Familiar with the 21 Sushi House in Calimesa? If you are, look no further! Really though, look no further because we may just keep going to Calimesa until this new location catches up with the game. Overall, the menu, selections, and nearly everything is precisely the same except for "new business" nuisances they have yet to climb over. Most likely will take some time before returning here thanks to subpar performance in the critical areas.
Because it's still new, in my humble opinion, they have a great deal going for a limited time (until mid Jan 2024, I think) with buy 2 get 1 free AYCE sushi! However, if marketing is the purpose to gain more customers then at least maintain quality at a high scale especially when it'll be easily compared to the location in Calimesa.
I want to love this place since it's simply down the street and much closer to home! I have to be perfectly honest, though, and not render false expectations if you want to give this Yucaipa location a try.
Areas of Improvement? Bolstered rice with lots of the sushi we received. Less rice please! Slow service thanks to staff without experience (give them time, I'm sure they'll be pros in no time). Being sat down at our table and having to flag staff down for utensils, chopsticks, plates, ginger, wasabi.. you get the idea. Had to list out the items for the waitress that should've been brought out at the start. Never asked if we would like to have high chairs despite clearly having 2 toddlers, thus walked over and helped ourselves. Salmon sushi was lack luster (our favorite). Baked green mussels lacked flavor and sauces that it wasn't anywhere close to 21 Sushi House quality at Calimesa! Had 2 large hot sakes and they were warm. Not hot. Eel sushi was dry and nowhere as tasty as Calimesa's. Seeing that they were so buys (and moving slowly besides a couple noticeably experienced workers compared to the sloths), we decided simply to enjoy the meal and not raise a fit at all.
Striving Categories? Their sushi specialty rolls, stuffed jalapeños, miso soup, amd a couple of their sushi selections were simply delicious! Including more items that were part of the AYCE dining was a big plus (not sure if that's because it's new or being Holiday season). Biggest plus in Yucaipa's location compared to that of Calimesa's is having TVs!! We watched a Rams vs Saints live game for which it was incredibly nice to eat sushi and watch our teams play! Cleanliness is very, very well maintained.
Location is great with plenty of direct parking on the lot along with additional spots closer to TJ Max. Ambience is classy and modernized with plenty of tables to serve many parties (tons of families were present at the time). Great setting for any occasion - solo dining, dates, family outting, friend hangouts, and having meals with coworkers.
I'd highly recommend for all Yucaipians, near and far, to give this location a try! Just don't expect superb service and food compared to that of Calimesa's location (we were hoping to see our usual sushi chefs here). Our hypothesis is that this new location will eventually be the ONLY 21 Sushi House joint in the Yucaipa-Calimesa neighborhood. If that's the case, they really should bring over their best chefs and servers during this new opening phase to attract and gain loyal customers. Worth a try if you haven't stopped by yet, but just keep in mind they have lots to improve on so set your expectations low. read more