Gen Kai Japanese Restaurant

Best place. Great people and food

Love this place! Thoroughly enjoyed fab food & service here almost 20 years ago & since. Returned last weekend w/​husband & daughter for another delicious array of high quality dishes… ama ebi, baked muscles, seaweed salad, variety of sushi & tempura. Owner visited us w/​generous attention & appreciation, gifting us w/​commemorative logo glasses as well. So glad we stayed loyal to this treasure, even after so many years limited to vacations to SoCal. Look forward to returning on next visit! Thanks for a wonderful meal & great family experience!

The best part about this place was that I didn’t overeat because it was super fishy and just not very good. The chef was very pleasant and offered salads and an appetizer on the house, but the neither tasted well and I almost wished he hadn’t offered them at all! Save your money on this one…

Ambiance is ok; quality is good… it’s a bit steep; there are better sushi joints for a more affordable price and a nicer ambiance.

A very friendly, cute little place to get traditional sushi at a good price. Delicious food, nice staff, very very fresh fish, and a good location!

My brother and I were in town for business and found this gem on my phone.
Boy were we in luck, the place was great the food was very good and we thought we were being engaged by the hostess, and to our surprise she was the owner!
She was so nice and welcoming that when it was closing time she offered to give us a tide to the Marriott instead of calling us a cab.
I will come back forever.
Must come to this little spot.

Gratefully, I had my first sushi experience here. I love the tuna and the salmon sushi rolls.
Since then, I have taken several friends and loved ones back there.
I believe the sushi chef’s name was Yoshi. He was super friendly and accomodating. I also noted his smock was perfectly clean.
Since then, I have had sushi elsewhere, but it does not compare.
It’s a little pricey, depending on what you get, but I would never eat at some whole in the wall sushi place.
This is not just a three star, or even four star location.

Best sushi in Newport! Everything I ordered exceeded my expectations. If you want the freshest, best quality seafood, this is the place to go.

Wow! Gen Kai is AWESOME! My wife and I were staying in Orange County recently and we stopped in on Gen Kai for some sushi. Everything was just right– the food (soup, roll) was «super delish,» the service was excellent, the prices were good. The service staff was so attentive, they saw that my wife and I were traveling, and gave us 2 souvenir Gen Kai pint glasses!
I would say it has a groovy atmosphere, friendly (attentive!) staff, and great sushi. What else could you ask for? We enjoyed everything about our trip to Gen Kai. Which is why I give it 5 stars. We’ll be going back when we’re in OC.
Eat at Gen Kai!!!

OK, seriously, how can Gen Kai get an average of only 3 stars?! This place is one of the best sushi restaurants I’ve ever been to.
Parking is tough, but that is to be expected in Corona Del Mar. I used to go here a lot when I worked in Newport Beach. A little pricey, but especially worth it with sushi.
The food is always fresh and delicious and they take extra care to also make it look beautiful. Being a vegetarian, my options are limited, but there are a couple of meatless offerings. I usually got the vegetable roll, which they arrange to look like a dragon. Edamame on the outside, little radish sprout antennae, very nice touch!

Date night and we were craving some sushi and some saki. After a quick Unilocal,we discovered this little locale nearby. It’s a modest little restaurant in CDM right on the street near the bank. In fact, we parked in the bank’s parking lot behind the restaurant. I wouldn’t call it dingy, as one reviewer said. It’s clean. It’s just not fancy. The restaurant consists of a little sushi bar and a little dining room with tables and booths covered in red table cloths. The staff is very attentive and it was yummy food for sure.
We ordered saki which came in a little ice bucket with shot glasses like it was bottle service at the club. Super cute. We had the egg rolls appetizer (yummers, but temperature wise, it’s hot hot hot!) This came with some red sauce and a spicy mustard. Spicy mustard please. We followed this with the rose roll (yuuuuummmmmmmm) and the pizza roll (which I was less a fan of than the rose roll.) The boy loves salmon, but I’m not sure I was its biggest fan when cooked in the pizza roll. These exotic rolls are all spelled out on a little laminated sign on the table, not in the menu, btw.
The service was veeeerrrrryyyyy attentive. And by that, I mean we had multiple people fawning all over us. One woman told us they were open till 2 and had a full bar, but she cautioned she wasn’t a bartender, so she could make only limited drinks. The man who brought the food was very smiley. All in all, it really was a fair amount of food and saki for rather cheapo (like $ 50.) It was a fun date and a great way to start the night. :)

Ta da~!!! 300^th review ;)
— Locale destination —
It’s a neighbor of «Quiet Woman» and «Bandera» on PCH in CDM. Street parking is so limited. It might be very difficult to find a spot for weekends… It’s dingy. Table side is even darker… Servers don’t know much about service. It seemed like the owner took care of the most…
Just go straight to sushi bar, in front of Sei.
— Gluttony expedition —
They got wide varieties of sake menu. Cut rolls seem to be the main thing here, but just order sushi. Just sit in front of Sei.
Yellowtail: Superb. It was better than toro. It’s all white thanks to fat. Amazing…
I also had: octopus, mackerel, shrimp, tuna, salmon, yellowtail etc. Look at my pictures. They all look a lot better than usual.
— Conqueror’s deduction —
I read all the reviews. Sorry folks, it won’t be the same — since they got «Sei» (sushi chef) 2 months ago. He is an EXCELLENT sushi chef, who knows what he’s doing. He used to work at «Yamabuki» at Disney’s Paradise Pier hotel, which was the best restaurant by Disney till Disney shut it down foolishly… ;(It was one of the best Japanese restaurants in CA ;(
Sei keeps traditions yet adds his own twist.
I don’t mean «FUSION» — his «creativity». I’d love to see a chef who isn’t just straightforward. If you sit in front of him and try «SUSHI», not cut rolls, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Just tell him what you don’t like. Do «Omakase» with him. I’ll 100% guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed. You’ll see a real Japanese «sushi world» ;) The other sushi chef didn’t seem to know what he was doing…
BTW, what’s wrong with people in CDM who come to sushi bar and order ONLY cut rolls ??? No one seemed to order a sushi. Many Unilocalers seem to think this place is authentic one. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Who the hell care about cut rolls at sushi bar??? The yellowtail is too good for cut rolls. It has to be served straightforward. Sushi I had were EXCELLENT. I’ll say one of the best in OC. Of course I didn’t order a cut roll. I just wanna say those people are fool…
No wonder you don’t see Japanese here at all. People who really know good sushi will go to sushi bars in Costa Mesa, not CDM. But I do hope it’ll be changed thanks to the addition of Sei. So long as they got him, the old impressions will change in really really good ways. I hope they’ll keep him for long long while ;)
Additionally, many people mentioned about the Japanese female owner. I can see their points. It’s her cool touch that she gives customers their own fancy chopsticks with your number — you got your own chopsticks there! She cares about her business. She loves to be in charge. I get that. But I feel it might be a bit too much sometimes. She made me think I was served at the fancy bar (Japanese version) with sexy hostesses who serve expensive booze and amazing chats, not so authentic sushi bar ;p The ambiance is really like the bar /​lounge… I don’t feel that at traditional sushi restaurants in LA.
This is a tough call. I’ll give here 4 stars just because of sushi Sei offered. Overall is like a little shy 4 but definitely over 3 stars.

Brilliant! Place a sushi joint on PCH between two popular bars and stay open past midnight on weekend nights.
This place was a lot of fun and a life-​saver when you live in sleepy Irvine and need a place to satisfy midnight munchies on a Friday; particularly when you’ve already made up your mind that sushi is a must.
Directions as given to me: «Take MacArthur to Corona Del Mar, make a U-​turn at Landmark, and look for a ‘Sushi’ sign on your right.» If already at Landmark, just stumble around until you find it.
The crowd was a mix of a few couples and friends, the type of people you would expect on any Friday night in Corona. The chef was friendly, if not downright drunk. Passing of the moist towelette became a towel fight and the chef tried to turn the place into a disco every now and then by flickering the lights off and on while at the same time attempting to bust-​a-​move. It was fun and laid back, and we even saw other graduate students eating there. Hence, it must be a good value!
Oh, the food? I’m impressed we got everything we ordered, and without too long a wait. You can’t blame the chef, he was the only one working a full bar. Somehow, our 2 beers and a shot of sake was up-​sold to 22 oz bottles and a large sake with enough shots for 6 people, but I’m not complaining. Among the yellowtail, eel, and halibut sushi, the yellowtail was by far the largest portioned. I’d pass on the eel, it was a little hastily done. My litmus test for a sushi place — baked mussel — passed. Why the quality of baked mussel and sushi correlate has yet to be scientifically explained. They have all of your typical kinds of rolls, put together with a better sense of taste than most places, but you will pay for it and maybe too much at that.

I had the crunchy roll. It was so delish! The owner Sachiko is so nice and kind it made our visit even more pleasant. Next, my friend and I had the sweet and sour roll. This is a perfect dish for the carb-​conscious. It is a «no rice roll». :) Definitely come and try it!

I looked at the 1 and 2 stars… there’s something wrong with the rating. Other people rated this place 4 or 5 stars. I think you should try it out for yourself. Those bad reviews don’t do this place justice. It’s just polar opposite from the truth. With that being said…
This place’s service is awesome. The food is great and décor is good for a dinner date and the movie theatre is down the street. My wife and I are always at fashion island so I just found a new place to take my wife too.

Great sushi, great staff, great spot!
Sushi comes in all sorts of prepared forms and flavors. But, a sign of a quality establishment has little to do with the Western-​style sushi offerings, like California rolls and Spider rolls. But, rather, the mark of a great sushi restaurant is in the quality of their Sashimi and Nigiri.
I love sushi. But, there are only a select few number of establishments where I would blindly trust the sushi-chef’s recommendations. Tiger, the sushi chef, and crew at Gen Kai are topnotch and will satisfy even the most ardent of sushi lovers.
Some folks have posted concerns over pricing. Price is only an issue if there’s an absence of value. You can get run-​of-​the-​mill Western-​style rolls that satisfy any budget, or you can also pay premium prices for some trendy ambiance at other places. But, if you want great quality sushi in a fun local-​vibe atmosphere, Gen Kai is hard to beat and well worth it.
Highly recommend making a pit-​stop by Gen Kai and ordering up an order of Toro Nigiri and Sake on your way to one of the many spots that the CDM nightlife has to offer. Great times!
Kampai!

I love Gen Kai!!!
And I’ve had some very fond memories of this place.
For us locals, it’s very conviently placed between Landmark and Quiet Woman. And what’s awesome is that they are open till 2 on the weekends, and fairly late during the week. SO– after partying it up at other bars, and realizing we need some food in our bellies– Gen Kai is always our first pick! Our group LOVES it there– and it’s one of our favorite hang-​outs.
I’d say 50% of the time I go there is crazy late hours, and the other 50% of the time is during the day– lunch, happy hour and dinner– but everytime is a great time.
The staff is always fun, they do a good job at keeping us entertained, it’s always relaxed and a good time.
They have a good selection of sake– and since I’m a sweet sake drinker, I appreciate that.
The food is AMAZING!!! There’s this one roll– the CDM roll (I think it might really be called the CDM fire roll or something, but I just say the CDM roll and they know what I’m talking about…) But it’s heaven in my mouth! The fish is always fresh, they use real crab meat instead of that fake krab stuff… and very reasonably priced.
I work in the local sports bar of the neighborhood, and it always cracks me up when people complain about our prices. We are the cheapest bar in the neighborhood by FAR– but people forget that we are on the ocean! Everything is expensive out here– including rent… The bar has to pay the bills somehow! So when I find a local sushi place that is priced as low as Gen Kai is, and the quality is still great– there’s nothing to complain about. If you want a $ 2 roll– go out to Anaheim, find some hole in the wall and hope you don’t die. :)

Food was average, but what made it worse was the service. We were the only customers in the restaurant and the waitress was horrible! She was too busy flirting with some guy that worked there. When i asked for more tea, she had the nerve to give me a dirty look! Even the sushi chef noticed she was horrible. They better fire her or they are going out of business.
Plus the food cost way more then what its worth. Never ever going there again. Do not eat there, its a waste of money.

Sushi is my favorite food. I could have it for every meal, every day. I try to explore sushi places near and far. I have lived in Newport Beach for 15 years and I always saw this place but I never wanted to go. I heard that people have received food poisoning after the visit, it’s too expensive, not worth it, etc.
I was with my boyfriend and we were going to go to the sushi place down the street but it was closed so I suggested we go to Gen Kai to try something new and because it was right there. He said it was expensive but I didn’t believe him.
Our server and the sushi chefs were very nice and hospitable, however, the prices are outrageous. $ 17 spider roll? $ 9 for a stupid california roll (not like I would get that but seriously?!) All the «speciality» rolls that weren’t that special are double or more than what I am used to paying for better quality fish and bigger quantities!
My boyfriend and I barely feasted like we usually do because the price. We were left hungry and broke! Our typical sushi bill is $ 40-​$ 50. This bill was $ 75. Are you kidding me?! And we got LESS.
We will not be going back when there are better and more reasonable priced sushi restaurants in the vicinity. Taiko or Sushi Island here we come…
I am only giving it 2 stars because the people who worked there were nice.

The other night I had an appointment in Corona Del Mar so I called up my friend Marilyn and asked if she wanted to meet for dinner. I suggested Crow Bar she countered with Gen Kai by urging me it was healthier. So I relented who needs wine and cheese for dinner when you can have raw fish and sake!
We got there at 6:15 and the waitress tells us that we have 15 min left of Happy Hour and that if we want HH prices we need to order an alcoholic drink… NO PROBLEM we tell her. We both order sake and waters and begin to look over the HH menu. All seemingly good rolls so we order three, the Stop Drop and Roll, the 9−1−1, and the Hula (I think that was the name). All were delicious with the 9−1−1 being insanely spicy but good.
All in all… very tasty. I will definitely come back! Oh and the drunk guys next to us were hilarious!