Samurai Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Solana Beach

This restaurant seems to have a following and based on that, I'm sure they're a capable bunch, but my wife and I were shocked at the mediocrity of our meal for the price paid. Sushi is not for the faint-of-heart if you want to eat well, but for $175 with tip we could have eaten nearly two meals at our neighborhood favorite and neither the service nor food was up to par.

We had tickets to a 7:30 play at the nearby repertory theater, so made a 6:00 reservation and arrived right on time. We were seated and then waited nearly 15 minutes for a server, who came by to take our drink order. We explained that we needed to leave by 7:20 and ordered four appetizers, and informed that we would order more food on her next pass. Our sake arrived quickly but then... nada. 20 minutes later our first dish (tempura) arrived with an apology for the delay that "the kitchen is pretty backed up". Which would have been easier to accept if the restaurant was more than half-full, which it was not. And the dish was luke warm, the coating softened, with a distinct after-taste of oil that suggested either cooking at too low of a temperature or that the dish sat on a counter for several minutes.

After that... more waiting. 10 minutes later (30 minutes after first contact with the wait-staff), I stopped the host (and owner, I believe) and explained that we were waiting on 3 more dishes, wanted to order some sushi, and had to be out the door in 30 minutes. To his credit, he took our order and magically, the rest of our food arrived a moment later. But as with the first dish, our yakitori, dumplings and kalbi were only warm and not hot, so it was apparent that wait-staff and kitchen were completely out of sync.

Our sushi arrived shortly thereafter and was beautifully plated - by far the best part of our meal, but still not quite right. We had a special tuna roll ("spicy tuna") and stuffed orange tomato (salmon topped with "spicy scallop"), neither of which were anything close to "spicy" as described. At that point, asking for chile sauce or something to spice them up was out of the question because of what had become a time crunch, so we ate them as presented.

During our initial wait at the table, I asked to see the teppanyaki menu (offered in an adjacent dining room) and was actually shocked at the pricing. We eat from time to time at Shogun in Kearney Mesa and the prices at Samurai are 50%(!) higher. We didn't dine at a teppan table, so I cannot say whether there's value or not, but in the main dining room, the food and service did not come close to justifying the price point. Japanese food is generally more expensive because of the higher costs of skilled labor and premium ingredients that are presented in a meticulous and artistic manner, but that was not...

I have taken my family, friends and business partners to Samurai many times due to the fact that the food is always great. Alas, the SERVICE DISAPPOINTED me and my wife tonight. First, we asked for two glasses of water without ice and a slice of lime. The waitress relayed our request to a big gentleman who brought us water, but no lime. I noticed a black particle in my water, so I asked them to bring another glass. This time a white particle was swimming in my water! The couple of slices of old lime that they finally brought us were almost juice-less! The chef's Special Special was absolutely tasty, as always, and so was the Tuna Special. So, I forgot about the bad experience with the water. Feeling more appetite for the delicious food, once we caught the super busy waitress, we ordered California roll. Unfortunately, the wait seemed like an eternity. Having lost my appetite and my patience to some extent, I called the manager/owner and tactfully asked him if they were shorthanded. He said: No, why? I told him about the wait and asked him to cancel my last order and bring me the check. A few seconds later, the waitress appeared with my order and asked me to take it. She also told me she wouldn't charge me for it. Before I got a chance to respond to the waitress, the manager came with the check, and in a manner that was neither apologetic nor kind asked me if I wanted it. Feeling insulted, I responded no. Although the service was terrible, I left about 20% gratuity. Upon leaving the restaurant half hungry, I noticed the manager/owner chastising the poor waitress. Had the manager employed an apologetic/friendly tone, or had he shown a little understanding, everything would have gone fine. Was I expecting too much? I hope the waitress does not get in trouble. By the way, I will keep going to Samurai...

This place used to be so good, but it went way downhill. I wish I could put a 0 for the food. As soon as the 3 rolls of sushi arrived, I knew something was wrong. They smelled off, looked off, weren't cold, and tasted off. They even put bruised avocado on one of the rolls. I should have taken photos!!! We ate anyway because we were SO freaking hungry and didn't want to cause a problem. At least the cucumber salad and miso soup were decent. At the end of the meal, I kindly told our waiter about the lack of quality and how it used to be so good, but she evidently didn't care. I asked her to just let the manager know, for quality control. I didn't want a a discount or anything.. I just wanted to let them know so they can bring back how good it used to be. I'm considering calling San Diego Public Health to inspect their kitchens. Their fish smelled off and it was not cold at all. It's disgusting to even...