The Yasai By Rakiraki

This review is for the Little Italy location.

The restaurant is on the corner of an intersection, so it makes it a little easier to find. The inside is industrial looking, open space. There are two kitchens- one handles the raw fish and the other vegan. There s a paid parking lot across the street, but it fills up fast. We went on a Saturday night and it was a busy road.

The vegan sushi are mushroom based, just so you know. We had a large group so we did multiple plates to share.

There were a few plates that I liked and a few I'd do without. For sure we ate Believer, Caterpillar, and Queen Dragon. I think we had something else but I don't see it on the menu. For appetizers, We had the vegan and meat gyozas - the vegan was better tasting. We also had the Brussels sprouts and Stuffed Jalapeños, which were good.

We pretty much ordered double of everything for our group. Plus a bottle of a sweet sake- I think it had cherry blossom in the title.

It was a fun night out. Would recommend it to a friend or go back again if I'm in San Diego.

The food presentation is really nice! Wait staff was very nice. I like the casual vibe of the place.
I took away 2 stars because while black rice tastes good and is cool and unique looking, I ended up feeling pretty bloated after my meal. It felt like the rice was the majority of my food and I ordered all sushi rolls. Black rice Is heavier than white so I feel like they should be balancing that out with quantity of rice to fish.

Other than the feeling I had after eating, the rest is all positive.

They have both vegan and non-vegan menu here. And what is unusual is that the vegan menu seems more extensive and alluring than the regular menu!

This place is really catered to the vegans!

All the food that we tried were great (vegan and non-vegan karaage, sushi rolls, bao bun, stuffed jalapeno, brussel sprouts) and for alcohol, they have sake, Japanese beer and local craft beer and wine.

The service we got was amazing! There were 12 of us and they let us split the bill (we broke up into small groups of 3-4 people and the small groups share one check) and the wait staff refilled our water throughout the night.

Nothing special about the decor, but it doesn't matter because the food is good!

Had higher hopes for the ramen here since they're a part of the Raki Raki family, and it was alright. Did have the key note items of a solid ramen, nice thick broth with plump meat and good topping, but the menu here definitely caters more to the sushi and vegetarian/vegan side so the ramen choices are limited. If you're looking for Raki Raki ramen head over to Convoy instead.

We happened to stumble into Rakiraki after our original restaurant was unexpectedly closed... I'm glad we did! My friend & I both tried the ramen & it was excellent. Huge portions & super flavorful - I opted for the spicy ramen, my friend did the beef. Both were excellent & impressive. The restaurant itself is a quick eats spot, more of a bar restaurant vibe. The server was a quick and professional.

Really tasty vegan ramen and sushi one end of Little Italy. Ultimately overpriced but nice for a treat.

We made a dinner reservation for 6:30pm on a Friday, but it turned out we didn't need. When you arrive, they ask you if you want the vegan menu or regular menu. The vegan menu has 5 different ramens, appetizers, sushi and more.

I ordered the Triple Tomato ramen ($20) and upgraded to the spicy miso edition ($2); my wife got the Tantan Men ($21) and upgraded to the red edition ($2). We also shared an order of the Stressed Out specialty sushi roll ($21), which comes with smoked tofu, no-cream cheese, avocado, pickled smoked fried jalapeno, and aioli.

Everything came out in about 15 minutes. The sushi was very tasty, though ultimately horrendously overpriced for the 8 pieces you get. It's very fancy and the quality is very high though.

The ramens came with huge portions and were pants-shittingly spicy in the best of ways. Don't order these the way we did if you can't handle spice. The broths in both of ours were rich, though rather oily, with lots of fiery spice. The tomato-ey tang in mine was particularly deep, while the tantan had a more peppercorn character. Lots of good-quality toppings, including nice veggies.

Friendly service and worth a splurge.

If you were looking for a proper vegan sushi restaurant, this is the place to visit.

Located in Little Italy is The Yasai Vegan Izakaya and it was worth every dollar. It was between Amakari roll and Stressed Out roll. I ordered the stressed out roll not because I was feeling any particular kind of way. The waiter highly suggested the roll and it sounded delicious.

It was nice, no actually, it was lovely. It was warm and wickedly delightful. There was avocado, no-cream cheese, and smoked tofu in the inside. On top was a spicy aioli pickled smoked jalapeño and sweet shoyu drizzled. Sushi is great on any day ending in "Y"!

I would absolutely order that again! I also have my eyes on the Amakari roll next time and to try one of their signature ramen dishes. The feel of the place was nice overall.

Tip:

Street parking

We found this Japanese vegan cuisine restaurant in San Diego & fell in love! The inside decor was very modern & well-thought out, & the staff was beyond welcoming & attentive.

We almost ordered the entire menu because everything sounded so good, but finally narrowed it down to a few things. We ordered:

Misoshiru: essentially miso soup -- very yummy!

Stuffed Jalapeño Tempura: farm fresh jalapeño stuffed with Tofutti vegan cream cheese, scasoned impossible meat, topped with spicy Japanese mayo, custom eel sauce, diced green onion

Neon Gravestones:
Inside - spicy tuna, panko shrimp, & cucumbers
Top - an assortment of fermented bell peppers, fermented jalapeños, eggplant, avocado, finished with a spicy ponzu & green onions

Stressed Out:
Inside - smoked tofu, cream cheese, avocado
Top - drizzled in a sweet shoyu & spicy aioli, & pickled, & smoked jalapeños

Vegan Bao Buns: miso shiitake mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, chimichurri mayo, eel sauce, pickled red onions, & cilantro

SO DANG GOOD!

SO GOOD.

During my research for San Diego, I saw that they do sushi really well. GF loves sushi so I asked her to pick a place out. I'm vegetarian so I am limited to the sweet potato, cucumber, avocado, etc bullshit rolls but I knew she would find something she could enjoy.

Much to my surprise, she picked out a VEGAN place! I couldn't believe that this existed. For my seafood eating friends, it is my understanding that they also have a regular menu so everyone can get something they like.

We were seated immediately without a reservation. I did have a reservation at another location with a similar name. I don't know if they are owned by the same people but it is very confusing. The other place is much further away from downtown SD and that was not going to work.

They have all of your japanese favorites in vegan form: gyoza, tempura, bao buns, karaage. We ordered the gyoza which were HUGE and absolutely piping hot. We had to wait a good 5 minutes minimum to even be able to eat this without burning the shit out of our mouths. The wrapping was incredible and the filling was even better. It was a great start to the meal.

We shared two rolls. I can't say with completely certainty what we ordered but upon review of their menu, I believe that it was the lucky jade (avocado, vegan cream cheese, asparagus, cucumber) and queen dragon rolls (no shrimp tempura, avocado, no crab, cucumber). Besides the fact that they were absolute works of art, they tasted amazing. The texture was next level.

Everything about the meal was fantastic. I love that they have soju as well.

This place made me fall in love with Japanese cuisine! It offers the best vegan ramen in USA with the food profile being delicious and the presentation being amazing. The service is top notch and the ambiance is high end!! Definitely recommend trying it!