Naka Sushi

My kiddo LOVES the sumo wrestling on tv here and wants me to take them back here to eat sushi and watch more matches.

I love the toasted sesame seeds on the outside of some of their rolls. I'm not a big sushi person, but I liked my roll, and the kids with me liked theirs. We also liked the edamame and miso soup.

The only tricky thing was calling in the order by phone. The connection wasn't very good and it was hard to know if the person on the other line understood/heard me, and vice versa. Not a huge problem, but makes me want to just go eat in person when I can. The folks working there seemed nice, and the atmosphere inside was very warm and relaxed, almost family-like. Will definitely go again and see if the kids like the gyoza, and I'll check out some of the not-sushi options.

I've had some good food here but also questionable interactions.I've had take out from here 5 or 6 times . They warn you the rolls are large and as others mention almost impractical. So I usually deconstruct them or order hand rolls. Knowing this I usually enjoy this place and its solid for the area. I think sometimes their large portions cause the customer to receive large sinewy pieces that have horrible mouth feel. No one wants to chew a piece of tuna for minutes and still have it be intact. I alerted them to this and they basically told me I was crazy. I might be but I've eaten a lot of sushi and usually a section like that won't make it into a plate. The place has been there forever, is small and often crazy busy where they won't take phone orders.

Nasty service. I don't care how good the food is if the staff/owners treat customers like trash. "Ty" and his defensive responses here, case in point. You spot it, you got it, bro.

UPDATE: See what he said? As expected. Sounds like a racist too. Deserves all the bad reviews he gets.

Please explain to me why sushi rolls need to be this large. Extremely unpleasant eating vibes. Sushi is NOT FINGER FOOD. Bye bye!

For multiple years now I have taken my Japanese father here when I visit to celebrate his birthday. Tonight was his 89th birthday. I wish I could go back in time and pick a different spot.

As much as I'd like to go into great detail of all the issues we experienced, I'll make this as succinct as I can.

The owners do not care about your experience, just your money. The chef yelled at us in Japanese (not kind words) not realizing we had Japanese speakers in our group. This happened twice.

At the start of our dining, we asked for our group of 5 to not be squeezed into a 4-top when the restaurant was not even a quarter full. They would not accommodate us. At the end of the evening when we commented on this, the server said "you can't expect to have half our our restaurant." This was after they sat multiple parties of 2 at 4-tops as at multiple times during the evening. At no point was the restaurant ever at capacity.

After we asked for the bill, they told us a mandatory gratuity would be added to our bill (for 5 people). This was not conveyed ahead of time, nor printed on their menu (not that we wouldn't tip, but it's ridiculous to say this after they knew we were not happy with our experience). This gratuity was added TO OUR CREDIT CARD RECEIPT AS A MANUAL WRITE IN ON THE TIP LINE, not as a line-item on our itemized receipt. It was also made after tax--which is not how it should even be done. I was not allowed to keep a copy of the itemized receipt. When I brought it up to the server, she directed us to the owner who pretended to not speak English. I gave up attempting to explain the situation as it was clearly pointless and a waste of my party's time despite the principle of the situation.

As we left the restaurant, the chef said "thank you" in English, then once again yelled at us in Japanese, still not realizing we had Japanese speakers in the group.

My recommendation is to stay away.

Still love this place. If you haven't tried, their Chicken Kara age curry is amazing. Best sushi in town by far.

While the kids ate ramen from next door, the adults ordered from here as we were craving Japanese food. While it's a little pricier the food here is worth every penny. Super fresh high quality sushi and also generous cut

We got
- hotate scallop nigiri - Hokkaido scallops $9
- hamachi yellowtail nigiri - huge! See photo -$11.50
- hamachi collar $16.99
- dinner salad - very fresh with ginger dressing on the side
- size of rice - we even love the rice. So fluffy

Definitely plan to be back if we are in Santa Cruz again. They only had take out since this is still COVID time so glad our hotel was across the street at Fairfield inn.

the freshest sushi in Santa Cruz!
delicious and generous portions
I highly recommend Naka Sushi!
the unagi is out of this world!!!

Best traditional sushi I've had in Santa Cruz - the hamachi was especially good. Portions were large (huge slices of fish on the nigiri). Quaint environment where one would feel comfortable dressed up or down. Kind service as well!

The two of us that had the tuna became sick the next day. It was our first time here and the cut and quality of the fish didn't resemble their current yelp rating.