Do NOT go!
I had been to the other Taka sushi restaurant in the Gaslamp so I figured Chef Taka had to be good. It wasn’t. If you can imagine the cross between a sushi bar and a dive bar, this was it. When we walked in, the entire place smelled like some kind of cleaning product (ammonia, floor cleaner…?). I wonder if that was their way to try to hide the smell of bad fish.

The sushi bar was crowded to the point that you could hardly move. It wasn’t that it was busy, but they just had 1 or 2 too many chairs for the space so you had to almost sit on the lap of your neighbor.

The sushi was poor. The salmon skin hand roll was made with old thick skins. As a result, they were not crispy like bacon, and they were quite fishy. I only ate half of mine. The sake (salmon) was better, but not great. The Spanish mackerel was fair, the spicy tuna roll was OK, and the rainbow roll was also fair. The soft-shell crab roll (made with tempura crab) was terrible. The crab was fried earlier in the day so it was neither warm nor crispy. It just tasted like soggy oily batter. After one bite, we sent it back and asked for the check. Do yourself a favor, do not go here.    [15 Sep 2006 11:40:28]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: none

     ­Anonymous   

Do Go ......
I disagree with the other review. Chef Taka restaurant was excellent. We tried all the sushi and it was the best. Sweet shrimp with the deep fried head. It was nice and hot. Uni was fresh and plump. We also tried Taka's maxamillion steak, which was unbelievable. It melts in your mouth, nothing like it. We asked chef Taka how he made the steak and he told us some complicated process he goes through to make the steak so tender. The staff is friendly and if you want fresh sushi, it's the place to be.They have great happy hour and specials.    [07 Jan 2007 01:37:18]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Rainbow roll , salmon, yellow tail and Maxamillion steak

     ­anonymous   

Do Go for Sure
When I walked into the restaurant, I did smell the cleaning product, but that's only because they clean their restaurant. By looking at their fish, everything looked good to me, good enough where you see sushi chefs from other part of town are in there as a regulars. Never tried salmon skin hand roll, however, sashimi is my thing. You can't trick the fish. Give these guys A+.    [04 Jul 2007 11:18:32]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Everything on the menu.

     ­George