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    Sushi Garden

    3.8 (521 reviews)
    ModerateSushi Bars, Japanese
    Closed 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    Updated 2 weeks ago

    Sushi Garden Photos

    Business Info

    SUSHI GARDEN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Happy hour specials
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Sushi Garden

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    Reviews With Photos

    Yellowtail Roll
    Jadon S.

    Sushi Garden does a great job. I can't speak to the authenticity of their menu items, but they hit the spot for me. Fish tasted fresh and high quality. They had something for everyone on the menu, and our order was brought out as it was ready -- perfectly timed to our finishing the last plate. Our waitress was very friendly and accommodating of our questions, menu modifications, etc. If you're in the area and craving sushi, give this place a go. Everything from their miso soup to the nigiri is exactly as you'd expect -- flavorful, fresh, and presented beautifully.

    Bobby C.

    We just had a fantastic dinner! Amazing rolls and a teriyaki salmon (pictured)! Our server, Dylan, made the experience even better with his great service and his hospitality! He not only remembered our names but invited us to come back and sit in his section again soon. We look forward to coming back again soon and the delicious food!

    Boardwalk Blues (non-spicy version)
    Joyce S.

    We really enjoyed our experience here. Waitress and was hospitable, helpful, and patient with letting us take our time to order, and ask questions, and checked in us several times to make sure we were doing ok. We like the udon and sushi that we picked. The ambiance was calming, lots of space. Outdoor had bamboo plants, a koi fish pond, and lights. It was also super close to our hotel too. We would come here again.

    Udon
    Al W.

    Great spot in Capitola. Full of regulars who all where happy and friendly! Wife enjoyed Tempura Udon and stated it was as good as her favorite restaurant at Tokyo Norita. I had the sushi dinner which was excellent. Thank you, Bartender Christine for excellent salads and service!

    tiger eye and white dragon
    Kelly T.

    It was my first time here and I would definitely come back whenever I'm in the area! My friends and I ordered and got all of our food within 10 minutes. We each got the miso soup and shared the white dragon roll, samurai spirit roll, and tiger eye roll. My favorite roll would have to be the samurai spirit roll. They were all good but that roll was the most flavorful since it had a bit of spiciness to it! The miso soup was also delicious.

    Sashimi app.
    Bree G.

    My first time here and I am now a huge fan and can't wait to come back. I had heard many positive reviews and never knew where this place was. It's sort of tucked away if you've never been and has its own sweet little ambiance. I felt like I wasn't in Santa Cruz but rather in a vacation like setting. Best way I can articulate it. ;) The fish was fresh and full of flavor. The chilled sake was delightful and refreshing on a warmer day. Highly recommend.

    Sashimi
    Martin C.

    Great food! Friendly staff! The chef go wild is very interesting. Sashimi is fresh as well. There's a small Japanese garden at courtyard. Great experience overall

    Bryant's birdie roll
    Rose G.

    Not great. A lot of other sushi places that I think are better in price and in quality in town. While service was nice enough here, with the waitress taking our drink order fairly soon after we sat down, I just think that the prices and quality of food are not great here. I originally wanted to order just the simple standard order of spicy tuna roll, but at this place it's $11 for just spicy tuna with solely cucumber, which is waaaaayyyy too pricey for such a simple roll IMHO. Usually it's like $8 bucks or less and it includes some masago on top for such a basic roll. Instead, it's the price of the usually more expensive rolls on the menu, plus the more expensive rolls are even more expensive. I ended up getting a bryant's birdie with all tuna instead of salmon, which was $17 for the roll (yikes). It was okay, but honestly very tasteless, even with soy sauce. It needed some sort of sauce to make it taste better, maybe some unagi sauce or something? Either way, honestly, I probz won't be back to visit this spot. Pretty expensive for mediocre sushi.

    Enterance
    Brooke R.

    A friend and I were in town staying near the Village. We googled spots in walking distance, Sushi Garden had the highest rating in walking distance so off we went. Great location tucked in the middle of a set of office buildings. Koi pond and outdoor seating as well as plenty of indoor seating. They have a tablet you can sign in to get on the wait list. We didn't need to do this as we were seated immedately. We asked for water, our server was attentive and efficient. We started with edamae, we asked if it could be spicy and they had a seasoning to add, almost gave it a tajin flare. We ordered the California roll and a Dynamite roll. Both rolls had good flavor, we enjoyed both of them. We also ordered baby shrimp sticks. We were thinking it was more of a tempura style, but when it came out looking at us, we giggled and attempted to pull apart the pieces we didn't want. The body of the stick was good, but we are not fans of eating the crispy legs and head. But that was our fault for not fully reading the description. Our waters were refilled and our service was great. For 2 rolls, 2 appetizers, we settled up at $40 bucks. Happy with our experience and worth the walk.

    My husband and I got food to go from here and we paid $21 for this roll, doesn't even say on the menu that it's baked and when we got the food it was already cold and the rice was mushy and was just a mess! Disappointing when you pay so much and get such poor quality food

    Genevieve B.

    Nice atmosphere... quaint little spot. Nice decor but sushi was just okay. Not the best, not the worst. Service was quick and staff was friendly

    Escolar nigiri
    Brittany B.

    Grabbed sushi on the way back from camping and this place was delicious! It's within a business park, but has a cute outdoor zen like setting with a koi pond. We got their right at opening and there was already a couple tables being seated for a Sunday early afternoon. One of the things rhat caught my eye was they had escolar (super white tuna)! Not every sushi spot has this, so I had go jump on it. I got the Geisha roll and escolar nigiri, as well as the chef gone wild roll. My bf got their salmon kama, baked mussels, and full moon roll. Everything tasted fresh and so yummy. Service was also great!

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    10 months ago

    We love sushi garden on bay. The service, the food and cozy setting are all terrific. Can't wait for it to reopen in December!

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    1 year ago

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    Becky W.

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    2 years ago

    Always happy with the food and service! My favorite sushi place in the area! Always fresh.

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    2 years ago

    Great sirashi and fish was so fresh. We like to sit outside so this was perfect. Would go there a lot if we lived closer.

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    Page 1 of 14

    Ask the Community - Sushi Garden

    Is the veggie tempura vegan (does the batter contain egg)?

    Yes, when I asked the waiter they said it was vegan.

    Do they have a full bar?

    Decent Asian tap Beer, and wine only. Some good sake selections

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Wasabi Sushi

    Wasabi Sushi

    4.1
    (354 reviews)
    0.9 mi
    $$

    This place is 10/10. The food is melt in your mouth delicious. Our order came out at a reasonable…read moretime. Their restaurant is small but they have outdoor seating as well. Loved the self serve water, they even added cucumber & lemon. This is definitely a must when craving sushi in Capitola!

    This food was not good, and I genuinely pity all the reviewers on here speaking to the contrary…read more Wasabi Sushi is an order-at-the-counter sushi joint. Yet when you pay at check-out, the tip amount defaults to 18% (yes, a default 18% tip at a fast-casual restaurant), with the alternatives being 20%, 25%, or custom. The lone employee who made eye contact with us was nice, but again--this is a fast-casual restaurant! The edamame was soft and unseasoned. The only condiment on the table was soy sauce (no low-sodium options available) and sushi rolls do not come with wasabi nor ginger. "Bento boxes" are essentially combo meals. When we sent the first edamame back because it was mushy, we received another bowl of flaccid beans back moments later. I suspect they are steamed in bulk, possibly in a bag in a microwave. My gripe with this place that finally pushed me to publish this review was the fried soft shell crab roll. PLEASE, for the love of cuisine, spare yourself from this roll. The crab is fried harder than a well-done Kentucky fried chicken leg, with a sweet sauce smeared over the top to distract from the flavorlessness of the contents. To add insult to injury, one piece had unfurled when this landed at our table. I have never, ever received a deconstructed sushi roll that was not immediately replaced. A minor aesthetic inconvenience for me; but a good illustration of the lack of concern for attention to detail here. I did not enjoy any part of this meal, which cost over $100. My biggest takeaway from this dinner is to never take Reddit reviews of Santa Cruz restaurants seriously again. Of course, nobody asked how my food was.

    Photos
    Indoor space
    Indoor space
    Netflix and Chill - party of one goblin, a chirashi and her Carmel Valley, unoaked Chardonnay!
    Netflix and Chill - party of one goblin, a chirashi and her Carmel Valley, unoaked Chardonnay!
    Menu is very big and visible, with basically every single picture that help us to choose easy!

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    Menu is very big and visible, with basically every single picture that help us to choose easy!
    Fuji Sushi

    Fuji Sushi

    4.4
    (53 reviews)
    0.5 mi

    I've driven past this place almost daily and today we decided to stop by and have dinner here…read more The staff is welcoming and attentive. We were surprised to see both Japanese and Chinese cuisine menus. When our server asked us which menus we wanted to order from, we picked both - just because we wanted to see what kind of food they have. We ordered: 3 Ko Ramen Pork Tonkatsu Five Cracker Roll Agedashi Tofu Garlic Edamame Fresh Salmon Nigiri We are very surprised by how big the portions are. We ordered a lot of food thinking about the other Japanese restaurants we have been to - they have pretty small portions. Not here! The portions are huge! I brought both my boys in their early 20s with me. These two can eat more than I have ever seen anyone eat, and we still couldn't finish everything. We had a lot of leftovers. All the food was wonderful. The Ko ramen is amazing!!! All our food was so fresh and tasted really good. The outside of the building is deceptively small-looking. The place has a lot of seating inside and has a party room as well. Despite the number of diners around us, it didn't sound loud at all, in fact we were able to speak in a very normal indoor volume and we could hear each other perfectly. We found ample parking in the back of the building. No parking fees/meters. Next time we will try the Chinese food too. For now, the Japanese food i would definitely recommend. Will update review after we try the Chinese food. Their prices are really good! They also have a discounted menu of 4 different offerings for students M-F I believe 12pm to 2pm. Those prices are amazing!

    Pros: The combo tempura was piping hot and just *perfect*,…read morewith a fun assortment of veggies (crunchy green bean? almost creamy Japanese eggplant? Super cool.) I honestly haven't stopped thinking about it. The chow mein was also piping hot and extremely fragrant of garlic as the plate was set in front of me. I haven't stopped thinking of that succulent steam facial, either. I also had a root beer. Life should always be perfect tempura and your favorite soda. The service was great as well. They replied with a genuine "enjoy" to each of my "thank-you's", and also spoke very kindly and gave great service to the considerably under-spoken guy at the booth next to mine. Con: The place is old as dirt and needs to be gutted. I don't think it was 'sticky' tablecloth dirty, but I was pleasantly surprised that the bathroom was very clean and tidied. The smell when I entered the restaurant quickly let me know that something was wrong with the sewer lines, or something. Like, I almost left before anyone saw me stroll into the empty place, ok? There was a gal who was walking in to scope the place out for she and her friends as I was leaving. She didn't stay. I was waiting for an Uber as she hightailed it back to her car declaring "Well, I guess I haven't been there in a while..." into her phone. Overall, I'm glad I stayed to give an old place a new try for the first time in... 15 years? Not surprised that all of the orders were being picked up by DoorDash, etc, but also not surprised at how many orders were being pickup up, one after another. I need tempura and rooty beer this week. Not sure if I'd ever be brave enough to give their sushi menu a try, though.

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Fuji Volcano Roll
    Fuji Volcano Roll
    Japanese and Chinese menus

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    Japanese and Chinese menus
    Ramen Kaito

    Ramen Kaito

    3.7
    (373 reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$

    I was really sad and disappointed…read more I ordered the teriyaki chicken and rice and a Sprite in a can. The total with tax was over $19. It's not the price that bothered me. What bothered me is the chicken from the beginning? It was cold It looked like it was going to be so good too. It just tasted weird. I felt like it wasn't cooked all the way, but then I just kept trying to eat it. Hubby said no it's cooked . There was a couple hard parts in it that hurt my tooth and then I asked my husband to try it because I told him I feel like this was just off. Maybe like frozen and refrozen. It just did not taste good For me, I've never ate at a Ramen place and not liked it so this was very odd to me unfortunately because it's not a restaurant and it's a food place that's in the mall. I didn't feel like I had a manager I could go talk to you know maybe it was a mishap. All I could finish was the rice. The food took over 10 minutes

    I ordered japanese curry for the first time here and was pleasantly surprised! I usually go for…read moreramen but decided to try something different this time and am glad I did! Chicken Katsu Curry (5/5) - The portion for this dish was very generous, the chicken katsu was well cooked and the flavor of the curry was delicous! They give you seaweed salad and pickled ginger on the side which is a really nice touch. I personally think they should separate the chicken from the curry, however, as the chicken can get soggy from getting soaked in the curry. But this dish was delicious! Matcha Milk Tea with boba (3/5) - This drink was good and was very cheap, only $4.50! I do think the matcha flavor could have been better as well as the quality of the tapioca pearls, but the drink was cheap so I did not have very high expectations. Next time I would try their matcha ice cream float! Overall I will be back!

    Photos
    Ramen Kaito
    CALIFORNIA ROLL
    CALIFORNIA ROLL
    Ramen Kaito

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    Aloha Island Grille

    Aloha Island Grille

    3.8
    (620 reviews)
    2.2 mi
    $$

    **Overall: 4.2 stars**…read more Think local, surfer beach aloha vibe. You order at the counter or on the one kiosk. When I went, no one was in line, so the friendly staffer greeted us and told us she could take our order. When I was debating between 2 dishes, she described the salmon and that sealed my decision - haha. Order, ready! The portions were HUUUGE! The dishes were delicious! I can't get over how tender and flavorful my salmon was, yet the skin was crispy! (I don't usually eat the skin, but I did! That tells you how well they cooked it!) The chicken katsu had TWO layers of chicken! And each lunch plate had two scoops of rice and one scoop of Mac salad. They tasted like traditional Hawaiian cuisine. We sat outside on the main patio so we could be in the sun and watch the cars and passerby's from the beach. It was so nice to be a couple blocks from the ocean. The only negatives -- though small ones -- were parking is street parking because they only have two onsite spots, and they are super casual dining (like it's common to see customers in bathing suits and flip flops here), so it may not be a place to go if you're on a date or wanting to take out of towners or clients. It's a place to get great local Hawaiian food! Aloha Island Grille may just be my new favorite Hawaiian spot.

    Service was Great. Young lady gave Great recommendations. Food came out Hot & Fast…read more Highly recommend n will Definitely go again. Luv the size of the Portions.

    Photos
    Cute and casual
    Cute and casual
    Inside the fish I had! Was so tasty and tender!
    Inside the fish I had! Was so tasty and tender!
    Chicken Katsu Plate

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    Chicken Katsu Plate

    Sushi Garden - sushi - Updated August 2026

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