Fish & The Knife Sushi Bar and Lounge

It appears to be closed. But there is a sign on the door that says ‘open every Friday from 10pm’.
Not really sure what that means, but I’d call before going.

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. I received a text ¹¹⁄₂₁ from a manager that my Holiday event had been canceled due to financial challenges. Closing the doors on November 30^th.
The food was good, but every time I went in there was not a crowd. I have been about 6 times in 4 months.

I am not quite sure what the other Unilocalers are complaining about. My experience over here was absolutely amazing — especially the service. Our hostess was funny and the waiter was extremely helpful in helping us describing each item. He did a superb job of going over the menu and explaining how the dish would be served. We ordered the blue crab beignet, miso soup, the spice girl, and the uni. OMG. Everything was absolutely incredible all the way from the ambiance to the last bite of our tangerine flan and green tea ice cream! It was my first time eating the sea urchin and I can’t stop ranting and raving about it. They brought us little watermelon sodas in the cutest little maß. I just want to say to all those people who say that they had bad service that they should request Jeffrey to be their server next time they go — I guarantee you that you won’t have a bad experience!

I spoke with the hostess & manager upon my first visit here as I was adventuring throughout the restaurant… I was told the inside scoop… PLEASE READ THIS.
First off, all the bad reviews were of a completely different staff. The owners of the Fish & The Knife have completely restaffed their whole team, and let me tell you… it was above & beyond meeting my expectations.
Secondly, we used a $ 50 living social voucher & our waiter was very helpful with trying to break things down on how we can use the coupon, which items the voucher is valid for, etc.
FYI: There is a picture of the happy hour menu,…and let me update you that Happy hour prices are now $ 4/​each instead of the pictured $ 3…
On a side note, food was great both taste & portion size. You really get your money worth here, and the flavors are on point! You know how some sushi places where every roll tastes the same? Well, not here.
TIPS:
Friday night is hip hop night (a little ratchet) but people are well dressed… As of today, cover is $ 10 and valet parking is $ 10 IF YOU DO NOT EAT AT THE RESTAURANT.
IF you dine before hitting up the after hours festivities, cover & parking is complimentary.
DJ is there on friday nights only…
Saturday there is a latin live band where most people bachata, salsa, samba, & two step the whole night away.
It is so sad that the crowd can be dead on most days here… I feel like within time, things will warm up here. Don’t expect a crowded place… but it is a perfect place to actually hold a conversation. :)

To begin, I have wanted to visit this spot but have been busy and saw a Groupon and was reminded so I decided to check it out immediately.
This spot is a gorgeous restaurant with upscale yet inviting décor and comforting/​sexy/​romantic ambiance. Fantastic wine list as well as great cocktails. Perfect place to entertain clients, have a meal with professionals, take a date, #foodie friendly, and great for happy hour.
Unfortunately my food review is no where near as satisfying as the building, ambiance and décor…
I ordered 4 items: Ribeye roll, Blue Crab Beignets, BBQ shrimp, and the tempura shrimp.
Ribeye Roll: The closest comparison to this roll is the Surf & Turf Roll from Rattan Pan Asian Bistro but nowhere near as good. the sliver of steak was medium rare how I like it but it was charred making the burnt flavor overbearing, couldn’t enjoy it.
Blue Crab Beignets: They come with a dipping sauce similar to a remoulade. Lets just say stay away from the sauce because the salt content of the beignet filling is on the border of inedible added with sauce is simply too much.
BBQ Shrimp: Shrimp and sauce has little to no flavor at all and the puff pastry was dried out. The only high point of the dish was the crispy and flavorful chopped veggies.
Tempura Shrimp: Basically what you could get at any run of the mill Asian inspired
I plan to return and try other dishes before I check the food off completely, could’ve been an off day…

Got the Groupon for 4. $ 74 for $ 120 worth of food. There appetizers were much better than the rolls. I would go back but definitely order less rolls. Great groupon deal. The presentation of the food is nice… they have cool dessert dishes.
Came on a Friday they had a DJ I believe it turns into a club or lounge after the restaurant closes $ 20 to get in and $ 10 to valet.

This review is somewhere in between a 2 and a 3. There is so much potential within the walls of Fish & The Knife, but it just seems unrealized. Maybe I went on the wrong night. Maybe I should try again in the future.
We originally were going to go for HRW2014, but upon looking at the menu and doing the math we decided it was better to just order our things separately. The Gyoza were pretty good; they’re not the most spectacular but they’re a highlight of what got ordered and not awful on the price. I got the Teriyaki chicken as my main course. It was filled with peppers and onions for flavor, the sauce was the right amount of sweet, and it was cooked well. I remember thinking that it would benefit from a strong marinade, but it wasn’t the most awful teriyaki that I’ve ever had.
On Sunday dinner times, it’s stuffy and quiet. I enjoy the loud hum of people conversing, and when it’s silent you almost feel pressured to remain silent as well. Maybe it’s better on the days where it’s a lounge — they have a DJ live mixing apparently on Saturdays.

I came for happy hour and this place sucks. The bar is dirty and full of crumbs and dirty glasses. The first lazy (guy) bartender was nice enough to take my order when he got done talking to his coworkers. I think that the cup was dirty but I couldn’t tell if it was the cup or my hunger clouding my vision.
At any rate the oysters are salty and I’m not impressed with the interior. (I’m a foodie so nice décor is not new to me). After I get my last round of salmonella I’m outta here. I won’t be back.
FYI. The drinks are very strong. Or maybe it’s the penicillin that they are growing in the cups.
FYII: I think I spotted Salvador Dali as a manager here.

Nice HH. I like this place. Modern, classy, swanky with open setting. Sushi was fresh, selections on menu no different than RA Sushi but what will win one over is the atmosphere. Service was on point. Price reasonable @HH and quick scan dinner also.
Complimentary parking til 10pm. DJ and patio seating.
One of the neat features is the sake collection behind the sushi bar.

Hmph, came here for HRW, but it was actually cheaper to just order things separately than going with the package deal that they were offering (great tip by another Unilocaler). The ambiance was great, unfortunately, it seemed a little stuffy since there was no background music for white noise that gets people chatting and laughing. Instead lots of people were speaking in low voices because they didn’t want to intrude into other conversations I guess…
The food was pretty middle of the road, it’s not too expensive all things considered, but for a place that cause itself a sushi joint, it’s pretty sad. My sushi was pretty crappy to be honest. I felt bad for the table next to me that ordered 3 – 4 rolls.
My entrée was the salmon which was decent, it’s a huge portion and the orzo was buttery so you can’t go wrong with that. There were some weird things on the side of the plate that tasted tarty-​fruity? Not very good, would avoid eating those bits.
The desert menu was pretty lame so we didn’t order dessert.
Meh, I would try this place out for happy hour, but given the other Unilocal reviews it might seem like a bad idea.
Service was decent throughout the meal though. I had no problems there.

Meh. So, the inside is GORGEOUS, as you can read in other reviews, but that doesn’t make up for the food, or the people (both some staff and some patrons) practically dripping with pretentiousness.
We’ve been twice – once for lunch and once for dinner. The food is just okay. Most recently we got salmon and tuna nigiri, baked oysters, a crunchy roll, a spicy tuna roll, and an eel avocado roll. All were just so-​so. The spicy tuna was more cucumber and rice with a spec of tuna than a real roll. The baked oysters had some sort of red «sauce» on them that I swear was ketchup.
The drinks are weak and overly sweet. I ordered a strawberry-​something martini (see photo) that was supposed to be vanilla vodka, cointreau, fresh strawberry, and lemon juice. What I got tasted faker than a strawberry jelly rancher. I mean, seriously, look at the color of it in the photo. So. Gross. Mojito was even sweeter. Even their margaritas are too sweet.
Overall, unless you are looking for nice décor over quality of food, skip this place.

Seriously? It takes this restaurant close to a decade to open and this is all they have to offer…
Is the food horrible? No.
Is it worth what I paid? HELL NO
Value people. Value! That’s all I want…
We ordered:
Tuna tataki
Baked oysters
Volcano roll
Spicy roll
Kobe ribeye
First of all the Kobe ribeye was $ 50 dollars for 10 ounces, not a bad price for a nice steak at a nice steak restaurant. My mistake, this is a sushi restaurant. Why in God’s good name did I order a steak at a sushi restaurant? One word. KOBE. The waiter assured me that their Kobe steak was legit, that they were raised the same as the ones in Japan. Yeah right. I could swear I had the same rib eye at Cheddar’s a for a fifth of the price.
Again. I’m not complaining about the price but the value. Don’t put the word Kobe in front of a steak unless you’re sure the diner can taste the massage and beer the cows received before their slaughter. In fact let me take back the previous statement and say the rib eye at Cheddar’s was better.
Someone in a previous review mentioned that their food is salty. I agree, the volcano roll was a salty ball of mediocrity. Ooooo fire you say? Yeah too bad the theatrics didn’t do anything for the flavor. Everything else is just meh, not good not great.
On a side note, the restaurant is beautiful :)
The service could have been better.
I have a question I always ask myself when visiting a new restaurant. Would I come back?
NOPE

After 4 years of building, finally Fish & Knife opened its doors to reveal an incredibly beautiful and interesting space. Sadly, the lackluster food does not satisfy the senses like the architecture does. However, your future potential work client might just be bedazzled enough by the design to think you’re a real somebody — and for that, I will probably continue coming to Fish & The Knife for lunch during my work week… OH, and did I mention that they still offer $ 10 lunch specials and 99¢ martinis?
The interior is breathtaking — whole fish displayed on ice, vertical aquariums, a lovely lounge area adorned with cabana style private seating and natural lighting, and much more than can be listed in a review of reasonable length. I sat in the main dining area with my co-​workers for a Friday lunch. The waitress presented us with what looked like a menu inspired by Long John Silver’s. $ 10 will get you a bento box that includes your choice of soup, salad, tempura, teriyaki, sushi/​sashimi, rice/​noodle, and a «roll». The bento box was so affordable that I also ordered an amaebi (sweet shrimp) sushi. The Fire Pot soup reminding me of a decent hot & sour soup. I wish I had gone with the Crab & Brie Bisque — thinner than you would expect, topped with just a little too much sherry wine (yum). The «rock shrimp» tempura might as well have been regular shrimp. Why they offer two different types of shrimp tempura is beyond me. My beef teriyaki was pretty legit cooked medium/​medium rare and tasty too. The pad thai was as good as any other sauteed noodle. I wouldn’t really call it pad thai. The Harumaki roll? Give me a freakin’ break. It’s an egg roll stuffed with mostly imitation crab and some cream cheese. Don’t put your egg rolls and sushi rolls in the same category if you won’t even put a disclaimer. The saddest part of the whole meal was my sweet shrimp. I get sweet shrimp at almost every Japanese restaurant I try. I at least expected a place who openly displays its seafood to have decent seafood. The amaebi heads were barely warm and not fried enough for consumption. The sushi smelled so fishy that you could smell it on me afterwards.
If you have any appreciation for intriguing design then at least take a peek at this place. As for the food? You’re not missing anything here. Leave it to the space to impress your guests and hope that they fill up with enough 99¢ martinis to not notice the sub par food.

**everything tastes SALTY**
And beware of poor service
Seems like fellow Unilocalers & I feel bad for leaving such a bad review.
Is it possible to get not so tasty food twice in a row?!?
I checked out happy hour during the soft opening.
$ 3 sounds like a good deal but it’s not. And ¾ of the items on their HH was sold out…
For example the hh oysters it’s only 2 oysters. There’s no deal bc on the dinner menu, if you do the math it comes out the same cost ordering 6. It’s just broken down to single portion price for hh.
Hh Calamari & rackin shrimp… You sure get what you pay for $ 3.
I rather go to Ra Sushi & pay the extras $ 1 – 2 more for better quality & taste.
Crab cake cream cheese– it was cold & it looked like they stuffed it with a chunk of cream cheese in the crab cake.
My friend ordered some truffle sashimi dish, and the sauce was so salty.
The crab Brie soup tasted like salt water. It would’ve been a nice soup, if only they can control the salt.
Sausage & chicken pot pie thick salty pie it was.
~My second visit was for dinner~
How can you mess up on fried rice!!!
My friend got pineapple & I ordered mango.
Her rice was so salty. There was no flavor from the fruits. Presentation was terrible, but portion was big. Seriously it didn’t look or tasted like fried rice… more like smashed up rice. No wonder it was like $ 8 for this dish.
I gave the crab Brie soup a second chance. I had to return it, salt was all I tasted.
Garlic bread pudding sounds iffy… sure is. I can’t describe how bad it is. Not the greatest concoction.
The one dish I did like was the crab salad my friend ordered.
The restaurant was slow, how were they out of their chicken wings for the appetizer?!
After dinner, we went to the lounge when it opened up. Music was alright, lights were too much going on. So ladies, find another spot for pictures.
I like the concept of separate dining & then walk over to the lounge area to party it up. I admit the décor is nice, but the food needs a lot of help. They need a lot of work on managing the staff, Service is terrible.
Just read about their Tony Chi architecture incident. Not a smooth ride for Fish & Knife at all.
I wish them luck.

I had a pretty bad dining experience here but unlike my dining companions (reading their 1 star reviews), I’m going to give this spot an extra star and can actually say I’m open to returning based on reviews from friends who dined post my experience and enjoyed it. So maybe, just MAYBE they have improved.
First off, water was dripping on me from the ceiling #nobueno especially for a new establishment.
Second, the couch seats are low as hell… I have a stomach, that ish is uncomfortable trying to get up.
Third, the waiter (while very nice and apologetic) came back constantly saying they were out of items. I mean CONSTANTLY, to the point you wondered why they were even open.
Fourth, the drinks came awfully slow… I mean 30 minutes easily, waiting on a beverage. Was the bartender hibernating?
The food we did receive was absolutely delicious… sashimi, more sashimi, rolls (some a bit thicker cut than I like) and the scallops are
. I can still taste them, seared perfectly. My drink was ok but not worth the wait. Unfortunately they combined some of our sashimi orders on one plate. Clearly their sushi chef may need a bit more training. Well the entire establishment needs some training.
The table was full of grumbles and mumbles and the waiter did bring the manager over who stood there like he was the Tin Man who needed his lips and joints oiled up before he could function. He never said a word while the waiter did his restaurant 101 spiel and apologized for the lackluster experience. It was stated by one of my dining companions that the table was full of bloggers, which I in no way agree with using against any establishment. Doesn’t matter who you are, or what you write, where you write it… everybody’s money is green and deserve nothing but the best when patronizing any place. Word of mouth is powerful beyond measure, every business worth a damn knows that already.
No complaints about the complimentary valet. I don’t particularly like to valet but have no major issues with doing so, even tipping the guy a couple of dollars… really, I make that in less time it takes him to bring my car around. However, the guy told me I could park in the back of the lot and ya know what… my car wasn’t the cleanest and I could use the walk anyway.
This was by far not the worst dining experience in my life, and definitely no where near close to acceptable with how I wish to spend my money (I hear they comped the bill btw but I had left prior to). But if people whose opinions I completely trust enjoyed themselves, I might be open to giving them another shot. NO TIME SOON! They just need to work out those kinks, might have opened up too soon. Took 4 years to complete, well they might have needed 4 more weeks to get it right! The décor is lovely, they just need to step up the service…

This place is gorgeous. The atmosphere and ambiance merit this place a visit alone. We came late on a Tuesday/​Wednesday night around 9 PM and were one of the few tables left. They present the days fresh catch on ice which you walk by to your seating.
Although the food was very good, the service was just terrible as our waiter took forever to come back and visit on us (last three tables).
Order the following;
Never Boring Tune
Crawfish Roll
Bullet Roll
General Catch of the Day Sashimi

I genuinely like this place, more as a hangout. I definitely would come back with my girlfriends on a Friday or happy hour during the week, just to chill, listen to the music, and have fun.
The place — very nice, trendy with huge large orange doors, framed with silver doorway, nice tall aquarium column, great bar area, lounge is dark but cool, the dinner area on the other side of the restaurant had and ooh and ahhh feeling.
Food — I had the Snow Crab Naruto, which I loved. The fact that it’s rolled in sliced cucumber made the roll just refreshing to eat. Then I had their grilled salmon on top of Brie orzo. I liked their orzo pasta with shrimp, the salmon was definitely not dry, but just cooked right. But it’s salmon, and I was hoping for some more flavor or maybe an extra side to balance the pasta and fish. For $ 18, and at a nice restaurant, it’s alright. My friend ordered the yellowtail app dish and their ponzu sauce was zingy and tasty!
Drink — a glass of $ 8 prosecco was great. They ran out of $ 9 moscato, which was a bummer. My friend has the blueberry mojito, which was not strong enough for him, but great for me. It was more like juice and refreshing — just the way i like it.
Service — John was attentive and helped took care of our party of 5 and a half (the baby). He was extra kind enough to get us a make shift paper plate for the baby. Ask for John, when you come in for dinner!
Overall, I would def come back for a hangout (drinks and sushi bites). I’ll think about the dinner part.

For now, I’m going to have to say I was expecting more! Let’s get the obvious out of the restaurant looks great. However, I was disappointed with everything else. I was initially pleasantly surprised that the prices were as reasonable as they were but shortly after it made sense.
I ordered many appetizers i.e. the pork sliders, chicken spring roll, crunchy roll, snow crab roll, gyozo, and baked oyster in half shell. Not impressed with any of them. For the entrée, I ordered the recommended black cod which was too salty and just plain average. I was also not impressed with their rolls. Nothing original here, same olé rolls you see everywhere.
Lastly, service was painfully SLOW. I understand they just opened but they certainly have a lot of improvements to make.

My friends and I were excited to try out this new restaurant and came for happy hour on a weekday (3−6pm). It’s hard to say no to a $ 3 everything happy hour menu :) Like everyone has mentioned, the interior is beautifully designed. Compared to the surrounding areas, you basically enter a different world once you step into the restaurant. I just don’t know how they’ll sustain such a gorgeous restaurant with such an affordable menu. Crossing my fingers prices won’t shoot up.
For drinks, my friends and I got a Lycheetini, Pineapple Saketini, and a Strawberry Margherita. I ordered the Lycheetini, but the waiter actually messed up my order and brought me a Pineapple Saketini with lychee in it. I was a bit confused, thinking my taste buds were off, but he later realized he fudged up the order and brought me a new Lycheetini with no extra charge. The Lycheetini was a bit stronger than I would prefer while the Pineapple Saketini literally tasted like pineapple juice.
For food we ordered the Calamari, Baked Oysters, and 3 rolls (crunchy, snow crab, and crawfish). The Calamari was fried very nicely; they were nice and crunchy but not overly oily. The sauce that it came with paired wonderfully. The Baked Oysters only came with 2 oysters :(, but they were so good. I’d definitely recommend getting them. The interesting thing about the rolls here is that they come with a LOT of rice. At first I was happy, but then I just became really full. My favorite of the three was the Crawfish Roll since it was the tastiest one. The waiter actually messed up and brought us an extra Crawfish Roll and let us keep it for free as well. We definitely didn’t mind the free food!
Since the restaurant is still in its soft opening stages, I’ll go easy on the service. It was clear that our waiter was new and nervous, and most of the staff were confused as to who had what responsibilities. All of this can be easily improved as long as there’s communication and good leadership.
I have high hopes for this place! I just wish it wasn’t so out of the way from the WestU area.

Beautiful interior design! I give 4 stars just for decoration alone.
My girlfriends and I came here during their special happy hour where everything on their happy hour menu was 3 $ (from 3−6PM). Between the three of us, we ordered the lycheetini, strawberry margarita, and saketini. For food, we ordered the crawfish roll, crunchy roll, snow crab roll, calamari, and baked oysters.
The lycheetini was really strong but the saketini was delicious! It’s made with sake and pineapple juice; you can’t really taste the sake, so it’s kind of like drinking pineapple juice with a small kick. As for the food, the calamari was surprisingly light and not oily at all. The baked oysters were also really good; one happy hour order comes with two oysters, each baked a little differently. The rolls on the other hand were not that great, granted these were 3 $ happy hour rolls. They were enormous with a lot of rice, so I ended up having to just eat the insides and scraping off the rice. Overall, food was pretty good, especially for a 10 $ meal at a nice restaurant like this.
As for service, they still have a lot of work ahead of them. Our server was very nice and friendly, but he didn’t really know what he was doing. He gave us two wrong orders, but at least he owned up to his mistakes, and we even ended up with a free drink and roll.
Nice place, will definitely be coming back again. Maybe even for their lounge that opens at 11PM.