Kyosho — Restaurant in Menlo Park

I don’t really like spending time writing about restaurants I won’t return to. But to hopefully save other ppl from wasting their time and money, here’s a quick rundown:

When you first walk in it’s dimly lit and has the atmosphere of a small but respectable cocktail bar. It feels fancy but it was also strange why a sushi place would have dim lighting. By the time we left, it was easy to know why this works best for this restaurant.

Had flies on the table behind ours Ran out of ingredients for an appetiser on a Saturday morning (we visited in the evening) Soy sauce cruets were suspiciously dirty and ours was not filled. Tried one from another table and it only had a few drops left. Asking us to order main course whilst we were still eating appetisers (we opted to order several appetisers first) Not selling liquor as they were renewing their license Some cuts like the toro were good, but all the fish was improperly kept. The toro was partially frozen when served, the other fish we had all had an abnormal fishy taste. The tuna was discoloured enough that I could see it clearly even in that dark restaurant. Portions are tiny like a fancy restaurant, incredibly overpriced, but the taste is horrifyingly bad. Every appetiser we got was lathered with cheap tasting sauces to try and mask the fact none of their fish is fresh.

We left after the appetisers and went to another restaurant. I was so mortified that I refused to let the person who had taken us there pay for the meal and I paid for it because it was painfully bad and I just couldn’t bear for anyone else to have to pay for something so awful. We all had a bad time with the food.

Looking back at the reviews, there are negative reviews that I should’ve paid attention to. Sometimes when I see them I just think it is an exaggeration. It is not. This restaurant was recently sold to someone new and it hasn’t been that many months. So it’s unsurprising that the older reviews are much better. It would be tragic if people who come here genuinely thought they were getting decent fish because they don’t know their sushi. Please go elsewhere. All the other restaurants were packed this day (Saturday evening, the busiest of times), but this place only had a few...

Brought a dear friend here who came from NY. Had mentioned that NY's sushi was lacking.

Ordered the 6-course omakase, along with a side of A5 wagyu beef and snow crab legs.

The A5 wagyu is incredibly tender, didn't really need any seasoning. Eat it as is.

Snow crab legs were removed incredibly cleanly. Wish all my crab meat came like this. Chilled, just a light sweetness, add wasabi if you must, there's only deliciousness waiting for you.

The omakase started with a serving of A5 wagyu wrapped around a circular lobster bit with tobiko on top and mustard for garnish. Light and smooth sour flavor from the mustard worked great with the beef.

Next was sea cucumber served in uni with pumpkin to garnish. Much like a savory seafood custard. Great for seafood afficionados, but can be off-putting if you don't like the base ingredients.

A 3-set sashimi followed. The most memorable piece was the roe piece, like popping boba but with the flavor of the sea and a subtle sweetness.

The scallop piece was covered by a fan-shaped tempura-style noodle on top of a shrimp tempura, which sat on top of the scallop surrounded by avocado sauce. The noodle reminded me of eating the legs off grilled shrimp; thin, crispy, and savory. The scallop was lovely, only wish I could've had another.

Main entrees ended with a mini-bowl of unagi and miso soup. The unagi meat just broke down with a light tug from your chopsticks.

Dessert was green tea cheesecake. Incredibly creamy, but lacking in green tea flavor. Probably need to use matcha as cheesecake's inherent flavor is strong.

Small bits of feedback, would've appreciated the meal started with the unagi donburi and miso was introduced as the starter and ended on the wagyu lobster rolls. Cheesecake could use some matcha and steel forks.

Other than that, meal was amazing, would come back to see their...

Little gem hidden in Menlo Park! By far the best sushi restaurant i found after searching two months in San Jose area. (Just moved here, don't wanna drive 1+ hour to SF)

This restaurant is around the corner of a shopping street. A bit small but very cozy. Not sure if I was lucky or not, came here twice and easily got the other side street parking. There are also some parking lots along the street or nearby. Reservation is easy for Saturday lunch and most people do walk-in. I heard Friday night is usually quite busy though. The first time I ordered some sushi and mushroom tempura - very tasty and fresh. So I decided to come back and try nigiri omakase. The weekend special is $60 and the fish are all shipped from Japan - compared to some other great omakase restaurants, this one is definitely not pricy. Since it's freshly caught, the fish type is a bit different every week. The chef was very friendly and patient explaining all the special fish. I winded up 10 pieces and ordered a lot more. My favorite was the raw Saury fish sushi, hard to find in other places, immediately melted in my mouth and a strong distinctive taste. Every piece was fresh and delicately made with careful selection of ginger/green onion/Yuzu salt/shiso leaf. Rice was also well flavored and warm. At the end I had my last piece tamago, personally not a fan of it in general but this one was quite good. I ended up super full and satisfied. This is definitely a place worth half hour driving to me. Will come...