SOICHI — Restaurant in San Diego

Just like everyone else, I wanted to try this place ever since I saw it got a Michelin Star. I brought my wife here for our 4 year anniversary and I was so excited! I never ate at a restaurant with one Michelin Staf before. Made the reservation 5 weeks in advance and paid $25 per person to hold the reservation. I used to live in Japan and am always looking for those flavors in the states!

My wife and I picked the Soichi''s Full Omakase option on the menu. $169 per person. Sounds reasonable gor omakase.. but it really wasn't..

First we tried some sake while we waited and the waiter gave us three he recommended after my wife told him what she likes.. we ended up going with the Hoyo Kura No Hana Daiginjo. It was one of the best sakes I've had thus far. The a let us pick out sake shot glasses and brought it out to is in a gorgeous small glass pitcher.

The first course comes out with was the Seasonal Tasting dish on Soichi's Full Omakase. It started so good with the oysters that were so flavorful with flavors that took me back to when I used to live in Japan. Next was a fried and soaked type of fish.. I really don't remember.. and I don't remember the way the other dish was but they were just okay. The last one was their tofu and that was the most velvety tofu I ever had with great flavors again!

The next course was the Chef's choice of Seasonal sashimi. While all the first was fresh, three brought us out soy sauce for dip because they didn't dress them with any marinate. This was okay but I felt underwhelmed by this course..

The next course was the Jidiri steamed egg custard. Present so cut on a small place. When we opened it so good! There was a piece of shrimp and a scallop in there with some mushrooms. It was pretty good but some how I got tired of eating it after a few bites..

The next course was Chef's choice of marinated grilled fish, with a sweet potato chip, a pickled leak and a shishito pepper. While the fish was very well seasoned, the pickled leak was the star of the show.. and the sweet potato.. everything else was underwhelming..

Next was the 12 pieces of sushi from the Soichi's Full Omakase option. The first plate came with 4 sushi and a fried sardine and it got us excited all over again after being a bit underwhelmed. The fried sardine was perfect and was a nice pair with the sake. The four nigiri pieces we were give were again fresh and with nice subtle flavor but they didn't blow us away.. honestly some of the pieces tasted... and I hate to say it.. like metal..

The next three nigiri were again, pretty fresh and had good flavor but not great flavors and it wasn't glowing us away..

The next two sushi were gunkan of roe and uni. There had well balanced flavor and were both of great quality.

The last three nigiri was marinated tuna, tuna toro and the tamago. The marinated tuns again had that metal taste.. the toro was definitely star of the show and the tamago was also very well made.

The next course was the light fish broth, it was nice and hot but beyond the temperature.. it was underwhelming..

The hand made ice cream was also very good and nicely plated with another sweet potato chip. I do wish we had more sweet potato chips because they were pretty good.

Over all the food was good with some bites that were impressive and others that left us looking for more.. we paid $425.60 not including tip.. and outrageous amount for what we received and I am so sad.. I feel so fooled by this place.. I have had much better sushi at Azuki for a quarter of the price. I'm sad to say it don't recommend...

I wanted to write a thank you letter as a review in recognition of how magical our experience was from even before we set foot in the restaurant to the finish because this restaurant has stole our hearts. First, the person working the phones Carolina. Thank you Carolina for accommodating our party of 7 when it wasn’t an option online and for making this possible. We would have never been able to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity if it wasn’t for your efforts so thank you for being so kind and friendly over the phone. Next to Amane our waitress. Thank you Amane for welcoming us as soon as we came through the door and showing us to our seats. Your knowledge on drinks, even though you are not of age, and on the food (source and origin) is incredible. More importantly, I wanted to thank you for noticing that my 2 year old needed another distraction to get through the evening and so you, without being prompted, brought us over a coloring set. That may have been a small gesture for you but for me and my wife, that made our evening so thank you for being so considerate and observant towards our needs. To the chefs Soichi-san and another talented chef we didn’t get a chance to speak to - if my family were to visit San Diego again, we would love to sit at the bar because, besides the food that you create which is already divine and otherworldly, you speak to us and engage with us in a way that make us feel like just old friends reuniting for some food and drinks. Thank you for creating such a warm atmosphere for the customers to enjoy. Lastly, the food. Obviously the big hitters like toro, hirame, uni don’t need any further introduction so I am going to touch on an underrated, underappreciated item - ginger. You know that side dish you get when you order sushi, yea that. If you hate ginger like me, just go here and try the ginger here - it’s nothing like you have had and will alter your opinion about ginger forever. And that’s what this restaurant does - it either elevates your opinion of Japanese cuisine or changes it positively. Thank you Soichi sushi for making our out of state trip an one of kind experience. We will always cherish our...

Soichi is not our first Omakase experience, but it is the first one in San Diego that we have had. And what an amazing experience it was!

Getting a reservation is key, especially if you want the bar. Our server was Marlon, and we told him we had just moved to SD and were celebrating our engagement anniversary. He was SO friendly and a willing conversationalist; we talked about everything from Ratatouille to the skeletal systems of the fish he was preparing. Not only that but Soichi himself also conversed with us and served us a little bit of sake. What a personality! Great presence, but humble and easy to talk to. The staff was amazing at welcoming us, taking care of us, and making sure we were enjoying our meal at every step.

But if the staff was anything to appreciate, the food was even more spectacular. My husband and I have been together since college, so we’ve eaten Omakase in the Bay Area and Japan, but Soichi served us one of the best Omakase experiences on the West Coast. Our favorites were their black throated sea perch, amberjack, scallop, shrimp (and fried shrimp head!), salmon, trigger fish, and golden eye red snapper; the snapper is so renowned that they sell a t-shirt of it, which we bought because we enjoyed it so much. All of the ingredients were presented beautifully — check the photos of you don’t believe me. But in addition to that, the fish was very fresh and prepared thoughtfully. The Omakase menu lets you really appreciated everything the seas of Japan have to offer.

We paid for the $150 full experience, but added on two flights of sake ($28 each flight for 3 different sakes) and 4 additional nigiris each. It was a full meal! But we were so pleased with the service and care and quality of food that we ended up hanging around until we were the last customers in the restaurant. Soichi, this was our first visit but not our last.

Big thanks to Lorena, Marlon, and Soichi himself for making tonight as special as it was. Our engagement anniversary could not have been better spent. Hoping to...