Sushi Martini — Restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga

Average food, friendly but confused staff.

We went for AYCE and left disappointed. This was our experience:

When we arrived, we had no idea if the restaurant was actually open. The outdoor area was empty and uncared for, as if the building had been abandonned after a fire. There was no sign outside and everything looked dark until you pushed open the door.

Inside was bustling, which is a good sign, but the atmosphere was much louder than the average busy restaurant. It made conversation difficult.

The AYCE options were more limited than what we're used to. For example: no shrimp tempura, a main staple in many Japanese restaurants. Nigiri selection was limited too but it had the basics. Unfortunately, those basics, like salmon, tuna and yellowtail, were bland. Even though the salmon came in generously thick slices, it had very little flavour.

Veggie tempura was good. The fried calamari had too much batter around it. The rolls were nice but very big. Half rolls were not allowed until the final round. So if you want to try a new type of roll, be ready to fill up your stomach even if you don't like it.

Rather than having a single sheet that offers x amount of rounds, you get a new sheet for every round, which led to confusion with the staff each time as to whether or not a new paper had been given and/or picked up.

We were also brought the wrong bill for our table as well as the wrong food twice. Our server wasn't particularly friendly, but the others that brought our food were very nice and as professional as can be given the system they work under.

All in all, for $37.99 we expected more and better, and there certainly are better options available in the area, e.g. Sushi One Spot. Sushi Martini did have a wide cocktail selection, so I think this restaurant is good if you want to go have a drink with friends, eat rolls rather than nigiri and watch sports...

This is THE sushi spot in all of Rancho Cucamonga. My better half and I have visited at least a dozen times if not more over the last 8 years and we’ve always left deliciously satisfied. The service has always been excellent and if there was ever an issue with our order, the servers have always been so courteous and helpful in resolving whichever inconsequential issue we've had over the years. One of my favorite memories from Sushi Martini was an interaction my wife and I had with one of the owner/managers (which I now regret not asking his name). He came to our table and asked us the usual managerial questions (how are you? How is your lunch? Etc), but then we got into the conversation about the origins of the restaurant and how it’s family owned with multiple locations. Eventually and somehow inexplicably, he talked us into trying their oysters. Hear me out, I’m not an oyster person. In fact, I had an experience when I was younger where an oyster became lodged in my throat that completely turned me off to eating oysters all together. Needless to say my previous aversion to oysters was shattered when my wife and I slurped down deliciously chilled and briny oysters with a crisp and fresh finish. Perhaps it was the ice cold Asahi that encouraged me to try them once again, but these were by far the best oysters I’ve ever had. Years later, we still visit Sushi Martini whenever the mood strikes and the wallet allows. I will say that the portions have been reduced notably over the years, but as with all things that have become more expensive (particularly seafood), I don’t fault Sushi Martini for doing whatever they have to do to remain financially viable because at the end of the day they’re providing quality sushi with excellent service at an affordable price. So if you’re looking for a good sushi spot in Rancho Cucamonga, this is it. You’ve found it. Go there now and...

READ BEFORE YOU VISIT. If you like sushi and have had good sushi before DON’T GO HERE!! Let me start by saying, i’m not a sushi snob; I love sushi and have had sushi from all levels from grocery stores to some pretty nice restaurants so i’ve had my fair share and am not too picky. This place by far is one of the worst restaurant sushi I have had. I knew it as soon as I walked in bc it smelled like a 99 cent store bathroom mixed with fish. The rolls that are supposed to be cold with the raw fish were WARM and tasted extremely fishy and as if they had been sitting out for a while and the color was off. This threw me off and turned my stomach and so i thought i would stick to the safer non-raw/non-fresh fish options: Spoiler alert they were also just as terrible. To top it off a waiter came by the table next to us and dropped off our order to them-10mins later when she realized she dropped it off at their table instead of ours she took the plate from them and still tried to give it to us after it had been sitting with those random people for 10min- she tried to say they didn’t touch it yet but it had been sitting with them for a long while and it should not have ever been offered to us after the fact anyways. Not even the soda was drinkable. Our waiter was nice but the other staff that sat us were more focused on hanging out with each other rather than being inviting. This place sucked and i’m upset i spent $100 for 2 people for some sushi that will probably leave me sick. My stomach is turning still just thinking about how low quality and disgusting the food was. Even the people next to us were openly saying they were not enjoying their food. Even if the food was free I still wouldn’t eat here again. We got the “all you can eat” option and I didn’t even eat one full roll....