Sushi Park — Restaurant in El Centro

First off, if you write a comparison in your reviews for other people to go off of, you are setting a known standard and a dangerous precedence for what people are going to expect.

San Diego has some top notch ramen spots. "Underbelly" in North Park comes to mind, and saying Rakuen is on the same level, let alone BETTER than Underbelly is a flat out lie.

You need to take a step back though. We are not talking about a ramen spot in a city of hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of ramen spots. We are talking about the Imperial Valley.

If you come in here with the expectation that it will be better than anything you have ever had, you will be sorely disappointed. BUT, if you come in here with expectations that it will be the best you have had in the Imperial Valley, then you'll have a more fair assessment.

On to my review:

I called in an order 5 minutes before 12, not for pickup, but to have it started on as I only have an hour for my work lunch. It was an off day (MLK Holiday) so not very many people were there for lunch.

I showed up, and the waitress had informed us that she thought we had ordered for takeout, and that they don't do "pre-orders". That's fine, although it's not a new concept for those of us trying to go someplace for lunch and still stay within the 1 hour or 30 minutes we are given.

So she gave us the food that was packaged for takeout, and she kindly gave us our drinks and a bowl to eat the ramen at the restaurant.

The ramen was a "C grade" ramen. This means that it is the minimum you'd expect from a Ramen spot, without failing to meet expectations, but also not exceeding any.

I ordered my go-to for any ramen spot, which is their Tonkotsu Ramen. It simply was not better than several ramen spots I have tried in several different areas around the state and country. It was not terrible though. It just had way too many bean sprouts.

I am glad we have a spot serving a basic, decent ramen in the valley! But, it is not "the best you have ever had", and if you think it is, there are really some spots you should try in both San Diego and LA that will make you reconsider.

I appologize for the long winded review. If you stuck through it this far, my summary is this: it's a good ramen spot for the expectation of a ramen spot in the valley. It's not a low quality ramen, but it's not a top tier ramen either. Just an average ramen at an...

I’ve been a long time customer of this establishment I try to go as often as I can and often get more than one roll or plate because their food is very tasty I have however had multiple instances with other customers who have expressed issues with staff and i unfortunately must say today this happened to me I had asked for a substitution on a roll and afterwards decided against it I had two rolls and I asked to substitute one roll with salmon instead of crab (the other roll does not have crab AT ALL) I decided against substitution and kept the crab and added the salmon regardless when I received my roll I mentioned to the server that the wrong roll had my salmon (extra charge) and the server began to tell me that was incorrect because she asked me about my order, both times that my order was asked I said yes to what I said, substitution on the second roll the server continued to insist that I was incorrect I finally gave up on the interaction and had to tell her 3 times that the situation is okay and that I’ll be quiet and eat my meal...she continued to insist that she was correct. When she produced the paper with the order she attempted to convince me that it had been lost and only showed me a glimpse of the paper when she finally found it. I also tried to explain that the roll with salmon substitution doesn’t even have crab to be substituted with . The altercation was completely out of hand and unnecessary I understand if I might have made a mistake in my hearing but the server could not be calmed in her insistence that she is correct going as far as to not leave me alone when I asked her. I do not wish any negativity but this was unnecessary and excessive. The food was still however delicious however the escalation by the server ruined my experience and has convinced me and my friends not...

(12/15/22) THE BAD: I was semi-LIVID over the fact that I couldn't order a margarita at my table on my 30th birthday? insert devastation Only certain alcoholic drinks were allowed to be served outside of the bar? I was already confused about what restaurant I was entering. I'm curious why they would turn away that revenue? I would have ordered ~3 drinks @ 12.99 but instead stuck with water and a lemonade with free refills. If you're going to have 2 restaurants and a bar in 1 location, try your best to make it as consumer friendly as possible. Me having to go to the bar for a margarita, 1 section for a sushi roll, and another for a BBQ entree is not logical to me... The crazy onion is good but they only put sauce across the top so the ones on the bottom are plain, maybe get extra sauce on the side?

THE GOOD: Service was friendly and no super long waits for anything at all. The sushi was really really good! The fried rice was the most perfect, beautiful fried rice I've ever seen! Tasted great and came out piping hot and fresh. Our server was adorable and sweet. The manager/owner(?) stopped by to make sure we were enjoying ourselves. It was my birthday so I really really didn't want to complain or bring up any negativity. I chose to stay even after the no margarita situation and really wanted to try the beautiful sushi and I'm thrilled...