Cute lil place, good ambiance, friendly staff. We were told no bartender was working unless it was a Friday or Saturday, a little disappointing but we got beer and wine. Starting from the top, we ordered the croquettes, which could have been great, but the dipping sauce that came with them was a little bland and didn't complement the croquettes. The Agedashi Tofu was my personal favorite out of all the dishes, prepared and plated really nicely. Lastly we ordered the yellowtail and jalapeño, the presentation was not my favorite, it just seemed like there was not much fish, and the emphasis was on the sauce. The sauce, was just as underwhelming as the croquette dipping sauce. Overall, these dishes could have been elevated with the correct sauce. We did not try any entrees, so we will be coming back to give it a second chance, most likely on a weekend. read more

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Sushi is fresh and tasty! It's our regular spot before movies. Great for a quick bite or date night

Nice representation of the food! Their sashimi is safe to try as it's fresh and properly prepared. If you're into sake, the cold tapas are the best companions. read more

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Came here for a Saturday lunch. No issues with the service. Issue is whith the quality amd taste of the food. Ordered the yellowtail jelepno, vege tempura and the angel hair roll. I didnt take a picture o tempura because the vegetables could have been cut thinner and smaller. Batter wasn't too thick but the thick cut of vegetables ruined it. The angel hair roll, I ended up on eating the avacado, tempura shrimp and the spicy tuna, the sushi rice used was undercooked. The yellowtail japepeno was good, but also the only thing that didn't need to be cooked lol. I was going to give it a 3 but the food flushed out of my system. At least less guilt from eating fried food. One and done for me. read more

Robata Wasa - Yellowtail jalepeno - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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Oh my bad. I had eaten here before pandemic and guess I never reviewed it, but just found the pics, so here goes. It was all extremely delicious, but kinda pricey. Service was kinda slow, maybe understaffed, but the server was very nice. There was 5 in our party, and we sat outside. Not sure what the deal is these days, with covid protocol and all, so call ahead before you go. But yea, the food was all excellent! See pics for what to order. read more

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We went to this place for our son's birthday dinner. It was inside of Irvine spectrum. It would be fun place to visit to celebrate birthday. We ordered Agedashi, cucumber salad, Karaage and beef bowl and bento box and ikura oyako don and nigiri sushi and mushroom salad and mussels Yuzu miso, shrimp, tempura. We were so excited since we all travelled Japan last winter. We wanted enjoy Japanese good food.. When waitress brought Karaage, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it was mistakenly brought because that doesn't look like Karaage we know. Chicken meat were so tiny pieces, Some of them were half inch, dried and burned. Small meat pieces were piled up on the dish. So sad...I still regretted not to ask to change or remake it.... Cucumber salad was also tasteless too. I didn't taste any vinegar, salt and umami dashi either. Our waitress was very friendly, but she didn't come and check on us often. She just brought us food. We also order sapporo tap beer But our waitress came back they didn't have Sapporo, so we ordered Kirin instead, but it was so lukewarm. We wanted order another beer but she did not show up, so we gave up ordering. Agedashi tofu and ikura nigiri were ok. My husband ordered ikura salmon bowl he said it was ok.. Mussels were not so good. There are so many vegetable like cabbage moyashi spouts and even sausage:( Probably that one was their original sauce but it was too salty. As read more

Robata Wasa - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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I think the food is pretty good with good dining environment. You can eat both inside or outside. read more

Robata Wasa - The food is yummy and the seafood is fresh! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

Service issue, trusted waiter to follow my directions. I had missed Mother's Day I explained to the waiter so I asked that he holds the check for my return. Bill was almost paid by guest because the waiter explained to me they are adults..... No thank you. read more

Robata Wasa is one of my go-to spots at Irvine Spectrum! The sushi is super fresh, the service is always great, and the vibe is perfect for date night or dinner with friends. Highly recommend the crispy salmon skin salad and spicy tuna crispy rice--so good! read more

I was super unimpressed with the food and the service. The restaurant was nice and the hosts were personable (well the girl was). We couldn't really understand our waitress and so there was a disconnect there. The waitress weirdly brought my son a kid sized coke with no ice. When we asked her for ice it took a very long time for her to return. There was loads of waiting, first for our order to be taken, then for our drinks to arrive, then for our food order to be taken and our food to arrive. I had higher hopes for this restaurant. My son and daughter said their California roll and avocado rolls were just ok. My albacore sushi was good but my roll tasted really fishy. The other people in my party were less than thrilled with their rolls. I will not be dining here again unfortunately. read more

The selection of sushi is pretty small, this place is primarily maki rolls. We got an order of yellowtail sashimi, bigeye tuna nigiri, shrimp tempura, and the mango foam lobster. the yellowtail and tempura were very standard, and i had no issues. However, The bigeye tuna had a very grainy texture to the fish, while the rice was very wet, overly warm, and completely overcooked. It had a very mushy texture and was quite offputting. Finally, the mango lobster. Oof. The plating was very pretty, but what a weird dish. The poached lobster is served atop a bed of chickpeas, little sausages, and mango, all swimming in a foamy mango butter sauce. This part of the dish is fine, not exceptional, but just fine. However, the lobster itself had an incredibly butyric flavor, very acidic and not at all pleasant. The waitstaff was exceptional and attentive, the food is just not so tasty :( read more

Robata Wasa - mango foam lobster, Yellowtail nigiri - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

Robata Wasa is a nice place for sushi rolls. We tried the Crunchy Roll, Dragon Roll, and Rainbow Roll. All of them looked beautiful (I took pictures but deemed them not good enough to post) and tasted great. My husband and I found the three rolls enough for lunch. I believe our server's name was Kate. She was really sweet and took great care of us. Our lunch was a combination of delicious food and congenial service. read more

Tuna Carpaccio was absolutely delicious, loved the wafers it came with too! I always love the bowl of fresh tuna, albacore, yellowtail fish, seaweed salad, salmon and massago. This restaurant is outstanding! read more

Unfortunately needed to add a lower review to Robata Wasa and most likely will not be coming back despite their delicious uni pasta. I think that service and quality has definitely gone down since I last went. There were two issues we had with service: 1) We had a reservation set for our visit. Once there, we checked in with the hostess and she let us know that shell have our table ready and that we should wait outside since we were about 10 minutes early. After 20 minutes of waiting we asked how long more and she mentioned that it was still being set. After another 10 minutes there was a new hostess and she didn't realize that we were even waiting for a table but our table has been ready... Should probably tell someone taking over your shift a party is still waiting for their table. 2) They missed my mom's dish when placing the order. So we all got our orders and was waiting for mom's for some time. We had to ask again once we were mid meal to make sure that it was ordered. They never placed it. Quality of food: Very poor. Our sushi still had scales and bones. Definitely was not expecting to get pricked eating my sushi. read more

Great food and great service. With my service dog, I typically do outdoor seating but there wasn't any available when my family and I came. They were super kind and accommodated my party to sit inside instead, unlike most places. Great hostess and manager + the server, Apple, was attentive. Food was amazing, recommend their yellowtail and jalapeño shareable. read more

My family loves this place. Contemporary Japanese that is well suited to serve the large crowds of Irvine Spectrum. I describe the dishes here as having more flare and size than artisanal merit, but they still highly satisfying. A couple examples: The GINORMOUS Shiitake Mushroom Salad was intimidating at first, but came highly recommended by our server after I described my tastebud craving. It was absolutely delish, without any of the pungency that some mushrooms bring, and take away from the experience. Their miso dressing is on the sweeter side, but works VERY well. The Volcano Roll comes out as a flare dish, so perfect for your instagram boomerang stories. Taste-wise, it's also a very solid 4 stars, and we always order this. The surprise was with the Angel Hair sushi. The "hair" is actually spicy crab noodle that tops the roll filled with shrimp tempura, crab, and spicy tuna, and is probably my personal favorite. If you're into donburi box meals, you can't go wrong with their Unagi Don, or even their Salmon Oyako Don. A note on their udon, their soup base is a bit too bland for my taste, but my daughter seems to like it enough to order it on every visit. In terms of service, the wait staff is always fun and informative. However, I have to side with some of the other reviewers in that the Host staff is a bit snooty. There's nothing more off-putting than Hosts that act like they're doing you a favor by working there. But if you can get past that, you're gold. read more

I wish there was a button for 3 1/2 stars because the service was slow because of a big party, but the waitress and staff were nice and the food was 4 Stars. We the Makunouchi Deluxe Bento box and lobster roll which hit the spot. The miso soup was good too. This place is pricey for three items and tip the bill was slightly under $100. read more

Robata Wasa - Makunouchi Deluxe Bento - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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Went here on a Monday evening so it was empty but that made service great. Not sure how it is on other days/nights but the server was attentive and we were well taken care of. Loved the decor in the restaurant. Really gives it a modern upscale but also casual look so you can come here for lunch without feeling like this is a dinner only place. We ordered a few appetizers to start off: Salmon Truffle Carpaccio, Japanese Scallop Crudo, and the Hamachi Kama. Each dish was larger than we expected so we definitely ordered more food than we should have. All of the seafood tasted fresh and were delicious. Surprisingly, truffle does work with salmon sashimi. It's a light hit of the truffle shavings so it's not overpowering the salmon at all. Scallops were well balanced but it could be spicy for some so if you're not a fan of spicy or can't eat spicy you can always pick off the jalapeños. Hamachi Kama was a decent size, definitely could feed two if you're only ordering it as an appetizer but if it's just for yourself, definitely pair it with rice or miso since it can be filling. For the main plates, we ordered the Sukiyaki Beef Udon, Deluxe Chirashi Don, and Spicy Yellowtail Tataki. Each dish was tasty. I thought the udon was on the sweeter side so I wasn't a fan of it. The Yellowtail sushi was great. The Chirashi Don came with a lot of food and it was all fresh. I did the get to try it since it wasn't a dish I ordered. We also had the green tea and vanilla mochi ice cream for dessert. The green tea was great, very smooth. The vanilla, however, tasted powdery. I wasn't a fan of it. Overall, we had a great experience here. read more

This use to be my go to place for Sushi and lately I have been so disappointed. I went last week and it was not a great experience worse because I took a business guest. We ordered Yellow tail cheek that was so raw on the inside it was not edible and the Sushi was not as fresh and full of flavor like it use to be. The 3 stars is for the service as that was wonderful and attentive but the quality has really gone down sadly. read more

My first time in for Happy Hour and I was relatively smitten over the cocktails, presentation and sushi selections. My only gripe was the lack of consistent service, but I gave them a pass since it was a relatively new restaurant and maybe, they were still working out the kinks. With a group of three, I met up with a few friends to catch up and grab some light bites. But first, we ordered ourselves a first round: Classic Highball + Baba No Kosui. The baba no kosui was very alcohol forward, but I loved the citrus finish. It was a nice, dry balance. For food, we ordered a few items to share - serrano yellowtail carpaccio, spicy tuna crispy rice, garlic edamame and Naruto roll. The carpaccio is personally one of my faves and it was a definite re-order when I recently went. The yellowtail was topped with fresh serrano chilis and pickled beets, then drizzled with yuzu ponzu & herb oil. I was in for a surprise when I received the Naruto Rainbow roll. It wasn't wrapped in seaweed and it had no rice! It was tuna, yellowtail, salmon and crab mix wrapped in cucumber lying in a sea of ponzu. However, the ponzu was very light and complemented the roll really well. Very enjoyable! On my most recent visit for lunch service, there's definite room for improvement. First of all, the hostess at the time was sort of awkward and hard to hear. She just pointed us to a table and went back to her station, so we were just like, okayyyy. The servers also seemed really busy even though there were just a few parties in the house. They were almost nowhere to be seen for long periods of time and hard to flag if you needed something. Aside from service, combination lunch boxes are small portioned and limiting. For $19, my boyfriend got the pick 2 bento: chicken thigh + 4pc crunchy roll. The set comes with rice, spring mix salad and edamame, but the portions are pretty small in comparison to other places we frequent. It didn't feel worth it to get a bento and the lack of service on the day we went didn't help either haha. Doesn't look like I'll be a regular after this experience, but it was nice to try them for both lunch and dinner. read more

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Service was mid. Due to "communication problems" no one came to our table for a while. After that the service was ok. Food was whatever and overpriced. Not impressed with anything here. Convenient if you are in spectrum area already. But I would definitely not go out of my way to come here. Probably won't be coming back here anytime soon, and certainly not because I want to... read more

Visited here with work. Food was fresh and very good. Our waiter was attentive and friendly to our party. We were not an unusually large group but he still met our needs. I'm not a sushi guy but my coworkers really enjoyed theirs. I ordered the Bento Box (pictured below). Tasty and gives you a chance to try a variety of items. Very fun. We ordered the edamame with spicy garlic which was good. The fried Brie cheese with honey and blueberries was surprisingly good. Give it a try. read more

Robata Wasa - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

This is me and my wife's go to sushi spot since we first started dating. We always ordered Sashimi roll and it never failed us. P.s we always ordered crispy tiger shrimp. Yes, you cannot skip on that. read more

I agree with the review before that the service could use some work. I really wanted to like this place because I live in the area, it has such a beautiful atmosphere, and decent food, but the service is what really got us on our visit a couple weeks ago. I came here with a group of 4, we each put in our orders and spent time catching up. All of us ordered standard items from their menu, and one girl ordered a baked salmon roll. We followed up with the waitress a couple times and she assured us that the order was placed in, but takes longer because it has to be baked. The remaining 3 of us then finished our meals and shared as much of our meals as we could, with no roll in sight. Finally, we were all ready to leave, and the girl just decided at that point to get her order to go - there were no apologies or anything given for the delay, even though we were sure it was a miscommunication between our server and the staff. In my opinion, 1. If it was going to take longer than everyone else's meals, it should be disclosed upon ordering, just out of good practice. 2. If the waitress assures us that the order has been placed in and it should be out shortly, she should verify this with the kitchen and follow up with it. 3. If the remaining party finishes their meals and are just sitting around still waiting for the last order, it's safe to say (and apologize) that the order was missed and address it with the customer. Additionally, the to-go order wasn't good, according to my friend, who had to eat it about an hour later after her commute home - it could have been because it was sitting for an hour in the box, or however long in the kitchen, or that it just wasn't to her liking. All in all, the food was pretty decent here, but the experience just left us with a negative experience, considering the restaurant was pretty empty and the kitchen was right near our table. read more

Salmon carpaccio with truffles is out of this world! Salmon skin salad is so big it can feed 6 people and it's not salty! Scallop crudo was very good. Everything is great here and I'll be coming back. Thank you read more

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This place is a perfect example where you don't trust the low star rating. At first we were hesitant to try the food because of all the negative reviews and to be honest I'm so happy we went with our gut and tried it out. Our server, Apple, was so sweet and on it. The food was delicious and I can't say I was upset with anything I tried. Defiantly will be coming back!! read more

Robata Wasa - Angel Hair Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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My bf and I were in town and decided to stop by here for lunch since we like Japanese food. My initial impression was that the restaurant is very beautiful and clean, and the staff is welcoming. Lunch didn't seem very busy, so we were seated right away. We were interested in all the cold and hot tapas, bentos, and been pasta they offered but decided to stick with what we liked, which was sukiyaki udon and a salmon roll, specifically the salmon and lemon pepper roll. Sukiyaki udon (3.5/5) - Pretty good! I enjoyed the noodles, which I thought was thinner than usual, but it was still tasty. I wish it came with more toppings that I like, such as shiitake mushrooms, tofu, and cabbage. This one was more simple, with it having just seaweed and corn. Salmon and lemon pepper roll (4.5/5) - My bf and I enjoyed this a lot! The salmon was seared so beautifully. At first, I was afraid that the amount of sliced red onion would make the roll taste very bitter/spicy, but it was surprisingly refreshing. I personally don't like spicy tuna too much, but still thought this was delicious. read more

Robata Wasa - salmom and lemon pepper roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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I can't say wonderful was everything, my food I didn't like it, but it's only my problem. My wife and friends they liked this place, if I will review my food I will give 2 star. But service was great, other people food on the table was good. Will I come back, I'm not sure, probably not. But it all depends. read more

Robata Wasa - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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Amazing food! From the hamachi to the wontons delicious! Service is top notch - Tia is friendly efficient and always has good recommendations! We have been several time and every time is a great experience. The ambiance is relaxing and enjoyable for a family dinner or just a date night with good food! read more

Really great sushi! Service is a little slow but I think that's just because it was peak lunch time on a weekend. Only thing that wasn't as expected was the Hot Tapas. As much as I wanted to be - I'm just not a fan of the Panko Brie Cheese. The blue berry is an great addition to the classic Brie and honey - but something about the panko crust just didn't work for me. Just a taste preference - my boyfriend like it! read more

Robata Wasa - Sashimi Roll Panko Brie Cheese - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

Always great dining there ! Great food! Great service. Never disappoint! Incredible choices of house rolls

I hate giving bad reviews but I have to say something at this point. I keep coming back here, hoping that the sushi will be better but it disappoints me every time. The service is awesome but this time, I was told the yellowtail would be fresh and it was awful. Smelled bad and tasted even worse. Plus the prices are insane compared to other spots that have much better fish. Hopefully you guys can make some improvements soon! Yikes. read more

Good location, fresh food, reasonable price, good interior, and could be romantic night date. Room to improve in service. Recommend for events. read more

Do not recommend eating here. Not honest. Bad quality food. Bad service. Food items were missing from the bento takeout. I took a photo of what was in the bento I ordered in the restaurant and then ordered the same to bring back to someone else. When he opened the box, I noticed the salmon, egg, and another yellow food item was missing. Service was not good when I ate at the restaurant. They rarely come to your table. I had to search for my waiter to get my water refilled. They don't come to see how everything is. All they do is bring food to your table and you never see them again. Everything you get in the deluxe bento you can get way cheaper and same quality as Yoshinoya! read more

It is a delicious Japanese restaurant located next to children's amusement facilities. Especially a friendly and clean place with delicious sushi and california rolls. read more

Robata Wasa - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

Restaurant appears very high end but the food doesn't really match that. Very ordinary dishes that you could get any any other casual Japanese restaurant, but the prices here are a lot higher. The food doesn't live up to the prices. You are paying for the nice location. The service was very good though and they gave us a refund on one dish that had a piece of plastic in it. Good overall was very so so , but good service. read more

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First time trying Robata today: top notched service! Foods and drinks average. I'm had better sushi and drinks. Our waitress was attentive and super nice! read more

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Would be nice if this place hired adequate staff and answered the phones during their posted business hours. Called multiple times and no answer. read more

Robata Wasa is one of our favorite restaurants in The Spectrum. You can always count on the sushi being fresh, the quality excellent the ambiance first class, and our service from Will the best!! We will be back!! read more

Came for a Sunday evening dinner. It was a a nice relaxing vibe sitting on the patio. Delicious food, quick and kind service. read more

Robata Wasa - Natsu Salmon Roll Edamame Panko Brie Cheese Gyoza Sapporo - Sushi Bars Near Me - Irvine, California

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