umami flavor, but that works only for a couple of bites and then you're overwhelmed with the soy sauce's saltiness.

I don't know, maybe every single one of their chefs just happened to not be there that night, or something else crazy happened, but I'm not going to go back to find out.

This is probably the harshest review I've ever written, but honesty none of it is untrue. I only didn't give one star because technically I did receive...