Yashima Restaurant — Restaurant in Covina

WHAT IT IS Sushi restaurant and bar. They also have your typical bento combinations and "kitchen" meals. A tip: Parking is behind the restaurant.

WHAT YOU SHOULD ORDER Sushi!

AMBIANCE 4 stars It's a fairly basic Japanese restaurant. When you enter from the street you, will be in a small foyer with tables all around you. To your right you will see the sushi bar. They have a few TVs on the walls as well. The music both times I've gone in is American, which is sort of unique for these sorts of places.

FOOD AND DRINKS 4 Stars Both times I've been here I ordered the Nigiri plate which comes with a california roll and 8 pieces of assorted nigiri. The sushi here is fairly good. It's nothing that will blow you away, but it's fresh and doesn't commit any "cardinal sushi sins". I prefer a bit more vinegar in my rice.

The nigiri have a good fish to rice ratio. The fish cuts are thick, so you get a good amount of fish for your buck.The rice is sticky and holds up well. None of my nigiri fell apart upon being picked up. This is hugely important in a western sushi restaurant as I'm embarrassed to eat the nigiri properly (with my fingers) and opt to use the chopsticks instead. Nothing is worse than watching as the rice falls apart when you try to pick up your nigiri!

There was a good assortment of nigiri as well--8 different flavors! They were all delicious.

The California Roll was the lowpoint--the filling lacked flavor and there was a bit too much celery. It wasn't awful, but it was nothing to write home about.

The meal also comes with miso soup and a small salad. The salad is good. I don't know what's in their dressing, but I like it. Aside from that it's just your basic salad--iceburg lettuce and some red cabbage. The miso soup was another nice surprise--it was so flavorful! The tofu in it was wonderful too--soft and fresh. I've had SO many bad tofu cubes in miso soup over the years, so it's awesome to find a place that puts fresh tofu in their soup!

NICE SURPRISES The assortment of Nigiri with the special is a nice touch, especially because many of the places around here limit you to 4 varieties of fish with these types of combos (opting to give you two of each instead). The miso soup was also a delight.

OVERALL This is a great place for lunch. The service is quick--both lunches took me just under 40 minutes (and both times the restaurant was crowded.) You can call ahead and pick up...

The atmosphere is fine—just another traditional, small sushi spot. We were served water promptly, but unfortunately, that was the only thing that went smoothly.

After sitting down for 10 minutes, no one came to take our order, despite the fact that there were three waitresses and it’s a small restaurant. Eventually, I went up to the cashier to place our order myself. Although I was frustrated, I remained understanding, having waited tables myself during my college years.

We then waited an additional 30 minutes, which seemed unusually long. I approached one of the waitresses, who told me that they hadn’t even started our order yet because they process orders on a first-come, first-served basis, and there were four takeout orders ahead of us.

While I respect that every business has its own way of managing things, it would have been appreciated if they had informed us ahead of time that there would be a long wait. We could have decided if we were willing to wait under those circumstances. After waiting 40 minutes, I was understandably upset.

Unfortunately, I never got to try the food, so I can’t comment on its quality, but based on the service, I would rate my experience as 0 out of 10. To make matters worse, the waitress argued that it wasn’t their fault because they were busy—yet I noticed that a party seated after us was already getting their food.

I won’t be returning to this restaurant. If you walk in and see that they are busy, I’d recommend avoiding it—you might end up waiting 40 minutes for food that hasn’t even...

Update 9/22/23

Definitely still recommending this place but had to round down based on my latest visit.

Two dishes that didn’t live up to my last visit were the cold noodles and Kalbi ribs. The cold noodles had a different flavor and texture to the broth. Good, just not as good as I recall. Not a deal breaker. The Kalbi ribs were even more disappointing. Fatty and chewy.

On the positive side, the two new dishes we tried were awesome. Jjajang mien, which was sold out las time was amazing. Great flavors, actually had meat which some places stopped adding, and was a very large serving. No wonder they sell out! Also tried the soon tofu soup which was equally amazing in flavors, meat ratio and portion size. Definitely must tries.

Service and self service banchan was still great. Almost makes up for the self service pick up and clean up :)

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One of the few legit, Japanese run and owned sushi restaurants around. Appreciate the quality of the seafood and daily specials. I used to complain about the attitude and service, but that is now a thing of the past. Service was friendly and efficient during times of Covid. Nothing was missing from our order and everything tasted fantastic. Should not have waited so long to come back. Will be part of my regular rotation now that we have...