Sushi YuZu

Great place in Koolina, especially at happy hour!
Superior udon per my Japanese wife. Very attentive server, though we were early and the only ones for quite a while.
Heart of palm tempura was crunchy and slightly sweet. We demolished the food as it came and you can tell that my photos were an afterthought! Lobster roll was a fun and tasty new thing for me. Get here early for 4:30 to 5:30 pm happy hours specials. We have kids so going early is awesome, not many other diners and lots of attention.

Made reservations, arrived 5 minutes prior to our scheduled time, and were seated right away.
Great sushi — KoOlina and Spicy Tuna Rolls were amazing. Kona coffee gelato is a great dessert to finish the meal.
Service (our waiter was super nice guy Chris) was incredible.
5 out of 5.

First off, the staff is great! Very friendly and helpful.
Secondly, the food is awesome. We went for happy hour, which is 4:30 — 5:30, and they had a choice of 2 nigiri for $ 5. I had the ahi for my first round and Hamachi for the second round. Both were delicious. The hamachi tasted crazy good.
I also decided to give the lotus root pizza a try, which turned out to be really tasty. The bartender insisted I try the yuzu pepper on it, which I am glad I listened. It gave it a nice citrus kick to the cheesy flavor.
They have a good selection of sake, with two types of sake samplers you may choose from. Also, the lychee-​saketini was really good if you are willing to try a different flavor.
In all, I enjoyed my experience and will be stopping by again for happy hour.

It pains me to update this review to 2 stars but after dining here several times from my last review I felt I have to resubmit my review. My latest visit was last night.
I don’t know what’s going on at Yuzu’s but its progressively going downhill. It feels like they’re struggling and in the process are cutting corners and serving mediocre overly priced food, drinks and smaller portions. $ 16 bucks for a small bottle of sake is just outrageous but my friend loves her sake and ordered it anyway. She said the sake bottle use to be way bigger but now it’s smaller but at the same price.
As for the food, the sushi portions were so small that it reminded me of that commercial «where’s the beef?» Except in this case it was fish and rice. Grilled ika didn’t come with the legs part, fine by me but that’s my friend’s favorite part and it use to come with it. I ordered «shio salmon» which is salted salmon but it had no flavor. The portion size was nice but some flavor would’ve been nicer.
The chicken karaage which use to be my favorite has gone way downhill. There was way more batter than chicken and it was super crunchy like popcorn chicken. I don’t even know if there was any chicken in it since all I tasted was crunchy batter. So disappointing. The spicy tuna tempura roll was alright but the shrimp tempura was so tiny you hardly tasted it. Flavor wise it was alright. The lotus pizza wasn’t as tasty as it was many moons ago.
I didn’t eat the shrimp tempura but my friends said it was alright. We all were disappointed with Yuzu. Oh and btw, they close so early. Last call for food is 915pm and last call for drinks is 945pm even on the weekends.
Wait staff is still friendly but forgetful sometimes. Had to ask for our drinks a few times after we ordered it. Our bill for the night was over $ 200 for a few pupus and drinks. Hopefully Yuzu will bounce back.

We got takeout. I tried to order an omakase selection, but it wasn’t available despite being on the takeout menu. Then I tried chirashi, but the server didn’t know what that was! Also, the menu is filled with sushi options, but there’s no sushi combo. Just an assorted sashimi selection.
Okay, so we ordered the sashimi selection. Got back to our room, and discovered that «assorted sashimi» means «7 pieces of regular tuna». What? Also, the soy sauce containers exploded in the bag. Clam soup was just okay. The rice was fine.
I’m glad others had good experiences, but I wouldn’t go back, at least for takeout. The whole experience felt like amateur hour. Management needs to rethink what they’re doing with the menu and containers.

We had a great meal here this evening. The black cod was heavenly, and the tempura, agadashe tofu, and sushi was delicious too.
Parking was terrible though — I had to drop the family off and then circle the parking lot.

While the ambiance, food presentation and wait staff were all wonderful. .the food itself left something to be wondered. While I absolutely love good sushi rolls, and sashimi, these rolls could be improved. Variety sashimi was tasty, but on the expensive end. We’re surrounded by water, how is it almost $ 30?
I enjoyed the lotus root pizza and wish I would have left the roll out.

Ko’Olina roll is really great. My 9 daughter loved the California roll and ate eight pieces! Sat outside with torches burning. Service was fast and friendly.

Holy cow! This was the worst sushi place
Ever! Service staff was good but that old guy behind the glass window looks like he hasn’t smiled since he was born. Food was terrible my wife got sick and I couldn’t believe they served me the a lot of fish cartilage that was not GOOD! Please don’t go there and seek better sushi places. Don’t waste your money or time. Go to genkis.

Though the staff here is nice, the sushi here is not fresh and has a very, very strange aftertaste to it.
The spot is also outrageously expensive. Not sure how this even obtained three stars, but I assure you … Save your money and go somewhere else. I ate two pieces of basic salmon maki and almost got sick at the table.

This restaurant was ok… food was good but very expensive and not much to choose from. Wished they had more options for rolls. The «meal» you could order was $ 34.50, it came with three items I think. Way over priced. We had the Ko’ Olina roll and the Spicy Shrimp Tempura roll. Both were good.

Finally getting around to writing a review. We have eaten here several times and have never had a bad experience. The service is always friendly and the food is great. This last time we ate here our server helped me pick some new sushi choices, which was a nice change.
The pricing is also reasonable for Oahu considering it is located in Ko’Olina. It can get very busy and seating is limited and so is parking, which is why it is not 5 stars.

Out for a light dinner.
Pros:
* Relaxing ambiance
* Friendly staff who try to accommodate your needs as much as possible
* Pretty good food, enough to be filling
Cons:
* Overpriced, not much food for the buck
* Wait time to get your food is really long
* Felt like the kitchen didn’t prepare the food in the order they received the requests. Seemed like other tables got their food before us
* It’s really hard to find parking, majority of the stalls are always taken and it’s always crowded

Good Sushi pad in Ko Olina! It was walking distance from our condo at the Beach Villa! We came here around 8 and they close at 9 which is early to us! In Cali, sushi joints do not usually close between 10 – 11!
The place is clean and the staff is very friendly! Our waiter was real chill and cared about making his customers happy! I feel bad and forgot his name but he was a bulky dude with a cool mustache and light beard! He had the bar tender make us a couple of fruit drinks since we do not drink! He insisted on the bar tender to come up with something new and cool and he did not disappoint!
We ordered the lobster roll which was my favorite! It had spicy red tuna inside with avocado topped with deep fried lobster! It was good BUT it did not fill me up!
We also ordered the Tempura roll with Shrimp tempura along with red tuna! It was tasty and had good texture but nothing I haven’t had. The lobster roll was by far my favorite!
We would return if we ever return to Honolulu! The atmosphere is cool, with outdoor seating! The place is clean and welcoming! It plays good music outdoors and it is not too loud where you cannot hear the conversations being held at the table.
I would try if you are around the area!

Being as though monkeypod was extremely busy last night, my friend and I decided to give this place a shot since we’ve heard many mixed reviews. I gave an overall rating of 3 stars due to the imbalance between food and service.
Our waiter (I’m not sure of his name) was fantastic. He was cordial, kept checking on us, and had great customer service. Being as I’m in the industry, I understand how tough it can get when your manager is just yelling at you on the floor on top of tending to all your tables.
We arrived at 7:00pm, ordered around 7:15pm. There were about 4 other tables around us that arrived and ordered shortly after us but for some reason they all got their food before us. We had ordered the omakase Hawaii which is a preset menu. I’ve only been here once before but I have to say, after waiting 45 minutes for this $ 36 preset meal I was extremely disappointed.
I’m not sure what was going on in the restaurant but the manager came out and yelled and has a bickering moment with our server in front of the whole restaurant. Kind of turned me off in terms of coming back.
Overall, I would only come here again for happy hour so I can get some deals and maybe some appetizers. The Yuzu flavoring on everything is a great touch if you’re feeling citrusy and want something filling yet refreshing.

I’ve been to Yuzu once and ordered take out a bunch of times.
First and foremost, their sushi is delicious! I want to say that they put a little yuzu flavoring on their sushi because you can definitely taste the unique citrusy flavor very lightly and that just makes the sushi taste a million times better. I could eat their ahi sushi all day, everyday. YUMM. Their other specialty rolls with lobster and tempura are also equally as delicious. The yakitori was perfectly cooked and seasoned. You can truly taste so much flavor in each and every bite of their high quality food here.
The little bar area was very relaxing. My friends and I took a few tables and chairs and were able to enjoy our night. The bartender was on top of checking on us throughout the night.
Service is a little slow… they were understaffed the night I went and it took forever to order, get our drinks and food, and to pay… which is why I didn’t give 5 stars. But the food was delicious and took away any thoughts of any other complaints or concerns that I had.
If you don’t have to sit down, I recommend taking out. It’ll be less stress for you (waiting on the food) as well as the servers (less tables for them) and you can enjoy your meal without getting impatient! I have never had a problem with take out. It was especially convenient when I ordered the sushi platter and shared the deliciousness with friends at a party.
If you are dining in, make reservations. There’s also ample parking in the lot in front of the restaurant.
I will be back whenever I’m in the area :)

Ughhh there are so many reasons why I am disappointed with this place. I hope my disappointment was only caused by a shortage of staff members because if only they pulled off the timing it would’ve been a much better experience.
In sum, it took 1 hour to get our pre-​ordered appetizers served. And that was for the first dish. The rest came over a span of 30 minutes. It took 2 hours for our actual meals to get delivered! What the hell! We sat at 6:30 with reservations and preordered food and we didn’t eat dinner till 8:30!!! They tried to make up for it by offering us complimentary gelato which I appreciated but then that took forever to get served too… How ironic.
The food itself was ok. I got the omakase set with nigiri sushi and it’s pretty good but definitely not the best I’ve had on the island. The chicken karaage appetizer was pretty good. And the gelato was the best part! Maybe it tasted even better because it was free?! The guava ume, kona coffee, and green tea flavors were equally delicious.
The poke is just ok and the garlic edamame isn’t very garlicky.
Parking can be terrible here so carpool if possible!

The place is modern and very clean. Customer service is great and the waitress/​waiter are very attentive. They have outside seating as well and looks beautiful when the torches are lit at night.
The prices here are higher than most due to location and tourists. However, the quality of the food is great which is one of the reason why we come here occasionally.
Lunchtime is normally empty. Great for Happy Hour from 4:30−5:30
Hot Sake is good. Drinks are overpriced.

So happy I finally was able to check this place out. Working around KoOlina every so often and never stopping in.
100% a satisfied customer! I know I put 4 stars but that is only because we sat at the bar while they were slow and during our meal they became busy and our server/​bartender kinda left us. To elaborate we were ending our meal but still drinking. It had been a little while since he last checked on us and l the while we kept watching him make this delicious sangria! About 6 of them went right by us and all we wanted was to try that drink. We made notion that we had no drinks and waited patiently for them to notice (at this point there were 3 people behind the bar but none on our end). Sure all this wasn’t a ridiculous wait but it was enough to take away from my entire experience.
Aside from that last part, we had amazing food and drinks. Yuzu 3 (nigiri) special looked amazing! A friend had that and was very happy. Home-​made tofu is delicious too! And I’m a super happy camper when you serve delicious salmon and hamachi nigiri yes! I also enjoyed a little tobiko and yes it was great. Next time I’m at KoOlina I will definitely be dining there again!
Thank you Yuzu!

We stopped in here for a few drinks at the bar a few nights ago. I had a sangria with an Asian twist, and it was outstanding. The drink was well-​balanced and strong, so one was enough.
La Chica and I glanced over the food menu and everything looked pretty standard. We weren’t hungry, so all we did was gaze.
Bartender was polite and professional and I would definitely return.