Sushi Exchange — Restaurant in San Diego

If you like this place... sorry you have no respect for sushi or your butt. You are literally risking food poisoning by design ordering certain dishes.

Let me explain...

The Aji is served with the raw meat directly on top of the fried bones and head. This is just so wrong for so many reasons... First putting cold raw fish on a hot fried surface immediately breeds bacteria. You are not cooking the fish in any way but you are taking it to room temperature and above. This is a big no-no. Beyond this you end up with lukewarm fried fish and lukewarm raw fish. It’s a health code violation and tragic food fail all wrapped in shiso.

Oh... and if you order the raw octopus wasabi nigiri — it isn’t. It’s a little bowl of baby tentacles on top of daikon... no rice. When I questioned what we were served I was told “oh I know it’s listed as nigiri, but it’s not.” My response: “do you think you might want to at least inform the customer what they’re ordering?” Her reply: “well some customers already know what it is.” I will give them credit for both originality and lowering the bar so far there’s really no response.

Well played. Servers 2 - customer zero.

Moving on:

No Sake menu. I asked what type of cold sake they serve and was given the response “hot” twice and then “filtered or unfiltered.” When I asked what were the choices of cold as I like both, I think she broke. The net result - point and guess between two bottles unless you read Japanese. Yay... dinner mystery surprises!!

No cups served with sake, only after it had a chance to properly warm back up were we able to get two very different sized cups. Great for taking advantage of dates later - I dig your style SE.

No wasabi nor ginger served with fish.

It’s easier to hail a cab in manhattan during rush hour than get your servers attention, and there was literally only 1 other customer seated in the entire restaurant; his chuckle heard each time my head lowered in defeat. I questioned for a moment if in fact I had entered the twilight zone...

The sashimi belly plate questionably fresh - ok fine... no question whatsoever; it tasted fishy. The fish is also cut very inconsistently in size and thickness - the toro (in reality chutoro at best) more than twice the thickness of yellowtail. The salmon was even less fatty, doubtfully even belly. You get two pieces of tuna but 3 yellowtail scraps and I believe 3 salmon chunks. There’s really no rhyme or reason to this madness... just enough confusion to upset a mathematician, a bus load of sushi chefs and any party more than 1.

Amaebi - the cold fried head is served on the same plate as the raw shrimp (at least not on top!). I would be concerned again about bacteria but they are very good here about making sure everything fried is served room temp. They also must just leave the shrimp meat sitting around until they fry the head then let it carefully dry age before serving...

I will say once you get used to their new-age methods, each bite gets a little better - kinda like leftovers you forgot to put in the fridge the night before, but go for it anyway.

As I sit late at night hoping the feeling in my belly is just the bad taste of horrendous service... I know the bacteria are laughing and toying with the strings of both my innards and soul.

Please go watch “Jiro dreams of sushi” on Netflix and make your own dinner. Or go anywhere else, like...

Had the single best piece of fish in my entire life last night! My wife and I came here last night to celebrate a special occasion. I ordered the Chef's Choice, basically whatever he wanted to make me. The meal started with sashimi of Spanish Maceral. It was an entire fish, served sliced with the carcass and head fried. Both the sashimi and the meat that was in the fired head were amazing. But... then came sashimi from the belly of a female Japanese Amber Jack. It was presented in a beautiful rose shape. The Amber Jack was sweet and luxuriously unctuous beyond any fish I had ever had. The fattiness was unbelievable and gave it a mouth feel like no other fish I have had. It made blue fin tuna belly seem like ordinary fair. It made what most places sell as Hamachi, seem like trash fish. It was so insanely good that it made a special night... unforgettable. I was also treated to fried female capelin that still contained their roe. Fabulous little treats. Grilled American Maceral that came on a bed of rice and was topped with an aioli, sweet eel sauce and decorated with shredded nori. This was savory, sweet and another treat to enjoy. I had raw baby octopus with baby daikon sprouts and some kind of pickled veggie. It was refreshing and very unique. My wife, who will not eat raw fish had the Udon with tempura shrimp. This is by far the best Udon broth of any restaurant in the local area. It is outstanding! Which is a little ironic as a mile away there is a restaurant that specialize in ramen and Udon. But that restaurant's udon pales by comparison. We finished the meal with a small scoop of raspberry sorbet topped with a fortune cookie. The quality of food is as good or better than Ken's Sushi Station, my second favorite sushi place in Carmel Valley. However, the prices here are far more reasonable than any other sushi restaurant in Carmel Valley or Del Mar. The staff if super friendly and service was excellent. The owners, Tony and Vee and both really nice and checked to make sure we were enjoying our meal. Anthony, the chef that prepared my meal, did a truly remarkable job. Since I live just down the road, my only hope is that they don't get so busy that I can't...

This is the best quality sushi in San Diego! I have been looking for excellent sushi in the San Diego area for years, and sushi exchange is absolutely delicious, high quality, and affordable! I have tried nearly every sushi restaurant in the Convoy food district which is famed for excellent Asian food, and sushi exchange is the most delicious I have had in the city, even better the upscale places in Convoy!

The atmosphere was excellent, with kind and quick service. Servers were very helpful! The TVs in the background were playing a range of options that were all appropriate for kids but still entertaining for adults. They had on some studio ghibli, some sports, and some live action films.

The sushi was incredibly fresh, both the fish and the vegetables tasted high quality and were prepared lovingly. The sauces were phenomenal and tasted like they were made in house! We got five sushi rolls, I really enjoyed the Dynamite roll, the scallops were absolutely perfectly prepared! We also had the dragon roll in the caterpillar roll, the eel on it was the perfect consistency, which is hard to find in the area.

We also really liked the seasonal options the marry me and the animal world! We tried the Miso Butter Mac n Cheese and it was absolutely delicious! Perfectly balanced, just the right degree of richness and a really satisfying texture as well. I absolutely cannot wait to bring more friends to sushi exchange and it will be my go-to restaurant for any reason...