I took a cool picture in the restroom and then an employee walked in after, older gentleman. When I was out front he came out and asked me if I had vandalized the bathroom (I did not). I was a little offended and embarrassed, especially because I was on a date with this smokin' hot babe who hates graffiti. ‍ read more

Rawbar - Men's restroom - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chico, California

Shocking. Darren has owned Rawbar forever and we go there from his beginning. Tonight ordered 2 orders of Tempura Shrimp. Only two little, skinny strips of shrimp per order. Charged $14.00. Just shocking. Food is high, but this was a major ripoff. Need to adjust to alternatives. Never again. read more

I am never disappointed when we eat here... love the salmon bowl during lunch time. Their fish is fresh, and their miso soup is the best in town! Try their cooking class , loads fun! read more

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In Chico on business.. walking around by the park.. saw this restaurant and thought... why not? Excellent choice.. we sat at the counter as the tables were full, which gave us an excellent view of the sushi chefs and we were able to watch the preparation.. Our waitress was excellent.. we asked for her recommendations and she offered many choices.. we went with her recommendations and let her choose what she would order for one of our dishes... she chose well. The food was excellent.. each dish was beautifully plated and served with all the sauces... The bonus was watching the four chefs and the assembly of the sushi being assembled. We had a great time.. the prices were fair... and the entertainment was free... Would definitely dine here again read more

At first glance the appearance here would suggest a nice evening with sushi. Once inside things change rather quickly... 1st off note the fusion part. Ok so I can deal with fusion and here we are working with Japanese and Korean. I leaned towards the Japanese as I was interested in their rolls. Customer service was not the priority here and I may have caught them on an off night however it was early evening on a Thursday night and not many people to attend to. At one point another customer came in and sat at the Sushi bar next to me long enough to make me want to go get him some water to start. With just absorbing the atmosphere and menu I quickly lost trust this would be a good experience. Here's the just of it. They serve half rolls for about seven to ten dollars each. WTF? So after a glass of beer I decided to tread carefully and order the firecracker roll. It was 5 pieces of sushi I could have easily purchased from the local grocery store Asian section. Nothing special here folks... Just move along and don't bother! You can find a real sushi bar/cafe just a block or so away at Aonami! I don't like trashing a place as it's not my style. With almost 300 reviews on Yelp 95% are positive, but this place is just a downtown sham if you ask me! I actually like my Asian food prepped and prepared by Asians whenever possible! Not the case here... Not a Korean or Japanese in sight! read more

Went to Rawbar during their happy hour and loved it! The sushi was good, but our favorites were the shishito peppers, miso soup, and korean tacos. Great atmosphere and a good deal for happy hour. read more

Rawbar - Red Dragon - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chico, California

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There's not a whole lot that we didn't like about this place. The rolls are small (4 pieces each), so you really have to order multiple small rolls. The wait was a little long (35 minutes on a Friday night), but that's not so bad for a weekend. It's also a super small (though modern) space. After a nice walk down Broadway, we had circled back to Raw Bar to claim our table. Personally, I like my privacy and prefer to sit at a table. Unfortunately for me, the place is small and all they had left was the sushi bar. Luckily, we were seated right in front of the gentlemen in charge of plating all the rolls and received an excellent show because of that. He also answered all of our questions. We found four rolls we wanted - the special, two from the regular menu, and one we saw on Yelp. The Firecracker was a little salty, but had a nice kick and was crunchy. I love some nice texture to my rolls. The Red Sea roll with Miso sauce was the one I found on Yelp but wasn't on the regular menu. I loved the sweetness of the sauce paired with the crunchiness of the roll. The Lemon Hamachi was my favorite - so fresh. The lemon paired with cilantro sprouts is just so light! Love love love! The special roll (Spring Fling) - had asparagus inside, and was also very fresh. So much good texture! It also had salmon on top. I felt like I could taste lemon zest or something in it, but wasn't sure. We will definitely be back. There are so many amazing-looking rolls. I haven't tasted this kind of freshness in so long! read more

Rawbar - Spring Fling and Lemon Hamachi. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chico, California

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I haven't tried many other sushi places around Chico but this was certainly very very good and was above my standards! I took my friend out for an early birthday dinner (4pm-ish) and it was perfect because we got the happy hour specials! The service was great, they're always filling up your glass of water (which I am very grateful of) and they asked consitently if we needed anything. The happy hour prices were fairly priced as far as my sushi standards, and the quality was great! I liked everything that I ordered. I got an order of Gyoza, and a few rolls on the happy hour menu, and 2 regular priced. There was an old fashioned California roll, a chilli philly roll (sorry I dont rememeber the names!) And a few others I'd definetly recommend. As a college student, I feel as if I would definetly come back again, when I have a good amount of money because I could eat plenty! read more

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Beautiful edgy decor and quick service. The rolls are unique and always presented with sophistication. Very delicious rolls. Great place to unwind. read more

Was pleasantly surprised the restaurant wasn't busy for a Saturday at lunch time. It was my self, husband and daughter. We ordered 3 rolls, chicken wings and pot stickers. Pot stickers came out promptly; on the cold side. Then we waited at least 20 minutes for our rolls. Very small. Not worth the price. Chicken was the best part. Service was mediocre. Kept having to ask for water refills. Most likely won't be back. read more

Excellent Sushi and Asian fusion menu. Pleasant ambience, but a bit noisy indoors. Routinely offers exotic specials!

Went here for happy hour and am hooked. Wonderful selection for vegetarians. Fun corner to eat downtown with great full sushi bar to sit and enjoy. Friendly staff and fun atmosphere to be. We enjoyed our vegetarian roll with tofu, peanuts and subtle kick of spicy pepper. Yum. read more

I just want to rave about how much I ADORE this restaurant. I cannot fully express how phenomenal the food and service is here. I am a huge foodie and absolutely die over good quality food, and rawbar produces just that. They truly bring a fine dining level of cuisine to this small town. Not to mention the hospitality of everyone there! I feel at home when dining at rawbar. From the attentive sushi chiefs to the friendly waiting staff, I am absolutely in love with the way this restaurant handles its customers. To sum it up, rawbar deserves a loud round of applause. It is hands down my FAVORITE restaurant, if you want to enjoy gourmet dining with an exquisite atmosphere set by wonderful staff, then rawbar is the place to be. read more

Rawbar - Valentine's Day special of Wagyu and Otoro Tuna - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chico, California

Excellent first visit. I had the Poke Bowl. Really excellent experience. Nice ambiance, high quality, and they don't let kids in with chicken nuggets! read more

I went in the other day on my lunch break and the staff was really nice. But then I found that I got double charged for one thing which makes me not want to go back again read more

Been here several times. The sushi is the best I've had imo in Chico. The spring rolls are amazing as well. Customer service is really excellent too... I had a pet with me on e and ordered to go... they popped out to give me the food and take payment! Thanks guys! You are my go to sushi even if it's not on my way home!!!! read more

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In town to tour CSUC with my son, stopped here for lunch. Sushi rice was hard and tasted like it was from the prior day. The rills all seemed very dry because of this and the lack of any finishing sauces. The water was nice and cold though! read more

3 stars in comparison to sushi within a 2 hour radius. It's pretty good, but I'm a bigger fan of Izakaya Ichiban

Cool location. Food is good. Service is consistent. There's better options for sushi though in Chico. All the other things on the menu are really good too. read more

Great location and very friendly service! Not the most amazing sushi I've had but very good anyway. It's the kind of spot you can either dress up a bit or be very casual. Nice date location. The location gets shade later in the day so it's ok to sit outside even if it's hot. read more

Great sushi, a little on the expensive side. This is not a place I just stop at to get lunch. Only special occasions. Portions aren't the best, especially when looking at the prices. If you want to curb your sushi urges, I suggest somewhere a little cheaper. Come here when you have guests in town, or maybe an anniversary. read more

What happened to the Raw Bar? I took my close friend there for her birthday dinner and the sushi and the service was horrible! They're served our sushi with warm rice! Who in their right mind serves warm sushi? It used to be the best sushi bar in town but even though my bill was $100 I did not eat more than the edamame I was afraid. And I was so disappointed because I had told my friend how great their food was and wow I was embarrassed!! read more

Really enjoyed the experience at the sushi bar! We ordered the oysters and daily hamachi sushi special, and just about everything else! Sensei sushi master Matt overheard us discussing the finer attributes of our various order and recommended the uni...I am super picky about uni and was not disappointed!! Highly recommend the sushi bar, great team work and the freshest seafood!! read more

Went for lunch with a couple friends. The blonde waitress was very helpful with great service, the food was decent, although the sushi rice itself was definitely 2 star worthy of that, and the portions smallish. The worst part was one of the two sushi chefs was taking out his bad day on us (younger bearded guy 2:30 7/18/17). He was slamming dishes, glaring profusely at everything with a heavy scowl, and just acting like a upset toddler. The number of employees running around doing nothing was amazing, it seemed the blonde waitress was the only person putting in the work, with a smile no less. Also...The older sushi chef gentleman is very nice, but pretty slow, so don't expect anything to quick if you get him. read more

This used to be my favorite place in town for sushi, not anymore. I ordered pick up and when I got home could not believe the size of the rolls---TINY. I honestly could not believe the size of them. It had been sometime since having Rawbar. The time before was not a good experience either. The portion size was significantly smaller and our service was not good. Such a shame, used to be great!! read more

Went in today at 2:40 for a table for two. After sitting, we waited for over 10 mins to get service, and only got it because I went and asked for a server ( mind also.. we were one of two tables in the restaurant at the time..) My boyfriend ordered sushi and was very happy with it, and I ordered miso soup and garlic noodles. The soup was good, but cold, and the noodles were so stale and hard that I had to send them back. Over all, the service was VERY poor, very slow, and very unhelpful. Did not even come back after the food was delivered to check in. Even though the sushi was good, it is not worth coming back read more

Planned on going here once we had seen Guy Fieri's review on Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives. Had to try one of Guy's favorites, Tom Khan Thai Steamer and it was excellent. Mildly spicy broth with scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, soft shell crab with fried eel skin. The sushi I had was standard fare, but very fresh. Service was excellent and staff was very friendly. Go early, reservations suggested. They get very busy. read more

Delicious, fresh and friendly! Loved this place, our server was a great guy and we tried lots of different things which were all delicious!!! Next time I'm in Chico I will be dining here again!! read more

If you get the chance to sit at the sushi bar when you come, definitely do! It's fun to watch the sushi chefs and if it's slow they'll chat with you. This is how we were able to discover a favorite of the chefs that he made especially for us. While the cost for a few of the rolls are slightly overpriced it really is the only good sushi place we have found in Chico so a few extra dollars is worth it! Everything on the menu is high quality and fresh, only a few times I have had something I didn't care for but that was mainly because of personal preference. I love the cooked rolls and the sweet chili philly has to be my favorite, we usually order 3. Best advice: go during happy hour. They have many of the regular rolls for half off which is a great deal! read more

Rawbar - both specialty rolls - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chico, California

My wife and I went there on a Wednesday evening and ordered two sushi rolls and two tempura dinners. Not only did it take about 45 minutes to get our food but our tempura was greasy and the vegetables were very large making the batter wet and not sticking to them. I generally do not complain about a restaurant but after visiting Japan I know a thing or two about cooking authentic Japanese dishes. The tempura was also burned and I was shocked at why they would serve it that way. Honestly I don't think I will go back and will go to Japanese Blossoms instead because the food quality is more traditional and so is the presentation. I was willing to give them a try but it was very disappointing for the price. read more

I've heard of the Raw Bar for quite some time and finally decided to go. I live in the Bay Area (South Bay) and go to a lot of sushi restaurants. Frequently. I'd say at this point I've been to somewhere around 20 different sushi restaurants of varying quality. That includes nearly every sushi restaurant in Chico. People have told me for years to give the Raw Bar a shot, so I was excited to finally go. I probably won't be returning, though. On the plus side, the place has a nice atmosphere and is right in downtown Chico. Their home-made miso soup was pretty tasty, and was probably the one thing priced appropriately that we ordered. They seemed to have a decent selection, and I had trouble deciding which of many rolls to choose. However... The sushi was way too overpriced, by far. I've been to some expensive sushi restaurants before, but when they charge a lot for sushi, you usually get a decent amount. Not here. It's easy to spend $9 or so on 4 rolls. If they were extra-thick, that'd be okay I suppose, but these were cut pretty thin. I like to get sake along with my sushi, but the prices here were pretty bad. They had what was basically a shot glass of sake for $6. I figured it had to be larger for that price, but he indicated it was just a standard sake shot glass. The whole bottle would have cost me something like $18. This is for the same type of sake I'd buy in the Bay Area for about $10 a bottle. The other sake choices they had were even more expensive, by far, and I just couldn't justify paying for one. While I didn't dislike any of the food they sent me, it was pretty average. Certainly nothing special. Maybe I simply ordered the wrong things, but it sort of felt par for the course. Didn't help that the food took a while to get there. We got our miso soup in about 15-20 minutes, and the sushi took a while longer. The place wasn't really that crowded, so I would have expected faster service. All in all, we spent about $35 on about 16 pieces of sushi. That's over $2 a piece. We left still hungry, looking for more food elsewhere. As a Chico native and a lover of sushi, I felt really disappointed. I'm sure there are great qualities that others enjoy, and that the atmosphere is likely part of it, but I just can't see myself wanting to go back there again when I can get more sushi for a better price without sacrificing quality and freshness in other restaurants in town. read more

Not impressed by this establishment whatsoever. I have been there probably a half dozen times in the past year and after my horrible experiences I will not be tricked or persuaded in coming back. The service is the real issue.. 1. When it takes a half an hour to get the waitress to take our drink order- there's something wrong. 2.When the chef comes to your table to take your order because they aren't sure where the waitresses are-there's something wrong. 3. When the sushi comes out and the rolls have already fallen apart-there's something wrong 4. When the waitress forgets your appetizer in the back, hands you the bill with the appetizer on it and when we asked about it she brought us out the one that had been sitting in the back for two hours (yes it took 2 hours to get 3 rolls and 2 drinks) -there's something wrong. If for some reason you end up going there, the calamari with garlic aioli sauce is pretty tasty. read more

I've been coming to Rawbar when I visit Oroville/Chico for many years! It is a fun restaurant with a wide variety of sushi and other Japanese dishes. You can sit at the sushi bar or at a table. You can see them preparing food at the sushi bar from almost any place in the restaurant as it's in the middle of the room. Fun! I like to order a few dishes to share. During the most recent visit, we had: Hacked Chicken Salad w/fried wonton strips & creamy wasabi dressing Vegetable Spring Rolls Mixed Vegetable Tempura California Rolls Steak Rice Bowl w/string beans All of the food was creatively presented w/colorful garnishes (Carrot curls/colorful items/flowers, etc), very tasty and super fresh! I would order each of the items again! It's very easy to order sushi & rolls as there is a paper & pencil on the tables where you select what you'd like and write the # of servings you desire. However, if you're concerned about running up a large check, limit the amount of rolls you order. The drinks are very good and several concoctions are offered from cosmos to lemon drops and sake based drinks. They recently obtained a full liquor license and offer a full bar, in addition to several types of sake, wine and beers. Service was friendly, albeit confused. About 3 different waiters serviced our table during the visit, which is fine, but seemed to cause confusion and timing issues in terms of when plates were served. They came out with 2 dishes that weren't ours and served shrimp tempura, not vegetable. When mentioned they were apologetic and immediately corrected the issue. There were long pauses between each dish and the rice bowl took so long to arrive, we thought they forgot about it and we were getting full. It was also to be served with a side salad (Which we didn't need afterall) that never arrived and no explanation for it either. Not sure what happened here?! Of all the times I've been here, there was only one unfortunate visit a couple years ago where the building smelled of rotten fish and the food was not up to par. I'm glad they have since consistently served delicious and fresh food. I understand having an off day. I love the rustic old exposed brick walls, high ceilings and creative decorations ranging from a large metal fish to Murano glass sea creatures. The music is upbeat! They offer cooking classes such as Sushi 101, Asian Soups & Noodles, etc. Most were sold out according to the sign, so if you see one you're interested in, book in advance. Logo t-shirts, hats, etc are for sale as well. Prices are fair for the quality of fish and dishes served. They aren't much if at all higher than other downtown establishments. I will continue to come back to Rawbar when I'm in town! read more

Somewhere between beer bongs and jager shots, nestled between going to class and sleeping in, sits one of my favorite places to eat in Chico, a sushi joint called Rawbar! I can only think of two places that my friends and I would frequent to get good sushi and Rawbar was always our first choice. The staff is friendly and helpful (shout out to James!) and the food is really delicious. My favorite dishes that keep my coming back for more: - Homemade miso soup. I cant find this soup anywhere else and let me assure you, I have tried! - Honey Glazed Walnut Prawns. The name says it all. Yum! - The Gilroy - tuna, roasted garlic, avocado and miso - The Lemon Himachi & Tiger Eye Slam The atmosphere is more hip than most of the restaurants in the area. It is fun to sit at the sushi bar and watch the guys work their magic! It also draws large crowds on the weekends, so make reservations. read more

When Rawbar first opened it's doors, I was really excited. I had been getting my sushi fix at Katsu's, which isn't horrible, but my palette had been refined by city living. When I saw the bar's urbanesque atmosphere, I was curious to see if little Chico had finally caught itself a big fish. See, that's why I don't do this professionally. Moving on, I was sorely disappointed. I really wanted to like it. The service was great. I loved the vibe. But the sushi left much to be desired in the way of fish. I don't doubt that it is high quality fish, there just isn't enough of it! The rolls are ginormous, but it's all rice. It seems that the owners are trying to make a buck by making massive rolls constructed mostly of rice, with a bit of fish (for garnish?) and then charging big city prices because of the size of the rolls and the bar's image. Further, there are less rolls than I am accustomed to per order. Compared to the many sushi bars I've visited over the years, which include NY, SF, and the bay area's finest, this place is subpar and highly overpriced for what it offers. But for the record, the service was great and the ambiance was fun. For that I'll give it 2 stars. read more

I had gone to the Raw Bar two other times(last time was nearly 5 years ago) and had bad service. Having my order forgot while a friend kept getting his was ridiculous, being ignored and everything. However, my wife and I decide to give them a try(her first time) so we picked a few rolls. To be honest the wife really hated it, I didn't hate it but I do have a few issues with Raw Bar myself. Location: For us it is a bit out of the way as well as we don't tend to go downtown very often. Parking and people can be reasons not to attend places downtown. I won't fault them much in this but I wanted to add it to my insight/review. The menu is pretty easy to read, very simple and small which is more than likely helpful, however at a closer glance I realize they don't have many stand out rolls or all that much to choose from. I know some folks like simple rolls as they might be quicker to make or easier on peoples taste buds. Just was a bit of a letdown reading their menu. However we saw the prices and thought "hey thats really not bad" so we placed an order for 6 rolls, coming to around $50 which is good for us and sushi. However once the rolls finally arrived( took a longer time than expected to receive the first two rolls, however after that the other 4 came pretty quickly) we noticed how small the rolls truly are. We realized they do note that most rolls are 4 pieces so it is noted. But man.... two pieces per roll per person was not filling. I did enjoy that they have a lemon roll as some places do not, as well as using 7 spice, both are favorites of mine. The thing was the rolls still didn't make my taste buds scream with joy. Add in that the rice seemed a bit harder and less flavorful than other places. Also the wife pointed out the fact that the rice didn't cover the whole roll which isn't really negative just odd. They do look nice for the most part tho! Over all, I didn't find myself hating the Raw Bar on my third trip but my wife decided it wasn't worth it and we won't be back considering the better options in town even. read more

While the restaurant was busy, they were overwhelmed with the number of people that were there. That's all find, but I don't think it's appropriate for the staff to be telling the patrons, "I'm just waiting on my servers to catch up, then I'll seat you". The sushi was good but not amazing and for $17.00 for a Rainbow Roll, I want Amazing. I felt like their menu was okay, they try to have their own rolls, but they don't have a lot of the classic items found at a sushi restaurant.....it wasn't bad but I won't be going back. read more

So tonight I ate a towel. Considering I don't live in Chico, I went with what seemed to be a highly rated sushi bar. I love sushi. I love how it's made, the flavors, the texture, just everything. Today I just about cried at the sushi quality and how much I paid. The rice was dry. It wasn't sushi rice. It was basic day old rice. The nori was soggy. The wasabi was weak. The scallops were overcooked. The Edamame was good. Perhaps this is only due to going during Happy Hour, when the prices are reduced. Which may also be the reason why it took 25 mins to get a hand roll. In the end I spent 22 dollars on a bowl of edamame, a soda, one hand roll, 5 goyza, 2 pieces of scallop nigiri, and 8pieces of a fried scallop roll. read more

I was very hesitant to come here because I am not a fan of sushi. I was really worried that Rawbar would not have food that I could tolerate or eat. One quick look at the menu and my fear was alleviated! Rawbar has more than just sushi. They have Chinese and Japanese foods as well. Here's some of the items that I tried. They have a smoked black tea. Try it! It's really tasty. They also have a strawberry and fennel salad with a passion fruit dressing. That salad made me a fan of fennel. Their tempura vegetables are delicious and their fried egg rolls with vegetables are so tasty! The sauces that come with these two dishes are a nice twist to the typical sweet and sour and soy sauces. There's a little spicy kick to them. Their calamari is cooked perfectly, too! If you are a sushi lover, you will not be disappointed in any way. My boyfriend gobbled his sushi down in record time. You can really pick anything on the menu here and have it come out great! read more

Interesting rolls. Decent sushi, not as fresh as it could be. Staff was super friendly and accommodating. I left feelings stuffed, so there's that. I usually order nigiri, but there were some interesting rolls so I threw them into the mix too. The raw scallop tasted frozen, and was so small. I was pretty disappointed with this. The unagi was two different sizes. Not the worst thing in the world, but I have an expectation on my sushi being symmetrical. Ebi was average. The two special rolls I ordered because of the unique ingredients, one was tempura shrimp, with mango, jalapeno, and some cliantro. It was super tasty, but four average size pieces. I was expecting six. The other roll, I can't remember much about, but it had tempura plantains. It was mediocre. I thought it was a bit expensive in hindsight for the rolls, but the nigiri was priced average. They do not take discover card, so I had to run out to the atm, then my atm pin wasn't working, so I had to use their phone (my battery died), to get my pin reset and then haul it over to the atm again to get cash. A bit of a hassle for me, but they were very cool about the whole thing. Even refilled my drink while I was at the atm. read more