Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub

The best! Always a great time, The best sushi anywhere around. I would recommend this place to Anthony Bourdain if he came to visit me!

Was surprised on the overall evening. The quality and creativity of the food was excellent. Loved how fresh all of the sushi tasted. A fun casual progressive place with high quality reliable dishes. Was a little noisy due to sitting directly under a speaker where music was playing but didn’t ruin the experience. Definitely returning in hopes of becoming a regular.

A Friday night visit provided us with the tastiest assortment of sushi and other treats ever experienced by our group. Davin’s skills, and creativity with a menu were on full display, and we were tickled to take full advantage. Beet molé and fried cauliflower, underpinning a perfectly prepared tuna was sublime.
Kudos to the entire staff. We’ll most certainly be seeing more of them.

This was highly recommended to me by a friend and it very much exceeded my already high expectations! The staff was very friendly and the food was amazingly delicious.
I would recommend the half shell oysters, the hedgehog roll, and the bao tacos (current special). Anything on the specials menu will not be anything less then phenomenal. Cannot say enough good things about the quality and taste of the food!

Friday 650pm
I was excessively confused finding the entrance of the establishment. I tried entering through the backdoor because it looked like the «pub» entrance, knocking over little kids playing on the steps and generally causing a lot of grievance. Then I asked a server where I could wait for my friend and he directed me to the front entrance with its waiting area, the entrance for bull taco. Walking through the front door would have been much less stressful.
Wrench and Rodent has more of a small restaurant feel than a pub feel. The restrooms are clean and for one person at a time. There are maybe seven or eight tables inside. More tables are available outside with strong heat emitting from the plentiful heat lamps. Since I didn’t have a reservation I waited 20 minutes for outside seating, as the indoor seats would not be available until 9pm.
My friend Anne and I ordered:
Ceviche flight ($ 8): Not my favorite dish at all. I thought I liked most seafood but man, the flavors were not up my alley. One was a pineapple flavor, another a chili, and the last an orange-​y one.
Scallops ($ 10 for four pieces): I like most scallops, but this was a slam dunk for me! The thousand island like sauce mixed with the teriyaki sauce was fantastic! Four pieces of little heavens for me, but too salty for my friend.
Oysters ($ 10 for four pieces): I thought it was okay. The oysters were very pretty but the condiments (orange) were not the typical flavors I was used to. I wanted horseradish! I wanted lemon!
Hedgehog: I thought the after taste was fantastic. It was subtle and I kept eating more trying to figure out what it was. Anne pointed out that it tasted like mushrooms, which was what it was. I love truffles! I highly recommended this dish for the truffle fanatics.
Ginger sushi: Traditional, very tasty with a lot of soy sauce and wasabi. The wasabi doesn’t seem to be chemically altered, as those are spicy, and this is not that spicy.
Parking is terrible. I parked in the neighborhood and Anne parked across the street. I thought the male servers seemed distracted but our female servers were friendly and attentive! Otherwise I must come back for more scallops and hedgehog sushi!

I have been here and enjoyed the innovative twist on Japanese inspired cuisine… yet to find a rodent on the premises…
Service can be slow, but it is worth the wait.
Highly recommended.

This is absolutely our families go-​to sushi spot. Honestly the best sushi chefs around. Everyone that works there is attentive and so nice! You can’t beat the food quality, service and atmosphere. When you go def. sit at the sushi bar! Best seat in the house! We normally omakase (where they just make and send whatever they want, until you are full) it’s a fun way to try things you maybe wouldn’t think to order! Powerbowls are always a good choice to order (15 piece sashimi — I think 15?) other delicious things: hedgehog roll, ginger devil roll– ALL DESSERTS ARE GOOD. Truffles are a must and all the cheesecakes we tried have been delicious! Bottom line, you will love everything here!

³⁄₅ stars
What an interesting restaurant name! Rodent, huh?!
We came here b/​c of the raved reviews we keep encountering online and in articles, but to be honest, I was slightly disappointed – maybe my expectations were too high. First, the restaurant itself was a bit hidden, but you eventually will find it. Second, entering the restaurant was a bit confusing. You have to walk through another restaurant to get to Wrench & Rodent.
However, this place IS dog-​friendly! I was able to bring my pup here. Service is very friendly and warm. Ambience is very casual, hipster. Very small restaurant (probably sits 40 – 50 max)
Ordered:
1) Hedgehog: 3.5÷5 pretty delicious
2) Whitefish and Watermelon: 2.5÷5 eh, I was not a huge fan of this one
3) Spicy Squid: ³⁄₅ pretty tasty
4) Power bowl: 2.5÷5 maybe I am bias, but I like poke bowls better. hahah
5) Fish skin crisps: ²⁄₅ eh, this was just OK
6) Spicy scallop carpaccio: ³⁄₅ pretty tasty
Unfortunately, nothing really was memorable. The overall experience was just OKAY.

I’m hesitant to write a review for this place, I don’t want it blowing up.
We have eaten here many times and the food is always top notch.
Great location, fun décor, even the Wet Noodle is fantastic.

Again, o side’s food scene is really starting to hit it’s stride. Took the gf to this spot and we were pleasantly surprised. We started off with baked scallops and the spicy squid. The spicy squid was the highlight of the meal and we will be back again specifically to crush those little suckers. We also got the miso soup which I believe was prepared from the ramen side of the restaurant. It was a sweet and sour version of miso, covered in fresh bean sprouts and roasted anahiem chilies (mouth is water while writtig this). The rolls that we got were definitely good, but not anything earth shattering. The service was on point, the aesthetic was cool, and they have a nice heated patio for a solid experience. During peak hours I would try to have a reservation, we had about a 30min wait as walk-​ins. This is a must try in o side and we will be back to try the ramen side of the house!

This was a pretty fun place to go. It is primarily sushi. They had an awesome cranberry wine. I did not even know that this was an option for drinking wine until this place. The sushi was quite yummy. The wine was delicious! The atmosphere is fun. My only complaint, as usual with sushi restaurants, I never feel like I get much value for what I am paying for. I’m not saying that it wasn’t a good meal, but that it was not nearly worth the enormous bill that we received for only three people. I also can’t say that I Felt completely full after the meal. Maybe sushi just isn’t for me, but that is the only reason that this place is not getting five stars. As I said, it was delicious. But I did not feel like it was quite worth the substantial bill.

Unforgettable, delicious sushi that you will dream about… Their food is so delicious, I will have to go back soon! It’s a small, quaint place and it can get packed pretty quick! Make reservation… It’s with it!!!

We had an absolutely terrible experience eating at the Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub earlier this week.
We asked to be seated on the patio because when we walked into the restaurant it smelled so fishy (not good fishy, stale fishy) that we didn’t feel comfortable inside. We should have turned around and left at this point, but we were hungry and decided to stay and give it a chance.
Our waitress was initially very friendly, but after delivering our drink order waited over 15 minutes before returning to take our food order. We asked her for recommendations and based two of our menu choices on what she suggested. We ordered the Wings of the Sea, Chronic Roll, and Hedgehog Roll.
I must admit the presentation of all three items was very nice, unfortunately the food was not as good as it looked. Wings of the Sea consisted of three pieces of fish drenched in siracha. The sauce completely overpowered the flavor of the fish and it was not a pleasant flavor. Imagine dousing a fairly refined cut of fish with nicely crisped skin in siracha. Not good. There were lovely greens under the fish, but they could not be eaten because they too were covered in sauce.
Now to the rolls. The chronic roll had nice flavor, but half of it was so smothered in sauce that the flavor of the role disappeared. The hedgehog roll was supposed to have shrimp tempura inside, we realized it did, however the pieces were so small they might as well have been mini shrimp. Overly seasoned seared yellowtail on top tasted a bit off so we removed it from the roll.
After we finished eating we both realized how disappointed we were at the food and that we only ate because were starving. On the way home we both felt ill and my husband had upset stomach for the rest of the night.
We had heard good things about the Wrench and Rodent and so were very disappointed with our experience. It’s not a cheap place to eat and our meal was definitely not worth what we paid. To top it off our check was brought on an iPad and the waitress stood and waited for us to check out on the iPad hovering over as we left the tip. Talk about an uncomfortable situation.
I always try to find positives to list in a review, but unfortunately I can’t think of anything good about our experience at the Wrench and Rodent.

This is a definite rockstar place. Real authentic rolls etc?! Of course. That’s easy for these guys and gal. But sushi food adventurers… it’s all about the food porn that comes your way and just embrace their creativity. Just sit back and enjoy!

Pros:
Hedgehog is good. Truffle oil is a nice touch.
The chronic is my favorite dish here.
The albacore was good.
Cons:
The ceviche flight was ok, but the fish was overpowered by all the other ingredients.
The Seabass and curry dish was not very good at all. The curry is too sweet.
The interior is tight. Not a very kid friendly layout.

Recently came in for a first visit. Sat in the very back in a hidden room, looking out at the back outdoor patio. Very quaint. Service was great, attentive and friendly. My boyfriend and I shared the Power bowl with sashimi, radishes etc. The fish was sooo good, and fresh.
A little on the pricier side however a great place worth checking out!

I had read so many positive reviews of Wrench & Rodent prior to coming here that I was extremely excited about the meal. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t to my liking.
* Nigiri — $ 5.50-$ 7 for 2 pieces
Too much sauce. I found myself brushing off the globs of chimichurri, «WTF sauce,» citrus salt, and more after tasting it. The portions were generous. The fish tasted fresh but didn’t have enough flavor.
* Wet Brain roll — $ 13
Battered and fried mushroom pieces that got a bit soggy. The mushy filling didn’t stay put in the mushrooms. Not very appetizing.
* Ceviche flight — $ 8
A trio of ceviche on a bed of shrimp chips that were still crackling when they reached the table. I liked the combo of ceviche and the airy chips.
* Fish skin crisps with tobiko guac — $ 8
Seemed really promising, but the guac was gray and not very flavorful.
* Wings of the sea — $ 10
Kama with Korean BBQ wing sauce. Not bad.
Prices were reasonable for the quantity of fish. Service was good. The décor was quirky, and the Japanese punk rock soundtrack was interesting.

Food was alright overall, service was friendly but didn’t make much sense, which I will explain later, nice and cute décor, private parking lot but traffic on PCH can be very busy.
First, come in here with the expectation of a fusion sushi joint, not a traditional one. I like fusion food as long as the quality of food is still good. I made a mistake by having high hopes of this place after all the reviews and photos. I’m disappointed to say the food was above average at the most.
We got the baked scallops, half shell oysters, Scottish salmon nigiri, mango madness and ginger Devils. The best items were the baked scallops and the California roll inside the mango madness. The sauce on the scallops was to die for!!! But I’m always skeptical when seafood is served with lots of sauce and seasoning. Great seafood only needs salt, a little herbs, and maybe some lemon/​lime. The scallops tasted alright, but it’s kind of a cheap way to plate it by slicing two scallops into halves for 4 pieces. (The slicing job was not done parallel to the edge either.) They did a great job in the Cali roll! So creamy and savory. The Scottish salmon was subpar, not buttery and tasted bland — I couldn’t even tell I was eating salmon.
The server was very friendly and we were promptly seated. She introduced us to the specials (5 of them) and I haven’t been to any restaurant with 5 specials. At this point I think it makes more sense to print it out. But none of the specials really appealed to us so we marked our order on the paper ourselves. Five minutes later, we’ve decided but she was nowhere to be found. But just right after the 1^st bite of our first dish, she came to ask if everything is alright. «I don’t know yet, the food was just here 30 seconds ago!»
I really would like to like this restaurant. There is definitely potential and I see the effort. There are just some details that they need to work out and adjust the prices according to the quality. After trying a couple of their popular dishes, I don’t think I want to drop another $ 35 (after tax and tip) for an OK meal.

What a unique name for a unique establishment. Upon first entering, I wasn’t expecting much with its ecclectic décor and small space. It’s connected to a Mexican restaurant which was even more bizarre. BUT I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food.
We ordered the baked scallops to start which were cooked just right but the sauce left something to be desired. For our main, we ordered five rolls: the Ginger Devil, the Hedgehog, the Del Mar, the day’s special called the Scooby Snack, and a basic roll which I can’t even remember.
The Ginger Devil: Not as «ginger-​y» as I was expecting which was good. While it was tasty and not so overpowering, overall it wasn’t that memorable.
The Hedgehog: Tasty as well, but I wouldn’t call it unique. I’ve tasted similar rolls at other sushi places.
The Del Mar: My absolute favorite! The fish was so soft and the berry sauce paired surprisingly so well with the fish. It added a deeper flavor that’s difficult to describe, but I would totally come back just for this roll.
The Scooby Snack: Tasted like any other deep-​fried roll, but the real winner was the aioli it came with. We were all dipping our other food into the sauce because it was just that good.
All in all we paid about $ 100 (including tax and tip) for the four of us which isn’t too bad considering how much we ordered. I would have given this place 3 stars for being average but the Del Mar roll really won me over. Unfortunately the limited parking did not…

Taste– *****
Service– ****
Ambiance– **
Parking– ***
Yes, Unilocal was right yet again.
Yes, I drive to O-​side from RB for W&R.
Yes, all dishes are delicious, especially for that darn hedgehog roll.
Yes, you get all hot and sweaty sitting in there.
When you eat at W&R you feel like you are eating at a friend’s house, and this friend happens to be a chef who loves reggae and heavy metal in addition to seafood. The restaurant is not upscale, but the food is top notch. Some of the best seafood I’ve had in San Diego for sure. You won’t get a ton of TLC. After all, what can you expect from a joint that presents your check in a heavy metal CD?
Don’t go for lunch because they are not open. I have made this mistake before. Totally worth a visit if you are a seafood lover.