Takka Sushi Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Santee

Overall the place was decent; the food was okay and the building and the decor itself was nice, but everything lacked in a lot of areas as well.

The food is blatantly not authentic japanese; the Ton Katsu Don is exactly the same as their Ton Katsu with a layer of slightly scrambled egg on top of it, rather than being in a bowl mixed with the Katsu among other vegetables. The Katsu themselves were extremely bready and too crunchy/crispy which made the food taste like just friend bread with hints of meat. The sushi looked nice and big but actually lacked a lot of substance and flavor, most of the flavor that did manage to come out was rice and water rather than the ingredients that it had. The miso soup was perfect and had a lot of flavor. Compared to other Japanese restaurants, the price is decent. Not only that, but the food came out extremely fast.

In regards to the place, there were 3 doors, but 2 of them were not usable, and only 1 of those had any signs indicating that. The inside has some Christmas lights strewn about the perimeter of the ceiling, which adds much needed lighting, but looks a little trashy and cluncky if you look at them too closely, but still a nice touch nonetheless; maybe if they were better arranged or a different method of bringing small lights were introduced it would look a lot nicer. There is also signs of water leaks or stains on the ceiling of the roof which give off an unclean vibe to an overall clean restaurant.

The staff were very helpful to the guests and we're happy to help out with great smiles no matter the situation. Some of the chefs/cooks on the other hand, had scowls throughout the night, however they may simply have been going through a rough time.

Overall, Takka Sushi Bar & Grill is a decent place for its price. It's almost like a fast food version of Japanese food. If you want to experience Japanese food, maybe give this place a pass, but if you want to go with a group to get a quick bite somewhere japanese, this is definitely a great...

We've always enjoyed sushi, from when we met in 1982. We fondly remember so many sushi bars that have come and gone - Kazra's downtown with the Shintu-priest proprietor whose voice was raspy from too many cigarettes, the Elvis-look-alike sushi chef at Kinokawa in Chula Vista, the family who ran Kamon in La Mesa who brought Karaoke to San Diego. They have all come and gone, but their artistry remains firmly planted in memory.

In our neighborhood, Covid seems to have done a number on our neighborhood sushi bars. Tsuki Sushi has mysteriously vanished, Narumi is content with preparing Take-Out only orders and customers are no longer welcome to dine there in person. Ahi Sushi is no longer our go-to as the nigiri becomes smaller and the hours posted online are inaccurate, as we found out the hard way. Therefore, Takka in Santee, is like the glimmering gem spotted on the bottom of a pond.

We went in last night and had an amazing experience. The sushi was super fresh, the albacore was so tasty, and they had fresh ikura! It's been two years since we had that!

Suffice it to say, this is our new go-to sushi bar, thanks to the prowess of sushi chef Jack and the rest of the...

To be fair, this place is decent. The 1/2 off classic rolls gimic makes for competitively price sushi. The portions are nice and the fish is fresh. If you don't have dietary restrictions I would recommend visiting. If you have celiac and gluten free matters, STAY AWAY! There are other, more expensive, places in town that can reliability prepared GF sushi. The staff here do not seem to know what GF even means and will tell you it's GF, which may work on people who just want to avoid gluten, but for those with celiac it will poison them. Yes poison is a harsh word, but to the staff of Takka, please research celiac disease and educate your staff. Missleading people about the ingredients you use causes real harm.

They do not seem to understand what gluten free means. If you specifically ask about ingredients like soy sauce or shrimi they will tell you they use GF shrimi or that there is no soy sauce in this etc. I'll stop short of accusing them of lying, but they certainly seem willing to shine you allong. So if you have celiac, and GF matters, don't eat here! Otherwise, decent sushi at a...