Taru Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Danville

It was the tale of 2 restaurants. I didn't care for the place very much when I walked in. First, unless it's a sports bar I don't care for restaurants with TV. Eating out for me is as much a social event as it is for food,and having to compete with a TV is distracting and takes away from my friends and I enjoying each other. And in such a small place there were 2. So...strike 1.

Strike 2 was the service. It's not that our waitress wasn't friendly. She was very unhappy! And this wasn't just my impression but the 3 of us agreed on this. And yes, I know the Japanese style, having been there and worked for many years in SF's Japantown. This woman wasn't reserved- she was sullen and depressing. And she had to be asked to bring over our napkins and silverware and repeated requests for water. And mind you it was over 90 degrees outside and the restaurant didn't believe in turning on their a.c. much. And is it expecting too much to have the table next to us cleared so we aren't looking at people's leftover food the entire time? The place wasn't busy and it appears that, with it close to closing time, they were going to clear the table with all the others.

So I was thinking 1 star and couldn't wait to leave. Especially after I got my miso soup, which I didn't care for very much. Maybe the region from which this miso soup recipe comes from is different from all the miso soup I have had in the past (a lot). But the broth wasn't as clear as I have had before and it was 'heavy' in taste. It seemed that the miso was much more fermented than what I am used to. Well, for my tastes I wasn't crazy about it.

The saving grace for this restaurant, and the reason I will go back in spite of the negative things above, is the taru special rolls we ordered. They were, indeed, among the best sushi I have ever had. I ordered the 'Volcano' and it was fantastic. Each flavor, the fried spicy tuna, jalapeno, cream cheese, tobiko and green onion were both distinct and blended together in your mouth. So many different sensations! And in spite of how good it was, I may have liked the baked Lion King roll better.

Before I had the sushi I thought there would be no way I would return. But the food really made up for the crappy service and lack of ambiance. I really hope it was just a bad day for our waitress and the next time will be better. And maybe it will be cooler so we could sit outside and not have to see the TV :)

So for the food I give it 5 stars and, for now, will only take off 1 star for the lousy ambiance and service, because I figure most people are more interested in good food than...

Mother's Day Fail.

This place gets one star for the food. This is a tragedy because if the service was anything near acceptable levels it would have had five stars. Everything we tasted was excellent. The problem was we had to celebrate multiple birthdays while we waited for our order.

It took twenty minutes from the time of our reservation for someone to come over and see if we wanted anything to eat. Another forty minutes later, our appetizers started to arrive. In the meantime, no checking on us from the wait staff, refilling drinks, no apologies for the delays.

Nothing.

I loved the part when our server came over and asked us if we needed anything else. Never mind they had not even brought our sushi orders yet. How brain-dead of a question was that? Had to remind them multiple times what we were missing. Complete incompetence across the board.

Sadly, we weren't the only ones experiencing these issues. The tables to the right and left of us had their orders screwed up as well. At one table, the couple said "just bill me for the drinks and edamame and we are out of here." They never received their sushi order. At the table on the other side of us, they received one order of sushi before us despite the fact we arrived earlier. After that - nothing. They also had to remind staff of what they ordered.

I think all of us understand that holidays create excess demand on many restaurants. This place has been in business long enough to know that you have two choices when that happens. Either staff up so that you can provide a good dining experience for the folks you place at tables. Or, close a portion of your dining room to ensure you don't subject your excessive guest count to a negative experience.

Unfortunately, they decided to pack 'em in and let the customers wait. Let's gain as much $$ as we can and compromise our reputation as a dining establishment in Danville.

Not sure whether this review encourages any of you reading it to look elsewhere, but I encourage you to do so. While the food was good, it did not make up for the poor service experience and operational incompetence of this restaurant.

We...

Taru Japanese Sushi & Cuisine Review

Once again I was hoping for a good Japanese sushi restaurant and my wife and I went to this restaurant for the first time boy was I disappointed. First of all the restaurant is somewhat small and down in a alleyway. The Decor of the restaurant is very dark, with very inexpensive chair, in the kitchen that seems to be a last-minute idea.

I ordered sushi, which came in large pieces though it seems like you’re getting a good deal of salmon, it was not sliced like a normal piece of sushi. If felt like just a big piece of fish in your mouth. The rice that they use for the sushi was a long grain and not normal sushi rice and the formula that they used for the rice was not authentic. The California roll was tasteless. When we arrived at the restaurant children in joining table were so loud that we had to move outside. Overall I would not recommend the sushi restaurant to anyone very disappointing low quality and not athletic. When you spend $65 for sushi I want more of the real thing. On the lookout for a good...