Roppongi Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Imperial Beach

This place was strange. When you walk in, they ask if you want Sammy's or Roppongi. We asked if we could sit down and order from either restaurant, but the waiter said no. Half of the outside space is for Sammy's and the other half is for Roppongi, and you have to choose before being seated. It felt confusing and disjointed from the start.

We chose Roppongi because we saw online they had sushi and we were craving sushi with a sunset view. We were seated, given menus, and hot hand towels. We ordered drinks, but even with the place being slow (maybe five tables total between both restaurants), it took almost 30 minutes to get them. The cocktails were NOT good. Both tasted flat and salty.

During that whole wait, we had no water service, no napkins or place settings, and no one checked on us. When our waiter finally came back, we asked about the menu because it had no sushi, no raw fish, not even a poke bowl. The closest option was the crab stack. She explained that they did have sushi, but the sushi chef left to open a new restaurant in La Jolla, so they had to take it off the menu. Very strange decision for a new restaurant.

We ordered the lobster dumplings on her recommendation. They came out quick relative to the drink timing, but we waited about five minutes before they brought silverware or plates. We just sat there laughing at how comical the whole experience was. When we finally tried them, they were clearly frozen dumplings, nothing special. After that, we got the check and decided to go somewhere else for dinner.

It’s a shame because the view is gorgeous and the restaurant has a lot of potential. But the management seems to be the real problem. Slow cocktails, slow service, a menu completely changed within months of opening, and no sense of care from the staff.

We won’t...

Hey! I came back since they were nice enough to send me a gift card for my previous experience. This time around was much better! If you like onion rings they were different but very good, the pork belly drunken noodles was an awesome dish & the Mongolian duck quesadillas was different as well but delicious! For a Weds, service was great but a tad slow which is no big deal. 1 girl had to wait on all the tables. Still no Sushi Chef so no sushi. I still recommend coming 4-6 happy hour. I’ll be back. 11/5/25 I changed my rating as of today. Thanks, Cassandra! Well, I checked this place out that just was changed in the resort. The menu is totally awesome! Go between 4-6 for 50% off on certain parts of food & drink menu on the main menu. The view outside is awesome since you overlook The Pacific! Service was on the slow side but very friendly! Unfortunately, I had a few different items since I’m a foodie & retired from the business after 45 yrs. 1 dish in General was terrible at $59. The Short Rib Entree…..the chef/mgmt must be crazy cause the potato croquettes that came with it was nothing but mini hash browns you’d get from McDonalds, roasted red peppers were out of a can & skimpy on the Demi-Glacé! They offer an array of Sushi but wasn’t available which I wanted to order as well. Let’s be real here….for an impressive menu & very high prices, the food should equal or be at the top if it’s game! Spending $140 for 1 person may sound like alot but only if the experience merits...

I have eaten at the former Roppongi(s) literally hundreds of times at both Palm Springs and La Jolla locations. My favorite restaurant of all time! The restaurant that I finally learned to like seafood over twenty years ago. I was talking about the signature Crab Stack and randomly googled to see if they ever reopened a couple weeks ago and was thrilled to see they had, just a month or two prior. So we made the over two hour trip to have my favorite restaurant again. It was good, but it definitely isn't the same. We ordered several items, all the original items, and some new ones. While it's good, it's not what it was. The crab stack was fishy tasting and never was before, along with the kung pao calamari. The service was mediocre, which is a drastic change from the other locations. We ordered $300 worth of appetizers and a noodle dish, and I even informed the waiter to space everything out, but he did not. We were having to shovel our food down because he threw all the food at once when he should have known better. I had to ask him to slow down the food and his response was, "Well, it's ready." There were five of us at a table for four, so we were tight on space. Very upsetting that every time we turned around, there was another dish with no room. Definitely missed some of the old dishes and wasn't completely thrilled with all the new ones, but overall it is still a good restaurant. It's just not as amazing as it was. For those...