Heemo Sushi

Across Southern California, the demand for sushi long ago surpassed the supply offered by local Japanese chefs, leading to everything from Peruvian and Taiwanese to Mexican and Korean variations, some hewing close to classics, others offering distinctive riffs of their own. Heemo Sushi doesn’t conspicuously advertise itself as a Korean sushi restaurant chain, and most of its essential menu items are far more Japanese than not, but once you look over its incredibly long list of rolls – so many that its paper ordering menu leaves hand rolls out entirely – you’ll likely be overwhelmed by all the non-traditional “special roll” options. We won’t even attempt to catalog them here.

Heemo’s first location opened in 2019 in Orange, following by Duarte and Chino Hills openings outside Orange County, then a Tustin restaurant in January 2026. The latest spot neighbors Chiang Rai and shares the Larwin Square plaza with 99 Ranch, Omomo, and others, seating around 40 people across tables, booths, and a large sushi bar. It’s more elaborately decorated than its predecessor in the space, Full Moon Sushi, which closed in 2025 after a 16-year run.

Though Heemo previously offered an AYCE option, it seems to have been discontinued; there was no trace of an AYCE menu when we visited the Tustin location in July 2026. Everything is a la carte, and in a notably non-Japanese touch, rolls tend to be oversized: Individual pieces range from “big” to sometimes “too big,” such that you might struggle to eat a piece of some rolls in one bite. Almost everything we ordered had either thicker slices or more cubes of fish than we’d normally expect.

For example: An $11 “premium hand roll” pairing caviar with salmon and sliced truffle had enough protein of two hand rolls before even considering the rice, requiring multiple big bites through its large piece of nori paper. The maximalist approach also carried through six nearly hockey puck-sized slices of a riceless Spring Roll ($19), not to be confused with the small rice paper appetizer found at countless Asian restaurants; cucumber was used to wrap imitation crab, spicy tuna, and avocado with smaller pieces of tuna, salmon, and two other types of fish. Served with its own soy-oil-mayo dipping sauce, this single roll was large appetizer- or small entree-sized on its own.

A “signature” item, Truffle Salmon Real Crab ($24), arrived as a riceless cut roll with six big pieces, each using truffle-topped thick sliced salmon as a shell for crabmeat and a little avocado filling. One intriguing item from Heemo’s collection of “small dish” choices, Japanese sizzling shrimp ($13), was unlike anything we’ve seen at an actual Japanese restaurant – more like a small Mexican fajita, including five extra-large shrimp butterflied and placed on a very hot but not-actually-sizzling platter with cherry tomatoes, onions, peppers, and a garlicky sauce.