they have changed ownership, and it has gone downhill fast. it wasn't very clean, definitely had no friendly vibe to it like before

Hello, We used to go here a LOT, we went again about 1 yr ago to see if the quality was still here along with the great sushi the whole vibe here used to be great. The food we had was so-so. We tried it again about 4 months ago, for us the food was better than previous visit. We will go there soon. There is a large issue for us, it is a LONG way to go here, now that the tourists are gone we will go to Hapi Sushi soon. I confess the Yelp reviews which are a lot better than previous reviews. We are not Picture people so look forward to a repeat review but no pictures. Happy Sushi to all. Sorry I've not yelp for a while, I have some health issues and I hate to give a negative reviews. read more

Save your money. Worst sushi I have ever had and bad costumer service. It's also extremely overpriced for the quality and quantity.

This places is the bees knees! Highly suggest the Japanese Burrito and Tuna Dream. Service was fantastic and we are grateful that they are open and thriving. We love Hapi Sushi read more

Hapi Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

Customer service is very mediocre. Waited for 40 minutes just for the sushi maker to ask. The servers aren't very attentive they just walk past by you and don't ask if you've taken your order or if you want anything. I would give it a zero star if I can. Don't come to this place if you're looking for a decent dine in experience. read more

I really like this place! They have an amazing Mushroom dish! A must have! Cute place with outdoor eating. Came here several times, customer service has always been really nice! read more

Got sushi from here almost 2 months ago but I just had to write a review because the sushi was so bland and mushy. We ordered three rolls which took over 40 minutes to make and the sushi rolls were mushy and not prepared well. Won't be coming here again. read more

Incredible sushi. So fresh. And friendly staff with a cool Hawaii vibe inside. All really reasonably priced too

Without a doubt, the best sushi I've ever had! It tastes so fresh and there is really nothing else like it. The service is great! The items are a litttttttle pricy, but I truly think that it is worth the experience. Every time I am in Laguna, I make sure to have lunch or dinner here! Definitely check this place out :) read more

I came here for the first time with my roommate a few days ago and thought, "Awesome! A hole in the wall place! It must be great!" We went around 1:45, so no one was there. I took a look at the menu and wasn't impressed from first glance. Small menu and I noticed even the most basic rolls were about $3-$4 more expensive than other local sushi places. The spicy tuna was $9 I think. $9? I've seen places sell spicy tuna rolls for $6.95 or even $5.95. Anyways, service was decent. I ordered the crunch roll which was $10. It was good. My roommate enjoyed her roll as well. Overall, not much else to say, but food was good, but I think the menu was small and the place was overpriced. I will possibly come back, but I've been to better sushi places around here. read more

Hapi Sushi - Sushi bar - Sushi Bars Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

Amazing sushi in an intimate atmosphere. Would highly recommend this place. Prices are not crazy for their location.

We stopped in for lunch and sat at the sushi bar. The chef made some suggestions and we settled on the Japanese Burrito, Crunch Roll, and Tuna Dream. Forget the soy sauce. This chef makes his own sauces for each roll. Delicious. The Japanese Burrito comes wrapped in soy paper with just the right amount of rice. The fresh and unique flavor of the salmon, tuna, and crab, was surprising for such a small, almost Tiki Bar styled sushi place. I was not expecting such high quality from this quirky little alley sized establishment. The Tuna Dream was also excellent. Super fresh melt-in-your-mouth albacore served over spicy tuna with a spicy radish sauce. Again, not too much rice. Very good. The Japanese owner was our chef. Very attentive. Wonderful personality. He's been in business at this location 25 years. I took (and posted) his picture but neglected to get his name. I highly recommend Hapi Sushi. read more

Hapi Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

First time at Hapi sushi ! Totally exceeded our expectations. Sushi was fresh and delicious !! We ordered the Japanese burrito yummm, rainbow roll and crunch roll. Bomb! Don't think twice. We will definitely come back. P.S. customer service on point! read more

Based on a number of recommendations from our neighbors, we tried this small place recently in downtown Laguna. Really surprised that this place is quite small and needs a bit of updating. The Japanese owner/chef is nice, but the menu is very limited. I asked for specific nigiri pieces and was told that it was unavailable. I noticed a lot of patrons order rolls which I normally do not order at an authentic sushi joint. Back to Oo-Toro in Irvine for some really good sushi! read more

Went in today 6/6 at around 8:30 and requested to the guy making sushi that I wanted to order to go. Guy straight up told me that he was not going to attend to me because he was too busy. I understand he was probably busy but that's super poor customer service, he could have easily told me it was going to take an hr or so and that would had been understandable. I am a local from Laguna Beach that lives walking distance from this spot . Even the guests you had there eating at the bar were shocked at the guy's response. Terrible!!!! read more

Darn good sushi, and we got a warm reception from the "guest chef," who told us he is the head sushi chef at 930 Sushi in Newport Beach. We asked for omakase, as did the folks next to us at the bar, and we all got to chatting and had a grand old time. The room, properly in my mind, has more seats at the bar than along the wall, and the slightly frayed decor reassures you that they didn't just open last week. We say go have some Hapi Sushi. read more

[ ] A "hole-in-the-wall" place with an actual Japanese sushi chef. [ ] Not good for groups over 4 people. [ ] Order the #79 Hapi Special roll. [ ] No prices on the menu - expect the rolls to cost $8 to $13. 1.) Started with the 96 special (tempura tuna roll with a creamy sauce on top) and it was cut too thin, rolled loosely, and the tuna inside was soaking wet (I'm convinced he used canned StarKist tuna)! The roll completely fell apart as you tried to pick it off the plate (I noticed another reviewer describes the same dilemma with the 97 roll). Despite the poor execution, the taste was delicious; however I still wouldn't recommend that roll. 2.) Second roll was the 79 special ("Hapi special" caterpillar roll with eel, avocado, and strawberry) and we were blown away.... Amazing!!! The flavors were mostly spicy with a hint of sweet from the strawberry. It definietly made up for the soggy 96 special roll! I highly recommend you try it! 3.) Last roll was a Philadelphia roll (not my idea), which was surprisingly different; it was quite large, with mixed veggies inside and sliced tuna and (too much) cream cheese around the top. I'd only recommend it if you're going for something "safe" but unique. I am definitely going back soon - loved the atmosphere, and I want to try the #69 special and the Japanese burrito that everyone's been raving about! read more

Hapi Sushi - Happy after eating at Hapi Sushi! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

Hapi sushi is the best sushi in Laguna beach! I've been going there for 20 years! Mario is a hard worker and makes the experience special for me and my friends! read more

Great place. Very small and the seating is not very comfortable. Friendly staff but the place was full and there was only one server and one sushi chef so the wait times were a bit high. Delicious sushi and you could tell it was fresh. We tried 4 different rolls at our table and all were very good. The menu is fairly small but what they do have is quality. Very cute place in the middle of great shopping and fun. read more

Came to this restaurant all the way from Anaheim hills ..the employee who's working (Mario) didn't want to open the door saying that they are closed ...the reason didn't have enough employees even you told me that he has a problem with the owner so I guess they need to fix their problems And then burn some thing about customer service. read more

as soon as we walked into the shop we went to the restroom right away we had a long drive. when we sat down the menu was only one page long and way over priced . we decided not to eat there and we left ... as we got up the cook yelled out "stop playing games" im assuming because he thought we needed to only use the restroom. anyways super rude read more

My favorite sushi spot in LB! Hidden Gem...get the Japanese burrito, its heaven!

Awesome sushi, everything we had was excellent and the 49 special should not be missed. Thanks Mario you're the best. read more

Hapi Sushi - a man behind a sushi counter - Sushi Bars Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

I've been to so many sushi places , this place is unique in its own way. At first I kind of liked the smallness as it reminded me a lot of japan.., then it started reminding me of the dark streets when I would get lost in Japan, hungry and thirsty but my friends knew better than me to order anything.. where I tried whale for the first time: Anywho if you're drunk it's a good time here surely. read more

We've been here a few times and it's just not my favorite sushi place. The rolls are fine, but for the quality should be less expensive than they are. We usually get: Crunchy Roll (10) Fuji Roll - Tempura shrimp on top of a california roll (13) Japanese Burrito - salmon, tuna, and crab wrapped in soy paper (12) The 97 special- tempura tuna roll with Hapi's special creamy sauce (10) The 96 special - tempura tuna roll with crab and avocado (10) Mushroom - mushroom stuffed yellowtail with special sauce (8) This place is very small, it's hard to come with more than one or two people. Generic rolls are very expensive and lack quality (9.00 for a super normal spicy tuna roll is just a little ridiculous to me...) read more

Happy go lucky sushi, and not just because I was looking to make a pun on the title -- the itamae master sushi chef is a jovial, breezy as can be guy (he belongs in Laguna Beach). "Hapi" is so hang-loose! So beachy! I only wish it had more than a short menu, but I still found plenty yum-yum within the TUNA DREAM and 96 SPECIAL (tempura tuna, avocado). The REVERSE RAINBOW ROLL stuffed it in, and so the contents within were murky, so that was the flaw of our meal. I'd rather have gone with the regular RAINBOW ROLL so I could see all fish types on top. I like to see where my money is going into each specialty roll, yeah? #smartass read more

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We got the california roll for take out and it was delicious!! Ate it walking down to the beach. Great food and super chill atmosphere inside read more

Highly recommend. Fresh sushi & seaweed salad (no pic unfortunately). Small setting in a little tight space, but will definitely bring my sushi loving kids to eat here. Super friendly and talented sushi chef whose musical playlist includes Tina Turner, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan, so it was an evening well spent. read more

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Love the service, the sweet ambiance, and the light, yummy sushi. The food came in styrofoam. read more

First time to walk in this very nostalgic Japanese restaurant My husband and I have been living in Japan and know good Sushi and Sashimi. We both are so happy to find this wabi-sabi Place. A master was very very Friendly and a nice. We definitely will come back this special cozy place. read more

Hapi Sushi - Ika Salmon Ikura - Sushi Bars Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

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#49 is the best! Also the halibut roll. I only had these two and I only get these rolls here. Even though the rolls are small, I love it! Fresh and good quality read more

Chef is a nice person. Their sashimi is fresh and well cut. Their roll selection is not that creative and poorly combined with flavors/ingredients. Their secret cream sauce is too creamy for my personal like. We ordered three different rolls with diff. Sauces to try their menu, all three rolls were not well put. The mix of flavors was not to my liking. Some of the flavors like lemon over power the entire roll. We ordered shishito peppers, they had a very strong flavor of Mirin, no soy or garlic or anything else. Their version of it was certainly missing some flavor. We ate them as best we could, I love the pepper taste but it certainly had an over powering taste of sauce. Their green tea was luke warm, didn't have much taste to it. Overall, it's a cool little hole in the wall, but the place lacks service, waiters that can maybe explain their menu a bit. Staff is mainly Hispanic Spanish speaking and don't know the menu or rolls etc. Chef speaks little English, wasn't able to explain much. My two cents on this place. read more

Used to be a fun, lively place to go with the fam for happy hour and reasonable prices. Looks like a lot of changes including MUCH higher prices. Food and service are improved for sure but think there are too many other options in the area to keep this as a go to. read more

I have been a customer here for more than 20 years. And as a full-time sushi fan, who is always looking for the next great place, I always wind up using Hapi as my comparison standard. The chef Sato, and the server Mario, have always made the experience not only tasty, but fun and welcoming. I think a sushi fan would be hard-pressed to find better sushi in the whole Beach communities. Make sure to try the Japanese burrito... read more

Well here is the story we where at the beach and we like what should we eat my bro was like damm dawg let's go sushi I was like damm let's go so we can here and it was hella food so you all should come here it's fire read more

Fire fire fire. We got the Japanese burrito, spicy tuna roll, and the Fuji roll. The Japanese burrito was fantastic with the soy paper. Spicy tuna was classic, light roll. The Fuji roll was heavier than expected, but so so delicious!! read more

6/26/20 - this place is great. Reasonably priced and the music is great. Had me feeling like Hawaii. The menu is simple and the staff is friendly. The sushi chef is the man. This guy will treat you like family. I think if anything, the hostess could've used work, but it seemed like a new guy. And if you just sit at the bar, the chef treats you well. read more

Small little sushi bar in downtown LB but not in a super-busy area. Friendly chef and waitstaff. Decent selection of rolls but not the best in the area. Was tempted to try Omakase but not with 2 semi-fussy kids. My wife was telling me that she tasted something bitter in the Reverse Rainbow roll. We also got the 49 special and the Tuna Dream. We liked the 49 special the most. Size of the rolls left something to be desired, especially for what we paid. As someone else pointed out, this is probably not the best spot for Nigiri/Sashimi which is a bit surprising considering it's a small joint and in my experience, smaller joints tend to specialize in that stuff. But the clientele of Laguna Beach (and immediately surrounding areas) are likely more interested in rolls. Therefore, this is what they cater towards. Not sure if we'd come back, especially with Costa Mesa not too far away. read more

Americanized Japanese here IMO. Service will be slow if it's a full house there since there's only 1 sushi chef. If you want sashimi/sushi, this isn't the place to go as you can only get the basics here. We couldn't even get toro when we went there :( Rolls seem to be the main seller here, so if you like rolls, then maybe this is the sushi place for you. If you want sashimi, then it's not. read more

The food is just so-so. I had better sushi from Ralph's supermarket. I ordered the 97 roll that says it has tuna in it but all I got was a tempura battered imitation crab. There was no tuna in it. I wish Laguna Beach would have a newer, more exciting sushi place than this! The chef and the server were pleasant but if you want good and fresh sushi, skip this joint. The chef was very unsanitary. He touched the door handle, a pen, the refrigerator then went back without washing his hands to make sushi. It was pretty disgusting to say the least! read more