Zensei Sushi

Two stars is generous. I have been here twice now. I really wanted to love this place because I’m addicted to sushi and this place is a block away from me, but they’re making it impossible.
— We were mistakenly brought sushi that by the restaurants admission we did NOT order. We were charged for the food!!! They gave a 20% discount (only after we complained when we saw they charged us!) as their way of saying sorry. Incredible lol.
— Service is very slow. I’ve been apologized to about the wait for my food both times I’ve gone. But don’t worry, because they «appreciated my patience» so it’s okay. I’m sure they’ll appreciate your patience as well.
— Food is sometimes inedible, literally. Like I said, I adore sushi. I’m pretty sure they get rid of all of their old fish on their Happy Hour Mondays because I straight up almost vomited from the sushi I got then.
I’m hoping that they go out of business and a new, better sushi place comes in.

For $ 7 you can get 10 «Golden State» Zensei signature rolls, and let me tell you, the quality is amazing. Great quality for a great price, I’m for sure coming back!

Awe this use be my favorite sushi place. The sushi is great the service is great, but I’m sorry to say they have roaches as we were seating eating a roach walked over and was hanging out on my napkin. You know when they have one they have more. They offered nothing for the grossness we felt, not that would help. If they say they take care of the bugs I will be back.

for me, the sushi is always fresh and super tasty. All staff are also very friendly and accommodating. They are also very helpful if you’re stuck on what to order (which I’m usually not!). it gets kind of crowded as the night progresses, so I recommend coming after your workday is complete. Chow!

2016 is starting out as the year I reevaluate all the places I hated. After my first terrible experience here I would never have voluntarily gone back. But friends like this place and there are times when the company is more important than the food.
Let me start by saying that I still don’t like the acoustics here, it’s still too loud, and I’m still not convinced that the world needs avocado tempura. But the food was not bad at all. The rice was fresh this time, and the hand rolls were tasty. The eel sauce, which gets applied with a heavy hand at so many places, was nicely balanced.
This isn’t my favorite sushi restaurant around, but I will not longer put up a fuss when someone wants to come here.

The music was blaring and it sucked. I’m trying to grab some dinner without having Sleigh Bells or Toro Y Moi blasting in my ears. We sat and waited at the counter for 15 minutes without any acknowledgement. When we finally decided to leave a server said, «oh here are some menus». Yeah no thanks. The restaurant is tiny, so there’s no excuse for poor service. It’s also overpriced.

Holy cow. This was the worst sushi I’ve ever had. And my dinner guest would agree. I would rather get sushi from a supermarket or whole foods than come back here. The Sunday happy hour is ok. Nothing really is «super» about it. We ordered the Mt Fuji — it is a baked roll. The presentation was good but it was too baked. You could tell– the plate was on fire and the roll had dried out. We also ordered a salmon crunch roll. TERRIBLE. no crunch whatsoever and the «sauce» was non existent. We also ordered the Maui wowi (sp) roll. But thankfully never received it, because our waitress forgot to put it in. We also sat without water or tea for a while, until another guy at the sushi bar hollered across the sushi bar to a waitress who was texting. The miso was $ 2.00. Competitive pricing which was fine. But the soup tasted like it had been sitting in their soup pot (which is seen as a mess behind the sushi bar) all weekend. Stale. Yet extremely salty. Stay away! So embarrassed I took a date there.

Décor made it seem a bit like a greaser themed diner, which was neat. Totally empty when I went in (early afternoon) and the man that was somewhat behind the counter didn’t directly address us so it wasn’t clear if it was even open or what we were supposed to do. Portions were good, sushi was good, service was prompt. Nothing about the place knocked my socks off or made me want to come back when compared to the other sushi places in the area but if I found myself here again I would be happy enough.

I came here in the afternoon once since the area isn’t so busy and it’s easy to find parking. The décor put me off a bit, as it looks more like a diner and the place seemed closed when we first got there (it was completely empty in the afternoon). The service was really nice and prompt to take our order. The menus were a bit old and sticky from food, and the prices were higher than preferred, but the food itself was tasty. We got two rolls and it was enough to split between two people. Overall it was good, but if I were to come again, I’d try for happy hour to save on the price.

Not impressed with anything about this place. The atmosphere and service were alright at best but the sushi was not very good.
Won’t be going back here.

I would not recommend this place. I was just up till 530 in the morning throwing up after having dinner here last night. Along with the bad sushi, their music was quite annoying and repetitive, like really really bad house music. It made me nauseous.

Good sushi and prompt service. The texture was right with the Philly roll, but it was cut a little thin for my taste, making picking it up without it falling apart difficult. They were very accomodating to my sister’s gluten free needs as well and provided her with some very nice alternative dipping sauces upon request. It was a bit hot in here even with the A/​C on making it smell pretty strongly of fish (to be a little expected in a sushi place I suppose but threw me off my meal a bit).

After a trip to visit family and going out to a fancy sushi dinner, we decided to branch out from our usual Sushi Deli trip and try some place new. Zensei was our selection. My favorite item was the Stuffed Tomato. The fish is fresh and delicious and the quality is above average.
However, the service did not match the price tag. The restaurant is very small and it to take much longer than expected for our server to approach our table before, during, and after our meal.

Sunday night is a steal! The specialty rolls and drinks are a fantastic deal. We had the Golden State and Maui Wowie are awesome. The staff/​servers are always incredibly gracious and fun. Favorite place in North Park!

Awesome location at 30^th and Upas, great neighborhood vibes.
We come here when we want sushi and don’t mind paying a couple extra bucks for quality fish. Delicious sashimi and appetizers (shrimp shumai = yum). Love the Maui Wowie and You/​We rolls. If they’re offering special rolls, try one and you will not be disappointed! They also have Happy Hour and vegan rolls so… Zensei for everybody!
Staff is all friendly and attentive & prices are very reasonable for what you get. There is one particular sushi chef who rocks, beautiful presentation and knife skills for your sensory and Instagramming pleasure. The interior isn’t tops but it kinda works — casual, snob-​free dining wins for me. Zensei is one of my favorite restaurants in North Park and we’ll be back again very soon!

This place is right on the corner but easy to miss if you haven’t been here before. I’m glad we circled back and didn’t give up though. I will definitely be back for more!
We got there at 3PM and caught their happy hour, which is one of those awesome ones that last until closing. We ordered gyoza, the Sancho roll, the Mango Delight, and the Golden State.
There are some options for the gyoza; you can get spinach or pork and they can be fried or steamed. We ordered two pork, with one fried and one steamed. The steamed came out first and was pretty decent. It was filled neatly and fully and everything was tender, no gumminess. The vinegary sauce that normally accompanies gyoza was poured on top rather than served on the side. I normally like a lot with mine so I was a little disappointed but I’m sure they would accommodate a request for more if I had asked. The fried ones came out with the sauce on the side but I’d finished the steamed ones already. The fried ones were definitely my favorite of the two. Crispy and hot and not dripping in oil, I just had to be patient enough to not burn myself eating them.
The rolls were all delicious. They had quite a few crazy innovative rolls on the menu, so if you’re looking to try something new and adventurous, I recommend giving this place a chance to wow you. My favorite was the Sancho. Meaty and satisfying, it had complexity to its flavor and I liked the different textures. The Golden State looks much more menacing than it is. In fact, I wish they would turn up the heat, the jalapeños were very mild and I wouldn’t consider this roll spicy. The Mango Delight was what I thought would be my favorite. It was advertised as sweet but spicey with its house made mango salsa topping. It was good, no denying, but as with the Golden State, not enough heat to be called spicey. Also, I think the addition of a crunchy element would improve the overall experience eating this roll. It came off as a little too mush.
Good eats, little wait times, and solid service. I look forward to exploring more of the menu soon.

Super fast! Granted, I am one of two people in here, but still epic fast sushi chef. And he’s very sweet too.
Amazing roll called Mr Qs. So fresh and all raw. About 8 pieces, so very good sized. $ 14.
Waitress is incredibly kind and efficient. Love that.
They play great music in here. Décor reminds me of a 50s style diner. Cute.
Parking is a little bit of a challenge. I had to plug a meter but hey, it’s san diego.
I will be back!

Not bad for a sushi joint.
I only had one roll and it was he YOU/​ME roll. Essentially for $ 15, you say what you want and don’t want in the roll and the chef will create something. I have to say that the combo was a little weird, it wasn’t the best, it didn’t blow me away, BUT something awesome is that you get a free hot sake when you check in on Unilocal,so that’s something great!
It gets busy, so you might want to make a reservation.
Solid 3 stars.

Was not greeted when we walked in.
SLOWEST service imaginable.
You will leave hating this place, guaranteed.

I came here last night for dinner to celebrate my birthday. I wanted to write a review last night, but decided to sleep on it. Well, I slept on it and I am still BUMMED OUT. My day was going so great and I was really looking forward to dinner. I worked it up in my head how great it was going to be like the first time I had dinner here 2 years ago.
Here’s what went wrong:
— Out of oysters
— Out of sweet shrimp. (
) For those of you who haven’t had it, you should try it. It’s pretty good when done right!
— Out of miso soup… COME ON!
— Our waitress was annoying and was talking behind the customers back at the register. You just earned yourself a shitty tip, lady! People can fucking hear you!
— Our server forgot about one of our rolls and left it sitting on the counter for about 7 minutes walking past it pretty often until I had to remind her. After all, the sushi was pretty tasty until 3am came around… I’ll save you the details there.