Makomae Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Diamond Bar

Love coming to Makomae for my omakase needs and a la carte cravings.

Friend is a regular here and brought me for my first visit. We did omakase and it's the kind where the sushi chef keeps the sushi coming until you tell them stop. We must have had 20 rounds before we were full and moved onto green tea ice cream for dessert! Everything was so good, I wanted it to keep going, but had to call defeat after 90 minutes.

I had a weekend lunch for my second visit and got the two lunch specials from the sushi bar: sushi and sashimi combination (6 pcs sushi, 6 pc sashimi, 1/2 tuna cut roll for $16.95) and the assorted sushi (8 pc sushi and 1/2 tuna cut roll for $15.95). Also added in the corn tempura (one of my favorites from the first visit - $6.95), fried oysters (3 pc for $10.95) and the shrimp and vegetable tempura ($9.95). The two lunch specials also come with miso soup and salad and were quite a good value with the amount of fresh seafood included. I enjoyed the appetizers selected and would love to try the karaage and baby bomb next time!

They were pretty busy on both visits so service was okay, but a little slow. They forgot the beer that BF ordered and they didn't come by to refill our waters, but they were good with clearing the empty plates off our table. We definitely felt we were in Japan though, as the servers and sushi chefs conversed in Japanese during our stay. Best to come in small groups, as it's easier to seat groups of 2 at the tables or sushi bar than groups of 4 or larger. Plenty of parking in the plaza, though the spots can get a...

First of all, the food is decent. Fishes are fresh, sushi rice is incredible, and also have fish directly from Japan. However, the overall dining experience was bad. We had a party of 4 and arrived at the restaurant around 5:25 pm. We saw some people standing outside already. Thus, we went into the restaurant and signed on the check-in sheet. A couple of minutes later, a guy came in and told us they were here before us but didn't sign the sheet. He asked us to give him our spot. I was speechless and told him to ask the server. Surprisingly, the server said some staff saw they arrived before us, so they just gave him the spot. WOW, so next time, I have to ask everyone outside the restaurant to ensure they've checked in already as a customer? Later, 2 of us returned to the car to keep waiting since the waiting area was too small. After waiting for 50 minutes, the server refused to seat us because we didn't have a full party in the waiting area and told us to wait outside. This is ridiculous, we explained the situation and told her the rest 2 people are in the parking lot. The server's attitude was bad but still seated us as we insisted. Again, the food was good, but we won't come back again. It's better to spend...

Makomae is a hidden gem of a Japanese restaurant in Diamond Bar. We went for (my bday) dinner on a Wednesday - without a reservation - and there was about a 20 minute wait, so not too bad.

Here's what we recommend: Premium chirashi bowl ($34.95): this was amazing value. There was chutoro, uni, amaebi, salmon, tuna, and a whole lot more in this bowl. We even got the fried shrimp head on the side with it. Fish was amazingly fresh and we were very impressed! It's a must try! Salmon skin salad ($11.95): another dish with amazing value. It was overflowing with salmon skin. Another must try!

We also tried the fried geso aka squid legs ($7.95), agedashi tofu ($6.95), and gyutan aka beef tongue ($8.95). These were ok, we'd recommend sticking to the premium chirashi and salmon skin salad. There is also an omakase option available for 10 pieces that comes out to like $60-70pp. Not bad value given how expensive omakases are in LA.

There are limited tables at the restaurant so get there early. Or make a reservation ahead of time. Ample parking spaces in the lot. Would highly recommend and will...