Wakaba — Restaurant in Millbrae

I have eaten here a few times but after today, I won't be coming back. It's almost $30 for a salmon bowl and a small side of seaweed salad. If the food was delicious, that wouldn't be an issue. The problem is, I ordered and in less than 2 minutes my food was ready, which was already a bad sign for me. The food was cold, not fresh, and when I asked for soy sauce on the side, the female employee at the cash register dismissed me because in her words, "it already came with soy sauce on the rice."

Well for one, I asked for it on the side and which was ignored - and even so, she then tried talking me out of getting a few soy sauce packets on the side. I was kind - yet persistent - and I requested for some on the side yet again. Also, I've noticed the few times I've come here, this woman will always give sauce packets of all kinds to fellow Asian customers, yet with me, I had to ask multiple times to even get soy sauce. I also usually tip (despite asking for it to go), but today I didn't and once she saw I didn't tip, she seemed annoyed at me. However with how my meal was prepared, I'm very glad I didn't tip today.

No one should have to pay $30 for a cold meal thrown together faster than every fast food place I can think of. And then, they didn't try to heat it up or anything before giving it to me in less than 2 minutes. I would have happily waited longer for food that was warm/hot and if it tasted fresh. Sadly, that wasn't my experience today and I can't justify going back there for a meal that is this overpriced for such mediocrity. Now I'm understanding WHY they only have a 3.5 star rating. Oh and one final thing, this place taxes patrons like crazy!!! My tax rate was over 13% which is unheard of almost anywhere else. It feels highly unethical to tax people so much when that's not the norm anywhere else. However I guess it says something that they can't even make enough sales that they are obligated to tax patrons this high. They don't have enough sales so now they're charging patrons even more on top of over-charging for the food. Like Jesus, I know it's inside of an airport so it has to be more expensive, but this is just overboard! Please eat elsewhere here at SFO bc this...

I had to come back after it left such a good impression on me the first time.

The soup for the beef udon was freaking delicious like I remembered it. It is so satisfying and does not disappoint. The beef was good but I wish it had more flavor.

The beef curry is still as good as I remember it. I'm not sured what happened but there was a random piece of chicken in it

The udon noodle with shrimp tempura was freaking delicious. The udon noodle came out pipping hot but it was so good, I couldn't stop eating even though I was sweating like crazy and burnt my tongue every time I took a sip of the soup. The shrimp tempura was oily and was more of a side dish.

The beef curry rice was also freaking delicious even when it was cold. The curry was full of flavor and the giant pieces of carrot and potato were nice. I wish I could have tried it when it was hot but I was too full after eating the...

It's in an airport, so the atmosphere can only be so good, but everything else was great. We ordered the two of the Deluxe Udon (seemed to come with every protein) and an order of the sashimi platter (came with a cup of rice), and spent about $62. The udon was lovely and surprisingly filling. The tempura shrimp was perfectly cooked and crispy, even after sitting on top of the bowl for a bit. Everything in the bowl had such good flavor, the chicken being especially notable. The sashimi was delicious, the pieces were thick with absolutely perfect texture, and we even got some bonus pieces. I am not kidding when I say the red tuna was the best I've had in memory. I'm usually more of a salmon person, and tolerate red tuna at best, but this made me a convert. Overall, for the price and flavor this was the best choice we could have made while hanging out...