Downtown Sushi

**What makes this different:** While the competitors here lean Mexican — La Puerta doing multi-shift chaos, Las Hadas pushing coconut shrimp, The Waves keeping taco hour calm — Downtown Sushi is the neighborhood's answer to "where do we go when we want sushi and an actual table?" Most Gaslamp dining tilts toward quick-hit tacos or volume-driven nightlife spots. This place built a different lane: reservation-ready Japanese food with sushi chefs you can watch work, outdoor fire pit seating that pulls double duty for date nights and business dinners, and happy hour drink deals that regulars specifically call out.

The hamachi carpaccio earns multiple shout-outs across reviews — apparently the sauce is good enough that people save it to drizzle over their nigiri later. That's the kind of small-batch thinking that makes sense here. The fish quality runs high ("excellent" and "super fresh" appear more than once), and the Tower roll shows up plated like someone cares about presentation. Oysters make the rounds as starters. The sushi chefs get mentioned by name (Alex gets a direct call-out), which tells you they're slinging fish, not just punching a clock.

The vibe stays "calm and relaxing" even during dinner service, which is borderline miraculous for this part of downtown. Those fire pit tables outside do heavy lifting — reviewers double back specifically for them. Service runs attentive without hovering (Molly gets multiple mentions for nailing the tone). Happy hour drink deals are some of the best in the area, per regulars who've done the rounds.

Price runs a little high but tracks with what you're getting: quality fish, proper plating, space to breathe. If you're downtown and want sushi that isn't a conveyor-belt situation or a nightclub with a roll menu tacked on, this is the spot.