Highest quality sushi I've had since living in the Bay Area. Nothing snooty about the place and reasonably priced. Couple of TVs if you want to watch a game too. I'll be back oh yes I will read more

I love it here! The baked mussels are so good!!! Glad there's one in Aptos now! Closer to home!!

Stoped by here when we came to Santa Cruz for surfing. Restaurant looks good but tastes worst. We ordered Soba and Magic Dragon. Soba wasn't real soba. Roll was good tho. And service was also bad. I think they should learn how real Japanese restaurants are. Anyway I don't recommend this. read more

Sushi Garden - Sushi Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

I agree largely with Tiffany S. below, but would like to emphasize a few items: * the food is excellent; you'll get exactly what you order and it will be superb. * the service staff has a vey high morale and the chefs in particular are extremely welcoming and friendly *the location is perfect for a date night, tucked away with pretty lights *the sushi roll menu is a little heavy on the decedant-side, and light on the plain fish-side, but there is plenty on the menu to satisfy either palate read more

This place is the best Sushi restaurant I have ever been too. If I could afford it I would eat here daily, so weekly will suffice! Great and helpful staff! And with the new expansion and saki bar your wait time for a table is almost non-existent. And if your vegetarian try the Midori Michi or the Garden Roll!!!! read more

Used to love this place, but they slashed their proportions and kept the same prices. I'm super disappointed. My wife and I couldn't believe that we spent $50 tonight on three roles and a miso soup and it all fit inside a take-out box. It is very expensive and the avershe wait time for takeout is 40min to 1.5 hours. Yikes. read more

Creative, delicious sushi. There's nothing here I didn't like, but if you're a spicy tuna fan, get the Spicy Jay.

I went on Yelp this eve. And I had a purpose. It was to find the best possible sushi joint within a 75 miles radius of Santa Cruz. One of my mottos is...when the craving hits, you better be willing to drive. So I relied on my fellow Yelpers and went to Sushi Garden. I am so stoked that I did! First off, let me say that I'm from a city notorious for amazing sushi and so I was born and bred a sushi snob. If it isn't fresh and isn't faaabulous, I don't want to eat it. SG had fresh fish (yep, even on a Sunday) - nothing smelled fishy or tasted old. What I loved about the fish is that you could taste it - nothing was drenched in sauce. I got a Dr. Woo's Wonder, spicy tuna cut roll, Smoking Gun, and hamachi nigiri. The rolls were well-done, a good size, and the rice was perfect. The only qualm I have is the nigiri was too large for my tastes. I like my nigiri and sashimi sliced as frickin thin as possible and a one-bite deal. So I ended up not eating my hamachi and took it home to the cats. They devoured it - good sign. The spicy tuna was my favorite. I've had plenty of botched spicy tuna rolls, and this was not one of them. Nice and spicy, no sauces, just good ole' fashioned tuna and some green leaf lettuce smooshed inside. Derrricious. The Dr. Woo's was pretty good. Not entirely to my liking just based on taste, but I did love the garlic and basil. The spicy mayo was drizzled a teeny bit on top - again, not drenched. Overall, I really liked their sushi makin' prowess and their extensive menu (go to their site and get their menu in PDF - the sucker is 18 pages long). Oh, and price. 'Twas $34 for 3 rolls and 2 piece nigiri. That's totally reasonable. Great value. Next time you're looking for sushi near the Cruz, definitely check out Sushi Garden. read more

Beware of wrong information on this place! Their website says open til 9:30pm but drive down there at 9:14 and they'll tell you they called Last Call already and no dice. If the hostess says you close at 9:15, Sushi Garden, please advertise online as such! read more

very average sushi. Quality didnt justify price or popularity

Absolutely fantastic service - good sushi with reasonable portions. The tempura was just OK. Our waitress was one of the best I have ever had. She was perfect and knew what we needed almost before we asked. read more

Woo's Wonder, Eternal Sunshine and Boardwalk Blues is a triple-play from the gods.

Came for dinner and was worried I wouldn't be able to eat much because I'm doing whole 30 but they were very accommodating and modified my rolls to fit my dietary needs. The waitress was very friendly and attentive. The rolls I got were very tasty! Will definitely be back next time I'm in the area. read more

Ate here years ago and don't remember it being so bad. This is mostly about service than the food. Where do I start? Our party of six should have left when we noticed the hostess mismanage the tables. She split one of only two large tables and wound up giving a bunch of tables away to parties that came after us. So the wait was longer than it needed to be... Before sitting we had used the bathroom and they were out of soap. We let one of the servers know... Left the restaurant and soap was never refilled. Luckily wife had purely for the kids. Server went missing for long periods. She never refilled drinks, not came back to check on us. In fact we had to find other servers to help get drinks and to grab our bill. Miso soup was flavored with salt... Just tasted like salty water. The food was mediocre. I had the ton katsu, which was dry and a little over cooked. Don't remember which rolls, but they were pretty flavorless. Had ordered a few California rolls for kids and those rolls were falling apart... poor presentation. Will definitely not return. read more

Yup, this place pretty much ROCKS! Free fresh, hot, edimame right when you sit at your table, friendly staff, and FREE BIRTHDAY SUSHI MEAL UP TO $20 ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!! Even if the person with you purchases a dinner for 12$, you still get the $20 dollar one comped. They also have a beautiful garden atmosphere hidden away from the main road, and the very very fresh everything. I feel healthier every time I eat there! The server also hooked it up with a free bday dessert on top of the comped meal. THANK YOU SUSHI GARDEN!! :) read more

Ok so I ate here about 6 months ago, the service was the worst I've ever had, swore i would never go back. I was in the area yesterday and sushi sounded really good so i thought i would be optimistic and give it a second chance..... I sat outside, the waitress seated us and promptly took my order, brought my food out in a reasonable amount of time. After she dropped off my food, she disappeared never to return again. My miso soup was gross, my roll was decent, it was in desperate need of unagi sauce, so i waited and waited for her to return and tried to get her attention through the window, no such luck. I finally got up and walked my roll up to the sushi bar and asked them to put some on there. She saw me walk in, so she then quickly followed me back out to my table and asked if i needed something (uh ya, i did like 15 minutes ago!!) I told her all i wanted was the check so I could leave. she came back and put the check on the table, left, never came back again. This was an absolutely horrendous unacceptable level of service, I will seriously NEVER be returning here to eat. Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me! read more

ZERO STARS!!!!! The absolute worst service I've ever had! Had cleaning supplies on our table for most of the meal! No napkins, water anything. Pretty much ignored. read more

We were driving to San Fran and decided to stop in Santa Cruz for some much needed food and r and r...After seven hours in a car, one could imagine, we were grumpy, hungry, and irritable. The four of us all had specific dietary needs, (I am a veg), or preferences...Bottom line, we walked in a wreck and walked out happy as can be. Our waitress, Lindsay, was a ray of light. She was lovely, accomodating, and efficient. She kept the Saki flowing and helped us all choose delicious dishes to our specific likings. Futhermore, she was helpful in guiding us in finding accomodations for the evening. Overall, we had a wonderful experience, and will return to Sushi Garden upon our return visits to Santa Cruz! read more

They tried to poison us. Giving a customer with a severe shrimp allergy a plate of shrimp rolls is not a good idea. And apparently a $20 gift card makes that all better. Never again. The place has gone to shit. Won't be going back. read more

Great veggie rolls. My rolls were good too. It's a beautiful atmosphere and parking is easy. I do recommend!

The Mister and I just had a great first experience here. We ordered two large hot sakes, two rolls with mango and macadamia nuts, and another deep-fried with spicy filling. Everything was delicious and totaled about $60 - par for the course as far as sushi outings go. The ambiance was nice, though a little small, and service was good. I Love Sushi still owns my heart for its raucous air, tons of free appetizers and booze, and the owner's sake bomb challenges, but we live a 10-minute walk away from Sushi Garden so we'll definitely be back. read more

While visiting my family in Capitola I was having serious sushi cravings. Sushi Garden is right down the street from my mom's house, but we'd never tried it. We *will* be back! Great selection of rolls (so many choices!) and everything we got was fantastic. The Eternal Sunshine roll was - well, not to be dramatic, but it was sublime. Absolutely delicious - honestly, that one was the best sushi roll I've ever had. Everything was great. So happy we tried Sushi Garden! read more

As I told the waitress, the problem is my wife and I don't live in Santa Cruz. How am I going to try the 40 other rolls I didn't get to? As it was, I settled on the Disney and the Pompeii, both innovative combinations of ingredients and both very good. Nice clean place, not crowded, very friendly service. I'd be happy to eat here again next time I'm down here. read more

Normally the best. Had the worst experience last Friday. The food was just so-so and the service was slow. It is normally very good so I will go back but in the dining world TWO Strikes and you are out read more

We LOVE Sushi Garden - been coming here for years. Favorites are the broiled mussels, Hot Nights, Spicey Tuna, Crazy Roll, Big Basin... I could go on and on! Hubby and I learned to request basil instead of lettuce in all the rolls - so much more delicious! The wait staff are well trained and very helpful - and quite friendly. Ask about the Sushi Garden card that enables you to earn credit with each purchase. We can eat free with about ten purchases - it's a deal. They also give you a free birthday dinner with a dinner purchase. All in all it's a great place for quality sushi at very reasonable prices. Side note: parents, PLEASE don't bring young kids here unless they can behave! Let the rest of us enjoy our meal in peace! read more

My husband and I got take out on Saturday and boy am I glad we did cause it was packed! The sushi was really good and fresh and the chicken teriyaki was excellent as well. read more

Good sushi and a good size. We got it for take out and the soy sauce was not in those anoying small bags, put in a small plastic container, and there for once was plenty of soy! We were really exited about the Tom and Jerry roll! I was not impressed with the wasabi, not strong enough for my taste, but not bad either! Thanks for a good dinner:) read more

Went back to sushi garden one more time, worse than ever, terrible service, warm fish, very incompetent staff, now wondering how they will servive like this, can't believe how they can run a formally good sushi bar into the ground, have heard similar complaints from others, too bad, read more

I went 1/10/2018, got the Udon bowl as well as food poisoning. Still recovering from it today. I like it there a lot which is why it annoys me to write this, but it's not their first mistake in my experience. Found a piece of plastic, told the waitress, she came back and told me it was onion skin. The cooks probbaly told her to say that. Poor girl. It was a nice meal with my friend, but I have to knock some points off. read more

The food was ok. Nothing spectacular or memorable. This spot, as is most sushi places, is catered more towards American style sushi...with a large menu of rolls and larger portion sizes. If you are looking for that this is a good place. However if you like more authentic Japanese sushi, you will most likely be disappointed with this place. Our service was not the best either. We chose to sit at the bar, cause we tend to like to chit chat with the sushi chef. Didn't chit chat with us at all, and we apparently had a guest with us for most of our dinner, a bucket of avocados in front of our face. Not until we asked for it to be moved did they even consider it. read more

Love Sushi Garden! They created a special roll for bootcampers called the Bikini Bootcamp roll that is made with brown rice, fresh fish, almonds, lemon and tastes amazing! I love coming here, the service is always great and the food is always fresh. read more

Was there for 10 minutes there was no one to seat me. Went to sushi bar looked thru menu twice another 10 minutes. I felt invisible to the staff. Not even asked if I was ready for a cocktail. I could understand maybe if they were extremely busy and or short staffed but this was not the case. I am an excellent tipper but they will never know. Do as I take your business elsewhere. read more

Service is really bad. Only 2 waitresses working on a busy Saturday. I saw a few customers leave cause no one took there order. Overall a bad experience and much better would of took the trip to Watsonville Sushi Garden. read more

We waited way too long for just two rolls. The waiter was rude as hell. Just cause we're Asians he doesn't serve us but only the table next to us which were all white people. He only asked how they were doing and didn't bother serving us water even when our cups were empty. Felt really disrespected will never come again. read more

Food was good but ended up waiting an hour for our rolls sitting at the sushi bar. Was a little disappointing.

Used to be a quality restaurant. Recently the service has gone way down and the prices are very expensive. Don't mind paying for good sushi but not when the staff is constantly turning over, the training for new staff is inadequate and the management doesn't seem to care. There are better options close by for the money you will spend. read more

We love Sushi Garden. Come early, because it gets packed! We take visitors from out of town here for a great meal. The service is almost always very good. Try the Eternal Sunshine roll or Dr. Woo's Wonder! DEEEEEE-LICIOUS! read more

Sushi Garden is a solid neighborhood Japanese restaurant. It carves out a surprisingly tranquil spot in the center courtyard of a reasonably nice office block. It has a pond and a gate to help one feel a transition to a friendly and open restaurant. The food is good and rather varied. The new owners (it changed hands in late 2004) have kept some of the favorites from their predecessors, who were ethnic Koreans from Japan, I think. Some dishes are clearly Korean, and some might be inspired or just the specialties of the house. The bar (about eight stools) is open and chatty. The tables are not crammed together, and they have tatami seating as well. read more

My husband and I have made it our mission to find the very best sushi resturant in town. We have tried most and I have to say hands down this is our favorite so far. Fresh fish, good prices and a cute atmosphere. Plus great rolls and lots of selection. I don't know if we are going to have time to keep looking for a better one cause I think we will be to busy eating here. read more

I love sushi, and there are a number of great Japanese restaurants in Santa Cruz, but this one is probably my favorite. When I'm in need of really good sushi! Sushi Garden is quaint, friendly, and fun; I highly recommend it for the sushi critic in you. read more