Gen Kai Japanese Restaurant in Dana Point

Best sushi for miles. They have a super secret specials menu... and all you have to do is ask for it.

Outstanding sushi. Great conversation with the staff. Had a really great time. Will return whenever I am in town.

Hands down the best sushi in town.

This is my go to. I'm a regular and have enjoyed uncountable bites at this place. Toyo and his chefs deliver fresh and exciting bites on the regular. But moreover what brings me back is their consistency and simplicity delivering bites that are always fresh and satisfying.

Sooo delicious everybody loved and enjoyed what they ate! Best sushi burritos ever it's what got me into sushi burritos!

Absolutely delicious, the venue could be a bit higher quality, but everything else is 5 stars.

Awesome Toro and Baked Green Mussels!

Fantastic sushi. Best fish, and engaging master who cares about you getting the best tasting sushi possible.

A very down to earth place. The sushi speacials were great. I would recommend the Robert special and the Sammy on spicy tuna special. The prices were average for sushi and portions were large. We will be back to try more of their special rolls

Probably the best tuna and salmon I've ever eaten. Excellent service and incredibly reasonable for the excellent quality of their food. We look forward to future visits.

The food was good, the restaurant crowded. Not the best I've had but certainly not the worst. Overall a good experience but the restaurant could use a good cleaning.

I used to enjoy reasonably priced decent fish at Gen Kai. I've overlooked the lack of cleanliness (old stained carpet). Was there last night and never got to taste fish as my service SUCKED and I left after an hour of waiting for a sashimi platter. Other tables seated after us received their orders. I love sushi and this place is not nearly the quality that some of the reviews describe. Add the TERRIBLE service along with the complacency of the management and you get a place that should be avoided. There's plenty of better fish in OC and nearly everywhere has better service.

Great service, authentic looking atmosphere. The food was top notch. I ordered the Gen Kai Special boat, the Garlic spicy salmon sashimi, crispy rice with spicey tuna and chicken fried rice.The boat was more food than I expected and I expected a lot... I ordered it half chicken half NY steak, and tempura. So much tempura, shrimp, calamari, carrot, yam, onion, broccoli, shrimp, and several other veggies I dont know what they were. Steak was cooked a great medium rare +, chicken was tender and great flavor. It also came with spring rolls and gyoza.The salmon was exceptionally delicious. Crunchy dried garlic and sprouts over melt in your mouth, ultra clean salmon sashimi in a spicey sauce, it was phenomenal.The fried rice was rich with butter and very delicious.The crispy tuna is a MUST! They take sticky sushi rice and sear the outside leaving a warm chewy center and top it with spicy tuna and a pepper ring. I will order this every visit.

Best priced, most quaint sushi bar around... Sit at the bar- the guys are so awesome and you will get a fabulous dessert!

As a local for the past 25 years this has been a favorite spot. Love the food, but $8 for a draft beer is plain greed. Shame because a few dollars will make you lose a "regular".

I felt over charged. I ordered 4 lunches to go, and apparently you’re charged $3 additional per meal. So in total $12 over what is advertised on the menu. When I discussed this with the hostess she was a little off putting and showed me a “new” menu that outlines $3 additional lunch item. All in all wasn’t to impressed with the lunch items, so not sure if I’ll be back for an over charged take out item.

The best in the west

Staff very nice. If you sit at the sushi bar, you can order rolls and seaweed salad that is all amazing! They are also easy going with custom rolls. Location is easy to find, right off PCH. I also love the little surprise snack they treat you with at the end😊

Delicious and fresh sushi. Great service and pleasant staff.

Love the food, welcoming staff is ok, could be friendly-er ...

For over 20 years my "go to" place for quality fresh sushi.

We came here based off yelp reviews and we are glad we did, the sashimi was excellent and fresh tasting. I ordered the seared salmon with grilled onions and avocado and the seared albacore was not disappointed. The service was great and we got our food quickly after we ordered. The prices were great too.

Sushi was amazing. Service was great and fast. Good pricing. 5 rolls 3 large beers and a large hot saki for $60

Gen Kai is definitely the sushi spot for anyone in the beach cities area. Priced fair and the food is incredible. I do find sitting at the bar is a better experience then in the dining hall due to how busy the staff gets though.

My husband and I's favorite place for our lunch date. I recommend their "Happy Meal", it's very satisfying!

Amazing staff, friendly and fun to interact with, great food, sushi chef very attentive

This is our favorite sushi restaurant since moving down to San Clemente. Only bummer is it must be everyone else's favorite too because the wait can be long, reservations are highly recommended.

Very tasty Sushi Affair. All the dishes were well-made. Reasonably priced

what is listed on the menu isn’t what they bring to your table. There were missing ingredients from the sushi rolls and they also added different things to them. We had to ask what every roll was because they simply weren’t what we ordered, we didn’t want to cause a problem so we just ate them since they told us that’s what we ordered. The tempura shrimp was not crunchy and it was cold like it had been fried earlier then refrigerated. The taste of the food was alright but the texture on all of the rolls was simply unpleasant because of missing/added ingredients. The whole place is a mess, unorganized and disappointing. I’m not sure why this place is so highly rated.

My new favorite sushi spot, and that's hard to get out of me. Great location with amazing sushi. The restaurant was very clean and nicely decorated. It's a very relaxed and calming vibe. Sort of hidden in a sense. I loved every bit of it! The customer service was fantastic and the prices are reasonable.

Top notch sushi in a comfortable sort of tucked away location. Always fresh fish!

This place never disappoints! The fish is very fresh. The best sushi I've had!

Fantastic experience and food. Sat at sushi bar. Everything was fresh quick and tasted great. Loved my usual unagi. Tried some new stuff too.

Best octopus I have ever had. Excellent experience unfortunately you can't drink with the chefs anymore.

Excellent! The service from start to finish was honest and friendly. The sushi, specialty rolls, and hand rolls were nicely presented and tasted clean and fresh. The pop-up shrimp and spicy tuna specialty roll was especially good. If I am back in the area I will definitely come back.

Great sushi place minutes from the beach. Fantastic selection of rolls and sake. The unfiltered was excellent!

The sushi here is very tasty and moderately priced. Off the beaten path, so not too touristy. The restaurant could use a good deep cleaning, though.

Amazing sushi... get the Screaming O! You wont regret it 😉

Best sushi and great chefs! Always very friendly and creative!

Best sushi I ever had. So good I forgot to take photos.

Amazing food and service, we ate here 3 times in a 4 day trip and had a totally different meal each time, but each time was amazing. The sushi and sashimi are prepared fast and beautifully crafted by the sushi chefs, who are all incredibly friendly and attentive. The food comes fast but you can enjoy it slowly. I love the hot towel service, plentiful edamame and cucumber salad that come with the meal. The crispy rice with spicy tuna is out of this world!

Excellent in every way. Sashimi/sushi lunch combo at the bar was delicious! Fresh fish and hit green tea on a rainy day-perfection!

One of the exclusive restaurant the food is excellent the service is first class

Best Sushi quality since 1988Always 1rst Class quaulity, Service and kindness. Remarcable. Great lunch and dinner special

The place is nothing fancy but you can't judge the book by its cover. Food was very good. Not the best I have ever had but pretty good. Fish was very fresh and pretty good size portions. To me good rice and proportion to the fish is just as important as sushi itself and that didn't disappoint at all. I can't remember the name of tuna fish we got that was peppered and had a smokey flavor was my favorite dish. Kids loved their caterpillar roll. We'll be back for sure.

Best Sushi restaurant on the west coast! Go hungry and trust Yoshi the master chef choose for you. Trust me! Every time I've visited, I've enjoyed something new and exciting. Perfect for small groups. They were even accommodating to my young son. I highly recommend this place. I also recommend not ordering your normal traditional plain rolls, but be adventurous. Yoshi will impress you with his design and care to the finest details that will make every bite delightful.

Great place, they have a lot of things on there menu that u don't find at most other run of the mill places.

Best sushi I've had of the 15+ cities I've travelled to.

Great food. Great service. Good prices

Best place - Awesome service - Very fresh!