Goro'san and Fam at Nana San Sushi in Newport Beach

Goro’saaaaaaaaaaaaan! A sushi bar where they know your name (even if you get pissed off at some diners, and you stay away for three years)

Goro’san is the owner/sushi chef at Nana San, and he has got an amazing memory. It is that amazing memory and genuine personality, along with his wife who manages the front of the house of the restaurant, and the rest of the staff make for one of the friendliest sushi restaurants in all of Orange County.

I hope you like this candid shot where it appears as though I was a customer here who casually took a pic with their smartphone while dining there.

Now, don’t go there expecting a “golden retriever” like experience with the staff jumping up on you trying to sniff your butt or lick your face because all I am saying is that you won’t get attitude here. They are not like a Yorkiepoo (Yorkiepoo owners, don’t message me, I’m just joking… 17% joking).

Now that I got you salmon lovers attention which seems like 80% of you.

This is also the one sushi bar in Orange County that if you don’t get there early, and you are not on the waiting list, or have reservations, good luck being able to get a spot at the sushi bar.

That is why I will also go on my rant about people who get the sushi bar confused with a bar – I extracted this from a “review” I did of Nana San several years back on Yelp (oh silly Yelpers) and those types that put the “bar” in “sushi bar”.

That should be a potential tag line here for some customers because of a visit several years back where I walked out after waiting an hour (8:30-9:30 pm). A very hungry hour, staring at food, and of several customers who decided to lounge out here to drink and b.s. at the “sushi” bar (the waitress told me they were done eating, and just drinking). That’s perfectly alright if nobody is waiting because I’ve done it on several occasions here and several other places, but when numerous people are waiting for an eff’n table/sushi bar (completely packed), I close out my tab, and I head to a cock’a’doodling bar.

Yuzu ponzu, negi, and momiji oroshi sitting atop

So how about some mother eff’n common courtesy from all you biaatches, but I doubt that’s possible because these are the same douchebags that need to be regulated (regulators mount up). These types don’t know how to do the right thing such as in the real estate industry where it’s just a bunch of good honest folk – come on!, greed?, hell no!, we’re all about getting people a home they can(‘t) afford, and not just a fat commission on a loan that pays out higher even though they qualified at a lower rate. What???, you say “well at least you can rely on big companies because they’ll regulate themselves and not pollute the water systems or farm lands because when it comes to the bottom line, people are more important than profit.” Yea, no because that same d’bag mentality that helped us get into the economic mess in 2008 are the same d’bags sitting at the sushi bar and the four top. They just sat and drank while everybody just sat and waited because they’re entitled to that table because they are paying customers which to them is justified, just like how Wall Street deserves multi-million dollar bonus checks for dooming the economy and requiring a government bail out.

Why whine like a little b*tch you say? It’s because the same policy/sign that says (not specifically this one, but at restaurants in general) “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”, “gratuity included on parties more than six or more people”, “we can’t seat you until your entire party is here”, “credit card only on orders of $20 or more” is the prerogative of the management. It’s also totally up to the management here to kindly and reasonably ask diners who are done eating to get up and let others sit down because after all the sushi bar isn’t a “bar” and you can’t rely on d’bags to do the right thing……….now, I need an eff’n drink.

A small dollop of yuzu kosho is great on a lot of white fish.

Also, FYI, it’s part of Japanese “omotenashi” to not say anything to the customer like “yo, you ate, now be gone, we got other customers to serve.” So, I can’t hold Nana San accountable which is why I hope that you are not this type of diner because my future experience is dependent upon you… to not be there (at the sushi bar at the same time I’m eating there), LOL.

I dab (I don’t mix my wasabi into the shoyu, I segregate).

I should have asked for extra wasabi when they were preparing it.

If you are wondering where I think Nana San stands compared to the other sushi bars in Orange County, you can check out this blog article, “the 10 Best Authentic Japanese Sushi Bars in Orange County, CA.“