Minato Sushi in Lake Forest

Always delicious, everything fresh, great service. Price is reasonable for quality of food. We’ve been going here for years and never been disappointed. X-men roll is amazing! Great uni. Everything tastes, smells and looks appealing.

Food was decent, but the wait was unbelievably long. Ordered first round of all-you-can-eat and waited a half hour for the first item. We were the third people in the restaurant. Still waiting on the last item at the time of this review, an hour and a half later, lol. Probably won’t stick around for the complimentary dessert. Oh, and don’t order the dynamite!! Waiter Jordan did admirably trying to save the day, but... just no.

While I wouldn't consider this the finest sushi restaurant in Orange County, it is my favorite regular spot. The prices are great, the service is normally good, and the atmosphere is cool. If you're on a budget, I definitely recommend this place.

Great sushi great service

Minatos has been my main sushi grub for over a year now. Never fails to impress me. Great sushi rolls. I always take advantage of the buy 2 get 1 roll free deal.

I love this place. Every other sushi place I've ever been to gets compared to this. And the X-Men role still lives in my head as a long time favorite, and is a must have whenever I'm in town.

Very economical Lunch Menu

Tasty. Buy 2 great sushi rolls (fresh) and get 1 free roll

Best Sushi on the planet in my opinion. The owner James is awesome and so is the rest of the staff been going here for at least 12 years and I am never disappointed in the service or prices. I do all you can eat.

Great food, great price. Lovely staff.

Take “all-you-can-it” for $27.99 and eat :))). My favorite was tuna tataki and salmon. Quail eggs were good, as well as oysters and fresh water eel. As of uni - I didn’t like it here.

Everythings are great !

I’ve been coming here for years, and the food has always been amazing. The thing is, it’s always been take out. Decided to dine-in one night and the service was shocking. Walked in, and we weren’t even acknowledged by the staff until 10 minutes later. We watched as all the staff drank liquor together with some customers instead of taking care of us. Then a waitress came over and acknowledged a gentleman who came in after us AND was standing behind us. Like looked over us to acknowledge this guy. Then she looked at us and said “did you sign up on the wait list?” which was a clipboard sitting on the hostess desk. We said table for two and then we waited even longer because our hostess started chatting with the people she drank with. It was obnoxious and I’ve never had this service here before. Only do take-out, and get there before 7:30!!!

Fantastic all you can eat sushi, and authentic Sake selection for the curious alcohol enthusiast. Very filling rolls and countless options for any kind of Sushi preference!Pleasant service and amazing atmosphere, very open and accessible for such a small property!In my opinion this place is definitely worth every dollar they charge!

Food is fresh and delicious...great customer service! Our server Barbara was really friendly and helpful.

Really Good. Good prices. They have good deals

Minato is always a stop when I'm in southern Cali. The all you can eat sushi is decently priced and has a great variety. The rolls are always well made and delicious. The staff is also super pleasant! If you are a fan of sushi minato is definitely the place to stop!

Fabulous all you can eat selection. Great and pleasant staff. Delicious food.Updated Jan 28th-2020Our last visit was nothing but extremely tragic. The food quality has dropped drastically, we waited for 35 minutes to be served food while there were only 3 tables there, us being the 3rd. Once we got served, I felt they were trying to do everything to fill us up with tea, water and ignore us in hopes that we would not properly utilize the all you can eat we eventually paid $170 for. Last time I take the 20 minute drive to go here.

Came here for ayce at lunch time but menu was significantly smaller. But food is not bad. Waitress service is great.

My first visit. I arrived at lunch in time for their Lunchbox Special 11:30-2:30, and ordered a pot of jasmine tea. Delicious and waiter was great.

Very good and fresh food. Wasn't too crowded on the Thursday evening I visited. My friend and I got the all you can eat sushi for his birthday. Good deal for a lot of food

Good sushi. All-you-can-eat well worth it for a big eater. Check your bill carefully at the end.

Went on a Saturday evening and the service was really slow. We waited some time to be seated and then waited even longer for our food to come out. Our server did not really seem to be on top of it. He seemed unorganized and was not very courteous. We got the all you can eat. They had some good rolls, so I won't complain about the sushi. Two of the sushi chefs were having drinks with customers and making us laugh so that was a plus.

I love this place! The chefs are quick and the food is as fresh as it gets with good customer service as well.

Excellent Service. However they do have capacity restraints and you may asked to wait 20-45 min to be seated. The buy 2 get 1 free roll option may be better value then the all you can eat. Fish quality is great.

Whoa! The service here is wacky! Came in right behind an Asian group of the three. The waitress greets and seats them right away. Looks at my wife and I then walks away. A few minutes later, the waitress teturnss but to take the order of the group she just seated.... and we’re just standing there. The place only had a few people there (maybe the food sucks...didn’t get that far). So, a little insulted, we walked out. This was our first time there and likely our last.

Our go-to place since they opened. Never disappoints. Great and authentic Japanese. Everything about this place resolves my homesickness for Japan and food we so enjoy. Service very quietly efficient. Cucumber slush is-delish!!

Fantastic dishes, last night's selection was mind blowing. Go for the crispy rice and Minato special

Food came out super good and their buy 2 get 1 roll is a great deal. I recommend their salmon rolls and sparkling sake. I'll definitely come back to try the all you can eat. Service is a hit or miss, our server was great but the person serving the table next to us was super loud telling her entire life to the customers, kinda awkward.

This place is great. Friendly staff. The fish is fresh. Nothing super unique about the rolls, but fish is fresh.

Large fish to rice ratio on the nigiri pieces. The octopus and salmon tasted very fresh. This sushi restaurant has a wonderful sake selection and a large All You Can Eat menu. For adventurous eaters I would highly recommend trying uni or the uni quail egg shooter! The staff was efficient and friendly. :) Made my dining experience quite enjoyable.

Friendly and easy menu items for all who love sushi Raw or baked

We came to this place because we wanted to try their Tataki Albacore. The sushi was good for the most part but the Tataki could be better. It needs more sauce.Overall, the sushi was good but it wasn't amazing.

Fish was fresh and tasty. Great value for the price.

Amazing cuisine with subtle nuance of tasting sensuality that requires great deal of attention. Slow small little bite and hold in you mouth, then inhale deeply. Feel every molecule of each ingredient. You will know this is the one for a long term relationship.

Really great value. Most items I ordered, I loved, though I wasn't a huge fan of everything. That said, nothing was BAD, but just unimpressive at times. Service was spectacular. Never had to ask for water, the wait wasn't bad at all at the bar. I will definitely be back, but with a better idea of what's great here. I highly recommend the seared salmon - especially for those who are reluctant to try the raw stuff.

Phenomenal and affordable!Best to-go sushi I’ve ever had! Try the firefighter roll if you like seafood.I love the dynamite, but I recommend you eat it with rice.Tasty rolls and timely friendly service!

We tried calling this place several times in the past 2 days no one ever answered. It's too bad they lost a large catering order.

Great sushi / good waitress- went for all you can eat- get there early you have to put your name on tje list.

Great food great service.

Minato is a great place to go enjoy sushi. Their all you can eat special is a bargain. Always good fresh sushi. James and his staff are awesome. Thanks.

Love it.. Tried other sushi places and this one is still my favorite.. Been coming here for years...

Albacore Tataki rocks. Made to order all you can eat options include desert. Killer deal.

Everything was delicious and such friendly service!!!! Will be going back!!!

My favorite Sashimi plate with salmon teriyaki is most excellent! Lunch combos are delicious too! Prices are very affordable.

Top Sushi in the area. They’ve been here for 16 strong years! That’s saying a lot because this shopping center is high turnover! The best sushi in the area and the owner James is super cool.

Friendly staff, quick service and fresh fish!

This place never disappoints. They have good dishes for fair rates, there no long wait even when the spot is busy.

Slow service. Actually I was ignored for 45 minutes Staff was more interested in drinking the six smothes a waitress had walked over to another cafe and brought back something cool. So I was promised a seat at a table as soon as someone had the time to clean an empty table. I did see a single glass of water served in 44 minutes. Just don’t bother the young people cause they are just to busy having a good time.

Have been visiting Minato for many years. Quality food, great service. Highly recommend this resturant for all you can eat sushi.