Shogun Japanese Restaurant
1123 Pacific Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 469-4477

When I go to places regularly, I tend to forget to review them. I have a hard time choosing which meal to review, which dishes to talk about, and due to my indecision, nothing gets written. I’ve been going to Shogun for years. I’ve never once had bad food. I’ve never once had mediocre food. It’s always the freshest fish, the largest portions, and all-around excellent cuisine.

I just had lunch there today. I always try to get an assortment of fish so I can sample all the wares. Today I got an Hamachi Sashimi appetizer, a Nancy Roll (maguro, avocado, cucumber, macadamia nuts), and fresh Sake nigiri. No matter how many times I eat there, I’m always amazed at the size of the slices of nigiri. This time the salmon tasted more like butter than fish. The Nancy Roll is one of my favorites, combining maguro with the exquisite fattiness of avocado and macadamia nuts and adding cucumber to cut through that fat. And when I’m not hungry enough to order more than one thing, which really never happens, I will always choose the Hamachi Sashimi as my one dish. It never fails to please.

There is a lot of sushi competition in this town, not as much as taqueria competition, but I keep coming back to Shogun. It’s consistent and good, and those are two things that are very important when you’re talking about sushi more than most any other food.