Review Himitsu - 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 I've had yet in SD, and will come back, but no where near the best I've 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!!

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 don't 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. I'm not sure what they do to their rice but it's just the right amount and right consistency. Even their soy sauce doesn't 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: 5/5 Service and Setting: 5/5 Value: 4/5 Here 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.

My wife and I went for my Birthday and had the Omakase experience and Miguel and his staff did not disappoint. I've had plenty of sushi in my life and if you're looking for a dine in experience with some top quality sushi, friendly staff and a great selection of Sake then I recommend you add this location to your 'must try' list if you are wver in the area. I've included some photos of my omakase experience.

Omakase at Himitsu at the Sushi bar was my most enjoyable dining experience in recent memory. Extraordinary quality and service. Chef Miguel is an artist and it was an absolute pleasure watching him work. The Omakase started with sashimi appetizer, followed by a miso soup, a generous sashimi plate (Japanese sardine was my favorite), hot appetizer, and then the nigiri portion of the meal. This was the standout, each piece crafted to perfection. The dessert was a yummy mango ice cream sandwich. The excellent service was managed by Brandon, who recommended a wonderful Sake to pair with the dinner. Next level dining, would recommend sushi bar for full experience.

We decided to do the omakase. The majority of the dishes were all amazing. The fish was excellent. The lack of 5 stars for me was we also asked for a sake pairing and it wasn't really a pairing just a bunch of sake picked by the server with no guide on what goes with what. The other issue I personally had was raw baby squid. Not great, not something that should be served. The other down side was we had to order an extra roll as the $170 per person chefs choice wasn't enough food. The roll was outstanding though. Next time we go here we will order off the menu so we have better control of the meal.

Great little place with amazing food. Super fresh, great quality. On the pricier side of things.

Excellent. Excellent service. Excellent quality product. Excellent preparation. BTW.. I cook a lot, and I have traveled a lot, my typical Wednesday bbq is over french white oak. There may be better sushi spots that we can argue about here in SD but if you come here and then write a 1 star you are off, period, you missed the boat. Chances are, you lack taste, you lack perspective, and you don't know a good thing when its placed in front of you. Himitsu is excellent. Thank you guys!

All of the food was actually really good, but portion size was pretty small. Not pictured was a spicy scallop handroll and a double California roll. Unfortunately we got there late and kitchen was closed after ordering so couldn't add more.

We dined at Himitsu for our anniversary and thoroughly enjoyed the incredible food and service. They went above and beyond and exceeded our expectations. Chef Mitsu was very friendly and entertaining. Highly recommend it!

TL;DR - reasonably priced quality sushi. Get the San Diego uni. Our group of 10 had a 7:30 reservation on a Friday night. It didn't look that busy but we still had to wait about 10 minutes or so. I also didn't realize they close at 9 until we were finishing up and they were cleaning up the rest of the restaurant. I guess I'm just used to NYC hours. To start, we ordered a bottle of sake, and they bring out a tray of different colored sake cups for you to pick from, which I thought was pretty cool. Not a big deal, but it's just the little things! Some people in the group don't eat raw fish, so it was nice that they had a lot of cooked food options. I am in the raw fish eating group and our group was looking forward to the 'secret omakase' for about $55, that we saw online. Unfortunately, they did not have this when we got there and our waiter, Jake, explained that there was only the sashimi omakase or we could get the pieces a la carte. So we decided to "build our own omakase". Six of us agreed on all the pieces we would order, and eat it in the same order so that we could share the same experience. We had the seared o'toro, chu toro, blue fin tuna, amaebi (sweet shrimp), hamachi, salmon, salmon belly, scallop, wagyu with uni, and uni. I love tuna, so all of the tuna pieces were great to me - especially the seared o'toro. Amaebi was only okay to me but they fry up the shrimp heads for you, which I really liked and it's not something I'd seen other Japanese restaurants do for me before. Wagyu with uni was really good too but it's so rich, I don't think I could eat more than one of these. My favorite was definitely the uni. The San Diego uni was AMAZING. If available, they'll give you a choice of San Diego or Hokkaido. I didn't try the Hokkaido but I have in NYC, so I know it's something I can get back at home. But when you're in San Diego, you get the San Diego uni, and it did not disappoint! The pieces are also pretty reasonably priced. Wagyu and uni will obviously be more expensive ($13) but for regular pieces like blue fin, salmon, or even the scallop, these were only $3-$4! You can't even get half the quality for this exact price at a fushi restaurant in NYC! My sister ordered the Himitsu Roll (spicy salmon and crab, topped with scallop, jalapeno, cilantro aioli) and I tried a piece. In theory, it sounds really good. I like everything that's in there, separately. But together, there was just a bit too much going on. I also ate some of the Soft Shell Crab Roll (deep Fried Soft Shell Crab, lettuce, yamagobo , salsa, kaiware) from the non-sushi eaters' side, and it was kind of disappointing. The crab was skimpy and the roll tasted mostly like lettuce. I think they just don't do special rolls well here. It sounds good on paper but the execution falls flat. Minor gripe - they use paper menus, which seemed like they could have been disposable and most of our menus were pretty dirty. If you're going to use paper menus, I think you can issue a new round between customers, especially during Covid times. I normally don't say this for a city I'm just visiting, since I like to try new restaurants each time I go - but if I ever find myself in SD again, I would definitely come back!

We had an amazing date night at Himitsu! It wasn’t just the romantic atmosphere and delicious food, the staff was very kind and welcoming. It truly made our night, thank you! We will definitely be back!

Himitsu is a quaint restaurant in La Jolla Cove serving high-end sashimi and nigiri alongside a compact menu of small plates and rolls. My visits to Himitsu have provided a generous amount of excellent sushi, and a warm experience that has rivaled my sushi experiences in Tokyo. The space consists of an outdoor patio and a handful of sushi bar seats which you should hope to reserve when dining here. A strong social vibe pervades the small sushi bar, isolated in its own intimate solarium where one has the opportunity to know their chef and fellow diners. Behind the sushi bar is Chef Mitsu Aihara, formerly of Sushi-Ota. If you are fortunate enough to sit at the sushi bar and have Chef Mitsu attend to you personally, you MUST order the omakase, as Chef Mitsu delivers one of the best and most innovative omakase experiences in San Diego, proving to be similarly skilled to his mentor, Chef Ota. A friendly character with a natural ability to effortlessly create Instagram-able food porn, Chef Mitsu takes the time to know the diner he is serving and customizes the omakase experience for that person -- I noticed I was getting slightly different sushi than he was serving the couple next to me who were also doing omakase. The fish came out fast-and-furious and, two hours into it, I finally needed to tap out after being served an ultra-rich hand roll containing uni, "melt-in-your-mouth" otoro, and salmon roe, for what seemed like my 25th course in. Much of Himitsu's fish is flown in overnight from Japan, though some of it is locally-caught as well. A few of my favorites that aren't as popular at other sushi joints in San Diego included the buttery "Black Throat Sea Perch" and the naturally sweet "Triggerfish," topped with its own white, sticky liver when served nigiri-style. As other reviews have noted, Chef Mitsu loves Japanese sardines, here served as both nigiri and sashimi, somewhat fatty and slippery in texture and with a clean but concentrated flavor of fish. This is a unique piece of sushi I've not had elsewhere that reminded me of Red Boat 40°N, a favorite fish sauce in my household. Mid-way through my omakase, I was offered Shirako, which Chef Mitsu described as "an appetizer, like eggs." Since I've had Shirako before, I shot back, "don't you mean sperm?", and so ended the ruse, as my fellow diners at the bar all soured their faces at once, and I enjoyed my cod sperm sacs, here served raw in a ponzu sauce -- its creamy white blobs sharing both the texture and taste of the fried belly parts of whole belly fried clams, but without the deep-fried batter. Other sushi I've had here has included Otoro, Chutoro, Marinated Blue Fin Akami, Local Spiny Lobster, Salmon Belly, Hamachi Belly, Uni, Stripejack, Raw Squid, Seared Squid with Shiso and Eel Sauce, Needlefish, Octopus, Razor Clam, Albacore, Ocean Eel, Kelp-Marinated Halibut, and Wagyu Beef. All have been served fresh and, at minimum, have met my expectations. Additionally, I've ordered the "Salmon Jalapeño," similar to Nobu's famous "Hamachi Jalapeño," but Himitsu's choice to use "candy-striped" salmon meat leads to a more dramatic presentation despite a slight loss of richness. I'm admittedly a bit of a sushi snob, but I don't need to gorge myself at spendy outlets like Tadokoro, Kaito, or Ota to be satisfied. However, due to the overall dependability of these restaurants, their sourcing of supremely high-quality seafood, and the mouth-watering plates of sashimi served, I am often willing to spend a little extra. Himitsu is such a place I'll open my wallet up for, and should be considered to be in the apex tier of sushi restaurants in San Diego.