About Oto Sushi
Beyond their size, small businesses are defined by their spirit. And at the helm are their intrepid founders—scrappy, ambitious, and resilient. They invent and build things despite uncertainty, because it’s what drives them. Their risks lead to innovation that moves the world forward. And we need them.
Hands down the best sushi around—the fish, uni, and seafood are incredibly fresh. My husband’s Wagyu burger was excellent, and the duck skewers are a must-try. Don't skip their house-made cocktails; the lemon raspberry custard was the perfect light, refreshing finish. Just a heads up: the tables are quite small and it gets very noisy, so it feels more like a lively casual spot than a romantic date-night vibe. Still highly recommended for the food alone!
We saw their sign promoting a daily Happy Hour and decided to pop in for an early dinner. The decor is beautiful, the space is bright, open, and has a sophisticated coastal meets modern Japanese aesthetic. We grabbed seats at the bar, where Trenton, our bartender and server, super friendly and entertaining, providing genuinely great service. As for the food and drinks, we dove right into the menu: Oyster Mushroom Karaage (Pro-tip: Order this! Lightly fried, crispy, and packed with flavor, it's a mushroom lover's dream. Scorch Roll & Nikko Roll: Both were incredibly fresh and delicious. Salmon Kama: Cooked perfectly—tender and satisfying. Table-Side Grated Wasabi: A fun, theatrical touch! You get a little show and the amazing kick of fresh wasabi. Old Fashioned with Japanese Whisky: It wasn't on the Happy Hour menu, but who cares? This is my go-to, and it was excellent. Oto Sushi is a fantastic addition to the dining scene here, stylish, approachable, with quality food and genuinely great service. Planning our next dinner visit already (and, yes, another Old Fashioned). Lol
OTO Sushi in Laguna Beach offers a solid sushi experience with fresh fish and creative rolls, but for me it didn’t quite reach “wow” level overall. I tried the Basbas Spritz (herbal basbas with a vodka‑style base), which came out semi‑fresh and on the sweeter side, and it wasn’t really my taste—and no one checked back to see if I liked it, so I’d skip that drink next time. We ordered oysters, the OTO salad, tuna poke, and grilled eggplant to start; everything was good, and the OTO salad in particular was different in a good way and stood out from typical sushi‑house salads. For rolls, we had the Laguna Heat Roll, spicy salmon roll, Akari Cove, Salmon Socially, and a chef’s roll—the chef’s roll was excellent and felt special, while the spicy salmon roll was milder than expected. Some of these rolls were more sweet than spicy! We also tried the happy hour 4‑piece nigiri, which was good quality and felt like a nice value.Overall, I’d rate OTO Sushi as good and enjoyable, with fresh fish and some strong dishes, but not a place that completely blew me away on this visit. This place was noisy inside and wanted to make sure to mention it. I decided not to share details about the service shortcomings like taking 20 min to get water refill as it maybe due to them being busy.
This is the second time I've dined at Oto, this time with my wife. We decided to try the Happy Hour, which amazingly is every day of the week from 3 to 6pm. We ordered three dishes: the tuna poke, the chef's roll and the roll called Scorch. The tuna poke --- just super fresh tuna and sliced cucumber. No rice. A really refreshing dish. The chef's roll was spicy salmon, avocado and lots of other great ingredients. The Scorch roll has spicy tuna, snow crab, avocado, cucumber and tempura bits. All three dishes were delicious. The rolls, in particular, were a good size and expertly made with very fresh fish. And the Happy Hour prices made the overall meal reasonable. Our waiter was terrific: very friendly and helpful. The restaurant itself is stunning looking, a beautifully designed space right near the center of Laguna Beach village.
Went here last minute before a show tonight and was so pleasantly surprised! The most shocking thing was when I noted I am celiac and they said that they are pretty much fully gluten free there, minus their burger buns! I was immediately excited as usually sushi can be nerve wracking as a celiac person. I had the akari cove roll and hamachi nigiri - the fish was so fresh and the flavors were fantastic. Can’t wait to go back and try more of the menu :)