Saiko Sushi - North Park

Low key place, but the tools are delicious! Definitely recommend the house edamame and the Ritual roll!

Ritual roll was probably one of the best rolls I've had!

Service was quick and the staff were super friendly! Would definitely comeback, happy hour ends at 6pm so don't miss it!

Why everyone else serves you flights of beer or wine - Saiko raises the cup by doing Sake flights. Really specializing in cold sakes and they do an excellent job of pairing them up. I've always enjoyed their Sushi - it's a bit on the pricey side - but it's fantastic. Very fresh. The interior can get really hot in the summer - but sitting outside has the issue of 'bad homeless entertainment' next door - eh, it's North Park.

Hands down my favorite place for sushi in San Diego. I might be a little biased since this was where my bf and I went on our second date that was the catalyst of our relationship. Anyways!
The food- amazing! Get the John Dear roll, don't think twice even though it has curry in it, it works. I've loved everything I've ordered and if you can swing it, do omakase!!
The waiters are also super chill but very attentive at the same time. Just writing this makes me want to go tonight

Saddened to say this North Park establishment did not meet the "peak" for North Park's upcoming culinary growth! Experience def makes or breaks and in our case def not lived up to expectations of what I had read good things about.
They do have good decent sized eating area and a good size bar. Ordered chicken wings and sushi rolls which were decent.
However service was off, our bartender JR seemed laid back, he was good in making suggestions off the menu.
The "manager" however had such a heavy attitude and energy that made our time less than stellar. When we asked for a side of ginger she went to politely state that there was an extra charge for such request
then felt the need to school us on how ginger should be eaten, as if she was giving us an Omakase dining experience. Making us then feel awkward, she continued to be rude by her randomly talking aloud to co worker gossiping about other workers in the restaurant on how they looked and how many times they passed by. Like if her behavior was any better? Definitely room for improvement there, having serious people represent your business will def get you the stars.

UPDATE.

This place went to the dumps. It use to be good and popular but as years past it gets less traction. Came in on a weekend night, pretty empty for a restaurant in North Park. Bar was empty and tables were (if even) half full. Yet it took 40 minutes to get a simple roll. Fully staffed restaurant, great bar service, but sushi sou chef needs to be REPLACED. He sucks. The bar tender even noticed food was not yet received and he too followed up. It should not take that long to roll a damn sushi LOL.

Won't be retuning and I encourage others to go around the block for better sushi or go elsewhere.

Love the decor of the place as I do with all sushi restaurants. Unfortunately, that was my favorite thing about this place. I wasn't impressed with anything else here. Service was okay. My friend and I had to continuously flag down our server for everything (more water, to order, etc.).

We ended up getting Miso Soup, Seaweed Salad, Eel Nigiri and we split the Chef's Selection Sashimi (15 pieces). The miso soup was plain. I think I only got one piece of tofu in mine, which was sad. The seaweed salad was really weird and gross to me. I've never seen seaweed salad like that before and I wasn't happy with it. They asked if they could pour the sauce on it for us, and it seemed like a dumb thing for them to do. Why wouldn't the sauce already be on it? It really missed the mark. The sashimi itself was okay. The only one I truly liked was the tuna, which is disappointing. The only thing I genuinely liked was my eel nigiri, but even that wasn't the best I've ever had.

Everything was really expensive for what you got. I honestly couldn't even find one regular roll that sounded appetizing, which is why I got sashimi. They try very hard to be unique and special, but it isn't working for them. It's just not worth it in my opinion. Very sad considering how close I live to here.

Highly recommend Saiko Sushi! Everything from the food, to atmosphere, to service was spot on. It's a casual, relaxed vibe; perfect for a chill date night. JR took care of us and he was just the best. We always had what we needed and he had great recommendations. Love it when people really enjoy what they do, it makes the experience that much better.

We had a bunch of different rolls and sides. We started with edamame and wings (GET THE WINGS!!). Both fantastic. The Roboto roll was super good, the spicy garlic aioli took it up a notch. The Dear John roll was also delicious. Topped with curry aioli the Dear John roll is unique and so worth trying. We also had the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice and that was also 5/5. It sits on an avocado puree and a great plate to share. The shrimp tempura was great as well.

Can't remember the name of my drink but it was so good. Some Japanese Whiskey cocktail of some sort. My girlfriend something that tasted like strawberry lemonade and that was good too, pretty sweet though.

Definitely check out Saiko!

seriously get the wings

I would only come back for the nigiri.

The specialty rolls I tried were not very good, and neither was the spicy tuna crispy rice.

Spicy tuna crispy rice 2/5: the crispy rice was stale and the ratio was off with the tuna. I think they would do better to have less rice and more tuna.

Dear John roll 1/5: I replaced the kani kami (imitation crab) with spicy tuna for no additional charge. This roll was extremely salty. And it tasted like curry. I would not order it again.

Ritual roll 2.5/5: I liked this one better because it tasted more fresh. The flavor was lighter, and the shrimp complimented the rest of the roll. Still, it was very salty. I am unsure why the rolls at Saiko have so much seasoning and salt. They would do better to use fresh herbs like garlic than whatever they are using now. It tastes like a load of onion salt.

The bluefin tuna nigiri was 4/5. I would order this again. If I ever returned to Saiko, I think would stick to their nigiri.

Service was polite but they did a few things that caused uneasiness.
-I was quoted an hour long wait, then called in 10 minutes later when I had already walked far down the street.
-They were not taking card due to the systems being down.
-And they did not serve ginger and wasabi until specifically being asked.

The restaurant was clean and it has a good location in north park. I did have to park a 10 min walk away but I don't mind that on a Friday night.

One of the best sushi restaurants I've experienced in San Diego. And I've tried dozens in search of the best. Quality of the fish is outstanding and each roll is prepared with interesting garnishes. Rolls are each unique and don't taste like all the same. Service was terrific from all 3 servers and managers we encountered. The environment is not memorable or fancy but the food more than makes up for it. A great place for great sushi.

This place not only has delicious food but also a fantastic happy hour. Highlights include the chicken wings and avocado crispy rice. We ordered the Ritual roll which was unique and tasty. Would definitely come back