Otoro Sushi

Ootoro has three locations and I have been to all three. Of the three, this location is my least favorite. They get very busy for lunch just like the Walnut location and they give great service and attention to get everyone through the lunch hours.

As the quality and taste of their food is just as good as the other two locations, the slices of their sashimi were a bit thinner compared to the other two. I'll continue to go to Ootoro for the best quality sushi, but most likely be continuing to go back to the Walnut location.

My family has been coming to Ootoro for years and through C$&@#, they've main trained their level of service and quality of food. Having just returned, again, from two weeks in Japan, we can honestly say Ootoro is by far the most authentic and comparable sushi restaurant compared to those in Tokyo and Osaka. It wasn't until we tried two other locations and were severely disappointed, did we vow to return to Ootoro as soon as we are able.

The cut is generous, the quality is extremely fresh, all sashimi is tender, cohesive, and that feeling when buying into it screams freshness. The sushi chefs are actual sushi chefs that caters to your needs when you order omakase...unlike the recent places we've been to where the chefs are simply an assembly line.

Prices are still extremely competitive after all this time and the sake menu is amazing. Level of service is top notch, albeit short staffed, good help is very hard to find these days.

Still our go to sushi restaurant in n Orange County and it looks like that will not be changing for the near future.

I heard the food here it so good...
To be honest it's just standard Sushi place to eat , not something that i have to say wow for however it's good to try out at least...
For the price you will a little bit more food here :)

We heard great things about this place so we decided to try it out for lunch. The place opens at 11:30am and we got there around 11:15am and there was already a long line of people waiting. They do not take reservations for lunch during the week so we put our name on the waiting list. We were about 10th on the waiting list and was told it would take anywhere from 30-60mins before a table would be available. However, you can sit at the bar. We decided to sit at the bar but was told we could not order any combos, lunch specials, hot food. Those things are only available if you sit at a table which sucked. We didn't want to wait so we sat at the bar. The sushi was pretty good, not the best I've had but better than most places. I noticed our chef was pretty quiet and didn't engage in too much conversation while the other chefs were yapping in up with the customers they were helping. The pricing is expensive but that's sushi for you. I always spend about $50-$60 on myself and want to go and get a burger afterwards cause I'm still hungry.

Service was good and food decent. I didn't care for the pricing/food quantity ratio, lack of seating and most importantly, no reservations during the week for lunch. I'll stick to AYCE sushi places. The quality might not be as good but at least I'm full for less than $40.

I love love loveee Otoro! The servers are always super nice, and the restaurant is dimly lit with spotlights at night. I've only gone early dinner on weekdays so haven't experienced any wait time.

My boyfriend and I have been here 3 times together for dinner and always get the premium chirashi don ($48.95), the sweet shrimp nigiri ($18.95), and a few more nigiris to try (salmon belly, toro, etc). The quality of the fish and shellfish are so fresh and melts in your mouth. The chirashi don has everything you'd want, and every bite is so tasty! The shrimp heads can either be fried or cooked in miso soup, so two dishes for one!! I haven't tried the other cooked items, but they also look very good.

Overall, this is my go to sushi spot in Irvine. I always leave satisfied and happy. Definitely give this place a try!

Ootoro has the most premium sushi in all of Irvine. This place is worth the wait and also worth the price. If u had a friend visiting from out of town, I highly recommend you take them here!

They have plenty of options on the menu (lunch prices are more affordable than dinner). They have a tasting menu / omakase, or a normal a-la-carte style ordering

The only downside is the service is very slow. Expect your dinner to take over 2 hours!

My favorite and go to meal is the Chirashi Bowl! Tons of fish and rice, and enough to share for 2 people.

I've lost count of how many times I've been to Otooro now. It's my favorite sushi restaurant in OC and I've taken my friends and family here. Everyone has LOVED it.

Ambience: Its surprisingly more quiet than you would think. The restaurant is decently sized but since it's so busy, the wait can get very long. The restaurant has a minimal and clean look.

Service: The service is usually great. My water is usually filled and the food comes in a timely manner. I have no complaints here.

Food Consensus: Everything that I've tried is very delicious. My absolute favorite is the salmon ikura bowl and the chirashi bowl. The quality of the thick cut fish is phenomenal and it melts in your mouth. I'm actually salivating while drafting up this review. There is a decent potion of rice and other toppings. The flavors and quality are 10/10. I would recommend either those or the lunch deal they have. With the lunch deal, I usually opt for the toro don, sashimi salad, kanpachi kama, salmon Kama, or blue crab hand roll. It just depends on what they have!

Value for Money: The prices are not as bad as it says on Yelp. If you opt for the salmon ikura bowl, chirashi hi bowl, or lunch deal, you're getting a steal. I've been to many higher end sushi restaurants with higher prices and none of them come close to ootoro. You cannot beat the insane quality and the price point.

Lunch special is delicious, and the serving sizes are huge! Come early to put your name down. You might be able to share a lunch special and an app with someone. My husband and I both ordered lunch specials and had so much leftover!

Otoro is one of my favorite sushi places around, but I had only been to the Walnut location. My friend told me this location was better and I can't say he was wrong. Great service per usual, your cup is never empty, and everyone is very friendly. This location seems a little more open and not as loud.

For the food I always get the chirashi bowl and it never disappoints. The fish is always very high quality, prepared, and cut well. The sushi rice is delicious, I could eat a bowl of it by itself. The tamagoyaki is a nice touch of sweetness. We also got the Chilean sea bass roll. First time getting that and won't be the last. I usually stay away from hand rolls because of how much fish is actually in it. But this is packed with a golden deep fried and juicy piece of sea bass. Otoro is consistently top quality sushi and for the amount a fair price

This is my go to Japanese restaurant because of the great lunch specials. I almost always order the lunch combo with Toro Don and Miso Cod. It also comes with hot green tea and miso soup. When I come with friends we order our own meals but when I come with family, we will order a bunch of different dishes to share. Some of our favorites also include salmon kama, grilled chicken, fish head soup, and seared toro salad.

Super late review but came here on a Fri night back in 10/2022 to celebrate my cousin's birthday. Tbh, took a lot of effort to make a reservation days before as every time I called, the line either was never answered or someone picked up but immediately disconnected the call so I'd have to try to call back. Long story short, it was around the 12th-15th time I called with around 5 min gap in between each call, before I was able to make my reservation.

They open at 5:30 for dinner & we arrived around 6 & there was already a slight crowd outside but because we had a reservation, we were seated immediately. Restaurant was pretty dimly lit giving off a high end/romantic atmosphere. Ordered a solid amount of a la carte nigiri & their uni truffle pasta which was alright.

Service was ehh if you know what I mean. Restaurant looks & costs high end but the quality of the food that came out along with the service didn't match at all. After experiencing others in the surrounding area, this place isn't worth it at all. Don't get it twisted tho.. Its nice to try if you've never been; But if you want supreme quality & great service matters to you along with if you want to get your moneys worth, Izakaya Osen a couple miles the other way is a lot more worth it (feel free to check out my review on that as well).