Ki Sushi & Sake Bar

A waiter here was so freaking rude. We walked in to say hey to some others we knew and he said we had to wait outside «LIKE NOW». I’ve never been so mistreated at a restaurant in my life. The only reason I gave one star is because I couldn’t give 0.

Sashimi is better than I expected, and the happy hour prices are amazing! :) I’d give it 3.5 stars

This is a fantastic place to drop in at with a couple of friends. The atmosphere is nice, so it allows room for groups to be rowdy but it disturb other tables. I haven’t eaten at many sushi places, but this place is definitely one of the better ones. The rice may need work, but the fish is pretty great.
I would come here for their midday happy hour. There’s generally no fuss with lines, but come time for the late happy hour, there are so many people! All the college kids in the area wants cheap food, so this is definitely a popular spot after 10pm! If you don’t normally order appetizers, you should give the jalapeño bombs a shot. Each time I’ve gotten them, they’re nice and crispy on the outside with a good amount of filling on the inside and a nice kick of spice. Fair warning: the service can be slow at times, so you may have to be more patient with their servers.

This was a convenient and decent sushi place in the UTC area that I used to frequent. They had lunch/​dinner combo bentos, donburi (rice bowls), noodles, and a plethora of sushi rolls. Prices were average, but better during happy hour (with limited choices). In general, a lot of choices for food, so everyone should be able to find something they enjoy. There’s also wine, beer and sake, so it gets kind of rowdy/​noisy when people become inebriated. Also, the restaurant is pretty small (long rectangular shaped), so some seats are awkwardly placed, and the wait can be pretty long if you are a big party.
Overall, the service wasn’t much to look forward to, and parking was a nightmare despite this being located in a big mall (there’s way too many things in this mall for the amount of spots), but the food/​sushi was decent. Come during off peak hours (plus get the happy hour discount) to avoid waiting too long and parking hassles. Pretty budget friendly for college kids and conveniently located across from UTC and within walking distance from all the nearby apartments or bus stops.

For the price, this is absolutely one of the best sushi spots in San Diego.
I am a «sushi snob», and have eaten at multiple sushi restaurants throughout San Diego. We try new restaurants all the time (because we like to try new things), but we keep coming back to this one for a reason: it’s consistently very good.
Pros:
* Fish is consistently fresh and tasty & of high quality
* Rice is consistently moist and tasty
* Soda refills are free (nice for an Asian place)
Cons:
* Service can be slow at times, and we’ve had our «special orders» goofed up a few times. However, they are very friendly, and readily replace what we ordered with the correct thing.

My husband and I are addicted to this place… loveeeee the sushi there… we go there at least once a week… :)))

Ki Sushi has been the sushi hub for many UCSD students, due to the close proximity to the University. I for one was not too much of a fan. I’m sure people know that the restaurant is not quite big. Some of the tables are just really awkward in general. They have a two-​person table where the seats are right next to each other, just facing the back of a booth.
The food is so-​so, but the prices are what keep people coming back. I remember that we were able to get a beer tower for a party of 7 for a great price. I’m not sure what the place is like now since I’ve graduated.

I came here for a group bonding thing. I dunno, if you’re having more than six people per booth, this isn’t the place :/​the very end booth is good for a large party but that’s about it. They were crazy with the sake bombs… it was during happy hour. I feel like their happy hour cheap stuff were very tiny, size wise. They weren’t rolled too tightly so it was falling apart. The spicy calamari was good but they were in odd number. I ate like a peasant eating peasant priced food. I paid 18 bucks for some chump change food. Should have gotten a specialty roll instead :/​the sushi wasn’t that spectacular but I can see why this place is such a popular place for college students.
Btw, they should have a better system for hosting. There were three disorganized waiters working my booth and it took them 15 minutes to realize we didn’t have water or menu. It wasn’t even busy at all.

Fresh!!! Omg!!! It’s always fresh fish! What else you need when you craving for sushi?! Salads are bomb (dressing is spicy make sure u like it or ask for dressing on the side). Rolls my fav, they have really huge menu! Poke roll or Lobster baked roll yuuuum!!!

I’ve only come for happy hour, which is great. Their rates are amazing so you can eat until you’re really full for the price of a normal meal. Happy Hour is 4−6pm I believe (with a later happy hour in the late night too). It’s basically a quantity over quality thing, but it’s not like the food on the happy hour list is bad — it’s just not the complex specialty rolls.
It’s usually pretty busy, but I’ve never had to wait to get in. Overall, a great place to get lunch/​dinner when you’re on a budget. but you had a bad day and wanna just eat out. Or you’re lazy and not down to cook.

A decent place to go to drink cheap sake and beer with your friends. Other than that, the sushi is mediocre and their entrees are a little expensive. If you come with a big party, you should come when Happy Hour just starts or slightly beforehand. One time I came with a group of 4 people an hour into happy hour, and it was an hour or more wait to get a table. It is always pretty loud in here and probably not somewhere to take a first date.
If you get their actual sashimi and sushi, it is more expensive but definitely better quality than a lot of places. They also do have some pretty good lunch bentos that are under $ 8 that give you a generous amount of food. Overall, I would mainly stick to this place for lunch or just for drinking.

The food was good. The service was practically non existent. No service at all for the first 20 mins and then no refills on drinks or really anything. A lasso would have been helpful.
I do like that they have organic wheat free soy sauce. The tuna was good. The rolls were excellent. So if you have extra time to spend and a lasso, enjoy! ;)
It took an extra 10 mins to even get our check and so the whole experience was just frustrating because I had places to be.

This review is solely based for happy hour (30% all specialty rolls and lower priced appetizers, drinks, etc). We came here as a party of 4 on a Friday night around 10:30 pm. Not surprisingly, this place was packed with UCSD students. Our wait was 45 minutes for maybe 6 groups in front of us, so we decided to get a quick bite at McDonalds down the road, plus it has wifi! As I digress, we came back and were seated around 11:15 pm and were ready to eat.
We ended up ordering an assortment of basic rolls (i.e. California, tuna, salmon) ranging from $ 1.5−3.95, but be wary it only comes in 5 pieces per order. Likewise, we ordered 2 specialty rolls (caterpillar and crazy boy) that came out fairly quickly. I won’t say the sushi was the most amazing I ever ate, but it definitely hits the spot. I did also get a sake bomb ($ 1 sake and $ 2.50 for Saporro), which I think is a steal. And you can definitely hear the banging and screaming throughout your night, so just be wary this is more of a college scene, than a romantic date spot.
Overall, a good place that is walking distance for many off-​campus UCSDers for some solid sushi.

Happy hour is where it’s at!!! Cheap sushi and cheap alcohol. The quality isn’t that great, but the rolls are still pretty good and satisfy you.
I’ve tried the calamari before and thought it tasted okay, but the texture was off. The pieces were too big/​long and difficult to bite into. The gyoza is okay, nothing special.
I think the crunch roll is really good, I mean for $ 3.50 how could you go wrong?! My boyfriend likes the crazy boy roll as well.

Great sushi for the best price in the UTC area.
Located next to Baskin Robbins, this hidden place is pretty easy to miss. However it’s really worth the try (ESP for Happy Hour!). The place is lit pretty dimly inside and you can clearly see the sushi bar from most areas of the restaurant.
They have a range of raw poke bowls to baked/​fried rolls for around $ 11 – 15. Many items are less during happy hour; be prepared to fill out the sheet they give you. They have a pretty big menu so lots of options! I’m picky when it comes to fish and I’ve never had complaints about the smell or lack of freshness here.
No complaints! Just good sushi :)

I’m always resistant against trying a place within bussing distance of campus if I’m dining with a friend who owns a vehicle. But this particular friend is not so great with directions or driving… so we just stayed close by.
I came here with one other on a Friday evening around 7:30 PM! We had finished a great session of boxing and I was ravenous! Sushi is usually a good go-​to option for me so this definitely satisfied my fishy taste.
We waited about 20 minutes before we were seated. We were given our drinks and menus and quickly decided on what to order.
We got:
–Tuna poke: Comes with a bowl of rice on the side but the bowl itself is HUGE! Bigger than my face! Luckily though, it was filled with fresh lettuce and a good amount of sashimi! I love that they add a Korean twist on it and provide you «gochuchang» (spicy red chili paste) and sesame oil with salt. Perfect touch!
–Crunch dragon: $ 11.95, Decent price. Big roll! Sashimi didn’t look super fresh but at least it was crunchy!
–Matrix roll: $ 14.95! HUGE! Holy… this is definitely filling on its own.
Pros:
–Great ambiance! Definitely a great place to take on a casual date! Lots of college couples come here and I see why!
–Great selection! Menu had so much variety, I was squealing in excitement.
–Great service! They came to refill my water, and double checked to make sure the food was fine for us!
Cons:
–Pricey? I think it’s a relative good price for the quantity and quality, but others may say otherwise.
Tips/​Observations:
–Line up outside right before 10 pm for Happy Hour menu… because it gets packed!
–Parking lot is spacious! At least, the area below all the crowd.
Overall, I would definitely come here again to get my sushi fix! They used to have coupons in the «dollar stretchers» passed around campus… but I guess because of the popularity they stopped advertising. Regardless, give it a shot!

As you may have read already, Ki Sushi (or Sushi Ki as it is so often fondly called) is frequented by college students usually (or only) during happy hour. Sushi Ki is known for their awesome happy hour deals on sushi and alcohol. They no longer have the beer towers (and $ 0.01 sake!) though… which were really the main attraction. But they still have cheap pitchers and other alcohol! Sake is still cheap though coming in around $ 2 each.
I’ve been here more than enough times now for some late night food and drinks. I don’t eat seafood (sad, I know) so the first few times I came here I ordered their veggie rolls @ happy hour prices. Rolls are about $ 2 – 3 an order. However, in recent times they upped their veggie roll to regular price… iirc it was $ 5 or 6. It’s still affordable but… really? You would imagine just veggies would be cheaper, especially during happy hour. So, now I just opt for the egg rolls or pork gyoza.
Rolls are poorly put together during happy hour, but I get it because it’s a huge rush and it’s $ 2 sushi. Basically, don’t come here if you’re looking for a fancy sushi meal. I don’t know what it’s like when it’s not happy hour, so I can’t exactly comment on the quality during regular hours.
Service is veeryy slowww during happy hour but the waiters try their best during the rush!
Happy hours are super fun for dates, small groups, large groups, and probably even just yourself. There’s always a wait before happy hour, so be sure to put your name down when you get there! Every seat in the restaurant fills up right away. Kind reminder… there will be a lot of shouting because SAKE BOMBS.

Came here for Thursday night happy hour and had an amazing time. Large Sake is only $ 1.95 and a pitcher was $ 13. I had a party of 4 and was seated promptly after 10. Despite being busy at the time, our server got our food and drinks out to us really quick.
The restaurant is modern and clean. Parking can be a struggle but during late night happy hour, parking is plentiful. For late night you should really get there at 10 because the place closes at 12!

5 stars for consistently providing a good meal.
I’ve been going here for 5 years now and no matter when I come, the food is good.
Always great with a big ‘mushi mushi’ from behind the sushi bar, this place has a nice atmosphere.
Don’t come here for fine sushi dining, come here for fun rolls and actually some great salads, combos and other dishes:
*I love the Kama here. Salmon or yellowtail, they are both good.
*I think they have great ‘theme’ rolls, try anything really, you will probably like it.
*I especially like their sushi combo lunch. You get A LOT. I am satisfied with the portions.
*I’ve even picked up salad to go. I like their spicy tuna salad and their salmon salad.
*The pricing is good for the quality.
*The wait can be long, but if you time it right, you can be sat immediately.
*I’ve usually had good service, even though the servers are very busy most of the time! :)
* Late night happy hours happens here too
I live in the area and without Sushi Ki, I would probably miss out on sushi when I have the craving. I’m so glad it’s here!
Is this the best sushi in San Diego? No, but it’s really delicious food and the sushi IS very good. I couldn’t ask for a better local sushi joint next to my place!

Since my new job is now in La Jolla, Ki Sushi is my go to place to meet friends for Happy Hour.
Their HH have great pricing on appetizers, drinks, and 30% off of regular priced rolls. their HH hours are:
M-​F 4−6pm
S-​Su 3−5pm
Th, F, Sa 10p-​12a
The food here is great considering the discounted prices and the environment allows for enjoyable conversations and sometimes even a few saki bombs!