Jennifer and I love sushi!!! The other night we were looking for a place close to home to eat while a realtor was showing our condo - a whole other story. There were the usual places we could have gone, Chen's Panda for the best Chinese, the Fish House for great, fresh seafood or any of the chains. At first we had settled on the Fish House, on the corner of Chapman and Newport. As we pulled into the strip mall in which it is located, we noticed that Ginzaya, which had been under construction for some time was finally open.
We decided to try it out. We weren't disappointed. The restaurant itself has booths, tables and a very large sushi bar. We chose to eat at a table. It is very clean - it should be since it is new. The people were all very nice.
They had an excellent choice of sushi and sashimi on their menu as well as other Japanese choices. We ended up having a rainbow roll, spicy tuna roll and a crunchy shrimp roll for our appetizers. I really loved all of the rolls. They were full of flavor, fresh and well made.
For dinner Jennifer chose the two item combo with teriyaki chicken and tempura. I had the two item combo with spicy chicken and tempura. The teriyaki chicken was average - a sliced chicken breast with teriyaki sauce drizzled on it. The tempura was light and full of flavor. The spicy chicken was very good. I compare it to General's Chicken that you find at most Chinese restaurants. It was loaded with onions and had a sweet and spicy sauce. The portions were good and their steamed rice was also very good.
The service was so so. Our water glasses were not refilled promptly, we had ordered a side of edamame, which didn't come until we were done with our entrees (we think the waitress forgot) and really didn't stand out.
Overall, I would give the restaurant a 3.5 out of 5 rating. It is definitely worth trying if you are in the area. You can find Ginzaya at 7522 E Chapman in Orange. They don't have a web site yet.
