Good Choice Sushi — Restaurant in Laguna Niguel

This review pains me a great deal as I have known the owners for nearly 20 years. I used to frequent the establishment when I first moved to the area in 2002; but that tapered off after a few rather unfortunate incidents involving poor service in and around 2010. The company began to employee younger and younger servers who did not seem to understand customer service, which I often consider a lost art form.

I would periodically visit the establishment for convenience sake as I had adjusted my expectations accordingly. Slowly thereafter I would cease visiting the establishment, opting for other sushi places in the area or getting my orders as to-go orders to avoid the underwhelming customer service.

I left the area temporarily in 2020 and returned in 2022. I decided to give Good Choice Sushi another shot and I was surprised that I was receiving good customer service and good sushi; but this did not lost long. What was most unfortunate was that the sushi chefs appear to control the establishment. For some reason, the establishment did not seem to have an actual manager, instead leaving the managerial tasks to the sushi chefs, which was quite unfortunate and many of them were quite rude and cocky.

The straw that broke the camels back was after I visited Good Choice sushi after a short hiatus. There were only 2 servers on one of their sushi roll nights. You naturally expect some delays when specials are running as opposed to the nights I would go there absent any specials as I was visiting the establishment on a frequent basis, either Friday or Saturday and either a Monday or a Wednesday. I was a good patron and I tip well, so I expect good customer service. That night, however, the server was what we in the restaurant business call "in the weeds", which happens; but in such cases, adjustments for poor staffing need to be provided. I ordered some sushi rolls on special with some cut rolls. I tried to get the server's attention several times before the 9:00 cut-off for the sushi roll special as well as to order some additional cut rolls; however, the sushi chef refused to accept the order advising the server that it was past the deadline. The server was experienced, so she should have advocated for the customer and for the fact that it was her fault because the establishment was understaffed and she was the one who failed to come to the table despite my repeated attempts to gain her attention for over 15 minutes. That was the last time I visited Good Choice Sushi in Laguna Niguel. That was about 4 months ago.

The funny thing is many of us "locals" to this establishment have commonly referred to Good Choice Sushi in Laguna Niguel as: "Good Choice? Is it?" I now have to conclude after giving Good Choice Sushi repeated attempts to overcome what many of us know about the establishment as "No. It isn't a Good Choice!"

I am sorry, Michelle, because I believe you are a good person; but a poor restaurateur. You need to hire employees who care about the establishment and your customers. You cannot spend most of your time at your other location and leave the customers who provided you with the means to open the other location feeling dissatisfied, displeased, and neglected. Loyalty goes both ways, and I am sad to see that you do not value your customer base in Laguna Niguel as you once did all...

Once upon a time, this was probably a really good restaurant. Reading the past reviews, I can see so many people who loved it. I trust that they had a good experience then. But now, the only word to describe this restaurant is terrible. My wife had teriyaki beef and sesame chicken, along with a green salad. When we got home to eat it, we open the box and were surprised at how absolutely beautiful and tasty it looked. However, the food had no flavor at all. And no, we don’t have Covid. It was just simply really bad meat. There was a miso soup served with it that was quite tasty, and a nice surprise, but that’s it. The rest of it was dumpster material. I ordered two special rolls, one was called Kalikimaka, and the other was a Philadelphia. The spicy tuna on top of the Kalikimaka roll looked like old hamburger meat. It was so finally ground and disgusting tasting I couldn’t eat it at all. The so-called lobster inside of that roll was almost certainly some variation of “Krab”. Yuck. The Philly roll was slightly better, but definitely nothing to write home about. And both were very loose, not a quality production. It’s really sad, because the menu is extensive and impressive. But the ingredients leave a lot to be desired, so despite the name, I have to say, this place is not a...

I placed an order online I forgot to include some notes (separate boxing bcuz it was a roll per individual) I called and the lady that answered the phone was super rude. She couldn’t find my order and said I’ll tell them and hanged up. Then my husband went in to pick up the order (I’m guessing it was the same lady that answered the phone) and she was super rude. Our order wasn’t ready which is understandable we placed the order at 11:30 right when they opened, but the way she treated him was not right. She rudely asked him to wait outside when my husband wanted to have a beer while he waited for the food. When it came to the payment she was worse. The sushi chef had to tell her to please treat the gentleman with respect. This is the first and only time we will be ordering from this location. Btw this was a large order for my work so we panned to tip in cash but she basically asked my husband for a tip after paying for the beer that she didn’t want serve him in the begging!! VERY UNPROFESSIONAL and RUDE...