Oh no: Onami (San Diego, CA)

1640 Camino Del Rio N
San Diego, CA 92108
(619) 295-9774
o-nami.com

My good friend Peter N. and I stumbled into this restaurant while listlessly wandering around the mall one day. Fatigued and slightly starving, we spotted an oasis up ahead -- Onami's sushi buffet! We scurried to the front door to take a glimpse at the prices. YIKES! $25 for dinner? A big no-no for our college-student wallets. We vowed to come back to try at lunch, which we did within two weeks on a Friday ($14.95).

We thought we were so clever. "Har-har," we cackled to each other. "We're eating the same buffet for so much cheaper! He he he!" Clasping our hands and laughing maniacally, we began our eating adventure with grabbing a plate.

There's many a sushi selection to choose from. Crunchy roll, tempura roll, California roll, spicy tuna roll, something called the "burrito roll" (interesting), unagi, and some special rolls which the chefs probably made up. There was even sashimi! Additional food available were beef teriyaki, chicken teriyaki, udon, bulgogi, egg rolls...etc etc. All were so-so, except for the udon, which was fairly decent. There was also quite a few desserts to choose from -- cheesecake, fruits dipped in chocolate, green tea cake, sponge cake, cookies-- but my favorite was the green tea ice cream. Fruits and salads as well.

BUT -- where's the seafood??

Turns out that the lunch buffet is $10 cheaper for a reason. There was no seafood, except for baked mussels (which frankly, were sub par). No crab legs, no lobster, no oysters...sigh.

So for $15 + tax + tip, you're not getting much for your money. The sushi is decent, but perhaps better spent at an actual sushi restaurant. The hot food is certainly not something to rave about. The desserts were decent; the cheesecake and white chocolate dipped apple were pretty good.

If you are torn between whether or not to try Onami's, I would not suggest it unless you have money to blow and just want to stuff yourself silly. In that case, I recommend my favorite item in the whole buffet -- the green tea ice cream.

P.S. I have to hand it to the customer service, though, our empty plates were always immediately collected and our servers were extremely pleasant.