{"id":22649,"date":"2026-09-05T01:21:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T01:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/22649\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T01:21:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T01:21:54","slug":"the-price-is-rice-pasadenas-sushi-spots-are-battling-it-out-local-news-pasadena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/22649\/","title":{"rendered":"The Price Is Rice: Pasadena\u2019s Sushi Spots Are Battling It Out \u2013 Local News Pasadena"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not a sushi expert. Heck, those supermarket sushi packs are usually pretty good to me.<\/p>\n

My daughter Lauren, on the other hand, loves Sugarfish. She swears by it. As of this writing, Sugarfish doesn\u2019t offer discounts, and they don\u2019t have to. They\u2019ve built a loyal following based on quality and consistency.<\/p>\n

But this article isn\u2019t about Sugarfish. This article is about Dills Deals.<\/p>\n

\"A\"APanda Inn Pasadena now has a sushi bar. Photo: Panda Inn<\/p>\n

Have you noticed? Banners advertising happy hours. BOGO specials. Sushi deals. Yes, you\u2019ve seen them.<\/p>\n

It reminds me of the gas wars from many years ago. One gas station drops prices, and the station across the street responds. Only this time it\u2019s spicy tuna rolls and Sapporo Beer instead of unleaded.<\/p>\n

Could Pasadena be in the middle of its own Sushi Wars? I think we are.<\/p>\n

Just the other day I had lunch at Tomikawa Sushi on Foothill Boulevard with my friend Jesse James Youngblood. Old timers will remember the location as the former Kabuki before Kabuki moved to Colorado Boulevard and San Gabriel Boulevard.<\/p>\n

The deal caught my eye immediately: an all-you-can-eat for $23.95, unlimited appetizers, rolls, and premium rolls available only at Tomikawa Pasadena, Monday-Thursday from opening until 3:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Jesse got his money\u2019s worth. Me? I tapped out long before he did.<\/p>\n

Yes, they time you. And no, don\u2019t ask for a doggie bag. That\u2019s not the deal. The deal is simple: eat what you can, enjoy yourself and leave room for the next customer.<\/p>\n

Was it the best sushi I\u2019ve ever had? I don\u2019t know. As I said, I\u2019m not a sushi expert. But I know value when I see it, and twenty-three bucks for all-you-can-eat lunch certainly got my attention.<\/p>\n

\"sushi\"\"sushi\"The sushi bar at Roku Pasadena. Photo: Roku<\/p>\n

Right across from Chiquita Bonita, Haruka Sushi has been advertising happy hour and BOGO specials. Again, I haven\u2019t personally tried every item on the menu, but I appreciate restaurants that understand diners are looking for value.<\/p>\n

My friend Shawn Broes reminded me not to forget Sushi Roku.\u00a0He\u2019s right. I do like their happy hour.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a little more upscale, and you\u2019re not going to confuse it with an all-you-can-eat buffet. But if you hit the right time, you can enjoy premium sushi and cocktails without taking out a second mortgage.<\/p>\n

Truth be told, my favorite sushi spot is Kabuki on Colorado. Sure, they raised the price of the Sapporo from $2 to $3.<\/p>\n

Gulp.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s Pink, Cindy, Anita and the rest of the servers who know my order before I sit down: one sake, one Sapporo and a large ice water, right around 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s habit. Maybe it\u2019s comfort. Or maybe it\u2019s because the scallop hand roll is very good and I have their Krab salad when I want to be healthy. Notice the \u201cK?\u201d Or maybe it is their red mask club, where you eat sushi to earn sushi?<\/p>\n

Then there is Panda Inn. The Pasadena institution recently added a sushi bar and even an omakase experience as part of its stunning remodel.<\/p>\n

A Chinese restaurant serving sushi? Maybe twenty years ago that would have seemed strange. Maybe not anymore.<\/p>\n

Pasadena diners are adventurous. They want choices. They want value. They want a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n

\"A\"APanda Inn Pasadena now has a sushi bar. Photo: Panda Inn<\/p>\n

And Panda Inn, like so many restaurants in town, is adapting.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not strange. That\u2019s smart. And that\u2019s the funny thing about sushi.<\/p>\n

Some people chase the freshest uni or the rarest toro. Me? I\u2019m looking for a good deal, friendly faces and a place where they know my name.<\/p>\n

I may not know the difference between toro and hamachi. I couldn\u2019t tell you which fish should be served at what temperature or whether the rice was seasoned perfectly.<\/p>\n

What I can tell you is this: Pasadena diners have more choices and more deals than they have had in years.<\/p>\n

If I missed your favorite sushi spot, help me out. We can always revisit the Sushi Wars.<\/p>\n

After all, I\u2019m not an expert.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just Peter Dills, looking for my next Dills Deal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\tDiscover more from Local News Pasadena<\/p>\n

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not a sushi expert. Heck, those supermarket sushi packs are usually pretty good to me. My daughter Lauren, on the other hand, loves Sugarfish. She swears by it. As of this writing, Sugarfish doesn\u2019t offer discounts, and they don\u2019t have to. They\u2019ve built a loyal following based on quality and consistency. But this article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[280,281,278,279],"class_list":["post-22649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sushi-restaurants","tag-sushi-bar","tag-sushi-bars","tag-sushi-restaurant","tag-sushi-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117215814202542108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}