Nobu | Malibu

There’s an oasis on California’s famed PCH where dinner comes with a warm breeze and a soundtrack of crashing waves – sometimes literally beneath your seat if you’re outside and the tide is high. That’s Nobu Malibu, feeling like a deep breath amid the coastal bustle, while delivering some of the finest sushi on the planet.

This place isn’t just about the food – it’s about the frame it sits in. Nobu Malibu stretches low and horizontal, tight against the coastline – as if it were designed almost to be one with the ocean. Studio PCH and Montalba Architects wrapped the space in beautiful teak and board-formed concrete, materials that feel both elemental and refined. The warm wood tones, the cool stone underfoot, the soft, invisible-yet-omnipresent lighting at twilight – it’s Japanese restraint filtered through a distinctly California lens: a little mid-century modern, a little seaside shrine. Inside and out blur together until you’re not entirely sure if you’re dining indoors or out - perched just above the tide.

Let’s just call it as it is: Nobu Malibu is so famous it’s almost too easy to simply say “the food is excellent,” because everyone already knows that. Instead, here’s what really stuck: the vibe. Lean back in your chair, take in the panoramic views through those floor-to-ceiling windows, feel the ambient glow, and let the ocean soundtrack pull the tension out of your shoulders faster than a masseuse on a deadline. The other diners are well-heeled, true – but there’s no posing, just purpose. If you’re an extroverted introvert, this place is your sweet spot.

The other truism about Nobu Malibu is the ratio of celebs to ‘normies’. And indeed you might find yourself leaning over to whisper “celebrity sighting,” but that’s absolutely not why you come here. You come because there’s harmony between what you're eating and where you’re eating it. And you come because the sushi is exceptional – the kind of clean, balanced precision Nobu built its name on. Think of the signatures the restaurant is known for – yellowtail jalapeño, toro tartare, rock shrimp tempura – alongside a rotating slate of seasonal dishes that keep the experience fresh, new and interesting for repeat diners. It’s world-class and well worth your intention.

I’d place this experience in the realm of wabi-sabi dining: beautiful, fleeting, and deeply felt. But here, the refinement runs even deeper. The food is excellent on its own terms, but the setting truly amplifies it – the waves breaking so close you can practically feel them – the wood and stone wrapping you in calm, naturally-rooted refinement. Nobu Malibu is perhaps less a restaurant and more a sanctuary to the sushi experience itself. One where architecture, landscape, and cuisine converge into something quietly transcendent.

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