Okawa Sushi — Restaurant in Milpitas

it's good to see a new sushi buffet after many of them closed down five years ago. this one is promising, but as of now the service needs improvement. 4/5 will visit again the next time i want to eat $40 of sushi in a single meal.

edit: i've eaten here a few more times now and i'd say they've made the needed improvements. haven't had any missed items since the first visit. service is fine (at least at the times that i went), it's not amazing but it's good enough that i can recommend this restaurant to friends. i think moving okawa sushi up to a 4.5/5 overall is fair.

one thing i think i should mention that i didn't in the original review is that okawa's rolls are a little bit smaller than most restaurants. i consider this a good thing because you get to try more items from the menu before you get full. if you do find a roll that you wish you had more of, well, nothing's stopping you from ordering more of it.

the rest of this review is the original unedited review:

getting the comparison to kenzo sushi out of the way: kenzo is slightly better, but the difference is usually not worth the 25 minute drive imo.

service here leans more towards leaving you alone unless you flag a server for help, which is fine imo as long as there's an easy and convenient way to call for service (there isn't). i'm willing to cut them some slack for now since it's still soft opening and see if it improves later this month. if you have high standards for food service you should wait for proper opening.

i ordered a few items and never received them. i noticed the tables are not numbered in any way and suspect my items might've gone to another table. bring it up with your server and they'll fix it, but it's fair to say you shouldn't need to ask your server to get the items that you ordered.

okawa sushi does not have phone/tablet ordering, so if you prefer that then you may want to go elsewhere. there are no restrictions on how much you can order per order, except for nigiri, sashimi, and a few special items. wait times for food were ok but keep in mind some items like baked/fried rolls will take longer (this should really be noted on the menu tbh)

the decor hasn't changed much from the hot pot restaurant that was previously in this location. there are TVs, but most tables aren't in a good position to see them. it can get a bit loud when it's busy and quieter voices might have to speak up to hold a conversation. it's a bit dark once the sun goes down.

there's plenty of parking but you may have to park further away when they're busy.

smoked salmon nigiri was a surprise to see on the menu....

My friend and I hit up Okawa Sushi last Monday around 12:30 PM for their all-you-can-eat (AYCE) lunch. We gotthe premium nigiri for an extra $8, making it $35 total.

Soft Shell Crab: Crispy, flavorful, absolutely nailed it. 5/5, no doubt. Kaki Fry (Fried Oysters): Ugh. Nope. Just... nope. 1/5, hard pass. Gyoza: They were fine. 3/5. Takoyaki (Octopus Balls): Major letdown. It was basically just dough, small octopus bits?! 1/5.

Okay, the sashimi salad was a bit stingy on the actual sashimi (only three pieces!), but the other salads? Total rockstars:

Wakame Salad (Seaweed Salad): Seriously, this was amazing. Fresh, no weird oily residue. 5/5! Idako Salad (Baby Octopus Salad): So good! Great texture, super tasty. Another 5/5! Ika Sansai Salad (Mountain Veggie & Squid Salad): Yep, you guessed it. Fantastic. 5/5!

Nigiri:

We got into the nigiri, salmon, red snapper, tuna, white tuna, yellowtail, butterfish, and eel. Generally good, fresh fish. But the butterfish was the MVP, hands down. Salmon was a close second. The rest were... just there.

Oh, and the Salmon Carpaccio? Super delicious, but they only give you one per table, which is a bit of a tease. 5/5 for taste.

Now, for the big issue: the fish-to-rice ratio. The first round of nigiri was perfect, lots of fish, just a little rice (like 80/20). But then, with every new order, it was like they were slowly swapping out the fish for more rice. It went from 60/40, then to basically 50/50, and the rice got super packed and dense. It really took away from the whole nigiri ordering and made me stop because that gave me the irk.

Okawa Sushi's AYCE lunch is a bit of a rollercoaster. You get some seriously good stuff (hello, soft shell crab and those salads!), and some decent nigiri, especially the butterfish. But that sneaky rice situation on the later nigiri orders is a real buzzkill.

Would I go back? Nah, the rice ratio throughout the orders gave me the irk, wouldn't spring for the...

Was in the area and wanted to try this out after it came across my IG stories. Granted this place is still in a soft opening period. We ordered off their Premium course ($34.95) for lunch.

Soft shell crab: only 1 crab cut in half. Needs more flavor but overall good.

Kaki Fry: needs more flavor, the breading was good. A little over fried

Fried Calamari: calamari wasn't properly cleaned as the elastic skin was still in each ring. The breading fell apart too easy.

Agedashu Tofu: breading fell apart too easy

Gyoza: could have been fried a little longer

Tonkatsu: breading was good but the pork cutlet itself was dried out even with the sauce

Saba Shioyaki: could not taste any salt. Had to ask for additional salt but the pepper was enough. Be careful when eating as the bones were still present.

Sashimi salad: very little Sashimi on top of a small bowl of salad

Sunomono salad: the flavor was there but not a true sunomono

Jalapeño bomb: took one bite and could not finish this. The jalapeño was raw, spicy tuna was cooked. Overall not a good combo

Salmon Carpaccio: it was okay, pretty presentation. Ponzu didn't taste like ponzu sauce

Miso soup: tasted like the instant

Nigeria (2 pc) - rice ratio very small compared to the fish. This was a good combo ratio Sake (salmon), Maguro (tuna), Unagi (eel), Smokey salmon

Hand roll (1 piece) - Spicy Tuna Roll. Not really a hand roll but more like a taco.

Wanted to try their tamago nigiri but was told they didn't have any.

Ambience: plus for kpop music! The blue lighting above the tables near the windows made it slightly difficult to...