Mikuni: My Favorite Sushi Restaurant of All Time
Rebellious sushi rolls. A multi-generational dream. The miracle story of Mikuni’s sushi.
You wouldn’t expect to find the world’s best sushi in the Sacramento Valley in California. But after hearing Taro Arai, Chief Dreaming Officer at Mikuni, share his family’s story of sweat, setback, and sushi… you might just call it destiny.
From Rural Japan to 90-Million-Dollar Sushi Empire
The road to success for Taro and his family was never easy. His father was a Christian pastor in rural Japan, and his mother cooked for the church-goers who came on Sundays. When he was just a kid, Taro worked a newspaper route. After almost 5 years, he had saved enough money to buy one-way tickets for his whole family to come to America.
In California, they moved from place to place, constantly seeking cheaper rent. But the miracles were always abundant. When a church in South Sacramento needed a Japanese-speaking pastor, it opened the way for the entire family to get green cards in record time.
One morning, Taro’s dad woke up and told them he had a dream. “God is telling me to open a restaurant,” he said. Taro laughs as he tells the story, “My dad had never cooked in his life—he didn’t even know how to use a microwave!”
But the miracles continued. “The first thing we did was pray as a family,” Taro says. Soon after, they met a generous Japanese businessman who gave them $300,000 to fund their restaurant.
“I can’t explain why this happened… All of these things just kept happening,” Taro recalls.
Becoming Sushi Chefs
With the funding, it was now time to learn how to make sushi. “When we built the sushi bar, we had no idea how to make sushi. I had to buy a book: Sushi for Dummies!” he shares.
The whole family was working from 7 o’clock to midnight, but they weren’t making any money. They didn’t even have enough money to buy fish—so they got creative and made vegetarian rolls, hot dog rolls, and rolls from whatever was in the kitchen.
But all too soon, the $300,000 was gone. Within six months, they had run out of money. They got two calls. One from the bank, informing them of a fine for writing bad checks. And the other from the Japanese businessman, letting them know that more money was on the way.
With his parents’ approval, Taro quit school and devoted himself full-time to running the family business. He started talking to every customer who came in—in broken English, but with a beaming personality.
Rebellious Rolls With Personality You Can Taste
From the beginning, Taro has always wanted to make his customers happy. He didn’t bring sushi to America. He did something even better: he created his own, unique, entirely new style of sushi.
“With sushi, they have so many rules. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. I break every rule—because I wanted to make sure the customer would be happy,” Taro says.
“I kept creating a new roll for every customer. We had 300 rolls at one point!” When a woman named Marilyn came in for her birthday, the Marilyn Monroll was born. (The next time she came back with all her friends and they ordered it again.)
That’s why you’ll see so many fun and creative sushi roll names on the Mikuni menu: from name rolls like the Annie Roll and the Bob Roll, to creative titles like the BMW Roll and the Iron Chef Roll, there is truly something for everyone.
This deeply personalized approach took the restaurant from 30 customers a day to one thousand customers every weekend. Fast forward to 2026, and Mikuni Restaurants use 52 tons of seafood a month to fill the bellies of hundreds of thousands of customers.
Little by little, the Arai family expanded the original Hazel Avenue location in Fair Oaks to 10 different restaurants in the Sacramento area. Their motto? “Do your best, and let God do the rest.”
Today, both Taro—with his brightly-dyed hair, colorful outfits, and beaming positivity—and his personality-packed rolls are loved by millions.
20 Years Of Unbeatable Sushi
Just this month, the Elk Grove Mikuni location celebrated its 20-year anniversary. That’s 20 years of the highest-quality sushi rolls, incredible service, and true dedication to the craft of restaurant ownership.
I met Taro when he came to my elementary school class in 5th grade and taught us how to make sushi. We arranged the cucumber, avocado, and crab on sticky rice to make a classic California roll. That day, I wanted to become a sushi chef. I was so inspired I even put a sushi making kit on my birthday list.
But that’s about as far as my dream got—because when you’ve got sushi as good as Mikuni’s right in your hometown… Why try and make it on your own?
For a while, that picture of my fifth grade class alongside Taro Arai hung across from the pick-up counter at the Mikuni’s location in Elk Grove. For years and years, we walked by it as we came to Mikuni to celebrate birthdays and graduations, and to just enjoy good food.
Now, that photo is long gone, but I still come to Mikuni every time I’m back home in California. Because I’ve never had sushi as good as Mikuni’s anywhere else.
If you’re in the Sacramento area, there is one thing (and really one thing only) you must visit, and it’s Mikuni.
Here’s a quick guide to navigating the extensive menu at this one-of-a-kind sushi restaurant:
What to Order
When we eat sushi, we go all out. This is one restaurant where, in my humble opinion, starters are NOT optional. Do yourself a favor and try these stand-out appetizers:
Freaky Edamame—These “seriously seasoned soybeans” have just enough spice to keep things interesting. (Pictured above, right.)
BBQ White Tuna Appetizer—Perfectly grilled white tuna with a seared exterior and a rare, tender inside. But what really makes this dish stand out is the sauce—the soothing, cream-colored mayo-based sauce combines fantastically with the punchy and spicy sriracha sauce. Green onions top it all off. (Pictured above, left.)
Tuna Sliders 2 (My all-time favorite appetizer!)—Spicy crab mix wrapped in thinly sliced tuna with avocado, panko scallops, sesame seeds, and sriracha sauce. This heavenly mix of crunchy and tender is bursting with flavor. (Pictured above, center.)
Illegal Asparagus—Another great starter opinion, this hot oil-blanched asparagus is seasoned with sansho pepper and yuzu salt. Served with mind-blowing Zig Zag sauce (like that dreamy mayo sauce from the BBQ tuna appetizer, above). You’ll never look at asparagus the same way again.
Now, for the rolls. I suggest you invite 3-4 of your favorite people, then order all of these (yes, all of them), then a few more that catch your eye. These are my favorites that never disappoint:
Japanese Mafia—Creamy. Saucy. Dreamy. This roll has it all. Scallop, shrimp, salmon, and crab mix combine with cream cheese, avocado, and flavorful sauce. Topped with masago (tiny orange fish eggs) and green onion.
Peter Two—The Spicy Dream sauces are the star of this fantastic roll. They’re ultra-flavorful and combine magically with the tuna, eel, avocado, crab mix, and panko shrimp.
Train Wreck—A true monster of a roll, you might have to unhinge your jaw to fit this one in. It’s packed with chopped eel, seared tuna, avocado, crab mix, panko shrimp, spicy sauce, sesame seeds, and green onion.
Incredible—This one’s got spicy tuna, panko shrimp, more tuna, and avocado. With sauce, masago (tiny orange fish eggs), and green onion on top, it’s a crispy combo you will not forget.
DMC—If you like lobster, this one’s for you: tempura lobster combined with avocado, crab mix, and white tuna. It’s rolled into a soy wrap, torched, then topped with sauce and tempura bits.
You’ll also see on the menu next to certain rolls, a little drawing with Taro’s face. These menu items are Taro’s favorites, so make sure you try one of those as well.
💸 Price Range: Appetizers are in the $10-$20 range and individual rolls are between $15-$30. Yes, it’s on the more expensive side of things. But when you enjoy every single bite (and want to lick the dream sauces off the sushi plates), it’s well worth it.
👉🏼 See the full menu here. We LOVE a menu with real-life photos for each item.
📍 Locations: Mikuni has 10 different locations all over the Sacramento area. Check their website to find the restaurant nearest you.