Hours
| Friday | 5–10:30 PM |
| Saturday | 5–10:30 PM |
| Sunday | 5–10:30 PM |
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday | 5–10:30 PM |
| Thursday | 5–10:30 PM |
Address and Contact Information
Address: 2505 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103
Phone: (858) 947-1518
Website: https://kinmeomakase.com/
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Reviews
This place knocks it out of the park and is tied for my favorite meal ever. The food is unparalleled and each dish is prepared with such care. The flavours are powerful but not overpowering. They melt in your melt and combine into such splendid experiences.
The service is top-notch as well.
I look forward to coming back many times.
Food Review: The ingredients are super fresh and top-quality, and the menu changes with the seasons. The chef explains each dish before you try it. Most ingredients are sourced from Toyosu Market in Tokyo, Japan, as well as local suppliers right here in San Diego. The presentation is exquisite—every single dish looks like a work of art. The flavors strike a perfect balance of taste, texture, and aroma. Standout dishes include A5 wagyu beef served with seasonal vegetables and Japanese mackerel nigiri. My personal favorites this time were the smoked sashimi and A5 wagyu tartare puffs—they were absolutely amazing!
Service: Three chefs work in perfect harmony, preparing the dishes right in front of you. There are also two servers standing by at all times, ready to hand you plates, clear away used ones, and refill your water. They’re incredibly attentive and thoughtful—you basically don’t have to lift a finger to handle any dishes yourself. They anticipate your needs before you even ask, making for a seamless dining experience. Case in point: if you step away to use the restroom, you’ll come back to find your napkin neatly refolded for you.
Atmosphere: The vibe is elegant and cozy. It’s a high-end sister restaurant of Azuki Sushi, dedicated to showcasing the elegance and seasonality of kaiseki cuisine. There are only 10 seats in total, though they occasionally squeeze in one extra guest. All in all, it’s a really intimate spot.
As a nice final touch, the staff sees you off at the door when you leave, and even gives you a little greeting card and a copy of the menu to take home as a souvenir. It boasts a solid 4.8-star rating on Yelp and has been around for three years now. If you’re a Japanese food lover, I highly recommend this place!
The Nigiri Toro Tower (yes, I’m making that a thing) was unforgettable—melt-in-your-mouth layers of indulgence that deserve their own fan club. Every course felt like a quiet celebration of flavor and craftsmanship.
This meal was a gift, literally and figuratively—courtesy of my soon-to-be mother-in-law, whose taste in gifts is only rivaled by her generosity. Safe to say she now holds legendary status in my culinary memories.
Whether you’re a seasoned omakase enthusiast or just looking for a special night out, Kinme is a standout. Quietly luxe, deeply satisfying, and absolutely worth savoring.
There was also less notable delicacy type offerings such as no caviar and no uni in this menu, I typically can get mostly the same fish and meat selection for ~$100 less than what the menu comprised of but their service, presentation, and attention to detail helped compromise for it. Overall good experience, but still left a bit to be desired. Staff were nice and service was excellent, personally with the spring menu I felt the experience was close to maybe a single star Michelin equivalent dining.
There are only 10 seats so I was a little apprehensive having to belly up to a small bar elbow to elbow with strangers. Not the case at all. The bar is really long and seating space is quite generous with plenty of room between each of us. There were 2 other parties aside from us and all pretty much kept to themselves albeit a lively bunch.
During the courses of the evening our chefs would introduce ingredients and preparations leading to an epic culinary journey. Setting hay on fire for the hay smoked salmon was quite dramatic and the result, will get to that later. Every step was thought out, methodic and precise. Expert level is the name of the game at Kinme. This includes the well synchronized wait staff, you’ll be in very good hands.
This is a 10 course tasting menu plus matcha tea at the end. Mind you, some courses like sashimi and sushi aren’t like one piece but many, many, many pieces. I won’t go into detail about everything we had but it’s worth noting that their menu changes with the season. So the menu we had was towards the end of its run and a new menu will start soon. Looking at other menu posts the categories don’t change much but the ingredients do.
There were a few things that stood out and I can’t stop thinking about them. First the hay smoked salmon in the sashimi course was mind blowing. Also in that course we were served an A5 Wagyu tartar puff. It warped me as it tasted like In-n-out burger but many steps above in flavor, texture and overall satisfaction. A5 Wagyu is something else.
When leaving the chefs were outside to bid all of their guests farewell. We left full and extremely happy, what a truly memorable evening.
Not only was the setting very intimate, the service was top notch…
Now on to the food… Every single bite was an explosion of different complementing flavors. The quality of the fish was as good as it gets and the chefs focused on making sure each dish was a unique combination of complimenting flavors.
12/10 restaurant, easily the best sushi I’ve ever had (even better than the sushi I’ve had in Japan).
I will 100% be coming back, totally worth the price!!