Ojai-O Japanese Restaurant

I tried all you can eat sushi in Ojai at first service was slow it turned out just to be fine though. they were nice people the owner was around checking on everyone, and the food was good
the people were enjoying it and you can tell that there were regulars there. I will go back again For $ 24.99 for dinner

The loudest lunch I’ve ever had… management did nothing while one table dominated the restaurant with noise and dropped the ‘f-​bomb’. Will be our first and last visit. Slow service…

Unfortunately this is just another sushi place that is mediocre which is a bore. So now we have 3 places for sushi in Ojai and none of them are to crave. Just regular uninventive sushi. It baffles me how these places don’t come up with their own signature items. That is how top notch sushi places separate themselves from others.
Also the salmon on top of the roll was super thin, couldn’t even taste it. Weak for $ 10.95. A waste of money.
I won’t be returning. Hope they get better for their sake.

Very small portions. Bowl of rice was bRely ½ full. Had to ask for more with the beef skillet.
$ 7.95 for 6 small rings of calamari.
Salad was just lettuce and dressing. Nothing else? Tempura rolls were not crispy what so ever!
$ 53 for calamari appetizer (6 small pieces), 2 small rolls, beef teriyaki and 2 ice teas. I was glad Taco Bell drive thru was open right next door so I good finish eating. Then it took forever to get my credit card back. (10 minutes). All while there was 3 other tables and 1 guy at bar.
We Will not go back!

I actually signed up for Unilocal just to submit a review for this restaurant. I’m a huge fan of Sakura and wasn’t happy when they moved (I live in Mira Monte), but I think Ojai-O’s sushi is every bit as good and the new place has a more varied menu. I only recently started coming here, and I know they had lots of problems when they first opened, especially regarding service. From my experience, however, those problems have been solved. I urge those of you who either had a less-​than-​great experience here in the past — or who haven’t gone at all after reading some of the reviews on here — to give it another (or first) try. Aside from the great food, the owners and workers are as nice as anyone you’ll meet.
Since everyone on here seems to believe their opinions are so important, I guess I’ll jump on the bandwagon and elaborate further on my own. I get that we’re all bothered by different things and that the whole point of this site is to state your opinions. Please try to keep in mind, however, that a restaurant like this one — or any non-​chain or franchisee business, for that matter — isn’t just a building or other lifeless entity. The people who own the place have most likely poured their hearts, souls, and considerable (if not their entire) financial resources into the place, and their employees make their living working there. If you live in a small town like Ojai and blast your criticisms of a local business on the internet, it can have a real negative impact on these people. I’m not saying criticisms aren’t often warranted; as I’ve said, giving other people your impression of a business is the whole point of this site. I’m just suggesting that some of you might want to pause for a moment and reconsider what you’ve written before hitting that «send» button. For example, don’t give a «one-​star» rating and run off a nasty and unsupported (and outright libelous) comment accusing an establishment of being a «mock» business that treats customers poorly. Also, if you go to a recently-​opened restaurant and have a negative experience, maybe cut them some slack in light of the circumstances, wait awhile, and give it another try before disseminating your opinion. Everyone around here always talks about how we should be supporting local, non-​chain businesses. And let’s face it — most of us have had a not-​so-​great experience (slow service, cold or bland food) at a great many restaurants we actually like and continue to frequent in spite of those experiences.
I can’t name a single restaurant that serves every kind of drink I like or doesn’t run out of something on their menu on occasion. And if the waiter or waitress doesn’t give you a straw or something else your want, just ask for it. For example, if you order hot sake and it’s lukewarm, give them a chance to fix the problem. It might also be preferable to refrain from publicly accusing a restaurant of «making» you «feel sick» unless you have some more meaningful evidence to back it up. Maybe your digestive system is to blame — trust me, if you got food poisoning from a restaurant, you wouldn’t merely «feel sick.» In case you didn’t know, there’s no such think as «light» or «sorta» food poisoning. To put it more frankly, you might want to lay off the melodrama a bit.
There’s my two cents.

We went 8 months ago to this local sushi restaurant and it was a laughable disaster. We were there for almost two and a half hours, they were out of everything, food and wine (out of Kendall Jackson wine? Wow, okay) lukewarm sake, screwed up our orders continually. The service was horrifying. They had one server for the entire restaurant. At one point she had a full tray of beer and sake and accidentally slid everything off the tray onto the floor. She eventually broke down and cried to us in our «private room». All of our orders were wrong. The owner came in and gave us 50% off. It was a mess. We kept thinking we were on a hidden camera show. BUT the food that DID come out of the kitchen was DELICIOUS. I wouldn’t say it was worth the trouble, but it was good.
So we went back the other night ’cause I felt like giving them another chance. Also, we really wanted sushi but didn’t feel like fighting the weekend tourist traffic to get into ojai proper. Ugh. So we gave Ohio another chance.
When we walked in the smell of disinfectant and fish that has alllllmmmooost turned, hit our noses. Also the décor is still bizarre and unappetizing in itself. My husband said about the odor, «This smell does not make me want to order food» yeah, it was weird. I hate the smell of pine sol where I am eating. We immediately ordered sake and beer. Off to a good start. When I asked our server about something on the menu, however, she said she didn’t know about it, it was only her third day. Oh jeez. They just cannot keep servers. Eventually when she brought us out our rolls, I had to flag her down a few minutes later and ask for ginger and wasabi. She should have learned about that on her first day. Lol. When our friends came to join us they ordered a glass of Kendall Jackson wine. Nope! Out! We were like, reaaaally? Just go to Von’s! We all laughed. When the owner came over to say hi, we thought maybe she recognized us from 8 months ago. When she comped us a large hot sake and it was totally lukewarm, we knew she had. We just shook our heads. 15 minutes after we all ordered food, the server came back and told our friends that both of their entrees were unavailable. Arghhhh. They ended up sharing a beef dish. Soooo again, the food we did get was DELICIOUS. I just don’t know why they can’t get it together in all the other areas. I guess I’ll wait another 8 months to try again.

Wonderful people– they have really made the place look nice!

This is awesome!!! They just changed the menu. The food is great. Really tailor made and fresh. The management is obviously working SO hard to provide the most quality, enjoyable experience. Their All You Can Eat menu would usually denote dumbing down their food, but instead they have the exact same attention to detail, authentic sushi they always have had. The waiters have been worked out. That was they only complaint that Unilocalers used to legitimately have. Give this place a chance and you won’t regret it.

Nice to get Korean and Japanese food (besides sushi) locally! Food and service was fine. Its not super great but its good enough! Probably would be better if it was smaller because its just a family running the place.

This Sushi Japanese restaurant is a pleasure. I’ve gone to many sushi restaurants. Some lacked flavor and freshness. Not here! The Baked Salmon Roll was amazing and I’m from Seattle. We know fresh Salmon. The Miso soup is a REAL soup not just a gratuitous offer of broth with tofu. Lots of seaweed and great flavor. Service was fast or rather as fast as I want it to be in a restaurant that hand-​makes my rolls. This new little addition to Ojai is amazing and worth stopping. Reasonably priced solid portions. Will be back!

I ordered bulgogi and Shrimp Tempura Roll. Shrimp Tempura Roll, excellent! Bulgogi, not good. The taste wasn’t there, and the cook decided to cook in some plastic wrap in with my meal, I’m sure this was not on purpose, but regardless, wasn’t tastey. My husband ordered the beef teriyaki bowl had the California Roll. California Roll was good, however the beef teriyaki bowl, there just was not enough flavor in it. Order of how this dining went: 4 of us came in, we sat, we ordered, we got our miso soup (all at once). I got my Shrimp Tempura Roll, my husband got his California roll. We ate that. My daughter got her yakisoba, my brother in-​law got his beef teriyaki bowl. After they were finished with their meal and 20 to 30 minutes later, then my bulgogi came out, took a couple bites and that’s all I could do. After another 15 minutes, my husband finally got his beef teriyaki bowl.

I love the Sushi here. They have a new menu and I think it’s just great. The owner is one of the nicest people I have met in Ojai and could not do enough for us. I recommend highly!

My wife and I’s favorite restaurant! We drive here from Oxnard about twice a month for our «date» nights for the last 4 years and have never been let down. Their rolls are amazing, the customer service is always great. It feels like a hole in the wall type of joint which I really enjoy. It can get pretty busy on the weekends and even during the weekdays for dinner, but it’s always worth it.
Both my wife and I always get the curry chicken and «geeoza» (can never spell that one right). And I often get a roll of some sort when I want to change things up or some tempura, its always great!

I have visited this restaurant three times since the new owner took over. She has done a great job cleaning up in attempting to give a good meal with good service. When they first opened she was struggling with new employees although the food was very good. I recommend giving this place a try.

Mixed review… Husband had a good visit, I had a 2-​star visit.
Restaurant is clean and we had pretty good service. First lady to our table took our drink order but then our actual server came by a couple minutes later to also take our drink order. Since our drinks hadn’t arrived yet, we placed our order again. Two diet cokes. Is Diet Pepsi okay? Uh, I guess so… sure… (sigh)
Our diet sodas were very weak. I’d go so far to call mine watery, but I really don’t like Pepsi anyway so didn’t complain for a stronger crappy drink. Cucumber salad was delicious. I really enjoyed this. It was basically slices of pickled cucumber with a little bit of garnish. I expected something slightly different however the cucumbers were very tasty. They had a nice crunch and bold, great flavor. I would get this again. Next my Inari came out and they’d done something artsy with it where they fold the tofu cozy in a way that looks unusual and pretty but also results in the thing being stuffed with about half as much rice as anyone else who makes it the regular way. Tasted fine but the small amount of rice was disappointing. Last, my tempura shrimp roll came out. They had made it just as I’d asked for, with no avocado and with soy paper. It was drizzled with a dark sauce (usually eel sauce??) and topped with panko crunches. The roll was a HUGE let down for me. It tasted incredibly bland and for a time I couldn’t pinpoint just what was wrong with it. Eventually I realized the two things that made this roll disappoint. 1. the panko wasn’t fresh. It was not crunchy enough, as if maybe left in an open-​air container for the day? I’m not sure how long you have to leave it out before the crunch subsides but this was that. 2. the sauce had no flavor whatsoever. It was basically a color. When I picked up some of the panko and sauce alone, without any roll, and ate it, I expected a bold, full-​flavored eel sauce but all I tasted was damp panko. I’m not really sure what the sauce was but it was entirely inadequate.
Husband liked his spicy pork bulgogi, though I couldn’t smell any spiciness and when I asked him if was spicy he said «not particularly.» I think he enjoyed his roll too. Atmosphere was nice. The place is clean and was remodeled/​repainted before their recent opening here.
Since I had such a disappointing time I doubt we’ll be returning. PS we weren’t offered straws with our drinks and at first I thought that was normal but at the end of our meal I saw everyone else had them except us, which was also frustrating since I don’t like drinking soda with ice without a straw.
my food: 2 stars
husband’s: 3 stars
service: 4 stars
weak soda: 1 star
Overall 3 I guess.

There are FAR better businesses in Ojai that are very willing to serve you.
Do not support this awful business.
This is almost a mock restaurant. They have no idea how to treat others properly.
There are a few good servers but that’s it.

We were in the Ojai area and stopped by, nice Sushi place to eat away from home. They had good service and Sushi! It is a bit pricey during Lunch!

They don’t split tables by waiters/​waitresses. I had five different waiters come and ask if they could take our order/​if we were helped yet. Surely this place would have divided up tables– it makes things easier on both us and them. But the waitress I talked to said they used to, but it «didn’t work.» They should give it a try again.
Food was good, and the wait was reasonable, even with how busy it was. People complain about how it takes a long time for orders to come out– its sushi, not a hamburger; it takes a bit. Patience is key, but the kitchen preps it in a reasonable time. If you’re going to complain that food takes too long to make and you’ve only been waiting 20 minutes, you should probably do a privilege check.

The food at this place was not great. It left both my boyfriend and I feeling sick afterwards. The service was awkward. I wouldn’t go back

The restaurant just opened about a month ago. We happen to go «try it out» on a Friday night when according to the staff 2 of there wait employees didn’t show up. my review reflects that.
The food was very good once we got it. Getting our order correctly didn’t happen for awhile. The guy in the blue shirt behind the sushi bar was yelling at the wait staff every min & we just happen to be siting right in front of him. Very loud & bad «COSTOMER FRONT DOOR» TABLE 7″ «ETC». The fact all the orders were being handed to the staff over the sushi bar next to me literally body in my face when orders picked up. It was bad. Many walked out due to no acknowledgement that they were there. People were not getting there food not even drink orders were correct.
In my oppion this place should have closed because the people on the floor had zero idea what was going on.
We plan to give it 2 months then we will return to give them another chance.