[Newport Beach] [Japanese] California Beach Restaurant & Sushi Bar

California Beach Restaurant & Sushi Bar
3355 Via Lido #H
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 675-0575
http://www.eatsushi.com/californiabeach

My Japanese classmate Ema has been telling me about California Beach Restaurant & Sushi Bar for the whole semester.  She has been there a few times, and raved about how fresh the sushi is.  On Dr. P's actual birthday day, he requested to have sushi for dinner.  So we headed to California Beach for some sushi and sake birthday dinner.



We went to dinner pretty late because Dr. P had work in LA that day.  We got to the restaurant around 9pm.  The place was still completely full.  They played really loud pop music all night.  Some young people were there just to drink because it was a Monday, and they had a 50% off drink special on Monday night.




They offered all you can eat sushi for $21.95 per person.  Or you can also order from the regular menu.  I think most people go for the AYCE.  We did.


Sapporo Pitcher ($6.38) / Sake ($3.13)

Gotta have alcohol for the birthday boy.  We got a bottle of hot sake and a pitcher of Sapporo beer.  Birthday boy couldn't even finish the beer and was already drunk.  Weak!


Miso Soup

The ordering rule is 2 appetizer and 2 sushi/roll per person each round.  After you finish the food, you can order the next round.  We started the meal with a bowl of miso soup.


Pork Gyoza Dumpling

Pork Gyoza Dumpling was really good.  We got 2 orders of those.


Fried Oyster

Fried Oyster was definitely much much better than the oyster I had at Hokkaido a few days earlier.


Scallop Delight

I really like the Scallop Delight.  Lots of bay scallop sauteed with bean sprout and broccoli.  The sauce was delicious.


Spicy Tuna Hand Roll / Salmon Sushi / Yellowtail Sushi / Spicy Yellowtail Roll

For our first round of sushi, we got a spicy tuna hand roll, salmon sushi, yellowtail sushi, and spicy yellowtail roll.  Our favorite was the spicy yellowtail roll.


Albacore Sushi / Eel Sushi / Shrimp Asparagus Roll / Spicy Albacore Roll

2nd round of sushi included albacore sushi, eel sushi, shrimp asparagus roll and spicy albacore roll.  When we saw the albacore sushi, we were puzzled.  Don't they usually partially cook the albacore?  Then we took a closer look at the menu, and saw that they had albacore sushi or "tataki" albacore sushi.  We just ordered the wrong one.  Oh well.  So we tried the albacore sushi, and both agreed that we like the tataki version better.  Eel sushi was good.  Shrimp and asparagus roll was alright.  Spicy albacore roll was strange.  The fish was cooked and it tasted like can tuna.  It was also a bit dry.  We didn't like this one at all.


Rainbow Roll / Spicy Yellowtail Roll / Tataki Tuna Sushi / Squid Sushi

Next plate of sushi had rainbow roll, another order of spicy yellowtail roll, tataki tuna sushi, and squid sushi.  Everything on this plate was great.  But we were so full at this point.  Finishing the rainbow roll was a bit difficult.


Chilean Sea Bass ($4.25)

When you go for AYCE, you can order a few items on the regular menu for 50% off.  We took advantage and ordered 2 extra items that we really like.  The first one was Chilean Sea Bass.  It was marinated with miso and then grilled.  Simply delicious!


Scallop Dynamite ($4.50)

Scallop Dynamite had a lot of bay scallop, a lot of zucchini and mushroom, an lots of creamy mayo sauce.  We were so full and took this dish to-go.  The next day we had white rice with the dynamite.  I love mixing the dynamite with rice.



Ema told me when she went, she sat at the sushi bar, talked to the sushi chef in Japanese, and she thought the sushi was very fresh and traditional.  The night I went, the entire restaurant was filled with non-Asian.  I thought the sushi was fresh, but not all that traditional.  I still think Midori Sushi has the best AYCE sushi.  But I'm still happy with California Beach.  Thank you, Ema, for introducing the restaurant to us.



Happy birthday to Dr. P!  (He's being silly and trying to do a "fake" smile that he said I always do for the picture.)

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