Sunny Blue

My boyfriend and I were very excited to try sunny blue after seeing it on the news, we drove all the way to Culver City just to try it out in person & see if it was as good as everyone said it was. We found out when we got there the miso beef was sold out & the spicy salmon. Disappointing! I was most excited to try those two. Next, when we went to pay our total was 30 dollars and my boyfriend went to pay with a 100 dollar bill and was told they don't accept bills that are more than 20. That's different. Finally we got our food. The food tasted delicious despite the bad customer service. I'd go back to enjoy the food again'

Someone recommended this to me, It's a nice little mom and pop shop with some cozy vibes. Apparently this place has been around for ten plus years???? They have a ton of options to choose from, even vegan ones! I tried the Miso Beef, Sunnyblue Curry, Tokyo Tori, Kara Tuna, Eggplant Chili Miso, Wasabi Tsukudani.  I think the middle aged Japanese lady who helped me might be the owner? She seemed pretty quiet but maybe just takes some warming up to? Eh.

The two chicken ones were pretty good. Both tasted like curry to me / were pretty similar? I didn't get sweet and sour chicken vibes so don't be expecting panda express's orange chicken or anything.  The miso beef tasted like sukiyaki almost. I wasn't a big fan of the tuna. The texture just felt like canned tuna even though it tasted good. I'm just not... a big fan of cooked fish so. Yeah. The wasabi tsukudani was good! Slightly tart, slightly spicy, crunchy, sweet and savory seaweed... so many textures and delicous flavors. That one was probably my favorite. The eggplant chili miso just tasted like this chinese eggplant dish with rice to me. But I mean that's pretty much what it is. Not a bad thing but don't think i'd get it again.  I would love to try all the other ongiris. Definitely would get the chicken ones and the beef and the wasabi again.  Oh I also love that the seaweed is so fresh and crisp. Rice I feel like is kind of similar to sushi rice.  This place is definitely a one of a kind. I don't think you can find good ongiri anywhere else. I feel like it's pricy to have this every day but if you're in the mood for ongiri, $4 isn't a crazy price to pay. Definitely like this place loads more than the typical supermarket ongiri.

Delicious.  Who doesn't like to eat sushi rice?  Stuff it with yummy curry and meat selections and we have a home run.

Only downside is no eating inside and no seating outside right now.  Fast service but each "bite" is around $5.  Either way good concept and yummy

Cute little onigiri shop! There's an area outside for you to stand and eat, but no tables to sit around as of August 2021.

Onigiri - Got the Miso Beef and Tokyo Tori (around $5 each). They were both solid! I preferred the miso beef (very flavorful) while my friend liked the sweet & sour chicken better. A little messy to eat since the rice balls fell apart while we worked on demolishing them.

Drinks - We also ordered a mango tea, which tasted like green tea with a slight hint of mango. Not sweet at all, so don't expect the sweetness level to be like your typical boba shop. Tried my friend's lavender tea latte and thought it was super floral. Not my cup of tea (literally) but not too bad.

Service was quick. Got our food within 5 mins after we ordered and paid. Employees super nice and friendly.

I was upset after I ate my food because then it was over. I was also upset with my stomach because it could not fit any more of these in my stomach until the next day. So I went the next day.

This is my first time having an omusubi and Sunny Blue did not disappoint! An omusubi is a rice ball formed into a triangle filled with heavenly goodness and wrapped in nori. It's a very common on the go snack in Japan. It's also known as onigiri. I believe "omusubi" is commonly used in the western part of Japan and "onigiri" is commonly used in the eastern part of Japan? Either way, it's essentially the same dish.

The wife and I ordered 1 Sunny Blue Curry, 2 Spicy Salmon, and 1 Tuna Mayo. Each omusubi was about $4. Very affordable snack! It's fresh made to order. It's very similar to spam musubi, but on another level. Every single omubusi we ordered was so damn good. My favorite was the spicy salmon. It had a nice kick to it. The curry one was very unique. I enjoyed the spices in it and the chicken was so tender. The tuna mayo had albacore in it and was delicious as well. I love the rice in each omusubi. It was so warm and had the perfect texture/consistency. The nori it was wrapped in held it all together like a taco.

This place is a MUST if you're ever in the Santa Monica Pier area. It's only a 15 to 20 minute walk from the pier. We parked on the street near the pier and enjoyed the beautiful walk. Sunny Blue, you have my heart.

We love this place and always stop in if we're in the Santa Monica area. Can't beat it of you're craving some musibi! Definitely get the curry and miso beef ones.

Such a quaint shop. The food is simple, no-frills, but unbeatable quality!  This place definitely has the best omusubi I have ever had! The restaurant was small but was decorated with cute arts, especially their menu. I really enjoyed the miso beef, Tokyo tori, and tuna mayo flavor.
Servers were so nice and helpful and knowledgeable. They were good in providing accommodating service.

It really took me some thinking to settle on 2 stars, rather than 3. Really the service and the boba was what made me lower the score.

I've heard good things about this place & had it hyped up to me by my bro & his gf.

It's a small shop, I get it. But to be told roughly to step outside, even when we were in the same party could have been handled a bit better. Honestly, just leave an iPad near the entrance or just block off the entire restaurant, have a tarp, and have one person behind it at the door, or something because it ended up with me shouting outside asking what my brother wanted to get.

Just to be courteous and allow other guests to order, I stepped outside, since you know, only 2 people allowed in at a time. However these buffoons in front of me didn't have the courtesy to step out and wait.

I had my name called, but obviously couldn't go in since I didn't want to get told off again. Instead the lady was repeatedly annoyingly yelling out my name. I make eye contact with her and repeat her own words back to her, you said "only 2 people in at once". She looked at me, still annoyed, and just proceeded to call out my name again. I said out loud, so that the people who were still in there would step out, "I can't go inside, there's too many people".

Despite coming in after me and ordering the same amount of food, if not more, they got all of their food and drinks before I did.

I specifically asked for the onigiri to be ready to eat, but they were all packaged up. Fine, I guess. All of them fell apart despite opening it correctly. I don't know if they were packed loosely on purpose for sake of time.

We got the miso beef, Tokyo tori, spicy salmon, mentaiko, and kara tuna. Outside of the kara tuna, which actually had a great depth of flavor, nice crunchiness from the cucumber, and actually had some heat to it,  the other fillings were just alright.

I was recommended the almond matcha, which in theory is a pretty alright drink. Nice matcha and almond milk flavor. Slightly sweet, not bad.

The true villain was the boba. WORST BOBA I'VE EVER HAD. I had to spit it out of the car when we came back. Imagine the texture and chewiness of beef tendon. Absolutely dreadful.

All this was almost $40 and only one of the things we ordered was memorable (in a good way). All the other flavors tasted like we could have just gotten it at Tokyo Central or Nijiya at a larger portion and a fraction of the price.

The perfect snack and so unique! Amazing location right on main! More of a grab and go place then sit down restaurant. Miso beef and tuna Mayo are my favs!