Bryan O.
Yelp
Context before diving deep: Service was mixed. Our server, while new, tried to do her best to provide a friendly, positive dining experience. That being said, she needs to do her homework. The "wasabi" presented to us had a horseradish punch to it and when we asked her, "Does the restaurant mix in horseradish with the wasabi paste?
Her response, "Wasabi is horseradish" :facepalm:
(it's not, they're two different things)
While I'm perfectly fine with the server not knowing at most restaurants, this is a high end, fine dining establishment. She represents the front of the house and details matter at this level.
That being said, she did come back to us at the end of the meal to let us know:
1. The wasabi does contain horseradish
2. They have fresh wasabi for an extra $20, which would've been nice to know as that fresh wasabi would've taken the sushi to the next level!!! A perfect upsell opportunity wasted :(
Separately, they kindly changed plates after each round of food, and with five of us dining, that was quite a few fresh plates.
If I could score just the service? 3 out of 5
Location: a few hundred yards from one of the most beautiful beaches in the state of California + on NASNI approach, where we saw F-22s (USAF was doing something there during our dining experience!), F-18s, an E-2, and Blue Angle #4? Woooo!
5 out of 5
Now, on to the food.....
NOTE: The ingredients used for the food are top notch, there's no doubt the restaurant starts with great raw materials. The execution on the other hand, well, read on!
Hot food - a mix of some of the best to some of the "meh"
1. Black Cod Miso - Fantastic - I can see why people love it. The fish was perfectly cooked and had a nice, subtle miso flavor. That being said for nearly $70, it'd be nice to have a little extra garnish outside of the banana leaf it was sitting on - maybe some rice or other edible garnish to complement it!
2. Umami Chicken Karaage - A couple of issues here
a. Karaage was pounded flat(ish), so more of a katsu style cutlet. The pounding was uneven, so the cook was uneven, resulting in some really dry, hard spots.
b. Traditional Karaage has a hint of ginger flavor, which was fully lacking here. Again, it was more of a Katsu, so maybe they simply misnamed the dish.
That being said, the sauce they paired with the dish was nice.
3. Lobster tacos - Fantastic, tasty, balanced, crunchy, and bite sized! While $18 / taco, it was def a highlight of the meal
4. Edamame - Solid, but basic, hard to elevate OR mess this one up at a restaurant level. Cool finish with the Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
If I could score just the hot food? 4 out of 5
A little hot / cold:
Crispy Spicy Tuna - Fun deconstructed version of the deep fried rice with spicy tuna on top. We had ~6, 1" cubes of fried rice, which was nicely fried, not greasy, and fun sized. The spicy tuna itself was buttery but lacked the little extra punch you expect from spicy tuna.
3 out of 5
Sushi - BRUTAL. NOTE - they price per piece, which is fine, but they do not state that the minimum order is 2!
1. Scallop - Inconsistent delivery. The rice on one of the two was fantastic, no issues. The rice on the other one was way undercooked - it was hard and very chewy. They either have issues cooking the rice, e.g. the batch is too large OR they switched batches of rice between making the first from the second.
2. Tuna - Both were fine
3. Yellowtail - Both were fine
4. Salmon - Both were fine
5 and 6: Salmon avocado roll and CA roll - Terrible as the rolls were poorly rolled, worse than grocery store sushi! Whoever was making them squeezed with uneven pressure resulting in teardrop shaped sushi. Sure, it doesn't affect the taste, texture, enjoyment of the maki, but for being hyped as a high-end, fine dining Japanese establishment, I would expect the basics to be mastered.
2 out of 5
Overall, location is second to none, service was good, but not great, and the food, which to me, is the most important part of the meal, was far below high-end. IF one was expecting a basic strip mall sushi experience, it'd be a 4 or 5 out of 5, but THIS IS NOBU, which is supposed to be legendary.
It fell far short of that and as a first timer to a Nobu? This will be the last time.
I strongly recommend against going until Matsuhisa-san comes back to reestablish the Nobu standards.