Mr Wasabi

Well, looks like the place is closed… I hadn’t been to Mr. Wasabi in a long time. Might as well share the story from my one visit here years past that I was going to relate in my eventual review:
While the sushi was just ok (and they placed our orders on the same plate — which I don’t particularly care for), we figured we’d order dessert. So, when the server came out with our order, she said, «Time for the happy ending!»
Now, I’m not sure if I should say this… but there’s a massage parlor near the premises (which I have NOT gone to, thankyouverymuch). So, when I burst into a fit of giggling, my date gave me the weirdest look. After I explained in a whisper, she then burst into laughs as well. Maybe there should be a better choice of words…

Good sushi, average service, below average personality, but close to my house!
To be fair, I must admit I haven’t been there in months. I guess I didn’t post this when I wrote it. It saved as a draft, and yesterday I discovered that.

I’ve eaten here one time a few years ago and once again I’m not a fan of sushi but my boyfriend is… he loved it! I ordered Gyoza and the Teriyaki Chicken meal, my food was good but the chicken tasted a little funny. The service was good and the price’s were too. I’d definitely like to go back but it’s a far drive from my house.

I don’t come here for the sushi.
I come here for the tempura plate and salad (dressing). The tempura is good, melt in your mouth type, heart clogging food. This place is the only place in SD that serves the dressing that I’m use to on salads from japanese restaurants.
Though, the last two times i’ve been here — we’ve ordered something and it never came out. When we let the waiter/​waitress know — we ask to make sure its not on our bill. Its too late to correct it. Had to knock off a star because of that.

Great price for its sushi rolls! They taste really good and you must try their calamari salad! Out of all the mira mesa sushi place, this has got to be one of the best. Much better than to-​dos!

Great sushi selection, prompt service, ample parking and attentive service. Not the absolute best, but worth coming back to.

One of the better Happy hours for a sushi joint in MM. Ends kind of early but most do… Service is always very good, and the food is above par.
The last time I went there I had one of their bento boxes to switch things up and I was pleasantly surprised. Usually I go all out sushi but was happy my mind wandered off enough to score the box.
As I am sitting here at work writing this it makes me really want to go there when I get off and score the happy hour specials… but nooooo school has to get in the way!

In short, was craving some sushi before hitting the movies tonight and I was in RB area visiting a friend. Went to Mr. Wasabi after reading reviews and seeing some pics…
F’ing TERRIBLE! When your fish is a third the size of the rice, RUN! Fooling me with a drink special only to serve me pre-​frozen and pre-​cut portioned fish is a joke! Staff was VERY nice but food quality was VERY sub-​par! Should have driven to Harney or Tsurua Sushi in PL…
Will never go back and you should avoid at all costs. That is if you are a real sushi lover!

I’ve come here a handful of times and always thought the food was decent. The specific food I can recall eating and enjoying are the Agedashi Tofu, Gyoza, Vegetable Tempura, Veggie Roll and the Green Tea Ice Cream. All of it was good, not fantastic, but good enough to continue to come back for. My husband says the seafood and sushi are decent as well.
Overall not a place I seek out but if I’m in the area or going to the movie theater close by I’ll stop in for a meal. There’s hasn’t ever been much of a wait and never all that crowded. Service is decent and timely and their happy hour is a good deal. Oh and I know you can’t really mess up Green Tea ice cream but man that stuff is good.

The sushi really isn’t anything to write home about. Probably my fault for expecting anything beyond that in Mira Mesa.
The happy hour is win.
The ½ off certain sushi doesn’t hurt.
The service is okay depending on who your server is.
The Bento Box wasn’t bad.
I just wasn’t thrilled.

So what’s the point of the Groupon if 83% of the menu is «half off» and none of the «half off» specials apply? So I guess it’s ok if you apply to the other 17% (ie the stuff the people usually don’t buy)
Whatever…their Sopporo on tap was lukewarm and flat. Their servers were nice and cute.
Had the tuna roll and crunchy roll. Ended up with a stomach ache. The tuna looked unappealing and the special sauce from the crunchy roll wasn’t really that special. They tried to focus their attention on presentation with these weird orange slices in the middle. What’s that all about?
Shrimp tempura was nice and hot. Served pretty quick too. Old japanese hostess lady kept giving me the evil eye. Gee whiz lady, what the fuck did I do?
Whatever…my fault for not doing the proper reseach on the Groupon rules, and my fault to coming to a sushi restaurant that was already in the 3 star range.

The sushi is just OK… but their happy hour can’t be beat! Sake and select sushi started at $ 1.00. No need to say more.

I didn’t realize the «coupon» mentioned above under «specials» was a print out on their website (
) I just printed out the first page of this Unilocal post and presented it to the waiter when we received our check. 20% off total bill (with $ 25 min purchase) for Tues THRU Sat is pretty darn awesome. Anyway, on to the review…
I’ve heard about this place and driven past it hundreds of time. I was told it was a solid/​average Japanese restaurant, and indeed it is. Nothing on the menu stood out to me and the food was just okay (so I’m scarred by the noodle dish I picked, but most of everyone else’s food was pretty good for a decent price.)
+/​-​agedashi tofu (was craving this and felt totally let down)
+/​-​baked mussels (tasty but the size of the 4 pieces varied and cost over a dollar per, ouch)
— Yakisoba (was not a fan, at all although it did come with miso soup and salad, yum)
+/​-​nabeyaki udon (noodle soup with shrimp, imitation crab, fishcake and egg … there’s so much «imitation» crab on this menu, why bother putting it in your dishes!?)
+ all hand and cut rolls are pretty standard and tasty
+ the sashimi was pretty fresh, I forget what it’s called now but we got the chef or sushi deluxe combo — huge portion for $ 30 and you get to try a lot of different things
There weren’t many people in the restaurant and the service was slow. I counted 2 (non Japanese) people working behind the sushi bar, 2 waiters and 1 ‘cashier.’ Will I come back? Eh… if someone else wants to but I won’t recommend it.

The website is misleading. Their portions and presentation of their food is mediocre. I printed out a coupon from their website and browsed the pictures and had high expectations for nothing.
I ordered a dragon roll, tempura shrimp roll and dragon roll.
The food was good, but very small and skimpy. Their service was very slow, as well. Not coming back here.

2.5 stars. I wouldn’t go back. I consider myself a medium sushi snob. It didn’t seem fresh enough. Since it was my first time here, Decided to only get cooked food. I got a soft shell crab roll, a ca dreaming roll, and mixed tempura. The oil needs changed, it was too greasy! the soft shell crab tasted like shrimp and it seemed to be missing in parts of my roll! It was semi empty in there, 2 other customers. I should have stuck with my regualr place.
Pro: fast service
Con: so so food

Whenever I visit San Diego I tend to bring my dog with me — so when it’s time to eat I like to go somewhere that I can bring a dog with me. Mr. Wasabi is the perfect place because they allow dogs on their patio (however their heat lamp is broken so if you plan on sitting outside make sure to dress really really warm!) .
They have a very friendly staff who seated us outside. My friend and I came here during Happy Hour on a Thursday so it took a while for us to get our sushi. We ordered their Bento Box «three’s company» — it definitely lived up to its name! We had a lot of fooood! Tempura, CHicken Katsu & Chicken Teriyaki!
I recommend coming here for happy hour bc the sushi is pretty cheap! The quality of the food — i’d say I’ve had better — butt it’s still a place I would definitely come bak to!

I live/​work in Mira Mesa and I’ve seen that ‘Happy Hour $ 1 Sushi’ sign every day for the last 4 years. Yet, I’ve never taken the time to go into Mr. Wasabi. Until now.
There is no Happy Hour on Fridays (boo). But, the sushi prices aren’t too bad for a regular ol’ night — about $ 20 per person, including tax/​tip. It wasn’t too busy for dinner, which was surprising. I got the Rainbow roll — which I would def. get again and the Philadelphia roll — which was decent. I’m def. planning on checking this place out one Tues, Wed or Thurs during Happy Hour to take advantage of the $ 1 Sushi/​Sake special!
The Mira Mesa traffic is a nightmare. BUT, if you take the back-​roads to get to this place, it’s not too bad. Parking seems plentiful (as of 6PM on a Friday night).

The happy hour is what won me over, the sushi was good, but it wasn’t amazing. The service is rather good, they’re pretty quick to get you what you want. The location for this place is also a pain to turn in, since it’s in this small plaza, a little hole in the wall, and dealing with traffic on Mira Mesa Road is a pain.

The «$ 1 sushi $ 1 hot sake» sign on Mira Mesa Boulevard finally seduced our hero to enter the little known sushi parlor known as Mr. Wasabi for their happy hour a few weeks ago (which is every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5 — 6:30 PM). The happy hour prices for $ 1 nigiri aren’t too bad and apply to all their different types such as unagi (eel), ikura (salmon roe), and maguro (tuna). These are all over $ 4 for 2 pieces normally, so the happy hour prices are a steal.
The owner’s brother — a Korean-​Chinese man — is a good sushi chef who makes entertaining conversation when you’re stilling at the sushi bar. Unfortunately he’s very rarely working at the restaurant because he’s also opening up another restaurant up in Carlsbad in a few months!
$ 2.75 imported Japanese beers for happy hour aren’t bad either.
PROS:
— Happy hour menu Tue-​Thur 5 – 6:30 PM.
— Friendly and prompt service.
— Quality of food here has been pretty consistent between visits.
— The spicy tuna hand rolls are recommended because they’re fairly jam packed with fish and only $ 2.25 during happy hour.
CONS:
— Fighting eastbound rush hour traffic on Mira Mesa Blvd. to catch happy hour here is not pleasant.

whack!