I've been coming to this place since summer 2025, and let me just say this is the greatest Japanese restaurant is SLO! The ramen is rich and flavorful. The sushi is divine. And the bento box is just the right portioning! The service is fast and quick, never had to wait over 5 minutes and the workers are nice and friendly. It's a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere, definitely recommend for a date ! read more

Don't get the ramen. So disappointing and not worth $20. Noodles were overcooked, no flavor on the broth, I got a hard boiled egg sliced in half when it needs to be soft boiled, mostly tasted like green onions and the meat was too tough to chew. I left the restaurant with my bowl looking like this. Won't be coming back. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

The location and ambience was fine. But the food was below poor. The tuna poke bowl my wife said was too salty, and she likes salt. The spider roll had virtually no protein. Most of the pieces were rice and a vegetable. Over $40 for nothing edible. This place makes the Sushi at Safeway seem like a Michelin-rated restaurant. We didn't even finish our meals. read more

Walk-up ordering was easy and the staff was very helpful. Our food came out quickly and the portions were a great size. We ordered the make-your-own poke and ramen, and everything was fresh and satisfying. Would definitely come back. Lots of great options for seating inside and out. read more

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Great little Asian fusion eatery with a mix of poke, ramen, and rice/noodle bowls! Since I came after the usual lunch hour, before dinner, it was very quiet. Although there's plenty of indoor & outdoor seating, it's still an order-at-the-counter place. Food was plenty and tasty. The only odd thing was tthat he server apparently was not familiar with the menu prices. She miscalculated one of the dish price and had to ask me at the table for $2 extra dollars to cover the plate. If it was their mistake, I would think they should've let it go. Too bad I already tipped them, otherwise it would've come out of that. Overall, I would still come back for the food, despite the mediocre service. read more

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Food was not good. Hand rolls were decent, but everything else was not good, especially for the price. However, service was pretty good

This place does not have QUALITY! The avocado roll is small as a quarter and no AVOCADO at all. Ramen noodles are like cup noodles horrible No taste no flavor. Waist of money eating here. costumer services is horrible, I will never come back here. read more

The most ridiculous smallest sushi rolls I've ever had in my life. These avocado rolls have hardly any avocado at all and most of them are smaller than a quarter. Will never go again. read more

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This place was good, wasn't fantastic. The sushi was a bit mediocre due to it not being very fresh, they did have unique options, the blue moon roll was okay, it was an interesting choice cause the sushi on top seemed to be slightly cooked but wasn't fully raw, which I never have had before especially with that type of fish. But again it wasn't my favorite, the other roll I got was pretty good, your classic baked salmon roll basically. The California poke bowl looked so pretty haha, and it actually was a lot of food and pretty tasty especially with all that avocado! Service wise they were nice but this is a do everything yourself kind of place. You sit yourself down, you grab your own menus, order for yourself, get your own water, go containers etc, and you pay for the food before you get it, which would be okay if the prices weren't so high. I personally just didn't like this aspect especially since I spent so much money. The location is nice in downtown SLO next to plenty of shops, and other restaurants if you want to get a sweet treat haha, there is public parking but you do have to walk a little bit. Metered parking as well but it seems to always be full especially on the weekends. Overall it satisfied the sushi craving but it's not a place I'm craving to go to again. read more

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Very chill ambiance, self seating but food was so meh. My chicken teriyaki came out cold and the food was an overall "OK" for $20. Filling but probably won't come again read more

201 Kitchen SLO - bento box - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Waited over 30+ minutes for the food. The gyoza/ bbq buns were served lukewarm. Sushi seemed like it was sitting on the counter for like 20 minutes before being served. read more

Pathetic "rolls" for $17.95 + tax. Rainbow roll fish were thin as paper. Two pieces of unagi that we can find on the dragon roll. Skip this place. Plenty of other "sushi" restaurants to choose from in SLO. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Rainbow Roll and Dragon Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

They had a spacious restaurant, but the vibe was not inviting says my partner. We ordered take out, the service was standard, so no bad experiences. Regarding the food, we are torn. Blue moon roll - For some reason it's both bland and the spicy tuna overpowered the other flavors we expected from this roll. We loved seared albacore, but couldn't really taste it in this roll! Phoenix roll - To each their own, because this roll's flavor profile was weird for both me and my partner. We expected a little spicy, but it was more sweet and for some reason gave Mexican flavors in a bad way. I'm not sure it's due to the sauce or due to how smoked salmon usually tasted like, but not for us. Both rolls however, was generous with the amount of stuff in it, but it didn't give that satisfying bite. They're bigger rolls, but the taste wasn't there for us today. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Phoenix roll, left. Blue moon roll, right. - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Great service , ate here with a couple friends environment and food was great and cheap !

Dined here yesterday for lunch and I was the only one there around 11:15AM. I ordered the spicy ramen soup and a spicy tuna roll. They were great portions and delicious. This is probably gonna shock you but I think their ramen that I had yesterday was even better than Raku Ramen! The pork belly was tender and the spicy broth was so comforting. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Spicy Tuna Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

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The relaxed ambiance invites diners to enjoy the limited offerings at 201 Kitchen in the heart of downtown SLO. Besides a small selection of poke bowls and ramens, many of their sushi rolls and offerings are a variation of each other. Upon entering the restaurant, one is loudly welcomed from the rear of the restaurant and advised to grab a menu and sit anywhere one wishes. A waitress informs the diner to go to the rear of the restaurant to place and pay for an order. A tip is requested prior to having any idea of the service or food freshness and quality (Welcome to the new "norm" ??). The restaurant is nicely furnished with comfortable seating, and there are a few tables on a small patio on Higuera Street for enjoying the sunshine or people-watching. There are no umbrellas to shade from the usual sunny weather. We ordered the Butterfly and Spicy Salmon Tempura rolls. The Butterfly Roll had a pleasant surprise - in that it contained smoked salmon (lox) rather than the usual fresh salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and cucumber. It was an excellent choice. The Spicy Salmon Tempura Roll consists of salmon, cream cheese, and avocado wrapped in rice and deep-fried in tempura. The ingredients nicely complimented each other, but the roll was small. After our food was delivered, we never encountered the waitress again. We saw a similar scenario repeatedly with many other customers during our visit. The Website menu on 201 Kitchen's page is extremely outdated. The Menu link currently featured on Yelp is provided by Grubhub and seems to differ. read more

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Sushi is 3.5/5 stars and the spicy mayo is probably responsible for one of those stars. The ramen is terrible, 1/5. The egg is just a hard boiled egg. The chicken is just teriyaki chicken and it's super fatty and gooey (old?). I think the noodles are from a maruchan packet. Worst of all the broth tastes like chicken broth with maybe tapatio or some other acidic vinegar thing in it? Also worth noting I was so hungry when I ordered this so it wouldn't have taken much for it to satisfy me. Good luck! Update: they refunded me for the ramen which is worth something. But don't get the ramen. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Chicken ramen. 0/10 recommend. - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Have been here multiple times but never wrote a review so here I am! We love, love the ambiance of the restaurant. They have neon lights and flowers as decorations. It's very hip and in if I might add. We ordered using the sloeats app and got bogo sushi rolls! We ended up getting the Blue Moon roll and the Lion King roll. We prefer the Lion King but still enjoyed both very much. Our friend got the Spicy Tonkatau ramen and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Will go back soon! read more

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This place is my absolute favorite place to eat in SLO, it reminds me of my dad's own sushi restaurant. The food here is delicious and made with love. My go to is the Ramen and the spicy garlic edamame. These two pair together go so well together. The owner is so sweet and gave us free tempura ice cream once and since then we have been addicted to it ever since. This place is always super accommodating as my friend is vegan and got vegan broth. Will forever cherish this place as it is just a gem for Asian food in SLO. The service is always top tier and the restaurant itself is very homey like. read more

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Visited SLO for the day and this spot was the perfect place to end my excursion! We ordered the spicy tonkatsu ramen which had delicious savory broth, and the classic tuna poke bowl which was surprisingly fresh for the price. The server was kind, welcoming, and able to cater to my bilingual family. The ambiance of the restaurant was home-y and overall I recommend stopping by if you're in town! read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Spicy tonkatsu ramen - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

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Very relaxed, chill environment. Service was nice and welcoming. I would have attached a photo of my food but I ate it all before thinking to do that. Overall, food is good nothing amazing but will fill you up for better prices than most places around here. I would recommend for families or outings with friends when you don't want to spend a fortune and eat good! - Gerthy Approved read more

Stopped in on a rainy day for some delicious Ramen and was not disappointed. You can order online from the table or with the cashier. I had some special requests so spoke personally with the front cashier. They graciously accommodated all my needs and prepared a spicy and magnificent bowl of Ramen. Not going to lie, the sticker shock o had with a $17.50 bowl of Ramen that offered only veggies and noodles but in the end the taste was worth it. My daughter had some spicy tuna rolls which she enjoyed. Overall great place and nice atmosphere. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

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Our visit to 201 Kitchen SLO was an absolute delight from start to finish. From the moment we stepped in we were greeted warmly by the owner, Sonny, whose hospitality set the tone for a fantastic dining experience! We ordered: to start, we had the shrimp tempura and vegetables and the Fuiji Apple Sake . For our entrees we had the spicy tonkatsu ramen which was bursting with flavor! The spice level was spot on, adding just the right amount of kick! And the chicken katsu Japanese curry which had just the right balance of flavors, perfectly complementing the tender katsu. What truly set this place apart and what will keep us coming back for more is the personal touch Sonny brings to every table! His genuine warmth and attention to detail made us feel like valued guests. He even treated us to a delicious fried mochi dessert to end our perfect meal! read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Fuiju Apple Sake - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

I am a huge ramen fan. I will eat ramen 3 meals a day. Finally trying this place after walking past it countless times. The place is clean, modern, has a very nice ambiance. The cashier/server was sweet and friendly. Ok onto the ramen. Tonkotsu with extra pork is always my go to. The broth is properly thick and tasty. The eggs are creamy and delicious. And the pork is melt in your mouth flavorful! Overall on the healthy side with less salt than usual but I guess it is a good thing! I will come again for sure, as long as I can find parking. read more

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This is a casual style sushi restaurant. You order at the counter and they bring the food out as it is ready. The ambiance was a bit quirky but fitting for a casual restaurant. We ordered 2 miso soups, an order of gyoza, a white dragon roll and a blue moon roll, for a total of about $68 including a glass of white wine. The miso soup portions were a pretty good size, but the gyoza were small and the rolls, while 8 pieces, were small as well for the price. Overall, this place was a little pricey for the portion size and quality, but they have a lot of food options and with its casual vibe I can see how this would be a popular spot for the local college crowd. read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Blue Moon roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

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The food is super delicious! I've come here many times and am never disappointed! It is a very nice environment and really cute inside!

The sushi and poke bowl are not fresh. My cup came with a lip mark. We payed before the food came out, and when tapping the card, they automatically charged an 18% tip when we didn't click anything. This place is very pricey and ambiance is very pretty, so we thought the food would be good, but we're very disappointed. read more

For one, you have to seat yourself. Once ready to order you have to go to the front counter and to place it as if it was a fast food restaurant. Why have me sit down at a table and then make me get up to order? The "cooked" sushi rolls were raw. Horrible presentation. It seems like they're using the chili seasoning they use on Mexican street corn cobs. Don't even get me started on the ramen. It's no wonder they have you pay first. Everything we ordered was honestly a disgrace to Japanese culture. I have had bad sushi and bad ramen but this was utter trash. 0/10 would not recommend. read more

There was a slight chill in the air. We were walking the farmers and so it was a perfect night for ramen. We passed up all that street food to try a "four star"Yelp rated restaurant. I'm not an expert in Asian cuisine but living near the San Gabriel Valley I've had my fair share of ramen and excellent ramen at that. Upon presentation you could see some potential. The broth look the perfect level of umami. Eggs were included, not an add-on. But I only ate 1/2 as they were overcooked. The yolk hard boiled is not the correct way. The ramen noodles were good (difficult to mess up those). Now, the most critical execution, the soup base is where it all went down. The lemongrass was so overwhelming and made the soup so sour that it masked all the umami flavor. We left 3/4 of our ramen behind and did not take it home. It wasn't worth eating a second time. I'm disappointed in the yelpers who in this case steered me wrong. This is the worst ramen I have ever had!! read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Look at that egg! - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Wow the food was underwhelming... The poke bowl had like 8 small cubes of fish and the rest was cabbage. We also had ramen which was lackluster in flavor. read more

It was a busy night in downtown SLO and we ended up here to grab dinner since most of the other spots that we wanted to go to did not have tables. They have a cool ordering system and you can place the order online after scanning the QR code. I had the gyoza, edamame, salmon sashmi and ngiri. The food was OK and the salmon did not look too appetizing and was falling apart. One odd thing that happened was that the waitress thought that I had only ordered one of the salmon dishes and said it was due to a challenge with their ordering system. She was super nice though so no biggie. read more

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Friendly workers, no fountain drinks though the sodas are in cans, the restaurant has a great lighting and have natural lighting from the ceiling and has cute decor and most things are self serve: For example, sitting wherever you like, self serving water, get your own menu. First timer here and wasn't that busy when we got there. read more

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Worst ramen I've ever had. Minimal flavor, instant ramen texture, pork belly tastes like ham sandwich meat from the grocery store. If you eat here, avoid the ramen. read more

We came out here to get some sushi and ramen but i saw they had onigiri... i have to tell you i have had different types from different places but this right here was delicious! you know for a fact they make them from the heart. it was so fresh and so flavorful! i got a spicy tuna onigiri and i just had to make a review! the owner was the sweetest person, he was very passionate about explaining the options he can make and ensured we knew how to properly open an onigiri :) i will definitely be back! read more

201 Kitchen SLO - spicy tuna onigiri - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

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Ordered some nagiri and black garlic ramen. Sushi was fresh and the ramen was loaded with flavor. Love that they don't charge extra for egg, bean sprouts, onions, etc. I lived and eaten ramen all over California and this bowl was very well balanced and delicious! I recommend over the other local ramen spots. Coming back here again read more

Awesome food and amazing service 100% recommend I recommend trying the lion King roll if you like baked sushi read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Lion King Roll Rainbow Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Not sure why this place averages only 3 1/2 stars. We went for the first-time last night and had a wonderful experience. It was chilly out, so we started with hot sake and hot tea. I'm not a huge sake fan, but it did the trick. Next, we started off with the baked local ling cod in a rose broth and a spicy California roll. After that we just went crazy. We got a tuna poke bowl, Mexican roll (which was amazing by the way), and double tuna roll. We also got a couple of special items: seared albacore and fresh salmon nigiri served in a covered dish filled with smoke. It was so good!! And the presentation was great! Owner, Sonny, brought it out. He is just the nicest person and so happy! Then we finished with the tempura green tea ice cream which was fried bananas topped with green tea ice cream and whip cream. YUM! Looking forward to going back and trying more items on the menu. Great owner, great location, and just great food. read more

While visiting SLO, are here for the first time. My family ordered the ramen classic soup, udon chicken teriyaki soup, tiger roll, California roll, Lion King roll, shrimp Japanese curry, and gyoza. Everything was very good. Size of rolls were just right, probably bigger than others' previous reviews. The soups were very good, especially the soup broths. The curry was delicious. Ambiance was very nice with jazzy R&B music that day. I did have to order and tip at the counter when we first arrive. But it does get the hard part out of the way, and we were able to eat and relax and enjoy our food. Price is just right considering post-pandemic and location and restaurant environment. And the service was very good too! We will definitely come back again. read more

This place is incredible! Great location, sushi is amazing and the owner Sunny is a great person! Highly recommend read more

201 Kitchen SLO - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Went with my family and ordered the Sashimi plate. Let's just say the fish was not fresh and each piece was cut way too big as though they were trying to get rid of it. I have had some premium sashimi, so being so close to the ocean I didn't second guess the quality. I had the worst taste in my mouth all night and thankfully didn't get sick. I wouldn't recommend eating here. read more