Jinbei - Irvine

We absolutely adore Jinbei for its delicious sushi, inviting atmosphere, and excellent service. It's a cozy spot with around a dozen tables and seats at the sushi bar, so be prepared for a possible wait. The food consistently impresses with its exquisite presentation, and the staff is always friendly. Overall, we rate the food a solid 5 out of 5!

I ordered the spicy tuna crunch roll and the tempura bowl. While the tuna roll was flavorful, it left me with a slight stomachache afterwards. As for the tempura bowl, I was quite let down. They served the tempura on a bed of rice and drizzled the dipping sauce on top, which made the tempura soggy instead of maintaining its crunch. I’ve never seen this done in a Japanese restaurant before. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be returning. Parking is available at the strip mall.

The service was terrible, or practically nonexistent. We waited about 15 minutes for a waiter to take our order, but eventually decided to leave. I felt like we were overlooked because I had my kids with me, and they probably assumed we wouldn’t order enough. In reality, we order quite a bit, especially sushi and sashimi. There’s a brand new ramen place at the corner that we’ve decided to try instead. I recommend that spot over this one. I really hope they improve; I believe in giving places a second chance.

So.... Where to start. Got there 20 mins after they opened at waited about 45 mins to sit down. Server came to take our order and they were out of at least 7 things that we tried to order. Running out of that much of the menu a little over an hour into service is terrible. Poor planning to say the least. The food was okay, nothing was a wow. The service overall was pretty bad, kept having to wave down the staff to get their attention. There are a lot of better places around to have good Japanese food where the food and service is better. For sure it was NOT worth the wait.

Melt in your mouth sashimi and tofu! Highly recommend. Only caveat is they don't answer the phone to take reservations. I don't think it is even connected (I never heard it ring and I called for 2 days to make reservations). Finally, I walked in to make reservations. Also, if you walk in when they open, it looks like they take walk ins.