Fusion Izakaya 52

Came here for din-​din, spun the wheel and won the drunkin mussels which was a buttery garlicky white winey awesomey, ordered 10 spicy chicken wings (.50 cent wing we’d. Special) and they were pretty damn good with my $ 2 draft Sapporo. Wings were sweet n spicy. Wife ordered the bulgolgi ramen which was tasty n spicy. Finished din-​din with a green tea macaron. I’ll be back for taco Tuesday

The quality and menu variety is really great for the price. My favorite is the beef bulgogi!

Waited for a table was finally sat and 20 minutes went by without a greeting or acknowledgement so we got up and left, sad we really wanted to try this place

This place is great! When you walk in you are greeted by smiling faces. They allow you to spin a wheel for a free app or drink which was a nice touch. The service was top notch as they offered great recommendations to try and everything we tried was delicious. Ambience was clean and great for any type of gathering. They even had small rooms for larger parties for a more intimate setting.
Will definitely be back!

I’ve now been to this place several times and it’s time to share my review:
1) Service — Outstanding, friendly waitresses and food is served fast.
2) Pricing — Extremely reasonable and perfect portions.
3) Food quality — a) Yakitori sampler — everything that was wrapped in bacon was amazing, the beef was average and I can go without the garlic on a stick. b) Bulgogi taco was flavorful and I love the spicy aioli sauce mixed with the cabbage to tone down the beef sweetness… only if they served it with better tortillas it would have been 5 stars. c)
Tuna popeye was freaking unreal especially how it was paired with fried spinach d) Yellowtail with mango salsa — insanely good with explosive flavors e) shrimp burrito protein roll — OMG unbelievable even without rice — the blending with spicy tuna and avocado hits the spot.
4) Environment — Very hip and modern
5) Parking — really bad on Friday or Saturday night. Prefer to go during the week.
Will I come back again… without a doubt!

Fusion Izakaya is a great option for some Asian eats in Convoy as well as a place to get your drink on.~ The moment you enter they let you spin the wheel (one spin per table) for a prize. and I landed on «sushi bar special». My wheel prize ended up being *tuna tataki salad*. The «spin the wheel» concept is clever and fun by being interactive and welcoming. The server last night was awesome. she was charming and friendly with good service. As for the food I tried a variety of dishes and my favorite was the *Popeye Seared Tuna with Fried Spinach* and the *Sexy Roll*. Another fun highlight of dinner last night was ordering the beer tower. get your thirst on and upgrade from your average pitcher by getting the beer tower. =] Inside the décor is modern and nice from the lighting all around the restaurant and by the bar. 4 stars for this restaurant being open late with tons of variety on the menu for delicious food, drinks, and fab service.~

Came here for my birthday dinner. We got a private room with a service button and privacy curtain which was nice. We also got to spin the prize wheel when we came in, and of course I bombed it the first time and used the «It’s My Birthday!» reason to sneak a second try. Drunken Mussels… fine but no birthday treat for me! (bleh). We ordered two beer towers… which alone were pretty awesome. The Sapporo though tasted like straight aluminum. No thanks! The apps were good. I got the corn cheese (which was exactly that — canned/​frozen corn with melted cheese on top), and my go-​tos… an avocado roll and a cucumber roll (bad choices for birthday drinking, lemme tell you!).
The service was great, my food was just so-​so. I think this is a place where the seafood is where it’s at. If you like seafood, don’t trust my review.

This place was absolutely great and loads of fun! The ambiance is very modern and cool, looks super clean and ready to go. My friends and I were attended to immediately, as I had won a cocktail after spinning their wheel so that came out real fast.
Their menu is fairly expansive but not so many dishes that it becomes cluttered. I suppose they’re a Japanese/​Korean fusion restaurant since they were serving both Japanese food and Korean/​Korean inspired dishes. I got their spicy pork tacos and I really liked them. Though the order only consists of two tacos, I really enjoyed them and actually got full off of them. My friend ordered the beef napa cabbage soup and that one tasted INCREDIBLE. It was insanely delicious, with flavors that kinda caught me off guard because they were so spot on!
As for their drinks, we had their signature cocktail and a yogurt soju carafe. Both were excellent in their blends of soju. Lastly, the service throughout the entire night was really great, I appreciated the waiters/​waitresses and how fast the food came put/​how good it was! I hope ya’ll will get to enjoy this place as much as I do.

This place is great. Oppa the sushi chef is one of the best in San Diego. I’ll be coming back here again and again. Gonna have to write a longer review when I have the time. All I can say is that if you don’t eat here at least once, then all you will ever know is subpar sushi

FINALLY!
This place is the answer to my prayers! I can finally find high quality sushi at the wee hours of the night :) I have been looking for a sushi joint w a wide selection of tapas and apps as well and Fusion 52 meets and exceeds all my expectations!
It hits the spot just right on those late night when I’m craving sushi!
The sushi chef here is on point and really knows how to cut the fish just right; so juicy, so tender!
The staff here is also incredible and for a sushi restaurant, the service here is on par with most American chain restaurants, and that is a bold statement to make for a Japanese restaurant. Honestly, I dare to say that the service here actually surpasses most other restaurants I’ve been to here in SD!
I am so happy that such a QUALITY establishment has opened in this area and I highly recommend all UnilocalERS to come check this food quality cuz it’s Top Notch.
I originally came here cuz it was the only place open past 10pm, but after further consideration, I go back all the time, lunch and dinner, to truly appreciate the flavors and quality cuts that the Chef prepares!
5 stars have been very well deserved!

This place is newer… and I like it. It’s super trendy and open late, which works for me and my late sushi cravings.
When you first walk in, your group spins a wheel to see if you’ve won anything. They have random selections on the wheel like different appetizers, cocktails, etc. It’s a fun concept… bc everyone likes a chance at winning something for free!
The service was fast and friendly. I would come back to try something different here in the future.

Korean owners serving Japanese food, hence, the fusion! I tried the bulgogi fries and thought they were pretty good. The sauce and bulgogi went well together. I also tried a sushi roll, I forgot the name, but hubby liked it more than I did.
Service was good. Server said we could spin the wheel to receive a discount or free prize, which was kind of cool. They also serve macaroon ice cream, which was the highlight of my night!

This place is pretty rad! I really love how much variety is in the menu. Think of it as Japanese tapas.
We ordered :
uni scallops — yumm!
Halibut sashimi — yummo!
Cheese sticks — really good and only $.50
Yakitory– u cook yourself. Seemed cool but feel short. The flame was too high the whole thing burned before it could cook thru
Bulgogi ramen– blah. Dont do it
Beef tataki– delish
Takawasa — my fav! But this dish is totally acquired. If u dont like raw and slimy dont order.
Sashimi salad — refreshing
Hamachi kama — yummzzzz
Blueberry soju — sooo good. Must try. Not the mixed kind but the actual bottle comes infused blueberry flavor.
The owner was super rad. He brought over a couple free dishes for us to try and even gave us a free round of soju bombs. We will def come back!!! Refreshing new joint to go to aside from typical hinotez, yakitory, and min sok. They close at 2am! BONUS!

I went here with a small group of friends late night to celebrate my birthday during finals week since it was new and seemed prominent. Came in to a pretty empty place but what to expect since its new and it was a random weekday, however we came to find a big spin the wheel thing and scored some free corn cheese. My dear friend at the time loved corn cheese so I was stoked for that. The ambiance of the place was really nice. The food was interesting and surprisingly pretty good for a place that seemed to be focused more on drinking. Props to the wait staff there at the time. I never mentioned in was my birthday but was given complimentary salmon sashimi dish. Props again, my dear friend loves salmon. Overall it was a great experience. Kind of on the pricier side but it’s not for all items. (A month late on this post but oh well)

My friends and I came here when sushi deli 3 was over an hour wait. Fusion Izakaya 52 turned out to be a hidden gem. Once you first step in or get seated, they’ll ask you to spin the wheel to see if you win any promotion, unfortunately we did not, but look forward to trying again. This place is great for tapas and drinks. The combination between their appetizer, tapas, and yakitori menu makes this a fun place to have a drink and try various seafood. My recommendation would be to get the Takoyaki balls, marinated octopus and yakitori.

Hmmm. Izakaya 52 screams new sushi/​fusion joint falling short in a part of town that has a very heavy Asian and fusion influence already. Contrary to previous reviews, I feel like this place could use some work in order to catch up to various options close by.
We were greeted by a very friendly host who had us spin a big wheel of fortune at the door in the hopes of winning a free appetizer or drink. I spun and won a plate of gyoza (pretty exciting). We were then seated in the middle of the restaurant and appreciated the blinds that they roll down to divide each table from those next to it. It adds a nice private touch to your dining experience if you enjoy that.
Service is very very friendly however I had to ask the hostess for water multiple times as she kept forgetting and was sort of just standing around looking at us waiting to take our orders. We also finished and had to sit around for several minutes leaned back and nobody came to clear the dishes or ask if we were ready for the check. I think this place needs to focus on turn over and prompter service. People don’t like waiting around typically.
We ordered:
Salmon Carpaccio — three slices of pretty thickly seared salmon on a bed of greens and some ponzu sauce drizzled on top. Nothing too special or spectacular. Tasted like your standard seared fish fare.
Yellowtail Salsa — we came to a consensus that this was probably our best selection. Yellowtail in ponzu with a mango cilantro salsa on top. Super refreshing and would order again. The hamachi tasted fresh and was sliced pretty well.
Ramen — NEEDS WORK. Noodles were over cooked and way too soft, broth was watered down and had a flat flavor complex. Probably the most disappointing ramen I’ve ever had. I’m sorry but the stuff I make from the shin package is even better.
Convoy Roll — again, mediocre at best. Flavors were predictable really nothing special, minimal spicy tuna inside, hamachi on top was sliced choppily and it just wasn’t a finely made specialty roll. I was disappointed by a lack of broader flavors.
Salmon sushi — two pieces. If you’ve ever watched Jiro dreams of sushi… He wouldn’t be dreaming about this sushi. Omg. The salmon was wrinkly, poorly cut, thick but very fishy, I couldn’t finish it all. It made me sad because it was a very meaty slice, but either poor fish quality or a poor cut.
Tuna Sushi — my friends liked this one. No comment on it but the cut seemed to look cleaner and fresher than the salmon.
Overall, I’d opt for Tajima Izakaya around the corner or perhaps any other better known sushi joint in the area. I don’t know if it has something to do with a Korean man owning a Japanese fusion restaurant, but the sushi is just sub par and I’ve eaten a lot of sushi! Oh yeah, ramen is just not good. That’s a quick and painless fix though. Perhaps the first step to success?

Was excited to try a new restaurant, but sorely disappointed. The food was pricey to begin with. We had the Yakitori Sampler, Beef Tataki, Tonkotsu Ramen, Bulgogi Fries and Salmon Roll. Most of the food was mediocre and overpriced but the killer was the Tonkotsu Ramen. It tasted like instant ramen and the noodles were overcooked and mushy. When we complained about the sub-​standard ramen, the waitress apologized but stated the manager refused to do anything about it or even talk to us himself. They forgot to give us the appetizer (fried squid) that we won with our wheel-​spin, but at that point we were so disappointed in the food that we didn’t even bother to ask for it.
Bottom line is: this place is WAY too overpriced for the standard of food. Much better fare to be had at the myriad of izakaya around the Convoy area (and there are MANY). The only thing positive about this place are the staff.
BTW, I was reading thru some of the 5-​star reviews and am wondering why the Unilocal algorithms didn’t catch them. A lot of them appear FAKE. A lot of the high reviews have either zero friends or only one or two reviews. I have a feeling friends and family of the restaurant are artificially boosting the ratings. DON’T believe them!

They changed their menu and did not have some stuff other Unilocalers wrote about. Food was very good overall and the free item when you spin the wheel was a very cool concept.
K pop played in the background so be fore warned lol.
Soup was very very spicy. I mean I like spicy and all but God damn.

Newly opened — one of my friends said she loves this place right now so I went along with it.
Ordered a spicy tuna roll and the bulgogi ramen. The spicy tuna roll was really spicy, tasted great. The ramen though… I’m disappointed. It just tasted like instant ramen :($ 9 for that?! Sigh.
The macaroon ice cream sandwiches are pretty good, but they aren’t made in-​house. It’s from a diff company.
The service is pretty bad… lol they don’t really come by at all. I know there’s a call button, but you should still go around asking if tables need more water and stuff. ESPECIALLY if there’s only like two groups seated.

This place is such a great location, the staff was super friendly, the food was quickly out and the overall vibe was just amazing. Our waitress Carolyn was so sweet and quick. Wings at a sushi place … Perfection

Ugh what a disappointment. I think the only thing I truly liked was the spin the wheel thingy cause we got a free appetizer. the mussels in white wine and garlic. Other then that the food was mediocre at best and the service needs improvement.
Our original waitstaff person shift ended, and usually with the changing of the guard they would inform you or at least have the new person check up on you. Nope. that didn’t happen. For the rest of the night after we got our food, we have no clue who our service person was. One waitress welcomed her friends because it was one of their bdays but not even a stop by the table to ask how we’re doing. Not even a tea refill or water. Might as well have took our cup outside to catch the rainwater to drink.
I ordered the Korean ramen assuming it was the bulgogi ramen.nope. just noodles, egg, onions and spicy broth. I guess on the menu there is a sticker by the Korean ramen saying that adding bulgogi would cost and extra $ 3. Not on my menu… ugh so inconsistent.
At first glance you can automatically recognize that the noodles are from an instant noodle ramen package. How you say? It was crimped like top ramen. After my first bite, I stared sadly at my bulgogi-​less pile of top ramen and thought «i make this at home.» (top ramen, onions, egg and broth. ugh) When my husbands ramen arrived, totally different type of noodles… more like vermicelli. Dead. Blank. Stare of disappointment.
Soon our okonomiyaki came out in a mid-​sized cast iron skillet yet it was still soft and mostly mushy on the inside. it had some crispiness to the top but it was lacking. The last dish, that was our free appetizer, was the butter wine mussels. The flavors were there but there was not much meat on the mussels.

Fusion Izakaya 52 is a newly opened Asian Fusion, Sushi Bar, and Tapas restaurant.
We liked everything we ordered:
1) King Scallop Uni
2) Salmon Belly Sashimi
3) Tako Wasa (Octopus Wasabi)
4) Skewers (Beef, Asparagus Bacon, Garlic)
5) Sexy Roll (Protein Roll)
6) Hamachi /​Yellowtail Fish Cheeks
ENJOY!

Came here randomly one night and very much enjoyed it that I have came back 3 times since then.
I like this place for the following reasons:
Spin Board when you first walk you that usually will provide you some type of appetizer or special
$ 2 beer or a 3+liter tower for $ 14 (equivalent to almost 8 beers)
Takowasa– its like a squid like soaked in wasabi flavored juice that is delicious. All my friends that had it, thinks its pretty good too.
Okonomiyaki– its kind of like a seafood/​takoyaki pancake that is perfectly cooked.
Other Good Items:
Hamburg Steak– its what it sounds like, but I thought it went very well with beer, if you are looking for more of a meal.
Japanese Nachos– its literally spicy artifical crab meat with nachos. if you like artificial crab meat like me, then this might be for you
Seared Beef– It is quite delicious, but the portions is very small
Things that I tried but don’t recommend:
— The sushi rolls are average to below average
— The Ramen is below average
— The bulgogi fries was not that good. it came out very dry.
Overall: the service, price, and food is a great place to come eat late at night or just bring your friends to drink and munch on snacks.

I just wanted to say how much I love this place. I get out of work later in the evening and it’s hard to find a really good late night spot to unwind. Then we found this place. Everyone is really nice when you walk in. There is a wheel to spin at the front of the restaurant. Lots of cool free stuff if you land on the right spot. Sometimes the sushi chefs will make little sample plates for the tables.
The owner is really nice too. He goes around to each of the tables and asks if they’re enjoying the food. But of course, we are enjoying the food. The staff is attentive. The restaurant itself is very clean.
I haven’t had a dish on the menu I didn’t like, and my husband and I really like to try a new item every time we go. I think something we always order however is the okonomiyaki and the takoyaki! So yums!
The atmosphere is also very lively. If you like K-​pop then you will especially love this place. What I’m trying to say is just come try this place. It’s really a gem in San Diego!!!

Very interesting place and exudes a trendy ambiance, perfect for any casual date or getting drinks with friends.
We ordered the Mango Tuna Tower (interesting combination of flavors), a Bulgogi plate (quality meat but very tasteless, most bland Bulgogi I’ve ever tasted), Ex-​girlfriend roll (protein roll filled with imitation crab instead of rice), and the Macaroon ice cream sandwich.
My only complaint was the Bulgogi was really flavorless, I wonder if they ran out and didn’t have a chance to marinate my portion before cooking or make a mistake during cooking. I love trying fusion concepts so I was very interested trying Izakaya. Mango Tower was a refreshing start. The protein roll was quite good, better than the cucumber efforts I’ve tried in the past. The Macaroon ice cream sandwich felt it was out of a box from Costco, but it still tasted pretty good. A bit of a small portion for the dessert relative to the price. I look forward to coming back to try more of their interesting menu items.

The uni-​atop-​scallop dish is sooo good because uni makes the whole world better. The deep fried spinach is also surprisingly addicting. Everyone really enjoyed their macaron ice cream sandwiches.

On a night we were looking for a nice place to drink, we decided to go into Izakaya because they have ice cream macaroons!!! They opened recently so they have this wheel to spin for each party at the entry. I took the burden upon myself and won a free 96 cocktail. I was a bit worried, but it turned out to be delicious and not too much alcohol (I chose mango flavor and recommend it). We had a party of four and ordered a beer tower, which we surprisingly finished. It was a good atmosphere to drink and talk — we went on a Thursday night so it wasn’t too busy. Service was a bit slow, but they were genuinely nice. They give your table some cinnamon sugar sweet potato chips (or something along those lines) and it was a very tasty addition to our alcohol and sushi.
It’s filed as a fusion restaurant, which is easy to forget when you step in. I’m usually wary of how most fusion places mix foods. But it mostly means that there’s Korean, Japanese, and other sorts of food options on the menu. It definitely gave me more of a Korean vibe with the greetings as you walk in and the K-​Pop playing TV’s on the wall. Not a bad thing at all. Definitely reminded me of living in Orange County.

DH and I came here for the first time last week and it was an enjoyable experience. He loved the drink specials (A large import beer and hot sake for $ 7.95) and the katsu and I enjoyed the tapas and creative sashimi dishes. We didn’t win anything on the wheel spin as you enter, but it was fun to get a chance anyway. The food came fast (beautiful presentation!), but when we ordered two more tapas dishes, we waited a Long time for those. One never came and I cancelled it. I think the busier they get, they are still working out the kinks. Just come here earlier in the evening or come with plenty of time in case they get backed up. It was fun, delicious, and very cute, modern atmosphere. We will be back to give the wheel another spin :)

My fiancé and I absolutely love this place! We came across it when we parked and planned to go to Tofu House, we decided to give this a try since it was new. This was last week — we’ve been here FOUR times since! They have a great menu with a variety of everything (tapas, yakitori, hot dishes, and a nice range of sushi). They are very reasonably priced and have private rooms for large parties and blinds between tables that come down for privacy.
They are fairly new and offer a prize wheel with one spin per table with things like Garlic Edamame and a bottle of Soju! All of the times we’ve been there have been quiet except for a weekend night, which consisted of people enjoying the beer towers and private rooms (super great to see they get busy). Service has always been awesome. They also have tempura’d ice cream and macaron ice cream sandwiches! Less than 5 minutes from where we live and open late, this is our new go-​to spot!

Came in a little too exited after reading some of the reviews. After all, they do have 5 stars but now I notice that there are quite a bit of «friendly» reviews. I would say this place deserves 2 ½ stars. Sorry.
Okay first things first, I came in on a Friday night with my boyfriend and stood in the front for awhile until someone actually noticed us (there were only 3 tables filled and about 5 workers).
Before being seated, each party gets to spin a wheel and get a food/​beverage/​dessert etc. for free, which I thought was really cool! OF COURSE, being the unfortunate girl I am, I spun the wheel and got «Sorry, maybe next time!»): the guy still offered me an ice cream macaroon sandwich which was nice of him, yay him. (The wheel was probably my favorite part about this restaurant).
Food: I ordered the bulgogi ramen (because I saw a picture on Unilocal) and literally only took 2 bites. The noodles were way too soft and soggy like it’s been sitting there for awhile and the broth was not good or flavorful at all. I was so disappointed because I was craving a good bowl of ramen after a long rainy day. I basically took two bites and didn’t finish the rest. My boyfriend usually finishes the food I don’t like, but he couldn’t even eat it so you know what that says. We also got bulgogi fries and it was whatever, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t bomb either. The chefs gave us something on the house (it looked like fried octopus) but I’m not too sure since I asked the waiter and she didn’t seem to know what it was. Got another bowl of noodles for my mom togo and she didn’t like it. Maybe I ordered the wrong items or something, or maybe I came in on the wrong day/​:
Customer service: I saw one of the male workers taking a couple shots, which I didn’t mind because it was a Friday night and having a little fun on the job isn’t a bad idea. ALTHOUGH, I did notice one of the chefs come back in from outside and he just put hand sanitizer on and went back to work behind the sushi bar without washing his hands. made me lose my appetite. After we finished eating, we left and saw one of the workers sitting on the side with some girl on his lap talking loud and obnoxiously about female body parts. They were all up on each other and my boyfriend said he saw the worker grabbing her down below. I honestly could care less, but come on. They can definitely be more professional AND learn how to wash their hands.
Overall all the workers are nice and friendly, but they are obviously not cautious about their actions and surroundings around and outside the store. I understand that it’s a new business and they’re still trying to get the hang of things but they do need some (or a lot) of work! Really don’t know if I will be returning, but if I do it will definitely be on another day to see if I have a better experience.
Really thought I’d like this place, maybe it was just the wrong timing but I obviously came out super disappointed.

This restaurant used to be Walmido, which I loved. Then another business took over and that too, fell apart. And now, we have this new restaurant, which is also sushi, but has entirely modernized the environment and the food/​drinks.
Upon arrival, we were able to spin a wheel of fortune which comes with a prize of a free item!
I’m not entirely sure if they’re just doing that for a limited time for their grand opening or not, but it’s awesome! Only one spin per group I suppose. We received a free 96 cocktail which is basically a soju infused cocktail. I loved the presentation of the drink. You get to choose from about 5 flavors of cocktails and it comes with a small soju infuser bottle attached to the cup like a coronarita. And a cute little umbrella. The drink itself is not strong at all. More like a drink for fun and great for pictures.
The servers here are all very polite and friendly.
I like that they have a service button so you can call them whenever you need something instead of having to wait to flag someone down.
Personally, I think that the prices here are VERY reasonable for the food. It’s actually almost great prices for most of the items. Good food at decent prices. What could be better?
All of the sushi rolls here are under $ 13 which is awesome.
Most entrees and tapas are all under $ 10.
Most appetizers are under $ 8.
FOOD:
Seafood Pancake $ 8.99
This was a very hearty and scrumptious pancake. I love that it’s completely packed with seafood meat and veggies. It’s a fat portion from content not simply from just batter which is great. Definitely enough to be shared among 2 – 3 as an appetizer or even eaten as a full meal. I loved the soy sauce and chili sauce mixture dipping sauce that went really well with it. I would recommended this dish.
King Scallop with Garlic Butter $ 9.99
We ordered this dish, thinking that it would be a full meal, but unfortunately it just came with four pieces of king scallops. Personally, I don’t think that this dish was worth it because the scallops were chewy like the texture of squid. And it didn’t taste anything like garlic butter. It was really plain.
Tornado Deep Fried Roll $ 12.49
This was amaaaaaazing! You get a giant sushi roll that was cut up into about 10 pieces of sushi and laid on a plate with french fries all over! Who would’ve ever guessed that french fries and sushi would taste so good together? Highly recommended. It was a very large portion and beautiful presentation and taste.
Overall, I would love to keep coming back here again to try their many variety of items on their menu.