Momo Sando & Omakase just opened in the spot that was occupied by Kumo Japanese Sando in the Plaza Sorrento Food Court. I heard that there was a “soft opening” period before the announced Grand Opening date of January 5th. Being curious about this “grab and go” sandos and sushi, by a former Executive Chef at two Nobu locations…and also, what made this concept different from say….Nijiya and Mitsuwa, I decided to drop by. Thinking that there might be some crowds based on the hype, I had a Plan B of Sue’s Korean Kitchen, which is located next door.
I arrived at a quarter to 11 and there was a short line waiting. So, I got into the queue.
The line grew exponentially as the minutes passed, so if I had arrived even a minute or two later, I’d have gone to Sue’s. Soon enough the door opened and we entered the small shop, with display cases of prepacked sushi and sandos. The woman working the register was like a Carnival Barker yelling out what each customer was purchasing! The line moves pretty quickly.
There are some special, limited offerings. On this morning, there was some uni available, but it was gone after the third customer!
As for me, I used the chance to peruse what was available and in the end; unlike the $90 purchases being made by the two customers in front of me….I just wanted to test the waters….
And simply got a Tonkatsu Sando ($15).
Check out the line as I walked to my car!
As for the Sando.
The shokupan, the bread, was on the drier side, lacking the mild, buttery-sweetness that I enjoy in that type of bread. On an interesting note, some of the crust was sliced off, and some left on?
The Tonkatsu, was pleasantly toothsome, the panko crust still had a good amount of crunch. I enjoyed the crisp-crunchy cabbage and the by-the-book katsu sauce. The bread was starting to get soggy by the time I got to the last slice seen above.
The sando was not bad, better than many of the other versions in San Diego. So, I decided to return the next day to try out the fish. I had the same strategy, which worked out about the same.
There’s quite a selection of fairly standard sushi/sashimi options and stuff that is on the “fusion-y” side…of course, dealing with a former chef of Nobu’s that’s to be expected. To be perfectly honest, we’ve been to Matsuhisa when we lived in LA back in the 90’s, and it was fine; we’ve been to several locations of Nobu and have always been a bit disappointed.
Instead of going with a standard futomaki, nigiri, or chirashi offering, I decided to getting something a bit different. There’s an option with black truffle on toro, but this one caught my attention.
As you can see….this ain’t no Nijiya sashimi set, being priced at $35! Yikes! Miso soup and the shoyu-wasabi-ginger are included.
This is what it looked like unpacked.
The miso soup was decent, not watered down.
Real fresh wasabi is provided, though as you can see, it’s starting to oxidize and brown.
The fish was of good quality; though I wasn’t a fan of the nakaochi – the tuna scrape which was really mushy and had a metallic finish to it.
The akami (maguro) was decent sushi-bar quality, nice texture, but in my opinion didn’t need the chili crunch.
Strangely the rice was hard and chewy……not a great standard to set.
The shari…sushi rice seasoning seemed quite aggressively seasoned, very vinegar forward which wasn’t too bad.
As for the toro….as you can see; much like the wasabi, the fish was starting to brown.
Still, it was very fatty and tender; quite good with the wasabi and shoyu.
It was quite interesting. It seemed like most of the customers were late generation Millennials or GenZers. I felt like jichan again. The quality of the product seems pretty good….though it’s very “concept heavy” to me. That “grab and go” toro was more expensive than the last 4 chirashi I had in actual restaurants. But perhaps it’s the perfect place for the tech crowd and that population who can afford $30+ for lunch. As for me; I need to wait and recover a while before visiting.
Momo Sando & Omakase
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 4pm
This was really not to my liking. The crust of the pizza was rubbery and soggy, the edges quite chewy. I don't think it had been baked long enough. It did look nice and I thought the amount of cheese was good, but in spite of the curry, I thought this a bit bland overall. The curry itself was quite thick and had some spice; but for some reason the flavor just seemed to vanish in the entire package.
Well, I wasn't too inspired by the whitish color. Was not a fan of the way too soft coating which lacked crispness, something that I like in my karaage.
As for the Sisig slice……well, this was fairly bland, even with the slices of serrano chilies; it really lacked the tangy-sour-porky flavors that make 
The katsu was really crisp, perfectly fried….I think I'm going to ask Rob the next time I see him, what kind of panko he uses. The chicken was moist, nicely seasoned without being overly salty, though I think it could be a bit more tender. 
There was a good amount of decently cooked rice. I could have done without the "wasabi aioli" and the overly sweet unagi sauce. I guess I just wanted some good shoyu poke? The fish danced close to the edge of being over-sauced, but avoided falling off that cliff. I did enjoy the creaminess of the avocado and the mild sour-spice of the cucumber.
 
 First off, I actually thought the basic “wagyu” (heavy on the quotes) beef, while rather scarce was cut thinner, thus seemingly more tender. I liked the thin slices of oyster mushroom, which added a nice sweet-earthiness to the plate. To me, that egg is a must.
 
 Which smelled heavenly. It came with a bowl of broth that had decent cilantro – white pepper tones, but was quite salty. And the dipping sauce, which did have a bit of spice was not my favorite as I prefer the Hainanese style white, ginger-garlic, pungent style sauce.
 
 As for the chicken; well it was deboned, making it easy to eat, while being very moist and tender. It was a bit on the milder side in terms of flavor though. Again, if I had that ginger-garlic based sauce, I’d have been really happy. I ended up making sure I had some “chicken soul stealing” rice and chicken in each bite.
This came with two poached eggs….I would have preferred sunny side up with nice crisp edges; but the eggs were fine, with the yolks still runny.
Well, this was a miss in my book. The "dumplings" seemed like fried frozen chicken gyoza you'd get at the market. Cardboardish wrappers, salty – chewy filling.
To me; the best part of this dish was the consomme, not because it had the complex, beefy-savory tones of a good consomme; but because it at least had some decent flavor. Though, it really tasted like "San Diego sweet" pho broth with some birria and beef flavoring. Perhaps this is what the "Birria Pho" on the menu tastes like?
The broth had an abundance of cilantro and scallions which was good. It was very clear, though not seriously defatted. It did lack a definite beefiness and the anise tones I enjoy. As is typical of much of the pho in San Diego, it had that somewhat sweet background to it, in addition to being a bit too salty.
This was comprised of five pieces; two huge drumettes, and three "flats". The seasoning was quite good, some spice, perhaps a bit too much MSG, but I enjoyed it.
Not to belabor the statement; but the color is totally different! As for the dish itself? Well, the sauce/stew was super thick; way too thick, lacking in the nice smooth creaminess of kare kare. Coconut milk had been added and this was overly sweet for my taste. Think of getting a jar of peanut butter and throwing in some coconut milk…..this lacked a satisfying savoriness for me.
 The portion of rice was quite large there was corn and edamame scattered about the hot plate. The beef, supposedly four ounces was topped with a small scoop of butter, which I thought wasn’t necessary.
