Sushi Kuchi — Restaurant in San Diego

I hate to be so negative, but this experience was the absolute worst ever. I cannot believe so many people consider this to be good sushi. The portions were super overwhelming and make me feel like the quality of ingredients and fish are not up to standard. The worst sushi I’ve ever had… there was even gagging and spitting out of food going on, as it could not be avoided. My cup was super dirty (noticed after drinking about half of the drink.) They literally overloaded these rolls with portions of the masago/fish/cream cheese/rice, and ridiculous knife cuts of lemon that just destroyed the rolls. The roll with lemon was so spicy it was inedible. It was like the white fish was soaked in jalopenos/peppers/etc for so long, the level of heat combined with other peppers within the roll was total overkill. I ate one piece and was done. The lemon was cut so thick the rind was as bitter and overpowering. We ordered 4 rolls along with miso soups and spicy edamame. All were epic failures. Not one thing was truly edible, except for my drink which then turned out to be in a very dirty plastic cup.

Beyond the food issues, we were sat in an odd area and didn’t get even the most basic of things (like soy sauce, until we asked for it once the rolls were delivered and it was still not at the table. Plus, there were 4 different people who checked on us literally like every 3-4 minutes. To the point of obnoxiousness. Typically with sushi, you want to enjoy it and not have people stare at you or constantly asking you questions while chewing with your mouth full. It was so uncomfortable. Especially the fact that we could not eat the sushi/edamame. We did like the miso soup which had generous portions of tofu. But the rolls were obviously pre-made as the tempura parts were no longer crispy, AT ALL. Actually soggy and cold and the soft shell crab was a terrifying color so I was too afraid to eat more than the one bite. Bitter and definitely not fresh. The edamame was more like bbq sauce and had a quite strange taste profile. The 4 rolls we ordered all came out within like 5 mins of ordering, so there’s physically no way with how busy the restaurant was that they could’ve rolled them fresh.

Sadly, I have nothing positive to say and 100% regret the visit to this restaurant. I should’ve known by the name as the word association is clearly not a positive connection given their menu focusing on fish… It also really sucks to spend nearly $100 on food you can’t and won’t consume. Out of courtesy, we packed to take home, then just threw it all away. We didn’t want to cause a scene in the restaurant, get sick, or appear as though we expected a free meal. I’ll say again, it was BEYOND uncomfortable.

Lastly, the wasabi would not even blend into the soy sauce. When I tell you this was like chewed gum,… I basically gave up on any positive expectation at that point. We had to request the wasabi/ginger as well as it was not provided freely. Ultimately, I strongly recommend to steer clear. By all means, this is not proper sushi. I expected more from San Diego / Pacific Beach.

Oh wait, there was something we liked… they played some good music while...

So my happy little family, wife, me and my 2 absolute angles.... Sent from Lucifer himself, which would be my 2 boys. Took a nice relaxing trip to San Diego. Every vacation we always do the Airbnb thing and think oh we are going to go to the store and buy/make meals at the rental and then we get here and then it's time for dinner. I ask my wife so are we going grocery shopping for food, your boys are hungry. She laughs and says ya I don't think so. Who wants Sushi? Now funny enough we all love sushi and have had a lot of it. Even my 7 and 10 boys love it. "FINALLY A MEAL WITH NO COMPLAINING!" So moving along we start looking for the sushi place that we went to last time we were here. Come to find out it's now ran down and the word on the street is not very good. So my friend Google clues me in on Sushi Kuchi. At this point we are starving and my boys are starting to grow horns from being so hangry. We drive there as fast as we can the 3 of them tuck and roll while I speed by with the door open so I can find a parking spot. That should be a review of its own. Parking in Pacific Beach. After I park the car and find my find my wife and boys I find out that my wife walked away to get us on the waiting list. Yes we went on Friday night and it was packed. We waited about 25 min. After we were shown to our table or waitress arrived quickly and got our drinks. She also didn't mention anything about our demons being unwelcome. They were the only kids the entire time. She then came and got our order which was 9 rolls, edamame and pot stickers. I'm not even joking they returned to our table with ALL the food in right around 10min. We were shocked! It was so quick. After my wife and I were able to get a couple pieces with the boys biting our fingers off we were able to taste how amazing it was. Everything we ordered was so good and full of flavor and all the different rolls all had a different taste. We ended up having a few different people come to our table to check on us and clear our mayhem. All of the employees were very nice and very patient. The restaurant its self is smaller, but is still very nice, it is very well kept, and clean. The lighting is just right for a dinner setting. The music on the other hand was a little loud but not over the top loud. I could still have a conversation and it helped drown out the sound of my hangry boys demanding more of this amazing Sushi before the die from starvation. The music they played while we were there was like a top 40 mix with electric dance. My 7 loved the music. He kept wanting to get up on the table and do the floss. The price was very very reasonable and the quality was still amazing. I would say that we will be going back but we already did. 2 days later and nothing changed everything was still amazing. Thank you Sushi Kuchi for the amazing food that filled my boys bellies and changed them back into little angles....

oh my, where to begin... so, guess who apparently stumbled on the Rocky Horror Picture Show of the sushi world? can you guess?

//// this girl!! ///

there is the redoubtable comparison to it as you walk inside and are faced with those giant red lips upon the cracked, white, elephant textured skin. its got that sexy-ugly vibe going. is that a thing? it just popped into my head.

situated at the end of garnet & mission, this is a great social sushi bar thats cheap and entertaining. is the food amazing? hell no. its honestly pretty bad sushi in the snobby sushi sense...poor cuts on fish, lack of flavor, everything actually seemed nearly the same even though i tried 3 different rolls. the edamame wasnt cooked enough and was massively salty. they play the ol' "50% off" permanent happy hour of overpriced items, along with $1 sake bombs.... of about 2 oz of beer in a cup along with the shot. you'd need 5 of these to actually be the amount of a true sake bomb...but i digress.

But lets forget about the bad sushi and fake deals. thats not why you are coming here. you are coming to socialize with friends. think of it more as a PB bar that happens to serve sushi, instead of the sushi bar in PB. then you realize its charm.

Halfway through eating my slightly below ave sushi topped with a slice of jalapeno (actually pretty tasty that way), the 2 sushi chefs put on blue curly clown wigs, the lights went off, rave music came on and the room sung happy birthday to a random table of their choosing.

And for that, i am a fan. but as a foodie...i just cant give it more than 3 stars.

FYI out of the rolls we got, the lips special roll with that sliced jalapeno...