Amami Shima Sushi — Restaurant in Cupertino

As a Japanese person from Japan, I'd say most Americans may think this is good "sushi" if they've not tried any authentic ones. Just order the rolls and skip the Nigiris. Nigiris are cut pretty but I would almost consider it worthless. The name suggests a Japanese place but the place is entirely ran by Chinese owners, chefs and servers.

Ordered: 2 Sushi Deluxe (9 piece + rock'n roll + miso soup per order) Ankimo (4 pieces) Oyster shots (2 spoons) Mix-it-up roll Tiger roll

Intro: First of all, the male receptionist with spiky hair was flat out rude and a liar. We waited an hour outside and he came out and called peoples names on the wait-list. I noticed he skipped my name which was the next in line so I went in and checked with him, he said rudely that he called my name but I wasn't there so he skipped me. I responded by saying that I was there, he didn't call my name. He started mumbling something in Chinese with frustration and kept saying he called my name but I wasn't there. I started laughing because I thought he was joking as I was literally standing by the door, and turns out he was seriously lying to my face. (Maybe he couldn't pronounce my name? Who knows...) So I told him my car parked directly outside the door has a video recording if he wanted to see. Then he goes and speaks to one of the servers and gets me a table. He had a very entitled attitude and told me it happened because I didn't check in. (I walked in, put my name on the tablet wait-list, and spoke with the guy to make sure I'm good, and replied to yelp's text with confirmation, stood outside patiently and went in periodically to check the tablet for status for an hour so I don't know what I did wrong to make him angry?). At this point I was already feeling this was a terrible experience, in terms of service quality, for the money I'll be paying.

Food: Sushi Deluxe consisted of: 3 Salmon, 2 Bincho Tuna, 2 Hamachi, 1 Aji and 1 Escolar. To me, anything that says "Deluxe", I expect at least one piece of Ebi, Ikura, Chutoro, Otoro, or Uni. They provided the lowest and cheapest kind of Tuna ( Bincho Maguro), cheap Salmon (lean cut, no fat), borderline sickening Escolar (full of laxatives, Japanese don't use this for food). Hamachi and Aji were moderately good (when I say good, it's Japanese supermarket sashimi grade). The best part was rock'n roll as well as the wasabi that wasn't the typical paste-style you'd find.

We never got ginger, while other tables were served with it. Also, we didn't get our Miso soup until we had to ask 30mins into our dining experience.

Marukai market has better salmon, tuna, and hamachi for much cheaper and fresher.

Ankimo: Tasted a bit old and stale but ok for the price. You can buy better ones at Korean supermarkets for cheaper and fresher.

-Oyster Shots: I assume middle to low tier grade oyster, barely fresh. Covered by an overwhelming amount of flavorful toppings to cover/ fancy it up. I'd say ok appetizer for the price but wouldn't have more than 1 for the fear of getting sick from old oyster. Also, one spoon had a tiny piece of Hamachi mixed in it accidentally. Could be extra bang for the buck but also shows the chefs don't care about contamination.

Mix-it-up roll: I like it. They have low tier fish so get them fried like Mix-it-up. It has 3 kinds of fish mixed up and lightly fried to cover the cheap taste.

Tiger roll was shrimp tempura, salmon and avocado, can't go wrong with that. Liked this too.

Overall, you're paying for the premium looking pretty presentation, not sushi quality. I spent $140 for the two of us and the dining service and experience kinda sucked, tables are packed tight and the restaurant is not too clean. I almost regretted taking my date there but I promised her a genuine sushi...

I have celebrated numerous birthdays, anniversaries and special events at this establishment. Each time, the bill has been over $100 and we have tipped generously. I have recommended family and friends to spend their money here because of their omakase. However, after my most recent experience, I will be telling everyone I know to do quite the opposite.

My party of 4 came in for lunch and it wasn’t too busy. Even though they weren’t super busy, the food and service was mediocre that day. However, it wasn’t a big enough problem to complain about. So instead, we did not tip as much as we usually do. We didn’t think too much of it, since we compensated for the mediocre food and service. After our meal, a waitress with glasses and a ponytail came to our table and rudely questioned why we didn’t tip as much as she expected.

The waitress goes, “This doesn’t make any sense! Was there something wrong?? Why would you only tip this much? It’s not fair! You need to tip at least 20%”

Our entire party was shocked because of her demanding behavior and unprofessional demeanor. Obviously, she is upset. But there are different ways to handle situations without yelling or throwing a tantrum in front of other customers.

I responded and said, “Well, tip is not mandatory. We did tip you, just not as much today because the service and food was not up to our expectations. Also, it is extremely rude and unprofessional to demand tip from your customers when you did not earn it.”

The waitress continues to argue and yell, and we leave because there is no point in arguing with someone who obviously needs to be trained in customer service and conflict management.

The worst part of the story? I accidentally leave my hydro flask at the table for about a minute, walk out the door, and it’s gone. The table has not been cleaned up yet, but my hydro flask has suddenly disappeared with no other suspects except the staff. I ask the rest of my party, “why would anyone want something my saliva touches?” One possible answer? They might still be upset about the tipping incident and really want to be that petty. I ask the entire staff if they have seen my hydro flask, but nobody will answer. So, I leave empty handed with no other answers. I really don’t want to jump to conclusions, but they could’ve at least made an effort to talk to me and help me find it.

As consumers, we have a choice of where to spend our money. As a consumer who has a choice, I choose to spend my money where I feel respected as a customer. Amami Sushi has a great way to make you feel disrespected, angry and frustrated. So, I will no longer be spending my money here because this establishment is filled with an unprofessional, greedy and petty staff. If you’ve really read far enough to this review, I hope you will save yourself the money, time and hope and eat...

First off, we called and they said there was a 10 min waitlist we walked over which was about a 15 min walk. The waitlist was a joke. We got seated and it took them 27 mins to ask us if we even wanted a drink. There was a table beside us that they knew personally and they got seated after us and had their drinks and appetizers before we got asked about a drink. The service to say the least was horrible. There was cleaning supplies all over the floors in the dining area all over the sushi bar. This is all just first impression. They gave us water and all the glasses were dirty. We asked for new ones they were also dirt and smelled bad. They took our order after we waited a while. We waited for our food for 30 mins. After people who came in after us were already getting their food. We are a party of 3. We finally got our food. They bring us a wrong item not even a roll but an appetizer which we didn’t order any of. I just let it go at this point. Sushi was okay definitely not something I would come back for. Overall I give this place a solid 1/10. I’ve never written a review in my life, but this was something I had to talk about. I have terrible social anxiety and never complain but this was terrible. No greeting or anything just definitely wouldn’t recommend this place. This wasn’t our first option but the other place had a 2 hour...