Rebel Omakase

Rebel Omakase is a high-end sushi restaurant in Laguna Beach tucked away next to a row of small shops and recently earned one Michelin star. Despite the small location, they have a free parking lot down the alley in the back. There's also street parking throughout the area.The inside was very minimal with lots of open space and had wood finishes throughout. There were only about 10 seats available at the counter but when we were there there were only six total people.The omakase was $300/person and consisted of 12 courses. Everything was of the highest quality, especially the fish which was all delicious. The sweet shrimp, white salmon, and the anago were great. The Hokkaido uni was so silky, and the bluefin tuna might have been my favorite. The crab in the kegani was so sweet, and the monaka yellowtail was savory. The wasabi was fresh and pungent, and the ginger was mild but effective.The service was amazing! They brought over and explained each course to us, and took our finished dishes promptly. When we were getting out of our seats and sitting back down, they would pull out our chairs. We ordered a bottle of wine and they would keep the bottle cold while we were drinking and refilled when our glasses were getting low. They were serious and attentive with their jobs but were also whimsical making slight jokes here and there. They made a delicious meal an even more wonderful experience.Overall the experience was two hours and we enjoyed it very much. It's a heavy price tag especially if you buy drinks. If you don't, there are plenty of places around the area to grab one before or after your meal here.

Don't waste your time and money.Dump of an establishment. I've seen food courts look better than this.Mediocre food. Trash service.Nothing remotely 'Michelin' about this place

My wife and I celebrated our anniversary and were very excited for the occasion. We've dined in over ten Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, London, and Chicago, and we've had Omakase at the Ritz and other high-end sushi spots, so we know the difference between good and great dining experiences. Unfortunately, our visit to Rebel Omakase was just okay and definitely ranks among the bottom third of our dining experiences.1. The interior was bland and felt like sitting in an IKEA store.2. Although there were many courses, they lacked inventiveness. It wasn't that special. The $900 we spent on dinner, a few beers, and the cheapest bottle of sake could have provided us with better sushi dining for five or six evenings at our local spot.3. My wife became ill in the middle of the night and continued to feel unwell the following day. She hadn't eaten anything for nine hours prior to dining at Rebel, so while we can't say for certain that it was the meal, we're unsure what else it could have been. I called Rebel to let them know, and they mentioned that an insurance representative would contact me, but no one did. That seemed weird as we were hoping to get an apology or maybe a comeback and try us again; we will make it better.For a great dining experience, I'd recommend going to a block over to Broadway by Omar Santana instead. I wouldn't spend my money here again.

While quite expensive ($300/person), the quality and experience is quite amazing here at Rebel Omakase. What sets this apart from other fine dining Japanese omakase experiences I have attended before are:1) high end unique ingredients2) obscure types of fish that I'd never tried before (white salmon for example!)3) the nigiri is served in between other courses so that instead of nigiri one right after the other (as typical in omakase) you'll receive a course, then piece of nigir or two, then another course, then a piece of nigiri, etc. The nigiri offered was outstanding! That was my favorite part of the meal.The ambiance is simple but classy. Service was outstanding! We enjoyed the Polaroid photo presented to us with the bill. That was a very nice and impressive surprise! Parking is street parking and easier at dinner in the off season since it's in the heart of Laguna where there's a ton of tourists in the summer. Overall, due to the price, this is a special occasion restaurant. Chef does change the menu seasonally so I would try again next summer when there will be more cold dishes (this time as the end of October there were more soups and hot dishes).In terms of the high end Orange County omakase restaurants, Rebel Omakase is in both mine and my husband's Top 3 list! My husband and I both rank Omg Omakase by Gino as the best, then he ranks Hana re second (I rank Rebel Omakase second)!! and then he ranks Rebel Omakase third and I rank Hana re third) however in the grand scheme of things all 3 restaurants are outstanding and deliver a 5 star experience!

A one star 2024 michelin rated restaurant tucked away in the corner of laguna beach. We had a 5pm seating and arrived 45 mins early so was able to get parking at the back. There are only 4 designated spaces so it's first come. The overall experience was done well as the chef prepared each dishes with delicacy and thought. Beautiful presentations on the non nigiri items which was explained by the servers. dinner price is $300 per person which i feel is a bit more than other omakases i've been to which i feel is in similar comparison. The only dish i felt short was chawanmushi which was at room temp and lacked flavors. I enjoyed the dessert as it was a delicate and light as well as uniquely presented. They offer to take a polaroid picture in the end which was a nice touch as well as a bottle of sake. counter seats 11

Rebel Omakase is a really enjoyable dining experience, and worth the rather hefty price for a seat. Their simple setup was pretty surprising, with dorm-style looking hot plates and little else in the prep area. What they produce I suppose doesn't need much, most of it being beautifully prepared very fresh fish. I would have liked to have had an option for a cocktail but was informed that one would take away from the experience, and the focus on the sashimi and other dishes. They did have beer and sake. We each had a beer. The sake was pretty pricey, and I'm no connoisseur, so felt the beer was a safer bet.Service was exceptional. A napkin fell off my lap and was immediately replaced. The number of staff pretty much matches the number of diners, so not terribly hard to pay such attention. Plan on arriving on time, as service begins roughly when it is supposed to, and it wouldn't be fun to miss out on any of their courses. Get a drink elsewhere before of after, perhaps at the neighboring Broadway.

This place was just OK. For the price, I just expected more. The food was sort of a let down. Look, I really wanted to enjoy this place, but some of the dishes just didn't make sense to me. Nothing was really that memorable except the Uni. I definitely enjoyed the A5 wagyu, but cmon.... only one little sliver of meat with a dot of foie gras? Also, everything just seemed so much tinier than other omakase spots in the area like Hanare, which I definitely enjoyed more than this place. I left this place only 50% full to the point I had to get 2 In-n-Out Burgers to satisfy my dinner meal. The fact that this place actually got a Michelin Star in 2024 is baffling. Maybe I'll see if I can give this place another shot. It was probably an off night. I had a weird tinder date going on next to my wife and rude customers next to me who TOOK FOREVER to eat and kept the poor chef waiting. They were also eating the fish and leaving the rice of the nigiri for the chef to throw away. Hopefully, I'll get to update the review for this place. This was just 1 bad experience for me.

A beautifully curated experience from start to finish with excellent service. We decided to celebrate Valentine's here (late review) and albeit great presentation, the food fell short for us. We had about 15 people in our service, 11 at the bar and 4 at the two tables behind us. Here's a few things to note from our visit: 1. Parking: there's a designated lot with limited spots behind the restaurant, or if full there is plenty of street metered parking. We got there half an hour early and secured a spot in the lot. 2. Arrival: The doors don't open until the time of your service. If you arrive early, bring a jacket or dress warm because you have to wait outside in the patio and there are no heaters. Most people seemed to arrive 20 mins before. 3. Courses: We had the menu in front of us and knew exactly what would come except for the types of sashimi and nigiri. I wish they took the time to print on the menu which fish we ate because as you get dish after dish, it starts to pick up and if you can't remember that's kind of it. I didn't like that my baby squid (at the bottom of the soup) had a piece of its plastic quill inside it, and the stone crab I had also had pieces of shell inside, at the price point I expected more meticulous preparation. The dessert I wish we got more of, I understand omakase isn't mentioned to be glutinous but one grape and one strawberry split in half plated with a spoon of ice cream isn't much, along with a 2 in piece of Japanese honeydew. 4. Taste: I would say taste was more on the sweet and bland side. The nigiri though was excellent, I enjoyed the subtle bits of yuzu salt and soy that were added by the chef. I think the raw squid was the best I've had, perfect umami. The egg drop soup and the chawanmushi were underwhelming since it was more bland. 5. Presentation: phenomenal it was literally like eating art! Chef has a great eye for detail and each dish was aesthetically pleasing. See my pictures for how they used red beans and mung beans, to dishware absolutely beautiful and captivating. 6. Service: absolutely great! The staff kept a keen eye on you and the chefs stayed engaged. Sometimes the staff would explain what the dish was and sometimes the chef would. They'd help you in and out of your seat during service and always refilled waters. At the end of the service, the chef gifted each party a sake bottle a sweet and genuine gesture. Overall, it was a great experience to try and be a part of, if they did a la carte we'd consider coming back one day.

Excellent omakase. We went for the 12 course lunch ($160 pp) and were not disappointed! It's not just sushi-- it's an experience. Here's everything you need to know...Reservations - you'll need them. Make them on Opentable and you will need to use a credit card as they charge if you cancel less than 72 hours in advance (trust me, you won't want to cancel this!). They overnight fish from Japan in advance so they're assuming a significant cost once the reservation is made, but you can transfer the reservation to someone else if you can't make it.Parking - plenty of street parking and the chef told us they have a small lot in the back. We didn't see that so we just parked on the street at a meter. $7.50 for three hours. Lunch takes a little over an hour and dinner takes a little over 2 hours, but it depends on how many people are there (the more, the longer) so give yourself a little cushion if you decide to meter.Service - Excellent. The moment you finish a course, there's someone there to take your plate. And there was a gentleman who explained every dish to us which was really nice as they were mostly dishes we'd never had before and some of the types of fish we'd never even heard of.Food - lunch is twelve courses, although some courses are just a single piece of sushi. Everything was meticulously prepared and delicious. My husband said it's the best sushi he's ever had. It's mostly raw but there are a few cooked/hot dishes as well (cooked fish filet with caviar in a dashi broth, egg drop soup with crab meat, and an egg custard with squid). There wasn't a single course we didn't like. The dessert for dinner is ice cream but for lunch it was a slice of Japanese melon (see my photos for portion sizes) that was better than any melon I've ever had.Beverages - I highly recommend you try the sake and the draught beer. When you order a carafe or bottle of sake (the carafe we ordered was $55), they bring out a box with unique sake glasses and you choose your own glass. It doesn't seem like much but it makes it really special. My husband ordered the Orion beer (in a bottle) which he liked, but then the server recommended he try the Japanese draught beer which he ended up getting another glass of. I'm not usually a beer fan but even I liked it. They also have hot tea (which I had in addition to the sake).Ambiance - minimalist and calming. It kind of reminded me of a spa. The lighting, the music, the decor was all very relaxing and really added to the experience.Chef - very humble and friendly. He encouraged us to ask questions (which we did!) and was so forthcoming in his answers. We learned a lot about the fish and how different chefs prepare sushi, etc. They even took a polaroid photo of us with the chef before we left.A few things to note - they open the door exactly at the reservation time so if you get there early and the door is locked, don't worry-- they're in there getting everything ready for you. They also have a restroom for customers so don't think you have to use the public ones (like you do with several establishments in Laguna). The lunch and dinner times are exact and you really do need to be on time. A couple in our group was late and they sort of had to rush through the first three courses to catch up.

My husband and I want to thank Chef Jordan, Debrah Cha and their team for a fantastic Valentine's Day! What a delightful experience to dine there! The food was so incredible and delicate. The service was impeccable.