My follow-up review for this restaurant. Read my previous review for this restaurant here

This little restaurant behind Valley Fair shopping mall is one of the best places I have dined at in San Jose. I found this place while browsing the best of citysearch: sushi. This place definately lived up to that title!

Setting: Casual

Service: Friendly!

…which is what I said trying to find this place. And I said the same thing when I actually found the place. It’s not hidden away or anything, but it just doesn’t seem to belong in the antiquated plaza where it’s nestled into.

Holding the #2 spot on Best Sushi 2006 on CitySearch, I had pretty high expectations for this place. Sad to say I was slightly disappointed. I have no complaints really about the food, but I just wasn’t blown away. This place is definitely small and seems pretty popular. We had to wait a bit for our tables even with reservations, and this was on a Wednesday night.

The cold soba starter has a touch of wasabi and was pretty tasty. Ton Katsu, sashimi, and sushi that we ordered was good, but nothing spectacular. They have a variety of mochi ice cream for dessert. Ok, this might be the only complaint I had. The mochi seemed like it came right out of the package and was frozen solid. I advise waiting a bit for it to melt and soften before taking a bite out of it.

Service is friendly and excellent!

I came on a Wednesday night, and even with reservations we had to wait a while. It wasn’t a problem, I was just surprised that the restaurant was so packed on a Wednesday! The restaurant’s location is pretty unnoticable – not the type of restaurant you would drive by and spot – so it made me immediately think that this is one of those hidden gems where the people who know about it, come back to again and again.

My favorite thing about this restaurant was that they gave everyone tiny bowls of soba as a starter. It was the best soba I’ve ever had… perfectly cool, and just with the right touch of wasabi. I loved it so much I ordered an additional side order, which I demolished as well. Their hamachi and uni were also fantastic. Their amaebi heads were nice and crispy, but I felt that the amaebi bodies were a little on the fishy side. I wasn’t that big of a fan of their rolls though, too much rice for my tastes. When I come again I will probably always order a side order of soba and hamachi and then experiment with their other fish.

Pretty darn good sushi in an unlikely place. Sashimi is good, melts in your mouth almost and not stringy at all.

Nigiri was also good as well, good size chunks of fish with rice.

The place is tiny so prepare for a wait if you’re there on Friday or the weekend. I just love eating here because it’s tiny and traditional inside so it feels rather homey.

They give you a small bowl of cold soba noodles as a starter which is different from many other Japanese places.

This is a small restaurant so there was a bit of a wait for dinner. I had the Tekka Don and a couple of sushi rolls. The sushi was surprisingly fresh. I’ll need to come back to try some other things.

The best sushi place in the area by far. Good thick pieces of sushi, awesome service, good prices. Come early or be prepared to wait. Only downside is that if you don’t like sushi, the other dishes like udon or sukiyaki are just okay.

I’m always in a good mood when I eat here. Best sushi experience since coming to CA last year. In an area where I’m forced to pay for rice at many Asian restaurants, they start everyone off with free soba. If you order a dinner, salad and miso soup are included. The sushi is cut nice and thick. I often have the chirashi or a combo that allows for lots of personalization. Very friendly family owned atmosphere. I’m always surprised at how fair the price is. This is my favorite restaurant in the area.