Love Boat Sushi

Best sushi in RB/​Poway/​4S/​CRML hands down. Fresh and always service with a smile. My favorite roll is the Albacore Delight

Amazing food and service by Sarah. Love it here! My husband does not like green onions and Sarah ALWAYS gets his order right!

Love love love this place! The fish is always fresh! We’ve pretty much tried most things on the menu and none has disappointed us! Another big plus is the service. They are always timely and friendly! Especially Sarah, she is the sweetest and always takes care of us.

Big place. Was in Rancho Bernardo on business, so went to this «near me» sushi place. Service prompt and efficient. Liked Stella. Generally clean, but food was so so. Ordered a sashimi/​tempura combination lunch. Sashimi was surprisingly good, but a paltry 4 chunks only. And tempura? Crisp but they flavor the crust. Kind of sweet. And I did not like it. They should call it just deep fried shrimp and vegetables. Owned and operated by Koreans as most local Japanese joints are these days. And do a good job. Respectable. Reasonably priced. Food acceptable. If you happen to be nearby, it is worth trying it out.

Well — I was ready to experience my first time at Love Boat Sushi tonight. Instead, the dinner that had been planned for tonight is no longer happening. Why, you ask? The club I advise at the high school where I work planned on having their year-​end dinner at Love Boat Sushi tonight. The student who is our activities director called weeks in advance and made reservations for 25, which would accommodate the club. On Wednesday — this past Wednesday — 2 days ago, Love Boat Sushi cancelled on us! So now the kids had to look for a new location that could seat 25 people in two days! As advisor for these kids, I called LBS to see why our reservation had been cancelled on such short notice. Had the students not made the reservation well in advance — no, they had called in plenty of time. So what happened? Oh — the employee that took the reservation had made a mistake! They don’t take reservations for Fridays or Saturdays! That wouldn’t have been a problem IF THE RESERVATION HADN’T ALREADY BEEN MADE! So my students, many in the middle of AP testing this week, had to scramble to find a place in two days that could take our group of 25. When I asked why we couldn’t have been notified earlier, I was again told that «the employee who took the reservation made a mistake» and they called the student that made the reservation «on Wednesday.» Really? — so an entire club’s plans have to change at the last minute because someone «made a mistake» and they didn’t notice it and/​or take care of it sooner? I was very disappointed in how their mistake was handled in the first place, but even more disappointed after making the phone call. Not impressed at all.
I love sushi. I have a favorite sushi bar, but I like to visit others to see what they’re like. I will never go to Love Boat Sushi, nor will I recommend it to friends. Looking at some of the other reviews, I don’t think I’ll be missing out.

Had a great meal with my family. Had the large boat. Perfect lots of food yum yum.
Love there fresh wasabi.

Decent happy hour with a selection of rolls being half price. And great customer service. Nothing bad about the sushi just that I’ve had better as far as the fish. Nice atmosphere and very clean. Parking lot is a challenge due to space. Good for a inexpensive (for sushi) late lunch.

One of my go-​to spots for sushi. I’m not sure why this place keeps changing their name. First it was love boat then it was big bang now it’s back to love boat. Big Bang did have AYCE sushi but since they change the name back to LB it’s gone. I wish this place had a good happy hour, I’m not too sure if they even have one at the moment, Maybe that’s why I can’t give this place 5 stars, you gotta have a GOOD happy hour especially for sushi. I would probably be here a lot more if there was.
I come to this spot every now and then and I also order to go. The prices are average, 1 roll won’t cost you an arm and a leg but you’ll definitely be spending at least $ 40 between two people. They also have the itty bitty tiny Macaron ice cream sandwiches which are ALWAYS ridiculously over priced ($ 3.50) but I somehow manage to still buy them.
Favorites:
Marine Boy Roll
Summer Roll — Awesome no rice roll
PGA Roll
Spicy Tuna Roll
Spicy Salmon Roll
Vanilla Macaron ice cream sandwich
When this place was called big bang there was a crab tuna roll or something like that, not sure if it was spicy or not. I can’t seem to find it on their menu but that was definitely one of my favorites. It was a spicy tuna roll with tons of crab meat on top. I need to ask if they have that or can make that next time I come in.
Add a bomba$$ happy hour and you got yourself 5 stars.
Update: Did some searching and found it on the big bang Unilocal page.
Spicy Tuna on Crab
In: spicy tuna, cucumber
Top: crab (eel sauce and spicy mayo)

I just had the best oyster shot I have ever had. OMG I could have like 10 more of those. I just consumed perfection!

Had a wonderful birthday night with my wife, landed at this place after an unsuccessful attempt around the corner. Anyhow, some of their rolls were unique, and the mainstays point on but taken to a new level. Execution and quality above average, superb presentation, excellently trained and attentive staff. We had cold sake, 4 really good rolls and a masago with quail egg nigiri. My wife mentioned it was my birthday. At the end of the meal they turned off all the lights and brought out this Roman candle sparkler and sang. I was mega embarrassed but oddly surprised and happy. I will be back, new favorite place.

Pretty sad that Love Boat/​Big Bang/​Love Boat has fallen so far in terms of service. Used to be my go-​to sushi restaurant, loved the sushi bar for quick dinner dates or lunches and the booths for larger get-​togethers. The atmosphere of being greeted by the sushi chefs coming in to the over-​the-​top birthday songs made it fun to go out to eat. The food was always on par with the price and it was close by.
Then the ownership or management or at least the name changed and all of that went away. The booths were largely replaced with tables and a partition went up separating the hostess station from the bar. We tried the all-​you-​can-​eat once and it was just not worth it. I had to absolutely stuff myself (and I’m not a small dude) to make the $ 25 cost per person worth it. I avoided Big Bang from there on out.
My hopes were lifted when I saw that the name went back to Love Boat! I somehow imagined in my head that they’d dust off the booths from storage and tear down that stupid partition so I could hear the guys making my food shout a greeting from behind the bar as I walked in. Nope, they left everything as-​is and just slapped the old name on the restaurant.
Last time I was there we were «served» by Elizabeth I think it was, or Sarah, the name escapes me. But what doesn’t escape me is the confused and lackluster service offered by the waitstaff. One of many rolls came out in a timely manner, then somebody else’s roll, which was then unceremoniously dumped on another table after we convinced our waitress we did not in fact order it. Which begs the question, what if we had sneezed on it while it was sitting on our table? Makes me hope I never see what happens to my food before it gets to me.
So personally, I’m going to avoid Big… er, Love Boat Sushi from here on out. The food is good but the atmosphere just isn’t the same. Plenty of other sushi restaurants in the area that taste just as good and offer better service.

This place USED to be awesome! We live in Westwood and would come here regularly since it was just a quick walk away. After they changed it to Big Bang however, we only went once because it didn’t have the same ambiance.
We were excited to see that it switched back to Love Boat, so we went here tonight with another couple and did not have a good experience. We were ignored when we first walked in, but were finally seated after bout five minutes. We placed our order after ordering some beers and got one of our rolls in a somewhat timely fashion, but that’s where it kind of ended. While waiting for our food a family of five sat in the booth next to us and had their drinks and food before we got another roll. I was astonished as to how quickly they were served and how long we had to wait. In addition, they also brought another table’s food to our table. We told the server that it wasn’t our roll but she insisted it was, but went to go check our ticket. She came back after realizing it wasn’t ours and took it and dropped it off at the appropriate table… This struck me as odd because she left it at our table, came back and then took it to the other table. Had I been them I would’ve asked for a new one.
The quality of the food was okay and pricing is about on-​par with other sushi restaurants, but the extremely inattentive service, excessive waits and being challenged as to what we ordered kind of put the kibosh on the meal.
Probably will write this place off in the future. Used to be such an awesome place though!

If you’ve read any of my other sushi restaurant reviews, you know I am hopelessly biased against any non-​Japanese owned sushi places. And Love Boat sushi is Korean owned, I believe. Other K-​sushi places (I totally just made the term «K-​sushi» up right now) that I have been to have been mediocre to lackluster in their sushi making and I thought that’s the kind of experience I was in for here. But to my surprise… the sushi was actually very good! I’m more of a traditionalist when it comes to any kind of Japanese food so «Americanized» rolls just aren’t my thing. But here, they didn’t go too overboard. The fish was fresh and the flavors of their rolls were clean and refreshing. They didn’t go crazy with sauces and frying and random garnish on the rolls. It was all well done. But most importantly, it was really tasty! The service was also very good. We were constantly checked on and the server was very friendly. The restaurant itself isn’t very large, probably sits about 70 – 80 people? It has a nice, comfortable feel inside. Not fancy at all and not «hole-​in-​the-​wall-​ish», something you’d expect to find in the middle of suburbia. The only major drawback is the parking. That lot is just too small for that plaza. The do have valet, but come on. Valet for that little business plaza? Ridiculous.
But the big thing is the food is good. And it’s definitely good enough to make me want to brave that stupid parking situation. So yeah… I’ll be back.

It was ok.
But I have to say all 4 of us stayed home from work and school today with upset stomachs.
The service was good but very very slow and it wasn’t that busy at all.
Good location, plenty of parking too. Our rolls were small and falling apart.
We had a good experience overall.
Our sever was super friendly.

This place is delicious! Their summer roll is Amazing! Service can be a bit quicker but over all food and and customer service is GREAT! Must try!

I’m one of those people that eats with my eyes, and well, let me just tell you Love Boat provided a feast upon first glance! Their presentation was beautiful. Fortunately, the rolls were just as tasty.
Parking is a little different in this strip mall as it’s shoved in the corner and shares a lot with Starbucks. There is valet on weekend evenings, which helps because the spaces feel like a tight fit. If it’s a weekday evening or perhaps even lunch there shouldn’t be a parking problem.
The rolls were very delicious and didn’t fall apart, though the edamame was a little mushy for my liking. I had anticipated ordering a spicy edamame, but was brought regular without asking so I didn’t add more.
I’m excited to live so close to here, as it’s always a challenge to find a «favorite» sushi spot.

The only reason they aren’t getting 5 stars is because of inconsistency. The first sushi chef made a big, beautiful spicy salmon roll. So I ordered another and it was made by a different chef… it came out way smaller, squished, and unappealing.
The prices are good, parking is free, and waitstaff is friendly. I’ll definitely be back.

Stopped in last night for a quick bite to eat before my meeting. The place is located in a tiny center on the corner of Rancho Bernardo and Black Mountain Road.
It was a Monday night and parking wasn’t that bad, but the parking lot is small, so I can see how it can fill up quite fast during the weekends. The spots directly in front of the restaurant are reserved for valet.
Love Boat is very open and clean. I really like the layout. I was seated at the sushi bar right away. I put in my order of albacore sashimi ($ 13 for 7 pieces) and the summer roll ($ 11).
The sashimi came out really fast and was fresh and delicious! I gobbled it right up. The ended up getting my summer roll wrong and handed me a rainbow roll instead. When I asked my server about it, all three sushi chefs came to apologize to me. Totally unexpected but definitely appreciated. They really care about your experience here!
When my summer roll came out, it was SO good. I really like that they don’t douse their rolls in sauces here, and serve the sauces on the side instead. I’ve found that a lot of sushi places use sauces to mask roll because the fish isn’t that fresh. Not Love Boat! A HUGE plus in my book.
Thanks for a great meal and awesome service –I’ll definitely be back!

Good lunch specials and reasonably priced rolls.
The place is clean and has a modern décor. The lunch plate (box) presentation is the best I’ve seen at any casual sushi join around SD. Edamame is free with your order. Quality fish & attentive service.
The only drawback is the parking, but they do valet for a small tip.

Come for happy hour!
Did you see all my pictures?! Got all that food for $ 30 and it was decent food. Must try: crab wontons. Everything is 50% off everyday from 3:30 — 5:30, sounded like a great deal so the hubs and I decided to give it a try. The parking can be pretty bad because they are in a tiny shopping center right off the 15 on Rancho Bernardo, but when we visited 4:30pm on a Sunday the parking lot was pretty open. The food is not fantastic but it’s pretty decent. You have a pretty good section on the HH menu and you just can’t beat the prices. Would come back again for sure.