Lunch today was my first time there and I WILL be back! Excellent food!!!!! The Spicey Crunchy Tuna Roll was amazing. It's small and wasn't too crowded. Our service was prompt and the people were very pleasant. This was my first visit and definitely no my last. read more

I love this place. The staff is extremely nice and the food is awesome! They always give us something free (I'm a sucker for free stuff) and the food is delicious and fresh. They have a good variety of sushi. My only complaint is the 5 times I've been here they only had UNI (sea urchin) once! I wish they had it more. Overall you can expect me to come back! read more

This is the best sushi place nearby Irvine!! Love the baby lobster and Finding Nemo rolls, but there are so many to choose from. And the salmon collar is so delicious with a tangy dipping sauce. The owner Jino and servers are amazing as well, and the service has never disappointed me. They take such good care of their customers. All the revolving sushi places pale in comparison to Sushi Imari. It's best for smaller groups or a date night, since it's not a big restaurant, but I recommend this place to everyone. So good!! read more

Amazing service! Servers are soo great! Very attentive. Great sushi! Gyoza was bomb! Mystery roll don't turn it down

Amazing service and the freshest sushi! Show up when they open so you don't have to wait, but if you do it's worth it!

Still every bit as good as the days my wife and I used to frequent here a few years ago. Jino still remembered us and even remembered our favorites, unbelievable. Amazing sushi and some new dishes i see on the menu. This man never stops trying to improve. read more

Fish is so fresh tasting. Friendly customer service and pretty decent prices. Menu seems really decent with a lot of different items to choose from. read more

Wow.....finally found the perfect sushi restaurant in Orange County. If you're lucky enough that they have the bluefin tuna, order it. Sashimi style comes with a little sauce and fresh wasabi....amazing. Everything we had was so fresh.....yellowtail Sashimi, red hot chili pepper roll.....Ready to go back tomorrow.... read more

Came here for my anniversary dinner and it was fantastic. The chef made us a few extra things to try. Staff was friendly and most importantly, the food was awesome. Best sushi. Everything was fresh. read more

This place is really good, small local spot in costa mesa . they always give you free food and the sushi is delicious! staff is attentive and nice. read more

Great sushi spot. Loved the Spicy Crunchy Tuna roll. Also had the Sake Bomb roll which was good but not as good. Great service and lots of free extras. Will definitely be back next time I'm in town. read more

My girlfriend and I have sushi about every other week. We almost always pick this place. The staff is extremely friendly and attentive. The sushi quality is quite good as well, especially for the price. They have some great rolls, and their nigiri is the best in the area in my opinion. read more

Very good sushi. Nice variety of fresh fish. We tried the halibut, yellowtail, salmon, blue fin, king scallop and amberjack. Everything was great. The complimentary plum ice cream was very good as well. We'll be back. read more

Long wait for our party of five, but so worth it. The rolls are delicious, the staff is super friendly, and they kept giving free food. For a healthy alterrnative to the sushi rice, get the Hakuna Matata or any of the cucumber wrapped rolls. Sashimi pieces aren't on the menu, but you can order them. read more

The best sushi and the best service ever!!! We found this place by chance and we so happy we did. The servers were very attentive and the food was delicious! Everything came out quickly and the plates were cleared as soon as we finished the food. The staff was friendly and worked as a team. We never had to ask for anything! read more

I went there last night and let me start by saying that this place it's so dirty and low grade fish. If you want rolls with cheap quality of fish go to this place. You could probably safe money and buy it at your local store and they will have better quality of fish. I'm sure the folks rate this 5 starts they don't go for quality only for quantity. I will never go back! Yucky Sushi :/ read more

This is the 2nd time we can here. First time was great. The food was surprisingly better than we expected. Today was horrible! The young male waiter tried to seat us at the sushi bar when there was an empty table with bench seats right in front of us! He said it is saved for big party but that was the table we sat at last time with party of two?! We turned around and walked our immediately! What a disappointing experience! Too bad because I was going to spend 2 hundred somethings for two! Sad....... read more

Good sushi at good prices! While waiting for my sushi, my server brought out gyoza dumplings! (On the house) I was like what... sweet! Great environment, they don't rush you out or anything when it gets packed. Also, they give you free ice cream when you're done :) definitely would be back!! read more

Great sushi place. Prices are reasonable, food is good and service is great and efficient. I recommend the baked mussel and unagi.

I've been to this place a couple times but never wrote a review for this place. But I decided to write one this time because even after a year of not coming back, not much has changed. The food was delicious and the customer service is beyond phenomenal. Fish was fresh and the prices were decent as well. The rolls were around $10-$13. They always give you a complimentary side dish whether it be onion rings, gyoza, ice cream, miso soup, or green mussels. The staff are always super accommodating and nice. This is my go to sushi place when I'm in the OC because of the food and customer service. read more

See all

This place has the best customer service and food combo of any sushi bar I've been to in the OC. The staff is always friendly and almost always bring free food to try during dinner. I probably eat here at lease once a month an have never been disappointed. read more

Came here to celebrate my birthday with my friends and had a wonderful experience. Sashimi was fresh and all the rolls were good. I made reservations for my party of 10 and they had the seats ready for us as soon as everyone arrived. The staff was very friendly and they brought us extra appetizers and rolls too. read more

Awesome sushi. Very fresh, quick and friendly service. We stumbled onto this restaurant after consulting Yelp and very glad we did. Thanks for everything!!! read more

Amazing!! Our group of six had THE fastest and best service! Usually sushi restaurants take FOREVER but this place was impressive. Suggestions were made as we were all getting our cherries popped at this place and the food was devoured as quickly as it was brought out. We were celebrating a birthday and the chef gave our table a free appetizer and a birthday cupcake to top the evening off. Do yourself a favor and check this place out!!! The Jessica Albacore roll, Red Hot Chili Pepper roll, and the sunshine roll were excellent! read more

Cheap sushi is always bad sushi, you can find it anywhere. Great value sushi at a reasonable price is hard to find. You can find it here.

My family's favorite sushi spot. Totally recommend this place. We love to get the special sushi rolls of the day and Hamachi Kama. We try eating at Sushi Imari every week, that's how much we love it. Always such great waiters and amazing customer service when the workers say "hello" and "thank you" to you. You feel like you're part of the family. Try Sushi Imari, you won't regret it :) read more

Awesome food!!! The staff and sushi chef are very accommodating and friendly. We will be back! Excited to finally find a go to sushi spot that's around the corner from where we live. read more

What can I say other than AMAZING!! Sushi Imari is the best sushi restaurant ever!!! They always have the best and fresh sushi that literally melts in your mouth! I've found no other better sushi restaurant than Imari! Not only that but people (especially Jino and Judy) there are amazingly kind and nice that make you feel really good and make the food taste even better! Oh Oh Oh,,, and also they have the most unique rolls that you can never get from any other restaurants!! My favorite is Aladdin roll!! you definately gotta try it when you visit!!! I definately recommend Sushi Imari if you are craving for sushi!! read more

My wife and I ate here the other week for our Anniversary. It was good and I was surprised that it was not more busy since I read so many good reviews. They hooked up some free stuff (always nice) and the price was not outrageous by any means. Server was very nice and prompt read more

After browsing through Yelp, looking for a sushi place to try near home, we stumbled upon Sushi imari. Who knew restaurants still gave freebies! Our servers were gracious and their recommendations were awesome. i think we just found a new favorite sushi place! read more

This is my favorite sushi restaurant of all time! It's a hole in the wall kind of place, but it's definitely warm and inviting. The food is always amazing and service is great. My favorite rolls are the Genius Roll with it's fried onions and the Hakuna Matata, which is soo good. The free samples are always a plus too :) read more

Really good Sushi. I highly recommend the crunchy tuna roll which was really tasty. Service was fast and sushi was very fresh!

My sister visited my work place and I thought finding a new dinner spot will be a good way to end the night. We decided to try out Sushi Imari.I ordered amber jack, seafood dynamite, beef and chicken teriyaki for the non sushi eater in the family.They were all okay.Maybe we'll get better experience when it's not so packed on a Tuesday night. Definitely will come back to try out other things on the menu. read more

Amazingly friendly. My friend and I decided to order take-out. We arrived, looked over the menu (with a lot of fun names), placed our orders and, because the place was filling up and quick, moved from the table they had sat us at to the small waiting area filled with chairs. A waitress noticed and immediately came over to offer us complimentary green tea lemonade and edamame, both of which were of course tasty. I can't wait to come back and eat in as I'm sure it'll be just as great a second time. read more

Basically this place is a whole in the wall sushi place you'd actually have to look for in costa mesa....and its surrounded by autoshops too so if you haven't been there before Look for the autoshops then you know you're there. Appetizers/ Complementary food: This place gives you complementary appetizers though its pretty random and depending on day/time/ what's made/price you pay the appetizers I've had range anywhere from (gyoza/ fried fish/ fried onion rings/ miso soup/ mussels/ sushi rolls (literally)/ salmon sashimi) Their appetizers aren't bad but they're not the best thing either so don't expect like 5 star appetizers since it is complementary. Complementary deserts ive gotten before: definitely their icecream and once a chocolate cake slice for 3 people. Food: If you're like a huge authentic jap. sushi snob I wouldn't suggest ordering the rolls because they're very americanized (they use cream cheese/ immitation crab meat etc); however, I will admit that I have tried quite a bit of the rolls because of the amusing names...yes.....what can I say the names were quite funny.... Me soy Horny: by far the FUNNIEST name on that menu. Basically it's a roll with Fried Tempura shrimp/ cucumbers on the inside. On the top its covered with Spicy tuna/ seaseme seeds. On the bottom of the roll there's a drizzled layer of imari sauce. My impression: Not the best roll I've had in taste but in terms of texture the combination of the softness of the spicy tuna with the crunchiness of the tempura shrimp works extremely well. Pain in the ass: Actually pretty good though it IS a pain in the ass to make. Its not even a standard roll In fact its by far one of the most creative ways to make sushi without using rice or seaweed. The ponzu flavored cucumber acts as a seaweed and binds the fish/ shrimp/ avocado/ crab/ tuna/ salmon/ I think some white fish) together and its served on top of a salad. I absolutely love this dish because the creativity behind it is subtle yet brilliant the ponzu sauce isnt overpowering, the cucumber is thin enough that it works well as a wrapper and the combination of seafood in your mouth just literally makes you wow because you get this explosion of seafood flavors in your mouth. Shrek roll: If you are a vegetarian i would DEFINITELY suggest trying this roll its basically Fried vegetable tempura inside rice and its covered by green soy paper/ topped off with imari sauce. By far the best vegetarian roll I've had because the crunchiness of the tempura was excellent and the vegetables used ( potato/ stringbean and i think carrot) were actually cooked quite nicely. (I'll write another review on some of the other rolls so that this review doesnt become unreadable) Sushi/ Sashimi: I actually think its not overpriced for the quantity they give you (granted like most sushi and sashimi its not extremely filling if you just order like 4 pieces.) What I would recommend though If they have fresh Hamachi or salmon like extremely fresh I'd try that because their salmon is by far the best I've had in Irvine area. Their tuna isn't a bad choice either (especially if you absolutely hate the fishy smell) because it really doesn't taste like tuna. Ingredients overall: Their fish almost doesn't have the fishy taste I would associate with fish and the ingredients are quite fresh (you can tell by the color of the fish) especially with the tuna because tuna oxidizes and turns brown when exposed for periods of time but the tuna is pretty red. Texture wise the fish is smooth and almost like most people have said "melts in your mouth." Atmosphere: Depends on day and time (if you go during dinner its definitely more lively) than lunch but I would suggest going there to get lunch or going on a weekday (Mon- Thurs) because the servers are much more attentive to you on weekdays then come the weekends due to the fact that it's extremely crowded on the weekends. Service: This is the reason why I give this place 4 stars. The waiters and staff are extremely friendly and very attentive even on a busy night and the thing is they usually remember you at one point or another especially if you go there like just once. I haven't had a crappy experience yet with the service. (Try to go on a weekday though because waiters aren't exactly running around everywhere scrambling to get everyone's orders.) What I love about the service is the fact that they DO interact with you and sometimes have small conversations with you. Although the staff isn't Japanese I will give them props for actually having extremely polite manners to the point that it almost feels like you're in an actual legit Japan japanese sushi bar. My only complaint: a lot of the rolls are california rolls with some sort of fish on top. (even the ones with bizzare names like snoopy(shrimp on top of california roll)....Im personally not a fan of that but with other choices they have I'm not exactly limited either to what I can choose. read more

Friend told me about this place and I've been coming here ever since. I've tried a fair amount of the sushi places in town, and while most of them are pretty good, this one stood out to me. It's sort of a hole in the wall place, staff is really friendly but their food is extremely good. Lately been doing take out, orders are always ready quickly which makes it easy. read more

This place is hands down the best place I've had sushi, it's a bit pricey but so worth it! The staff are very friendly, and provide great service. read more

Very fresh and delicious fish. Really exceptional service - very helpful and friendly. Great new restaurant. Especially like the combo plates read more

We love Sushi Imari and this new location is bigger and better! The service is excellent and the rolls are super creative.

In terms of sushi the food was consistently good but not overly impressive. They had a great selection of the usual classics and some of their own custom rolls, all of which were good and filling. Where this place really excelled was service. We came here on a Friday night and there was only a few minutes wait. That didn't stop the waiters from bringing us plenty of complimentary muscles, dumplings, and eventually ice cream. All in all - a solid 3 stars. read more