RoofTop — Restaurant in Eureka

I really wanted to love this place. I had such high hopes for it. Unfortunately, after a few experiences here it's time to leave a review. Overall, the place is... "Meh."

Let's start with the good: the quality of the food is pretty good. Not the best sushi I've had but it's in the top three for the Humboldt area. Also good is the overall aesthetic of the place. Unfortunately, that's where the good ends. Mind you, nothing is terrible about this place but I have notes on where they can improve:

Food: While the quality of food is good, the selection of speciality rolls is disappointing. The Hot Mama is quite good but all the others are pretty uninspired. They're all fine, but most of them being stuffed with loads of vegetables, fruits, a clever "crab mix" reminiscent of grocery store imitation crab, and/or just a little too much rice hides the miniscule amount of actual sushi-grade fish. Similar can be said about the Nigiri; while selection is fine the slices of fish are quite thin.

Service: service is very nice but incredibly slow. Expect to spend at least an hour and a half here even if the house isn't packed. Also don't expect your appetizer to get out long before your sushi but at the same time, don't expect to get all your sushi at once. Expect to watch other tables who ordered after you to get parts of their order before you get all of yours. It's highly recommended you research the menu before you arrive so you can put in your entire order when you get drinks. If you say you need another minute, the server will give you 30. I realize an authentic sushi experience in Tokyo (complete with its robust public transit) can take up to two hours but parking that long in Old Town Eureka on a weekday has one constantly on the lookout for parking enforcement.

Atmosphere: this is by far the biggest disappointment. A sub-par menu and rocky service are things that can be worked out but the choices made with how the rooftop is set up need an overhaul. The obvious flaw with the set up is the dining portion of the rooftop is entirely on the city side of the building which affords you a view of the asphalt shingles and tar paper roofs of Old Town. Or you can observe the homeless rifling through the trash cans or pissing on the trees at the street below. Not giving diners a view of the bay and marina was an oversight. This isn't the "Top of the Rock;" Eureka doesn't have a city scape worth viewing from this location. I feel like experience from the outside tables are just slightly improved over eating at Los Bagels picnic tables across the street. Finally, a minor nuisance but one worth mentioning; there are wasps nesting inside the hollow handrails along the side of the building just inches from some of the tables. I could see just one accidental whack by a guy with allergies leading to a panic that send them over the edge.

Price: on its face the price isn't bad. Comparable to other sushi restaurants for the most part though a few items seem to have a mark-up. But I think where RoofTop gets you is giving you less fish for the same price. Nigiri is thinner. Rolls are packed with more cheap ingredients. Temaki is stuffed with more rice. Overall it feels like I'm getting 20% less than what I paid for. I'd be willing to chalk it up to "paying for the view" but unfortunately that view is of trash scattered on the road in front of the Irish Shop and not Humboldt Bay.

I hope to return some day to find a little more bang for my buck, slightly quicker service, wasps relocated, and (fingers crossed) a view of the bay as I enjoy these...

If your hungry and want to waste your time waiting and get bad service, I recommend going here. Why? Just keep reading.....

Sat at bar on a Saturday afternoon, party of two. Place was about 40 percent full. We sat at the bar, because you usually get faster service. Not here...

We made a standard sushi order nothing special no rolls, with one miso, one bowl or rice and small cucumber salad. Miso and BOR came after a few minutes, but it took almost 25 minutes to get the salad.

in my humble experiences, salad is made by sushi chef and it comes out right quick. Another couple were seated after us and they received their food before we did. (They did order from the kitchen, so deep fried was quicker, but it sent up red flags.)

After 35 minutes of getting hungrier, we set a timer for 10 and at 45 minutes we asked our waiter for check and that we would be leaving and that we could not wait anymore for our sushi order. Then it got interesting.

The host came by and started to explain to me that it usually takes at least 1 to 1.5 hours for food to be served in a sushi restaurant... I just said "no it does not"...and was condescending and almost arguing. How about "Sorry for the long wait, sir, we apologize we are working out the kinks, we will just comp you and please come back and give us another try!" NOPE..... then our waitress asked how much time we had available for dinner?????? We just requested for the check and we left after paying.

The vibe of everyone working there felt like bad mojo, pressure.

If there is a wait for food, host needs to state that when sitting down.

Sushi chefs looks busy but they are WAYYYYY TOOOOO SLOOWWWWW. Gotta step it up and get another person back there to help. In many sushi restaurants around the world, if you are waiting longer that 30 minutes, that place will be out of business right quick.

We just ended up going to Paulie's Pizza. Ordered 2 slices each, quick easy good boom.

Do not go there, do not wait longer than 30 minutes.

I have seen other reviews where people sat 1 if not 2 hours waiting for their food. That is completely unacceptable.

Rooftop, get your act together. 1...

Slow, unorganized, overpriced for what you get, and not suited for “restaurant seating”. We went on a Thursday evening as a party of six. Two people got dinner from the kitchen and were served in a reasonable amount of time, but the other four that ordered sushi were all served at different times with the last sushi being served about 45 minutes after the first dinner plate was served. The staff was friendly at a minimum level, and the server even made a comment that they were “afraid of the cook”. The seating inside is shoulder to shoulder with other people nearly bumping the table to walk past, while the outdoor seating is fine for good weather, but not for true Eureka weather let alone when it rains. Also, a basic sushi roll starts at $20 and only goes up from there, and items like the Pork Katsu is only pork and no rice like any other restaurant with a standard plate like this. Overall the food was flavorful, but would highly recommend people finding any other number of sushi places in the area before coming here. I would not go back a...