Himitsu in La Jolla

We went for the dinner omakase and it was delicious! Perfect place for special occasions. Everything was insanely fresh and tender. The servers were all extremely attentive and very nice. An overall great experience that was absolutely worth the price! (I only wish they had a bar)

Restaurant name: Himitsu in La Jolla.The best sashimi & sushi Ive had yet in SD, and will come back, but no where near the best Ive had. Yes, need to try more restaurants...Service was very good. Seated a bit earlier than my reserved time. Amazed at how waiter memorized all the different types of fish!I ordered the 6 course omakase meal while my wife selected two appetizers and a roll.The highlights for the omakase: The uni and the fried shrimp head - super sweet & succulent. Toro was also very good.Overall, it was a decent meal. Everything tasted very freshh, but I hoped for more cooked items to go with the raw fish.The lower lights: the grilled tuna rib (that looks like beef) was nothing special - felt like I could have had that anywhere. The dessert, unfortunately, was also weak. Sesame ice cream had minimal sesame flavor.The best dish of the meal I felt was the hamachi collar my wife ordered. Baked to perfection, super juicy, yet skin had a touch of crispiness.I will definitely come again since my daughter loves sushi & sashimi, but will order a la carte and mix more cooked items with the raw fish.

Dined for the first time at Himitsu while visiting San Diego from TN. Both the service and the food were phenomenal! My sister and I got a couple of the night’s specials, as well as some sashimi and rolls - all delicious. Even better was the service. A special shout out to our server, Tasha, who was so lovely! While the whole staff was great, she really made our meal special. Thanks again!!

Honeymoon oyster is sooooo good. Nigiri plate is alright. Fish is fresh but rice is not well prepared (kinda hard). Plus I had food poison symptoms 1.5 hour after lunch (and this is the only food I had today so…) 🤣

We did extensive research on the best sushi/omakase spot in San Diego and this was one of the recommended spots.We were able to get a seat at the sushi bar in front of the sushi chefs to experience their omakase. Was it good, yes; was it amazing, no (not enough for the price IMO).There were delicious dishes inside of the omakase but as a whole, not worthy. The poke-inspired dish & the oysters were some of the notable ones.@phidingthefam

Really tasty and quality sushi. easy to get reservation, sat outside. Miko took great care of us.

I cannot say enough good things about this little gem of a sushi restaurant. The service from Miko was impeccable and the rest of the staff was wonderful as well. The manager came to check on us, which you dont get often any more from restaurants. The flavor of this food was out of this world. The fish was fresh and flavorful. They had just the right amount of variety. Im not sure what they do to their rice but its just the right amount and right consistency. Even their soy sauce doesnt taste like what you buy at the grocery store. It was a perfect meal to celebrate our anniversary. I honestly loved this meal more than eating at Nobu. It felt more special. We will be back.

Food: 5/5Service and Setting: 5/5Value: 4/5Here are some rules to know before going for omakase at the bar.1. Do not take the plate down from the higher ledge. That is where you will get your sushi. Sushi is to be eaten in one bite, thus no need for a plate.2. Do not put soy sauce on any sushi as the chef has preseasoned it.3. Show respect to the chefs though they are serving you, you are being treated to their art.Himitsu is a gem of a restaurant that elegantly fuses traditional Japanese sushi culture with Californian chicness. Sitting inside the sushi bar, you can see the mastery of the craft through Chef Aihara as well as enjoy a warm space that oozes traditional Japanese motifs as well as the ruggedness of a competent kitchen. The sounds are like a symphony of knives hitting wood and the clanking of pots in the back. Outside, Himitsu offers a more casual and relaxed atmosphere allowing you to enjoy the ocean breeze while consuming some of the best sushi you will ever eat. Food may take a little longer to get out to you outside as the chef does seem to prioritize bar patrons.During my visit, the staff were all extremely knowledgeable, kind, and diligent. They were very proactive without being burdensome and know how to serve efficiently. If I could compare it to anything, it was like VIP treatment at a luxury store. Luckily for me, I sat next to a wonderful older Japanese couple that seemed to know the chef. For my meal, we all seemed to get the same food so I felt comforted knowing that I was receiving the real deal experience. The small conversations between guests and the chef are another wonderful aspect of eating at the bar.I selected the uni omakase as Himitsu offers 2 different types of omakase, the other being without uni. Generally the omakase is around $100, the one with uni being about $120-150. This changes depending on what the chef chooses to serve on that day.All of the sushi was incredibly fresh and fish that I typically thought would be fishy were so clean and savory. To even attempt to describe them would not be enough, but trust that you will have an incredible experience. All of the seared pieces of fish have an incredibly deep savory flavor. You will truly experience the real flavor of each individual fish here. The San Diego uni was sweet and bright while the Hokkaido uni had a deep briny savoriness. Though there were 2 in particular that I really did not enjoy, however, I found the discovery and experience to be fulfilling and glad that I did try them from a master chef. My last hand roll I requested from the chef contained salmon, tuna, and yellowtail belly with Hokkaido uni and I must say that it was life changing. The lovely couple sitting next to me even clapped seeing the creation. This was truly an experience that I will surely come back to again and encourage everyone reading this review to try as well! Special thank you to my best friend for gifting me this experience and my success in reviewing food!

Wow, we came here for dinner tonight for our 1 year wedding anniversary and what a wonderful experience it was. The atmosphere was lovely and the food was out of control. Our server, Thomas, was so attentive and totally on board when we asked him and the chefs to pick our nigiri for us. We were deeply impressed with his service and had such a fun time chatting with him. The manager came and checked on us multiple times and clearly cared about the restaurant the customers experience. Everyone went above and beyond to make our night a special one and we will be raving about this place to all our family and friends!The sushi was probably the best we have had. The hamachi and salmon special appetizer was incredible, the uni so unbelievably fresh, and we were so delighted by the red bean and black sesame ice cream to top off the meal. We truly don’t have enough good things to say about this place.

Date night with my wife so we decided to try this place for the first time. As we were seated the very first question asked of us from the staff member was, we have allotted 90 minutes for your dinner tonight, will that be enough time? While Ive never been asked this question before and found it odd I responded with a yes.Fast forward 50 minutes later and our food still hadnt arrived, my wife and I had tickets to a movie at the LOT theatre so we couldnt wait any longer for our food. When I informed the staff to cancel my order and bring my check because we had to go, the staff member responded with a sarcastic Awesome sounds good!No manger came out to apologize and they were on the fence about charging me for the food that I ordered and hadnt received yet. I had to ask them to take it off my bill.Really a horrible experience here from every standpoint. Will never come back, and as a local I will do my best to let anyone who wants to know how rude and inconsiderate the staff was at this place.Piece of advice for the owner, its rude to give a guest a time limit of 90 minutes and then not have food out 50 minutes later. BTW both tables next to us were seated after us and got their food in about 15 minutes.My experience at your place was💩Do better!!!