Mitama — Restaurant in Berkeley

Almost $80 for terrible service and mediocre inauthentic Japanese food. Three of us were there for weekend dinner. The place was practically empty, maybe due to cold rainy weather. The service was so slow. Ordered two tonkatsu entrees, a mid-priced roll and standard California roll. After almost 30min, I had to ask what was taking so long. They said it just finish and brought it. It came lukewarm. Tonkatsu is fried pork. How can something be lukewarm when it just finish frying. The seaweed wrapping on our rolls were also somewhat chewy, which meant it sat long enough for moisture to take affect. No one came to check on us. We had to ask for tea cups to be refilled every time. When it came time to pay, I even had to ask for my card...

The food is delicious. Not a super fancy atmosphere, but it doesn't need to be for you to enjoy their food. The menu is not expansive in items, but definitely adequate with Japanese restaurant staples.

I think they are sometimes slightly understaffed, because there are often times several empty tables and still people waiting at the door to get seated while waiters clear tables instead of seating the customers first.

So! Go here for a low key and delicious Japanese meal! Things to get (I always do): both the tempura and unagi udons, kaki fry (FRIED OYSTERS!!!), unajyu, agedashi tofu. The chirashi is pretty decent, too. Not big on rolls as my personal preference is sushi or sashimi, but the rolls I've tried were...

There was a long wait to get in but we dont mind waiting for good quality food. We got two sushi rolls, an appetizer and a bowl of miso soup. The soup was okay, not great and frankly overpriced at $4 per bowl. The rolls were excellent, though a bit small. Not overly saucy which we appreciated. The waiter, young guy, kept forgetting things. I had to stand up and walk over to the sushi chef to ask for water and later for some teriyaki sauce. Our appetizer came after we had already finished all our rolls which was disappointing. We got the chicken karrage which was okay but again not great. It was under seasoned hence the need for...