Sushi Murasaki – Costa Mesa, CA
Upon arriving at Sushi Murasaki, I was a bit confused. It was strange to see this restaurant on the bottom floor of a two story office building, like some low-rent extra space up for grabs. It wasn’t its own unit, it was just like a hollowed out office turned into a restaurant. However, this seems like a great way to grab a lunch or even a dinner crowd from the surrounding offices.
From every aspect, this restaurant screamed refinement. From the chosen decor materials, restaurant color theme, the sushi cooler, worker attire, dinnerware, presentation of the food, and even right down to the menu (and website)–everything was beautiful.
It was very much like Ikko in its decor style and layout, except Murasaki was warming. Murasaki’s style is elegance without ostentation.
Here’s a shot from their website:
We were seated next to a married couple who were clearly unhappy having us next to them. A massive celebratory bottle on ice separated our tables. They asked the waitress if other seats were open and scooted their table over once they were shot down.
Being unaware I understood Vietnamese, they started to complain about the seating arrangements. The nerve! This made us feel even more uncomfortable, but I tried to just ignore it.
Luckily we talked to them and they turned out to be really friendly. We later found out they were just peeved because they were waiting on friends and there were other tables open. They come to Sushi Murasaki often and only for the omakase. The husband persisted that I let him buy me a beer, but given my tolerance, the rest of the night would have been shot.
Murasaki’s chefs and owners, Tsutomo and Dai, aim for a simple style cuisine using the best ingredients.
As you know from my frequent visits to Oki Doki, I’m programmed to love albacore with garlic chips.
The play on this dish is a lot more subtle here. I could barely taste the garlic or other garnishes, but I did enjoy the fish though.
Again, Murasaki hits us with beautiful presentation and one of the best salmon sushi I’ve had.
I usually don’t think twice about rainbow rolls, but I was shocked at the presentation of this one. The fish was fresh and they went light on the mayo (major plus).
This is a new dish for me–a baked seafood dish of salmon, scallops, and mushrooms in a broth. It was nicely cooked, had nice presentation, and balanced the rest of the dinner’s cold orders.
I love sushi and feel that you usually get what you pay for. When I pulled up and saw a bunch of Beamers, Benzs and some convertibles I knew Sushi Murasaki was going to leave a dent. We made out with a bill of $40 before tip though, which was very reasonable.
I was more impressed by Sushi Murasaki’s decor than the food. Don’t get me wrong though, the food was good. There were a ton more creative dishes on the menu and attractive items I saw on other tables. I MUST return to try more and the omakase.
Sushi Murasaki
2901 W MacArthur Blvd Suite 108
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 241-1000
www.sushi-murasaki.com
WARNING: DO NOT COME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This restaurant is notorious for cheating people on their bill in the amounts of $10- $30 dollars depending on the group size. I have gone here twice and both times the bill came out incorrectly. The first time was $10 when I went with my GF and sat at the bar.
The second time was with a group of 6 sitting at the table, and they overcharged us by about $35 dollars for beer and sushi we never ordered. When I confronted them about it, they got very nervous apologizing and conveniently had the right receipt with the correct price at the register already printed out. Seems like they print two receipts just in case you catch them in the act of cheating you so that they can bring out the receipt with the correct price immediately.
I called the next day to complain to the two owners Tomu and Dai (sushi chefs) and were completely ignored by them and they left it to the waiter to take care of the phone call. The waiter was sarcastic, unappologetic, and tried to get off the phone in a hurry.
Don't take my word for it, read it in Yelp yourself and you'll see many other customer's complaints about their inflated bill.
They did get decent remarks for their sushi, but in my opinion, it's not worth coming to this place for average tasting sushi and have to deal with the aggravation of getting cheated.
NOT WORTH IT!!!!!!!
Oh man sorry to hear that happened to you. That’s really bad. You should report this to the Better Business Bureau in Southern California: http://www.la.bbb.org