Ootoro Bar

Ootoro Handroll Bar in Irvine opened not too long ago and I'm so glad I decided to try something new and gave her a chance :') First of all, SUPER clean establishment. The way my jaw dropped when I saw the pricing here -- everything was so fair priced/ cheap. The quality of fish here is top tier -- honorable mention the TORO. In this economy I felt like eating here was a steal xD My friend & I ordered the 4 hand roll set & it came out to $22 per person (with tip. I love how they put less rice & a good amount of fish. The service was phenomenal -- they came by pretty often and ensured that we were enjoying the handrolls. Overall an amazing experience, I will be back soon. The only other hand roll bar I've been to in Orange County is ROL hand bar and this one is 1000% better.

Unique experience every sushi lover needs to have.High quality and super attention to detail.Ofcorse I recommend this place. From the moment you walk in you realize it's all about the food, no unneeded noise or visual distractions.

I am a regular at Ootoro Irvine. It's consistently excellent quality and fair priced. I prefer table seating and lunch combo, cirashi and sashimi vs hand roll sets. I am not a business person but if sales are less than expected they could move the bar all the way back and setup tables and try that. Irvine seems very busy.

I absolutely love Ootoro, specially the location in Irvine, so when I found out they opened a hand roll bar I was excited. I knew the quality of the fish was top tier but I wanted to see if the hand roll experience was the same. Service was quick and fast. There was no line when I went in for lunch with my dad and we got seated right away. The restaurant was a lot bigger in person than I thought. There are 2 separate hand roll counters and ~3 regular tables. I ordered the 5 roll (A) set and my dad ordered the 7 roll (B) set. The rolls came out in a timely manner, one after another. The ratio of fish to rice was good. I was faced with the same top tier quality sushi that I've loved at the Irvine location so that was perfect. One thing I wish was better is the quality of the nori. It didn't have the crunch factor. It wasn't soggy but I'd say the selection could be improved upon. Overall, I think Ootoro Bar is a great option for people who are looking for high quality fish. ROL hand roll bar is a popular neighboring competitor and in my opinion, I do like ROL because their nori, onion crunch, and sauce options. The sauces are more unique and experimental but the quality of ROL's fish is lacking. High quality sushi does not need additional sauce because the fish itself has a natural flavor profile. Ootoro Bar is offering that traditional, staple hand roll. I love a simple dish done well so this was a good experience for me.

My cousin took his wife and me here few days ago and it was my first time and I fell in love with this new sushi spot!! It was my cousin's wife and my birthday month January so we were having our birthday dinner and the restaurant gave us two complimentary ice cream. They were super nice about it and the ice cream was delicious!!They are known for their hand roll and my cousin's wife got the 7 rolls set and it was plentiful for her! They let her substituted one of them. My cousin and I got two versions of the chirashi, premium and regular and they were both so good! My only comment was I wonder why they did not have uni in the premium one. However, wow, have you seen my photos of their chirashi bowl??? I have NEVER seen such a THICK and HUGE cute of sashimi on a chirashi bowl!! If these were the size of sashimi on a chirashi bowl I can only wonder how their sashimi set would look like!! Their fish here is super fresh and delicious and you can tell the quality is top notch!Service here is also phenomenal and they are very attentive, helpful explaining their menu to us because it was our first time and was very patient with us! We had a baby in a carriage with us.I would definitely come back to their lunch set and would ALWAYS come back for their chirashi! I hope they never change the way the serve up their chirashi and their food!!

Excited to see Ootoro Tustin location offer take outs and is open during lunch time (unfortunately online ordering portal wasn't working for me, so I had to call..). I wanted to try both the set boxes and some nigiri so got the Sushi/blue crab box (10 piece nigiri + crab cut roll), premium chirashi box, and 6 additional pieces of sushi. The nigiri pieces had great fish to rice ratio and so all the fish tasted fresh, fatty, and high quality! I was most impressed with the premium Chirashi box, which came with thick pieces of salmon, toro (!!), sweet shrimp, surfer claim, tamago, and several pieces of white fishes (wasn't sure of the name). It was so much fish that I ran out of rice and kept some for the next meal. Everything is packaged very well and it makes a great option for a fancier take-out "date lunch"!

I think my fiancé and I just found our new Sushi spot! We can literally walk here but it's been so cold these days haha. We love the set up of the restaurant, very up scale and dim light settings. Most of the seats were high rise bar seating. Mainly would be good for small groups. Fresh fish smell when you first walk in, you know it's going to be good. We both started off with some hand rolls. I ordered the 4 hand roll combo, which was blue crab, toro, spicy yellow tail, and spicy tuna. Hands down, it was amazinggg. They seasoned it with perfection. They only recommend dipping one time with soy sauce but to be honest, most pieces I ate did not even need soy sauce dipping. Highly recommend this combo I ordered.. it's the perfect variety of fish for hand rolls. My fiancé ordered sake (salmon) sashimi. Super generous with the cut and thickness. She loved it. On top of that we ordered a few nigiri's. Ordered a few toro pieces and it was delicious. Favorite piece of the night was red snapper... if you love white fish, this should be a go to. They put the right amount of yuzu and wasabi. They season their fish really well. So many options to choose from. We also tried the miso cod. This was a grilled fish dish. It was ok, we've had better.Other than that, we had a nice dinner here. Looking forward to coming back.

Move over ROL...you've got competition. It's more like a 3.5 stars but I rounded up because the service was great. From the over of the Ootoro restaurant in Irvine, this place is more similar to ROL band bar by Kei Concept.No tables-just two large bar with seatings all around. They serve mainly rolls and rolls set. Price is reasonable. The rolls were average. Rice could be better but for the price, don't expect authentic Japanese rice or high quality fish. Definitely a nice place to hang out with friends to chit chat.

This is one of the best omakase experiences in OC.It's technically not omakase because you already know what you're getting when you order, but for the price, you get a whole lot of fish and high-quality cuts.On the hand roll side, I like it better than rol, kazunori, etc because they put big pieces of fish into the rolls instead of chopped fishes like they do at those other places. It's truly astounding to me that no other restaurant does this.The restaurant itself takes reservations but it doesn't usually get super crowded. Waits are still fairly minimal but this has definitely become my go-to place for a great sushi lunch or dinner

First time to this location to try the hand roll bar. There was no wait so we got seated at the bar immediately. I ordered a 4 piece set for $18.95. I had Toro, blue crab, spicy yellowtail, and spicy tuna. It's a very reasonably priced light meal, with nice quality fish. The pace was a little faster than I would have liked because you have to eat each roll immediately so the seaweed doesn't get soggy. The sushi chef will wait for you to finish before they serve the next piece; but it still felt really fast. Probably a great thing if you want to come for lunch on a workday, but not as good when we want to enjoy your meal and spend time talking to your companions. Compared to the other hand roll bar in Irvine I think this is better quality fish and amount of fish but the seaweed can't compare because not as crunchy.