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Haiku Japanese Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese
1520 Garnet Ave(between Haines St & Ingraham St)
San Diego, CA 92109
Neighbourhood: Pacific Beach
(858) 270-2589
- Hours:
Mon, Wed-Thu 11:30 am - 10:30 pm
Tue 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Fri-Sat 11:30 am - 11 pm
Sun 2 pm - 10:30 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Joan S. said: "Came here because my husband was craving ramen. Also, the fact that there's a ramen house in the UTC area, we HAD to try it out. First of all, I'm glad that this place replaced Yukimotos.. I was actually hesitant to come here because…" read more »
35 reviews for Haiku Japanese Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"Sushi at Haiku was great and price was good too." In 17 reviews -
"garnet sunset roll is the greatest roll ever invented." In 2 reviews -
"it's pretty filling- the fried rice itself fills me up." In 3 reviews
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35 reviews in English
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Review from Marcella L.
Lakeside, CA
1/17/2012 1 Check-in Here
Saki bombs for everyone!
This place had "little neighborhood Restaurant" Big hole in the wall feel. They had plenty of advertised specials and some great prices.
One side is a sushi bar with a few tables and Booth's other side of the restaurant is Benni Hana style grills and chefs. It seemed like everyone on the grill side had reservations, they didn't offer us the option to sit on that side
A large hot Saki and large beer was $9.00, they had a nice little seared ahi salad with about 6 pieces of ahi for $6.00
The fish quality was pretty good and all the rolls were great.
I would definitely go back! -
Review from Angela H.
3/18/2012 1 Check-in Here
I may come back for the teppan, but not so much for the rolls. Although it's interesting that they make their rolls with 30% brown rice.
I was quite confused upon walking in. It seems like they have three different sections in the restaurant: a front room, hibachi side, and restaurant/sushi side. I understand the last two- not so much the first. Oh well.
There seems to be one common thing at this place: drench everything in dynamite spicy sauce and crunch, and nobody will care what's underneath. The bf and I ordered the dynamite roll, big lobster roll, and spicy crunchy shrimp roll. Three different rolls, but why did everything taste the same? The only distinguishing features in the rolls were: overcooked tuna sitting on top of the dynamite roll, small shrimp on the spicy crunchy roll, and... I don't even know where the lobster was.
The rolls also weren't rolled very tightly, so they kind of sat in one big, sad lump on the plate. The pieces fell apart every time someone reached for one.
I suppose one of the pros to this place is that their happy hour lasts for nine hours: noon to 9 PM. One large bottle of beer and one large hot sake for $9.99, among other things. But they only have small and large bottles. No pitchers (Gasp! Knife through the heart, seriously).
Being as lazy as I am, I greatly appreciate customer parking. Chipotle next door seemed to have their own customer parking, as did all the other stores (even Corepower Yoga!). Not Haiku :( The bf was lucky enough to find parking near the school a block away. (Yes, I know I shouldn't be complaining. I chose to live in PB, and parking sucks anywhere you go.) -
Review from Nina W.
San Diego, CA
1/31/2012
I love love love hibachi. This place has good Tuesday happy hour specials. But it has the saddest looking volcanoes ever concocted on a hibachi table. I watched our guy attempt over and over again to layer the onion rings on top of each other. He just gave up and set it on fire. Brilliant!
I highly recommend if you plan on getting sauced. It becomes that much more entertaining.
Black out rating: 2 out of 5 fireballs -
Review from Ulysses C.
San Diego, CA
10/4/2011
Pleasantly surprised buy the food.
Reasonable to slightly high prices for the area (Remember there are over 150 bars and restaurants in Pacific Beach and MIssion Beach). Ample seating. Big TVs around the place. Cozy to cramped atmosphere.
Service was plus / minus. I am Asian but was hoping our waitress would speak better English. Food took a while to get to us, and it wasn't even that crowded. -
Review from Andy D.
1/5/2012
It seems like a lot of the negative reviews here are concerning the service. I've only been here a few times, and I've always gotten some takeout. I've gone there during lunch, and the place was pretty empty. They have a really good selection of rolls, and all of the ones I've had were really good.
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Review from Jenna F.
Phoenix, AZ
8/23/2011
Unfortunately, no review to be had on their food. We visited this restaurant on the recommendation of a local friend - who had not actually been there himself, but had heard great things about their food.
We arrived around 8pm on a Monday night, and their posted hours are until 10:00pm or 10:30pm. The front doors were propped open. We waited to be seated for almost 10 minutes (they had a sign out asking to wait to be seated), yet nobody greeted us, waved, or anything. There were customers inside being attended to but apparently they didn't care for more business. We left and headed to Rakadeka Fresh Thai Kitchen instead and had a great dinner.
How disappointing. -
Review from Starr P.
San Diego, CA
8/4/2011
Initially, a friend and I had gone to Mister Sushi across the street from Haiku for lunch. We had waited about 15-20 minutes and all we had gotten was water and the menus. The waitress was absolutely terrible. It was lunchtime and the place seemed busy, but really they shouldn't seat you if they can't handle providing the service. At one point, someone who had come to pick up their take-out order stormed off because the same waitress ticked him off. Frustrated, my friend and I crossed over to Haiku Sushi and that was the best decision we made!
I can't say it is the best sushi in San Diego, but if you go here, definitely order their Haiku Special Roll. It's very rich with a lot on it, so I would say try not to order any other rolls, because this one will fill you up. I also had Uni (sea urchin) for the very first time after the chef suggested we try it and I was pleasantly surprised! I do eat a lot of unconventional stuff, so my palate was comfortable with the mildly gooey texture, but my friend unfortunately didn't have the same reaction.
Decent sushi with pretty good service. Definitely better than the competition across the street! -
Review from Phil B.
La Jolla, CA
3/14/2012
Poor quality of food, overpriced. The place also looks old and unwelcoming. Never again
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Review from Meg M.
Los Angeles, CA
2/19/2007
Okay - if you had read my review of Haiku Japanese Restaurant before today, you would know that I am a frequent customer and that I thought that it was worth 5 stars, and that the sushi was incredible...it truly was one of my favorite sushi places and was included my "Top Nosh in San Diego" list....
Unfortunately, I ate there last night and I really doubt I will ever go back to Haiku again.
Last night was a NIGHTMARE!
6 of us headed out for a 5 pm reservation at the Teppan grill side of Haiku. By 6pm, we had barely been served our edamame but we were all having a great time, so it wasn't really noticed...
The BIG issue of the night was this:
One of the people at our table, has a very serious allergy to shellfish - and had asked everyone, if the chef could cook all of the shrimp separately and last. Everyone agreed so we asked the server to make sure everything was prepared and cooked separately, explaining a trip to the hospital would be necessary if precautions weren't taken. He responded with "you need to mention it to the chef".... okay, fine, not a unreasonable request. But when the chef finally appeared, he brought everything out with him and the shrimp was touching the steak my friend had ordered! We told him how serious it was - and he blamed the server!
With an attitude, he went back in the the kitchen to get another steak for her...and we all assumed, he'd cook hers first. Great, right? Well it would have been! Instead, he cooked all of the shrimp on the grill beforehand - barely wiped the grill down and then proceeded to cook her meal - AFTER everyone else's.
By the time she got her food on her plate... the rest of us were done. Tentatively, she had a few bites of her food, hoping that the heat from the grill, would have killed off any leftover shrimp juice... but she started to have a reaction from the few bites so she quit eating. A pricey dinner to not get to eat! Granted it wasn't a full blown attack - but it was enough for her to know that it could get really bad, really quick.
To top the whole evening off...
When our group expressed our concerns to the owner... as frequent customers, and with complete respect - the owner smacked my friends hand, and laughed at us.
Seriously???Listed in: STAY AWAY!!!
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Review from David H.
San Diego, CA
8/22/2011
This used to be my fav sushi spot before PB Sushi came to town. But I still go here if there's a giant group cause they'll open up the back room and you can have dinner Benihana style with your own chef and his bag of tricks :)
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Review from Young S.
Chicago, IL
9/20/2007
Expensive as hell
Food tastes like Benihana
Not worth visiting -
Review from Julio M.
San Diego, CA
8/24/2011 1 Check-in Here
its ok. we were 3 and there was another couple and the sushi chef
took for ever to do our food.
food was awesome just took longer than we tought -
Review from J B.
San Diego, CA
10/11/2007
Haiku is pretty good. That's the best way I can sum it up. I have been here twice, and the sushi rolls I've had were fresh and decently sized, although many of their options have something cooked and/or baked and so it's not what I'd call traditional sushi.
The hibachi was delicious the first time we went. The second time, we were informed that there "may not be a chef tonight" (what?) and so we couldn't even order it. Disappointing considering we brought our out-of-town guest there for the hibachi alone.
The service is so-so. The first time we went, our waitress was friendly and attentive. The second time, the waitress felt the need to inform us that we were ordering "a lot of food for two people" (I KNOW that, I am a girl but aren't I allowed to be a big eater?) and gave us a sort of "what pigs!" look when we insisted on getting all five rolls.
So, I guess you don't really know what to expect when you go there. If it's good, it's good... but if it's a bad night, well, you probably should have gone somewhere else. -
Review from Ryan C.
San Diego, CA
7/27/2007
Another good Japanese restaurant - definitely not at the top of my list but the sushi was fresh & tasty and the teppanyaki was delicious (although the main ingredient was butter.. I think the chef must have added at least the equivalent of 2 sticks of butter to the food).. But nevertheless it was delicious. The shrimp was bursting with flavor and the calamari was cut from a fresh, thick steak and cooked to perfection. Service was amazing - both our server and our teppan chef were very lively and fun! Skip the Benihana's and come to this place instead!!
Oh and you can order a carafe of house Nigori sake (the sweet, unfiltered sake goodness) for a reasonable price. -
Review from Laura B.
Venice, CA
11/15/2008
WHY IS THE PLACE STILL OPEN
I must preface that my last haiku experience deserved 2.5 stars. The food quality is below average, but we had a few average rolls that made up for the other really bad stuff, like nasty tasting pieces of fish. They also forgot half of our order, which included your basic vegetable roll, and it took them another 45 minutes to roll it when the restaurant was 10% crowded.
And never apologized.
Anyway, back to the juicy stuff.
My mom flew in from NY and Mister Sushi was too crowded. I was hesitant to bring her across the street because I remembered my last 2.5 star experience. But hey, I'm a nice lady so I thought id give these guys the benefit of the doubt. When we walk in, I notice that there is only one other group seated. This is never a good sign on a Friday night. Too bad for us that I don't heed warning signs.
I order tuna hand rolls and a mixed sashimi appetizer plate. My mom ordered a grilled salmon entree for $9. She asked the waitress for brown rice instead of white rice. The waitress said it would be $2.50 extra. That's bananas.
The miso soups come out, but there is no tofu and no seaweed. All that is in this oversalted, lukewarm clear soup is miso paste and some fried bits of something. Inedible.
The salad bowl comes out for my mom's entree, and all 10 lettuce leaves are pale green/white colored. Two of the ten leaves are straight up brown and wilted. There's maybe 4 pieces of shredded carrot on top. My mom asks the waitress for some greener lettuce. Without missing a beat, the waitress snaps back,
"well, thats how it comes out of the lettuce bin. We dont have darker lettuce."
Mom: "well.. could you maybe replace these wilted leaves with some non-wilted lettuce?"
waitress: "yeah... but that means ill have to dig through the lettuce bin to find green lettuce. its all mixed together"
[THERE ARE NO OTHER CUSTOMERS HERE]
She walks off in a huff. She returns, throwing the bowl down. The pieces of wilted lettuce are gone, but nothing else has changed.
My order comes out. This is what was on my plate: lettuce leaves and some small pieces of a weird colored fish covered in a spicy sauce. There is no salmon and the weird colored fish tasted like a headache.
The waitress returns to bring out my moms grilled salmon entree. Before she can run off, I ask her for some salmon (as the menu indicates). After she leaves, my mom looks down at her grilled salmon, which is indeed not grilled at all. It's raw. Raw, people.
The waitress finally comes back to tell me that they cant give me salmon because the sashimi plate is made from a mix of fish, so they cant pick out the salmon and give it to me. Is this a joke? Are we on TV?
My mom addresses the raw salmon issue. The waitress doesnt even respond, but just whisks the plate away, but not before my mom can grab a bit of it that has been cooked.
While we're waiting, both my mom and I try the salmon. And then we spit out the salmon. 99% salt and 1% salmon. This is the taste of food poison, my friends.
The waitress returns with some more food poison. My mom says calmly that she is not used to eating salmon like this.
waitress: "Ok."
and walks away...
walks away.
so, my mom ate no dinner and they never offered to comp us on any part of our meal. When my mom finally decided to confront this waitress on the audacity of her not offering another dish instead, she finally consented to removing the price of the salmon entree from the bill.
please, put this place out of business. -
Review from suz k.
San Diego, CA
4/18/2008
Don't know about their sushi and their hibachi is hit or miss.
What I like going to Haiku for is their fried green tea ice cream! OMG. I adore it. -
Review from Chris E.
San Diego, CA
12/26/2011
as soon as we walked in we were greeted right away. you know when you the spot when the staff greets you in broken English. we ordered our drinks and appetizers right away and it all came out fast. although they forgot my edamame they quickly went to go get it..ok so as for sushi..prob one of the best. very chilled and very authentic. none of the while leg cover it in 10 different sauces. I had the red cherry blassom roll as well as the Philadelphia roll. both were great and as for the Philadelphia rolls best. it wasn't like most places where it's really creamy it was just right. I suggest to go there very traditional but a little modern do u can't miss out in your favorite team in action. I personally would recomend it to any one that us trying the find san Diego's best sushi.
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Review from Prentice P.
San Diego, CA
12/20/2009
upon my quest to find my local "go to" places for food and entertainment, since moving to Pacific Beach, I stumbled upon Haiku Japanese restaurant and I am never looking back to my old digs.
This is the one for me, as I am a huge fan of good hibachi and sushi.
The entire "experience" is good overall. The environment can be quite loud (in "drunken" PB what else do you expect), but entertaining at the same time, and you will just have to go and see what I mean about that.
First up is the Miso Soup. Full of robust, rich flavor, and not watery like most I have tasted in the past. I personally move around the tofu, but if you like it, it is in there as well. great Miso Soup!
Second is the salad. Not much outside any other Japanese restaurant salad, but it's the dressing that makes the difference in these. Some like them more "gingery" others, more "mustardy". This dressing is pleasantly gingery and that is the way I like it.
Shrimp appetizer is "run of the mill" but I would prefer a little more lemon flavor in it. may be different depending on the chef.
Teriyaki Chicken is amazing, and not too sweet, and the fried rice actually has chicken in it as well, which I can do without. I will get the Teriyaki Chicken most of the time.
Sushi is beauty in the eye of the beholder, but I will highly recommend the "Spicy Crunchy Shrimp Roll" with confidence and say that you should at least try that one once. You won't regret it.
service is just okay, and that has never really been a "standout feature" to me in any Japanese Restaurant in the past as long as the chef if active and fun. the wait staff pretty much just serves drinks and makes sure you are okay, and it's the same here. No special service.
one sentence review of Haiku - "Get your ass to the hibachi, and have some sake with the Teriyaki Chicken, and enjoy comedy provided by the drunken frat boys of Pacific Beach, CA!" -
Review from Nooria S.
San Diego, CA
Updated - 7/7/2011
Went back to Haiku to get sushi. Preordered the rainbow roll from an old menu. I thought the roll was going to be $10 and it turned out to be over $13 when I went to pick it up. The fish was fatty and they skimped on the avacado. Also, the sushi wasn't evenly proportioned. For a fresh fish roll I've had better!! Chicken Teriyaki is still my favorite.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/19/2011
Went here for lunch with a co-worker. I had the chicken teriyaki bowl and miso soup lunch special… Read more »
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Review from Julie T.
San Diego, CA
3/16/2011
Price is too high, Sushi is normal nothing special. They way they display their sushi is not very "nice" either. Portions are really small too! Will not be returning. I give it one star cuz the large beer and large sake bomb was $9.
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Review from Kinga H.
Cute little set-up. Decent sushi although I usually forget about this place... hmm must mean something although I am not sure what! Recommend the specialty rolls here with my favorite being any of the rolls with unagi (but as you know, if you've read my other reviews) I am unagi obsessed and probably biased!
Listed in: Su-Shee
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Review from Cindi N.
San Jose, CA
6/27/2007
my family came here to visit my sister. she works here.
first off...this is a japanese restaurant owned by korean. so, eh...it's okay. one side is teppan cooking, we didn't try that because it's a bit pricey and it's not all that to watch your own food being cooked. so, we sat on the sushi side.
chef is very nice, hooked us up with seaweed salad & dessert. he has a pleasant aura about him, smiling while preparing our dishes. that's the younger chef.
the fish is a bit spongy...kinda thawed from being frozen. not so fresh at all. although the fish pieces were big and generous. prices are okay. rolls are long.
miso soup is not that great....but the salad was great. i like their ginger dressing.
other than that, there isn't much to write for this place. parking is spacious. the owner (lady) keeps eyeing us while we were eating...i guess cuz she knows we're family to one of her waitress. wierd.
forgot to mention that the wait staff was not attentive at all. even though we were early and there were only few others there..we had to wait for service. we were at the hostess station by the door looking in...while the owner and a waiter looked out at us...as if asking "are you coming in or are you leaving?" we had to wander in on our own. -
Review from amanda d.
Westchester County, NY
3/24/2006
Great sushi. Wonderful service. The sushi chefs are really nice and make their rolls a very good size, and their regular sushi as well. If i lived in pacific beach i would go all the time, they have some really great rolls. good price. somedays its better than others. overall really good.
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Review from Daisy P.
San Jose, CA
9/22/2010
Ate here after looking at fish all day @ Seaworld! Their rolls were good, not the best I've ever had but they fulfilled a craving. I ordered the chicken Katsu for my boys & it was too tough for me to or my 2 year old to eat!!! So stick to their rolls and you should be happy.
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Review from Justin P.
San Diego, CA
5/23/2007
I really enjoyed this place. I went here with two friends particularly because they said this is their favorite sushi place. And it was very good. The quality of the fish used was excellent. Nothing had any kind of fishy taste to it. I would probably say it is a 4.5 start place, but not 5. I save 5 for places that people have to try, and take out of town guests. While the sushi was excellent quality, it was severed in a timely manner, and the price was not to expensive (I mean good sushi is generally expensive) there was nothing that really made me say, "I have to eat here again, and soon". If you are looking for a quality sushi place, I recommend this place.
Listed in: Top Restaurants
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Review from Gary S.
San Diego, CA
10/18/2006
We were gonna go to Mr. Sushi but it was closed on Sunday noon, so we ended up going across street to Haiku. Sushi at Haiku was great and price was good too. The chief is friendly and we had an great meal.
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Review from Steve L.
San Diego, CA
1/9/2007
Good. Really good. I've been meaning to check this place out for a while, and I was pretty psyched when I finally went. The chefs were great. The service was good. The atmosphere is very cool. The food was very good. they have some unique rolls that I haven't seen elsewhere. I had the Garnet Sunset Roll and the Hawaiian Blvd Roll -- both excellent. Highly recommended.
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Review from Brooke D.
Santa Cruz, CA
12/28/2010
Great happy hour specials and the sushi is good! Got the dragon roll, spicy tuna, 2 pc red snapper, 6 pc. yellow fin and a green tea for 26 bucks!!!
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Review from Nanci H.
Encinitas, CA
8/22/2011
This place is pretty darn great. They have a happy hour from noon until 7pm. 3 fancy rolls, beer, soda, edamame $35.00...we were stuffed.
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Review from Serge D.
Warren, NJ
9/21/2010
Went here during my Cali vacation. The place and food were average; nothing stood out. Had a couple of different rolls and they were good. The only thing was that the shrimp tempura rolls were a little greasy. I would try another place before coming here again. The service was also ok. A plus was parking in the back there are only a few spots so you might get lucky and get one.
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Review from Ben L.
San Diego, CA
2/26/2010
A weekly ritual, the sushi is fantastic, rib eye teryaki is really good too.
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Review from Jason G.
San Diego, CA
5/9/2011
place is the best!! garnet sunset roll is the greatest roll ever invented... go there and see mr. yoon or johnathan, they'll take care of you.
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Review from Danny C.
Los Angeles, CA
8/7/2008
The powers of Yelp. Actually, I wish I had used Yelp before going to San Diego for a wedding. If that was the case, I'd never have came here for lunch.
So the group of 7 of us came here before the restaurant even opened through the recommendation of a SD local, and honestly, I don't know WTF she was smoking. I don't want to say I've become a Japanese food snob after living here in the South Bay, but this place couldn't even beat any of the Japanese restaurants back in Davis. When I first saw this was not a Japanese owned establishment, alarm bells rang inside my head and I didn't get any raw items (I'm a hater, sue me). I ended up going with a fail proof item, Tonkatsu (~$10) lunch special and I shared a side order of spider rolls.
I love Tonkatsu, and it's an item that usually can't be fucked up, even if I'm eating it from a food court in Mitsuwa. Then I got my first bad news of the day, they're "out of" Tonkatsu. Thinking to myself "MotherF----, how the hell could an item be "out" at 11:30am?" so whatever, I checked the menu again and went with what one of my friend got, Karaage (fried chicken). The server came back moments later and told me they only have 1 more serving of Karaage, so since my friend ordered first, I told the server I'll get something else. I'm already annoyed that 2 of the items are "out." Either those items are reserved for royalty, or they need to do a better job shopping for ingredients. I ended up with Chicken Teriyaki (so gaijin of me), which I'm not a fan of, but it was the best available choice and I made a remark of "so am I gonna get this item? or should I find another backup just in case." Maybe it was A-hole of me to do so, but by then, I just want to eat whatever, and didn't really care anymore.
The chicken teriyaki was OK, I rarely order this dish, but it wasn't anything memorable. The spider roll was fine, but definitely wasn't anything special and not worth the $8 or so that we spent on it. Honestly, I really hate dissing on a restaurant, but none of us really had a good time here and for the price we paid, the food was pretty subpar. I don't know if there are good restaurants here in San Diego, but with its proximity to the Ocean, I'm positive there are fresh seafood for good restaurants. Next time before going to a new city, I'm definitely going to Yelp my way around first. If you're around this area, I'd recommend a trip next door to Chipotle, it'll be a cheaper and better experience. -
Review from aerie k.
Los Angeles, CA
10/21/2009
yum! i try to go everytime im in town and never been disappointed. their rolls are bursting with flavor, the hibachi is oh-so-delicious. i mean, how can you go wrong with garlic butter?!? it's pretty filling- the fried rice itself fills me up. and to top it off, they have a parking lot for customers in the back, which is rare in PB! definately check this place out if you're in the area. good crowd too, especially on the weekends on the hibachi side.
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Review from Ashley R.
Kailua, HI
5/20/2010
So we went here for a friend's birthday and made a reservation since we had a group of about 10. When we got there the teppan room was totally empty, which worried me a little. Granted it was a Wed night but still. There was a parking spot around back which was nice for PB. The service was a little off and I think our waitress was high as a kite haha but she was funny. I can see why other people have had problems with customer service. We started off with the sake special which was hot sake and a beer for 10 bucks which was pretty good. The food was really good and you get SOOO much for the price! I've never been to Benihanas but I did look at their menu online when we were picking a place to go and Haiku is SO much cheaper! I had the chicken teriyaki and it was awesome. Our chef had only been there for a couple days but he was really nice and funny and put on a good show. The teppan meals all come with soup, salad, rice (fried rice for a little extra charge but totally worth it) and veggies. I was full before the meat even finished cooking! Sooo yummy!
