I'm confidently reviewing Sun Sushi is a gem in Santa Barbara. I have heard good things about them but been hesitating to try since their location is a bit drive for me from east beach. Being a regular patron at Arigato and Sakana (known to be best sushi restaurants in town) I could say Sun sushis quality is comparable. I'm impressed how fresh their fishes are. I tried the Salmon six step, buttery, fresh, melt in your mouth. I suggest everyone should try this special. They also have bluefin tuna six step, I will try this next time. I also tried the spicy Tuna Roll in Special rolls menu. I preferred not to have crab meat in the roll and the chef was flexible to sub it for me. The jalapeño was quite spicy so I took a few slices off, but if you can handle the hear this roll is perfect. I also ordered some appetizers like Veggie tempura, seaweed salad, miso soup, and avocado roll. The tempura batter is light, the veggie is fresh, I will surely have this again. Their miso soup is generously served, bigger size than anywhere else in town. They serve beers, wine, sake, and shochu, great variety on drinks especially sakes. The sake menu is really informative, tells you the degree of dryness and sweetness on every single one. Their service is on point, nothing to complain. The sushi chefs are friendly, attentive, flexible, and really proud of their services. I was happy to enjoy my dinner at the bar and I will come back again to support their business . Glad to recommend Sun Sushi to friends and family! read more

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Sushi is very fresh and tastes delicious. Staff is really kind and attentive. The udon was a little bland, definitely get their sushi.

Amazing sushi! The rainbow roll was phenomenal, ended up ordering two. Also amazing service. All around great experience. Best sushi in SB

The imitation crab tasted really strange but the salmon and eel was alright. Service was good.

Great neighborhood joint - fresh fish at reasonable price. Service was efficient and friendly. My son ordered his usual-teriyaki salmon and loved it, nice char and decent portion. It comes with salad, miso soup and rice. My daughter ordered salmon lover, not spicy, and it was on point - her favorite salmon roll of many places thus far. I had Uni - small in size but high in quality and oh so sweet. My Engiwa was nicely seared with a slight crunch. Two favorites are the hamachi jalapeños carpaccio and lobster roll. Lobster roll reminiscent of $38 roll I recently had in San Diego for only ~$20. And The hamachi was fresh, well dressed, decent size slices and simply delicious. Would frequent again when we're in town. read more

service was fast and everyone was very nice, i had the salmon six step and the mexican roll. The salmon six step was good and the side salad was good. the roll was nothing special but overall this was a solid choice. prices were fair read more

Sun Sushi - salmon 6 step - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Toro and blue fin tuna were their special of the day, and it was specially tiny! They charged full price and thgave food actually worse than all you can eat sushi place. This is a pretender. Similar price like high end sushi places but no class here...... Save your money! Max, when you charge Full price for Toro and Blue Fin, you are essentially dealing with customers that enjoy these type of food regularly. Don't go to SUN Sushi if you expect high quality Toro/Blue Fin, let alone tiny portions. If you go, and not satisfied, tell Max you saw my review here!!! read more

The sushi chefs were very attentive and customer service was excellent. This place is great to go when you want a casual date night spot but great sushi. The place is not loud so you will be able to talk with your date or party and you are in and out so no long wait times. You get great quality and big rolls for the amount you pay. I got the 6 ways salmon which comes on an awesome display wooden plank. My favorite was the yellowtail delight roll because it was large and filling! The chefs really put their passion and creativity into creating great sushi. read more

Sun Sushi - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

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Absolutely amazing experience here at Sun Sushi. Quality cuts and fantastic service. Get the six step salmon and uni. You will not be disappointed. read more

Pretty good sushi, just a bit expensive. The rolls are very good though, just pricey for me to come back

We were blown away by the quality of the sushi. I wasn't expecting much but was overwhelmed by the service and presentation. They have an excellent selection of sake and have limited inside and outside seating. Overall we will really loved this place and will return again! read more

Omg first time going here with my girl and it was absolutley amazing she ordered the spicy edamame to start off. Simply amazing and quick. Next course was main entrees she had ordered the short ribs simply amazing never really understood short ribs on a sushi menu but Omg absolutley amazing as to I got the dragon roll and the shrimp tempura roll and everything was amazing read more

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We heard good things about Sun Sushi, but unfortunately we had a bad experience. The most disappointing was the sushi. Both such rolls (Box and Rainbow) has no flavor. The fish was too cold and very low grade sushi. We've been all over the world eating sushi and even lived in Asia (Japan for 2 years) for more than 6 years. This was some of the worst restaurant sushi we've experienced. When we got home we both had to eat something to get the taste out of our mouth. We're heading back to Arigato Sushi -- they are consistently great with sushi. read more

Very fresh and delicious. Excellent service. California rolls very fresh, yummy salad, and I enjoyed the miso soup and tea.

We sit at the bar. Really like the interior of this store. We ordered tempera udon, salmon sushi, baked green mussel and Unagi Donburi. The salmon taste fresh. Unagi Donubri taste great but the udon is too salty. If you don't like salty food don't forget to ask for less salty udon! Overall really good restaurant! The service is nice and the sushi chef is really easygoing. Will definitely come back! read more

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Woohoo! It only took me a year to go here! Man, why'd I wait so long! I could've eaten here multiple times! This sushi place took over the former Ahi Sushi, on upper State, I believe (which I used to frequent a lot.. for ramen.) they don't have ramen here and I remember not liking Ahi's sushi very much, but wow Sun blew my mind! Definitely the best sushi I've had in the last 7 years of being in SB. (Ok, I've been to Yoichi's, but that's not a spot you'll drop in last minute to spend less than your arm's worth.) I trusted the reviews and went for the Box Roll and a salmon roll on the side. It was dinner and unfortunately I couldn't try their uni (my fav!) because they ran out. I usually don't go for super "saucy" rolls, but I really enjoyed the Box Roll! It's a bit sweet but it tastes really fresh. The salmon tasted really fresh too. Service was amazing too! I came here with my dad and they were so nice to him! (He tends to avoid any new place on State St. because of bad service lol) That was such a plus. Definitely a spot to come back to! Good job! read more

Sun Sushi - boxed sushi and salmon - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

The quality of the fresh fish here is worth 5 stars alone. It is rare to find fish this fresh in the area. I originally came here because I heard they have ocean trout, but the freshness of the tuna, salmon, etc. is going to keep me coming back. This was one of the best sushi dinners that I've had in awhile. I recommend the salmon sushi, ocean trout sushi, and avocado eel roll. read more

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Not sure if the nigiri cuts are normally that thick but we tried the six step salmon and tuna and the cuts of fish were so thick that it wasn't enjoyable. The rice was too mushy and compact. We also had the uni shooter however the ponzu was quite heavily poured that it overpowered everything. Should really just be a dash of ponzu but the ponzu was half of the shot. The uni nigiri was probably the highlight as well as the toro sushi on the tuna six step however not memorable. The rolls on the tuna six step were quite messily cut. There was also part of a shrimp shell on one of the cuts of tuna between the rice and fish. Overall, not sure if this was an off day for them or if it was just hyped up but I was quite dissapointed. Sometimes less is more and in this case, I feel that the fish should be a bit more delicate and not a huge cut. Sushi should be enjoyable in one bite. Left feeling unpleasant in the stomach and displeased with the overall experience. Service was a bit lacking as I had to ask what each of the steps of fish were (what sauce, cut and preparation) and never got checked up on during our meal. Seeing all the raving reviews really made this place seem like the place to go to, however I was dissapointed. read more

Sun Sushi - Salmon Six Step Looked great but the fish was really thick and everything tasted the same aside from the yuzu one and the kombu one. - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

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Sun Sushi is a local sushi restaurant with high quality fish.  They don't use much local fish except for uni.  Most comes from Japan and Korea.  Ask Max the owner or John the head sushi chef about the origin of everything.   They will gladly tell you. They have a very nice presentation of their Salmon tower, which includes Scottish and Atlantic salmon and ocean trout.  Very nice flavors.  I also recommend the amberjack--always very fresh.  John makes a very nice monkfish liver, and he will give you a taste to see if you like it before you buy. read more

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Great meal. Good service. We had sushi, appetizers, salmon and teriyaki. All well prepared and tasty.

So I yelped best sushi in Santa Barbara and this spot came in at #1. I decided to eat there last night and all I can say is I'm not sure how it garnered the top spot on Yelp. The rolls had the exact same sauces on them, which wasn't even good. We ordered the lobster roll, Mexican roll, and the salmon delight roll. The quality of the fish was below par. The salmon delight roll and the Mexican roll were too salty. I'm not from the Santa Barbara area, and if this is the best sushi Santa Barbara has to offer, all of you from Santa Barbara that frequent this place, I feel for you. You haven't had real quality sushi, and all these good reviews, make it that much obvious. Service was good and attentive. read more

Excellent sushi. Clean, super friendly, organized and quick. Best sushi in town. I love their lunch specials.

This place has such great fresh tasting sushi and customer service! The menu is pretty big and has so many amazing and interesting options. We tried a few different rolls and everything was outstanding! Takeaway only right now due to covid but the measures they have taken are extremely safe and convenient, they do an amazing job! Definitely will be going back (: read more

Sun Sushi - Crispy rice tuna, salmon roll, sushi box roll, yellowtail roll, fire lobster roll - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Just had a fabulous dinner at Sun Sushi! What a hidden gem this place is! Very high quality sashimi, delicious rolls and good service! The owner was preparing our dinner in front of us and he was great to talk to. Not super fancy, more kick back atmosphere that really was comfortable. Try this place. It is one of the top in SB. read more

I am not sure why this place gets such high reviews. I especially do not recommend anything fried as their oil smelled and tasted old. Also they got my order wrong. Really disappointed. read more

This is an AWFUL restaurant for delivery! The food is FROZEN and NOT FRESH! I had ordered from Hungry Panda, on the menu it has showed salmon(kama) with picture of salmon sashimi, and the restaurant give me tempura-like salmon! I had paid $15 dollars for toro, and the quality is very bad. The meat is very lose, taste like FROZEN toro that has been unfreezes and it's only 3 pieces. I don't mind if the toro is 3 pieces, I'm looking for quality, which this restaurant clearly doesn't have. I have visited this restaurant many times before COVID-19, their salmon 6 steps was fresh so does their sweet shrimp and tuna 6 steps. But this time I'm really disappointed! read more

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Wanted to try out this spot for awhile. It is right on State Street so the location is great. My husband and me both had the rainbow rolls and the crispy spicy tuna and we loved it. COVID SAFE? Yes. The staff are wearing masks and face shields. Tables cleaned and sanitized. Tables spaced out well. The main part of going out nowadays is making sure places are safe to go and this place was very clean. read more

My wife, he cousin and I had dinner here on Friday night (08/28). We called in to ensure they had a open table if we came within 15 min. Luckily they did. We had the Yellowtail and Albacore Sashimi, Soft-shell Crab appetizer and some random nigiri. I also had the Spicy Toro Hand Roll and I gotta tell you, everything was fantastic. Every bite was great. The service was very attentive and things came out quickly. This might be my new go to Sushi spot. read more

The salmon six step is quite good and very unique! And the folks here that run the restaurant are super and very very friendly read more

Very bad service. Slow to take orders, not willing to give a larger table even if there were so many empty large tables, and lied to customers. The worst restaurant in Santa Barbara! read more

I had the crunchy sushi roll to go and it was OK. I will make sure to dine in after the pandemic is over to give it another shot!

Got takeout, everything was excellent and well packaged and presented. Loved the Mexican Roll and the Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice. They're also doing sake to go! read more

Great find in Santa Barbara! Sushi was fresh and great service. Parking tricky-but they said to park in the hotel next door. Very well priced sushi experience. Our party tried Salmon sushi, Albacore delight, Philly Roll, Yellowtail sushi. All good and fresh. Will be back! read more

Came here with high hopes and hoping to really enjoy this place on a Wednesday night. Sadly we were very underwhelmed by the food. We got: tempura, spicy Dragon, tiger, and spider rolls. They were just very mediocre. The service was great - quick seating and attentive service from our waiter. No bonus points for vibes or views, either. read more

Delicious sushi! We ordered the yellow tail delight, state street, and spicy yellowtail roll. The fish tasted fresh and The chef (who i think is the owner) suggested deep frying the spicy yellowtail. We took his suggestion and it was great! The customer service was wonderful from both the chefs and waiter. Would come back again. read more

I never like writing bad reviews. I instead typically check in but don't review restaurants that I don't like. But this time I am writing to save people from experiencing what I did. I generally eat salmon and albacore sushi and usually choose a bento box for lunches. I order the salmon and it looked overly frozen and strange. The albacore was a brick. It had tons of sinew and was rubbery. I showed the chef (who made it) and I sent the albacore back. He had a look on his face like "woops. She caught me." He knew he should not have served that awful piece of fish. I ordered an iced tea and what appeared was passion fruit which i cant drink. So I sent that back and received the option to get green tea iced tea. I was thinking the type of tea that starbucks serves (clear and a light green, yellow color). What arrived was what I would describe as green mud. It smelled like rice and was green muddy, opaque and tasted like seaweed. Just awful. I ordered the bento box (#6) with vegetable and shrimp tempura and teriyaki salmon. The tempura was soggy and the vegetables were pretty raw. I was so grossed out. The salad was a mixed green with balsamic. Who eats balsamic at a Japanese restaurant? Skipped that. The teriyaki Salmon looked frozen but actually tasted good. The miso soup was awful. I usually love that soup and this had WAY too much miso base in it. And for this pleasure i paid $51 Will never come here again. read more

My boyfriend are I were craving sushi, and I remembered coming here and loving it a while back. It was exactly what we wanted. We got spicy tuna roll, spicy scallop roll, avocado eel roll, and miso soup. SO good! The eel roll I think I had eel sauce on it, which was to die for. Good prices, although it was almost double for a specialty roll, so for us college students we went with the normal rolls. I'm sure the specialty rolls are delicious though! Staff was super sweet, and food came quickly! read more

Great food great service!!! Very fun atmosphere, owners are very cool and attentive. Never had a bad meal here. My go to spot for sushi:-)

Great sushi place. Parking can be tight but it's Santa Barbara so... The food was great. I felt like I was in Japan. The waitress was very nice and the service was fast and great. Would definitely go back. read more

What a great little gem. So glad that we tried them out. The six step salmon entrée and the toro nigiri were so fresh and the staff was so accommodating. It a must! read more