Wakamatsu — Restaurant in Hayward

Our party of 4 walked in and the waitress told us we can wait 30 minutes for a table so we stood waiting at the entrance of the restaurant. Around 5 minutes later, a party of 2 came in and waited in line behind us. The female owner came out and then asked us if we had a reservation. We told her we didn’t and that the waitress said we could wait for a free table. Instead she told us to leave and that the kitchen is full which didn’t make sense especially since 2 tables already got their bills, were paying, and about to leave. I said that the waitress told us we could wait 30 minutes and she yelled at the waitress “Why did you tell them 30 minutes?”. The waitress then said “I told the party of 2” which is blatantly untrue because as stated earlier when we walked in it was just our party of 4 waiting and she told us we could wait. The female owner then kept saying the kitchen is full and instead talked to the other party of 2 who didn’t have a reservation either but said they can seat them. We asked if we could split our party since she kept saying they had space for 2, and she just kept shooing us away saying “No”, “No”, “No” multiple times. Extremely unprofessional, not friendly, would not recommend this place at all. Not even sure if it’s due to racism, because our party was 3 asians and 1 caucasian, but definitely not a good “mom and pop” shop like everyone...

Pictured: the sign of a very happy meal! (Bonus picture of the clock and dining counter) My SO and I decided to impromptu go out since it was Friday night and we hadn't had sushi in a considerable while so we found a new place to try. The location is in a good spot of downtown where parking isn't too difficult, and the building itself is very cozy and has a pleasant, intimate feel with large windows to prevent the space from feeling claustrophobic. But what good would all of this do if the food wasn't worth it? The menu is very broad and diverse, with full meal options (my SO and I did the Wakamatsu dinner and split it along with a Lion King roll), and having sampled their teriyaki beef, the tonkatsu, their sashimi, the rolls, and the sake, everything was hands down fantastic. The sashimi melted in our mouths, it was pretty fantastic, and the potstickers were very authentic - handmade and clearly traditional (I'm a potsticker snob and these guys kick butt!) My SO and I agreed, we're definitely coming back...

Came in on a Saturday night. Small place, about 9-10 tables plus a 4 seat sushi bar. Sushi was a 30 minute wait because there was a big party and only one chef. There were two seats open at the bar and 3-4 open tables. The staff might have just been off their game, but my water was empty for most of the meal and as the sushi came out, my chirachi was sitting up on the counter. Even after waiting 5-6 minutes, I pointed it out to our server and it took about 10 minutes to get to our table. Everyone else that had ordered after us had already gotten their sushi and the chef had walked away to take a break from making all the orders that had come in. I wanted to cancel because we were almost done with our meal, but they finally brought it out and I didn't want to waste food.

Would I go back again? Maybe. The rolls were not rolled very tight and the rice was not even. Other reviews on Yelp said they were great. I will probably come back and see if they...