Amici Sushi — Restaurant in Lathrop

It was my first time coming to this restaurant and I've been wanting to try this place since it had good reviews. I drove 30 mins from home just to try this local sushi place. Sad to say, I'm extremely disappointed. Here are my thoughts...

Service - Customer service was mediocre. I believe I was greeted by the owner/chef when I walked in. They only had one waiter so it seems like they're short staffed. I waited for a good 5-10 mins before being helped. Then waited for another 10 mins before the waiter can bring my check so I can pay for my order.

Incomplete Order - One of the items I ordered was a bento box (but they called it a combination plate) was supposed to come with rice, soup, and salad. They forgot to put the rice in the bag for my bento box and didn't double check.

Cost - I ordered 9 things and it costs about $134-135. It is actually more expensive than other places I've been to ordering similar food and it would have been under $100. I ordered the Salt & Pepper Soft Shell Crab appetizer and didn't know it was one small crab sliced in half and that costs $11, which was not worth it. So I looked at my receipt, I saw a $1 charge for take out. I didn't ask why there's such charge when I should've so that part was on me and can't blame anyone. As far as I'm aware, I haven't seen any sushi restaurants in Stockton or other places besides the bay area that would charge customers a fee for take out due to COVID. I personally don't agree with that surcharge because it's not fair to customers and I don't support this behavior. Had I known about this I would've reconsidered coming here.

Taste of Food - This is where I have some MAJOR red flags.

1. The cold foods and hot foods were put together in the same bag, which is wrong and it's a no no. You HAVE to keep them separate and never in the same bag. I had a bento box with sashimi and tempura that came with soup and salad. One bag had the sashimi, tempura, and miso soup put together in one bag. The hot soup changed the taste and temperature of the sashimi. I saw the tuna fish slice was partially cooked and I saw the box had watery liquid. Sashimi should be more on the dry side and there shouldn't be any liquid from the fish at all. Then when I took a bite, I can't get past that warm taste and had to spit it out. That piece of tuna was tossed out.

2. One of my other things I ordered was Spicy Garlic edamame. I think they used fresh garlic so the garlic was burnt and it gave a bitter taste. Their spicy level was way too spicy and I think they put too much.

3. I ordered 4 rolls and to my surprise, there was absolutely no flavor! The California Roll is a classic example and typically you can't go wrong ordering this but obviously it did go wrong. They used snow crab which gave me a weird taste. The cucumbers didn't seem fresh and the rice was rather dry so it makes me wonder if they put the right amount of rice vinegar or if its the type of rice they used the went wrong. But I definitely saw some gap in the center of the roll and it wasn't rolled and pressed tightly. I felt there was too much rice and the pieces were thick cut which I'm not too fond of.

To sum this up, this was the worst sushi I've had in my entire life. I am a sushi lover since middle/high school and over time I learned how traditional sushi making is prepared, what is used etc. That is how passionate I am when it comes to sushi. I am not looking for quantity but more of quality. And when I eat sushi, I would look at the sushi chef if they have the technique and skill when preparing fresh fish and making sushi rolls. I don't think I will return after this experience.

Please note, this is strictly my personal opinion and I would suggest that you try it out for yourself to determine...

I usually never write reviews but this place has really disappointed me and my family. We drive 1.5 hours from the Bay Area just for this sushi place as we were referred by a friend. Once we walked in we looked around for someone to greet us and seat us, a woman was sitting in the very back of the restaurant on her laptop while she was sitting she pointed at a table for us to sit as if she was doing us a favor. Next we were seated and a guy standing at the front kept staring without giving us the menu, upon receiving the menus we again waited 15 minutes just to place our order and that was only once we waved for someone. The owner came to take our order we told him that we want any roll you would recommend that has cooked fish and no other meat along with the teriyaki chicken roll, he then directed us to get the "Lathrop" roll which has crab and I told him we don't want any other kind of meat to have only fish he had assured us he'll do just that. We got our drinks then the woman comes to give us the glasses, and we kindly asked for straws after bringing the straws she looked straight at my sisters face with no reaction we said thank you and still no reply we were really thrown off by her. Then she brings part of our order which was the "Lathrop" roll and upon seeing the roll we saw there was crab and then I ask her what meat is in this roll, the first words that came out of this woman was "you order and don't know what you order". What kind of customer service is that, we all pause and look at her face that was very unnecessary of her to say she simply could have explained, then I say excuse me she then says the same thing, still after being disrespected we ask her to bring the guy that took our order she says no and THROWS the menu on our table and says read?!? This woman was just insane, we all get up and about to leave she then accuses us and says "you're leaving because you don't have money" which employee or owner says that to their customers?? The sad part is that she seemed like she was the owners wife. We went on making our way to the door to leave she runs in front of us locks the door and says she's going to call the police as if we did something wrong, we told her to call the police because there was nothing wrong we did, this woman cares about the money not customer satisfaction, she says you have to pay for the drinks we ordered 3 drinks 2 cans were opened and one was untouched after everything they put us through we still paid for the drinks the crazy part is that they charged us for ALL THE DRINKS. The whole time her husband did not come in front to handle the situation he was standing on the side observing the scene. This woman caused a whole scene In front of 2 of her other customers, she does not know how to run a business. LASTLY NO EMPLOYEE OR WORKER WAS WEARING A MASK OR GLOVES how is this place still operating is my question. Biggest disappointment of driving 1.5 hours to get customer service like this. I highly recommend to find a better nearby place nearby that cares for their customers. This business will go down if this women keeps her attitude. PLEASE...

I have a couple local sushi joints that I have picked out over the years for mainly their quality among other factors. If you eat sushi, you know quality means everything. I travel a handful of times a year. Whether it’s business or personal and I try to venture out to sushi bars/restaurants on my travels. I’ve been to quite a few over the years. Recently, I traveled to Lathrop, California for business. I found this place on Yelp just down the road from my hotel. I always check reviews before eating at a new sushi bar. This place had a pretty good rating 4 - 4.5 stars, so I figured I’d check it out. I sat at the sushi bar. The place was clean and had a very pleasant atmosphere. My sushi chef’s name was Shawn, whom I found to be the owner. We had a very nice conversation, which led me to asking questions about the history of his restaurant. They’ve been in business since 2013, and survived through Covid. I noticed there were 5 or 6 awards displayed proudly for being voted best sushi restaurant. When I mentioned it, Shawn spoke about his quality standards and how much it meant to him. Service at the restaurant was top notch! I ordered the Sashimi Moriawase, which is the chef’s choice of select cuts of sashimi. I was blown away by the quality of sashimi along with the preserved wasabi, which I had never had. It was so good I caught myself eating it off the chopsticks by itself. Who eats wasabi by itself? As I was walking out thinking of my local spots, and the places on my travels, and how Amici Sushi might just take the #1 position on that list. I returned a second time during that week and was just as satisfied when I left. If you like cheesecake, you have to try their Japanese cheesecake. I ordered strawberry and it was the most well balanced slice of cheesecake I’ve ever has. This was quite the dinning experience for me. If I ever make it back to this area, Amici Sushi will be the first...