A Hidden Omakase Restaurant Opens in Downtown San Diego

A new omakase restaurant opens Wednesday, May 22 downtown in a hidden spot on Third Avenue between Ash and A streets on the ground floor of the Stanza Little Italy apartment building. Chef Tsuyoshi Maruyama, known as Maru, is launching a namesake sushi bar with two dinner seatings each evening.

At Sushi Maru, each meal features 20 courses served over two hours. The omakase is $180 per person, and customers can add non-alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, Champagne, sake, and shochu. Customers can also reorder items from the omakase menu.

Sushi Maru

Small appetizers start the omakase service, followed by four to five nigiri, a warm dish, and another set of nigiri plates. The multi-course meal finishes with soup and a dessert, such as a panna cotta with fruit or Aisu ice cream from Chino Farms. The vegetables are also from Chino Farms, a local supplier the chef has worked with for over 20 years.

Sushi Maru

Sushi Maru honors the Japanese concept of “wa,” which evokes a warm and cozy refuge as a reprieve from everyday life.

Sushi Maru

The focus is “simple sushi courses with nothing fried on the menu,” Maruyama tells Eater San Diego. Cooked dishes are broiled or steamed, but most plates will be nigiri specialties. Twice a week, deliveries arrive from Japan. The menu includes seafood from the famed Toyosu Market in Tokyo, including hairy crab, squid, golden eye snapper, Spanish mackerel, and clams. On his menu, Maruyama also showcases bluefin tuna, halibut, sea urchin, and abalone.

Sushi Maru

With more than 35 years of experience as a sushi chef, Maruyama headed Taka Sushi in the Gaslamp Quarter for most of his career. Sushi Maru is Maruyama’s first project with partner Yoshinari Ichise. A chef turned entrepreneur, Ichise owns Ramen Ryoma, which has two Oregon locations and two San Diego locations in the Hillcrest and Pacific Beach neighborhoods. He also runs three restaurants in Las Vegas (Sushi Twister, Ramen Sora, and Hachi Las Vegas) and plans to open a Spanish tapas restaurant in Tokyo.

Sushi Maru

In 1989, Maruyama came to San Diego to surf and fell in love with the area. He started working at Samurai Restaurant in Solana Beach and quickly established himself as a sushi chef. San Diego has been his home ever since, and he occasionally takes his surfboard out when he has time. After Maruyama left Taka Sushi in 2022, he returned to Japan to care for his ailing father. Sushi Maru is his first project since returning to California.

Sushi Maru

“Since I’ve been here for a long time, I want to serve excellent food to the local community that’s welcomed me from the beginning,” Maruyama says. He hopes to possibly open more locations in other San Diego neighborhoods in the future.

The sushi counter seats 12 people, and a large table seats eight. The restaurant is a reservation-only establishment open Wednesday through Sunday. Seatings are at 5:30 and 8 p.m.

Sushi Maru