Save and Splurge: Where to get sushi in Davis with — and without — a budget
Looking for a nice spot to eat sushi around the capital region while hoping to avoid — or embrace — breaking the bank?
Multiple Sacramento Bee readers recently reached out to the service journalism team to ask for guides on where to eat when looking to save money and when hoping to splurge on a nice meal.
For our first Save and Splurge guide, we’re heading over the causeway to check out Davis sushi restaurants at two opposing price points.
Date nights at sushi restaurants are very common, with elegant dishes or overflowing indulgent rolls making for good conversation material and a cozy backdrop. However, sushi is known to quickly rack up a hefty bill.
These two top-notch sushi spots in Davis offer the best of both worlds — one is a neighborhood all-you-can-eat joint, while the other offers an intimate, limited-seating omakase experience.
Save money on all-you-can-eat sushi
Nami Sushi
Address: 2880 Fifth St., Suite 105, Davis
Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday; Closed Tuesday
Website: www.namisushi888.com
You’ll have to venture outside the city center to find this budget-friendly sushi bar.
Along Fifth Street in East Davis, a few blocks past Estelle Bakery & Patisserie, is Nami Sushi, best known for its affordable all-you-can-eat meals.
At $27.99, the price is among the best in town. Though à la carte dining is also available, the all-you-can-eat price pays for itself quickly — unless you only plan to have one or two of the sushi bar’s cheaper rolls or a few orders of nigiri.
My order of a 49er roll ($13.75 a la carte), a Salmon Lover roll ($16.95 a la carte), salmon nigiri ($6 for two a la carte) and yellowtail nigiri ($7 for two a la carte) would have cost 50% more if they were ordered on their own.
The cozy sushi spot also offers lunch specials starting at $11.75 for two rolls with soup and salad, making it an ultra-low-cost eatery for sushi lovers hoping to spend as little as possible.
Davis sushi to splurge on
Hikari Sushi & Omakase
Address: 110 F St., Suite A, Davis
Hours: Walk-in dining 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; two-hour omakase seatings 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Website: www.hikari-sushi-omakase.square.site
Though Davis is famed for being a college town, high-end dining is all around — if you know where to look.
In the beating heart of the town, near the corner of F and First streets, is an intimate omakase experience that only offers four seatings per week.
Hikari Sushi opened in 2022, promising high-quality fish sourced from Japan and the West Coast, as well as certified A5 wagyu beef. In 2024, the restaurant was featured on the inaugural episode of Guy Fieri’s “Best Bite In Town” show.
The $175 per person omakase menu often rotates based on the fish in season and what is available at the markets chefs frequent. During an early April visit, the meal included 17 courses, all small bites featuring white fish, tuna, scallops, urchin, crab and A5 wagyu beef.
Each bite ranged from light and refreshing to sinfully decadent. A trio of tuna cuts of increasing fattiness — from the lean akami to the ultra-marbled otoro topped with Sterling caviar — was a standout feature.
In a more unusual course, chefs eliminated food waste from the white fish courses, using the remaining bones and meat to develop a “no waste soup” broth. The soup also included leftover crab, marinated okra and mushrooms.
The second-to-last course was an omakase must-have. Atsuyaki tamago is a light, fluffy custard-like omelet that is found across Japan’s high-end sushi and omakase restaurants, according to one of Hikari’s chefs.
Each restaurant has its own twist on the dish, adding new ingredients to tweak the flavor or textural experience. At Hikari, the chefs include yams and a paste made of scallops, which imbue a slight sweetness and umami to the egg dish.
Though the atsuyaki tamago is traditionally a final course, the Davis restaurant tops off the indulgent tasting menu with a scoop of green tea ice cream topped with strawberries, blueberries and a light sprinkle of gold flake.
A three-figure prix fixe price sometimes looks overwhelming on paper, but the intimate experience — with chefs explaining each dish and interacting with diners throughout the two-hour meal — and the absurdly high quality fish make the $175 price feel like a steal.
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