I really enjoyed their nigiri special along with an order of toro that we split amongst ourselves when we stopped in for a late lunch recently. Next time I'll come with a bigger appetite and a slightly bigger budget as the nigiri that was being served omakase style at the bar was seriously tempting.
Sushi Tadokoro is synonymous with amazing food. Go there with the highest expectations when it comes to this single and pure focus. It's not that their service wasn't good, it was, but it was also not exceptional. Their restaurant is unpretentious, clean, small and inside a nondescript strip mall.My party ordered omakase, which is a multi-course tasting menu. The price has significantly increased, but that's expected of a highly in-demand newly minted 1-Michelin star restaurant. Sushi Tadokoro has the highest quality ingredients and each course was expertly prepared and dressed. The menu is mainly nigiri-focused, but there are also some gorgeous courses like their sashimi moriawase, cooked fish, and a delicious uni, roe and warm rice bowl. I recommend capping the menu with a scoop of lychee ice cream. What made this experience even better was the careful attention to the right amount of sauces, wasabi, and the perfect addition of ginger and other ingredients (like shishito pepper) at just the right time. Not only was it delicious, but the smart and careful treatment of the ingredients show the respect they have for their art and their customers.What would I improve? Nitpicking here, but it was hard to hear the presentation of each course as we were seated very close to other tables. I'll try the bar next time. I would've also liked better guidance on drink pairings for omakase since they do have an extensive list of sake, cocktails, wine and other options.In summary, I loved Sushi Tadokoro. I already have another reservation for omakase.
Great presentation with very friendly and knowledgeable sushi chefs. I had omakasen which ran about $160 at the time. Food tasted fine but was very surprised to have some bones in a few pieces and ended up feeling very sick a few hours later and through the next day. I attribute this to many different people are in charge of cutting the fish and the fish is very fresh. They get shipments Tuesday and Friday and I happened to go a few hours after their Friday shipment. That being said for the price and with a one star you should expect greatness and for that price I shouldn't fall Ill not have bones therefore three stars
The most enjoyable most delicious experience in Japanese cuisine I have ever had! This restaurant is a hidden gem! The food is nothing less than a work of art and sitting at the Chef’s table makes everything that more special. Highly recommend it!
This is a once in a lifetime experience that hopefully I'll get to repeat again! We sat at the sushi bar and our chef guided us through an omakase tasting that changed my life. This was a trust fall that resulted in the best sushi I've ever eaten. The hostesses were so polite and accommodating.
Ok, there's a lot to say about Sushi Tadakoro. So, they just got their first Michelin Star. They were literally just a small mom 'n' pop shop in a strip mall. They had a barely functional website and the only way you could make reservations was over the phone. As I was planning my trip to San Diego, that's when they were dealing with the repercussions of their new Star.The flood of new business and attention really caught them off guard. They had to make a change, so they upgraded their website and made online reservations possible through Tock. All good stuff. I made my reservation a month out, like in the morning, and some of the options were already sold out. So plan ahead.It's a small place, which I love. There was space for maybe 20 people in the whole restaurant. I did the omakase, so I was seated at the sushi bar face-to-face with the sushi chefs. They have a nice selection of sashimi, nigiri, rolls, and a few simple apps. You can order everything a-la-carte, which is nice.But their main event is their omakase. You pay a lump sum and let the sushi chefs guide you through a culinary journey of the purest fish tasting you will ever have. I assume. The key difference between Tadakoro's omakase and other omakases I have experienced has to be the simplicity of the offering. Some folks won't like that, I'm sure, but they're wrong.By simplicity, I mean that they let the ingredients present their own flavor and don't flood anything with too many sauces or crunchy things on top for pizzaz or photogenicity. The first course was a raw oyster with a simple sauce, a block of tofu, and tempura shishito peppers. Very simple, very delicious.This was followed by six cuts of fresh sashimi, all were recommended to just down by themselves. One, he told us to lightly dip in the soy sauce. All of these were very good, and so different from one another. Then, a small slice of broiled Chilean sea bass. I don't have to tell you that this was truly exquisite. Dear Lord.Thennn, we got through at least a half-dozen nigiri with a single brush of soy sauce. All so lovely. We ended with a bowl of rice and roe and a very simple, perfectly sweetened custard of some sort for dessert.I don't remember exactly what all the fish were, but they were all so very good.And the thing is, for several days after my meal, I remembered what each one tasted like, the texture of each one, the way they felt in my mouth, etc. I think it was because Tadakoro didn't try to have some sort of grand finale like a saucy scallop dish or a Wagyu beef dish or a crazy chocolate cake.Nothing extraneous was there to distract us and our taste buds from the purity and the freshness of the seafood. I can see exactly why the Michelin people showed up and had this experience and thought, yea, these guys deserve a Star for this.Overall, I really enjoyed this experience. It was truly unique, it was obviously quality, and I will be making reservations here again if I ever find myself back in San Diego.
Most of the sushi was amazing, no doubt. Love the ambience in the restaurant, just the right amount of quiet for me. But man, for a Michelin restaurant, I’m expecting flawless sushi. But for some of the pieces of sushi, the rice was cold! That’s a sharp deduction of points in my book. The regular tuna (not chutoro or otoro) was also very stringy. It’s not supposed to be fatty, but still, it was worse than some quick takeout sushi I’ve had. Also, the disposable chopsticks throws me off… for the price and hype, I was expecting a little more.
We came to this one star Michelin to splurge for our 5 year anniversary. Overall, good. We liked it but I personally thought Soichi was better (I went to Soichi before it became Michelin though). One wrinkle with the service was after we were taken to sit at the sushi bar, the host rushed to me and asked me again what my name and phone number is and what day was my reservation for, and walked away. I don't like to be questioned like I was in the wrong.
Food was so good, I was still talking about it the next day. This is the kind of place where you go for the quality cuts and fish that is served. The presentation is awesome and even the garnishes they use I'm certain come from Japan. We had sashimi mainly, the oyster as appetizer, some 2 piece sushi, and a roll. I will skip out on the roll next time.
This was one of the best Sushi experiences of my life. Sublime