Oto Sushi — Restaurant in Laguna Beach

I recently had a truly disappointing experience at this restaurant, and I feel compelled to share the details to give others a clear picture of what went wrong.

As a recovering alcoholic of nearly 10 years, I specifically ordered a mocktail to ensure I could enjoy a drink that didn’t contain alcohol. Unfortunately, the first mocktail that was served to me contained alcohol. I sent it back and requested a different drink, hoping it would be made correctly. Unfortunately, the second mocktail also contained alcohol. The bartender even came out to confirm it had alcohol and took it back. After this, I finally received the correct drink on the third attempt, but to my surprise, they still tried to charge me the full price for the drink, despite it being wrong twice and clearly being a mocktail. Mocktails are generally priced lower than alcoholic drinks, so this felt particularly frustrating.

To add to the frustration, the food order was a mess. The dishes were brought out one or two items at a time, and it took over 45 minutes to receive all our food — and we never got everything we ordered. For instance, we ate nearly all of our sushi without soy sauce, and had to ask multiple times for chopsticks, soy sauce, and water. Our waitress was apologetic but also admitted that she was overwhelmed and forgot about us. Even after we pointed out that our order was incomplete, it took more than 15 minutes for them to come back to us. When they did, they offered “free sushi on the house” as an apology, but then proceeded to try and charge us for that sushi.

The service issues didn’t end there. When we asked to split the bill, the waitress told us she couldn’t do that. We ended up having to go in ourselves to split the bill evenly among our party.

While the waitress was constantly apologizing and seemed genuinely overwhelmed, the owner’s response to my friend’s review was infuriating. Instead of acknowledging the issues, the owner claimed we were lying about our experience, which only added insult to injury. As someone who worked as a waitress for eight years, I understand how busy shifts can get, but this level of disorganization and disregard for customer service is inexcusable.

Typically, I am an extremely generous tipper — I have never left less than 20% and often tip more — but after the appalling service and the way our concerns were handled, we did not leave a tip this time. I had hoped for a better experience, especially as a longtime customer, but I won’t be returning after this.

I’ve noticed several random 5-star reviews scattered between ours, and I suspect they might be from bots or employees because there’s no way anyone could have received good service here. I even saw our server apologizing to a nearby table when delivering drinks after their food arrived.

It’s disappointing that the owner is denying our experience. Our entire meal should have been comped with an apology, not gaslighting and denial. Having been a waitress for 8 years, I know what good customer service looks like, and this is not it. I strongly recommend against Oto.

I would leave 0 stars if that...

We had high expectations for Oto Sushi in Laguna Beach, but unfortunately, our experience was incredibly disappointing. We had a reservation for 7 people at 6:45 PM, celebrating a wedding weekend with a group mostly from out of state. Our guest of honor couldn’t join due to a small emergency, but we decided to proceed with dinner because of the restaurant’s stellar reviews. With 90% of our group traveling in, we were excited for fresh sushi and fully prepared to spend generously.

Service Issues from the Start From the moment we sat down, things started going wrong. Despite our party size, the table was set with only two sets of chopsticks. Our server got nearly everything wrong—from drinks to food orders. One guest, who doesn’t drink alcohol, was brought three different alcoholic beverages despite specifically requesting mocktails. You’d think after the first mistake, extra care would be taken.

When our food finally started arriving, only a few dishes came out. We asked about the rest, and the owner explained that different items come from different parts of the kitchen, which we completely understand. However, after waiting another 20 minutes, more food arrived—but it wasn’t what we ordered. Another 15 minutes passed, and yet another staff member dropped off a dish, telling us it was “free” to apologize for the confusion. Again, it wasn’t what we ordered.

Throughout this, our waitress barely checked on us. One guest ordered a second beer that never arrived. We sat for over an hour with only one carafe of water, and she didn’t notice until we physically stacked our empty plates and glasses. On a fully booked Saturday night, you’d expect the restaurant to be staffed accordingly, but it was clear they were either short-staffed or poorly managed.

Billing Issues on Top of Bad Service When it was time to pay, we asked to split the bill between couples. Our waitress claimed their system couldn’t do that, which isn’t true—we use Toast at my workplace, and it absolutely allows split checks. As we reviewed the receipt, we saw that we had been charged for multiple rolls we never ordered. It took 20 minutes for the manager to come over and fix it, and when the check finally came back, it was still wrong. They removed over $150 worth of incorrect charges, and yet the bill still didn’t add up properly.

Final Verdict The food was fine, but the service absolutely ruined the experience. We spent two and a half hours at the restaurant, left hungry, frustrated, and overcharged. We came in excited to celebrate and left completely disappointed. I would not recommend this place based on...

Oto sushi is an utterly superb culinary experience. If I could rate my top restaurant on Yelp, it's Oto Sushi! From the moment you step in, you're greeted with a cozy fireplace and bright atmosphere with lots of natural light and wooden details. A lot of calming blue ocean colors are sprinkled in the details of the architecture- just beautiful! We had the pleasure of being served by Kate who began our birthday celebration dinner with facts about Oto Sushi- they've been voted the best sushi in Laguna beach, voted best burger in Laguna beach (despite being so new) and have a high sushi grade for all their fish. They're also committed to sustainable fishing and not harming this fragile, normally unseen, ecosystem. What other place can be this transparent about where they source their fish the second you sit down!? I cannot think of one, can you? We enjoyed the cucumber salad (so refreshing and a perfect compliment to every roll!), scorch roll (a favorite! Flavorful aioli and tempura crunchies), the eternal stream (so unique and bursting with flavor), Laguna heat (flavor was lacking but still really fresh!) a complimentary snow crab nigiri (a sweet surprise and absolutely delicious- you can truly taste the quality!), wagyu stick (we asked Kate how it was and she just said "insane." So accurate. This is the best beef I've ever tasted. Not one chewy bite. So easy to eat. Best enjoyed slowly!), Japanese cheesecake (airy like a sponge cake with kumquat glaze and edible flowers to compliment. Not very sweet which is my preference) and lots of $6 hot sake for happy hour! One $6 glass gives you 4.5 shots fyi! The food comes out fast and we were advised to eat it as soon as it comes out. We had multiple rolls and sake glasses and could have left after one hour due to such fast service but we just kept wanting to try more and more! Trenton was delightful offering his own facts and tidbits about the sushi and variety of sakes offered whenever he passed by. We enjoyed everyone's energy and love when a restaurant engages and informs its customers instead of just milking them for money. We left with full (but not too full!) bellies as almost everything is gluten free. The chef even thanked us. We will be back next weekend...