Ohshima Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Orange

Overall Experience: A cozy sushi spot with a calm ambiance, attentive service, and high-quality fish, offering a well-paced omakase experience at the bar, though first-time guests may benefit from clearer menu guidance.

Location/Parking: Located in a strip mall with plenty of parking spots as nearby businesses are not that busy.

Reservation: Easy to make a reservation via phone during their open hours.

Ambiance: Restaurant isn't big, 13 bar seats and 7 tables that fit 2-4 people. Very calm instrumental music playing in the background. Guests varied from couples to families with kids.

Service: If sitting at the bar, your main server is the sushi chef behind the bar. After sitting down, I was asked "Omakase okay?" by the chef but wasn't asked how many pieces(they have options of 10/12/13) or given any explanation on their offerings. It wasn't after scanning the QR and hearing the parties next to me(who sounded like they have been there before) ask for the 13 piece option that I realized there were options. This can be improved as not everyone is a returning customer and may like to know that they can choose. The other servers will help with drink orders and anything from the kitchen. The chef paced the experience well and adjusted to serving the Sweet Shrimp when the Shrimp Miso soup was brought out. He was attentive to refilling the ginger on my plate as I finished it. Servers were attentive to providing me with refills for my hot tea whenever it was empty.

Food: Everyone, at least at the bar, seemed to have a "ceviche" for a starter on the house. However, the fish felt fully cooked compared to what is known for a ceviche in other cultures.

13 piece Omakase -Sea Bream -Bluefin Tuna -Scallop -Amberjack -Sea Bass -Cherry Salmon -Japanese Butterfish -Sweet Shrimp(option for the head to be cooked in miso soup or deep fried) -Toro -Big Yellowtail(winter only from Japan) -Black Cod -Striped Jack -Santa Barbara Uni

My favorites were the Cherry Salmon, Toro, and Black Cod. The Black Cod is seared and had a great dual texture of crispy on the outside but so buttery on the inside.

Value: As of February 2025, the 13 piece omakase with miso soup is $118. The hot tea was $3 and came with unlimited refills. Definitely worth it for the quality of the fish and the service overall provided by the staff.

Extras: If sitting at the bar, there is a 10 piece minimum per person and the first 10 pieces will be omakase. If sitting at a table, the servers will give you a sheet menu that you can mark directly on...

Okay, I've never been to Jiro's restaurant in Tokyo, but I imagine that it must be REALLY similar to Ohshima.

Now, I must admit that I was pretty damn skeptical about Ohshima. The city of Orange doesn't really strike me as a city that knows its cuisine, and especially because Ohshima is unfortunately placed in a barren strip mall next to a ghetto tropical fish store. The exterior doesn't really whet the appetite.

And then you walk in and it's like you're transported to one of the sushi joints along the outer rim of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, serving the freshest sushi ever available. I can honestly say that Ohshima is my favorite sushi restaurant that I've tried outside of Japan, and I've tried a ton all over LA, SF, and NYC. Granted I've never had Urasawa, but let's keep this discussion to sushi restaurants that are within the reasonable means of someone who is not ultra-wealthy.

FOOD:

I'll make this simple. We sat at the sushi bar and had:

Omakase: (Black Cod, Cherry Salmon, Amberjack, Spanish Mackerel, Scallop, Baby Bluefin Tuna, Hamachi)

Other nigiri: Amaebi, Uni, Toro, Seared Kobe Beef

Hot dishes: Stewed Pork Knee, Uni Spaghetti, Miso Cod

EVERYTHING was delicious -- there wasn't one piece of sushi or one hot dish that disappointed whatsoever. If I had to choose my favorites of the night, though, it'd be:

Toro Nigiri = One of the best pieces of toro I've ever had Seared Kobe Beef Nigiri = Perfectly torched, extremely fatty and tender Black Cod Nigiri = Delicious as hell Cherry Salmon = Incredibly tender but with a bit of firmness that was perfect Uni Spaghetti = Probably the best thing in the world for uni lovers

The one disappointment was that they ran out of Ankimo (Monkfish liver) that night, which is one of my favorite dishes. I will definitely need to come back to try this.

Ohshima has everything I look for in a sushi restaurant: NO ROLLS!! A sign of fresh fish that can't be masked by eel sauce and mayo. No soy sauce (everything is perfectly seasoned) REAL wasabi (not the fake green-dyed horseradish paste at 99% of sushi joints) And of course, unbelievably fresh fish that won't break the bank

Also, make sure you sit at the sushi bar for the true experience. The chefs will schedule out the pieces of sushi perfectly.

This is the real deal. Whenever I come back to Southern California and I'm eating sushi, Ohshima will be the...

I’ve been holding off on writing this review because of all the good memories. I remember when it was $60 for omakase - huge thick pieces of fresh and delicious sushi. I used to come for takeout every Friday during COVID, after working all day swabbing at the COVID testing center. It was the one thing I looked forward to at that time.

The prices have gone up to over double now and sadly, the quality has completely gone downhill. I saw online that there’s a new owner. The previous Japanese chefs are no longer there. I’m not sure if they retired, quit, or were let go but the new batch of young sushi chefs are all Korean. This means tons of STUFF all over the sushi. Gone is the solid, fresh sushi that needs just a dab of soy sauce. Now there’s bad quality fish smothered in miscellaneous toppings and sauce that cannot mask the bad flavor. The last 2 times I went, there was a bone in my sushi and the fish was super fishy. I have never in all my life had a piece of nodoguro that was fishy before. It’s usually lightly seared. Almost all of the pieces of the omakase tasted old and not fresh and the uni both times tasted spoiled. The $10 uni at Hmart is fresher than this. They don’t even have their famous cherry salmon on the omakase menu anymore, didn’t check if it’s on the a la carte menu still. The first bad meal I had here, I had gone on a Sunday, as they now have extended hours. I thought maybe it’s because it was a Sunday and they couldn’t get fresh fish. I pulled the manager aside and gave her the negative feedback before I left. Fast forward a few months- I went on a Friday and it was just as bad. $180 for crappy sushi is really unacceptable. I get that prices are up for everything but you cannot raise prices and serve inferior quality sushi. Adding in an appetizer and dessert doesn’t make up for it. I’m here for good sushi, not fillers. Raise prices if you have to, but bring back the good fish or you will lose all of your customers. I remember when you had to line up over an hour before opening and/or call like crazy to try to get reservations. Now you can walk in any time and it’s mostly empty. Sadly, that was also the last strike for me. Now I’m on the look out for a new...